Dee*ceiving

It will hurt if we lose...but it makes sense to give the old guard a shot early in the season. If they can't do it and we fail, it will be time for the kids and recruits. Verrall, Fullarton, disco (eventually), etc...

I think TMac will play on Lobb and follow him into the ruck. Brown and JVR can be left to play as proper forwards. Tmac or brown get subbed if we need run late.

Agree Monoccular. Not Sure we know for a fact he wants out. It would be fair to say he wants the best deal he can get & he likes the idea of being able to live in SA where he grew up. Seems reasonable.

We're in a strong position. The club played this really well last year. Particularly with them knowing full well 2024 will be Brown and TMacs last year. At the end of 2024, with a year to run, we should seek to re-sign Harry long term or trade him to the Crows for the best deal possible. Dragging it into his final contract year before FA wouldn't be ideal. We should be be in a strong position financially so can either make a good long term offer to Harry or go shopping with a swag od picks and money in the bank.

Tommo too slow for JUH. Horses for courses. But yes, he's stiff.

May and lever won't be the only tall backs. Tmac is in to play on Lobb and maybe follow him into the ruck (my read)

Irrespective of her point it's a very strange comparison from Roffey. I can't imagine Tiger Woods wishing to be more like John Daly ... (ok maybe a bad example). Would Rory McIlroy wish to be like John Daly? Would the Yankees ever publicly wish to be like the Mets? The Celtics like the Lakers? Man U like Man City? Ricky Steamboat like Ric Flair?

Agree. He is too slow to play on JUH though. Feels like: - Hore to JUH - McDonald to Lobb - May to Naughton (always done well on Naughton) - Lever to stay loose Fullarton or BBB I have no idea?

I read that to be Tomlinson as sub. And McDonald playing back?

Max or JV should go to the central umpire before the first bounce and (very politely) say we're going to count how many times Max get's bumped unnecessarily off the ball and give you the running score at the end of every quarter

Not sure we trained all preaseason for him to play on the ball. I could be wrong but my read was this had been a thought bubble for some time but was only really activated once we lost Angus

Good point DJ. Hopefully he was just behind some good talls at the Lions and like other talls needed a little while to mature 🤞

We had 4 A grade mids until Angus' retirement so our depth looked pretty good. His loss exposes Sparrow & Laurie, and Hunters injury exposes Windsor. Salem was a good solution until Bowey's selflessness but us on the backside. Windsor will make it, but IMV not ideal he's having to own a wing after 3 months of training. I'd wonder if Woey is not a better option? Knows the system, KMs in the legs and a man's body. Caleb's speed and kicking is tantalising but is he ready?

Agree Salem will return to the backline. Unfortunate, but sensible. Knows the role and solves a problem. Pickett will take some midfield minutes & Laurie will have to step up. Pickett for Bowey Fullarton for Schache Billings for Spargo Maybe a tall as sub? Cupboard feeling a bit bare though

Don't think we'll see Billings in the backline. Thankfully

Its a part of doing business. When you lose one you get unders, when one chooses to come your way you do better. If you work free agency to your advantage (in and out) you'll end up in front.

Ahhh. I thought you meant around the pill 👍

JVR did get into the game more when shifted up the ground. Seemed to spend a lot of time in the goal square not getting the footy until it was too late.

Bigger than Jack, Clayton, Sparrow and Trac?

We knew already, but Grundy's performance last night is a severe dagger in the heart for us. SG and football department should be hurting over their failure to make something out of the Max and Brody partnership. It seems they only had one plan for that partnership. It was one or both of Max and Brody spend ~50% of their game time I50 and they kick goals. As soon as they became convinced that wasn't working they threw it away completely and discarded a quality player to a competing contender. Surely there were other options and a combination of which could be applied? Don't play them both every week. Surely there would be benefit in giving them a rest from time to time. 3 - 4 games off each throughout the season would have some merit (horses for f'n courses) If the forward option isn't working have one of them drop behind the ball for 20% of their game time. This could even allow a defender to swing forward as a shock option! Reduce each of their own overall game time. Max had 82% TOG last night, Brodie 78%. Why not target each of them around 70%? Sub one of them off from time to time for a running player

The debate regarding conditions last night is interesting, particularly when those in the stands are suggesting it was dry but I am sure I heard the commentators and Jude B clearly state more than once it was humid, sticky and dewy. ...& the players looked completely drenched, particularly the dees darker colours. Brings a question to my mind. Did we do any night time training in Jan or Feb? Suspect not (do they even have suitable lighting at Casey or Gosch's to make it possible?).

The VFL doesn't start for another 2 weeks but there is a practice match today and another next weekend

Agree, can't see how we could possibly pick Schache next week which probably means JVR has to pinch hit in the ruck, assuming TF not ready?

Absolute BS re: Max. He was huge against the Lions at the G late in the season, massive against the Pies in the first final and bloody good in the second against Carlton. Also close to our best on King's birthday.

Also for those marking JVR harshly it's worth considering that Amartey and Logan McD also had very little influence. McD kicked his first goal in the last qtr. McLean was the only tall to clunk a couple of marks I50, also later in the game and one was thanks to a mix up between May and Max