Mike

I was waiting for this to show up! I think it's fair to say this will be a fairly popular meme for a few years to come.

Six debutants!! Crikey! Very excited to see them all run out Sunday. Loved the announcement video as well. Good fun.

Thanks for the training reports, folks. Loving your work 👌

What a bonus that would be. Definitely has a bit of Waterman about him. Even reminds me of Jack Riewoldt. Moves a bit like him and has that determination and willingness. Aside from the obvious ones, would love to see Bowey bounce back a bit next year and be a threat with his distribution. I think we missed him last season.

Who needs Houston when we have Xavier.

Looks very silky, and has great breakaway speed. And similar to someone like Pendles, never really seems off balance. Really happy to have a guy like this in our team.

Definitely feeling the optimism this morning. Really excited for the future with these two + our other young guns.

Langford!! Woohoo!!

Ready for this to all be done. Can't handle the suspense!

Yeah the signs are there for sure, but I guess my point is that it's still touch and go. I'm definitely optimistic but I think we're a bit quick to assume he's part of our next premiership midfield when he's only played a short amount of time there.

I agree. Yes he's looked good in patches, but is he going to be good at enough going head to head against other gun midfield groups? I'll be rapt if he is, but it's still touch and go I think.

I think I'll need a holiday after all this. I'm a nervous wreck. And picking Tauru at 5 might tip me over the edge

Pretty excited for next Wednesday. Had a thought that maybe the club could dress JT up as Santa in the lead up, and we all get sit on his knee and tell him which players we want for Christmas. Then again, I wouldn't want to throw him off. Better to let him work his magic.

Totally agree. I was a bit unsure at first, but to have someone like Jones back in the club to provide some leadership and help with player relationships feels really important. Perhaps to take some of the burden off Max as well, who has commented that he feels worn down by everything that's been going on.

It must be media links. I watched a video on the AFL website the other day where Cal Twomey answered a submitted question about who we might take with 5 and 9, and he was a bit vague with his answer. I think he just listed a bunch of midfielders in that top 5 or 6 group. Cal is someone who tends to have his finger on the pulse, so I'd say it's probably still fairly open.

That's a great shout. Really does have a bit of Mundy about him based on clips I've seen. Not a bad player to be compared to either.

AMA?

Honestly, we are an embarrassment at the moment. Two years in a row we've shopped Clayton around, and now it looks like it's getting shut down again. And so now we're all just meant to pretend like Clayton is a beloved player at the club and that everything is fine. Can't wait to see another hostage interview like they did with Tracc where Clayton explains how he's excited for the season blah blah.

Clarry has got plenty of motivation to get back to his best at this point. If I were him I'd be playing Kane Cornes' greatest worst hits on loop during all my training sessions.

With this whole circus going on, we can wave goodbye to any new players turning up at our club via the trade period. So much for having strengthening in the off-season. What a waste. We'll just have to forcefully bring players into the club against their will. Ie go to the draft.

Not a bad shout. Also, I didn't consider the full extent of the backgrounding to journos and the mechanics behind it. It makes a lot of sense, especially if it's those types of journos where you could easily discount what they've said.

The whole thing feels a bit devastating. Tracc has gone through a lot but it feels like such a disappointing and bitter way for it to come to an end. Would have loved to have seen him fight and dig in, and not the way it's playing out right now. Feels like he's torching everything on his way out the door.

Well there you go. Works out well if that's the case!

I guess I just don't know enough about Dan Houston, because I keep hearing about our first pick being used and I just don't understand it. Would love it if someone on here can sell it to me versus going to the draft.

Feeling devastated by this one. Big fan of Nibbler. Real heart and soul player. Can't help but think we're about due for some good news.