2026 will be a very interesting year for us.

Solution has always been taking the easier option. Either Goody didnt coach it; the players were not able to execute or a bit of both.

No doubt King will try and implement a variation of Geelong's system so we will see whether we can turn that into results.

What do people think of this possible side.

B: Jiath, Petty, Bowey

HB: Lindsay, Turner, Farrow

C: Culley, Langford, Windsor

HF: Tholstrup, van Rooyen, Nairn

F: Fritsch, Mihocek, Melksham

FOLL: Gawn, Rivers, Pickett

IC: Steele, Viney, Salem, Lever, Langdon

EMERG: Sparrow, Chandler, Howes

Casey

B: Adams, May, Berry

HB: Howes, McDonald, Moniz-Wakefield

C: Sinnema, Laurie, Sharp

HF: Mentha, Johnson, Chandler

F: McAdam, Kentfield, Jefferson

FOLL: Heath, Sparrow, Henderson

IC: White, Campbell, Pick 37, Rookie

7 hours ago, Demonland said:

Thanks is there a shorter version, say 30 secs long? This goes for a whole 20 mins.

Apologies for the thread clog, but if someone could direct me as to how to put someone on ignore, I’d very much appreciate it.

Good Analysis but not many surprises. But [censored] me I have never seen a ceiling fan spin so fast.

20 minutes ago, The end is nigh said:

Apologies for the thread clog, but if someone could direct me as to how to put someone on ignore, I’d very much appreciate it.

Go to your account (just tap your avatar) and you'll see a list of actions. One is ignored users. Just compete the field asking who you want ignore.

9 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

What do people think of this possible side.

B: Jiath, Petty, Bowey

HB: Lindsay, Turner, Farrow

C: Culley, Langford, Windsor

HF: Tholstrup, van Rooyen, Nairn

F: Fritsch, Mihocek, Melksham

FOLL: Gawn, Rivers, Pickett

IC: Steele, Viney, Salem, Lever, Langdon

EMERG: Sparrow, Chandler, Howes

Casey

B: Adams, May, Berry

HB: Howes, McDonald, Moniz-Wakefield

C: Sinnema, Laurie, Sharp

HF: Mentha, Johnson, Chandler

F: McAdam, Kentfield, Jefferson

FOLL: Heath, Sparrow, Henderson

IC: White, Campbell, Pick 37, Rookie

What has Chandler done wrong? I think it's a little premature to include 'non-recruits', though admittedly they'd hafta get some game time.

12 hours ago, GS_1905 said:

Solution has always been taking the easier option. Either Goody didnt coach it; the players were not able to execute or a bit of both.

No doubt King will try and implement a variation of Geelong's system so we will see whether we can turn that into results.

Not to tread over thoroughly worn ground, but it’s also frustrating watching this as the ‘burning options’ or ‘bombing in it’ had been spoken about for so many years and it didn’t change to any meaningful degree. Last year I did notice more trying to kick it to good options but we just seemed incapable of actually kicking or leading to advantage.

Anyways, onwards and upwards

12 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

What do people think of this possible side.

B: Jiath, Petty, Bowey

HB: Lindsay, Turner, Farrow

C: Culley, Langford, Windsor

HF: Tholstrup, van Rooyen, Nairn

F: Fritsch, Mihocek, Melksham

FOLL: Gawn, Rivers, Pickett

IC: Steele, Viney, Salem, Lever, Langdon

EMERG: Sparrow, Chandler, Howes

Casey

B: Adams, May, Berry

HB: Howes, McDonald, Moniz-Wakefield

C: Sinnema, Laurie, Sharp

HF: Mentha, Johnson, Chandler

F: McAdam, Kentfield, Jefferson

FOLL: Heath, Sparrow, Henderson

IC: White, Campbell, Pick 37, Rookie

Fantasy guessing game naming players not even at the club.

And presumably JVR will continue to have his development stifled by doing the back up ruck work. (It does give some posters to find an easy scapegoat). No room for a not-quite-so-big Max on a 5 man bench??

13 hours ago, Demonland said:

I mentioned in another thread we might be a surprise packet in 26.

I hadn't seen this then..

Here Jeff lays it all out.

A lot of things are fixable...a lot. And the results might be interesting.

Kick one more goal a game....not a lot really... suddenly youve a 100% ..not great... but a difference. Kick 2 more goals a game ?? A very different season. Thats JUST 2 goals a game...

What White talks about is changing games (as result ) by 3/4/5 goals a game. And not by total reinvention , just by being less dogmatic , more intuitive and applying a bit more footy 101 common sense.

We've had the better part of 3 parts out of 4 or 5 of an ok game. The better elements will remain. The connect/assist component ought to change dramatically this coming season as we now have someone in charge who not only understands it but was very instrumental in it at a very successful club.

Im allowing for absolutely nothing really coming from anyone drafted this year...that output will come in due course. But with a handful of players either maturing or simply nit injured we ought to have a list capable of some decent footy.

Ive said it time and time again...and it was the impetus behing my wanting fresh leadership at the club...

