Gawndy the Great

Isaac would have been a great addition to the team.

I'd have to agree on this. He has had a stellar 100 first games and has possessions through the roof every game. But its what he does with the footy and the decisions that he makes that prevent him from being a genuine A plus footballer. Would be gutted if he left, but he is replaceable - maybe not on certain traits and strengths but as a 'role' in 'the system'.

Saints looked solid. Will need a big lift in performance if we are going to match them.

I think Mr Burns told him to shave off his sideburns.

100% with you Doc. In a competition full of talent, the difference between winning and losing often boils down to the 1%ers. How often do we chase hard and tackle hard, or even sheppard for the sake of the ball user. It is this blind intensity we saw snippets of throughout the 2018 campaign but something we could never truly ingrain into the club's culture.

And maybe Jack held most of them to account when he was captain and most of them didnt want to hear it and so didnt re-elect him as captain? Maybe?

Im trying to be optimistic, but i just cannot see us cracking the 8 with Goodwin as Headcoach. I think our forward line will not be able to keep the ball in and will struggle to contest without the two talls. Our defensive transition game will be exposed as it was last year - it may marginally improve, but we just lack in this area. Dont forget the 2-3 games we just throw away when we fail to show up. Question is at what point do you let him go?

Hope he can stay fit and healthy.

I am cautiously optimistic on TMac. He did some good things on Friday. Once BBB and Weed return, it will be interesting whether we play him i50 or as a link player in a wing/High HF type role. Would be hard to match his endurance, physicality and contested marking.

Simple fix. Get WFC and Freo out of Perth. Relocate all 2021 home games to other venues in Australia and the state can suffer the financial and performance ramifications. It is clear now that we know how to respond to outbreaks with short sharp lockdowns. 28 days without community transmission is just ludicrous - we managed to play a whole tennis tournament throughout this debacle. I sense that this is a little bit of sour puss from WA state govt after we awarded the finals series to Qld.

Hunt was a proven multiple goal kicker last year. He has to get a solid run in the forward pocket. Trac is explosive out of the middle and should only rest in fwd line - similar to Dusty. Fritta had plenty of chances and in my opinion is a solid 3rd tall - has the traits of a Gunston like player. He gets in damaging areas just needs to finish off to become an elite forward in the comp. TMac has a point to prove. I'd give him a chance. Havent seen anything about Petty that would have me put him in the starting 22. You cannot go by what we saw a few years ago. So i personally would not take a chance yet..needs to perform in VFL first. Mitch had a few good games last year when given a chance. Form and Practice match performance will dictate his selection. Putting aside Kozzie's family tragedy, he still has a lot to live up to. He wasnt by any means a standout player last year. He needs to improve. So with our current stocks i think we would go: Hunt, TMac / Brown, Spargo/Kozzie Fritta, Majak / Jackson, Milkshake/VBerg The dual listed spots will be determined through practice match performance and general form. I think only Hunt and Fritta are walk-in starting forwards.

I think this will in a way validate your theory. If there is genuine belief in our ability to win a premiership and the entire playing group has committed, then players will have bought in and contract discussions will be concluded pretty quickly. If on the other hand there is decent among the players (which were rumored after season end) then contract discussions will linger and the outcome will be dictated by how much we can pay Trac, Gawn and Clarry without digging ourselves a hole ala Collingwood FC 2020. I find Clarry quite reserved and hard to read. He does seem to have strong relationships with Salem, Trac and Gawn, which will definitely feature in the process he will go through when resigning.

I have a mate who is good friends with his family. Apparently he has sourced unobtanium footy boot studs from Pandora ...(think floating mountains in Avatar)

I think the approach will be different this year. For Lockdowns 1 and 2, we really didn't know how to respond to an outbreak and what controls need to be activated where and when. I really cant see a wave 3 happening as the govt will act swiftly as they have recently with a 5 day lockdown. So we may have the odd temporary short-lived lockdown but i think the concept of hubs will probably not be necessary. It does beg the question of what happens when there is a temp shutdown and the states shut borders with an effected state - particularly when you have a team travelling from / to the effected state. there maybe last minute fixture changes or postponed rounds. I think the afl should plan for 4-5 mid week fixtures for teams effected, but how you make the fair i couldnt say.

Was always going to be a few months for BBB. Sad to hear about Kozzie's mum. Our forward line is going to be under a bit of pressure to make do given in the best of times we were not very efficient. If last year was our benchmark, then BBB does not factor and the only real loss is Weed, which we were able to cover Mitch.

Salt on the wound? Geez it would be ironic if he has a stellar year and we have our 2 key positions players injured. https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/02/11/hogan-getting-better-and-better-in-first-full-pre-season-in-years

Dont forget we have the benefit of having Richo on our coaching panel. He would offer a lot of valuable insight into the kids potential and whether we should take a chance on him. Im on the fence regarding his susceptibility to concussions - depends on what the medico's can tell us about his condition. If he has been given the all clear, who am i to argue with all of the experts and the AFL. Worst case, sign him up for a year, lots of performance based conditions etc. Did we lose much on the Bennell experiment?...probably not in the end, but we certainly didn't die wondering.

Yep they certainly can be if you dont have much cartilage tissue left which is then what leads to OA (ala Tom Langdon). But the fact that he was not in any pain is what you need to factor in, which suggests (not definitively) that you don't have any bone on bone interaction as that would most definitely generate a inflammatory response resulting in stiffness and pain. Obviously this is all taken at face value and as I have learned personally no hard rules when it comes to your bodies own unique response.

Not surprising, it was never going to be nothing. Interesting that it is cartilage damage - whether it is a rip in the cartilage or scar tissue hard to say, but these things are generally repairable.

I want to see the drone footage of that goal!

Not sure whether it has been mentioned already, but the one positive is apparently BB is not in any kind of pain and the concern is more just in the swelling itself i.e. they dont want it to develop into something more significant. Having some degenerative conditions myself I can tell you that there is always pain and stiffness (and my Osteoarthirits is so small that its not even detectable on x-ray or MRI). No doubt he would have had scans on his knee following the original injury and MFC would have definitely known about any structural changes to the knee (i.e. osteoarthritis) in the medical. My gut feel is its something probably not so sinister like scar tissue (formed as a result of the injury) in the ligament / tendon creating some inflammation and swelling in the joint as it rubs some of the boney structures. Hopefully an arthroscopy can clean it up and will allow the effected tissue to heal properly. I'm expecting ~ 3 month layoff but i don't think we can write off his career just yet.

i wonder how those 3 players rank in also in the total posessions stat? A better measure would be % of clangers per disposal or something to that tune. Using the raw # of clangers to measure a players inability to dispose effectively is like using the number of free throws made for basketball players as a true indication of their conversion at the free throw line (hence why we have Free Throw %). I am 100% in agreement that they still need to tidy up that part of their game, because could you imagine for a moment what a beast of a team we would become if just Trac & Oliver became better ball users!!

Hore’s ACL confirmed. poor fella.

So Lewy is back then? I asked in a different post but it wasn’t confirmed? What is his offical role?

Did I miss an announcement re: Jordan Lewis?