Bring-Back-Powell

The glass half full brigade (ie- Gawn) reckons Brayshaw and Viney will be there for round 1. VDB should be ok if he warrants a game.

Agreed. He was mostly rubbish last year. He was good in 4 games last year but totally went missing in the last month when we really needed a key forward to stand up. For example he had 2 possessions and 0 marks in one of the Cairns debacles.

A T Mac, Mitch Brown and occasional Luke Jackson forward line in the first half of the season appears to be the best we've got in terms of the talls for the first 6-8 weeks. Hopefully Fritsch can sneak under the oppo's radar and be the major goal kicker. Kozzi is our only genuine small forward. Melksham used to be handy but lost interest in football in 2019 after he busted his ankle on the Gold Coast. Can anyone see us beating Geelong or Richmond with this kind of forward line? Lose both of them and there's no way we're finishing top 4.

Is he the bloke that got 2 Brownlow votes the last time we played a game?

The AFL website have quoted a bunch of practice matches around Feb 25 or 26. I would say it’s almost certain this match won’t be tomorrow. And crowds likely won’t be invited.

Thanks mate. Spalding suggested that the game at Casey may be on this Thursday so he's the man to speak to.

After all the negativity regarding his 2019 season he still won 2 games of footy for us: He kicked 6 goals to 3 qtr time against Carlton in a 5 point win. After he went off injured we fell off the rails and nearly blew a 40 point lead. He also kicked 2 critically important last quarter goals against Freo to get us over the line when the game was in the balance at 3 qtr time. However, I can't defend his 2020 season. He was so poor by his standards.

Thanks for the intel! If you find out the time of the match can you please share it so the plebs can watch behind the fence?

And they also did a pretty good stream the year before against Collingwood at Olympic Park. Fingers crossed we can get another.

No further details have been announced but it appears as though Richmond are our practice match opponent for the weekend of 25 Feb - 28 February, 2021.

Fair point. When I think of Baker the first thing I think of was his 2 goal game against GWS last year. But aside from that he hasn't done anything to warrant the permanent wing spot for this year. Will come in and out of the side throughout the year though if he's injury free.

In answer to the thread question - NO.

What was wrong with Templeton? Kicked 55 odd goals in 1984 including two bags of 8. We’d be doing cartwheels these days if someone at the club managed this.

Gawn was just interviewed on 3AW and he didn’t think the Brown injury was anything serious. Also said Viney should play one of the pre season games. I wouldn’t get too excited as Gawn strikes as me as a half glass full guy.

Knee reco?

Aaaannnnddd we're back to Weid copping the number 1 defender....

Any idea how much he’s costing us a year? 750K?

Disappointing news. Watching live games for free on your TLS mobile was a bit of a perk.

If May, Lever and Tomlinson were all playing in defence against Brown, then I'd agree it's panic stations. However I'm assuming Brown was probably matched up against the "possibles side" that consisted of a Casey defender, the boot studder and some bloke they plucked off the street for training.

The only silver lining is that these games won’t be on channel 7.

Yep Labor Day in VIC. Happy with this. Finally get to see a game live (touchwood) and at a proper venue.

Sneaky chance for a round 1 gig?

Brilliant post and a massive congratulations for braving the wet. I was certain that nobody would've turned up today.

I assume we have two practice matches. One where we arrange with another team - ie- North at Arden Street last year. This game would probably involve a bit of experimenting. The other being an official pre-season game, which would be the full dress rehearsal.

And this is from a guy that actually had an excellent season, and yet wants to be even better this year. Always enjoy reading his articles. Speaks honestly and steers clear from the corporate talk. Deserves to finally play in a final. Too good a player to never have featured.