I just can't see how we not play Heath based on Freos talls. Petty will have to take Treacy, Turner on Voss, and Lever on Amiss with Heath giving the chop out for Max instead of Petty.

There's also rumblings that Cox will get selected for Darcy who we know can go forward.

On 15/03/2026 at 19:19, seventyfour said:

Ask any Hawthorn supporter and they'll tell you that Jiath is a lemon. He was very poor today, ran around defending ghosts and did nothing to hurt the Saints offensively.

I'd be happy to go with no change but I would prefer McDonald.

You watch much football?

5 hours ago, bing181 said:

Not the place, but perhaps one day we'll have a decent discussion on Demonland regarding the actual role of the head coach - and everyone else in the FD for that matter.

Assistant (and even development) coaches have a lot more input in what goes on than many here give them credit for. Sure, King is Head Coach and it's his name at the top and as you so rightly put it, he's the one who has to front up to defend decisions at the Press Conferences. But it's a coaching team.

Without any inside knowledge so could be well wide of the mark, I don't believe that the decision to play Kolt on NWM came from any one person or any one process. It could have started with a question to the fitness staff, and King mentioned Kolt's fitness profile as making him ideal for the job (fast enough, but can run all day). I would imagine that even the development team got involved. etc. etc.

Certainly wasn’t like that under the previous Coach…..

10 hours ago, praha said:

Re. cj he also set up three goals directly from his drive from half back. All came when we had good space and he was kicking to space.

As I mentioned in the game Day thread, the further up the ground he is kicking it the better. He is like Brett Maloney or Lumumba. You can't rely on him to be switching the play to a contest or chipping it around... he's a quick "in transition" player and anything else is a risk. It'll be a big test for him vs Freo.

The magnificent goal Latrelle kicked was the perfect example of why King targeted CJ and his role in the team and King's sytem.

Maxy won the ball inside the Saints 50 and handballed (look away over his head mind you) to CJ who was boundary side to Max.

Instead of going down the line, which was the percentage play, CJ ran and carried laterally to the opposite side (towards the members) and kicked long to Kolt, who had run off Nas.

That opened up the Saints, Latrelle gut run into the space created by the switch, Kolt didn't take the short option, instead kicking a perfect 50 metre kick that hit Latrelle, who didn't have to break stride.

One of the best, most exciting goals I've seen by a dees player in years. And it doesn't happen without CJ's dare, run and carry and preparedness to take on a high risk, high reward switch kick.

Edited 16 hours ago16 hr by binman

anyone know if they do captains run in perth and if public can attend?

If your post starts with “my hawks mate reckons” - the you log off, go outside and hit yourself upside your head.

Honestly, what did YOU watch.

Have your opinion based on some reality and don’t be lead around the living room by a hawk supporting “mate” holding your Richard III.

12 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I have a (very) rare kid-free evening on Saturday (#singledadlife), and heading to the game. Any other Demonlander’s heading over? I’ll probably grab a water or two at The Camfield beforehand.

Yes, we’ll be at the Camfield for a beverage pre game.

Anyone give us much of a chance over there?

Cats had an extra week under their belt and it was at Mordor, hard for anyone to win down there.

Freo at home are a much different story. Though I’d love to send them to 0-2.

48 minutes ago, Demon Disciple said:

Anyone give us much of a chance over there?

Cats had an extra week under their belt and it was at Mordor, hard for anyone to win down there.

Freo at home are a much different story. Though I’d love to send them to 0-2.

Put it this way, we are currently 3.28 to win and Freo are 1.34 and i reckon that's about right.

But hope springs eternal.

I actually think in many ways we are better placed to beat them than we were in the last few seasons, in large part because King has built a team with genuine leg speed.

Freo has torched us with their fleet of fit, fast runners in the last few years. But with Tracc and Claz gone, and Melk an Tmac not in the ones, we don't have as many slow players in our best 23.

