2 hours ago, GawnOfTheDead said:

I’ve always thought that Petty was a better forward than backman. If it was up to me, should have traded him when Adelaide were going to throw the world at him.

I think he struggles anywhere on the field and really needs to hit the gym. He’s always being out muscled.

Never been a huge fan of Petty.

He lacks the intensity and physicality to lock down a spot at either end of the ground. His fitness level has always been sub-standard and his disposal and decision making are not that great either.

I would love for him to make a fool of me, but this is his 9th year of football and he has only ever shown rare glimpses. Agree we should’ve traded him when the Crows were all over him like a rash.

3 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I reluctantly re-watched the first 5 games of last year to see where it all went wrong and two things I picked up that were relevant to your post.

1) Jeffo showed some sneaky great signs in the GWS round 1 game. A goal in the first 20 seconds of the game, a beautiful gather near the boundary that set up a goal to Henderson, and a classic full forward lead and subsequent goal (from a crisp Windsor pass) that appeared to seal the game at the time.

2) Petty ain't a defender either if the first 5 games were an indication. Our defence overall was a complete circus during that period but he was hopeless one-on-one, and far too slow for a modern day key defender. There's a probably a reason he was swung forward for the balance of the year.

I think the idea of Petty playing as a defender (and May and TMac playing VFL) will make us worse.

Goodwin was no mug when it came to building a system that worked to our team's strengths. We just have a very inflexible list of players.

23 minutes ago, Demon Disciple said:

Never been a huge fan of Petty.

He lacks the intensity and physicality to lock down a spot at either end of the ground. His fitness level has always been sub-standard and his disposal and decision making are not that great either.

I would love for him to make a fool of me, but this is his 9th year of football and he has only ever shown rare glimpses. Agree we should’ve traded him when the Crows were all over him like a rash.

It’s not a popular opinion but fully agree. I think he’s a seconds player at best. I’d prefer any of our other defenders before him.

The main issue I have with shifting Langford into the middle is that we already have Steele, Viney (if fit) and maybe Culley in there. That will be too slow in the midfield.

I was a bit sceptical last season with Langford on the wing initially, but we discovered he has good pace once he gets moving and that he can completely open the game up when he plays on the right wing because of his kicking and being able to bring the ball inside. I think if he plays in the middle this season he will get less kicks and more handballs, which is not what we want. I also think he needs to be allowed to cheat forward and take marks. It is not about putting in a role to get the ball as much as possible, but it is about positioning him to get more kicks and take more overhead marks inside 50.

1 hour ago, Demon Disciple said:

...

Agree we should’ve traded him when the Crows were all over him like a rash.

The Crows were certainly all over him but I can't see any report of them offering two first round picks. There is a report of us being offered pick 14 and McAdam, and maybe us asking for a pick in the 30's other than McAdam, which the Crows knocked back.

My knock on Harrison is that too often he 'gets to where the ball ain't' as Jack Dyer would say. In defence he too easily loses his man.

So basically Harrison Petty has been written off as neither a Fwd nor Defender, I am a bit quizzical as to what Steven King and his coaching fraternity do with Petty, May and Lever. Will we see our 2021 much vaunted Backline all playing down at Casey.😁👍

hate this time of year, bush fires, heat causing swampass, no footy, no cricket. BORING.

Is training back at Gosch's now the tennis is over?

As I understand it, there was no training on Friday(?), but what is the go today? No training or, being at Casey(?), just no track watchers?

36 minutes ago, M_9 said:

The Crows were certainly all over him but I can't see any report of them offering two first round picks. There is a report of us being offered pick 14 and McAdam, and maybe us asking for a pick in the 30's other than McAdam, which the Crows knocked back.

My knock on Harrison is that too often he 'gets to where the ball ain't' as Jack Dyer would say. In defence he too easily loses his man.

Correct, the whole we were offered two first rounders for Petty thing is fantasy, Kane Cornes loves it but he’s wrong. The offer was pretty close to what you described, Mcadam and 14 or something like that,l. Take a look at the players taken around that mark in the draft in 2023 and we did not miss out on much! Weak year, that pick 14 would’ve blown out as well

Just now, hardtack said:

As I understand it, there was no training on Friday(?), but what is the go today? No training or, being at Casey(?), just no track watchers?

Casey today, Gosh’s Wednesday

On 29/01/2026 at 08:33, dazzledavey36 said:

I have tipped us to finish bottom 3.

In fact i see us significantly dropping similar to how West Coast did whdn they had those aging stars still flopping around. Though i dont think we will be at the point of being barely VFL standard snd completely uncompetitive like they were.

We have had too many of our main senior players sitting in the sidelines all pre season which if anyone on here have played footy previously at a fairly strong standard, will know that not having a good base under your belt will completely hinder your preparation all year. You cannot simply make up for lost time. Sports science will say the same thing.

Development year with some pain along the way this year. All about getting as much games into the kids as we can.

I think we look closer to Richmond in 2024 than West Coast in 2022. Still poor but West Coast had 0 talent coming through when they fell off a cliff.