21 minutes ago, binman said:

• I wonder if our high performance program is geared towards being in optimal shape on Kings birthday at the potential expense of this game (ie bigger block of training into this game then taking advantage of the 8 day break to taper into the pies game)

@binman I know it’s getting a bit of topic for this thread but I wonder if the opposite might be true for Collingwood heading into the Kings birthday game. They have a 10 day break before that game and a 12 day break after.

Would you be thinking that they will ramp up their loading ahead of our game and look to put in a really good block over that 22 period? They are top and can afford to risk losing one or two to be cherry ripe for the business end.

We might be getting them at a good time is what I hoping for.

3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

There is no club in the AFL that would have the quality to replace Gawn. Hea a generational player.

Campbell of course would still provide a solid back up option. Completely different style of ruckman, but would at least give us a solid mature and experienced body to crash and bash.

I was choosing a slightly extreme example I’ll admit. My point remains about depth. However if your system is truly bedded down across your list you should be able to replace 3ish players from the bottom 15 at any given time and not suffer too big a fall in form. If you can’t you’re going to struggle over a season without luck. The thing with our depth I think once you fall past Laurie, Henderson and ?? you get into uncharted territory. Do Sestan and Brown have the ability? Anyway we’ll likely find out as we’ve just lost Spargo for 4-6 so the next injury to a running/small will likely see one of these guys get a game. In the talls we’ve got JVR and Jefferson and then we’ve got Campbell to replace Gawn, heaven forbid.

12 hours ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

I was left completely unconvinced by Goody's presser response on Viney's availability...

Definitely in doubt 🧐

Same here. Viney had not gone through full contact training so we have to see how he pulls up from that first. It's not ticked off yet.

Edited May 29May 29 by Bay Riffin

If Viney doesn’t come up best guess would be Laurie comes in (despite my view he’s too small for AFL).

He and Culley were the emergencies last week with TMac which in my view makes them next in, Culley didn’t get near it against Preston from the stat sheet so that puts Laurie in the box seat.

Wouldn’t be shocked if Billings gets the call up out of the blue but I think it’s Bill. No other changes imo.

Should beat them, they’re going terribly. As others have pointed out Ross the Boss will make it the worst game of the round to watch but we should have enough quality to win it.

On 26/05/2025 at 22:33, 640MD said:

I do hope we keep AJ in the side.

He is not a great player. Well not yet, might never be. But he is physical. And we gave not had a physical player since the we’d went to essenscum

Sorry I will have my pill now.

You need physicality in your team and on every line, he brings that in spades.

Team orientated, selfless and can knock a few skittles down when the occasion arises.

His confidence will continue to grow and you never know he might bob up and take a couple of towering grabs and kick a couple of snags in the accompanying months.

2 hours ago, Fromgotowoewodin said:

If Viney doesn’t come up best guess would be Laurie comes in (despite my view he’s too small for AFL).

He and Culley were the emergencies last week with TMac which in my view makes them next in, Culley didn’t get near it against Preston from the stat sheet so that puts Laurie in the box seat.

Wouldn’t be shocked if Billings gets the call up out of the blue but I think it’s Bill. No other changes imo.

Should beat them, they’re going terribly. As others have pointed out Ross the Boss will make it the worst game of the round to watch but we should have enough quality to win it.

Culley was taken off at half-time as the emergency

Saints are coming off 3 losses to GC, West Coast and Carlton

We should win comfortably

4 hours ago, binman said:

• I wonder if our high performance program is geared towards being in optimal shape on Kings birthday at the potential expense of this game (ie bigger block of training into this game then taking advantage of the 8 day break to taper into the pies game)

I hope that's not the case

I'd be prioritising the game we have a better chance of winning, otherwise we run the risk of losing both games.

5 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I hope that's not the case

I'd be prioritising the game we have a better chance of winning, otherwise we run the risk of losing both games.

I think he’s referring to Collingwood upping the training not us

Interesting article in the Age about our game last week. Ch 7 are criticizing Fox/Kayo for calling the game from Sth Melb instead of the MCG.

I wonder where the call will be from for the Alice game.

