BLWNBA

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.

Yeah, I think that’s how he’d be viewed. I spoke about this in another thread so don’t necessarily want to hijack this one, but given the departures of JJ, Harmes, ANB, Hunter, and Gus (and to a lesser extent, Jackson), we’ve lost a lot of the pinch hitters and midfield depth and versatility that is needed. That showed significantly through this season with absence of Petracca and limitations of Oliver’s output.

Heard some credible mail on this, though in reality when you're getting down the draft order that far it just becomes more and more speculative IMO (I know that sounds like I'm not committing).

Interesting, The West Australian had us taking Smillie with our first 🤔

Presume that's based on Smith not be available at 5?

Dom Brew could be in the mix with this pick (Werribee Captain, 2024 JJ Liston winner).

Yeah, look - I wouldn't say I'm totally opposed to taking a tall. At the start of the year my ideal scenario was actually us getting Luke Trainor. I just get the feeling that the club has faith in a current set up and by all reports, Jefferson has added on a lot of size. In my initial post I also forgot to reference Kenterfield, though he's far more speculative than the previous group (including Jefferson).

Just had a look at this online, magnificent guernsey!

There's some nervous energy today and frankly, I feel like a young child on Christmas morning. I have a list of wants but I'm not sure exactly what I'll be receiving. I've posted about this a couple of times before, but in my own (nuffie) opinion, I really think we should be taking two midfielders. Yes, the forward line is still a concern and frankly, it appears to be something reminiscent of a haphazard construction site for the most part, but we have a very, very good opportunity to get some high level midfield talent and set us up for the next decade. We've lost Lachie Hunter, ANB, Gus and Jordon; while I wouldn't contend that any of them were full-time / staring mids over the course of the last 24 months, they all added to our midfield rotation and provided impetus when required. Moving onto Oliver and Petracca, we don't exactly know where they'll be in 12 months time, both from an on-field perspective and from an output perspective (personally, I'm confident Oliver will be a the Dees as it stands; I'm no where near as certain on Petracca). Even assuming that both the aforementioned are with the Dees and have returned to their lofty levels, Petracca will be 29 before the season starts, Oliver 28 mid way through the season, and Viney 31 in April. While we'll still get some good football out of each of them, we really don't have the 'next wave' coming through like we need. As noted earlier, I can understand some of the angst around the forward and I agree some of it is warranted. But, and this is where I'm leaning on how I think the Club partially views things, is that we have a young brigade coming through the forward ranks that are capable of delivering, in time. JvR, Turner and Petty (although I note he's reportedly been training with the backs), along with Jefferson waiting in the wings, are likely viewed as viable options to take us forward. None of this is ground-breaking and I'm not pertaining to have some level of granular insight in the microcosm of our list, just how I see things and I think we'd be very remiss remiss to not take the best two mids available.

That's my understanding mate. Lot of reporting coming through that Tigers will have plenty of offers for those later picks too, given that there's likely going to be a few sliders this year and depth of the first round is deep. Tigers are in great position this year to get very creative.

Wouldn't be against this as I expect that we can still get a very, very good player with one of their later picks. I think it likely comes down to how much we rate Allan and if we're of the opinion that he won't be there at Pick 9, and we're set on using Pick 5 elsewhere, it makes a fair bit of sense. Of course, the other side of the coin is that Richmond would likely need to be spooked into thinking that Allan could go to us at 5, otherwise surely they'd just use 6 on him?