dazzledavey36

I am a Roy George fan as well 'Red' and would happily take him if there was a list spot up for grabs. I think under a full time professional environment, he is someone i could see thriving in the AFL system especially under the guidance of Whelan and Pickett.

Yes

Every. single. team. carries players that are either playing injuried or have missed chunks of pre season. We're the number one supporter base for making excuses for the sake of making excuses.

Bit of an unfortunate story to come out especially this time of the year, but Daniel Tuners folks, Tracey and Rodney 'Rocket' Turner alongside brother Joel sadly lost their home to a house fire in South Albury. Whilst it's unfortunate they have completely lost everything, they did make it out alive with Rod still in hospital for severe burns to his body. Joel's partner has set up a Gofundme page to help the family financially and a few Melbourne boys have jumped on and donated a bit. I personally know his folks really well as they're fairly active in the community here in Albury and you couldn't find two absolute gems in Rocket and Tracey plus his brother Joel is just a legend of a fella. A few of us local footballers and businesses have already banded together and will help with the cleaning up and donating whatever we can during this tough time for the Turner family. Link below. Any small donation will go a long way. https://www.gofundme.com/f/turner-family-home-house-fire?fbclid=PAY2xjawHVzT1leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABpqYWCNckAaHnp8_XQKAkcUBLkZq9ZPk-CChukqNTLJghNFc1PAr-2gBW1g_aem_W1kaJAa0xmSdxghr4wZtPw

I agree Kev, I don't have him in my best 23 but I haven't for a number of years. Him getting dropped at the back end of the year showed he's clearly on notice and imo he's not a walk up start as some think he is. Guys like Sharp, Langford and Linsday coming in will only make it harder for him.

Those guys you mentioned, when up and going means Sparrow spends his days at Casey until an injury. I think Chandler takes ANB role.

Terrible is a bit of a stretch.. It's not the full scale of measuring kicking quality efficiency, but its a good enough guide for AFL coaches to still lean on and pull data from which they do in today's game. Just ask Choco Williams, he is a lover and passionate for all things champion data. In an era where AFL coaches put an absolute premium on stats for todays game they can only go off what the numbers and data say from AFL.com, Champion Data and @WheeloRatings. On that alone Sparrow is a below average kick, not average, but below average.. there is no way to sugar coat that or suggest otherwise. I'd give him leeway of he was still around the average mark but the fact that he's below that speaks volume. On the naked eye it's evident anyway.

Stats say otherwise with Sparrows kicking.

The slow and boring game style of 2024 was a #myth.. I've seen it all now.. lol

Unbelievable get for the footy club. Had the privilege of attending a leadership forum up in Brisbane last year where he was a guest speaker and conducted some workshops. He spoke about all things mindfulness, leadership and perspective. Personally I came away from his session really rejuvenated and gained a whole new perspective from a leadership and life perspective. He's worked with some absolute superstars in the sporting industry. He was prominent with Richmond throughout their dynasty years, Ash Barty, Mick Fanning, Dylan Alcott, Louis Dobbelaar and many more. If you get a chance follow him on Insta and LinkedIn. Has some really good content. Darren Shand and Ben Crowe.. what a combo. No excuses now.

From Saturdays session

It's currently 43 degree up here in Albury Wodonga and we're still permitted to footy train tonight at 6pm. Love it.

Very interesting.. Thoughts?

Brisbane didn't have much luck with injury as you say they did. By round 5 the lions had four ACL injuries to their senior established players in Kiddy Coleman (runner up norm smith 2023), Linc McCarthy, Darcy Gardiner and Tom Dodee. All 4 players would be premiership players had they'd been fit and ready to go. They lost Brendan Starcevich for 5 weeks with a calf injury, Levi Ashcroft only started playing mid year recovering from an ACL and then their 2nd best tall defender in Jack Payne also missed 6 weeks with a knee injury. On top of that went they went into grand final without their number one ruckman in Oscar McInerney who's a genuine top 5 ruckman in the competition. Whilst I agree to win premierships you need an element of luck on the injury front, Brisbane on the other hand had their fair share of adversity when it came to injuries. What it did for them was unearth talent like Kai Lohmann for instance when McCarthy went down and had to shift Zorko down back to cover Coleman which proved a masterstroke. The way they were able to plug holes with solid role players is why I admire their grand final more then any other opposition team in the last decade. I am also a massive Chris Fagan fan from a distance. People have knocked his age, but if anything it just shows that experience and being a wise head of the game still has a place in the AFL coaching caper.

For a small forward he simply doesn't score enough for me. His best tally for a year is 18 which is poor for a small forward that's been in the system for 7 years. I know goals aren't exactly everything but this is my point about sharing the load in terms of scoring avenues. That's why I listed the smalls for Brisbane and their ability to impact the scoreboard and spread the load.

Each to their own. Before his injury he was dropped to the VFL a few times during the 2023 season, so he wasn't really in good form anyhow prior to his injury. I'd like to see him play some solid VFL form before he's considered at AFL level.

Spargo has never kicked over 20 goals in his career. Can't see him doing it after having a year off. In fact I don't see him currently in our best 22 as we stand to be honest. Kolt on the other hand I could absolutely see doing.

Your stakes and expectations are way too high. It's physically impossible to back this up week in week out and I would be blatantly surprised if a club has ever done this in the last decade by kicking 15 goals per match, every week. Our forward line stocks is still young and developing. With Pickett playing more midfield next year, we still lack a genuine small with x factor and ability to be a match winner. Looking at Brisbane's smalls for instances, Lohmann (36 goals), Ah Chee (27 goals), Cameron (44 goals) Rayner (31 goals) Bailey (22 goals) Amazing spread of goalkickers just from their small alone and not counting their talls. Can't rely on the same usual suspects such as Pickett and Fritsch to kick all our goals week in, week out. Unfortunately the trade and draft period didn't really give us any real good options to chase another genuine classy small forward so we're going to have to pull a few surprises this year.

Riley Bonner confirmed.

Don't rate him, never have, and was even more perplexed we went after him especially when we already had another non competitive forward in Josh Schache. Fullarton actually plays more like a tall forward flanker then a key forward/ruckman. Watched him against Footscray earlier on the year and he got completely smashed in the ruck by an 18 years Lachie Smith who had just been drafted a few months prior. Seeing that absolutely resonated with my opinion that this was simply a poor recruiting choice from the very start. But, he deserves a clean slate going into the new year and if we do get decimated with injuries down back then why not throw him down and see if there is something worth persevering? I simply can't see how he squeezes into our forward line next year. Sometimes you just don't know unless you try something different. He's got the height and athletic ability to play on the modern talls and could be a handy 3rd tall if need.

I think the way we use Windsor off half back will be pretty similar to how the Giants use Lachie Whitfield.

Thanks to everyone for the in depth and thorough reports. @buck_nekkid I'm intrigued on what impressed you the most about Kentfield today? Times I saw him at Casey I wasn't overly impressed but when you've been shipped over to the other side of the country and expect to influence straight away in a completely different environment then I think it's okay for a bit of leniency in the kid. I'm keen to see how he goes after a full pre season at AFL level.

Yeah fair point.