Bang Bang Bang

If we can do everything but beat GWS at the MCG then we can definitely win this one too. I totally get today was absolutely atrocious and one of the worst performances of the Goodwin era, but it counts as much towards winning next week as last week’s performance does. We can easily win this game if we get selection right and show up on the day. Out. Jefferson (injury), Howes, Woewodin, Sharp In. AJ, May, Langford, Windsor That will do for a start. Viney is not getting dropped and Goody is not getting sacked. Deal with it.

Lindsay looks excellent and I can stomach potentially not having a top 3 pick this year in lieu of his recruitment. Could be a long season though with not much to cheer for with that in mind. As for today, what the hell was that? Let’s just kick it to Charlie Comben one more time. And let’s just completely lie down at the start of the 4th even though the game is still up for grabs. Too many VFL standard players and senior players who either haven’t shown up in 2025 or can’t kick to save themselves (sometimes both). Don’t see the point of playing Woey. He’s not up to it, tries hard but this is AFL. Sharp sucks. Turner frustrates, Howes panics, and Bowey loves a shank. Spargo also is not ready. Then we have Langdon who was close to best on for North with his dire disposal and Fritsch who hasn’t turned up at all in 2025. I’ll keep the faith for now but that seemed eerily similar to the Eagles game last year which blew up our season. But actually much worse .

Unfortunately I’m not too shocked. North have injected some talent in their side and we have at least 5 VFL standard players out there. Sharp sucks I’m afraid, another Billings. Like the look of Lindsay and Henderson and Chandler is having one for the ages, but that’s not enough. I mean, when TMac is having brain farts and Lever is doing god knows what in red time, you know it’s not our day. Long season but zip 2 is a huge handicap.

Not really a fan of clubs making debutants the sub and I really don't like seeing the Kynan Brown treatment again. Langford is stiff. Numerous posters have mentioned his slowness/stamina and lack of impact, so perhaps I need to watch the last quarter again, but he came on in awful weather conditions and had 5 reasonably effective disposals in 30 minutes. I thought he looked OK. At the very least I'd have liked to see him getting a proper game first.

There was also a moment in the second quarter where he 'fumbled' the ball over the line for a rushed behind. Without the pretend fumble we would have been in trouble. And another instance later where Ward dropped a mark, Lindsay waited for him to drag it under then then pounced and held it in to him, drawing a HTB free. Little moments, but when a player has 5-6 of those in a debut game, it's extremely impressive.

I’m referring to Howes’ form but AJ made a pretty rough tackle in the last quarter. No concussion but drove head into ground. Can’t remember how they graded them last year but wouldn’t shock me if he got a week.

AJ might be suspended and Howes ain’t it IMO. Otherwise I’m happy for the same squad. I’m even OK if they give Howes another run given the injuries.

Not sure what’s happened to Fritsch over summer. As someone who’s watched the match sim, practice match and Round 1 in their entirety, I don’t remember him even having a moment. Worrying signs.

[censored] flat after that, deserved to win. Lindsay had one of the best debuts I’ve seen from us in recent years. The stats look good but his football IQ is off the charts. Goes in super hard too which is unusual for his style normally. Gun.

[censored] me Lindsay is good

It’s only one quarter but Jeffo has a lot more presence than what was being advertised. Looks good.

Membrey would have been a good pick up for us. From memory the media linked us to him but Lamb shut it down pretty quick. Been doing a steady job up forward for years now.

So Fremantle are the GOAT when they play against us and completely useless every other week. Seems fair. Another year of Cats being good. Can’t wait.

Man, the nostalgia is real. He was the poster child of all the sunshine and rainbows of 2021 in all its glory. I would say he hasn’t quite lived up to his potential yet, he’s still a B+ player with glimpses of A+, but I’d be all over this. If nothing else for the nostalgia alone! But moreover because he fills a clear need and we have the collateral. Get it done Lamby boy!

He did some good things but he seems to have mastered the panicked dump kick turnover that can be so costly, as it was today. He didn’t have that in his game in the early days.

A lot to like. Trac immediately finding form along with no major injuries (I'm not counting back spasms) was the biggest +ive. Clarry is clearly back and Max still has it. Seeing those guys (and at times Viney) work together in harmony again was a joy to behold. But stoppage dominance, inside 50 dominance and 33 scoring shots for.... a loss. It's only pre season, but we've seen that movie before. Honestly not sure who cemented their spot based on that performance. I thought Jed Adams and Howes were good at times and sloppy at others. Langford was quiet but didn't do much wrong. Just a game from Lindsay and Sharp. Some will play Rd 1 but it is hard to say which ones. I'd probably play all of them except for an Adams/Petty swap.

