Deespicable

Yep, after staying so loyal to the boys in Adelaide and overlooking any five-day break tiredness, I reckon we now face a few tricky decisions. Firstly we need to find a small defender to replace Salem and the loss of Bowey also hurts that area. The obvious move, to me, is to send Ed back and bring in Hunter to the left-side wing. Ed is a good match up for Baker or Bolton or M.Rioli with McVee getting one as well. Kozzie comes in up forward and that means Kolt goes out, but hopefully he is retained as the sub - an ideal role for him I suspect at this stage of his development. The other must-play is Bailey Laurie - you don't lay 20 tackles and get ignored - to not play him this week is to say, extraordinary effort means nothing. Yes, I like many of you, have doubts about Bill - whether he has enough speed to make the big time, but he deserves to play against one of the weaker sides and he deserves to play in the middle so everyone can assess his worth. He's 22, he's fit and if he is going to make it, it is now. Given Oliver's surgery, it is the ideal time to play Bill in the guts instead of him. Then there's the issue of the forward line and getting the guy we recruited as a Gawn helper a game. Fullarton may not have kicked straight but he apparently dd enough to warrant coming in. And as with Laurie, a game against a weaker opponent is ideal to see how a player fits in. So he must play and the question is which of our big forwards come out and clearly all three of them were quite putrid for three quarters against the Lions, so it's a tricky task dropping one and not the other - but it must be done as this is the week to find out if Fullarton can provide a spark and ruck back-up. So for me it's: Out: Salem, Oliver and one of the three bigs. In: Laurie, Hunter, Fullarton And there should be close watched on the following: Blake Howes - his form has slipped a bit since rd 1 and I suspect he's quite tense pre-game as his first quarters recently have all be howlers. It's a big ask to become a regular in a top-tier side, but he does seem to have both the skills with his long kicking and the speed and with his height can play on mid-sized players - Dusty this week? But he has to have the confidence to say I can cope at this level, just as McVee had to last week. Jack Billings - we all saw how good he can be against Hawthorn, but since then he seems to lack confidence in his abilities - a legacy of all those bad Sainter years I reckon. It didn't help last week when Jack Viney ignored him on a really good lead, but he has to rise above it and back himself in and kick cleanly when he has shots on goal. We wanted him back in 2013 and he brings a lot of the qualities we need with his running power and skill. he also is not a bad tackler, even if if Ross didn't think so. But he has to believe in himself more or his career is all over. Woey: He's been on the fringe for over a year now and he's yet to really show he belongs. A spot in our back seven has become available and now's the time for him to grab it. He's a lovely kick and he does have smarts - he's now got to translate them all to an AFL game.

6 Gawn - our only clear winner. 5 Rivers - a very good first half 4 Chandler - the only player up forward that looked dangerous. 3 T.Mac / solid game down back mainly on Gardiner. Should have been sent forward and swapped with Petty at halftime but the coach was also in bye mode. 2 Langdon - ran hard all night. 1 Viney - beaten badly in the first half like all our midfielders but came out after half time and provided a gutsy spark.

Hard to believe that there are a few bloggers who think we have this game in bag. The Crows will be so fired up for us it ain’t funny. If we win this we are in great shape, but psychology this week is all in Adelaide’s favour, irregardless of how much better a side we are than them. Hopefully we rest a couple of those with knocks given it is just a five-day break. Hard to see Chandler playing and even though I agree with those who say May shouldn’t play, I am sure Goody will rush him back. Billings spot also in question. Hopefully Kolt plays but I reckon they will bring in Laurie for Chandler, May for Hore and Woey for Billings with Kolt possibly the sub.

Suggest you go back and watch the replay. Petty went forward after half time and then was sent back again in final term where he played a very good quarter. It was the first time under Goodwin that I have seen a player moved twice and just shows the value of having flexible players who can play at both ends.

