Bring-Back-Powell

Agree with all you’ve said except that McCartin at his best is clearly better than Mitch Brown (unless it was Ben Brown you were referring to). On footy talent alone, I’d be taking McCartin. But we need to stop taking punts on the Bennells and KK’s of the world and invest in surer bets.

This is a bit exciting. Fantastic report Picket.

Yes of course I'll be attending the G but am fully expecting all the VIC clubs and Gil to be heading to SE Queensland in time for round 1. We (VIC) just can't take a trick with the handling of COVID.

We really need Fritsch to step up in the early rounds and be a Tim Membrey like prolific 40 goal a year mid sized forward (although Membrey had a quiet 2020) Unfortunately he'll now attract a much better defender now that BBB and Weid are out. I was expecting Fritta to be a major beneficiary with the recruit of BBB, but that will have to wait.

If we get Paddy McCartin would that make us the first club in history that isn't GWS to have the first 3 picks of a draft on the one list? On topic, if the club doesn't feel as though Mitch Brown will contribute more than the odd cameo here and there and that Jackson is too raw, then we must take advantage of the SPP and select a professional goal kicker to help out for the first month, and then be retained for depth.

TBH I have no confidence in making the 8 either. We have a 93% success rate in missing finals since 2007.

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.