binman

I hope Kalani gets taller.

Sadly, thought exactly the same thing.

Being able to run is key for player's rehabbing in maintaining their aerobic base - given he's had a pretty solid preseason he should keep his fitness level up ok if he can be running say after a month And he'll be able to do upper body work whilst in a boot, which as a key forward won't hurt.

Not sure. But I know they've got their April/Easter photo for the MFC calendar sorted - a picture of an oiled up Paddy flexing his biceps. The tag line will read: Hot Cross Guns!

No ACL, no surgery - that's a terrific outcome. Of course a month in a knee brace, and maybe two months of rehab, is not great but the alternative was 12-15 months out of the game.

Diagonal.

I'm still holding my Kolt shares - for now. Hes got to get super fit and strong, the latter because he's a power player. And he really needto lock into a position. I'm not convinced he'll make ir as a defender, and atm he's not likely to play mid. Meaning hia bedt shot is a half forward who gets up and down the ground, gets one or two goals a game an kick the sort of goal he did on Friday - be a spor up option neat the arc and convert from 50. Wherever he plays Diagonal.

I don't know where we'll finish, but from what ive seen of the community series it will be above the Roos, Eagles, Tigers and bombers. All look woeful, particularly the first three - which must be a big worry for the AFL as the Roos, Eagles and Tigers all should be on the climb at this stage of their respective rebuilds.

Agree - foot injuries really are our achilles heel.

Perhaps. But everything has to go right - tricky injury.

It's also perhaps a guide to Kings thinking about whether to run two rucks or go with Max, with Roo and/or Kentfield providing a chop out - that's to say he might well be using this game as dry run for the season proper, which would not surprise given last Friday was anything but (ie we used 28 players, had players only playing a half, etc etc). If tomorrow is dress rehearsal for the season proper, i'd be a tad worried if i was Jeffo.

It never ceases to amaze me the stock people put on the 'eye test', and the extent to which they'll ignore contrary statistical evidence (or poo poo it). And it drives me buts when so called 'experts', who really should know better, like Derwayne, do this. It goes without saying that looking at stats alone gives an inaccurate picture of say game style. It's equally inaccurate to base such assessments on observation alone. Which is why of course coaches, and anyone seriously trying to understand the game, do neither - they use data AND observation Coincidentally, back in mid Jan i responded to a similar conversation (ie we were a bomb it long team last season) thusly: Agree with much of the above, except for the notion that our players would often bomb it long. We def turned it over a lot but we were not a bomb it long team. There are plenty of stats that can be misleading - one such oft cited example is disposal efficiency (eg inside mids dispose of the ball under more pressure than say a half back flanker who get the opportunity to chip kick the ball around the back half under little pressure). But some stats are less misleading, one being metres gained from kicks. If in 2025 we were a team that often resorted to long bombs, you'd expect to see that reflected in the data - we'd be near the top of the table for metres gained per kick. But we're not - in fact we were 12th in the AFL for metres gained per kick (26.2 metres gained per kick). By way of contrast teams there are number of teams above us on that table that many would imagine don't bomb it long (eg Freo is second for most metres gained per kick, the Pies 5th, the Hawks 6th and the Crows 7th). The premiers were 17th for metres gained per kick (25 metres - only 1.2 less metres gained per kick than us). Interestingly, i think I'm right in saying that last season the average metres gained per kicks increased across the board from 2024 as teams started kicking longer to get over the top of zones, look to win the contest head of the ball and mitigate the impact of turnovers (ie better to turn it over in your forward half than miss a short kick at HB) - so perhaps we needed to bomb it long more often!

Agree with all of the above WJ, particularly the notion that there is a big difference between trying to implement a new game plan and successfully doing so.

An excellent article. Balanced, informative and I think it nails the key issues and ponderables. And unlike almost every other preview I've read or heard does not perpetuate any #Goodwin myths. (pro tip - discount any analysis that has as a starting point King introducing a diametrically different game plan to the one Goody tried to implement in 2025).