Agree we will not have a hard tag as Sparrow, Viney and ANB (when in there) are all highly disciplined and will play close to Butters and Rozee and the hyphen if he plays. But a hard tag will go on Oliver by Drew. As to our lineup, I just hope Goody and his team finally realise that backing up five days requires fresh legs to win, unless you face a team on a similar five-day break. So even though I don't expect them to play this one, both Fullarton and Kolt should be inclusions for the Adelaide game with our ageing warriors Ben Brown and T-Mac rested along with any other players that pull up sore. But given it has taken more than two years for Goody to realise that picking the smallest side in competition history is a no-no, then I don't hold out much hope for a clever overall plan for two games in five days

Yep Hawks were almost as dirty as the Lethal days. But we coped well and one of the reasons that I hope everyone is aware of is that we have gone back to picking a tall side - the same combination that took us to the 2021 flag in fact. And surprise, surprise our small forwards look even more lethal - probably because there isn't 10 of them queuing up for a spill that never comes. And we looked like a senior side - unlike the junior-sized rabble we threw out on to the field last finals and in round zero against the Swans. This is not to say that Spargo and Bowey and Laurie aren't good players - it's just that when the balance is all askew, you end up creating problems that you can't overcome. But don't get too excited - the Power will be a huge task next week - they have a gun midfield like ours and plenty of bigs to quell.

Let's hope Goody doesn't go back to fielding a side full of smalls - the balance of bigs and littles was just so much better than against Sydney, not to mention that we have a better balance of quicks and slows this year with Windsor complimenting Kozzie, Langdon etc. This week the Hawks are likely to have Lewis, Chol and either Gunston or Kossy, which means we can again go big down back. Personally I don't see how anyone could drop Brown after his game, but if they are desperate to play him, then happy for him to be the sub.

Wow, I cannot believe Tommo is out. He was one of our best against Sydney and I just checked to see if the Dogs were going small like us, but no they've picked Naughton (May), Ugle-Hagn (Lever) and Lobb (Hore). Of course it's possible that T-Mac will come in and play down back on Lobb, but like many here, the shock is how Tomlinson gets the chop after Amartey and McDonald virtually diodn't touch it and only Mclean took a few marks - one was clearly Gawn's fault, another was on May and yes I think one was on Tommo. This is not to say that Tommo is a must play team member, it's just that T-Mac isn't either anymore and I can only presume that T-Mac will be in the final and play on Lobb. Of course, it's possibe that Goody will go even smaller than last week - leaving out T-Mac, BBB and Fullarton from the extended squad. That may sound fanciful to some of you, but given the obsession that Goody has with smalls, he might just even smaller.

Goodwin - small minded belligerence

6 Viney - into it from word go 5 May - always in correct position 4 Tomlinson - one of his best games ever - Amartey and McLean quiet, except latter had hot period on Gawn in Thursday term 3 Salem - quick thinking all night 2 Fritter - gets this for the quality of his third term but he only had six posies. 1 Oliver - as with Trac, fumbly early but kept at it all night. Kicking let him down a fair bit.

Agree with all you said except there has been no quick ball movement. Just boring short stuff with a couple of panicle dumps.

By the way Schache has presented well and covered heaps of ground. Dropped a pretty easy one in second term but otherwise has been quite serviceable.

Yep. That’s because we decided to bring back Spargo. Size doesn’t matter, says Goody!

Swans doing plenty of short chip kicks which is safe but boring. we are wasting chances like last year and noticeably fell away for five minutes whenp Gawny was off. viney best, Windsor impressive as is Bowey and Tomlinson but Spargo short of a gallop which is not surprising given he was rushe back into a side that was already the smallest in the league. Go figure. cooler wind coming through now so slippery skill induced errors may be less in second half.

Highly unlikely to be any changes, other than Kozzie, from the side that defeated Carlton. The Swans are likely to go big, so we have to make sure we are tall enough though, especially as the SCG is a short ground, suited to bigs. Unless we have banned Oliver, then he has to play and with Kozzie out, there's a spot for him. The big issue is the sub. Normally we go small and a player like Tholstrup would be ideal, except that in our case we have to have a back up big because if we lose one of our bigs, we are then in danger of being smashed in the air - Sydney will have Grundy, Ladhams, McDonald, Amartey and possibly even McLean. Personally I'd have Fullarton, so that he can cover the rucks, but I am not sure how well he went in reserves - if he struggled then it lends itself to T-Mac being sub. That means: B: McVee May Tomlinson HB: Rivers Lever Bowey C: Langdon Salem Windsor HF: ANB Schache Billings F: Chandler JVR Fritsch Ru: Gawn Petracca Viney Int: Sparrow, Oliver, Howes (def) Laurie (fwd) Sub: Fullarton Emerg: K.Brown, T.Mac, Tholstrup

