BLWNBA

*Kozzie

Taking his AFL form into the VFL, by the sounds of it.

Thanks mate. Has Verrall been playing more forward? Curious given he's been credited with two goals, or has he floated forward from the main ruck duties? Appreciate the insight if you're able to give some.

Verrall rucking?

If he was five years younger I'd say roll the dice on him if he came cheap enough. No chance with his current output and age though.

This is a brilliant story mate, thanks for sharing.

Both my grandfather's served in World War II in the Pacific. One in the Royal Australian Artillery and one in the RAAF. I'm in my mid 30s and I was fascinated by the boys own stories they would often recount to me as I was growing up and they've remained particularly close to me. My great-uncle and great grandfather also served in World War I. I myself haven't served in the ADF, but I've had close associations and very strong contacts with many enlisted members of the ADF and have worked in a collegiate environment among them, tomorrow will be a special day. Lest We Forget.

I'm (pleasingly) surprised by this. I feel for the past five seasons or so I've been excessively agitated and critical of our inability to defend the 'junk time' scoring of opposition sides! Gladly put in my place with this one, fantastic records on both stats.

Is anyone able to confirm if Laurie is training with the mids?

Understandable, though I would've like to see him at least be retained as the sub.

Will be interested to hear track watchers insights on McAdam, given he's seemingly overcome his injury and out of his rehabilitation period.

Does anyone with some insight into the club know how the sale of the ANZAC guernsey is going? Somewhat surprised that there still seems to be a large availability of guernseys this year, compared to previous years.

Yeah I totally agree that Jeff seems to love Melbourne and I think that's genuine. Kalani seems to have enjoyed his time with the Dees too when he trained last year. But purely based on what I see on social media and some comments Jeff has made about his son, they seem very ingrained in the Gold Coast lifestyle and have a strong network in Queensland. I have no personal connection and could be entirely wrong (hopefully so!), but I think there might be somewhat of a lure to staying on the GC given how ingrained he appears to be.

Unless we went in a different direction, i.e., brining in another tall like Fullarton, I'm not too sure what our other options are noting injuries and form. Based on what I saw during the pre-season, I actually thought Brown might have been in line for an early season debut (at least as the sub). His form looked decent and I thought he showed enough in that small forward role, albeit arguably going up against Chandler who has been reasonable for the majority since the start of the season. I wouldn't be against Brown, but I think that others have shown more at more regularly intervals at Casey (NB: I rely on reporting and don't actually get to see the Casey games. Others would have far more insight than me in that regards).

As a side note our ANZAC guernsey is absolutely stunning. One of our best so far.

Hands down the best game of the H&A season, with regards to our fixture. Sadly I haven't been to one for the past three seasons, but the pre-game ceremony is incredibly moving and poignant. Watching it on the tube just doesn't do it justice at all. I'd implore all those who are able to make it, to attend and genuinely recommend making an effort to get to one of these matches if you've never been.

Is that knowledge or just an expectation?

Why is that? Based on the SEN excerpt, it purely sounds like you'd need to match within a certain amount of picks - it doesn't seem like they're restricting access in the same way that they changed the Academy system.

Went at 39 goals 22 behinds last year from 66 shots at goal, which is easily his best return from a scoring perspective. He'd potentially assist to address a need and no doubt would fall in front Shac, at least from a depth perspective. If he was gettable it would be prudent to enquire and depending on what was required to facilitate a trade, I'd be keeping my eye on this space from an MFC perspective.

Would be interested to see if there's any track watchers out who can give some observations of todays session.

If we're throwing around a war chest to get a top liner in, I'd much rather the salary cap space go towards McCluggage.

Nice post, some good and interesting takes there and enough to mull over. I largely agree with your points and think we should head in with the two outs: Salem (a given) and Oliver (I suspect he'll play). I'd be inclined to have Laurie as an in. I agree that's it's incredibly important to have reward form via senior selection and we need integrity in the match committee in regards to this, we can't continue with the perceived status quo of playing favourites. Laurie can rotate through the midfield rotations and we can see how he goes against a (relatively) secondary midfield which will be missing Taranto, Hopper and Prestia. Naturally, Pickett comes back into the fold after serving his one week suspension and I'd be retaining Kolt as the sub. Whilst the two inclusions aren't a like-for-like, I'd be inclined to play Woewodin out of the back in the absence of Salem and lets see what he can do. Although we were very ordinary to say the least, I didn't think Taj was as poor as what many have made out (I've only watched the game once, potentially a second viewing in a non-live environment may allow more judgement on this, though). Personally, I'm not sure I'd be playing Langdon down back, I think he has more value as that link-up runner, though he hasn't exactly set the world on fire as of late. I wouldn't be rushing Hunter back. I'm not sure he's the type of player we need in the side at the moment but I wouldn't be adverse to Fullarton coming in, potentially to give BBB an extended break.

Characterising Petty as a below average kick is somewhat unfair. His scoring returns are: 2019: 6 goals, 5 behinds; 2022: 1 goal, 0 behinds; 2023: 12 goals, 1 behind; 2024: 1 goal, 4 behinds. His shot at goal accuracy for his career is, currently, 55.6% which places him into the 'average' category (cf. Fritsch, who is going at 56.9% for his career and has a ranking of 'above average'). Interestingly, McDonald is going at 65.87% goal accuracy (166 goals, 86 behinds). Your observations about the TMac and Petty comparison could well and truly be correct, but we're comparing two very different bodies of work with reference to games played forward. Goal outputs for Petty / Fritsch* are as follows: Petty: 0.3 per game (below average); Fritsch: 1.7 per game (above average). Personally, I do feel Petty's ability to play forward in an ongoing and significant manner (i.e., as our primary KPF) are somewhat overstated and his forward-craft has been magnified by the Richmond game where he went 6 straight. Noting the next week he kicked another two straight against North before going off after halftime with the Lisfranc. His other results for 2023 were: Round 4, Sydney: 1 goal; Round 6, Richmond: 1 goal, 1 behind; Round 9, Hawthorn: 2 goals. (Note: I am unable to recall if Petty started as a forward in all those games in 2023 - others may be able to shed light on that facet). I think he's got some great attributes, especially his strength at marking. But I think the jury is still out on whether he's going to be the forward many have hoped for. At the current stage I'd agree he's more suited to a backline role, though then we get into the issue of the 'over-supply' of backman that we seem to have. *AFL.com.au stats for McDonald omitted, as he is now classified as a backman which skew his goals per game ranking.