PRESEASON TRAINING: Wednesday 29th January 2025

[GS_1905 352]

15 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

Okay, idle speculation but I think Kentfield is off the list and one of the three train on will be selected in the draft.  My pick would be Roy George.

Other observations. Sestan worked very well off half back, he's a very good kick. McAdam was a star in a lot of the drills.  If he stays fit we have something.  At one stage Windsor had the ball running to goal.  Lingers decided to run him down. Did manage it despite Duke going at 85%.  Windsor and Kossie, as Scoop said, stand out with their physical attributes.

Roy George continues to impress.  Does some special things.  I was on his bandwagon at the end of last season but I am now.  He's got some special attributes.

I disagree with WW.  The match sims are not all that physical.  It's tackle with care and little contact in the air but Tmac might have a word with JvR.

Addition: had a long chat with Kingy, was really approachable and happy to talk.  He's a big fan of Windsor going back "because you don't get enough of the ball on the wing". He thought as a team we had the greatest highest and lowest variance.  He had a long chat to Trac, I love to know what he thinks now.

I think Kingy and Joey are the two media pundits that i have the most respect for. They are not employed to entertain - their focus is pure football and i think they are pretty good at it. Lets not forget Joey's prediction 2021 - he was the only one that was on the money. Kingy is bold and gets a prediction or two wildly wrong here and there. 

Edited January 29 by GS_1905

[DeeZone 10,590]

Another huge thanks to Demon Jack, Waynewussell, ClaNiKo, Ditcha, Kev Martin, Harvey Wallbanger, Ghostwriter, Scoop Junior, Whisperiy_Jack, Startibartfast for the excellent track reports and all posters for your observations and special comments, informative, humorous and intriguing. Where are you Luker??

[BangBnagBang 773]

14 hours ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

If a spot opened up I believe we would have until Feb 19 to sign someone. This would require Luker and the club to agree to a contract termination I’d imagine. If he’s decided he doesn’t want to continue in Melbourne that could be possible.

 

13 hours ago, Red and Blue Flame said:

Luker Kentfield signed a contract extension at the end of last year. Would be surprised if he isn't on the list...

 

1 hour ago, Slartibartfast said:

 

Jumped to conclusions?  Give me a break. How does idle speculation represent jumping to conclusions?

Of course I hope Luker is okay, I wish him well, but one possible explanation for his absence, for whatever reason and I’m not speculating that reason, is he won’t be on our list going forward.

 

Luker will be on the list until the end of the season, whatever the issue is. You just cant remove someone off the list mid year.

[picket fence 18,186]

Sticking to the topic, how did Jeffo move yesterday?

[58er 6,872]

1 hour ago, Roost it far said:

I don’t think Johnson is ever going to be a high possession player, that’s not his role. He needs to relieve the pressure from our other forwards and Max. He needs to run hard, compete hard and hit packs with a real ferocity. This is why we got him, these are the things that Jefferson doesn’t appear ready to do.

To be fair it’s not Jeffo’s role to do that as a developing forward. He is being trained as a forward  and clearly AJ is a second ruck/ forward with a much bigger body and greater physical attributes. 

[DistrACTION Jackson 10,733]

3 minutes ago, BangBnagBang said:

 

 

Luker will be on the list until the end of the season, whatever the issue is. You just cant remove someone off the list mid year.

You can if the player chooses to retire. The club won't force him off the list, but he may have told them he isn't up to AFL anymore and wants to go back to WA.

Anyway it's all speculation at the moment.

[adonski 13,269]

6 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Sticking to the topic, how did Jeffo move yesterday?

Gracefully

[Roost it far 10,137]

1 minute ago, 58er said:

To be fair it’s not Jeffo’s role to do that as a developing forward. He is being trained as a forward  and clearly AJ is a second ruck/ forward with a much bigger body and greater physical attributes. 

If you’re in your 3rd year as a key forward and part of your role doesn’t involve those things then you’re a bust already. Hitting packs with ferocity is the absolute bare minimum for Jefferson, it’s why I think Johnson may be currently ahead of him in the clubs planning. 

[waynewussell 6,976]

21 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Sticking to the topic, how did Jeffo move yesterday?

Not as involved as he was before protocols. Seemed to be cruising rather than shooting for a spot. If he regains the intensity in coming days, it will be a sign he is ready.

[ANG13 2,110]

1 hour ago, GS_1905 said:

I think Kingy and Joey are the two media pundits that i have the most respect for. They are not employed to entertain - their focus is pure football and i think they are pretty good at it. Lets not forget Joey's prediction 2021 - he was the only one that was on the money. Kingy is bold and gets a prediction or two wildly wrong here and there. 

While Kingy may not be paid to entertain he sure makes me laugh. 

[Fritta and Turner 4,696]

43 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Sticking to the topic, how did Jeffo move yesterday?

Move like Jeffo, makings of a song....

[BangBnagBang 773]

48 minutes ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

You can if the player chooses to retire. The club won't force him off the list, but he may have told them he isn't up to AFL anymore and wants to go back to WA.

Anyway it's all speculation at the moment.

If you retire your still on the list until after the season finishes. ie Brayshaw He was on the list all season until he was delisted at the end of the season.

[Slartibartfast 18,121]

2 minutes ago, BangBnagBang said:

If you retire your still on the list until after the season finishes. ie Brayshaw He was on the list all season until he was delisted at the end of the season.

