Macca

Specifically in the first game, the ground (SCG) itself is quite small. And given the fitness of the players who can run all game and then all the flooding, class is needed in the forward line Forwards who can win their own ball So we should expect Sydney to crowd our forward line at every opportunity. And they'll double team Fritsch you'd imagine. We need 2 big targets who will compete hard, mono. JVR & ???? Schache? I'm not filled with confidence Turner or Tomlinson maybe but playing as a KPF is a lot harder than as a KPD I'm holding out hope that T-Mac can somehow overcome the calf niggle as we know what he can bring (when fit) Petty? It's just fingers crossed with this bloke By the looks of it, Jefferson isn't ready and Adams the same What we do know is that the MC must start planning the actual make-up of the forward line as soon as possible. They need to practice together It's so important to start the season off with a win If I was to hazard a guess I reckon Tomlinson will end up being the 2nd tall forward B Bowey May Turner HB Salem Lever McVee C Hunter Brayshaw Langdon HF Fritsch JVR Petracca F Chandler Tomlinson Billings R Gawn Oliver Viney Int Sparrow (Oliver) Rivers (Brayshaw) Windsor (Hunter) ANB (Petracca) Sub Tholstrup (?) On paper, it's not a great forward line but I've got Petracca playing 35% forward as long as Clarrie plays (???) McAdam is in, if fit (for Billings) T-Mac is in, if fit (for Tomlinson) As for the 2nd rucking with or without Schache, who knows? He'll possibly play but I can't find a spot for him unless he takes the place of Turner or Tomlinson

Losing all these forwards is a reminder as to what happened to us after the '94 Prelim We lost Lyon, Schwarz & Jakovich for a huge amount of games. Neitz was thrown forward but that left the backline short, IIRC 1996 & 1997 and to a lesser degree 1995 were write-off years but Balme lost his job. Of course we bounced back under Neale Daniher but nevertheless, injuries cruelled us for 3 straight years prior to 1998 Forwards can and do win you the games. A functioning forward line requires decent talent levels and right now, we are now highly dependant on the midfield, structures, game plan and the backline We need to eke out some wins until the time comes where our forward line is a real threat again

Most of us would be a lot more confident if this was our forward line against Sydney HF Kozzie/Petracca JVR ANB/Chandler F Fritsch Petty Melksham Melksham had found his niche as a defensive forward, Kozzie can be absolutely dynamic and Petty was blossoming and is a sharp-shooter. Petracca playing forward (for good portions) is highly dependant on whether Clarrie plays. Without Clarrie playing, Petracca has to play predominantly on the ball otherwise we'll be conceding the midfield to Sydney Petty was also creating separation and space for himself, which is not easily replaced. Certainly not with a player like Schache So 4 first choice forwards not being available to use and we can't use that as a reason if a loss occurs? What if we lose by 1 point? Not a reason?

One more question @Roost it far If you reckon that Sydney will defeat us, will that have anything to do with our decimated forward line? Or will our decimated forward line have no impact on the result at all? Nothing?

How do you know that they are not filthy on last year and wanting to prove their mettle? And injuries were the reason we didn't advance past the 2nd week of the finals because they happened in one area of the ground (forward line) If the injuries were evenly spread across the ground, then that's not a reason as a team should be able to cover for a total of 4 or 5 injuries But losing Petty, Melksham, Brown, JVR and then having to play a proppy Fritsch and a bloke on one leg (T-Mac) took it's toll Brayshaw getting king hit meant that we couldn't play Petracca forward as well So 4 of our better or best forwards didn't play and 2 others were not match fit Make no mistake, having a decimated forward played a large part in the team not winning the flag And I've never seen a team win a GF with a C- forward line. It's never happened Collingwood's forward line might have only been B overall but that still beats the hell out of a C- forward line And Hill won the Norm Smith medal Who amongst our available forwards could have been even capable of winning a NS medal if we got that far? Chandler? ANB?

