1 hour ago, 3KZ is Football said:

Pass Mark for the Club in 2026

1. Membership Numbers increase, that will only happen with wins and an entertaining style of play. Sadly lacking over the past 2 Seasons

2. Young Players standing up, helping to create the new wins.

3. Traded Players coming in, giving solid contributions and improving their own games

4. So much has changed over the past 6 months, with more to come, it's hard to know how '26 will evolve

5. A pass mark should always be finals (The AFL has just created a Top 10, which I think is crazy, but it's the way it is)

6. Make Top 10 is a pretty low expectation

7. I hope King has far higher expectations than 10th...

What about all the senior & experienced players?

A lot rests with them, in my view. Collectively, they've virtually disappeared in the last 2 years

It's the senior players who need to lead the way with high standards. (And that includes Checkers & Steele)

The previous coach is gone so now the blowtorch goes on the senior players

5 minutes ago, Macca said:

What about all the senior & experienced players?

A lot rests with them, in my view. Collectively, they've virtually disappeared in the last 2 years

It's the senior players who need to lead the way with high standards. (And that includes Checkers & Steele)

The previous coach is gone so now the blowtorch goes on the senior players

I'm not so sure 'Macca'...Max has stood up, Viney has carried injuries as has Lever along with Salem, Tracc and Oliver have gone...Tommy Mac and Melk stood up when they probably would have been expected to do more time at Casey.

As far as leadership is concerned Trac and Oliver were letdowns and May was off field.

So of the big 3, 2 are gone.

We would expect more leadership from Checkers and Steele...and I would also think Chin and Disco will develop into solid leaders. Interesting to see who else of the new crew stands up. I think they will be better than what we've had. Max has had a big load to carry...

1 minute ago, rjay said:

I'm not so sure 'Macca'...Max has stood up, Viney has carried injuries as has Lever along with Salem, Tracc and Oliver have gone...Tommy Mac and Melk stood up when they probably would have been expected to do more time at Casey.

As far as leadership is concerned Trac and Oliver were letdowns and May was off field.

So of the big 3, 2 are gone.

We would expect more leadership from Checkers and Steele...and I would also think Chin and Disco will develop into solid leaders. Interesting to see who else of the new crew stands up. I think they will be better than what we've had. Max has had a big load to carry...

I'd give our experienced and senior players no more than a C in the last 2 seasons. And that's being generous

The ladder doesn't lie, rjay. We lost 28 games over the last 2 seasons and now most here are predicting anywhere from 6-10 wins (that's 13-17 losses) for 2026

If we had a decent senior core of players, those win column predictions would be much higher

And it's not about individual players per se, it's about the results in a collective sense

7 minutes ago, Macca said:

If we had a decent senior core of players

I agree with you and the club does as well that's why 2 of our star players have been moved on.

We didn't have a decent core...

Lets hope our new group can regenerate the club and get us on track.

Just now, rjay said:

I agree with you and the club does as well that's why 2 of our star players have been moved on.

We didn't have a decent core...

Lets hope our new group can regenerate the club and get us on track.

As previously stated, the established senior or experienced players need to lead the way

For instance, we probably had about 25 players on the list last season who come into the category of senior or experienced players

If a player is in the system for 4 or 5+ plus years, they need to perform

So how many of the 25 performed up to standard? 4? 5? Gawn, Pickett, Bowey and who else?

Chandler was ok but players like Langdon, Salem, Rivers, Viney and numerous others do nothing with the ball

Let's see what King can do with them

34 minutes ago, Macca said:

players like Langdon, Salem, Rivers, Viney and numerous others do nothing with the ball

Yeah, I think they had average seasons to be honest.

I get what you are saying about the senior group needing to pull the finger.

Fritsch is another in particular who has so much more to give and apparently is working hard now at training.

It seems like it wasn't a happy camp last year, let's see what this year brings but this crew as you say is crucial to a better season.

Sparrow is another senior player who needs to put in, again appears refreshed at training.

...by the way, I think Viney looks likely to miss a bit of the season (at least the first part) going on track reports to date.

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by rjay

3 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

The club reported he'll be on the sidelines through to early June (approx).

Anything more than that and I reckon they'll pull the pin on his season and he can be cherry ripe for the next pre season.

Thats so sad.

5 minutes ago, rjay said:

Yeah, I think they had average seasons to be honest.

I get what you are saying about the senior group needing to pull the finger.

Fritsch is another in particular who has so much more to give and apparently is working hard now at training.

It seems like it wasn't a happy camp last year, let's see what this year brings but this crew as you say is crucial to a better season.

Sparrow is another senior player who needs to put in, again appears refreshed at training.

...by the way, I think Viney looks likely to miss a bit of the season (at least the first part) going on track reports to date.