Perhaps so but I think you can be replaced by another play in the PS or mid year drafts.

[DistrACTION Jackson 10,733]

4 minutes ago, BangBnagBang said:

If you retire your still on the list until after the season finishes. ie Brayshaw He was on the list all season until he was delisted at the end of the season.

Yes, but the club can replace a retired player either in the SSP or in the mid-season draft if the required paperwork is lodged.

AFL tightens inactive player rules ahead of mid-season draft

So if the club did lodge a Deed of Release form then they can replace that player, according to this article.

I'm not saying this is what will happen or is happening, just saying it is possible.

[seventyfour 1,248]

Sounds like JVR is ready to explode. Please no ruck work for him this year.

How is Disco travelling? Sounds like he was flying pre-Christmas, but mayne not so much since the sad news about his parents house being lost in the fire and there may have been an injury too?

It's easy to worry about our forward line, but if players deliver on the potential they've shown, it could quickly become a handful with a good mix of youth and experience.

[Demon_spurs 1,984]

13 minutes ago, seventyfour said:

Sounds like JVR is ready to explode. Please no ruck work for him this year.

 

Sometimes, getting a player to ruck gets them into the play if they are being stifled up forward. So I think he can switch hit, but hopefully doesn't get the 2nd ruck role all game

[Ghostwriter 5,460]

4 hours ago, BAMF said:

Slartibarfast earlier in this thread. You replied to the post.

Slartibartfast didn’t “jump to conclusions” he started his comment with “idle speculation” and when you do that, everything following is exactly that… idle speculation.

Besides, in terms of “jumping to conclusions” how is saying Luker is possibly at home in WA for personal reasons any different to saying Luker is possibly no longer on our list? That’s either two cases of jumping to conclusions… or it’s zero cases of that.

[Ghostwriter 5,460]

5 hours ago, picket fence said:

Let's not speculate anything at this stage!

Let’s not speculate??? Demonland is built on speculation! 😂

[Ghostwriter 5,460]

13 hours ago, hardtack said:

Yes, that’s a thought I’ve had in the meantime…is it possible that he’s suffering from, as much as I don’t like the term for reasons unknown to me, a mental illness? In which case would the club put him on the long term injury list so that he has the option of returning when ready, or alternatively, could he be considering walking away from footy?

Any of the above could happen and your guess is as good as mine or anyone else’s. I’m just happy that Luker isn’t a high profile player because the media would go to town on this and we all know how that usually pans out 🙄 In either of your suggested scenarios, he needs support and care and you’d like to think he’s receiving this. 

[Gator 18,053]

28 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

Let’s not speculate??? Demonland is built on speculation! 😂

When it comes to speculating on ''mental health'', which was the post Pickett was responding to, I agree with him.

No need.

[Ghostwriter 5,460]

1 minute ago, Gator said:

When it comes to speculating on ''mental health'', which was the post Pickett was responding to, I agree with him.

No need.

I don’t disagree. I was having a little dig at Demonland which is something that’s done very often, and with no malice. 

[DistrACTION Jackson 10,733]

2 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

I don’t disagree. I was having a little dig at Demonland which is something that’s done very often, and with no malice. 

Apparently mental health isn't important when calling a player a spud or calling for them to be delisted....

[Kev 10,926]

6 hours ago, Roost it far said:

I don’t think Johnson is ever going to be a high possession player, that’s not his role. He needs to relieve the pressure from our other forwards and Max. He needs to run hard, compete hard and hit packs with a real ferocity. This is why we got him, these are the things that Jefferson doesn’t appear ready to do.

Johnson has been doing well in the preseason, often finding some freedom from opposition that others can have difficulty with. He uses the boundary side well, and  has a good leading pattern. I haven't  seen him hit the packs or perhaps he is waiting for serious opponents. Yet to see him doing any ruck drills.

My feeling about Jefferson is that he is a back-up to Fritsch. His one on one's, are fairly good, and at times shows he has the hands to go with it. Though a little inconsistent with that. His best asset in contest, is he keeps his feet, controls the aerial, brings the ball to ground and gathers it. His snap shot is also good.

Edited January 30 by kev martin

[Sydney Pennski 309]

On Luker, I think it's incumbent on a club to at least provide a basic report in the case of a player who hasn't been at training for long periods of time. Particularly to ensure there's no idle speculation going on.

[BAMF 4,483]

6 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

 

Jumped to conclusions?  Give me a break. How does idle speculation represent jumping to conclusions?

Of course I hope Luker is okay, I wish him well, but one possible explanation for his absence, for whatever reason and I’m not speculating that reason, is he won’t be on our list going forward.

The things we know are that he hasn’t been at training for weeks at a critical time of the year for a young player, we have three train on players with no list spots available (why would we be showcasing players to other clubs if we had an interest in them) and he’s probably behind JvR, Turner, Johnson, Petty and Jefferson for a KF position.  

Please don’t attribute things to me that are false. I fully accept that I might be way off the mark here but my suggestion is a possible explanation of what we know. 
 

Sorry mate. Dazzle made those comments and I could only assume it was directed at you as you were the only one who commented on it.

I thought it was a fair assumption to make.

I had no intention of pointing a finger at you thinking you were in anyway in the wrong.

Ill let dazzle reply to his own comments in the future.