JJJ

I was pointing out that if he is to play 200 games it will be next year. That gives marketing 12 months to get it right.

I love your optimism re Fritta’s 200th. Would that be every regular season game plus every final including a drawn grand final? Viney won’t make it this year either.

Salem looks like a player that has limited confidence in his body. Old age is undefeated.

For Riewoldt, it started a while ago when Nate Jones was in his prime and Jack Viney was kicking off his career. Thought Jones was yappy and overrated, while Viney was a sniper. There was an incident apparently involving some of our players and theirs during the off season around 2016-17 which is roughly when I attended the event in question. It only got worse when we brought through Clazza, Petracca and May. We became the lippiest team in the league according to Riewoldt. This was all prior to 2021 when we had acthieved 3/5ths of FA. Dimma just thinks we are a [censored] club that is spineless and stands for nothing. Hasn’t liked us since his days at Essendon.

I thought Salem was pretty awful and showed poor leadership. Some of his possessions were not a part of our planned ball movement. I didn’t like him kicking off the ground either. Not a fan of Riewoldt, I was at a footy function where he and Dimma openly professed their undying hatred for us, but I agree with him here. Sometimes you’ve got to be prepared to take the hit. Put you head over the ball.

6 Gawn 5 Steele 4 Tholstrup 3 Langdon 2 Chin Rivers???

We were so fumbly. To really open up a team on transition, you’ve got to be clean. The mids, the newer less experienced ones, have about 6 weeks to get to speed. Otherwise I feel we’ll stack the midfield with more mature players to keep us competitive.

“Petty’s had a rough night” might be the understatement of the night.

People criticising King for not picking 2 rucks should remember that Petty supported Max last week and was pretty successful. Disco getting injured took away that option.

Not to stick the boot in, but King would’ve recognised the lack of options we have in our midfield and now has the job of developing the next batch. It should’ve been happening since 2022-23.

This is a good watch. Look for some of the kids doing something notable. Look for any tactical changes made at 3qtr time that stem the bleeding. We have some serious flaws in our list. Let King sort out the ones we want and the ones we need to re-consider.

I think people need to understand where we are as a club. New game plan, new roles and responsibilities, new voice in the coaches box and a vastly different approach to transition. We were always going to cop a few hidings this season. Freo in Perth is a tough assignment.

Perhaps. My view on Lindsay is that he is far more comfortable in the midfield. I thought he struggled last week in defence and really stood up as a mid.

Mihocek struggles to get space on Pearce. Need to think differently. Good quarter though.

I reckon Salem is playing a terrible game so far. Nothing stats. Kicking long to no advantage.

Gosh. I remember that first Neeld presser. I messaged my brother straight away and said, “I wouldn’t want to play for him. He’s a tool”. He did give us the Mitch Clarke Experience though.

I got two emails about the event.

Saw on Insta that the turnout was pretty bad. Not sure if the club understands how badly a lot of supporters felt about the club over the past 24 months.

Ruck craft is a little overrated. Very few rucks actually create opportunities directly from ruck contests. For a backup ruckman, the brief is simple. Neutralise the centre bounce, provide a physical presence at stoppages, lay some tackles and pluck some marks. The rest is upside. In saying that, TC has managed to hang around for a while based almost purely on his ruck abilities so what do I know….

All that list tells me is that a lot of clubs don’t have a lot of A-Grade talent in the midfield. Sure GC, Bears etc have outstanding talent in the engine room but most other lists consist of players that are B-Grade at best in 2025. I don’t see our midfield as the problem for 2026. It will all depends on what we do in transition and with ball in hand to kick a winning score. That involves players on every line.

Was my favourite player but I’ve moved on. The more you hear about his antics, the more you realise he had to leave. Will be interesting to see how long he can change his spots for. I’m hoping he can do a Jesse type turnaround. interestingly there were two former bulldogs hanging together over the past week ‘reminiscing’ about the good old days. It’s easy enough to figure out who they are on socials. Those two leopards clearly haven’t changed their spots.

Great pics. The pic of Kozz and Chin flying for the mark is great. 2 favourite players. Almost like the Gate Keeper and the Key Master getting together for me! The sequence of Windsor chasing Kozzy should be a case study. Kozzy is always balanced, even at speed, assessing options and his ball drop is perfect. I said at the end of 2023 that he’d be our best player by end of 2025. He might not be our best just yet but he is by far our most important player structurally. The other sequence of his which is a terrific teaching tool is the pictures where he is gathering the footy. Recruiters talk about clean gathers or clean trapping which Kozzy is elite at. A lot of prospects come through the system and place their hands too horizontally. Kozz gets his hands under the ball at all times. I remember hearing a story about Trac when he first came to the club. He has enormous hands. Massive. But he was lazy with his placement. They tweaked his approach and the rest is history. I love that we have Kozzy. So are my kids.

He tried to play through the injury. Delayed surgery so he is a little behind other draftees.

Never heard of him but one thing that sticks out aside from his size and athleticism is his inconsistent ball drop. In time and space it’s not too bad but he places his right in a slightly odd position. In saying that, he’s tall, will get bigger stronger and faster in an AFL program and can clearly find the footy. And positioning of hands on a footy is a relatively easy adjustment. That’s a pretty good pick in my books.

Super nice kid. Especially for a former Xavier student! Wish him nothing but the best.