Roost it far

I still think a couple of reasonably mobile tall forwards are the key. JVR and Turner are those guys. AJ can play the pack crasher when balls are lobbed in. Just need Pickett back.

You know you’re in strife when members of your team are making excuses before the event even starts.

Can’t wait to see if the difference to fitness levels you’d expect from a longer preseason with less injuries translates into us hitting the backend of the season stronger than we’ve done the last few years. With a competition so even this is the kind of advantage that puts us right in contention. We just need to manage our top 12 players to be Cherry ripe come August-September. I actually thought we hit the 23 finals in great shape but losing Gus, Petty and Melk royally fceduk us.

What’s with the locked gates? How’s DLand supposed to report? I’ll ring the club, that Richo bloke is gonna cop an earfull

Where’s the freaking report? I gave you lot till 4…..4 bloody o’clock and still nothing. Now people are telling us to look at photos on the website. I honestly thought we were past this kind of slapdash haphazardry.

I think the word culture should be banned on this site.

All good, just reporting what I'd seen which is likely what you've mentioned above. He's still an awesome talent and it'd be a real shame if he wasn't helped back to his best. I'd roll the dice but I'm a dice roller......it doesn't always work but when it does.

I don't totally agree with this. They're already friends who hang out outside of football. If, and it's a big IF , Ugle Hagen can get himself back on track I wouldn't be opposed to bringing him over. He's a special talent and if you can surround him with the right help and people and importantly the playing group want him then I say go for it. In some ways it's easier to keep an eye on him and Clayton if they're at the club together. Also just imagine the potential he and JVR would have in the same forward line. For mine he's Jeremy Cameron MK2, he's exactly what we need.......What could possibly go wrong?

I feel by mid season the league might be standing back in awe of this guy. It's no mean feet coming back from where he's been. I hope he gets the accolades he deserves. Hats off. Let's hope JUH can find some inspiration and make his way back. It's a long road.

I've been thinking about the tackling issue since last season. I think the issue lies not with teams being poor at tackling but more the pace on the game and the strength of players core and hips, add in a bit of fatigue and it's no wonder players are breaking tackles. If you watch Salem at the moment, he's not the biggest guy but the strength through his hips is clearly very good and he breaks tackles with relative ease, often more than one. Every team is doing tackling practice but every team is also practicing using the hips to break them. It's tough out there.

His field kicking is actually pretty good. He's a deer in headlights in front of goal.

Billing’s was ok but jeez his goal kicking is embarrassing. Imagine if we storm home in a GF against the pies after being 42 points down and the siren goes and he’s holding the ball 35m out.

Watching the 3rd quarter again v Freo Salem looks fantastic and AJ is exactly the player we need. He’s tough, contests hard, hits packs and gives 100%, he can only get better.

Or possibly our men’s. She appears to have done wonders at WC.

I still think our forward line is good enough. It’s that our best mids, who are superstars of the game aren’t great kicks, imagine if Petracca and Oliver could hit leading forwards lace out 7/10 times rather than just pump it in.

I got that 👍

I feel for Melksham. His knee may have been the difference in 23.

We need more than 1 small forward.

If Tim Membrey is the answer it's a ridiculous question. He'll be broken down before the middle of the year.

Exactly

I think potting a 21 year 6’7’ forward for being poor at ground level is typical media dribble. The guys still growing into his body, has performed the same or better than just about every key forward before him. I mean is his role to rove his own ball or create for the small forwards? His CV is solid and Lloyd is a tool, you can’t argue that.

From the small sample size I’d have AJ ahead of Turner at this point. Van Royen is adequate below his knees for a big man, Lloyd’s a tool. We desperately need Pickett and Spargo and I’m still keen to see Bowey forward. We don’t have elite kickers in the midfield but if Lindsay can pair up with Windsor on one side of the ground they could well become a weapon. I don’t mind the idea of playing AJ, JVR and Turner along with Pickett, Fritsch and Spargo. That feels good to me and AK can back up Max and warm the pine for Langford/Petracca to rotate through there. One other thing, please O please don’t play Max every week. Use Campbell, give Max 18 games and rest him. It’s going to hugely [censored] me off watching him limp into finals right when we need him most. Oh and a midfield of Gawn, Petracca, Oliver, Rivers/Viney/Langford is as good as anyone’s. If we can always have 2 of Petracca, Oliver, Viney and Rivers in there we should be able to push deep into September. I’d swap Pickett for Jackson if that ever came up.

Have the mascot play at CHF.