Lord Travis

Just goes to show preseason matches are completely and utterly irrelevant. We belted Carlton last week. They come out next week in the real stuff and best Brisbane up at the gabba. We come out and roll over to the Swans.

12 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Weren’t we into Acres at one point? Solid winger can take a great mark. 

Probably, but never realistically in the picture for whatever reason. That trade was baffling and has to be draft tampering. Carlton gave up a future third round pick for Acres, who had just been Freos best player in the finals before exit. He's a good footballer and has toweled us up a few times now.

3 hours ago, adonski said:

Jefferson to kick 10 and force his way in I'm hearing

Going to be hard playing from the back pocket!

Our drafting and player development has been much improved this past decade, but we still haven't developed a capable marking key forward since the 2000s. I hope this was a short term lesson for Jefferson and not a plan to try turning him into a defender when we're crying out for a key forward and burnt a first round pick on him.

Clarry completely gassed by the end. Not his best game tonight but still pretty serviceable. 29 disposals and 6 clearances off bugger all preseason and other issues to overcome is a strong effort from a champion. Chin up Clarry!

1 minute ago, dees189227 said:

Salem in the midfield hasn't seem to have been as good as I thought 

We tried it 2017-2018 and it didn't work. Looked good in one preseason match, but he's not a natural midfielder. He's not blessed with strong endurance and not great around packs unless he's hitting it front on. With Bowey out for a while you'd think, Salem back to HBF.

Our worst loss all season in 2023 was 15 points. We're already worse off and defending hasn't been our main issue tonight. It's gonna be a slog of a year.

Grundy close to BOG tonight. Good on him. Disappointing from Gawn tonight. Had his colors lowered for the first time in years.

Game over. What a waste of time.

So who do we have fit in the VFL to come in next week?

Outs in Laurie, Chandler, Spargo.

What a disappointment this is turning into. Losing to a team missing it's two best midfielders and leaders. Some really stupid and lazy efforts tonight with players bashing into each other with no communication. 

Windsor is a player. Got the speed but his defensive efforts are top notch too. Looks another smart drafting selection by JT!

Brilliant from Mcvee. Can we clone him?

Laurie subbed off. Billings on. About time!

Gawn having a shocker. Grundy has him worked out.

It's really hard watching this team play. Just weight of numbers and hope for the best. 

Get Laurie off the ground now. Can't find the ball. Drops uncontested marks. Can't hit a target. Playing a man down here.

1 goal from over 20 insides 50s. Abysmal. Nothing has changed. Skill level and method is poor.

What is going on with Fritsch?!

Don't enjoy potting players, but I'm yet to see anything from Laurie that suggests he's up to the level yet. Sub him off for Billings at half time.

Didn't like that first quarter. Our ball movement is still stagnant or kick in hope. We're burning all our chances. We've got a few who are seriously lacking intensity out there too.

Viney digging in as always though. Such a warrior and the ultimate team mate. Follow his lead boys!

Billings the sub.

If we're not sure Windsor has the endurance to go the full match at pace, expect he'll be subbed off third quarter and Billings slots onto the wing.

All three debutants are skilled ball users. Great move by the coaches to address a weakness and try to find the right balance. Pumped for Thurs night now. Go Dees!

20 minutes ago, Kent said:

Really ? So Maynard didn't bump

"Attempted spoil" apparently.

Not a free agent yet, but scratch Ben King off the list of targets for a few more years. Just signed an extension til end of 2026. Will be a free agent then.

Lifetime membership to the wingers club

A top shelf demon. So sad!

Harmes left. Jordon left. Grundy left (consider rucks part of the midfield). Dunstan retired. Brayshaw now retired. Oliver still an unknown, though looking more positive.

That's a significant hit to our midfield group and depth. I initially expected us to be top 4 and competitive again, but upon reflecting on our midfield depth and now Brayshaw retiring suddenly also... I think the outlook is less rosy than I originally thought. Petracca, Viney, Sparrow, Neal-Bullen are our only experienced proven midfielders who will definitely be playing this year. Our fate this year now seems more heavily tied to youngsters such as Laurie, Woey, Windsor all stepping up quickly, and others unproven in the midfield such as Rivers, Kozzy, Spargo.

It also robs us of the ability to play Petracca, and potentially Kozzy, forward as much. All the talk about our club is with the forward line issues, but the midfield is more important, and our personnel in there is getting less attention. It's more of a concern for us this season IMO.