Bring-Back-Powell

Hoping to pop in for a few mins. Anyone know if Friday is more of a match sim/practice session or a craft session. And more importantly will the Demon Army be putting on a sausage sizzle to keep the kids (and parents!) happy?

Agree with this. In the first half of 2015 he was a leading contender for the All Australian full back. If you can cut him some slack with the occasional poor disposal, he's a fine defender who is very competitive one on one. Even in rare cameos down back such as the round 1 win over the Dogs in 2022, or in Gather Round VS Essendon when he stemmed the bleeding down back in the absence of Lever, he gets the job done. I think we're good hands in our defence with Tomlinson, Turner and T Mac all vying for the third tall defender which is an essential position in our side - we simply lose games if we go too small in defence.

That forward line looks 300% better than the one we fielded last start, and it doesn't even include Fritta, Melksham and Kozzie.

Agreed. I know media isn't everything but he's the media go to man after Max and represents our club tremendously the way he speaks publicly. The other candidates would be Trac and Brayshaw due to their age profile and solid citizen criteria. On a side note, it's a bit disappointing he's once again injured his ankle at training. He's had a number of minor ankle issues that have either kept him out of games (think Essendon loss in Gather Rd) or played under duress the last couple of years.

Lyon has 3 adult sons that couldn't or wouldn't make the grade. Neita has 2 daughters probably both aged under 10. Ox has a teenage son (and daughter I think). Does anybody know if he's jumping up the ranks or even plays footy?

Thanks for the report. Sounds like Sparrow and Salem have minor issues as they've been in the rehab for probably 3 sessions in a row.

BBB once had 11 hitouts in a game back in 2016 so he clearly would've been the back up ruck to Goldstein that night. So the idea isn't without complete merit and it's not as if the poster is suggesting Spargo takes the third key defender role in preference to Tomlinson. However, as mentioned the guy can barely move anymore, has had to be nursed in every season he's been with us, couldn't make himself available for selection in the semi final (even though he was apparently training) when we were crying out for a key forward and quite frankly should have retired last year....(yes, yes I know he's contracted and has every right to fulfil his last year)

Aside from some poor losses in May, 2015 was a pretty enjoyable year and we started to win 1 in every 3 games which was a heck of a nice change. Loved the win over Collingwood that year. First win over them since 2007 and absolutely stunned them in the last quarter to win an upset. A Saturday arvo win over the Pies at the MCG. Doesn’t get any better. The win down in Geelong was special as well.

With all the wet weather we’ve copped in training this pre season, one would expect us to improve on our 0-6 record in wet weather games last year.

He was dropped after the Brisbane game in round 2. Came back in for 2 games here and 2 games there before once again being dropped for Kings BDAY. I don't know who his replacement was. In rounds 20 and 21 he was brought back into the side as a last ditch attempt to be a part of our midfield rotation. Unfortunately for Harmes he was so devoid of confidence that he missed regulation set shots against Richmond that the old James Harmes would kick in his sleep. Then the following week in Hobart he couldn't even execute a 20 metre pass to an open and spare teammate next to the boundary line as his errant ball rolled out of play. I suspect Goodwin and Co lost trust in him by then and put a line through him before finals.

His career best year for sure.

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.