The Squad for this week -

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

I'd have Frawley in the back pocket and Warnock on the bench. If you look at the interchange, where's our midfield rotation come from? We are way too top heavy.

Given the 10 players that are injured or being rested this issue was rather inevitable. You would think that the ruckman will all have considerable bench time.

I am not too worried about the result. I am more interested in the manner in which they play.

[JACKATTACK 17]

The injury list seems quite bad to me, I am a little scared.

[drdrake 3,044]

PJ will play forward and 28 players are litsed only 26 will play so you would expect Jamar not to play. PJ may even play down back and Holland up forward but I cant see a match up down back for either of them, so PJ may play CHF. My line up

Martin Frawley Bode

Bell Garland Green

Davey Jones Buckley

Newton Miller Bate

Aussie Robbo PJ

White McDonald Valenti

Meesen, Yze, Sylvia, Cheney, Warnock, Weetra, McNamara, Holland

[Madness 44]

*Drools at the thought of seeing Valenti in a melbourne jumper* Everyone lookout, our version of Sammy Mitchell has arrived! :D

[The Fergburger 0]

Not bad...question mark over carrying 4 ruckmen though

I highly doubt that we will play with 4 ruckman. I really cannot see the logic in that.

My team would be:

B Bell Frawley Bode

HB Yze Miller Buckley

C Valenti McDonald Sylvia

HF Davey Bate Robertson

F Holland Newton Weetra

RR White Jones Green

INT Cheney McNamara Martin Warnock Meeson

P Johnson Garland Wonaemirri

Zomer and Jamar will miss out. We have to cut down on talls

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

No Petterd, C.Johnson, Dunn? They must be not quite 100%, given the guys that are listed??

Petterd and Dunn aren't quite right... Johnson I'm not sure about...

I haven't been following very closely... That squad, it's not the final one... Do we have a bench of 6 or 8?

[Yencks 8]

no bartram, that makes me sad...no morton, that makes me even sadder...he has bulked up impressively over the pre season...i wish he could play

[Diablo 1]

no bartram, that makes me sad...no morton, that makes me even sadder...he has bulked up impressively over the pre season...i wish he could play

You're going to be sad for a while then nugget. Bartram is nowhere near fit. He started off his pre-season WALKING a few laps each session. He's improved slowly, but his injury seems as though it is a touch chronic (see Matt Maguire and his constant knee/foot troubles).

Whelan is in a similar boat, I understand. I'm sure he'll figure this year, but it won't be until a good month or two into the season proper. His body doesn't seem to enjoy reckless abandon in the same way we do.

Grimes is a worry. Don't expect him to figure until later in the year, if at all this season. I believe his back injury (growth related, I think) is a long-term thing. I have also heard whispers of the dreaded OP, but nothing really concrete.

Fortunately Morton is perfectly healthy, but you'd have to think that would probably change quickly if you put him on an AFL field at this stage.

Overall, our injury list is pathetic, quite frankly, for this stage of the year. It reads much like it did about a month into the 2007 season. Still, I won't lose sleep over senior players missing NAB Cup matches. It's valuable fine-tuning for them, but their absence let's us have a good shifty at some of the new guys. I'm particularly keen to see what Aussie W, 'Little' John Meesen, and of course Mr. Potential, Colin Sylvia, serve up this week. Will their strong performances on the track translate into good performances on the footy field?

[emubitter 0]

johnson frawley bode

bell miller green

davey jones bate

sylvia newton robbo

yze holland wonaermirri

white mcdonald valenti

jamar and zoomer to miss out

[Yze_Magic 3]

Who the fark is Zomer?

I really havent been paying attention since the National draft

[grazman 6,513]

CJ had a compression bandage on his thigh prior to the scratch match in Canberra. I'd say he has a slight strain as he was walking laps, but was smiling and not inconvenienced at all during the rehab session. Unlike others I'm not worried about our injury situation at all. The club is being very conservative with rehab,- from what I saw in Canberra the likes of Bartram, Moloney and Petterd are all on track. I'd hate to see any of their long term recoveries compromised by a desire to win a match that doesn't actually deliver any premiership points. On that basis I don't know why people would leave out Jamar of the squad of 26 - I would have thought it's exactly this sort of match he needs to play in and do well. - As our first competitive hit out with a new coach I'd expect that all of our blokes would want to really play well to push their case for a round 1 inclusion.

I think from what we've seen in preseason so far you can mark down PJ as a forward with most of the rucking duties shared between Meesen and Jamar. I think if White plays it will be as a forward with only limited time in the ruck. I think Garland and Miller will play as backs.

FWIW I can't see the cats risking all of GAblett, Mooney and Bartel in this match.

