Fat Tony

If they are going to extend the season, I think it would make more sense to go through to October than start in early March.

The Dogs are as talented as any team in the AFL, so it was a great win. Ben Brown was very good in perfect conditions. I doubt Brown can be a premiership spearhead in 2024, but he did well and helped our forward line function well. It was great to see Oliver play with so much endurance and power. TMac played a solid game and is faster than Tomlinson and better at competing for the high ball. Hore kicked a couple of lucky mongrels. I am still a bit of a sceptic. Chandler was great and is clearly ahead of Spargo and Laurie in my eyes because his faster and able to compete better in the air. May is playing great footy. Max was excellent in perfect conditions. Billings was excellent and is really well suited to play the high half forward role in our system. Windsor's dexterity and decision making is exceptional for a two game player. He will be a gun inside the square if he can get stronger. Salem was good and is playing well, but it is having a knock on effect to Sparrow, who has been forced out of the midfield. I still think I would push Salem back (in place of Hore) and bring in another forward. The defence could be tested by speedy small forwards in less ideal marking conditions. I thought is was a bad tactical error to start the game with Viney, Kossie and Salem in the centre square and Viney got outsized by Bont.

Salem has to go back to take Bowey's role. We need someone with elite kicking in the back 7. Oliver and Viney both take 80% of game time in the midfield, which leaves 140% of game time to be split across the other midfielders. Petracca, Sparrow, Pickett and Billings can easily take those minutes and Salem won't give us more than those four. I am not sure who takes Schache's spot. TMac, Ben Brown and Fullerton are all upgrades but none are great options. Laurie is a VFL standard player IMO. Small, average kick, slow, poor tackler and small hands. Spargo also looks underdone. My changes would be: INS: TMac, Pickett, Billings (starting), Woewodin (sub) OUTS: Spargo, Schache, Laurie

Surely Salem goes back given Bowey is out. They are the most like for like. We need him to be our composed/skilled high half back. Kossie will come into the midfield at times, to go with Petracca, Oliver, Viney and Sparrow. Billings might also get a full game and can go through the midfield.

It’s only a bog ordinary assessment if he ends up an AFL quality forward.

I think Jefferson’s best chance to make it is as a defender like Mitch McGovern. He has zero ground game, lacks second efforts/intensity and will never be big enough.

It was definitely slippery due to the humidity being 89%.

We have not played well in humid, slippery conditions since Roos/Goodwin took over. (We have struggled in Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane and Gold Coast.) My theory is that the slippery ball takes away the aerial strength of Max and our intercept defenders. Plus our midfield is not skilful and overuses the ball to exit stoppages. The team selection was poor last night, with too many midgets. We need to place a greater value on small forwards who can compete in the air. The game has gone past players like Spargo and Laurie, who are hopeless in the marking contests, and not quick. We need Woewodin and Tholstrop to come on. Oliver looks too heavy and lacked pace. Schache just isn't urgent enough or strong enough. Howes looks good and will be a player. Windsor did some great things and will get better but is still really a 2025+ prospect. I am often critical of Tomlinson, but he played a good game. We can still win the flag this year, but we will need everything to go right.

The only Sydney I’m a fan of right now is Sydney Sweeney!

Langdon, Windsor and Billings will be the wingers.

We will see mono. The gap between AFL and VFL is huge.

Hopefully Howes can adapt to the pace and intensity of AFL reasonably quickly. He has the skill and athleticism but he will need to be more desperate than he has shown in the VFL.

My mail is Hunter is struggling. So that’s optimistic.

We played extremely well and had no injuries. Perfect. While our delivery inside 50 was better, we were a bit risky going inside the corridor at times and this cost us several turnover goals. I don't think we have to take a lot more risk with our ball movement than we did last year. We need to be a bit more precise with our final delivery inside 50 and kick straight. Kossie, Fritsch and JVR need to convert better. I still have doubts about Laurie and Schache but we are low on soldiers early in the season. Windsor needs to work on his kicking but is clearly a future player. Tholstrup looked great for 2 possessions. Salem did well in the midfield and exceeded my expectations. Not sure how he fits when Clarrie comes back though.

Hopefully we get salary cap relief for 2024, as well as later years.

There is certainly a bit of Judd in the way he moves, but Judd was 5cm taller and heavier/stronger. Plus Judd was big for a mid when he played but would be only average size today.

Windsor's speed, balance and coordination makes you think we have something special here. He moves like Josh Kelly, Whitfield and Rozee. Hopefully he can get strong enough to play inside the centre square one day.

Disappointing to hear Petty cannot get going again but at least he isn't icing up.

Bowey? I would prefer to leave him at high half back. But with our midfield depth being tested and Brayshaw potentially moving back and Howes possibly coming into defence, we might need to make some adjustments (i.e. ANB might need to be shifted to the midfield).

Bowey is too small to be a mid at AFL level. He does not have the power and agility of someone like Kossie or the strength of Viney. I think Bowey can only play as a high half back or in ANB's role as a high half forward. (His lack of size would be a deficiency on the wing and he is not an absolute elite endurance runner.) If our midfield depth gets tested, I would be much more interested with experimenting with JVR as a centre square midfielder (Gawn in the ruck), with ANB rolling up to play as a midfielder after the centre bounce. Rivers is the other obvious player to go into the midfield more often but he does not run well enough and is a very flexible defender. I see the centre bounce as being extremely important and the need to insert our best players in there. Once the bounce is over, our defensive systems are extremely strong an the risk of conceding scores is much lower. Players like Salem and Bowey would increase the risk of losing clearances.

Salem lacks the size and pace to play inside midfield. High half back is ideal for him because it masks his lack of athleticism and allows him to use his excellent skills and reading of the play. He needs to get his acceleration back this season and be able to kick 50m+ otherwise he will be in the VFL. I like Gus at half back, but we have a lot more options there than in the midfield now. I am also unconvinced the chance of concussion is much different in the midfield than in defence and so I think we will need him back in the engine room. Rivers to the midfield makes sense given our lack of options, but he might not have the running ability to play four quarters. Pickett and ANB are others who will need to play more midfield minutes this year.

Jordon is a capable AFL player. Laurie has not shown that yet and he has none of the athletic traits to have strong belief he will be good enough.

I think we missed a trick not playing Disco Turner earlier in the season in 2023. I hope he is given the opportunity to start the year in the AFL in 2024. I think he has all the ingredients to be a very good player.

Howes has two years on his contract, so 2024 is probably not make or break. He looks very classy at times in the VFL but he needs to get stronger and show a bit more desperation in the contest to be ready for AFL (which is probably also related to his lack of strength). I think he will make a good AFL player but he has a lot of competition, albeit B-grade competition on the flanks and wings.

I just spoke to the club and they are about to send out an email with barcodes for Gather Round.