1 minute ago, HarpenDee said:

For the "it's just a practice match and the score is irrelevant" thinkers - worth considering how ropable we'd all be if it was reversed!!

Yeah maybe if we showed absolutely nothing as they did.
Norf touched up GC last week pretty good didn't they.
By rights they should be further along in development than us.
Been picking up 1st rounders for years.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by Fork 'em

We haven’t lost a game this year.

I’m logging off for the year and now I’ll go through 2026 knowing we are undefeated 😍

Bye everyone!

Apologies if this has already been posted I haven't read everything here yet.

Let’s not get carried away. The match sim did not even rise to the level of a practice match and was the first hit out for both sides, neither of which was anywhere near to full strength. How many times has a team starred in a preseason match and then struggled in the real thing?

2 hours ago, dees189227 said:

Will that nth player get suspended for his tackle on brody that caused him concussion?

It was unnecessary what he did. Come on AFL, protect the head.

2 hours ago, Demonland said:

Kicking it almost 70m off 2 steps is not bad

not bad at all

One thing that stood out for me at the ground was Mooses enormous vertical leap.

If we go with two rucks I can see him being a regular attendee at centre balls ups, given the new rule doesn't really suit OG Max.

for me steele was by far the best plauer on the ground

followed by koz

JVR i thought was really strong today but up the ground, he doesnt have the height or reach to play deep, he gets crowded out too easily but he hit the wings and high flanks superbly and had sticky mits there

Luker looked so so good, we need to give him a go, hes a big solid lump of a boy and he works hard and has agility, that spoil on sheez on the wing after the centre bounce was awesome

Moose was great more than held his own and doesnt look as unathletic as a lot of rucks in the league on top of also not being a beanstalk either. good combo and elite clunk on the near wing

chin was great, fritta closer to goal was a positive, but no melky probably helped him

lindsay was much improved on the intraclub

my concern does lie in our key defenders, Adams no minutes, TMac struggled and i dont think lever dominated + we will have harder fixtures so im a touch worried there. I dont think kolt and howes hold there spots once CJ and Salo can get a full game in

have had my concerns with langdon for a while, his skills arent to the level of some others and hes a great endurance runner but does lack speed and burst, so might struggle to remarkably, keep up with the ball movement of the side

2 hours ago, bing181 said:

Probably one for another thread, but something that really stood out to me today wasn’t just the younger/newer players coming into view — it was what they bring and how well we’ve managed to set ourselves up for the future.

It’s not as if we’ve got just one future star mid or a single key player to build a team around. It genuinely feels like we’ve got every position covered with emerging talent ready to take us forward for the next 10 years.

People talk about rebuilds - it looks like we had one without even noticing.

Well bing, a number of us did notice that we embarked on a rebuild (of sorts, at least) and that was remarked upon when we added Windsor & Kolt to an already stellar midfield at the end of the 2023 season (remembering that Oliver, Petracca & Viney were at the top of their respective games and Brayshaw hadn't as yet retired)

And then 2 more midfield types at the end of 2024 and then another 2 in 2025 off season. All 6 either mids, forward mids or back flanker mids and all 6 being first round picks

The fact that the club didn't talk about it doesn't mean that the intention wasn't there (to rebuild)

0 & 6 is your prediction? haha

After today's exhibition, I'll take the conservative route and go for 2 & 4 or 3 & 3

New game plan is a work-in-progress and there's bound to be a few hiccups but there was a lot to like in today's game. We looked a different team but I suppose we are a different team

Out with the old, in with the new

Great effort by the boys it's only preseason but it's easy to get excited by the Pickett's, Moose, Kentfield, Steele and others. The disappointments were Jefferson very quiet and Windsor after an exciting intraclub match it was back to earth. The rest played well I thought.

Now to the round 1 team I wouldn't be playing Petty, Melksham, Miocek and Culley unless they play 1 game at VFL level and excel before round 1.

Here is my round 1 team.

B: Lever, McDonald, Salem

HB: Lindsay, Turner, Tholstrup

C: Langford, Steele, Howes

HF: Chandler, van Rooyen, L.Pickett

F: Fritsch, Kentfield, Jefferson

FOLL: Gawn, Rivers, K.Pickett

IC: Langdon, Sparrow, Windsor, Jiath, Heath

EMERG: Petty, Miocek, Culley

Does anyone know what happened in the VFL game? Would give me a better insight into Casey.

Casey

B: L.Lual, Adams, W.Lual

HB: Bergman, Petty, Bonner

C: Taylor, Onley, Culley

HF: Mentha, Melksham, Matthews

F: Cross, Miocek, McAdam

FOLL: Ah Mu, Laurie, Sharp

IC: Moniz-Wakefield, Henderson, Berry, Hampton, Sinnema

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by WERRIDEE

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

I posted this hours ago in this thread. Then again it's so easy to skip ahead and not read every post in a long thread.

Two things? Why was Kentfield wearing a mask? And why were posters on the state of origin thread apparently scaremongering saying Kossie was going to be suspended due to some incident in that game?!

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Go Ds

3 hours ago, george_on_the_outer said:

Regardless of who played and who didn’t for both sides…North have got serious problems if they play that way in the upcoming season.

Time and time again, it was short kick to pocket,another short kick, then kick down the line to where there is always a contest by this time …turnover…

Caleb Daniel is a liability,since he has no other option other than short kicks. The result is no movement or attack from their backline. Just accumulates meaningless statistics.

Impressed with Heath, who more than held his own against a top 3 ruckman in Xerri. He is definitely advantaged by the new ruck rules.

Kentfield should have just written himself a round 1 spot. Rucks, strong mark and can play forward as well. And kicks straight.

Howes impressive as well, with Darling, Larkey and Zurhaar totally outclassed by our backs. Again Norths only modus operandi is to kick it long to them and hope they can mark it, because none of them have any mobility.

Hopefully we have some better competition next week, so we can make a proper judgement of where we sit.

They were without McKer her and Wardlaw their primary ball movers / winners.

Had they played the result would have been starkly different.