Roost it far

Would have been magnificent to get him back and in the form he currently is. I'd take him over Ben Brown any day of the week and I'm surprised we passed if we had the opportunity to take him.

Still no word

Brayshaw isn't the player we should be chasing. I'd be looking at Fullbacks, Ruckmen and elite disposers of the ball with some pace.

Another day and no news. This is really tough.

Let’s just say that he’d decided to stick to the more attacking gameplan which he candidly admits would likely have been the best option. We’d just been absolutely flogged by Freo, then the next week lost Petracca. 2 things that would unsettle the best of coaches. He didn’t want to see us get opened up like that again and we switched back to an our trusted form. In the end we missed finals by a couple of wins after taking some very close losses to finalists in the last weeks of the season. He’s admitted fault but one thing I take you up on is this idea that our contest and defence gameplan is out of date. We built that plan around a defence with a fully fit May, Lever and Salem, we had none of those things for most of last year. We also had Spargo, Brayshaw and Ben Brown, 3 more players we missed. We also had a fit Oliver and Petracca for the whole season. There’s not a game plan on the planet that would sustain those losses and on top of that if you added those players back to our squad fully fit we would go very close to a flag playing our contest and defence game plan. It was never the game plan it was our personnel, we didn’t have the team nor the fitness to threaten last year. On top of this the club has since drafted to improve our ability to adapt our game plan. So what exactly are we beating on Goodwin for? I say that as someone who holds reservations about some of his decisions but seriously?

I can tell you for a fact that playing Spargo didn’t make his injury any worse. He had a chronic Achilles issue that required surgery. Charlie wanted to avoid surgery and believed his was right to play. He’s now had surgery and is progressing well in his recovery.

Jake Bowey I thought

Where’s Windsor? I need to know so I can sleep

He's not a midfielder yet, that's my opinion.

It’s not really about muscle it comes down to core strength and strength through the legs to be able to push away from opponents. He’s not ready. But where is he???

Windsor??

Any sight of Windsor?? I really hope he hasn’t got a hotspot in his foot

If we’re wanting to move the ball a bit quicker and run both ways then Ed’s worth a shot!

Carlton getting Judd is the prime example. Not only did they give up Kennedy but they gave up cap space for years. Sure they won the occasional final but the Judd trade can't be seen as a success.

We’ve been going to the draft with high picks. This ensures we don’t fall off a cliff and if we can keep doing it we should stay thereabouts. We will occasionally attract a big name especially when our top end retire and free up millions of dollars.

It's made up. I'm taking the [censored]

You can’t underestimate that we played finals 3 years running. That’s a gruelling patch of football. Shorter preseasons mean less injury recovery time, less gaining fitness time and more need to manage injuries than actually heal them completely. We bombed out last year, have had a few but not many injury concerns, a longer preseason, an easier draw and it appears a renewed focus on what’s important. If our fitness team is AFL standard which it appears it is then we’ve got a massive headstart on last years finalists and they’re the teams we are largely competing against for the Flag. 2025-26 represent a golden opportunity to add to the cabinet. The injury to Tholstrup matters because it’s one less player to call upon for the first 8-10 rounds. We do not want any more 3 month injuries. Even guys like Laurie and Billing’s are super valuable to us if we’re to go all the way.

Outside mids who can run all day are worth the weight in gold. Yes Langdon and Windsor were awesome on wings but I don’t see any Silverware from last year. I’m all for changing it up if it makes us better. There’s better judges than me.

Good to know. His contract favours us.

You or people in the know??

And there's no saying that can't happen again. With the likes of Laurie, Billings and McAdam also sounding thereabouts it does give us the potential to manage players during the season. I'm not sure we've been great at this in the past but it may also be that injuries preventef true player management.

I guess that’s when the injection of youth can bite you. For most players it takes several preseasons to gain elite AFL fitness. Windsor appeared to cope well before succumbing to injury. If Langford can make the transition and Lindsay can work towards it then that’s going to factor in to how our season pans out.

I don’t think you want to swap between game styles during a game or in season. I think we’ll be attempting to remain defensively very strong whilst releasing our HBF’s, wings and onballers to run, carry and kick bullets to the corridor or forward half. I think during games you can throttle up or back certain aspects of your plan rather than switch to a new plan. Finals remain a defensive slugfest unless you get a lopsided game and then the attacking flair of a team will come out as it did on GF day last year. The fact Windsor is being looked at as a HBF option means we’re looking beyond Salem which I think is smart. Our DNA has to remain contest and defence but we need to work in a way to bring it forward faster and with more precision. Once that kick comes into the forward half we need to be confident we can defend it coming out when the opposition win possession, which they will plenty of times. It’s here we were exposed last year. Fitness is key to this game as you’ve got to be able to transition back to defence, win a contest and then be team ready to go again. It’s a brutal plan. I don’t want to see May left back on a more agile opponent and get torched on the rebound. That’s where the likes of Windsor and McVee, amongst others, need to be continually ready to cycle back and defend/win contests. The best way to win a contest remains numbers. Not just around the ball but on the outside to receive. It’s an intriguing season coming up. Personally I don’t think Hawthorns total run will hold up so they’ll be a watch as well.

What the articles do show is that the media are slowly coming around to what’s been happening at the club. A quiet, focussed preseason with few injury concerns and an extra month to hone fitness, skills and game plans. I won’t be surprised if we start being mentioned as finalists for 2025.

“Are you playing bowls” Gotta love Bernie Vince