DeeSpencer

The speed with which we are moving the ball is so clearly faster than the last few years. And all of the main 6 on ballers (3 a side) had moments. Koz was everywhere. Culley was a marking target and kicked a super goal from a half forward clearance. Sparrow was super busy and ran like a machine - his weaknesses remain but when he can keep it simple he’s effective. Windsor has work to do on his inside game but was just carving it up on the outside. Steele was solid. Rivers was very well rounded. All 4 key forwards were involved. JVR just kept hitting up on the flank. Seemed to finally have some connection with the mids. Jeffo had some good contests and clunked a couple, is moving well. Luker had a couple of involvements. AJ was up and back across half forward and now covers the ground like a genuine athlete and nothing like a tradie. All the key backs had moments too. T Mc and Adams at one end, even if both got beat JVR on the lead in to space. Adams kicking is looking better and better. Petty and Lever at the other. Fritsch, Chandler some almost moments from Mentha. Trell and Reg settling in. Not all that much to note from the flankers as we didn’t have too many out there!

Reg Taylor’s first instinct to counter attack with fast feet is very real and creates great transition. Plenty for him to work on but it’s always nice to see someone’s best attribute look legit

Pro: Windsor Con: Sharp just marked on the wing, took off around Heath, took 4 bounces, burnt the entire open forward line and got run down by Heath and turned it over. Unfortunately King seems to be a nice human being because I wouldn’t send him home.

Pickett, Fritsch and Salem were the standouts of the half field drill. In to full ground sim now and JVR has found the ball 4 times on the half forward line. 1 behind, 2 successful inside 50 kicks, 1 picked off. The Campbell, Riv , Windsor, Steele midfield on top Toby Sinnema looks like he belongs. As does the Sudanese fella whoever he is.

Sometimes if the best you can do is a Jarryn Geary level captain then that’s all you can do. At least Mihocek and Steele should give us leadership all on 3 lines. I’m interested to see if the addition of Pickett allows Chandler to play as more of an attacking half forward as well as wing and on ball. If he can do that he can get 15-20 touches and have more impact

Are we a united team - No Do we perform well under pressure - No Do we exhibit all the little signs of well led teams (picking each other up, communication, backing each other up) - No Were our players in great shape, indicating strong training culture in the offseason - Absolutely not It’s far from Gawn’s fault, but the player leadership is really poor.

We’ve needed a new captain for 2 years, big dopey jokey has run his race. But if there was a window to hand over to Viney that’s certainly gone now, especially with him missing all of preseason to date. Same goes for Lever. Can’t trust his body or his form. Perhaps there was a window for Tracc to be humble enough to accept the challenge in 2024. Petty’s another whose career trajectory in 21 looked like he could captain a side by now. I actually think he’s given it a fair crack as a forward in terms of on field effort under duress, even if the body language wasn’t always good. He could captain the side if he found his best form at CHB. A Gawn-Chandler co captain year and hope we’re better placed next year?

Training with Collingwood vfl. They’ve used that pathway with Ned Long but I wouldn’t be thinking he’ll be on their main list just yet.

Even with Zanker leaving I’m a little surprised key forward is a priority but she’s got talent and presence. Even if it hasn’t all clicked for her yet.

Why are you upset about trading 17 for 14 and 27 for a Suns F2 that will be better than 27? This looks a clear win.

There's no long term injury provision in the Inactive list. It's Inactive, season over, done. There's no way we'd be putting Bowser on it now

The talls especially are an area where we can and probably will get younger on field this year and certainly both on the ground and on the list next year have a far better outlook. Disco is in our best 23 already, Petty should be and the footy department have signaled their intentions to give Jed Adams opportunity. And Lever is 4 years younger than May and T Mc. The forward line does get older with Mihocek but we should start to wean our reliance on Melksham and provide ample games for all 3 of JVR, Kentfield and Jeffo across the year. AJ has to win himself further years on the list as well. Heath should take over from Campbell as the number 2 after this year too. May, McDonald, Melk, Campbell all retire after this year and get replaced by some young talls and suddenly our age profile is looking much better.

Felt longer than that but seems you’re correct, there’s photos of him training on the Tuesday session on camp and then reports from the Thursday session were that he was in the rehab group and not looking comfortable

How many weeks was Bowser in the rehab group before he’s gone in for surgery? Feels like at least 2, maybe even 3? Very frustrating that they couldn’t pick up on this earlier.

The Ox has a habit of being badly wrong. But with Viney injured and Steele not the most dynamic recruit it looks like a pretty full scale midfield rebuild. Whilst our backline has enough to play well and forward line could be better than the last 2 years teams generally go as the midfield goes. The good news is a midfield mostly made up of Langford, Pickett, Rivers, Windsor, Lindsay, Kolt, Culley could jump right up within 2 years.