The (rough) average return in terms of predicted wins on this particular thread is about 8 ... that amounts to 15 losses. I haven't seen anyone talk about the top 4 or top 6 or even the top 8

It's all bit meh and that type of thinking highlights that we don't rate the list. A conclusion could be reached that looking ahead, we are heavily reliant on youngsters coming through. If so, we'll need a good dose of luck as drafting can be a flawed exercise

And you can't seriously contend without a core group of senior players that are performing well

In other years, with a new coach and a revamped FD, there would be renewed optimism for the year ahead. Not this time. Expectations are low

If we can't win games without Petracca & Oliver, then that doesn't say much about the rest of the senior players. They need to lift, big time

11 minutes ago, Macca said:

The (rough) average return in terms of predicted wins on this particular thread is about 8 ... that amounts to 15 losses. I haven't seen anyone talk about the top 4 or top 6 or even the top 8

It's all bit meh and that type of thinking highlights that we don't rate the list. A conclusion could be reached that looking ahead, we are heavily reliant on youngsters coming through. If so, we'll need a good dose of luck as drafting can be a flawed exercise

And you can't seriously contend without a core group of senior players that are performing well

In other years, with a new coach and a revamped FD, there would be renewed optimism for the year ahead. Not this time. Expectations are low

If we can't win games without Petracca & Oliver, then that doesn't say much about the rest of the senior players. They need to lift, big time

Any good senior list has a core group of absolute A to A+ stars...probably around 4 players for a top team.

We've lost 2 of them and still have 2, Max & Koz...

It's yet to be seen if anyone else can step up.

To me it looks like it will be a couple of the 2 to 3 year players...if not then we haven't got them yet.

None of the others in the senior list are going to.

There will be some really good players in that group but not the match winners.

2 minutes ago, rjay said:

Any good senior list has a core group of absolute A to A+ stars...probably around 4 players for a top team.

We've lost 2 of them and still have 2, Max & Koz...

It's yet to be seen if anyone else can step up.

To me it looks like it will be a couple of the 2 to 3 year players...if not then we haven't got them yet.

None of the others in the senior list are going to.

There will be some really good players in that group but not the match winners.

We lost A grade Oliver sometime in 2023 and A grade Petracca was looking elsewhere soon after. But gone now, and we move on

My concern is that the previously well performed players such as Fritsch, Salem, Lever, Langdon, Viney, Rivers, Petty, Sparrow and a few others have all regressed. Certainly none of them have stepped it up (which is what a few of them should have done)

Players like T-Mac, May & Melk are on their last legs and are now depth players

So it wasn't just about Oliver & Petracca dropping off

We're going to need a lot more than an ageing Max & Kozzie performing well, otherwise we could drop right off the perch

Thus, the thinking has to be that the senior players have to get it done. At least for the interim

Players similar to Checkers & Steele might be needed, similar to what Roos did when he recruited the experienced types such as Cross, Vince & Lewis

1 hour ago, Macca said:

Players similar to Checkers & Steele might be needed, similar to what Roos did when he recruited the experienced types such as Cross, Vince & Lewis

We had no A+ graders then 'Macca'...

There's no doubt we are in a rebuild of sorts.

...but we have 2 AA's to start with this time and some quality 2nd and 3rd year players.

We will get something from the rest.

Fritsch, Petty, Salem, Rivers, Disco & Lever are all good players who I would expect better of this year.

...and Ed would have to be better than last year.

It's what I call an interesting watch this year.

10 minutes ago, rjay said:

We had no A+ graders then 'Macca'...

There's no doubt we are in a rebuild of sorts.

...but we have 2 AA's to start with this time and some quality 2nd and 3rd year players.

We will get something from the rest.

Fritsch, Petty, Salem, Rivers, Disco & Lever are all good players who I would expect better of this year.

...and Ed would have to be better than last year.

It's what I call an interesting watch this year.

The addition of the veterans by Roos was a vital factor towards building a decent list for the future

We went too young in other rebuilds and left ourselves way short. Thus, the thrashings we incurred

Anyway, time will tell but maybe the biggest task for King is getting the best out of our experienced players. If he can do that, it will make it so much easier for the youngsters

Max 12 wins is my optimistic view down to 6 wins (17 losses) if things go pear-shaped

But as you said, it will indeed be an interesting watch, rjay

4 hours ago, Macca said:

What about all the senior & experienced players?

A lot rests with them, in my view. Collectively, they've virtually disappeared in the last 2 years

It's the senior players who need to lead the way with high standards. (And that includes Checkers & Steele)

The previous coach is gone so now the blowtorch goes on the senior players

I expect a great deal from the Senior Players. I am not giving them a Free Pass, but any Success this coming Season, will have a lot to do with Players and Staff who have recently joined us.

7 minutes ago, 3KZ is Football said:

I expect a great deal from the Senior Players. I am not giving them a Free Pass, but any Success this coming Season, will have a lot to do with Players and Staff who have recently joined us.

Fair enough

In my view, I can't see us winning many games unless our senior players step up and perform

The new coach gets a pass mark for a good length of time but the senior players don't. They've already failed miserably in the last 2 seasons

We'll soon find out as we're going to get tested early and there are no longer any easy, winnable games