Lord Travis

Sparrow looking good today as well. Love his hardness. Lockhart developing well as a back pocket. Could be the Jetta replacement in a few years time.

Rivers taking off and nailing target up the middle of the ground was great. When we drafted him I said he'd get most game this year of our current draft crop and eventually replace Hibberd across halfback. He's looking likely! Rubbish set shot from Bedford. Needs to do better if he ever wants to crack a game at AFL level.

Stuck behind pay-well, but not surprising that he's statistically similar to Danger and a few others. Classic mid-forward type. He's been good for a few years, but has the potential to be great. Hopefully increased fitness and the move into the midfield properly will help him realise his potential and become great.

[censored] that was a big hit, right up there as one of the nastiest I can remember in recent times. It’s magnified though by sneaky Ablett pushing him into May at the last minute. That was really dangerous. May was actually standing still and bracing for contact. Without that push from Ablett it would’ve been far less damaging hit. Still massive though!

If he’s good enough to make AFL, he’s going to Freo. All the developments last year posted in this thread show he’s not coming to us. He already trains with them as part of their academy. He’s a Freo supporter. Nat Fyfe is his idol. He lives in WA with his family. His mother is a Freo supporter, has has health issues, and doesn’t travel to Melbourne anymore for health reasons. When Jeff was interviewed last year, he said he hopes Kobe plays for Freo and can wear his number 33. Regardless, he missed the U18 WA team and is speculative at this point. The only way he’s coming to us is if he’s not good enough to be drafted and we grab him for nothing, in which case he’s not good enough so why bother.

Hoping to see reigning BnF winner Oliver and upcoming superstar Petracca in there somewhere!

Rumor has it Petracca wants to play more midfield and was disgruntled it wasn't happening. Club said he wasn't fit enough and he'd get more midfield time if he increased his fitness. Looks like he's increased his fitness over summer and so the club are giving him the midfield time he wants. Win Win! Trac is a weapon!

Trac, Jones, Jetta, Gawn, Viney, TMac, Goody.

Awesome news! His next contract come free agency is gonna be a huge one for him. Hopefully we can keep him and the rest of the young core in Oliver, Lever, Brayshaw etc all together.

He's a super quiet and shy kid, so hopefully as he matures he comes out of his shell a bit. Reminds me of young Aaron Davey, who was very quiet but came out of his shell and became a leader towards the end of his career. I agree if he'd kicked the second one, I think we would've seen his confidence grow and he probably would've got on the end of a few more.

Agree he doesn't look best 22 yet, and other than some magical leaps, he was one of the worst players on the ground yesterday. The calls about him instantly surpassing Weid were a bit ridiculous IMO. Weid had an average game yesterday, yet nullified a good number one ruckman in O'Brien and picked up 20 hit-outs and 18 disposals himself. He is miles ahead of Jackson at this stage, as he should be with five years extra development! I'd like to see Jackson rucking for Casey in first half of the year, and then hopefully building to becoming 2nd ruck/forward option in AFL second half of the year.

Brilliant news and good decision to select Max! No formal leadership group is a big tick too. It puts ownership on all the players to lead, and allows natural leaders to grow without fear of overstepping. Viney as vice-captain is good too. Sounds the club handled it well internally and recognise he is still valuable to lead by example with his toughness and intensity. Look forward to more Gawny interviews!

I agree, not to mention we have more than enough inside mids. He showed a bit in the ruck with his huge leap and good followup, but as a mid he was clueless and ineffective. Didn't get much of a look as a forward as delivery was directed elsewhere when he was down there. IMO he should play s 2nd ruck to Gawn. He can play forward and then rotate into the ruck to allow Gawn to rest forward. It's a waste playing him inside mid, though I'm not opposed to trying him in the wing role that Richo and Goodes excelled in as tall marking targets.

Haven’t heard anything about this yet but god I hope this gets done soon before his price increases. He’s definitely going to improve his output this year and drive his price up further. There’s multiple other clubs, including the Pies, hounding his manager. If we’ve got open communication to get it done then we better not stuff it up. At worst he’s a good forward option, which we need. At best he’s a potential midfielder/forward weapon in the Dusty/Dangerfield mould.

Trac has had a f*cking huge game. 38 disposals, 3 goals, 185 fantasy points. That must be the biggest game by a Demon in many years. Lets hope increased fitness and midfield time sees him become the great player we all know he can be. Very exciting!

Safe. Again! He's missed two easy set shots today.

Good kicking is good football. Good passage there Dees!

He's been poor and has been in the rehab group most of summer for various leg and foot related issues. He's probably our most important player at this stage, as he's our only big proven goal kicker now. Another goal to Jones. That's 3!

Jones having a good third quarter and has been one of our best today. Used his experience at the stoppage there to push off his opponent and get enough space for the quick shot.

Until we improve our kicking skills, we won't challenge. "Chaos-ball" can only beat disorganised sides. Well coached and organised teams like West Coast, Collingwood and Richmond gobble up the long bombs. If we improve our kicking efficiency, we'll immediately become a top 4 team again. We win more than enough ball and give ourselves abundance of opportunity. Loving Trac permanently in the midfield!

Healy and Dunstall are actually quite positive about the Dees. Both usually talk us up. Both have picked us to play finals and said we should be disappointed if we don't play finals. They're both right. Assessment of Jackson so far is valid. He played midfield for nearly two full quarters and had 3 touches, 2 ineffective. It's been a poor debut thus far, but reality is he's a tall kid playing his first AFL practice game. Even though he was a high draft pick, he's tall and will take time to come on. Kozzie looked lively at stages. His problem has always been consistency, he flashes in and out of games and never wins much ball. If he can keep applying pressure up forward and kick a goal or two, then his more than filling the role we need and will quickly prove a valuable pickup. Langdon and Tomlinson have both looked ok. Langdon has showed great run, but mis-kicked. Tomlinson has showed poise, but not been as involved. Brown has looked decent up forward. He's crafty and will kick anywhere from 20-35 goals for us this year. For a freebie, he'll be pick-up of the year.

Looks like a headless chook at the moment to be honest. Not sure the super tall midfielder is the role he should be playing. I know he's undersized for a ruck, but given it's a practice match and Gawn is out, we should give him more of a taste in the ruck. He showed great leap in the few minutes he had there. Either that, or play him goal square as a target.

Trac dominant today. Hopefully he's fit enough to play proper midfield all year and become a real bull.

Kozzie showing how dangerous he can be with a few flashes of brilliance in a minute. Just needs to build consistency s he's got the attributes we need up forward.

Pickett banana for his first goal! Brilliant!