Well quite a surprise - who would have thought we'd be well on top. The Blues kicked with a slight breeze that term and made inroads early, but once Caleb Windsor burst forward and displayed his outside pace and kicked truly from 45m, we totally dominated. Windsor will play rd 1, but there was plenty of other things to like. Salem showed he can fill Gus's smarts role in the middle, Sparrow lockdown role on Cripps gives us the hard-edge we gave up when we stopped playing Harmes as a tagger, Kozzie mega dangerous in middle and up forward, JVR super up forward, spanking Kemp, although if Weitering was there it might be different, Fritter all class, except he's got the yips with his set shots, ANB lively cutting inboard, Viney diving on everything and everybody, Trac in vintage Dusty-class form and even helping up his opponents up again and Rivers and Bowey providing drive and precision off half-back. But there was one player who took his game into another universe - big Max. What a leadership game, given the chaos the club has been under. And unlike against Richmond, he's been getting to the front of every throw-in and as a result unstoppable. Admittedly Pittonet doesn't have the speed of Ryan, but Max must be about 125SC points in the first half.

Not a good night for Werridee. His two most hated players - Tomlinson and Schache - both prominent early. And on top of that Howes had an exceptional first term. Oh dear, I feel another team coming!

Assuming we are only allowed 23 for this game, then I reckon we have to name Verrall as the sub, because we need to rest Gawny and fellow older statesman May in these practice games and so we have to have a big player as back-up - I get that the pacey, small guy is the preferred option as sub in real matches, but in our case we have to think a little bit carefully with our senior members at this practice stage of season. I also think we need to pick a team that will cope with the short SCG ground the following week and that means we can't throw Schache out and go even smaller than we are at the moment - and I have said many times previously here, we are the smallest side in the comp already. And I am hoping that the loss of Petty, Fullarton, B.Brown and T-Mac through injury means we at least trial out the only potentially other damaging tall forward on our list to accompany JVR. If you think about it, which of our defenders could play the key forward role well - Lever (not quite quick enough), Tomlinson (lack necessary pace and mobility), Adams (getting better but needs to be trialled as defender first\, Hore (a tad too small to be a forward), Rivers (ditto). Ahh yes, who is that other bug guy - his name is Steven May and he's the only player on our list, outside of Petty, that ticks enough boxes. Happy if we just use him there for a quarter, but we need the variety and toughness and long-kicking goals from 55m out that he would bring to our forward mix. Realise that May is our best option for Charlie as well, but reckon we have to try something radical other than just sending Trac up forward. Selectors have a tricky option for Carlton also of deciding whether to bring back Olly into seniors or whether he has to tick a few more boxes in the magoos. I've named him, but realise there's probably more club factors that will determine his team situation. B: McVee Tomlinson Hore HB: Rivers Lever Bowey C: Langdon Oliver Windsor HF: ANB JVR Billings F: Pickett May Fritsch Ru: Gawn Petracca Viney Int: Salem, Schache, Sparrow, Laurie Sub: Verrall If Oliver not allowed yet, then K.Brown to play Changes from Tigers match; Out: Howes, Chandler, K.Brown (yes he played well) In: Salem, Hore, Oliver Both Schache and Tomlinson have been kept because we need height and especially when we play Sydney at SCG.

