Wiseblood

Terrific win for the boys. It's not worth any points but it will certainly lift their confidence and belief in the coming weeks. What impressed me the most was our pressure in the forward half. Garlett, Kent, Kennedy and Frost are very quick and, coupled with hard working midfielders like Viney, Vanders and Tyson, we were able to pressure them into mistakes and turnovers, particularly in the second half. If we can continue to do this we will certainly improve on the 7 wins from last year. I was also impressed with how well we tightened up defensively after we allowed some easy goals in the first quarter. It's good to see that Goodwin is able to make a few tweaks and changes to fix this. Overall it's a great first up performance, now to back it up against the Dogs next week!

I'm surprised you haven't read about them on here as they've been mentioned hundreds of times. The 'rumour' is that we wanted to draft Wines and Neeld over ruled the scouting team and demanded that we take Toumpas instead.

Strap yourself in then mate, as this thread will get a whole lot worse as the season progresses.

I'm getting nervous... and I love it!

I couldn't agree more. But Viney is a bulldozer. His attack on the footy and his intensity in each game he plays is something guys like Brayshaw, Petracca, Oliver etc will be looking up to in the years to come. Viney doesn't give a stuff about size, he just gets it done.

I believe Jack Viney will be setting the bar long before Oliver will be. He'll just follow in his footsteps.

I prefer the Matthew Bishop Cup... but then I did have a soft spot for 'Whopper'...

I can see him doing that in the last game of 2017 - he strolls into the forward line, looking to help out Weideman and a resting Max Gawn, to the cheers from the Demon faithful... before he low blows Gawn, hits a leg drop on a stunned Weideman and embraces a laughing Hayden Ballantyne and a giggling Nat Fyfe.

Easily Viney. He'll go banana's in the middle and set the tone for the rest of the players. Pretty good side picked, very interested to see how we go against pretty strong opposition.

The way I'm reading it is this - sign James Harmes to a 10 year contract and Jesse will follow suit. C'mon Peter, you know what to do...

Anyone think Weideman might get a run? I feel as though he might miss out on selection, but it would be great to see him get even half a game in the NAB Cup at some stage.

Great opportunity to give the kid a real taste of senior footy over the coming weeks. I don't see him getting a gig in Round 1 but he'll know a bit about what it takes at the highest level and hopefully spur him on to earn his spot early in the season.

Total assumption, but I would think so. If Foxtel can show it then I see no reason why it won't be on the app as well.

Nothing in it really. The new CBA could see a number of changes happening and it only makes sense to see what those are. As long as we look after him and keep winning then he will sign. I'm not worried.

Not only that, but we need to get a few games under the belt before the season proper. The result means nothing but it does plenty for match fitness levels and tweaks to the game plan.

I'm really excited to watch us play, but not overly fussed about the result. There will be different rotations, players being rested for longer etc. But I am pumped to see us playing footy again, Saturday can't come around quick enough!

Fair point, although that was once. I still felt as though he was able to go out on that program of a Monday night and minimize the damage a little, particularly in his first year. He was terrific at being concise while also giving an answer that didn't really address too much of what was going on. Sometimes I thought we might get crucified by the media but, on occasion, he helped to keep that to a minimum.

I certainly won't be watching. I will say that I didn't mind Roosy, as opposed to others, as he was able to defend the club and keep it totally out of the mud when we were atrocious. His ability to give answers that didn't put our club in the shite was excellent.

"Give us your books, and we'll give you back your life." Words that one J. Viney can live by.

No, because I'm not dumb enough to believe you. Stop trying to stir up trouble.

Those details wouldn't be swimming around the bottom of a bottle of whiskey, would they?

Sure, and keep in mind that while Grimes may not necessarily be training there at the minute, he has played the majority of his career there and can easily be placed there for the time being without any trouble. Of those mentioned, I believe he is ahead of Hunt, Wagner and White. Both White and Wagner have yet to be promoted (that's not to say they won't), and while it sounds like Hunt did some good things in the intra club he is still very raw and will need to prove himself against actual opposition before I believe the club will place their faith in him to begin the season. In my opinion we have an excellent chance of winning our first 2 games, and at the present time Grimes brings more to the table than those I've mentioned.

Thanks for the follow up Deespicable. Appreciate the info regarding Grimes and where they have been trialling him in the pre-season. I guess my belief on Grimes slotting in there, at least to begin the season, is based on the fact that we are beginning to really push for more wins. The pressure is certainly on and guys like Hunt, Wagner, White etc don't exactly fill me with confidence yet. In time I think they could be good players, but Grimes brings a calm head and plenty of experience to help us kick off the year. I'm happy to back the club though - if they pick Hunt to play there in Round 1 then I'll be comfortable with that decision.

It's up in the air at the moment. He has gone to a very strong side that has an excellent midfield already, so I think for him to have a 150+ game career he will need to turn himself into a good half forward or half back. He isn't in their best 25 at the moment and, while he is handy for their depth, he will need a bit of luck and plenty of hard work to make it. I hope he can too, but I have my doubts.

I wasn't attacking you at all mate. I was attacking your argument that my view of his game was based more on my hope that he does poorly at his new club, as opposed to just basing my view on his game as a whole. I liked Toumpas and was slightly disappointed to see him go, although in the grander scheme of things it was necessary for him to move on. But yes, we saw it differently and neither of us will be able to convince the other to take the opposite view.