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Blue sky outlook Round zero 2024 1. Blake Howes debut. Whilst drafted as an attacking wing/half forward, Howes played an excellent game as a mid sized defender. He won 1-1 duals, was composed with the footy and marked well under pressure. Howes showed with a big pre season and injury free run, he’s a future player. 👏👏👏 2. Caleb Windsor debut. Our second debutant. Again showed quality with his run and carry. Will add much needed pace to the midfield. 👏👏👏 3. Bailey Fritsch. 4 goals. Mostly accurate except for an early miss. Looked like a forward with movement and desire to kick a goal. 👏👏👏 4. Jack Viney. Beast mode. 30 possessions. 14 contested possessions. 7 tackles. 2 goals. Huge game. Huge heart. 👏👏👏 5. Clarry. After the summer dramas, it was great to see him back on field. 30 possessions. Will get better with fitness base. Hopefully he’s back to enjoying the game. 👏👏👏 And finally. Kozzzzzy is back for round 1. 🤩🤩🤩

This thread isn't for me 😂

I generally don't post about conversations I've had with people in the inner sanctum out of respect to them and their privacy. And I've already mercilessly invaded this person's privacy but KITP's comments have pushed me over the edge. On Sunday I was having a swim at Bondi. As I was walking in to the surf who should be walking out but Goody and his partner. I didn't realise it was him at first. He smiled at me thinking I'd recognised him which I hadn't at that point. Once I did I said Sorry Goody I'm a Dees supporter. I bet you thought you could have a swim in Sydney and not be bothered by anyone. He and his partner laughed. He was very friendly and stopped to chat for a minute. In relation to Laurie he said something to the effect that he's going to be alright. He just has to believe in himself which he will. That's not it exactly but as close as I can remember. He also said Jeez you're a good looking Rooster and sooo intelligent. I didn't realise we had such good looking intelligent supporters around. They must all be up here in Sydney. That's not it exactly but as close as I can remember. Or then again maybe not.........memory's so bad these days.

Goody and McQualter doing lots of talking at training. Tomlinson playing good footy. Windsor straight into the side and holding his spot. Howes can play. Other 1st years and young ones pushing for selection. Lever and May still strong. Salem showing good signs as a mid. Fritsch keeps on rolling. Viney still getting better. New ruck rules should help Max. Petty nearly ready. Clarry has more upside. ANB again under the radar. We are due a win, time for the G to be a fortress, go Dees.

Careys 98 not out was an excellent knock.

I'm just a fan that wants their young kids to do well and not [censored] on them as an easy scapegoat. I already said he needs to improve or he'll be off the list come the end of the year. I've watched plenty of his games last year and including the Carlton game. There's enough to work with for him to make it at afl level in my view but he's certainly up against it. You don't rate him at all and thats fine, let's leave it at that.

Kicked 30.22 at VFL level last year in 18 games.

Unpopular opinion on here it seems but I hope they persist with Laurie, at least for a few more games. Kid has skill, is one of our best by hands and when he gets his confidence up he should sharpen up those kicking skills and help our delivery inside forward 50. In my view he appears to be a confidence player and doesn't believe he belongs yet. Doesn't help when langdon runs across his kicking line, smothering the kick and then scolds him for it, nor would it help when he was clearly ignored by Salem while he was 20 metres in the clear inside 50. Out of the 6 games he's played he's been sub or subbed out 5 times. He will want to start showing some serious improvement however and I don't think a forward line can include all of Him, Chandler, Anb, Pickett and Spargo with McAdam to come. Up to him to start taking these chances otherwise he'll be in strife come the end of the year.

I’m retiring in 9 years.

Been said already, but Howes was excellent and Windsor looked at home. We've blooded two beauties there. On a dry day they are both going to look even better.

@Demonland open the Trading & Draft forum if we lose to the dogs

Verrall has not joined the main squad. Looks to be working on his hip, and running laps. So happy for Melky to be back in full training, the same for Petty. They are training hard, and the voice levels are high. Plenty of support for each other, hand slapping cheers, and 'that's what we want' calls. Drills started with running and kicking, then gather and leads, some competitive handball drills, now talls marking and smalls in two groups, low ball gathers, and breaking tackles and lines, in competitive handball. Sims are on, and Melky is off, running hard sprints. Plenty of spread and switch, and making overlaps in the midfield, but still delivering to a crowded forward area. They are now sprinting up and down the paddock, team running. Langdon putting time into K.Brown with instructions about wing roles. That looks like the end of the session. A few stay out. Tracc, Farris-White, Colt, Billings, Salem, Fullaton, JVR, AMW, kicking goals under supervision of Choco. Woey, ANB, Laurie, ball handling. Hore and Viney, kick to kick. Oliver from the centre kicking to a leading Petty. Oliver now goal kicking. Last on the track is Melky working with two trainers, direction changes with ball handling.

They need access to a footy record, so they can see that there are players out there other than midfielders!

We don't give up. When the Swans piled on goals in the last, we still fought on and snagged a couple back. Since start of last year i don't think we have been monstered in any game (except for Essendon early in the season... even then we pulled a few goals back).

