Wiseblood

With Jones stepping down, I can't see the club also taking Viney out of the captaincy role. I don't think it would be a good look for the club, and I'd be happy with Gawn and Viney as co-captains. They might ask Viney to step back in the coming years, but it makes sense to have them both for 2020. Take your pick out of the usual suspects to make up the rest of the leadership group.

Or when Darling gets a cheekbone injury, some say he will still play round one. If that happened to a Melbourne player they would instantly write him off for the first four rounds of the season.

When was Garry Lyon named an AA defender? You might be thinking of Neita there. Agree with the rest though.

0-2 doesn't worry me, unless we got smashed in both contests. GWS and the Eagles on their home deck are tough propositions for any team to kick off the season. However, following that up to be, say 1-5 or 2-6 would be a horror scenario and one we probably couldn't come back from. As BPP says above, our draw is much better after the first two, but if we do lose those two then we'll need to ensure we turn the tide pretty quickly.

Unless we pull off a massive miracle, I think a premiership for at least this season is out of our reach. That is always the ultimate goal but we're coming from a fair way back. I think we have the potential within the list to push for a premiership but it won't be in 2020. However, this isn't a rebuild like we started when Paul Roos came on board. My expectation for this season will be finals. I'd like to see us finish high enough to snag at least one home final and see how we go from there. Having said that, we need our key players on the park far more often than we did last season. It's hard to compete when so many of them had injuries or their pre-season was severely hampered and we couldn't run out games. I never expected us to fall as far as we did, though. So, a top six finish (5th of 6th) is something I think we can achieve.

Calm down my friend. It's just an injury.

Anyone got Cam Pedersen's number?

Nothing wrong with that. I think he still has something to offer at AFL level.

Every club does it, no matter if they've won the flag or the spoon.

I'll indulge this for a moment. While what we're doing is a longer version than most, every club does this over pre-season. Look at the Hawks website - an interview with Gunston about how he is still passionate about being a leader, Mitchell's 'off field growth' coming to fruition and so forth. Every single club does puff pieces over the summer. You're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

And, if we're improving, this shouldn't be a surprise. Jonesy loves the club and I'll always be thankful for what he has done, but we should start seeing others coming through as the season rolls on. Having said that, if they find a role for him that works, then I still think he has enough left in the tank to give us something good.

Pleasantly surprised by the response in this thread. I was pretty lukewarm to watching it, but I might check it out sometime this week. I know there will be some who want to see 'actions' and not 'words', but this is the world we live in now. Better to just accept it.

They really love delving deep into the stats these days. I can't wait for us to win the 'worst water pressure in the showers after the game' gong in a few months time.

Let's go one step further and go with no pre-season at all. Just couches and an x-box or four.

Would this have anything to do with Queensland? Looking for a way to blame it on Maroochydore. Any flimsy excuse will do. Cheers.

I'm in again. Team name was 'Van Buren Boys'. Cheers for running it for another year @DeeVoted.

To be fair, BPP did say 'most' of our injuries have been peripheral. The bonus here is that it looks as though May and Melksham are only minor and, as you say, aren't too far away. Nor should their injuries hamper their ability to be ready for Round 1.

True, but at least we have improved out of sight in this area. I'll take that over anything else. Having said that, the only way was up after the pre-season we had last year.

Honestly cannot wait. Keen as mustard to get into the good stuff.

Well that sucks.

I'll agree that his 2017 season wasn't too bad to go along with a good 2018. However, in both of those seasons we saw flashes of what quickly became a regular occurrence in dropped marks, missed targets, fumbles under pressure and missed shots on goal. I'll say it again - he is handy depth for us, but if he starts in Round 1 next season then I'll be disappointed in those who haven't come on to take his place. I won't blame ANB for that - if he is fit and doing everything asked of him, while others are not, then he deserves his spot. But if guys like Hannan, AVB, Melksham, Pickett etc are doing what is expected of them, then there won't be a place in the side for him. He is best 30, but not best 22.

2020 will tell us which season was the anomaly - 2018 or 2019. My money is on the latter.

What is his role, though? He had a pretty good 2018, although hints of true form were there throughout. I even defended him when others knocked him. However, the hints we saw in 2018 became major issues and ones in which I don't think he can overcome. He has a dip but is an extremely limited footballer. He doesn't go hard enough, doesn't hit the scoreboard enough and, this season especially, didn't hit the scoreboard enough. We just can't have that in our side. Hopefully with a fitter Melksham, Hannan and even AVB, he will become nothing more than a handy depth player in 2020.

I actually think ANB gets the best out of his skill set most weeks. The problem is that still isn't quite good enough. I can't fault his endeavor and commitment to the side, but if he lines up for us come Round 1, then I'll be disappointed that others haven't improved enough to take his place. That won't be ANB's fault.

I gave it an A. Do I know what I'm talking about? No. No I don't. I have to go on gut feeling. While it's taken time to warm to selecting Jackson, I think we've absolutely done the right thing. He might take some time to develop, which means he will come under some scrutiny when some of the mids and half back flankers hit some good form, but we need to be patient. He shows all the right traits of being a modern ruckman/forward/midfielder and he could be something special. Pickett was a no brainer. One of the areas on the ground we struggled with was not only retaining the ball inside 50, but having someone kick goals when it hit the deck. This kid might struggle early to see out games and be consistent, but he has the talent to turn games on his own and kick goals out of his back pocket. Not only can he win us games, but kids will have his number on their back and come along just to watch him play. And Rivers looks like an astute selection. Good size, a very good user of the footy and someone who isn't afraid to take the game on. Could slot in across half back but could have the capacity to run through the middle as well. Again, I don't know much more than that, but I've got a good feeling about these selections. We've taken some risks and they are ones that could pay off handsomely in the future.