Roost it far

I’m not back tracking in anyway. I believe we’re every chance to struggle this season for the reasons I posted. I don’t care about other teams except for the fact I think several will improve and possibly overtake us. Pointing out our problems isn’t being negative it’s just pointing out potential and existing issues that I see. There’s enough “we’re unbeatable” voices around here to cover for that surely?

I’m not worried about other teams only ours. Last year we showed we can replace Oliver who’s in our top few players. My concern is more around Gawn’s age, injury profile and how much we rely on him, we don’t go near top 4 without Gawn, same goes for May. It’s not hard to argue he’s the best FB playing today and he drives so much of our attack. He’s also 32, has had a couple of calf strains, so yes their ability to play a 26 week season concerns me. I’m not sure you can say in your starting sentence that the injury to certain player argument is a furphy and then argue all teams would struggle without their best player/s and that the biggest issue we have is player availability. I agree and I’m simply highlighting 2 we rely very heavily on with no immediate backups.

If we get 10 games out of each of TMac and Brown our season is dead

Our game relies incredibly heavily on a 32 year old ruckman and a 32 year old FB, with no backup even close to their level, that's not ideal. If either go down for an extended period it's over before it begins. We have a coach who's very likely going to roll the same gameplan into the year ahead, that's not as bad as some think but if we don't improve at the margins we're in strife. Those hoping for a Ben Brown or T Mac revival are, in my opinion, delusional, both are cooked and unlikely to play unless injuries have hit hard. Fullarton is a "Break Glass in emergency" and the glass is toughened. McAdam and Billings are only going to be of use if they stay fit and find form, both have serious "if's" about them. Woewodin, Howes and Turner are possible improvers but unlikely to be more than bit players. I like Tom Sparrow and he's a solid player but he's no substitute for a fit, happy and ready to go Clayton Oliver. We've lost Joel Smith and in doing so have one less top 28 player on our list.....yeh not good. There's all this and then there's the swirling soup of gossip and innuendo floating around the team and club. If we are to win the flag this year we'll need everything to go right and hope the likes of Collingwood, Carlton, GWS, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and whoever else gets on a roll don't improve more than us........I'd say fr-ap is being very realistic about our chances.

None of Jordan, Harmes or Dunstan were used much, if at all last year. We’ve got plenty of midfield depth to cover for Oliver and Brayshaw. Although if Brayshaw is able to play HB he’s certainly able to play as a mid. I understand your worries for the year ahead though, I share them. We could easily finish 10th

Out of that list bar Oliver only Salem, Sparrow and McAdam are needed at full fitness for round zero. I'm pretty sure none are carrying injuries and it's likely load management so I think you can calm the farm a little. Thanks for the report though and it appears Howes and Turner are pushing hard for round zero which is great news.

The goal against Brisbane summed up his year perfectly

What's people's take on Jed Adams? Have we a player on our hands?

Keep going, we need more

You quoting yourself big guy??

So am I to take it Petty is in near full training?

I think they are still mad about Lever.

Whilst you can bemoan our kick out strategy I’m pretty sure I’m correct in saying we had the best or near best % of goals scored from kick ins. Happy to be corrected and join everyone else who sighs every time May kicks it to the same spot. In fact I think I’d quite enjoy that as it’s just so easy.

Is Fullarton actually any good or are we just hoping he will be in a Demons jumper? He'll certainly look better. Isn't he more "Break Glass in case of Emergency"?

You sure like to keep hammering home the same message post after post don't you. You're up to 52 posts on this thread alone. Maybe just calm the farm a little, you seem very uptight. Take a walk, it's a sensational evening.....few deep breaths, bit of a stretch, you'll feel much better and it'll give someone else a chance to voice an opinion. :)

There’s not a coach in the land that’s playing Petracca as a midfielder/HHF. He’ll play to his strengths which is midfield/deep forward. He’s 28 and he’ll likely be spending more and more time around the goalsquare from now on. It’s where he can do the most damage. Coaches don’t often rest their star mid-forward in another taxing running position that requires both plenty of running at pace and taking hits along the way. By the way you can disagree with me without being a [censored].

He's an impact player, does his work in bursts and then slows down. High HF's run at a clip all day, look at ANB. You don't put midfielders who can mark, out bustle and hopefully kick goals at HHF. You put them in or near the goal square and let them go to work in bursts. Watch how Dusty plays at Richmond, same same for Petracca.

Petracca would blow up in 10 minutes playing that role, he's a goal square forward and if he learns to master his nerves he could kick 40 plus goals.

My point being I don’t have any inside info just a hunch.

My wild guess is he’s leaving and we’re working on what we need in return.

I don't care where training is just get the report up by lunchtime FFS!

We won’t change our style significantly, it’s not what Goodwin does. We did at the start of last year and although we were winning we were getting scored against too easily. It’s about minute improvements across the board, it’s a mindset thing. Creating calm in the maelstrom. We just need to be a few percent smarter and cleaner. For mine it’s the glaring weakness of our otherwise incredible midfield. It’s that ability to create a little space where there is none and hit up a target outside the pack. Imagine if Petracca, Oliver and Viney could find a running Salem or Rivers once or twice more a quarter. That’s all it would take to make us a 3-4 goal a game better side. I’m not saying they don’t ever do it but if they could eradicate just a couple of their dumps out of packs we’d improve our score significantly. How often did we get shown the footage on the Monday of the continual grab and disposal from those guys. For those wanting us to become the next Collingwood, all run and flair, it ain’t happening. On our day we’ve got that game covered in spades. Can we win it, I think we can. I also can see us finishing in 10th. It’s what makes this such a great season coming up. Oh and Xander Maguire is a dirty little grub

Disagree, I think Geelong, Adelaide, GC and Fremantle will be a significantly greater threat to the top sides and Essendon and Hawthorn could easily win as many as they lose. I think the comp is in for a super even few years.

It’s going to be harder than last year. Collingwood, Brisbane, GWS, Port, Adelaide, Carlton, Sydney, Geelong all have the ability to win the flag. Then you’ve got St.Kilda, GC, Richmond, Fremantle, Hawthorn and Essendon all capable of beating anyone on their day. It’s going to be a gruelling year of football and if we’re not up for it mentally we’re cooked.

Because we need 1.1 million for Ben King.