I'm going left field and many on here will have a cow, but I believe Bailey Laurie will show something this season. Have it on good account that King rates him and will be given a go early whereas Goody just ignored him.

17 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Yeah well he just doesn't get the ball enough OR kick enough goals, thats my benchmark! For all his "pressure" acts and what an overated stat it is, if you get the ball first that pressure factor is a non event.

Does the same metric apply to tall forwards?

36 minutes ago, Docs Demons said:

I'm going left field and many on here will have a cow, but I believe Bailey Laurie will show something this season. Have it on good account that King rates him and will be given a go early whereas Goody just ignored him.

Interesting insight Docs

Any idea what King sees in him that Goody didn't?

50 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Does the same metric apply to tall forwards?

Yep! 2 goals per game at least 3 even better!

Edited Saturday at 04:122 days by picket fence

1 hour ago, picket fence said:

Yeah well he just doesn't get the ball enough OR kick enough goals, thats my benchmark! For all his "pressure" acts and what an overated stat it is, if you get the ball first that pressure factor is a non event.

Instead of bagging players, how about a bit of input regarding the thread which is 2026 break out players or is that too hard for you?

I’m thinking Van Rooyen & Turner & hopefully Laurie gets a fair go

Windsor to claim a wing, although by most metrics wings aren’t a breakout position. Unless he can become a goal kicker from there and then he will have his praises sung highly.

JVR has every opportunity to establish himself this year. In an attacking brand and as a lead up focal point, he should really be able to hit the scoreboard. Top 20 in the Coleman would be amazing.

Plenty of others on the list with lots of growth capacity in them. Ones I’d love to see rise and surprise would be

Kozzie (becoming a taggers nightmare)

Latrelle (excitement in the pocket and scoreboard impact)

Langford/lindsay/taylor being talked up regularly as good decision makers and executors.

And also, Mathews and kentfield to create buzz about selection crunches.

1 hour ago, picket fence said:

Yeah well he just doesn't get the ball enough OR kick enough goals, thats my benchmark! For all his "pressure" acts and what an overated stat it is, if you get the ball first that pressure factor is a non event.

Finished equal 5th in our goal kicking along with that Petracca bloke, but at 18 goals, 8 behinds was far more efficient than that later who kicked 18 goals 24 behinds.

Which somewhat brings us to el capitano's effort of 6 goals 15. If Max can even up that ledger a bit to say 10 goals, 11 behinds, which should be well within the realm of possibilities, given some of the absolute ciders he munted last season in particular, there's a few more goal improvement for the team that went begging and could have got us over the line in a few games. While he's always been a bit of a bunny in front of goals (I think the simple ones are actually his worst), if you look back over the years, 2025 was actually something of a stand out for the lows of Maxy's goal kicking, in which he usually at least breaks even with respect to accuracy (excluding those that might have ended up out on the full!) https://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/M/Max_Gawn.html

Edited Saturday at 05:162 days by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Also just a shout out to Chandler. Holds the current lead in most consecutive games at the club. A team that cuts teams open rather than bullock and bomb should see him get utilised better. Has really good speed and solid hands for a player his size. Does need some bags under his belt to silence critics though.

Edited Saturday at 05:182 days by The end is nigh

4 hours ago, DeeZone said:

Harry Sharp - Mid/Fwd has won every speed and endurance event to date, King will find a way to utilise his pace.

He's fast enough to run himself in to trouble but not fast enough to run out of it. An early test of whether King can coach will be whether he gets fooled in to playing Sharp or leaves him at Casey until he demonstrates a lot of improvement.

1 hour ago, adonski said:

Interesting insight Docs

Any idea what King sees in him that Goody didn't?

No idea adonski other than a good mate of Laurie told my Grandson that King rates him. Maybe Goody was to set in his ways. Whilst Laurie may have faults (who doesn't) he was one of the better performers at Casey last season. Time will tell and, in my view, Laurie definitely has talent. Early preseason games will give us an indication on whether he is moving up the pecking order.

36 minutes ago, Billy said:

I’m thinking Van Rooyen & Turner & hopefully Laurie gets a fair go

I too would like to see Bill given a fair crack. He either does or doesn't.

We "only" ( 🙄 ) need to change our fortunes by an average 4 goals a game to have a very different year. A bit sliding doors in a way but in our favour.

First of all we WIlL play different and better. A more natural intuitive game ... reverting back in a fashion to belief and team-first.

The likes of Checkers and Steelo will add a bit of consistency. Roo if he pays attention, and forgets speccies ... should return to a more zestful and dangerous player.

Reckon Fritta might be the one to benefit most oddly.

Some less slap bang wallop and more direction and poise out of the middle will help immensely and across the board.

26 will benefit all the players who have felt shackled and lumbered with a system that was too insular and too limited.

Again.... imho we will surprise a few.

A few players might surprise themselves...

Roll on season 26 😉

38 minutes ago, The end is nigh said:

Windsor to claim a wing, although by most metrics wings aren’t a breakout position. Unless he can become a goal kicker from there and then he will have his praises sung highly.

JVR has every opportunity to establish himself this year. In an attacking brand and as a lead up focal point, he should really be able to hit the scoreboard. Top 20 in the Coleman would be amazing.

Plenty of others on the list with lots of growth capacity in them. Ones I’d love to see rise and surprise would be

Kozzie (becoming a taggers nightmare)

Latrelle (excitement in the pocket and scoreboard impact)

Langford/lindsay/taylor being talked up regularly as good decision makers and executors.

And also, Mathews and kentfield to create buzz about selection crunches.