Calling a game off the screen is sub standard to say the least especially if they are getting the same feed we are seeing

12 minutes ago, durango1946 said:

Culley was taken off at half-time as the emergency

Maybe he’s closer than Bill then?

1 minute ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Calling a game off the screen is sub standard to say the least especially if they are getting the same feed we are seeing

They’ll have multiple screens running but it’s still not the same as watching live

25 minutes ago, Fromgotowoewodin said:

Maybe he’s closer than Bill then?

I think Laurie’s more likely to replace Spargo than Culley. Culley will be there should Petracca, Oliver or perhaps Viney goes down.

I’d love Culley to get a game if say Sparrow got a niggle, a patch of games to see how he goes. I don’t like seeing players waste away playing at Casey.

I think Culley is a chance to come in if Viney doesn't get up. But I'm not sure we can carry both plus our other bulls in the same team

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Interesting article in the Age about our game last week. Ch 7 are criticizing Fox/Kayo for calling the game from Sth Melb instead of the MCG.

I wonder where the call will be from for the Alice game.

Calling a game off the screen is sub standard to say the least especially if they are getting the same feed we are seeing

I reckon the entire channel 7 team will be there as it is a designated CH 7 game.

The Foxtel calling team till be calling from a studio aside from the designated boundary rider who will be at the game.

Apparently the callers at the studio have access to vision that the viewer doesn't while they're watching the game live.

2 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

You need physicality in your team and on every line, he brings that in spades.

Team orientated, selfless and can knock a few skittles down when the occasion arises.

His confidence will continue to grow and you never know he might bob up and take a couple of towering grabs and kick a couple of snags in the accompanying months.

I think back to a few weeks ago when he took a mark and had the chance to put us in front late.
Missed but put himself in the position anyway.
Then popped up a couple weeks later and slammed the sealer off the ground with desperation against the Lions.

As for Viney .... Didn't they rule him out for about 3weeks?

Edited May 29May 29 by Fork 'em

1 hour ago, Fromgotowoewodin said:

They’ll have multiple screens running but it’s still not the same as watching live

Nah, not the same at all.
Watching live a player might intercept in the backline and the crowd will start roaring cause they can see the whole ground open up in front of him.
On TV you might see 3-4 meter either side of the player with the ball.
You don't know what his options are, if he even has any.

Edited May 29May 29 by Fork 'em

6 hours ago, Cranky Franky said:

Danger game. We have a poor record in AS.

Lyon is a good tactical coach & while the Saints are ordinary they manage to pull off upset wins every year.

Id say every game for us this year can be described as a danger game. After going 0-5, it will be very hard to trust this mob again. Heck, even when we had just won the flag, i found it very hard to trust the performances... Apparently its a side effect from acute MCFSS

I checked the Betfair predicted scores and I reckon they are way over what will actually play out. I reckon whichever team that cracks 70 points will win this

5 minutes ago, D Rev said:

I checked the Betfair predicted scores and I reckon they are way over what will actually play out. I reckon whichever team that cracks 70 points will win this

If it’s 93 to 88 Ross will kick the glass out of the coaches box - he’ll be aiming for 50-60points each

If St Kilda park the bus we could be in trouble.

Let's hope we get a decent lead in Q1 and the game opens up from there.

If we are to go anywhere this game should be a regulation win

No chance Roo comes in for AJ

AJ offers more aggression and is better in the ruck

29 minutes ago, D Rev said:

I checked the Betfair predicted scores and I reckon they are way over what will actually play out. I reckon whichever team that cracks 70 points will win this

Nah Alice is a fast track and renown for high scoring games

This is THE game to show we’re back. Win this and we’re 6-6 with Port, North, Carlton, Saints again and Eagles as five more must win games in the run home to take us to 11 wins. We would probably still need to jag one or two of Pies x2, GC, Adelaide, Dogs, Hawks to make finals.

Lose this game and we’d need to win 8 out of last 11 games with some tough runs in there. Probably season over.

Let’s stick with what’s working, win and hopefully win well enough to creep our percentage back up towards parity.

Out: Spargo

In: Viney

Edited May 29May 29 by deejammin'