Sky's not falling in yet... But is it starting to fray at the seams?

Edited February 14Feb 14 by Graeme Yeats' Mullet

On 13/02/2025 at 15:12, Bring-Back-Powell said:

6-8 weeks is smack back in the middle of the of the good to bad news spectrum. He’ll probably back in the side around the round 6 game against Freo.

AMW seems the logical replacement while Howes and Hore might be asked to play on smaller defenders if either of those guys has a good practice match series.

Please no more injuries given Kozzie’s also out for a while.

 

I would like to see Langford playing the hybrid small forward role at least until Koz is back. Why not? He definitely looks classy enough and a different way to learn than the usual half back flank to midfield method.  standout

McAdam appears to be injury prone 

Let's just forget about him for the season and maybe the future

We’re one more best 22 injury away from being in strife.

4 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

We’re one more best 22 injury away from being in strife.

You were counting McAdam as best 22? 
 

Judd sure, Kolt maybe player 20-24 in the ‘best’ side. Other than that don’t think there’s much to worry about. 
 

Kozzy is obviously a loss with suspension but don’t think it’s a “strife” scenario even with another injury. 

5 minutes ago, BC_1718_DC said:

You were counting McAdam as best 22? 
 

Judd sure, Kolt maybe player 20-24 in the ‘best’ side. Other than that don’t think there’s much to worry about. 
 

Kozzy is obviously a loss with suspension but don’t think it’s a “strife” scenario even with another injury. 

Anyone that thought Mc Adam was in best 23 was fanciful at best! A handfull of games in 3 years??? Nup sky is not falling! Now Jai Culley must be in the frame! A lot to like and in my opinion is almost a walk up start based on what I and others have seen!

2 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Anyone that thought Mc Adam was in best 23 was fanciful at best! A handfull of games in 3 years??? Nup sky is not falling! Now Jai Culley must be in the frame! A lot to like and in my opinion is almost a walk up start based on what I and others have seen!

McAdam was a wildcard option. Had worked his tail off to put himself in the position of being fit and impacting. Rotten luck to get injured. But if the list spot opens up and they do pick Culley, from what he’s shown he would absolutely be in the mix to get a crack early. Hasn’t looked out of place competing with our big boys in the guts.

His sheer size makes him versatile to impact at either end of the ground also. 

2 minutes ago, BC_1718_DC said:

McAdam was a wildcard option. Had worked his tail off to put himself in the position of being fit and impacting. Rotten luck to get injured. But if the list spot opens up and they do pick Culley, from what he’s shown he would absolutely be in the mix to get a crack early. Hasn’t looked out of place competing with our big boys in the guts.

His sheer size makes him versatile to impact at either end of the ground also. 

RE CULLEY,I saw him take 3 strong marks in the forward line for a couple of goals a few weeks ago.... Impressive unit!

Edited February 15Feb 15 by picket fence

6 minutes ago, picket fence said:

RE CULLEY,I saw him take 3 strong marks in the forward line for a couple of goals a few weeks ago.... Impressive unit!

At 194cms and versatile he would be a good addition to our list. He can also kick a goal. 

Surely Jai Culley gets a list spot with McAdam injury. I can definitely see him playing regularly in the best side. Great opportunity and story it would be for him. He adds grunt and size to the midfield rotation and can swing forward.
I thing there a big things ahead for Culley…! 
 

Unfortunate for McAdam… 

Well that’s probably the end of mcadam hard to see him coming back now

1 hour ago, BC_1718_DC said:

You were counting McAdam as best 22? 
 

Judd sure, Kolt maybe player 20-24 in the ‘best’ side. Other than that don’t think there’s much to worry about. 
 

Kozzy is obviously a loss with suspension but don’t think it’s a “strife” scenario even with another injury. 

We need to bank early wins if we’re going to threaten. McAdam was the obvious Koz replacement and McVee is a big loss. Just imagine an injury to a Lever or Petty and it’s a tight rope from there.

59 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

We need to bank early wins if we’re going to threaten. McAdam was the obvious Koz replacement and McVee is a big loss. Just imagine an injury to a Lever or Petty and it’s a tight rope from there.

A chance for Andy MW or Howes to take Judd’s spot for the time being. Plus Bowey of course who probably would’ve been in anyway. 
 

