Bring-Back-Powell

As of 2023, the 3 or so channel 7 games per week can been seen on Foxtel's 4K sports channel if you have a 4K compatible TV. I doubt you can watch 4K on channel 7, just HD. A resounding no to question 2.

Be interested to know how many centre bounce appearances Salem has made in his career. I recall he either played on the wing or in the centre in that belting we copped down in Geelong in 2016 (P Roos farewell game) but he was good that day with 27 touches. I agree that we need to throw new options into the midfield for the reasons you stated above.

For perspective, compare the 28 goals he kicked in his first full AFL year to the current best forward in the land (Curnow) who kicked 20 in his first full season back in 2017. Couldn't ask for much more from a 19/20 year old key forward, particularly those early games against Sydney and Richmond. Unfortunately he had a disappointing finals debut, but I'm sure he would have bounced back the following week had he not been suspended.

I can't recall a worse pre season (with all respect to Troy Broadbridge in 2004) in terms of negative media and distractions.

Not agreeing or disagreeing with you but who would be your starting winger if Hunter is out of the Sydney game, Brayshaw is a near certainty to be in the opening centre bounce (if Clarry's out) and JJ is wearing the oppo's colours? Calf injuries seem to linger for weeks...

19 goals last year was a very nice return. His 20th was taken away from him in the last game. Forgot that he had 24 touches and 1 goal in a flag - very nice performance on the biggest stage!

I doubt we would've beaten Brisbane at the GABBA.

Agreed. A no nonsense, excuse free, reality check of a post.

That season was so bad that a 25 point loss to St Kilda at Casey Fields (who were woeful themselves that year) would have been considered a meritorious victory. I hope we never have to deal with a season like that again.

The first 8 weeks is brutal in terms of difficult interstate trips and difficult sides at the MCG.

I don't 100% disagree with him. He raises the point (and as a recent 10 year player his opinion should carry some weight) that all these accumulated distractions and emergency meetings within the club could suck the energy out of the playing group. Compare that to the pre seasons of challengers like Carlton or GWS where all you hear is hype, positivity and how much of a further leap they can take this year. *edit - Waitering out for 8 weeks after I posted this* We'll soon know if JJ has a point. We have a fairly brutal first 8 weeks with Sydney away, the AO double, Brisbane, Carlton and possibly Geelong who we usually have problems with.

Like a lot of his teammates, he lost the plot in front of the sticks towards the end and could only manage 4.8 in the last 4 games of the year. He's far better than that. The Carlton final showed the best and worst in him in the one game. Undisciplined and inaccurate for the first half and a bit. Then became more of a focal up forward and kicked 2 goals and lit a massive spark for us as we got a bit of control between mid 3rd quarter and mid 4th quarter. His round 1 game was phenomenal. 19 possessions, 7 marks and 4 goals is as good as it gets in this league for a small forward that can pinch hit in the middle. If he can do this 4 to 6 times a year, then he'll easily be a top 30 player in the league.

Written by a Hawthorn supporter FWIW. Enjoyable piece.

I'm sure that's the reason why they selected Schache as sub and then would refuse to play him unless Gawn got injured. What disappointed me about this strategy is: 1) Carlton brought on a fresh Ollie Hollands who had a productive 20% game time including being instrumental in the winning passage of play for them. It basically felt like we were giving them a competitive edge on a mild to warm night by not playing our sub regardless of player. 2) T Mac had a really poor game. 6 possession, 2 marks and 0.0. Why wouldn't we give a fit and healthy Schache a go in the last quarter? He simply could not have done any worse than what T Mac provided, and we probably would've had a net gain because at least he was fresh and could have provided more run. I would have selected Grundy to play T Mac's role, and had a Woewodin, Laurie or Harmes as the sub to replace Grundy in the final 15-20 minutes in the pursuit of more run. I think your point about Goodwin coaching well and adapting to injuries was fair. The way he re-integrated Melksham into the forward line was inspired and he had JVR and Petty gelling well together until Petty went down. I just don't believe he had a good finals campaign, irrespective of injuries - eg the sub debacle and playing a small defence against Collingwood when it was proven all year that we need a third tall down back.

Good nom. Now that LJ and Grundy have left there's an important opening for the forward/resting ruck role to give Gawn a spell. That is unless you're happy with T Mac to continue his role from the Carlton final as the back up ruck, or JVR to be thrown to the wolves all year. I've only seen a 30 second highlights clip and cannot remember his game against us in the 2022 finals so don't have an opinion on whether he has AFL attributes. However, he has an opportunity to make our side better if he can kick a goal a game with a few clunks and provide a 50/50 contest at worst in the ruck.

That's the major contrast between Demonland and the MFC forum on Bigfooty. The average Demonland poster is way more optimistic than the average BF poster. Whilst many Demonlanders are convinced we're still in the premiership window, many on bigfooty reckon we're going to go back to the pack and are quite frankly brutal and scathing on Goodwin.

I’ve never seen the kid play but I’ll go Jed Adams.

Any idea who he was?

He certainly moved onto bigger and better things at Green Bay.

7 used to play for Adelaide I reckon.

Every year since 2015 a team has jumped from outside the top 8 to finish top 4 the following year (after the home and away season). It’s absolutely likely someone will come from nowhere to finish top 4 this year.

Good analysis above. However I disagree with you for disagreeing with me about Adelaide. They threw 6 games last year in the bin through complete inaccuracy. In those 6 games they outscored the oppo but somehow lost the game (we were one of the beneficiaries in round 19). Going through past years, that stat is a complete anomaly and all bodes well for them this year if they can tidy up their accuracy. If they won just 3 of those 6 and they would have finished 5th not 10th. It’s a complete anomaly because in 2021 and 2022 the highest amount of times where a team lost but outscored the oppo was 3 as opposed to Adelaide’s 6 last year. In fairness we also lost 5 games where we outscored the oppo in 2023 so I take a fair bit of solace out of that. In 2021 and 2022 we committed this sin just twice. I think Adelaide can bolt into a top 2 spot provided they can fix up their accuracy issues, enjoy natural improvement from their under 25’s and get another big year from Tex who doesn’t appear anywhere near the end.

Hey, I tipped a finals win. That’s a damn sight better than the last 2 years.

6th - 8th with an elimination final win is my tip. I have Collingwood, Carlton Brisbane, GWS, Sydney and Adelaide ahead of us this year.

Sparrow’s been hanging around the 16 possession mark a game over the last 2 years. Would like to see that increase to 20 next year, particularly given there may be an opening for more midfield minutes next year. I would also like him to play more games like the St Kilda game at Marvel this year. 22 and 2 goals. If he can start doing that on a semi regular basis, he’s really going to elevate himself to a seriously good AFL player.