Colm

The other thing I’m not as confident about as you @CHF is having a fit and firing Clarry and Trac sorting our midfield out. I am confident that Clarry will be much fitter, have a bigger impact than last year and fingers crossed back to his 21 form. I have little doubt that Trac will get back to the form he was in last year pre injury as well. But that’s not going to be enough for us to get back on top against the top midfields in the comp. Teams have worked out our midfield even when we had our best players in there. It seemed they would let us get first possession and then make us turn it over. If Clarry gets back to his best I expect he will get tagged most weeks. So somebody else will have to step up. Losing ANB will have an impact to our set up and structure too. I’m still confident we can get back to one of the best midfielders in the comp but if we are we are going to need our young brigade and new coaching staff to really step up and make a difference. Thankfully we have some great talent coming though in Picket, Rivers, Kolt, Langford and maybe Windsor who could all be a point of difference this season.

Good post CHF, I guess if we can’t be looking at things through rose coloured glasses at this time of year then when can we. Having said that there’s a couple of your points that I’m not as confident as you. Tall defenders seem a worry to me- Lever was in poor form last year and has been in the rehab group so far this preseason, May and Tmac are a year older and near the end. Like everybody else I’m glad to see Petty going back this year. Our depth of Hore, Howes and Adam’s really doesn’t give me much confidence. Hore was ok at best when he came in last year. Howes I had in the “really needs to have a big PS”bracket this year and going by reports that’s not the case so far. Also I see him more as a medium than a tall. Adam’s was averaging around 6 disposals last year in a defence that was seeing a lot of the ball. If some of our forward tall prospects come good this year we might be able to bring Turner back if we get stuck but then we are robbing Peter to pay Paul. I feel it’s probably our weakest area in terms of depth and young talent coming through at the min.

Does it?! I guess it’s second hand info and you always have to allow for the Chinese whispers but if part of the conversation went along the lines of “Hey Kolt I see your the latest of our young players to start dating one of the AFLW players, isn’t Judd dating Lilly Johnson?!” Kolt- “ oh they have been dating a long while now, seems serious.” Hardly that unusual a comment I wouldn’t have thought

Hope Judd does stay. Probably our best user of the footy. Doesn’t get the credit he deserves outside of our club which means I think we would get unders for him. I’m not as across players wages but given he was on the rookie list I’m assuming he wasn’t in massive coin. It’s time for his agent to earn his coin and get Judd a good deal- if he gets offers on the table from the WA clubs it pushing up what we will have to pay to keep him.

If Warner wanted out of Sydney to go to WC you’d think Sydney would be a chance to throw a big offer at Petracca.

Windsor to defence?? Is this something that has been picked up by our track watchers? Also seemed to think XL would be more likely to play wing than half back. Interesting if true.

Let’s not waste our energy or time hoping we will in any way shape or form get aggressive with the Pies to make up for what’s happened in the past couple of season. Going of last season we are more likely to give them hugs and kisses than bumps or hard tackles. Harvey Langford is the only good thing to come out of our recent games against the filth.

Have only watched small amount of Aidan’s highlights but going off the above description it sounds like he plays the role Petty played for us last year to a tee. If he can chop out even a little bit in the ruck, crash packs and bring ball to ground it makes the decision to drop Petty back to defence this year an easier one. Be great to see him get some first team footy this year.

On my way to work so have r got time to list all the players. I just went through our list and did a count of players I think need to have a better year this year than last. Didn’t count any new players. Reasons I think players should be better this year is due to injuries or poor form last year or natural progression. 21 players I think should really be hoping to have a better year this year. Clearly they won’t all improve and some older players that had a good season may regress. To be a finals team I feel that at least half of that number needs to have a better year.

Great watch. One thing that stood out for me was how good it is for both of them to have mate/teammate to share the journey with. Makes thing a lot easier when it feels like there’s two of ye in it. Should make the transition to AFL that bit easier. Best of luck to both.

I think both the role and who plays it will change over the course of the season as we get familiar with a new game style and some new faces. I’m pretty sure that Goody said last year that nearly all the players train to play more than one position. So players I think that will put some training into a ANB type role are Langdon, Sharpe and the Kolt. Langers putting time into learning how to play the role during preseason probably makes the most sense as he has nothing to learn about playing wing at this stage. Give Sharpe at shot at proving he can replace Langers on the wing and play Windsor on the other. Everything will need to be flexible and interchangeable until we work out our system and best 22.

Now the positives- Is ready to go straight away, He's one of the best contested marks in the draft this year. Leadership which I think we were a bit lacking in our younger group. Thumping left peg but often lowers his eyes-will be a better inside 50 kick than any of our current mids. Like a goal, stands up in big games. Has great versatility. Tom Sparrow will probably looking over his shoulder more than anyone but I see him starting more as a mobile half forward, similar role to Jeremy Cameron. Would also dovetail very well with Trac. If required could also cover for Fritter. As you can see I'm quite the fan. Welcome Harvey

Delighted with this pick. I would have taken him with pick one if we had it. Yes Lalor has a higher ceiling but Harvey is a safer bet and ready to go. Not at all as concerned as some about his 20 sprint time. I heard him interviewed earlier in the year and he said it’s the thing he has to work on the most. His 2km time trail is very good so he has good running ability. Putting too much time into speed in his draft year may have compromised his running ability and his performances. I expect it’s something that will improve once he has a couple of preseason under his belt.

Takes Rivers spot in the backline for me. Will be interesting to see if we try Bowser in a different roll this year as I think Xavier and Judd will be our two preferred distributors out of defence.