That's exactly where i stand - i really hope he makes it and have certainly not written him off (yet) but as a betting man i wouldn't be putting any of my hard earned on him to make it (unless of course i got some juicy odds!) I know what you mean by not enough mongrel, and agree, but what worries me most is his second efforts are not instinctive and it feels like he lacks the hyper competitive, won't lose this contest energy of say JVR or Kentfield (who probably doesn't have the raw talent of Jeffo, but I'm more confident he'll make it as he 100% has the competitive instincts). All that said, i also really want him to succeed and he has the talent to do so. We'll soon see if he has the necessary drive and determination because if he can't become a best 23 player this year i think he'll go the way of the Weed at years end.

G'day @Fanatique Demon the first pod of the King era (which follows the brief Chaplin interregnum) will be coming very soon, possibly next week.

I watched the game again and focused on the defensive system. To argue against myself, on second viewing, i could get a sense what they are trying to do defensively, or at the least what some of the key elements of that system are likely to be. In addition to our defensive unit pushing up aggressively, and the resulting need for players with leg speed to get back on turnover, i reckon some other key elements of our defensive system under King are: As noted by Harriet Cordner (one of the two commentators) a couple of times, we were creating a spare in defence Related to the above, when our defenders pushed up the ground to compress the ground, and ideally trap the ball in our forward half, Cordner noted a couple of times we were keeping a defender in our back half, which provides some protection for when we turn it over and the oppo get it past/over our defensive line Creating spare and leaving a defender in our back half when we push up (ironically, two strategies Goody employed between 2020 and 2023) both put pressure on the rest of the team to provide defensive cover and support, which in turns means lots of all team gut running and effort They are clearly looking to 'ping' of half back quickly and get it out of defensive half as quickly as possible Trading in CJ was an obvious tell in terms of the above point - he's obviously going to be given freedom to play on ASAP and run and carry out of the back half As i noted earlier in this thread, ditto a number of other posters, we are going to be looking to be aggressive with our kicks out of defence - not only will we go fast, but we'll be taking on more high risks kicks into the corridor and/or across lanes on the 45 XT was selected in large part because of his ability to move the ball quickly aggressively out of the half back, and take on high risk/high reward kicks that have become so important in footy to beat zone defences, get behind oppo defences and set up high quality scoring opportunities I really liked Howes game, and with his good pace, ability to read the play, make good decisions with ball in hand and hit targets by foot he looked right at home with the new defensive system - and his height gives us terrific flexibility in terms of his ability to play on medium forwards, and at pinch taller forwards

True - though neither were off one step. Speaking of kicking goals, one other other changes I've noted accross the intra-club and practice matches is it appears players have been encouraged to have a ping at goals when in range rather than always look for a pass option. Assuming that's the case, im a big fan of that change - of course if someone is free closer to goal and/or on a better amgle and the kick is not hard, the percentage play is a pass, but otherwise pin your ears back boys and have a shot.

Yep. In many ways Friday's game was not great in terms of giving our game plan and system a decent test, particularly our defensive system- even with little pressure our kicking was often poor yet they didn't hurt us at all on turnover. With more pressure, we'll turn it over more and better teams will make us pay.

I know bang on about it, but for all the talk about game plan etc, our single biggest weakness in the last 5 years has been our kicking - which has coincided with good kicking becoming ever more important. Its important all over the ground of course, but having mids who can hit targets after winning a centre and/or around the ground clearance is just so so important in footy now. If our mids are better by foot this season, we'll see an immediate improvement in our capacity to score from stoppages, and more importantly we'll turn the ball over less often. Speaking of kicking after winning a clearance, how many players in the AFL could kick a goal from the centre square uner pressute and of (barely) one step the way The Bison slotted that goal on Friday - wow. On a less positive note, as much I think Windsor will be a star, his kicking worries me.