B: Cheney Miller Bode

Frawley Garland Bell

Green Sylvia Bate

Davey Holland Newton

PJ Robbo Yze

Meesen, McDonald Jones

Int: The rest with McNamara and Zomer to miss.

[dazzledavey36 48,929]

Who the fark is Zomer?

I really havent been paying attention since the National draft

trent zomer is a 197cm 95 kg tall powerful forward. played for easten rangers last year as a ruckman but was moved forward and kicked bags of goals. won their leading goal kicking. very quick on the lead and a strong mark with good skills. a bit like stef martin with his basketball background.. apperently he has been pretty impressive at training to.

[Jaded No More 58,358]

CJ had a compression bandage on his thigh prior to the scratch match in Canberra. I'd say he has a slight strain as he was walking laps, but was smiling and not inconvenienced at all during the rehab session. Unlike others I'm not worried about our injury situation at all. The club is being very conservative with rehab,- from what I saw in Canberra the likes of Bartram, Moloney and Petterd are all on track. I'd hate to see any of their long term recoveries compromised by a desire to win a match that doesn't actually deliver any premiership points. On that basis I don't know why people would leave out Jamar of the squad of 26 - I would have thought it's exactly this sort of match he needs to play in and do well. - As our first competitive hit out with a new coach I'd expect that all of our blokes would want to really play well to push their case for a round 1 inclusion.

Meet Graz- the voice of reason!

Thank god someone is catching on

[mo64 5,209]

You're going to be sad for a while then nugget. Bartram is nowhere near fit. He started off his pre-season WALKING a few laps each session. He's improved slowly, but his injury seems as though it is a touch chronic (see Matt Maguire and his constant knee/foot troubles).

Whelan is in a similar boat, I understand. I'm sure he'll figure this year, but it won't be until a good month or two into the season proper. His body doesn't seem to enjoy reckless abandon in the same way we do.

Grimes is a worry. Don't expect him to figure until later in the year, if at all this season. I believe his back injury (growth related, I think) is a long-term thing. I have also heard whispers of the dreaded OP, but nothing really concrete.

There's a real incentive for Aussie and Valenti to impress in the pre-season, because if what you're saying is true, Bartram, Whelan and Grimes are all candidates for the long-term injury list.

[Yze_Magic 3]

trent zomer is a 197cm 95 kg tall powerful forward. played for easten rangers last year as a ruckman but was moved forward and kicked bags of goals. won their leading goal kicking. very quick on the lead and a strong mark with good skills. a bit like stef martin with his basketball background.. apperently he has been pretty impressive at training to.

Thankyou, sir

[52k2 0]

What we as supporters must do if we possibly can is get to the game. Its now time for us to DO not just talk.We need to be there yelling and screaming to let the players know they have someone there on their side. Sing the song when they run onto the field and sing it again when they run off WINNERS at the end . Tomorrow is DO time not talk time!

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Long term injury list... that's a good point. Hadn't thought of that.

I wonder... maybe someone should start a new thread on the topic. Which players do we want to promote first etc etc...

[the fork 357]

A few people here need to settle. It is absurd to jump to the conclusion that because a player has not been named that he is injured. This is Dean Bailey's first crack at placing players in a true match situation. Premership points are not on the line so the opportunity is there to try some of our developing players. Simple.

At the training session I witnessed Zomer was a good sized player, who seemed very vocal and popular with skills, it must have been very tempting for DB to give him a run.

Mc Namara is a good sized potential KP back. DB sees we have a solid forward line and knows our backline is where a lot of youth needs developing, why not give him a go and allow Pettard the extra time he needs for the season proper. A simular theory applies with Cheney and Martin.

Vey excited about Meesen, Valenti, Martin and Austin.

I would like to see Valenti silence the critics who suggest he wont handle the pace of this level. I'd like to rub a brilliant Meesen Debut in Adeliades face and Aussie to do the Tiwi proud during such a monumentous week.

Winning is not what today is about, it's about Baileys rough gems revealing themselves to a coach who isn't going to take any s%*t and who knows that all we want is a premership.

[bjgc 0]

B: FRAWLEY, WARNOCK, CHENEY

HB: BELL, MILLER, BODE

C: SYLVIA, JONES, GREEN

HF: WEETRA, BATE, WONAEMIRRI

F: NEWTON, ROBERTSON, HOLLAND

FOLL: WHITE, MCDONALD, VALENTI

IC: BUCKLEY, P.JOHNSON, YZE, GARLAND, MEESON, MARTIN, DAVEY, JAMAR.

EMERG: MCNAMARA, ZOMER

Thank god it's only the NAB cup the squad is more about last man standing than picking the best possible side. How many injuries do we have to get before they show Bohdan the door ? With 8 on the bench I think they will be able to fit 4 ruckman on the bench.