It's hard not to be critical of a loss to Richmond, who are widely tipped to be bottom six this season and were arguably missing more big guns than we were - Martin, Lynch, Taranto, Prestia and Nankervis are big omissions for them. What has worried me for a long time is that we have continually recruited ultra small players and aside from Viney, Petracca and Sparrow, we don't look ultra physical - which is a by-product of being so small. The decision not to get Caddy may yet come back to haunt us, just as the Weideman v Curnow debate was there some time back. Aside from JVR and when he's up there Gawn - we don't have any players who look remotely like taking a mark - once again that's something that comes with going small with a forward line that includes at least five of seven players under six feet each week. And to be honest most of our small players, with the exception of Kossie, aren't explosive speed type players. Even Windsor struggled to get away from opponents, although he was the pick of our youngsters. His kicking was at time abysmal today, but you can tell he will be better for the gallop and even better if he had some quick-moving big targets. My other major worry is that we have spent summer training with little pressure drills. Maybe that's the plan these days - not overdo it early to avoid injury and get stuck into more tackling drills when the season gets closer. I don't have stats, but I'm guessing we were majorly outtackled and I lost count of the number of pressurised kicks and handballs that were intercepted or missed targets. The big disappointments were in my view: McVee - he was so good last year and seemed to be a step behind this time. Surprisingly he wasn't given the job on Bolton, but perhaps that was a deliberate ploy to avoid it before the Anzac Eve clash. Howes played on Bolton quite a bit and enough said. Fritsch - he's been looking sharp at training, but really couldn't influence things - maybe as has been stated he was playing too close to goals and cut off easily. Gawn - gees, how many times did he lose front position at thrown-ins and have to push his opponent Ryan from behind - eventually the umps even spotted it and started paying free kicks against him. Schache and Tomlinson - yep both need to realise their time in the game ends in 2024 unless they lift. Yes it's only a practice game, but boy, we'd better show some signs against Carlton next week or the season will get away from us and Goody will have to utter Neeld's line - "we didn't see that coming".

agree, but at least this report had some words to go with the team.

I am not too sure how many will be out but the following is my stab at first 18 with what I think are players who have minor injuries or are a bit underdone to play yet left out (see list). B: McVee May Hore/Tomlinson HB: Rivers/Brayshaw Lever Bowey C: Langdon Petracca Billings HF: ANB Schache Chandler/Tholstrup F: Pickett* JVR Fritsch Ru: Gawn Sparrow Viney Int: Salem (should be managed back to just two quarters), Laurie, Windsor, Spargo Injured/unavailabe: Oliver, McAdam, Petty, T.Mac, Melky, Hunter, Fullarton, B.Brown, Turner * Pickett out Rd 1 (susp). To play final 2 quarters with VFL players - Howes, Jefferson, Adams, Verrall, Sestan, Woewodin, K.Brown, Farris-White, Moniz-Wakefield And in the absence of injured tall forwards, Schache has to be given first shot at the role of forward/back-up ruck. We cannot continue to risk JVR getting injured as the back-up ruck - yes I get that he is better qualified to do it, but Schache deserves first shot at it before we try more risky/reward options such as swap out a defender such as May to fix our forward woes. The other thing we all should remember is that the SCG favours talls - it is shorter than other grounds and you need more marklng options than normal. Hence Schache is required for the season opener and should only miss if he shows absolutely nothing in our two practice games.