Enjoyed Kev Martin’s Training Report yesterday, majority of our players trained hard, it’s much cooler this morning, the gardeners have turned up to mow the lawns, looking forward to Sundays game, thank goodness it is an early start, my wife will get home in time for MAF’s, Idol and whatever, humidity should be low although forecast 29oC. Looking forward to seeing if the MCG surface is still in one piece for our game……………..!! Not reading any media garbage. 🤣

Bit hard to get a look in when there is Hipwood and Daniher, and Big O never seems to be injured. They also have Henry Smith who is highly regarded but also can't crack it for a game and is now in his fourth year on the list. Can't keep everyone.

I'd bring in Hore. We play 7 defenders in the 22. May, Lever, Tomlinson, Rivers, McVee, Howes and Hore is a strong unit. McVee can take Weightman. I mentioned Woewodin earlier, but I acknowledge that's unlikely. The Dogs are naturally taller in the front half than many other sides, so Hore makes sense as an intercepter at 191cm, who's still agile enough to be a flanker. And it allow Salem to stay midfield. Imagine abandoning Salem as a midfielder after one game after it's been earmarked for two years ? It doesn't make sense to me.

I had a good chat with Melk late last season at a Casey match (he was an observer). While we chatted about many things, i did manage to sneak in a question specifically about "loading". His response... "What's loading?" lol So i tried to explain the theory as exposed on here re ramping up training eg; through extra track work / sprints / gym work outside of the usual training program. His response.... "We just train and hit the gym. Yes there are weeks where we do some extra work ie; on a long break between matches, but it's not something i notice or am aware of. You may be referring to training 'loads' which is just another term for the amount of training we are asked to complete on the track each week. Aside from that there's specific programmes for individuals coming back from injury etc but that's about it"

Can't wait for Kozzy to be back! Let's hope he starts the season strong like last season's game against Dogs. ❤️💙

Thanks for the training report and comments @kev martin

Well done Spirit of Norm Smith. Yes, it's time to reset. Its always a tough gig up there. Made harder by Sydney's history in the game and record crowd. We will respond. Also I think clubs having a game up their sleeve have an advantage over the other first gamers this round. ( Whatever it's called).

Ouch. McAdam looked good in training sessions. We need Petty, Pickett and McAdam into our forward structure. Fritsch and JVR (still very raw) cannot be the only target goalkickers. We got blanks from Schache, Chandler, Spargo and ANB.

Woey was looking good, nothing extra from coaches. We didn't take it on through the middle. They want them to be quicker and not make errors. They want the smalls to stand and/or break through tackles. They are working on Petty's fitness. Going very slow with Hunter. Not bringing K.Brown in till he is sure of his role. Viney and Colt have a thing. Goody loves Clarry. McQualter works the recovery session. They are loading. Stafford was micro managing.

They can't get the decisions on the field right, the job should be with an independant group off the field .

Tommo was good v Swan's. Clarry so much better for the game time. Jv in beast mode first game. May in good touch. We need a few like Lever, Rivers, Anb and Langers to find their old form. Salo in the middle is good but not sure if he has the strength for the whole game. Perhaps Kozzie will rotate with him. Someone other than Scache up fwd and we will improve.

defense held up very well except when the ball came in on the deck and slippery. sydney are a top 4 side IMHO (or close to) and we wont be the only ones who get beaten up there. collingwood lost

Kozi is back, the podcast is tonight. Fullarton kicked 30 in 18 games in the VFL and Petty will be back v Hawthorn Edited original

Lever cost us 3-4 goals with turnovers and under 10s mistake in the goal square to give up an easy goal. May was good. Lever was not.

I thought May was pretty solid as well with the exception of a couple of shaky moments

Interesting listening to Footy Classified (I know, I know) and both Cornes and Lloyd encouraging other teams to physically target Gawn. If I were Melbourne, I’d be phoning the AFL Umpires Department and putting them on notice. Thankfully, Gawn was the recipient of a few free kicks against Sydney, but probably deserved a fair fee more. Had his jumper held by Grundy all night. It is absolutely imperative that Gawn has teammates fly the flag for him this week. Petracca needs to lose the nice guy attitude and get some mongrel into him. Goes around helping opposition players up off the ground and pats on the back. Stuff that. Nice guys finish last in this game. Stand up for your captain. We all know Viney will, but there needs to be several others willing to get angry and physical.

Could you discuss the loss of Yze in terms of his game day role in the box and how he seemed to complement Goodie in the sense that Goodwin seems a stronger strategist than tactician and perhaps Yze a stronger tactician?

For starters, use JVR he is much better than Schache.

The pluses. I think we tried to lower eyes and hit up more and less dump kicks but I don’t think we had forwards leading to available ball carriers enough. Howes and Windsor showed enough Clarry got through and was handy already the minus Gawn didn’t adapt to Grundy’s tactic which will be copied Do you think running and leaping at the ruck contest would be a better option for Max? Blocking that should be penalised

Used the trigger word, sorry for the confusion. I wouldn't know if they are in a 'loading' program. The trainers worked them hard, sprints after the sim.

Gadzooks! Will we ever fix this!?? Simon should allocate at least one entire training session every week to ensure we are NOT doing this. Even if it means moving Stafford aside and taking over the whole session.