DeeSpencer

FB: Petty May McVee HB: Windsor Lever Salem C; Billings Rivers Wing2 HF: Sharp JVR Langdon FF: Chandler Turner Fritsch Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Tracc, Langford, fwd/mid, half back S: McAdam Half back: Bowey vs Howes vs Hore Wing: Lindsay vs Woey vs other Fwd/mid: Sparrow vs Laurie Do we go an extra tall? Do we slide Windsor back to the wing so we get the height of Howes and keep Bowey in the side? Do we roll Sharp or Langdon to the wing to open up another tall or medium forward?

We’ve had a few skin infections over the last year or so yeah? Do they share showers with the storm and victory players at aami park?

Windsor’s a second year kid still building his tank and strength. He should eventually fill a midfield role but there’s no hurry to rush him. Ed has a light build but a decade of afl weights and a huge tank

Centre bounce I'm still a bit dubious on but his pace could be useful there if he can hold up in contested footy, I think it will be more rotating in as a high half forward when Tracc or Kossie go forward. if you want run and carry and quick kicks through the corridor you need midfielders who have big tanks and keep presenting for the mark or handball options. It's absolutely worth trying.

Round 1 of the practice match series at least. Let’s see how he goes against North

Sharp (and Chandler) are probably already in the team already in this hypothetical. Have to remember the game plan is for a lot more run from behind and corridor play. Wings are decoys or the safe result. It’s certainly a different approach to move Langdon and Windsor but it’s time to try something different!

It’s happening right now and without Pickett for the first 3 rounds is perfectly logical. The question is do you prefer 2 of Billings, Lindsay, Woey on the wing? OR no speed in the forward line - perhaps Kynan Brown or Laurie? With those options I’d rather Langdon forward.

Very close, recruited from a similar area and the games played/clubs is close too!

I believe you need to go back a bit further and look for a Daniher era defender

Right now, I think the likelihood that Tracc starts forward and the emergence of Langford means they’ll go small. And without Kossie I think we’ll see Langdon in a forward and possibly even a fraction on ball. Sharp looks the favourite to start in the defensive forward role. C; Lindsay Rivers Billings HF: Sharp JVR Langdon FF: Fritsch Turner Tracc Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Langford, Chandler, McAdam Sub: Sparrow/Kynan Brown Assuming Tracc, McAdam and Chandler are right to go, but we could see Langdon or Sharp slide back to the wing to open another forward spot and we could go tall to spread the load on the big guys.

There is no long term injury list. The pre season draft was in November. There’s an Inactive List where by a player is medically ruled out for the year and can be replaced by a pre season supplemental selection period that ends on Feb 21 or with the mid season draft. Unless Luker has lost all physical condition or there’s more going on I struggle to see how he’d be deemed out for the year now due to an illness suffered in January. It could happen, but I’d say the more likely outcome is he’s given a chance to come back and if he’s still no good then he gets shut down before the mid year draft.

Wasn’t heavily involved but looks lean and had a couple of classy moments, his change of direction and confidence in his skills are obvious

Tall backs and Forwards did some marking work Mids some rough stoppage on the wing stuff. Laurie copped a nice one from Rivers in a tackle and went off with a blood nose Some different running, sprints for some, longer runs for others. Lindsay dropped by Bowey and Howes in a longer run. Judd McVee is out there, did I completely miss him? Tracc’s doing set shots. Yze, Culley, Roy and Mitch KS were the fill in players today.

Shuffled the teams and pulled a few out so it’s opened right up. Clarry prolific, Langford still finding the ball. May has dominated defensively in both drills really. Ollie Sestan is a lovely user at half back, not sure if the rest of his game will stack up but his kicking is lovely. Jeffo (I’m watching closely) with a beautiful turn of pace, run through a couple of tackles and corridor kick

Spargo and McAdam doing laps with Conca. Fullarton, Tracc, Chandler doing another stuff McVee, Lever, Verrall and Kossie unsighted. Plus Kolt and Luker

I don’t think the Jeffo, Aj, Yze, Ricky Mentha, Roy George forward line will get a run at Afl level but they’ll be fun at Casey

Jeffo juggled contested mark on the wing, in to Andy, picks out the Yze lead to the picket who nails a tight shot under plenty of Viney sledging

Back: May, Petty, Howes, Windsor, Salo Mids: Gawn, Riv, Viney, Sparrow, Billings, Lindsay Fwd: Disco, JVR, Fritsch, Sharp, Langford, Langdon Sharp busy, Langford found good space for 2 snags, Fritsch a class above, Disco with a nice grab. Salo with a lot of the best patches of ball movement with some Windsor moments too. White backline: T Mc, Adams, Hore, Bowey, Sesto, AMW were under the pump.

I think this year is still more about Jeffo getting a taste before pushing for a more permanent spot in 2026. But the match sim highlights show how quick his feet are and how he gets to positions to kick goals. Easy to be optimistic at this time of year but I imagine he’ll have an up and down year but overall he’ll be getting closer. Excited to see a debut at some stage.

Still 6 weeks until round 1 so the good news for Kolt he could miss less than a month. Need Judd and Chin back in the main group sooner than later.

Yikes there’s some work needed if that’s any indication. Not a lot of flow or clean skills involved. The one big positive might be right at the end with the look May and Lever have reacting to McAdam’s spoil.

Rivers is really a mid now until anything changes. Hore is depth. Howes hasn’t gotten involved enough to show he’s an attacking player. AMW is still a project to me, let’s see if a preseason has improved his tank and concentration. So that leaves McVee, Bowey and Salo. All have strengths but none of them are line breaking runners. If Windsor is on the wing he rarely gets to turn the burners on and run by guys and even if he does the reward is the ball is still up against the boundary. Push zoom at half back and the ball is charging through the corridor and on a direct path inside 50. It might not work and for the balance of the team he might have to go back to the wing, or even high half forward. But I see the vision and we need more counter attack from the backline.

Talls: JVR, Turner, AJ, Petty, Jefferson, Fullarton, Kentfield Mediums: Fritsch, Tracc, McAdam, Melk, Langford Smalls: Pickett, Chandler, Spargo, Kolt, Kynan Brown etc Some big changes in every role. Does AJ make the team and then allow JVR full time forward. How does he do in that role? Can Disco round out his game and find consistency between the high quality flashes his showed in 2024? Is Petty a lock down back or does he keep the froward spot given he's the most likely to take a big contested mark and has the tank to hit the wings? I still think there's a very good forward in there but it might take him going back before being swung forward to bring it out! Mediums are a real x factor. I hope Frtisch can bring great form in an up the ground role. Then McAdam can take the deeper role. Combine that with a good dose of Tracc and who knows, maybe Langford is ready to go too and we'll have a super strange line up with a heap of options. Unless McAdam and another of the taller options are pressuring at an insane level I can't see the coaches going away from 3 pressure players. So there's going to be game time for someone like Kynan Brown to take if he's good enough.

Tracc's ball use and defensive running were both pretty poor last year, I think he's at the stage of his career where its only certain games that he should play full time mid and that centre bounces and then forward provides the best way to manage his work rate and get high impact in his game. Especially if Oliver is back and Rivers steps up. That's 3 guys of a similar body shape, athletic profile and even some similarities in their game style. The forwards really can't be responsible for slow, predictable and low skilled forward entries. Chaplin moving to forward coach is clearly an indication they want better structure. Structure simplifies decision making and creates easier targets, that much is on the forwards but the mids have to hit them.