100% agree. As i have previously noted, we were one of the fastest at moving the ball from our back half last season. And despite people still banging on about us being a long down the line team, that was simply not the case last season. Which by the by, is not some abstract point as it's not as if King is having to completely reinvent the wheel, so to speak, and implement a brand new game plan in the way, say, Mcrae had to do at Collingwood when the pies went from a defence first system under Buckley to Mcrae's fast transition game plan. From what i've gleaned from training reports, the intra club game and Friday's game, the key differences this year to last year in terms of game plan are: Whilst we def were using overlap handball last year (we were the fastest at playing on after a mark or free kick, and that often involved a handball release) they look like they are really trying to run in waves and provide a handball option and look to hanball often (by the by, I watched most of the Eagles freo practice match and both teams seem to have a similar approach to us in terms of their use of handball) - less a big change, more taking it up a level Our defensive line often pushed up high last season, but they look to be pushing even higher now The forward line also look to be pushing up the ground high when the ball is in our defensive 50 (funnily enough we were doing thatt in 2021 - 2023 when we had a defence first system) The three points above, combined, mean all players will have to cover more ground in total, and we'll have a much greater need for, and emphasis on, players who can cover the ground at speed (which, leaving aside any of the cultural question marks on Tracc and Claz, a benefit of them leaving is both are treacle slow, particularly claz, and if they are replaced in our best 23 by two quick players, eg latrelle, we get an immediate big improvement in our overall leg speed) Agree with the fellas comment that we look to be switching more often, and looking for the tricky short to medium kick on the 45 (apparently a factor in why we selected Taylor was his ability to hit those kicks) Apart from agressively pushing up the ground, I haven't really been able to work out what our defensive system will look like - but leg speed in defence will be critical as defenders will need to sprint back when we turn the ball over- even if May was not having off field issues and an interrupted preseason, I honestly think he's too slow for our method (and was last year too for that matter ) and i worry Lever and Tmac are in the same boat (I can't see both in the team when Petty gets back) As you note ATG, I reckon the biggest change is the way we enter 50 - except when they kick deep to the hotspot (which as you note we often did last year, so again, it's not like that's a new thing) they seem to have a big focus on kicking to space, even if the forward is not yet leading there, and looking for players in space - not having claz and tracc kicking inside 50, koz playing more midfield and the addition of Latrelle, who looks like he'll play a high half forward role, means we are more likely to hit those critical 20-30 metre kicks on the angle to an open player - something have been woeful at for years (and like the speed factor, replacing two bog average kicks in our best 23 with 2 elite kicks, for example Latrelle and Taylor, means we get an immediate big improvement in our overall kicking skills - the game is now all about winning the turnover battle, and even a statistically small reduction in the number of turnovers and missed scoring opportunities has a significant impact on a team's chances of winning) Another related change, albeit a minor one, is they seem to have a real focus on really punching their kicks, and kicking low drillers, particularly inside 50 kicks ATG, any thoughts on King's midfield set up and system (I always find it hard to work out midfield method)?

Yep. We worked hard - King's gambit involves serious two way running, and we kept the focus and effort level up right through the game. That's a big, big positive. But jeez, the Roos were poor, in lots of ways, including their woeful effort level (and Clarkson doesn't seen to have been able to implement an AFL standard defensive system). To be fair, who knows where their program's at, but they chose to run with 24 players (as opposed to our 28) so I was assuming they had planned for a proper match sim hit out. And why wouldn't they? They need a big season - their crop of high draft picks are all coming into their prime and Clarkson has been in charge of this group long enough now to go to the next level. North fans would have a justifiable expectation the Roos should be pushing for finals at this stage of their developmen. Time to get going. But they look miles off - must be super frustrating for their fans.

If we were both, say, competing for a place in the finals it would have the classic 24 point game.

And give two completely unnecessary drive bys, not to mention a backhanded compliment - so much negativity in so few words is quite a skill

A breakout year in his second season?