Little Goffy

AND SHAVE THOSE SIDEBURNS.

Hmm, who are the obvious contenders? Harley Reid and Colby McKercher are ready-to-go high impact and visibility players in teams that will be making maximum use of them from day dot. Ryley Sanders' sheer consistency could count for a lot and he might have a great opportunity given the Dogs have inside mid depth but also can effectively rotate those mids to other roles. I mean, it starts getting silly to rely on Bontempelli to be your best player at clearances and your best general forward at the same time. Sanders doing well in the specific role could see him immediately established as a primary ball-winner and having a serious impact on the Dogs' season. Jed Walter comes in at a beastly 195cm and 97kg - possibly the most 'built' tall forward to come in since Hawkins - and it could be very interesting to see what happens with the three talls. (When your key forwards are pick 2, pick 3 and pick 6, what do you do? Personally I'm still hoping we can peel Lukosious off to Melbourne as the surplus one). Daniel Curtin could face the incredible task of being a team's main tall defender in his first season, and if he so much as survives without being humiliated he'll be under consideration. As for Caleb Windsor... well, outside players have definitely been rewarded in recent years, though mostly when their main job has been rebounding off the half-back line (Sheezel, Daicos, McGrath, Mills). Dyson Heppell is probably the most similar Rising Star winner to Windsor and if you account for the handicap of playing for and leading Essendon he had a pretty solid career.

Personally I don't like school blazers but in this case I am sure it is important practice for feeling comfortable in the silly-looking All-Australian ones. Looks a bit more solidly built than his dad. How old now? Will he be available in time for the famous 2028 premiership?

Having just watched Petracca's interview this mention of Bontempelli brings to mind a couple of Trac's comments about the need for leaders to let the rest of the team play their role instead of the leader trying to do everything in crucial moments. Having also just re-watched the 2021 3rd qtr highlights posted here the other day, my mind also goes to that moment of total shellshock in the Bulldogs clearance group. Bontempelli is a tremendous player and was probably their best player on that day, too, but his captaincy fell short when it came to steadying the team and the crucial few players at those clearances who desperately need to have their focus brought back. I also think Toby Greene is overrated as a leader, mostly because I still think he is a *head just well covered by media love. So... hmm, aside from that I guess I agree on at least the top three.

wut?

Who's cutting onions?

Bit selfish of Ben Holland to not share his obviously substantial supply of elixir of youth. Semi-serious question, how many of these guys have a kid coming through the system for us? :D

Ha! I do appreciate your brutal candour much more when it is aimed at Port players. At least I didn't used Eric Hipwood as an example of type - that's just not polite around dinner time. In a triangle where each corner is one of Tom Hawkins, Oscar Allen and Charlie Curnow, where would Jefferson be? 😁 Or is he basically Jack Watts if given proper time to develop as a forward?

Anyone know what is going on with Jefferson at the moment? Follow-up question - I was doing some browsing and digesting and looking at match-ups for our early season opponents and took a closer look at Jeremy Finlayson's numbers and role - would it be fair to say that Finlayson is a rough template of what we are hoping to see Jefferson become for us over the next few seasons?

We don't have an easy start to the season but let's be simple about it - we are at least an even competitor against any team. I might be feeling positive because I think each of the Swans, Bulldogs, Crows, and Hawks are overrated. So the way I'm looking at it is "Knock off those 4 like we should, and win either one of the Port/Brisbane games, and we are absolutely rioting our way to the mid-season." We're still the hunter.

I reckon Jason Taylor has moved on from his Presidents of the United States (Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, Van Buren) meme and has moved on to cheese. Because not only is there a frightening looking Windsor Red, but guess what the Danish Tholstrup company is most famous for? Pretty sure it was Colby we were trying to trade up the draft for, too. EDIT: Can confirm the is such a thing as Brown cheese.

It was back pre-premiership when I had to listen to a few games through online radio that I began noticing a pattern; when the Demons were up and about during a game, the commentators had to lift their own pace to keep up. The ball moved from player to player and even when the opposition had it the intensity of pressure meant that there was a continuous bobbing around and urgency to play. It was tempo football done brilliantly and culminated in the 2021 premiership. That game went almost to a coaching panel's timetable. 'Set your watches, gentlemen.' We all know the trouble - it is hard to sustain that for long and if the result is too many behinds it saps the energy and doesn't give us the buffer we need while absorbing the counter punch. A 1 in 8 improvement in our scoring accuracy and we'd be both exciting to watch and would have had just two losses in 2023.

If people want cheering up, just remember that in 2017 Richmond won their breakthrough premiership with just one tall forward, the 193cm Jack Riewoldt. And the forward line coach that made that work is now our forward line coach. I think we can all agree that when Petty gets back on the park with a good run at it, he at the least provides the level of structure that Lynch added when Richmond acquired him as a free agent and went on to win two more premierships. You don't need lots of tall forwards, just a couple of effective ones.

