Pates

Sounds like 2019 was a combination of poor preparation and not doing everything in high intensity at GC. He’s done the work this year and it sets him up for a big 2020.

Jeez what a ridiculous piece of click bait, it’s just talking about how we said (last week) we’ll be taking things super slow and steady with him. Sometimes I genuinely wonder if they wake up and ask each other “how do we create a news story today?”

Last ep still my current favourite but still really enjoyed this, particularly Kozzie taking a cracking mark over Jacko!

I feel like a lot of the time it isn’t so much the wins in the preseason that give you indications of a year it’s the losses. Last year our losses we looked exhausted and bereft of life, Sydney losing the way they have could be quite telling. Fox Footy’s statistics had them going up but I think they’re going to be mid table at best.

Thanks for your little write up, lots of positives to speak of. How the Roos didn’t have the mental capacity to put on a couple of Sausage sizzles at either end of the grounds, hell even just do the profits for bushfire relief, is just plain bizarre. We complain about our club at times but really it sounds like North are amateur hour at times.

Anyone have access to some stats? Interested to know what numbers people racked up. I was definitely expecting a loss from what the team was looking like, that we beat them can only be a good thing for the confidence in the boys. We started losing early in 2019 and kept that going, getting wins now just builds a bit of belief that they’re doing the right things. Go again for Hawthorn, get three wins with good forward momentum. (The Essendon game can barely count given it was essentially Casey Scorpions playing)

A good result today is getting game time into players and no injuries, the score line doesn’t really matter, particularly with how many VFL list players we have in there.

Best moment of the ep for me!

The shame and anger I felt that day was only rivalled by 186.

I really think that our poor year following so many surgeries and injuries is getting the media in a little bit earlier with the Bombers, even though the media still treats our 2019 quite harshly a lot of those commentators are at least adding in retrospect dialogue that our season was almost doomed before it began. The bombers do seem to be given an advance free pass on the year that the narrative will always begin with "Depleted bombers beaten by...". It's also incumbent on us to be back in the hunt to prove that injuries were our downfall last year.

Seemed like it was right on cue! Oh well that's a big change of tact from Al, will be very interesting to watch. Frost will definitely help with keeping it moving but I always shuddered about what his next move was after he broke the lines.

Frost was in the side because May and Lever weren’t, he saw the writing on the wall that if those two were fit he would likely also be behind Oscar because he’s defensively better. Good luck to him at Hawthorn but for a club that prides itself on control of the ball and patience I can’t see Frost adding value to that plan unless they have a get out option for Frost to use.

Fantastic! Brings him into FA, very shrewd business by his manager.

I'd have mixed feelings, I'd be a little disappointed at not having any representatives, but then it's not like we wouldn't have any because we don't have any that is rated high enough, it would be a case of not having any fit representatives.

Grimes was clearly affected by both the captaincy and Neeld, he was an extremely promising player who regularly contributed positively under Bailey. Under Neeld and as captain he looked lost and unsure of himself. Never regained his confidence after Neeld’s departure. Trenners was also on a positive trajectory and under Bailey was attacking, creative, and young leader. He got the captaincy and Neeld as a coach and all that went away, he was absolutely asked to shoulder too much at a young age. Was a bafflingly bad decision to make him captain. He then got his debilitating foot injury and the rest is history, the club gave him time to recover, which was the right thing to do, but it he lost too much in that time. I agree with you that they weren’t up to it at the time to be captains, the way they were coached and used by the club contributed to their ruined careers.

Seeing Jetta limping a bit at the end of the Adelaide match made me wonder if we might pull him out of the match.

Just a quick positive that surprisingly hasn’t really been mentioned. Cracked 100 points this game, remember in 2018 we did it more than anyone, last year it happened 3 times.

Definitely agree with pretty much agree with all of that. I see him playing about 12 games and probably contributing a couple of goals most games. He’s definitely not the answer to our forward prayers but I think he will be a solid contributor.

Very interesting with no leadership group, I suppose it’s the less is more approach. Gawn captain and Viney as vice is a good choice, fwiw I think Jack will embrace it. I think it’ll sting for a bit but I hope he will also see the opportunity that it provides for him to focus on his game. Congrats big Max, he is the best example of perseverance and change in attitude turning him into the player he is today. What an example to set for the young brigade.