The regular track watchers might be able to correct me but the few match sims I have seen this preseason have Windsor in the middle, not on the wing and he has been dynamic in the quick ball movement out of the centre or restarts from the backline that they do in the sims. From memory players like Culley, Onley, Kolt and Langdon have been on the wings but it’s a small sample size I have observed.

16 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

He's fast enough to run himself in to trouble but not fast enough to run out of it. An early test of whether King can coach will be whether he gets fooled in to playing Sharp or leaves him at Casey until he demonstrates a lot of improvement.

I wouldn’t write him off DeeSpencer, Harry has been getting plenty of support from his teammates maybe this will lead to them looking for him more and drawing some extra protection his way. Hopefully Sharp can cut the mustard, he has raw speed and endurance that we are short on, The King will find his niche.

7 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

The regular track watchers might be able to correct me but the few match sims I have seen this preseason have Windsor in the middle, not on the wing and he has been dynamic in the quick ball movement out of the centre or restarts from the backline that they do in the sims. From memory players like Culley, Onley, Kolt and Langdon have been on the wings but it’s a small sample size I have observed.

Be surprised if he isn't.. have others to run the wings.

Gee, there's a lot to choose from. It would be a bit much against the MFCSS requirements to imagine they all go well.

I'll set aside the kids, and think of 'break out season' in terms of a player who had plateaued a bit early in their career and then pushed to a new level later.

Sparrow. A big watch simply to see how he emerges after being sausage-filler behind the Petracca-Oliver midfield steaks.

Chandler. His best runs of form actually put him into the very elite for the complex role of pressure forward and half-forward with two-way responsibility. All he would need to do is sustain it for a season.

Petty. Will surely now be trusted with responsibility in the role he is best suited for. Will finish the year as our primary key defender.

Turner. Part of what I just said about Chandler, part of what I just said about Petty. Will be our No.2 defender by the end of the season while also giving a bit of swing forward once in a while for fun. Potentially more creative and damaging than Petty.

Rivers. I'm less sure about Rivers than some are. I feel like he had opportunity but didn't take it. Well, now he has responsibility, more than just opportunity, so a very interesting one to watch. One of those players who seemed to just a tiny bit short of doing good things, over and over, and just a half second faster initiative and a half step less speed lost to fatigue there will be a totally disproportionate effect on his contribution. (Think Luke Jackson going from negative headlines to full hype again over at Freo - he didn't suddenly go from bad to good, but he improved the fundamentals just enough that his double-grab getting spoiled became a mark, and so on)

Van Rooyen. 40 goals for the season, 2 marks inside 50 and 1.5 contested marks per game. That's all it takes for him to become an absolute core player, and it is only an incremental improvement - similar to what I'm saying about Rivers. Sustain just that level for the future and he finishes his career as the curse-breaking legend of the Demon tall forwards.

"Checkers". Mihocek. Finally clear from the filth that has weighed him down, he'll have a career best year and all the Filth sooks will sook it up big time!!

1 hour ago, Billy said:

Instead of bagging players, how about a bit of input regarding the thread which is 2026 break out players or is that too hard for you?

I have almost finalised my best 23 and only then will I reveal my bolters/ break outs

If we move the ball quickly and he applies himself with the running required for the HHF role as he did after being dropped Frittata could have a big year as will Chandler, while Windsor and Lindsay could have big years and be very influential in our transition

32 minutes ago, picket fence said:

I have almost finalised my best 23 and only then will I reveal my bolters/ break outs

Really hoping one of Jefferson/Kentfield can announce themselves and become a permanent fixture in our side.

JvR, Windsor, Kolt, Culley, Laurie and Adams are decent candidates for taking there game further.

Also big wrap for Lindsay and can see him being one of our go to distributors either at half back or on the wing.

Curious to see where Howes will play. I'm not convinced third/fourth hybrid tall defender is his best spot and can see Taylor slotting into his position there quickly. Perhaps a return to the wing or half forward line where he played his juniors might suit?

13 minutes ago, adonski said:

Very good and very funny!😁

@Rodney (Balls) Grinter @DeeZone it's only a feeling - and it's all filtered through media reports as well as comments on here - so it's more "glass half full" than bet half your life savings we make finals.

I doubt 11 extra goals a game is likely. If you have a pebble in your shoe it turns out it was a lot smaller than you realised. I think in sport it can be the reverse. A slightly better kicking technique might mean once in each game a behind now is a goal or a player reads the ball slightly better or takes an extra mark in defence and these tiny improvements - wether in defence or attack - help decrease losing margins and / or increase winning ones. Three or four teams almost yearly return to the finals ( replacing mainly disappointing ones). There can be big surprises. Hopefully Melbourne are one next year ( or even better 2027-30 something we're full-on contenders surprising many.)

Two words…

🥳 LUKER [censored] KENTFIELD 🥳

Towards the end of last season he was very close to debuting. They felt he was ready for round 23 but they didn’t want him going up against Barrass and Battle in his first game, and round 24 was vs Collingwood. No Collingwood players were named as the reason so methinks it’s the entire side that was the deterrent. 😁

47 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

Two words…

🥳 LUKER [censored] KENTFIELD 🥳

Towards the end of last season he was very close to debuting. They felt he was ready for round 23 but they didn’t want him going up against Barrass and Battle in his first game, and round 24 was vs Collingwood. No Collingwood players were named as the reason so methinks it’s the entire side that was the deterrent. 😁

Are you Ghosty the Cameraman?

Also

🥳 LUKER [censored] KENTBAT 🥳& 🥳 LUKER [censored] KENTBOWL🥳

😛😛😛