Hmm, could make an argument for Martin Shaw ahead of Tony Shaw.

Once upon a time I had an overnight flight layover in Singapore and the most comfortable place to rest was in front of the big screen showing EPL discussion shows. Nice deep lounge-style chairs with clever high sides and high directional speakers in the sides so you could listen and not disturb anyone else... I digress. Point being - after one night of killing time in a hotel common area I felt like I had a pretty good understanding of the overall state of play of the EPL and the key tactical and personnel issues of several clubs. I also knew almost nothing about the lives, favourite foods or alleged past greatness of the commentators. Professionals make so much difference. In fact, there should be a panel show just called 'The Professionals' with various actual experts talking about the game in general and offering insight from their specialist fields.

In this scenario, if mods are the goalie you are the defender who gets back to limit the angles ;) Or maybe the old banana-and-stick routine. A favourite of @Bitter but optimistic I believe?

I have a theory that bananas crop up in this thread every time the topic starts to become a problem for mods. It is the safety ramp on a mountain, giving the truck with failed brakes somewhere to go instead of off a cliff.

Rioli (pick 12) and Selwood (pick 7) are the flag-bearers for winning premierships in your first season. Either or both of Windsor (pick 7) and Tholstrupp (pick 13) could get a bit of momentum going by late in the season and be really good contributors in designated roles. It's all speculative but certainly there's a case for raising an appreciative eyebrow!

2025 if very, very interesting. A couple of absolute first-class mature-but-not-yet-old key backs, some relatively young and promising rucks who might be well on the rise by then, potentially an entire all-Australia midfield, and Oscar Allen the cherry on top.

Just going to drop in that JVR is tracking better than JUH so far. Personally I think it is amazing for Van Rooyen to have done so well while taking opposition first defenders most of the time, compared to JUH who had the marking target support of Naughton, Lobb and English. Jamarra's no slouch, but Van Rooyen is an effective primary marking target at 20yrs and that takes some doing! They would partner up very well, too.

Grit your teeth, touch wood, then consider that by type Sam VR would be a more direct replacement for Smith.

I'm holding out hope we can at least find the gem from the league-wide stock of proverbial 'youngish second rucks starved of senior opportunity but on the cusp of breaking out'. If you do a simple sort of 'hitouts per game', you find the likes of Reilly O'Brien, Nankervis, McInerney, Stanley, Rowan Marshall, Ned Reeves, Darcy Cameron, Pittonet, and Tom Hickey. Throw in current 'on the cusp' young rucks like Matt Flynn, Tristan Xerri and Tom De Koning (those last two are both free agents in 2025 by the way) you have quite a collection. That's a wide range of types and of quality but right there you've got about half of the rucks at AFL level last season being late bloomers, or only really producing at their second club, or younger guys clearly about to step up now at about 23-24yrs of age. Ideally we're looking to recreate this moment - "Jarrod Witts is traded to the Gold Coast by Collingwood in exchange for picks 44 and 62 in the national draft. Witts has struggled to break into the Magpies' line-up this year, featuring in just two games and falling behind American import Mason Cox in the club's ruck preferences" But getting Tim English would be okay, too!

I don't mind Hunter, though I think he'd be more suited closer to goal where his habit of looking for tricks and shenanigans to keep the ball alive and bouncing in the right direction would be more likely to produce interesting results. I like a scenario where one of our wings is covered by two players, where one is more defensive and committed to getting right back (think Bowey with permission to push up the ground) and one with more emphasis on going forward and bringing chaos (Hunter, Billings or even the draftees, for example). Hunter would have to be a bit worried about it, certainly more than Goodwin for example, because with the recruits we've brought in he is perhaps the single player in the team with the most 'like for like' replacements available at similar standard.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/news/paul-roos-slams-the-negative-environment-at-melbourne-on-fox-footys-afl-360/news-story/05e0324699b588e790ac5f4cb2cd293e https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/negativity-comes-from-melbourne-fans-not-club-coach-paul-roos-20150825-gj7jt6.html

Something in this thread reminded me of the 'A pair of unlikely heroes embrace' Bruce & Green moment in the 2000 final vs Carlton I can't help but notice the potential similarity with Windsor and Tholstrup, right down to sizes and roles. The main differences being we haven't yet had the wave of retirements, that our depth is already much stronger than we had going into 2000, and Woewodin is only in his second season instead of 4th. Our current team is so much better than the 2000 squad. On the one hand a testament to what youthful enthusiasm, momentum and the inspirational power of Neale Daniher can do, and on the other hand a testament to how much remains possible with out current group and the surprisingly large wave of youngsters already pushing into our 22. I'm starting to look forward to the season and it isn't even Tet yet.