Our small forward stocks are limited and wouldn’t even call McAdam that anyway. Unfortunate but think there is room to cover.

 

As for key position especially with the backs, Tmac will be an extra defender/forward when it comes to Petty/Lever/May also
 

Think we have more options than given credit for.  

Edited February 15Feb 15 by BC_1718_DC

19 minutes ago, BC_1718_DC said:

A chance for Andy MW or Howes to take Judd’s spot for the time being. Plus Bowey of course who probably would’ve been in anyway. 
 

Our small forward stocks are limited and wouldn’t even call McAdam that anyway. Unfortunate but think there is room to cover.

 

As for key position especially with the backs, Tmac will be an extra defender or could again swing when it comes to Petty/Lever/May. 
 

Think we have more options than given credit for.  

Let’s hope so. I just don’t like best 22 injuries 

1 hour ago, Garbo said:

Well that’s probably the end of mcadam hard to see him coming back now

Is this a season ending injury?

8 minutes ago, Oxdee said:

Is this a season ending injury?

Definitely. Often takes longer than an ACL. Up there with the worst you can sustain.

A ruptured achilles tendon is a huge injury.

It will sadly take Shane McAdam well over a year to fully recover from this injury.

Rotten luck and my heart goes out to him. ❤️

However, best to put him on the Long Term Injury List and give another player a chance.

14 minutes ago, Supreme_Demon said:

A ruptured achilles tendon is a huge injury.

It will sadly take Shane McAdam well over a year to fully recover from this injury.

Rotten luck and my heart goes out to him. ❤️

However, best to put him on the Long Term Injury List and give another player a chance.

Agreed, it’s just about a career ending injury for a 30yo, unlucky for the poor bugger, but not sure how professional he’s been in his career though, came to the club pretty unfit apparently 

AFL is a tough business 

2 hours ago, Billy said:

Agreed, it’s just about a career ending injury for a 30yo, unlucky for the poor bugger, but not sure how professional he’s been in his career though, came to the club pretty unfit apparently 

AFL is a tough business 

This injury is simply bad luck, no blame whatsoever on Shane, who was really impressive this pre season.

Terrible luck for him.

Wish him the best. He is probably in a bad head space atm I would imagine.

Club will wrap its arms around him.

Edited February 15Feb 15 by Redleg

Regardless of people's opinions on MacAdam, he'd put in a lot of hard work in the off-season and was almost a certainty to be a round one starter. He may not have been best 23 but you need players pushing hard for selection to make competition for spots, him being injured removes that.

It's just sad he'll never get a clean run at it.

As for the forgotten man in Spargs, how long has he been injured for? Will he ever get back?

2 hours ago, Pates said:

Regardless of people's opinions on MacAdam, he'd put in a lot of hard work in the off-season and was almost a certainty to be a round one starter. He may not have been best 23 but you need players pushing hard for selection to make competition for spots, him being injured removes that.

It's just sad he'll never get a clean run at it.

As for the forgotten man in Spargs, how long has he been injured for? Will he ever get back?

At training today Spargs did the entire session and whilst you never call spargs animated he was just loving being out there albeit in a pretty bruise free training session.  
He was really involved, plenty of the ball, clean and great delivery. He’s now fully fit in terms of his body but you’d think he’ll take some time for match fitness. If he’s not best 22 he’s certainly really good depth but my guess is he plays plenty of AFL footy this year, injury permitting. 

We knew it was coming but terrible luck for McAdam. 

 

On 17/02/2025 at 19:11, Pates said:

Regardless of people's opinions on MacAdam, he'd put in a lot of hard work in the off-season and was almost a certainty to be a round one starter. He may not have been best 23 but you need players pushing hard for selection to make competition for spots, him being injured removes that.

It's just sad he'll never get a clean run at it.

As for the forgotten man in Spargs, how long has he been injured for? Will he ever get back?

According to 'Richo', 'Shane is...looking forward to getting stuck into his rehab'. So hard to imagine that to be the case about such a long process, and at 29. So much credit to him if, on 13 Feb 2026, he's back where he was on that day a year earlier.

Hopefully Spargo and McAdam have the sort of relationship that the former's 2024 experience, and his getting back to where he is now, can support the latter through 2025.