And with Koz and Windsor up around the ball, Latrell playing a high half forward role, ditto Chandler, CJ and Howes down back (and XL has pretty good wheels too) and Sharp playing more minutes we are much better placed to match Freo's ability to run, carry and spread.

The other positive is we look super fit atm - we won't be in better shape at any pont in the season than we are this week with one game under our belt. A terrific time then to play the hard running Freo side - certainly better than mid-season when fatigue and/or the impact of mid-season loading has been a big factor in them torching us on the outside.

For me the key will be whether our defensive system holds up on turnover as Freo will have better forward target than the Saints, are better on transition and have better delivers of the ball inside 50. And they won't turn the ball over nearly as much as the Saints so i don't think we'll beat them in a shootout.

A great thing about the win over the Saints is it reduces the anxiety of losing a string of games early doors and we can attack this game without that pressure. It will be the perfect test of where we are at i reckon.

10 hours ago, binman said:

The magnificent goal Latrelle kicked was the perfect example of why King targeted CJ and his role in the team and King's sytem.

Maxy won the ball inside the Saints 50 and handballed (look away over his head mind you) to CJ who was boundary side to Max.

Instead of going down the line, which was the percentage play, CJ ran and carried laterally to the opposite side (towards the members) and kicked long to Kolt, who had run off Nas.

That opened up the Saints, Latrelle gut run into the space created by the switch, Kolt didn't take the short option, instead kicking a perfect 50 metre kick that hit Latrelle, who didn't have to break stride.

One of the best, most exciting goals I've seen by a dees player in years. And it doesn't happen without CJ's dare, run and carry and preparedness to take on a high risk, high reward switch kick.

You oughta be a podcast analyst..

13 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I’d rather staple my head to the carpet.

I can’t see too many changes to the team this week.

The defence this year is not there to defend in most of the sides – it’s there to sling shot attack towards goal. It’s okay for them to get 16 goals - as long as we get 17.

Heath may come in

Kolt may be sent to Young. But I would probably run him with Murphy Reid, as he seems to be playing a similar role to Nas on the outside and forward.

On 15/03/2026 at 07:37, bing181 said:

The issue with Lever is he's having to play as a 1 on 1 defender because we hardly have any. Lever's strength is as a free agent and interceptor, he's never been good - or even OK - as a lock down defender.

Honestly that is not good enough.

3 hours ago, binman said:

Put it this way, we are currently 3.28 to win and Freo are 1.34 and i reckon that's about right.

But hope springs eternal.

I actually think in many ways we are better placed to beat them than we were in the last few seasons, in large part because King has built a team with genuine leg speed.

Freo has torched us with their fleet of fit, fast runners in the last few years. But with Tracc and Claz gone, and Melk an Tmac not in the ones, we don't have as many slow players in our best 23.

And with Koz and Windsor up around the ball, Latrell playing a high half forward role, ditto Chandler, CJ and Howes down back (and XL has pretty good wheels too) and Sharp playing more minutes we are much better placed to match Freo's ability to run, carry and spread.

The other positive is we look super fit atm - we won't be in better shape at any pont in the season than we are this week with one game under our belt. A terrific time then to play the hard running Freo side - certainly better than mid-season when fatigue and/or the impact of mid-season loading has been a big factor in them torching us on the outside.

For me the key will be whether our defensive system holds up on turnover as Freo will have better forward target than the Saints, are better on transition and have better delivers of the ball inside 50. And they won't turn the ball over nearly as much as the Saints so i don't think we'll beat them in a shootout.

A great thing about the win over the Saints is it reduces the anxiety of losing a string of games early doors and we can attack this game without that pressure. It will be the perfect test of where we are at i reckon.

I personally think we’re no chance, but I’m ok with that.

We should have major difficulties curbing their mids - Young, Serong, Brayshaw and Jackson is a much bigger test than what St Kilda threw at us. That midfield delivering to a very dangerous forward line spells trouble for us.