Roost it far

No offence to the kid but what’s his chance of ever playing an AFL game? It’s a brutal profession and sometimes I think we aren’t brutal enough but that’s a hunch without strong factual evidence.

Not that much luck! cruel news for the kid. This year will feel like an eternity.

He’s young, he’ll learn a lot on the sidelines about himself. I’ve no doubt he’ll end up a best 22 player in the years ahead. Hopefully Tracc takes him under his wing and helps guide him through the recovery.

I’d prefer Johnson made that step up

I maintain that there’s absolutely no need to have deadlines for replacing injured players, particularly before the season has even started. If we lose another player next week we’ll be 2 down before round 1. This is supposed to be the premier comp in the land. Time for change

They need a serious hit out before round 1. GWS will have played round zero and if we have too many players hitting round one cold we’ll get belted.

Any word on AMW?

And a day after list changes! Stupid stupid rule

Ooops, forgot McVee,

Every time I do a team there’s multiple possible/better options that I haven’t even thought of. TMac in the bench is my defensive backup.

Possibly but plenty disagree

He doesn’t require a b grade hit out in 35 degrees.

There’s plenty of skilled VFL players who don’t make it onto AFL lists. The reasons are numerous but my guess with Henderson is he’s a bit small to be a modern mid and doesn’t have any standout traits to be seen as a small forward. He does however have the work rate, the clean hands and the 50m drop punt which just might get him a game on our list. Remember he’s currently behind Pickett, Chandler and Spargo so he’s got his work cut out.

Thats a fair point

The team I want to see take us to September: B: Bowey May Lever HB: Windsor Petty Lindsay C: Sharp Viney Langdon HF: Langford Turner Fritsch F: Pickett JVR Johnson R: Gawn Petracca Oliver I: Rivers Sparrow TMac Spargo S: Melksham E: AMW Howes Jefferson Henderson

I’d pegged TMac as backup based solely on his age and my bias to playing 3 talks in defence. I can’t wait for the footy to start. Windsor still not training worries me as with McVee that’s our HB line out for the first 3-4 weeks. Not ideal

If you ever wander down by the private school boatsheds on the Yarra there's a toastie and coffee van set up on Wed - Friday mornings. My oh my I've never had a better toastie and the coffee is excellent and when it comes to food and coffee I'm very fussy. The woman who runs it is pretty rocking as well and a Demon fan, which is reason enough to get down there. I walk past every week and my toastie intake is only going one way!

TMac's form must beg the question. Does the team persist with Petty forward and allow TMac to play as the third tall in defence? I realise Petty's form last season wasn't great but he was coming off no preseason and a nasty injury. I guess if TMac is able which he certainly appears to be then who becomes the best forward option out of Petty, Johnson and Jefferson? Personally I like Petty in defence and feel he's the obvious May replacement next year but TMac's inability to age keeps the question open I think.

Personally I think if we're adapting our gameplan to me more attacking that has to start in defence. Windsor, McVee and Salem with Bowey as the seventh are my first picks alongside May, Lever, Petty/TMac. As for Howes, I think he's backup only still. I think he can develop into a best 22 but thats partly just hope. I'd love Adams to make it but from the gist of reports he's in the Jefferson camp of not quite ready/perhaps never ready. I think with the recruitment of Lindsay and if Petty stays our back 6/7 looks to have a reasonable future beyond Lever/May/Salem which shows the quality of recruiting over the last 5 years.

I'll demand training reports when I see fit to demand them punk.

Would you pick those 4 in the back half together?

How do you have a defence with May, Lever, Petty and TMac?

Bigger lists would certainly solve the problem. However you can't on one hand want to protect state leagues from AFL list grabs and then suggest increased list sizes. That's having your cake and eating it, which I'm all for. Remember I'm only talking about swapping players out who have sustained a serious injury or are medically retired.

I just don't see what the deadlines achieve. So we lose a player to an ACL on Saturday but can't replace him until mid season but if he'd done it on Friday morning we could replace him that day. These sorts of rules feel like rules for rules sake. The lists are smaller these days and as long as the injury can be verified as a 9 month + injury I don't see the need to create deadlines. A more fluid approach has multiple advantages for both the team and young players.