DEE fence

Volume=Steele Intensity=Viney, no doubt in my mind.

Ouch

Just a small observation but Harvey Langford pulled off a very cool J’ai Ali move where he was kicked the ball and he caught it his left hand behind his body and in a scooping motion spun it around to the front of his body washing off the momentum in the movement while the ball looked superglued to his hand. So nonchalant So exciting. Other than that The new Pickett was moving nicely in Sim play, Kolt still rushes things. CJ has the skinniest ankles I have ever seen, Jefferson can strike the ball but sadly I don’t see him coming on with his defensive mindset, just not a see ball get ball type. Langdon excelled in the fwd 50 entry drill (kicking to a player marked by 2 others) Chin impresses in training , most thrill moment was watching Xavier T break two tackles from best 20 players including one from Kossie that had intent, kid is an assassin, top 5 rising star and plays r1

Feel free to say hello, green lululemon shirt and the giant bike, 1st preseason I’ve watched since Daniel Cross was running around.

Probably been said somewhere in the 102 pages, but there wasn't daylight between how him and Jackson, mailed in their performances during their last seasons. I am mightly peeved at losing Zanker though, that burggers up our fwd line no end.

Max's off field work with Trac, Oliver, MMM and everything else has been first class, he has a long media career ahead without doubt. I'm not sure the on-field role of leader is quite the same anymore, everything is about lines and roles, and leadership groups. Also I would ask are Gen Z+ are they really fussed about who is captain? (Genuine question, does it get a extra 2-3% performance out of the team). Captain has become much more about being a spokesperson for the club, which is a poison chalice at the best of times.. Max's public speaking ability is off the charts for a footballer, and TBH he really took some heat recently. Once upon a time a hard nut like Viney would have been my first choice, but those days seem gone.

So annoyed they don't share numbers, but I did note Sharp had his watch on and it was at 19:03, which is off the charts... A standard 20m shuttle run (Beep Test) usually finishes in 10-15 minutes for very fit individuals; 20 minutes signifies an endurance level rarely seen, hitting level 18/17... if anyone is interested: Level Shuttles running speed (km/h) time per shuttle (s) Total level time (s) Cumulative Time (min:seconds) Distance per level (m) Cumulative Distance (m 18 15 17.0 4.24 63.5 18:53 300 4000

Yes I think so, but considering the invective on the site I sometimes wonder… Gen X, just the latest bunch of Peter Pan wannabes…

Did anyone hear any beep test results, am very curious as usual to compare my 20 something self with the players, as a 50 something my knees tell me don't even think about it.

Do they even need a recruiting boss with their f/s collection?

Marley, if you are reading this, no pressure, but I am one of many who think your father was an absolute champion of the football club and a stellar human. His courage was 10/10, so we are a little excited that you might have the same heart as your papa. Enjoy footy though and ignore us religiously, this site is no good for your mental health.

PF = Rono’s love child…

I was given a packet of Energy Watch branded Sherrins to take back to Africa at the time, thanks to Chris, they were used to spread the word about Aussie Rules, so some little good did come from that episode.

At 1:38 in the video, when he mentioned that he came early to watch the women’s team play before his Grand Final. I fell for him then, this is a proper team player.

A solid pick, I’m not sure he is a R1 though, his kicking reminds me a bit of Cam Bruce / Tmac in their early days, a bit floaty, and at the higher speed of AFL will get picked off a bit until he flattens his kicks. Everything else, attitude, heart seems 1st class. A very nice size though.

I know people love to throw around the ‘Moneyball’ concept to the point it has become a cliche, BUT, I really feel like we have recruited well, for the first time since ‘21, I feel like our retreads add some value and increase the synergy of the team. I am aware that injuries could knock the wheels off the cart with these older folk, but we have recruited well enough to increase that inside F50 efficiency. As BBub said lots of our game is ok, It has been more than a decade than since we were not fit enough, and no one has called us bruise free recently either. JC has great speed out of the back line, and while not as a reliable kick as Hibberd I can see that we need that speed and I feel like he is the Hibberd replacement (that I did have McVee for). Windsor is lightening in a bottle to go with JC and also as a mid. I also think Fritsch deciding to get his head in the game and coming up the field like a smaller version of Jeremy Cameron was a revelation and could continue to pay dividends for our inside F50. To not lose our fierce edge I am hoping Viney and Kosi (+Chandler/Langdon) are allowed to hunt the opposition at the bounce, as they brilliant at effective tackles that the opposition ‘feel’ and I think that disrupts game plans, and that they then switch back fwd, while the lighter bodies take the running roles in game. I’m not sure I have clearly described what I mean, but you get my drift that we’ve been a good tackling/pressure side lets not lost that part of our game. The new kids, well everyone can see their value no need to expand on that. For the life of me I don’t understand why St Kilda let Max Heath go for chips or why Essendon didn’t go after him, there is something really strange about this trade, is there an unofficial market in favours that we don’t get to see? The great unknown is JVR, I feel like he hasn’t been right since that dodgy suspension a couple of years back, all between the ears with him, I am kinda worried it is Weid 2.0, I was so sure ‘25 would be his year but he went backwards.

I find the Insta has plenty of content celebrating the women, I never use FB anymore, I check like once every 3 months for Luddite friends that haven’t switched to WhatsApp or Insta, and I kinda thought FB was a bit dead now compared to 15 years ago. I am not disagreeing with you that the AFLW needs plenty of support, just wondering if you are looking in the right places?

This is such a credit to the Cheer-Banner squad and yourself GW. Awesome work!

Am really getting BBB vibes from having Brodie in the squad, very very happy about it.

Chandler is a heart and soul type who can string a sentence together. Personally I hope this is a conversation for 2029… Disco would need to see more of, Rivers maybe, Lever would be ok if there was an unexpected bus in the nearer future. Viney, I think is a good vice, his intensity is Gen X, not sure it sells with the millennials (works fine for me but at 55 not pulling on a jumper anytime soon). Happy to be surprised by one of the recent draftees.

Not keen, we need consistent, knowledgeable Hawks people I know (we're not mates when it's footy), really dislike the turnovers.

McVee replacement?

I don’t think training hard has been the problem, nor desire for contest, I’m open to these being good appointments but as much as I dearly would have loved them as players at the club (Hamill was at one stage my favorite non Melbourne player), I don’t see any great coaching credentials. Very happy Troy is staying, but what I really want is to see a strategy coach of Jennings standard to join us/ another mid coach.

The real reason Geelong suspended Mad Monday were the players taking the mickey out of the Cotton On payments, nothing to do with BS and Caro etc.

Just curious but why the hell wouldn’t we pro rata and salary reduction in the contract?