Got there just in time for match sim and it was good viewing - I think it was 14 a side so as to increase space and minimise head knock potential and they even had two on bench which makes you wonder why the AFL insists on 18 a side - yes i know it's traditional but when that rule was created, players didn't run the whole field like wild banshees. In terms of match sim, here's my ovservations: Firstly I think a nasty head clash between T-Mac and McAdam early may have impacted McAdam's play in the match sim - the last time I came to training he was a highlight machine, this time I didn't feel he was involved much. But I'm still sure he'll play Rd 1. Also a lock for Rd 1 is Jack Billings. He hits targets and moves so well, although 14-a-side is bread and butter to him. But with Hunter out with a calf (that's what the club says, so let's stick with it), then you have to think Billings starts in his left-side wing. As with others, the highlight play (at least Goody's yelling approval made it clear he thought so) was Windsor's commitment in the air to spoil Chandler. Windsor also went for a few runs and you can sense he is looking for the goal-assist each time he goes forward - please don't train that out of him Goody. He may go close to Rd 1 after all, but I'd be disappointed if Langdon doesn't get first shot on the right wing. Spargo played down back and I don't mind this except that when he's in the same side as Bowey and McVee, then we are too small. Bowey saved his best work for the goalkicking drill straight after match sim, he was the only player to convert from 50m on the run three times in a row. He's an amazing kick for a little guy and is more accurate than Rivers, so here's the thing Goody, figure out how you can get him into a position where he's likely to get that sort of long-bomb on the run opportunity a few times each game. While we are on that, yes I know defenders train with defenders, forwards train with forwards and never the twain shall meet, but can someone please explain to me why we can't use a bit of a modern-day Barassi move and swap players around from time to time. They aren't all numbskulls - some get the pre-requisites of both spots. For example, why not swap Spargo and Bowey from defence/forward spots at halftime - that won't bugger up rotations and they are both smart players. A few others that stood out to me in match sim. Firstly Jed Adams is getting closer to being ready for AFL level. It may not be until Rd 15, but I reckon he's starting to look the part. I still worry about the reliability of his kicking but Harry Petty began his career with a couple of howlers - errors do happen, but he has now got the body to cope. He's behind Disco, Tommo and Hore in the queue, but he's getting close. Secondly, and I suggest some of you go straight to the next paragraph because this isn't what you want to read, the most impactful player in the first half of match sim wore the No.19. Cringe. Yep Josh Schache snagged a couple and led well - if we hadn't seen last year he'd be in the side now. Maybe the 14-a-side suits him more, but he did look very good. And for those of you who are Bill Laurie fans, then I'm sorry to say it wasn't his game. He seemed to be playing like a defensive midfielder trying to cleverly come out of defence and twice was scragged beautifully from behind. A few minutes later he laid a dreadful over the top tackle and became virtually the only player not paid a free kick for a chase down. Bill is creative (we all know that) and he was in the group with the better runners at the end of the session. But he just does not seem to be able to explode away from a contest like Trac. Finally i was standing on the outer side in the shade and after a while I notice I was near Perty and Richo and a couple of other dudes. I did overhear them talking, out of the side of their mouths which is the Demon way of late, about culture. I almost piped up and told them to choose another topic because the only people that should have talked about culture - Goody and Roffy - are too scared to do so. And while I'm at it, drugs in youth is a societal problem, it's everyone's problem, not just the Dees problem. Start owning it and knowing it and you will go a long way to coping with it. Enough said. One more thing on the real topic, I didn't mention it earlier, but there were two players who were the clear standouts of match sim and provided the warmth and enthusiasm for this old fan to be looking forward to the coming season. One is a little fella called Kozzie and he played in the middle and bounced around like a guy in the front row of a Smashmouth concert. The club's told us he'd play midfield minutes before but with McAdam around now, maybe it will actually happen. And if he does he could win the Brownlow from there. And for the purists, you'd have to be a puffin muffin not to have noticed how good JVR looked as our full-forward. He's the closest thing to Charlie Curnow that we have on our list. God help us if he gets injured.

Not training with main gp today. But for the young Kolt to play, we have to lose a small forward and ANB and Spargs are ahead of him.

And to keep Werridee happy, here's our Rd 1 team based off today's session (and the one I saw last week as well). Overlooked because not training with main gp yet: Fritsch, Petty, Oliver, Pickett, Smith. Assumes Sydney will name three talls up front with Logan McDonald, Amartey and McLean - hence T.Mac is named to play on McLean. B: McVee May T.Mac (Turner or Hore if Swans go small) HB: Rivers Lever Bowey C: Billings Sparrow Langdon HF: Kolt Fullarton (or Ben Brown) ANB F: McAdam Van Rooyen Spargo RU: Gawn Petracca Viney Int: Brayshaw, Salem, Hunter, Woewodin sub: Laurie

Was nowhere near as prominent but during the mid-forward transition game was involved in possibly the best play of the morning - got the ball near centre, changed direction and then went long with a 55m kick that just got over May's head and into the arms of the intendee McAdam who had to dive backwards to reach it, such was the depth of the kick. He doesn't have Kolt's swagger, but he looks classy - but he may have to wait a while to grab a spot on the wing in place of Ed. I suspect he will also have to work hard on his defensive game - the stars at junior level often don't have that area covered initially.