Geez we look sloppy today. Yet another afternoon where Treacy and grandpa Walters do as they please. Not a big fan of the chip/mark game plan in defence. We don’t have the skill for that and it just feels pointless. Easy misses from Salem, Fritsch, Sharp, AJ and Billings hasn’t helped massage the scoreboard. Billings is so useless, looked defeated as soon as he marked it. Just a praccy match but definitely close to worst case scenario on what I didn’t want to see today.

I know this isn’t a real match but I’m intrigued why a bog-average team like Freo have had such an edge over us? There was the infamous game in 2022, Jackson’s grudge match in 2023, and the two shellackings last year. Who could forget them going 24-1 in clearances (or something like that) in the last outing? I hope we’re not embarrassed again on Sunday. I am curious to see who we’ve got earmarked as the main lockdown small defender in the absence of McVee and AMW. We are very light on in that area.

That AMW injury looked nasty. Honestly it took a lot of the gloss off what was otherwise a perfect performance for February. Clarry is 100% having a redemption arc in ‘25. Strap yourselves in. I also love the look of Kosi higher up the ground, he’s basically unstoppable in space and has brilliant foot skills and decision making. Our new recruits all looked really good. Langford in particular looks incredible and will play every week if fit. Lindsay was solid too. Sharp brilliant in the ANB role. Campbell showed us the value of having a proper ruckman in reserve while Aiden Johnson also showed us what having a legit backup option can bring to the side. Didn’t love Jefferson’s game personally. I want him to make it but he’s giving me Weid vibes. An “almost” game from him, similar to what Weid often gave us. But he also did some nice things. I feel like Ben Brown likes North more than us but I liked him in commentary. Loved his takedown of Hargreaves for the Jared Rivers comment. Hargreaves was actually good to listen to as well and clearly does his research. Don’t forget North are expected to be much better this year, it was close to full strength for them and nowhere near it for us, and we absolutely smashed them.

Always good content. Not quite as riveting as the 2019 one but getting JT's detailed analysis of why these two guys will be guns is music to the ears. It would be interesting to know where we rated Langford overall. The video is edited a bit. JT mentions Langford being "the next preferred midfielder" so I'm guessing he's referring to Ashcroft or maybe we had Jagga Smith or FOS ahead of him. Anyone else distracted by Goody's fried rice? Like FFS mate just eat it after the cameraman has gone. LOL

Pick 1: Scully - his career kind of came and went in a hurry, didn't it? Not sure why we had all those sleepless nights in 2011, as he became a bit of a nothing player. Not a complete bust, he was in the AA squad two times in ten years, and was OK outside of that, but overall he had a highly forgettable career IMO. Pick 2: Trengove - contrary to some beliefs I don't think he ever showed the potential of becoming one of the game's greats, but he was tracking pretty well in 2010-2011. Dusty was always miles ahead IMO. Then the captaincy and injuries came and sadly his highly anticipated 2016 comeback only showed he was nowhere near it anymore. Pick 11: Gysberts - A memorable first two games and he also played a couple of really good games in 2011 but his career nosedived at a spectacular rate. Turns out Neeld was onto something not rating this guy and trading him for Cam Pederson ended up being a win for us. This was the pick we received for Brock McLean who also didn't do a whole lot for Carlton after early promise for us. Pick 18 - Tapscott. Famously called out as "Luke.... Tapscott" given there was some murmurings we were going to take Luke Ball here (we probably should have). I remember this guy's debut against Sydney and first half against Hawthorn. He looked amazing. But then like so many others, that was it. Just a bit too slow and injury-prone to make a fist of it. Pick 34 - Gawn. Possibly our best ever player and premiership captain. Enough said. Pick 50 - Fitzpatrick. Not too bad for a player taken in this range. Had a bit of talent and hung around for a while but was a bit too uncoordinated to have a long career.

Who cares about how he looked on draft night? Dustin Martin hasn't smiled once in his life. Nerves, shyness, Ben Dixon being a total weirdo, all of the above. Very, very happy with this pick. Trac and Clarry will probably start winding down in 3-4 years just as Langford and Windsor are hitting their prime. Perfect.

We also bid on Isaac Heeney in 2014, one pick before Petracca, and Callum Mills in 2015, one pick before Clarry. Some useless trivia for you all.

In. JT. We. Trust.

JT kept talking about small forwards the other day so Berry wouldn’t surprise at all.