2 hours ago, Deeoldfart said:

Thanks for answering the call @WERRIDEE .

I reckon your selections are solid at this early stage, but I’m interested in your views as to how we might limit the influence of potential match winner NWM.

Serious question, because I have no idea!

I didn’t watch the St.Kilda practice match but he played a lot up forward didn’t he?

I’d like to see Disco go to him but in the midfield I don’t know how to stop him, hopefully Kos, Riv, Duke and Steele will have a bigger influence than the Saints midfield.

8 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

Think we would be much better playing JVR as second ruck than Heath. The new rules are anti-second ruckman (and we shouldnt play a second ruck with Gawn anyway).

Think Steel, Langford, Fritsch and Culley (if he plays) give us another forward marking threat. I also want to see Melksham in the side when he is AFL match fit. The side looks ok on paper but we could do with more pace. Bowey is a loss.

WHAT ???? JVR hit his straps yesterday as a key forward, the LAST thing you want to do is sacrifice him in the ruck🤯 NAR, MOOSE TIME! Must be selected in the team. DO IT !

Most interested to see what we do structurally - with JVR and Mihocek (assuming he's fit) locks, do we go with Heath (assuming Kentfield isn't fit)? If not, are we going to have a forward line with just Mihocek in it when JVR has to ruck for 5-10 minutes a quarter? Are we even going to be able to get away with Gawn rucking 90% of matches when other clubs are going to go with two rucks - including St Kilda, who will have Marshall and TDK.

The fact that most people are including 2-3 of Sharp, Laurie and Tholstrup in their sides for Round 1 is, though, a bit of a disappointing indicator of where we're at right now. A few injuries, but also just the reality of our list. Sharp really shouldn't be playing, Tholstrup hasn't really demanding selection during the pre-season, and Laurie is...well...Laurie. I just can't see him suddenly becoming capable at AFL level after what we've seen across his (albeit limited) appearances to date. Would love to be proven wrong of course.

11 hours ago, SPC said:

Dees look slick. Hopefully we can reset the Saints expectations and turnaround a massive 3/4 time deficit to win with a Windsor kick after the siren

Wouldn't it be a bigger dose of Schaudenfrude if it was Steele to steal the game for us (after a pass from Heath)

best guess at a side...

B: Howes - Petty - Lever
HB: Jiath - Turner - Salem
C: Langford - Steele - Lindsay
HF: Sparrow - Mihocek - Langdon
F: Fritsch - van Rooyen - Chandler
Foll: Gawn - Rivers - Koz Pickett
I/c: Windsor - Tholstrup - McDonald - Heath - Kuz Pickett
Emerg: Laurie - Taylor - Sharp

unavailable (possibly 12): May - Viney - Culley - Bowey - Melksham - Jefferson - McAdam - White - Kentfield - Johnson - Henderson - Moniz-Wakefield

that's a LOT of senior players injured / absent, plus a lot of 'next up' too

if melksham is fit he might make the team ahead of mcdonald, but personally i have my doubts that he'll be right to go in a fortnight with such limited preparation

it might also come down to a choice of only one of mcdonald or heath, with sharp in to add some more legs and zip or they might back culley in for that same reason

it may also depends on whether mihocek is right to play after the concussion and limited preseason

there's a lot of uncertainty as to who is 'right to go'

in terms of the result, i suspect we'll run out of legs having had 6 completed quarters of footy in preparation as opposed to the aints' 8 plus a further 4 of an actual competitive game for four points - the fixture is a complete farce; nothing changes there from the afl

anything can happen tho; i'm hopeful but not optimistic of starting the season with a win

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by whatwhat say what

Kozzie for us and Wanganeen-Milera for St Kilda clearly hold the keys to their respective team’s victory.

Windhager is obviously going to Kozzie as he tagged him with moderate (rd 20 2025) to raging success (rd 12 2025).

Meanwhile, who is going to take Wanganeen-Milera? The guy is so far a class above the rest of his St Kilda teammates, and the Saints will only go as far as NWM will take them this year.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Bring-Back-Powell

How is Culley tracking?

R2 possibly?