whatwhat say what

7 minutes ago, Palace Dees said:

I have fingers crossed for Luker so Batmania can become Melbourne again.

• One for the history buffs 😉

imagine if that had been the name chosen give batman's relations with the indigenous of tasmania...

batmania demons would have been an interesting team to barrack for against the future tasmanian devils, that's for sure

best guess at a side...

B: Howes - Petty - Lever
HB: Jiath - Turner - Salem
C: Langford - Steele - Lindsay
HF: Sparrow - Mihocek - Langdon
F: Fritsch - van Rooyen - Chandler
Foll: Gawn - Rivers - Koz Pickett
I/c: Windsor - Tholstrup - McDonald - Heath - Kuz Pickett
Emerg: Laurie - Taylor - Sharp

unavailable (possibly 12): May - Viney - Culley - Bowey - Melksham - Jefferson - McAdam - White - Kentfield - Johnson - Henderson - Moniz-Wakefield

that's a LOT of senior players injured / absent, plus a lot of 'next up' too

if melksham is fit he might make the team ahead of mcdonald, but personally i have my doubts that he'll be right to go in a fortnight with such limited preparation

it might also come down to a choice of only one of mcdonald or heath, with sharp in to add some more legs and zip or they might back culley in for that same reason

it may also depends on whether mihocek is right to play after the concussion and limited preseason

there's a lot of uncertainty as to who is 'right to go'

in terms of the result, i suspect we'll run out of legs having had 6 completed quarters of footy in preparation as opposed to the aints' 8 plus a further 4 of an actual competitive game for four points - the fixture is a complete farce; nothing changes there from the afl

anything can happen tho; i'm hopeful but not optimistic of starting the season with a win

4 hours ago, DubDee said:

Do any fans feel more optimistic about our season given our solid preseason form and the new game plan already looking to be implemented to a degree

I think we'll be around the 7-11 win mark

not really, no

still think we're a bottom 5 side, winning about the same # of games as the last two seasons, so 7 wins; would be pleased if it was double digit wins

yet i might feel a lot better about the 2026 season than i did 2024 and 2025

7 hours ago, Deestar9 said:

So you’re writing off these players on the basis of 2 practice games. I’ve been at both. CJ has played over the 2 matches ..1 game. New club..new game plan ..let’s give him some more time. I liked a lot of his game. There were a few supporters around us who were going to the three games (ho figure) & it was interesting to hear their comments…a lot more flattering than some of our supporters. Tholstrup was more than serviceable as was Laurie. Not everyone is a Windsor ..Langford etc but they were ok. Our game is a work in progress…some fantastic signs but def a lot to work on. Let’s be a bit more forgiving.,,

who said i was writing them off from 2 practice games?

cj has 76 afl games and i'd hope he plays in at least 5 more seasons with us, so could get up close to 200 games as he clearly has attributes to his game that are very good - they're just not his kicking, clearly, but he reads the play well and has speed and seems to have some strength in the contest

laurie has been on our list since before we won the premiership; i don't see an afl-level player whatsoever

tholstrup is a lovely long kick, a terrible short one, is not quick, doesn't seem to have much 'smarts' around him and is entering his third year

at the start of 2021 i probably said the same of sparrow; at the end of the year he was a premiership player

i hope to say the same of tholstrup at the conclusion of his third season too - like sparrow he's got a great attitude to his game, wants to bring his teammates into the game, but it think probably lacks the gut-running of sparrow at this point in time

25 minutes ago, Greg Schneider said:

I like Lindsay, but far out Murphy Reid …

yeah, he looks special

let's poach him as revenge

2 hours ago, MrFreeze said:

I think Laurie has shown much more than him over the preseason, hopefully he takes his bench spot

i wouldn't have laurie anywhere near our afl side

sorry to say it, but when we have the likes of him, tholstrup, cj, and others besides in our best 23 we will continue to be a bottom side - they're not skilled enough to make a good side, which is i guess why cj was let go by dingley and we picked him up

i saw the frost comparisons earlier but he's more like a jayden hunt for mine; he has some good aspects to his game but his kicking is routinely up-and-under with not enough penetration and direction

6: gawn
5: windsor
4: steele
3: van rooyen
2: rivers
1: koz pickett

3 hours ago, old dee said:

How did Kolt play in everyone's opinion?

poor to average

he's an honest trier but limited skillset and does dumb things regularly

he should be in our 23 for rd 1 as we're so short of fit players and we need him to actually be a warm, fit body

1 minute ago, joeboy said:

Very dark already at the ground and no lighting so game may be over

no more injuries = winning

ahahaha lightning again

call it off

proper forward craft from jvr - mark the ball, feel the oppo behind you, drop it, get the 50

i sense a theme in 2026 - cj mark, cj run, cj bomb to no one

cj is very ordinary

can't kick and misses the ball in the air

steele and cj have been teammates for...checks notes..... zero real games

and it showed

petty out-bodied by lynch too easily but he's not on his pat malone there

windsor is a good n

Just now, Demonland said:

That was the consensus from my Hawks mates.

mine too

says a lot that he was borderline for them and clearly best back 6 for us

cj's kicking is very poor

knee injury confirmed for kentfield

5 minutes ago, Oxdee said:

Is kentfield injured?

concussion - definitely; knee - potentially

10 minutes ago, old dee said:

Some days I think this club is cursed . Doesn’t look good Batman looks to have a bad knee injury.

some days? some days?!??

norm smith curse only lifted when none of us (well, most of us) could go to see us win a premiership!

1 minute ago, david_neitz_is_my_dad said:

Who was that [censored] grub

nothing in it; complete accident

wow now lightning and the players are being called off

it's almost like the afl should use a stadium that they own that has a roof to play practice games on

luker looked in a bad way

knocked out cold - elbow to the head in the contest

possible mcl injury as he landed too

4 minutes ago, bush demon said:

He would have ground control sorted out.

major tom [matthews] as his vice?

that's pretty cool

3 minutes ago, The Jackson FIX said:

Lot of chatter in the US when it was announced an NFL games was coming to the MCG and they were stunned with the volume of car parking available at an elite sporting ground

i seem to recall they were more stunned by the LACK of parking required due to easily accessible public transport options