Bring-Back-Powell

I said the same thing down at Geelong one day in 2013 when Chris Dawes kicked half our total score of 30 points and we got wiped off the floor by Geelong in pouring rain on a 10 degree day “it will be all worth it one day when we get to the see the boys win a flag at the G.” Still might one day but we’re now miles away IMO. We finished top 2 in 2022 and should’ve made a grand final with essentially the same side as 2021 although we paid the price by only trading in Dunstan from St Kilda. Premiership teams should be adding more established guns to their list to keep ahead of the pack. As for the question, Goodwin was definitely a factor in the premiership win /the 40 minutes and richly deserved all the credit in the world. He absolutely coached his tail off that year as he turned his team around from a poor to middling side (2019 and 2020 respectively) to the tremendous product we all saw while negotiating the challenges of COVID. He sold a vision at the end of 2020 and the players clearly brought in. And that all culminated in the 40 minutes in question as the team knew when to turn it on at the exact time required. A pity that he went backwards as a coach at a pretty fast rate and the club made the courageous but painfully obvious call in August last year.

Josh Jenkins, who has always been on seat 1A on the anti Melbourne bus and predicted our downfall before anyone else, has somehow given us a chance to make the wild card weekend. Interesting as I would’ve thought he’d be backing us to win the spoon.

I’d be happy with 12th this year. Definitely the upper end of what we’re capable of this year.

I don't disagree with any of that but didn't Max miss 6 weeks of pre season last year and then went onto have one of his best seasons ever? I'd be surprised if this injury impacts his performance at all. Melksham also had a bunch of time on the sidelines and proceeded to play some of his best ever games last year. Meanwhile blokes like McVee and Kolt had interrupted pre seasons last year and went onto have poor seasons. The best teams no doubt have the best pre seasons but some players can seemingly get away with a poor pre season.

WIth King's apparent round 1 "clean slate" it wouldn't shock me if Sparrow's not in it. A nice-ish handy player that's become a part of the furniture and has only managed 20+ touches in 8 of his last 50 games. He tantalised us all with a 23ish possession 3 goal game in a 2024 pre season game V Carlton but couldn't parlay that A grade level into home and away form. I like that he can take a strong grab (his point of difference as a player of his size) as that high forward outlet but I want more.

Hindsight's a wonderful thing but was it necessary to drop him after the Collingwood qualifying final loss? Mistake after mistake. Missed opportunity after missed opportunity. Playing Josh Schache as an unused sub. You'd have to wonder if having the Pig down back that night may have saved one of the four goals we conceded in the last qtr to win the game??

Interesting that Trac hasn’t been selected yet for the VICs.

The game is currently listed as Casey Fields.

Dees V North match simulation (sort of announced) on Friday February 20 with a time TBC. 7 quarters. Awesome timeslot if you're retired, unemployed or pretend to work from home.

I think 90% of people on this forum share this view. Unfortunately our other star is eligible to play on a technicality (while Will Ashcroft is ineligible to play on a technicality)

It’s an atrocious injury list at this time of year considering they’ve just had a 3 week break and we haven’t had any serious practice matches yet. Hopefully things settle down and we’ll only have Bowey missing for round 1.

That one totally went over my head. I thought you were referring to Melksham or CJ as being a smart Alec to you at training today.

Who misses just a fortnight with a strained calf?

Does anyone have information on Viney's timetable? Is he in doubt for the early rounds or are they slowly building him up for round 1?

Who was the reply from? Sounds like a bit of poor form. Better not risk him for State of Origin...

I'll have the popcorn ready...

The club reported he'll be on the sidelines through to early June (approx). Anything more than that and I reckon they'll pull the pin on his season and he can be cherry ripe for the next pre season.

I don't know why but the training ground situation doesn't bother me all that much. Carlton, North and Essendon have the so called "Taj Mahal" of training head quarters and all three clubs have been complete horse manure since they set up digs. Neither club has attracted many (f any) marquee players as a result of their world class establishments. Unless you call Cerra, Zac Williams and Luke Parker super stars of the sport. We on the other hand won a flag with so called second world facilities. Just give me a win on a Saturday and I'm happy.

Knowing our luck he'll have a 15/15 season instead of the 4/0 season of last year. As in 15 goals / 15 Brownlow votes for GWS this year.

Hopefully Lindsay is ok. Wasn’t there concern with his foot in one of the last training sessions last year?

This is where I sit as well. 8 or 9 wins would be nice while stopping the repeated nonsense of losing games despite more scoring shots. Hopefully King brings some offensive efficiency to the club. Given we’re 8-21 (27%) from our last 29 games, I can’t entertain the idea of a top 10 finals birth this year like some others have. At the very best, we have a 2020 like season (with a slightly worse W/L) where we potentially start the season slowly after a terrible end to 2019, but build nicely in the second half and carry that momentum into the following year.

If Oliver didn’t play a game in 2025, how many less wins would have we had last year? If the answer is 0 to 1 less win, then perhaps that’s one of the reasons we traded him.

Our best 2 performances came against Brisbane and Sydney (rounds 10 and 11) and Johnson was in the team for both games. Make of that what you will.

He was a good boy this year. More than impressed he didn’t get pinged by the MRO, and touch wood will play his first round 1 game since 2023.

Fair retort to be honest. You can’t judge a book based on a praccy match at Arden Street (although he showed a bit in a few 2024 AFL games) I recall that JFK practice match you’re referring to circa 2014 at Marvel. He looked like our next 15 year premier small forward that night.