BLWNBA

Received ours a couple of weeks before Christmas, including the replacement item due to of the items not being age appropriate for toddlers (small pieces and replaced proactively by the club).

👀

Cheers for this. I’d be curious to get your observations on the ball movement out of the D50 and into the F50. I found from what I saw, that it was largely more of the same with a large amount of, frankly, poor exits/entries resulting in turnovers, either by way of over handling the ball on the transition, or just dumping the ball high which allowed a defender to take an easy mark or make a spoil. Whilst it hasn’t been doom and gloom, it was pretty uninspiring to see that this was still occurring.

Do you need some tissues?

Because a manager is always a beacon of truth and speaks for the benefit of ‘fans’ and not his client, yeah?

If a suitable trade could’ve been facilitated during the 2024 Trade Period, he wouldn’t be playing for Melbourne in 2025. Last year was the closest this has been to fruition and it was instigated by the player. It’s not a matter of ‘if’ with Pickett, it’s ‘when’.

Genuinely couldn’t disagree more, based from what I saw from training at Gosch’s prior to the Christmas break. His lateral movement was something to behold, as was his repeated sprint efforts in the full ground exercises, and simulated square work

Thanks mate, similar to Monday when I down.

Did you happen to see who else was used as a forward, alongside Jefferson?

You can’t make that argument about the MFC having selection integrity when Petty was as useful as an empty bag of chips that floats around the third level of the Warne Stand for the whole season, and not once was he dropped.

It was another non-selection special adding to some of the baffling match committee decisions we’ve seen over the past three seasons.

He had a fantastic intercept today. Was brilliant. I was also staggered at the amount of unrewarded running he does too, he just reloaded every time and kept on going.

Harris to stay at Dees after 'shift' in Hawks negotiations

Yeah, the turnover ‘issue’ is interesting. Based on what I saw today, and I say this with some reserved trepidation, is that there’s a quasi-return to the 2021/2022 game style. We seemed to have a lot of emphasis put on the ‘catch and roll’ out of the D50 and we want to put pace on the ball, while going direct to goal. I’d also suspect that we see AJ fulfilling that tall forward role à la BB circa 2021 (not necessarily saying we’ll get the same return, but in a reference to structure). So while I’d say there’s been a return to hunting the footy (see Goody’s comments r.e., ‘hunting the ball’), which in turn has resulted in a high pressure contest, you commentary regarding poor kicks is spot on. Those with poor technique/poor judgement stood out, and that leads into the issue regarding using those players to transition out of the D50. However, I’m cognisant of the artificiality of the scenario and would also note that some of these users will not be in our weekly 22, unless of course there’s mitigating scenarios. Tmac’s ball use was visibly a cut above many today, and his ability to hit a target around the ground is uncanny. The others that impressed today with their use were Turner and Windsor, Tracc also had some very nice passages though I’ve always thought Tracc’s around the ground work is fairly sublime, it’s his entry work and conversion kicking that leaves something to be desired at times. I was a tad disappointed that XL was in the recovery/injured group. Would’ve loved to see him with the ball in the full ground drills. I’m very keen to see him in full flight though, I think we’ve done nicely with the XL/Langford/Kolt/Windsor combo.

Good point. Fair point, my obs. could’ve been off. Appreciate the insight, anyway!

Ack. Any idea if that’s true of both the pink and orange vest? Track definitely spent the first exercise in pink (where it was observed he was deliberately ‘touched’ to seemingly simulate a tackle cf. a completed tackle/body contact) before moving to the orange vest for EX. 2. FWIW, I 100% agree with your observations relating to the orange vest. Genuine question, not attempting to play semantics or be a smartass.

