Macca

I don't miss the congestion and endless stoppages one tiny bit, Earl The issue with the game tonight is that Essendon are out of their depth. Bombing it indiscriminately whilst the Hawks are playing team football, always looking for a teammate Subsequently the game was over 20 minutes into the 2nd quarter.

Or ... Prefer in something easier Not here No

Or to help out their club financially

IF we're going to play a more enterprising style along with greater corridor use, we need to get our half backs, wingmen & half forwards in synch For Salem, Lindsay & Fritsch the boundary line needs to be on their right hand side when facing our goals/forward line For CJ, Langdon & Melksham, the boundary line needs to be on their left hand side when facing the goals/forward line As an example, kicking across one's body can result in blind spots & interceptions Previously, as a boundary hugging teams (with long bombs) we were best suited with an opposite set-up Changing styles for experienced players can be difficult but it's needed

And there's a fair chance that all 4 players that you mentioned will be playing lots of games too T-Mac & Melk are 'spares' but injuries happen as does good form or poor form. Needed for depth The interesting group are the 22-23 yo's as to whether they can establish themselves as bona-fide AFL standard players. All up, there's about 7 or 8 unprovens in that category I'm way less concerned with the youngsters ... time/patience But it's the senior players who will govern our W/L record. Again, there's close on 20 experienced types on the list

Well, like it or not King will be rebuilding the team/club Maybe not in the more traditional sense but more so in getting the team & club back on the straight & narrow If the players all buy-in, it will make his job a lot easier. He's got the job ahead of him, but we need the buy-in

Of the 26 named players, 15 are experienced types, 6 are in that unproven/midrange* area (aged 22 & 23 with not a lot of top-notch AFL games under their belts) Along with 5 youngsters The Senior players need to stand up and lead the way 3 or 4 of the 6 midrange players need to establish themselves The youngsters need to keep progressing *I've categorised Turner as an experienced player but have JVR in the midrange area You can do the exercise yourself but you will come up with similar numbers So we don't lack for experience but we do need the younger players pushing through

Yep, although I'm not sure we'll want to measure ourselves against those 2 teams. 6-8 wins max for the Blues and maybe 4 or 5 wins for the Tiges Above that is the 9-12 win bracket which would be an excellent result for a team on the semi-rebuild (like we are) In other words, we still need to have reasonable expectations otherwise losing starts becoming a habit. A lot rests with our experienced players

Unimpressive win for the Blues and the Tigers lost through inexperience (Lynch kicking 2.7 didn't help)

Broncos/Eels match is a beauty Tigers/Blues tightened up scoring wise in the 2nd half TV for footy, NRL laptop Edit: Eels win after copping an absolute hiding last week from the Storm

It seems the clubs are moving the other way ... Doggies, Tiges & Demons all offered 10 or 11 games for 100 bucks for this season But buying a membership and then not attending games is a very real thing and has been going on for decades Of course, in the big sports overseas they charge like wounded bills as compared to sport in Oz. But the demand to attend games is huge (overseas) ... thus, the higher charges to attend Supply & Demand

Play where you are picked? Or is that just Boomer talk? haha

And the Hawks bought it for 1 dollar in 2004 So are we leasing Waverley and how much? A buck a year?

Well it's already been 2 years and 4 months My concern is the lack of dialogue with regards to the progress. No comment (or silence) can mean a lot The club must know that the supporter base would be getting a bit toey The other concern is our relationship with the MRC ... they've voiced their concerns with regards to the possible disruption to racing with the now, infamous, tunnel venture Potential losses in the $Millions have been bandied about if race meetings are cancelled. That will get the trusts attention But we're not hearing anything positive from the club and most of the time we're not hearing anything at all Until now with the advent of Waverley ... plenty of chatter and lots of positives Anyway, time will tell Footnote; I'm all for the training base at Caulfield but in my view, there's a few hurdles to overcome including the costing ($100Million has been talked about and that's a lot of money to raise)

Having said all that I reckon Heath might get into the 23 periodically anyway. Just having the extra rotation might suit a 2 ruck combo (at times) Being a development year, the MC might want to find out if Heath has any forward nouse (we could assume that he can ruck)

Fair enough I was in on the concept but we soon found out that Grundy was really poor up forward so the only way it could work was with Max up forward (both dropping back capable of taking intercept marks in defence aside) But Max stationed up forward as compared to Max pinch-hitting up forward are 2 entirely different scenarios But with Jacko, it kind of did work even though LJ was not a natural forward either. Nor does he have good hands But first ruckmen are different types. They are like Generals and it's rare to have 2 in the one side (performing well)

So, I understand that XT is more of a half-back type but as an extra rotation through the midfield as an option? Maybe on the back of the midfield, clean-up style Back in the day, that role was described as the kick behind the play type Remembering that a lot of the onus in the midfield will fall on to some relative newcomers (Windsor, Lindsay, Langford, Kolt and even Culley) Our midfield will contain a lot of young talent but nevertheless, our combined midfield might be the youngest in the comp (without Viney and without the 2 others that headed North )

That's right, they were GC's picks ... of course, with the way the points system works with Academy picks, GC were still able to attain 2 picks in the top 5 in the draft Good point re King and how he might view the draftees. Traditionally, we've tended to use the mid-type draftees in the seniors quite early

So what's the story with XT? Thought he might have been a plug-in-and-play type. Track-watchers?

Yeah, we threw away 4 or 5 wins but I suppose finishing 14th was the catalyst for change

From all reports we'll be playing an attacking brand through the corridor (when applicable) but if we turn the ball over our defence will therefore be under seige Previously, we've been able to defend from a position where the opposition were often hemmed in near the boundary line (as a result of our long kicking/territory/towards-the-boundary line style of play) Retaining possession is all important otherwise our once much vaunted defence might become our Achilles heel Average points against 2021 - 66 2022 - 67 2023 - 72 2024 - 79 2025 - 89 We started leaking goals last year but still managed to have a percentage of 93.3 which was a full 24 percentage points above Essendon (15th) Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained (re attacking footy using the corridor)

I reckon that was another reason the Hawks moved (they couldn't have closed sessions) Where as we can still have closed sessions at Casey if we choose to. That's the luxury of having 2 decent venues I'm wondering whether we could ever have closed sessions at Caulfield as the surrounds etc is public land

The move to Caulfield was first mooted and talked about at club level (partnership with CRRT announced) in December 2023 It's now March 2026 and people are speculating that moving in day is 5 years away! That's close on 7 and a half years, all up (and counting) The years are flying past and it's just as well that Waverley became available

When did Caulfield become 5 years? In the last few days? There were plenty talking completion dates of 2027 or 2028 not so long ago Waverley as an alternate only became a talking point in the last couple of months. Before that, nothing And I applaud the club for moving to Waverley. But don't be surprised if it's a permanent move We get into Waverley and everyone's then happy. Soon enough the talk will be, why Caulfield? We don't need it and we still haven't got the funding required anyway? "Let's save our money" I'd prefer Caulfield but the silence about the facility since before the AGM is deafening And now, suddenly, we're moving into Waverley in the next few weeks? I reckon we grabbed the opportunity before that opportunity was gone As stated in a previous post, the Hawks had to move as they didn't have another facility like we do (Casey) For the MFC, Waverley is an ideal fit. Just a tick over 20 minutes from Casey to Waverley too

The issue for the Hawks is that they only had the one oval to train on (Waverley) where as we'll have Waverley for the Seniors and Casey (for Casey, AFLW & VFLW) The Hawks would have had a 2nd oval to train on but without all the creature comforts (Gym, pool etc) So they've now got everything under the one roof at the facility at Dingley. In many ways, they had to move