I wouldn’t say I completely disagree with most of your points but I’ll look at these two in particular. TMac looked completely off the pace in the first half, he didn’t seem to know when to make leads or hold back for the long ball. Some of this can be attributed to 2019ish forward entries, neither he nor Brown were given good delivery during that half. Second half though Tom seemed to come into the game more, he clunked some good marks, got hit up on the lead and nailed the goals (most importantly). 3 goals is a decent return for the day given he was absent in the first half. Browns goals you can call them junk time but first quarter he looked like our only forward capable of hitting the scoreboard. Should’ve had 3 for the quarter. For the rest of the day he competed and brought the ball to ground, it wasn’t a starring performance but a decent start to his time in red and blue. We looked particularly scratchy in the first half, our on ballers were consistently second to the ball (missing Gawn) and our field kicking was at times diabolical. I don’t think anyone would be clearing their September schedule off the back of it but a win is a win.

I wouldn’t say he had a great year, but by the very fact he finished 3rd in our B&F you can’t say he had a bad year. He would probably be the first to say he didn’t meet his standards, but to totally dismiss his placing in the B&F suggests that you aren’t seeing things that the coach and match committee rate highly.

I don’t know about anybody else but I was blown away by a number of things. Firstly Burgess and Donahue should be employed by the PLA if they want to employ some torture techniques, wow the boys were absolutely put through some next level fitness stuff that was exhausting to watch! Secondly it was significant looking at the body language when the boys were stuffed, that was a clear improvement on that first session when Darren told them not to fall to the ground with exhaustion, instead they stayed on their feet and got around those that looked to be struggling. The fitness levels are definitely improved at this stage as well. Finally I challenge any dees fan to look and not smile at that part with Kozzie struggling and the boys helping him get through it, and then massively getting around him afterwards. There is a genuine connection between everyone.

Compare the two between him and May Last year, really the only difference is that Oliver was able to continue unaffected aside from a little blood in the mouth (blood lip/cheek perhaps?). One week is fair, as it should’ve been for May but from memory he got two, so Crouch should as well.

Totally agree, I think Trac’s agent might be wanting him to hold off and back him in for a big year to get a bigger return but it would be more settled for him and the team to have it sorted before the start of the year.

So yesterday was the first win I’ve watched in person for at least 5 years, I think possibly 6 years. So from that point of view it was absolutely worth me going out to Casey and I’m really happy for the boys. A lot from the first half that the coaches can dissect for analysis, and some good positives from the second half they can use for positive reinforcement. For me the major highlight was obviously Petracca, there was a lot of talk and hype about him in the summer and yes it was only the first pre-season game but if he’s able to most of what he did on a regular basis then he will be a super quality asset for us this year. His speckie was right in front of me and he set himself really well. Even better he finished the job, as he lined up I said to my mum that this has been a big issue in the past and he nailed it. TMac had a quiet first half (in fact I was say he looked a little lost) but much better in the second, 3 goals is a very promising return and will surely give him a boost. His partner for the day Brown looked comfortable in his position, he competed well and I think is making a strong claim to be in contention for round one. I was absolutely stoked for Jones that he kicked those 3 goals but for me he looked solid all day. I think no captaincy is going to help him. I’m not saying he’s going to be incredible, I still picture at some stage through the year he will lose his spot but he has to earn it and he knows it. Quick positives were Lever and AvB getting though and looking good. Kozzie showing he’s going to be a forward pressure specialist. LJ leaping high in the ruck (and looking solid in there). General increase in pressure acts lifted the team, Viney was especially good at that. Some little concerns, we still look vulnerable when the ball gets out. I feel like two way running was something we were meant to be focusing on and the first half we still looked exposed. First half we were STILL not looking at where the forward entries were going, on a gusty day we were not giving our forwards their best chance to mark it, we weren’t even putting them in a position that advanced them. Ball use and movement still was messy at times, Adelaide used the ball more efficiently and were controlling. I suspect we are still going with a chaotic style we had in 2018, regardless the ball use still has to be good and some usual offenders were making life difficult. Melksham was one in particular hat butchered the ball, I could name a few more but really it seemed to be common. Overall we came away with a solid win, we did most of the damage in one quarter and pressed on against the wind in the final quarter which is good signs for our fitness. Importantly no serious injuries! Good start to the year.