New chef , with better recipe.... same ingenuity... very different result

GonDees

Watch Mihocek's goals from 2025. 85% of them are from a hit up kick. Under melbourne's structure he would have kicked 10 goals..

White is spot on. Our fwds have no idea where to run. COuple that with a midfield that couldn't hit the side of a barn we were always going to struggle.

Excited for what Steven King will bring to the table in terms of our structures

No real surprises there, fingers crossed with Kingy coming from Geelong he can teach our forwards how to play.. they might have the physical skill but clearly haven’t clicked with positioning and leading.

I believe that the midfielders should take options out of the forwards hands and just put in a spot where the forward should be. Maybe then the forwards can focus on “see ball, get ball”.

17 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

I mentioned in another thread we might be a surprise packet in 26.

I hadn't seen this then..

Here Jeff lays it all out.

A lot of things are fixable...a lot. And the results might be interesting.

Kick one more goal a game....not a lot really... suddenly youve a 100% ..not great... but a difference. Kick 2 more goals a game ?? A very different season. Thats JUST 2 goals a game...

What White talks about is changing games (as result ) by 3/4/5 goals a game. And not by total reinvention , just by being less dogmatic , more intuitive and applying a bit more footy 101 common sense.

We've had the better part of 3 parts out of 4 or 5 of an ok game. The better elements will remain. The connect/assist component ought to change dramatically this coming season as we now have someone in charge who not only understands it but was very instrumental in it at a very successful club.

Im allowing for absolutely nothing really coming from anyone drafted this year...that output will come in due course. But with a handful of players either maturing or simply nit injured we ought to have a list capable of some decent footy.

Ive said it time and time again...and it was the impetus behing my wanting fresh leadership at the club...

New chef , with better recipe.... same ingenuity... very different result

GonDees

It's amazing how small, subtle changes can have such an accumulative effect. It often explians how each season teams look like theyre in a game of Snakes and Ladders. A player isnt suddenly 10cm taller nor sprinting 10%faster. But , yeah , if in an new season , say, the midfield is exactly the same but now two more times in 100 minutes a kick into the forward line becomes a shot 20m out virtually an identical side wins more games. And if a team can have a dozen players just developing a few better on-field habits suddenly it looks like they recruited Bruce Doull, Paddy Cripps and Tony Lockett over summer.

13 hours ago, BoBo said:

2026 will be a very interesting year for us.

Aren't they all BoBo?

3 minutes ago, old dee said:

Aren't they all BoBo?

Some more than others!

I liked his analysis and not bombing it in. He could easily be the forward coach

3 minutes ago, Older demon said:

I liked his analysis and not bombing it in. He could easily be the forward coach

All White has done here has come in with a Sandra Sully comment... so that all of a sudden makes him a genius in your eyes?

We have all watched it happen with our own eyes and screaming for change 4 years straight now.

I like Jeff.. but he didnt tell us anything ground breaking at all to be honest.

10 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I like Jeff.. but he didnt tell us anything ground breaking at all to be honest.

No he didn't...

...and given that Tracc has been our number 1 goal assist player the interesting thing to me is which players are capable of making up the numbers.

We're coming from a far way back.

23 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

All White has done here has come in with a Sandra Sully comment... so that all of a sudden makes him a genius in your eyes?

We have all watched it happen with our own eyes and screaming for change 4 years straight now.

I like Jeff.. but he didnt tell us anything ground breaking at all to be honest.

No but in fairness the takeaway for me was the focus on Geelong and what hopefully King will bring to us

For those that watch training, do we practice pulling the kick at the last minute much? I see this happen sometime from set plays (a player pretends to be lining up for goal when at the top of their range) but not so much in general play. I think this is what makes players like Miers so dangerous as he ends up kicking it where the defender's aren't expecting.

Obviously takes a lot of synergy between the forward and the kicker, good awareness and skills from the kicker and movement from all forwards.... but it all comes with practice surely. Do we practice it?

10 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

No but in fairness the takeaway for me was the focus on Geelong and what hopefully King will bring to us

Yes I did like that as well i must admit.

At the very least our forward line doesn't lack for players that can kick a snag and IMO King has some options to work with.

We have 5 player who have kicked 30 or more goals at least once in a season (Fritta, Pickett, Melksham, JVR and Mihocek) and that doesn't include T Mac.

Compare that to Gold Coast who have only had 3 players with a 30 goal+ season and one of them hasn't even played a game for them yet and is one stuff up away from footy exile. And Trac never had a 30 goal season for us.

On the subject of Mihocek, I watch a Pies V Sydney game in 2023 when he snagged 5. That guy can certainly play and his snap shots in general play are a thing of beauty. I hope we can get at least one good 35 goal season out of him.

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

All White has done here has come in with a Sandra Sully comment... so that all of a sudden makes him a genius in your eyes?

We have all watched it happen with our own eyes and screaming for change 4 years straight now.

I like Jeff.. but he didnt tell us anything ground breaking at all to be honest.

Im not saying he's a genius. And what he outlines for many of us is far from new. But he does give a fair description.

It does show what, you, I and others have been on about over the years. It always seemed just a handful of things needed reworking/ rethinking.