A few observations from this morning (noting I wasn’t there for the whole session). I arrived at around 1015 and the squad was already out on the track. The rehab group consisted of XL, McAdam, Melksham, Spargo and Sestan. Lever was also on restricted duties and appeared to be in runners. The main group was doing end-to-end transition work in a simulated match situation. Ball movement was focused on moving the ball from a kick in, into the forward line, with focus on kicking to the advantage of a forward. In this drill it appeared Petty was playing as a forward alongside Luka and Turner, while TMac was a defender. I was unable to really see down the other end from where I was positioned, but Pickett also played as a forward linking player, along side Ricky. Ricky Mentha does some nice things, though there were a few times he was caught as a result of not taking the first option, or getting corralled on the boundary line as a result of attempting to use his pace and quicksteps to get around a defending player. For this exercise it seemed as though Trac was designated as a ‘no-contact’ player and had the high-vis vest adorned. I will say, the intensity was there. But, I thought the ball movement for the most part left a lot to be desired, particularly with the linking possession from the D50 into the centre or onto a wing. There were multiple turnovers, or failure to hit a target, which resulted in an ‘opposition’ score. FWIW, I’m not saying this is a doom and gloom worst preseason ever type of scenario, but I am calling it on the body of work I saw. Similarly, there were numerous kicks into the attacking F50 that went straight to a defender, including several uncontested efforts. In terms of some ‘positives’, Petracca does look very, very fit. His lateral movement was amazing at times, and he was extremely vocal. I‘m not going to make a judgement on what this means for anything post 2025, but undoubtedly his professionalism will get him through next season whatever the outcome. He looks raring to go. Turner did some nice things up forward, including a very nice roving goal from spilt contested mark. I think he’ll be a very handy addition up forward and will continue to impact. Chocco was also issuing some very vocal encouragement to Kenterfield (who, is absolutely massive). Hore could, in all likelihood, easily fulfil a depth role. He had some great moments including a goal saving spoil and fitted in seamlessly next to TMac as a defender. Langford is definitely a big boy. I’m beyond excited to see what he can do. In the full ground exercise he contested multiple marking contests and although he probably should’ve stuck a couple of the marks, he was at least able to ensure that the ball was brought to ground, rather than allowing his opponent to make a contested mark. He seemed to be playing as a marking half-forward and in a few of the plays I saw, seemed to be used as a marking runner from a kick-in. In terms of an early bolter for next year, I think we may see a big uptick in output from Kolt. Geez, he’s got some wheels on him and I was really surprised by his pace and ability to transition the ball. He’s a lot quicker than he looks on tv, and he’s got an uncanny ability to pick up the ball and roll with it. I was somewhat reticent on him, but I was very impressed from what I saw. The second exercise saw the group split into two and move into another contested ball movement exercise. Essentially the ball was brought in from one end of the ‘centre square’ (the exercise only utilised approx 25 x 10 in terms of a simulated centre square), by a ‘random’ player, and then a series of quick handballs were made in attempt to bring the ball to a coach on the other side of the ‘square’. Goodwin and Jones were the two ‘linesman’ for the group I observed. Petracca fully participated in this exercise, including contact, and was extremely vocal. He chased energetically, and once again his lateral movement was on full display. Several times the players were vocally reminded to ‘hunt the ball’ by Goodwin. I left not long after this exercise concluded. I’ll add more if anything pops into my mind, though I acknowledge this lacks a lot of depth like we see from our usual track watches.

Didn’t see the incident, so a little difficult to determine. Just inferring from his body language but he didn’t look too pleased and seemed in some discomfort. Left the ground with one trainer, but was able to walk back (albeit, with a limp). I’d likely think precautionary, but that’s just a ‘gut feel’.

Viney limping and looks done for the day. Moved from Gosch’s to AAMI.

*correction; Kolt is training with the main group. Melksham running laps.

Great comment. Almost fortuitously, I was rewatching the 2021 Qualifying Final against Brisbane last night and there was a short discussion on this very observation.

It's far, far closer to the $120m mark, with estimates ranging between $120m - $125m (at least under the current iteration and desired proposal).

Same, have a good mate that couldn't be happier.

Get a kick.

From what I've heard from a couple of people that have had a bit to do with him over the journey, is that this is entirely the case. Super serious bloke and people are reading way too much into his body language. At the end of the day we're dealing with an individual and people need to remember for all the predictive analysis one can do, there is still a significant amount of unpredictability and randomness involved with human interactions. I don't think Langford being selected by Melbourne is the causative reason for his on-stage disposition.