One of the 3 if we have no other choice. If we were desperate for a tall in the backline we'd be faced with the same dilemma Take Lever & May out and what are we left with? Maybe Tomlinson but he's best suited as a 3rd tall not the main man If you go too medium/small in the forward line you end up conceding easy marks to the opposition I wouldn't be playing Schache on what I've seen but again, what choice do we have? Tomlinson is another option forward but what we need is a big bodied forward with a bit of phsicality or at least another tall who can play in front and put his body on the line

Ok, that's good to hear, picket The way things are going with injuries to our forwards and without an ideal 2nd ruck, it's hard to see Schache not playing in some capacity against Sydney. Not that I would be looking at him to stand out though On what we've seen, not much can be expected (Schache) But calf complaints for older players can be notoriously difficult to shake off so it may well be Schache's time The MC will be in his ear about getting to the front position as a KPF and if can do that, half the battle will be won (on his own part) But I wish him well if he gets a guernsey We might even have to look at Turner, Adams or Jefferson if Schache is the only genuine tall forward available (apart from JVR) Remembering that he'll need to be doing the 2nd ruck duties as we don't want to be overdoing it with Max as he enters his 33rd year It's one thing going medium-tall but you don't want to going medium-small

All that is true but it's not ideal to have a decimated forward line ... and let's hope that it's only short term That includes Petty, T-Mac & McAdam being available sooner rather than later

John Longmire would be grinning like a Cheshire Cat right now

So we essentially agree but in the last week, the availability of our forwards has diminished even further And that's new information So the doom & gloom merchants & happy clappers are now getting closer to being on the same page And if you reckon I'm a happy clapper go back and read some of the stuff I posted in 2011-2013. All I could see was gloom But here's the thing, Roost, we can't put forward a no excuses argument for last season and then use the same argument to predict doom & gloom And I'm specifically talking about our decimated forward line And I don't make excuses. For instance, I've never once blamed umpires, never done it. Not once

The way we're going, we're going to need both T-Mac & Brown to help out in the seniors (for 5 or 6 games each - at least) When they present themselves as fit of course. But both will probably be able to play at some stage during the season But contracts are contracts and having a few veteran players who are past their best and still contracted is going to be an ongoing issue that needs to be managed Across all the clubs, not just our club If they weren't contracted we might have been able to make a play for an experienced key forward But that's in an ideal world and the football world is now way different with the longer contracts and even average players getting an extra year or 2 Something has to give at the tail-end of those contracts. And we're seeing that being enacted And it's not necessarily poor list management either. 10 years ago it would have been but not these days (in my view)

De Goey &;Sidebottom are A grade players and clutch players Our sharp-shooters are either not available or are carrying injuries Our replacement forwards can't be relied upon so the missed opportunities are going to continue We'll have our best chance of winning consistently when most (or all) of our best forwards are available. And that might happen sooner or later ... we just don't know when Brown, T-Mac, Petty, Kozzie, Melksham, McAdam and even Smith are often very good in front of goal And at this stage, most, if not all, won't be available for the Sydney game. If so, that's dire We can still win (somehow) but we're going to need a lot of things going our way

That's unlike you to talk like that, Jack It takes a good level of courage just to cross the white line Stan features quite a bit in the clip below playing as first rover And if Caleb ends up as good as Stan, we've got quite the player. Stan won 2 B&F's and ran 2nd in the Brownlow on one occasion And captained the club for 4 years. He was quite a decorated footballer Coll vs Melb 1968 Victoria Park

That's true We can't leave the midfield short on top level talent The good news is that we've got a number of choices* for half back so Brayshaw can remain in the middle But I wonder if we might revisit Brayshaw as that defensive wingman again? Hunter could play as a high-half forward either combining with Langdon or Brayshaw ANB to play a similar role on the other flank But to do that we need Clarrie playing Just a thought *McVee, Bowey, Rivers, Salem

@Gorgoroth @Go the Biff @DeeSpencer @titan_uranus @Clintosaurus @JV7 @Dee Zephyr @Dr. Gonzo @DemonDave @BDA @layzie Tips Gentleman (and margin) 5 points for the win & 5 points for the correct margin bracket (1-6, 7-13 or 13+) San Francisco are -1.5 favs over KC so that's close enough to call it a pick-em Here's the leaderboard so good luck!

Yeah you'd imagine that he will get his opportunities if, in the absence of Fullarton, he is regarded as the next best ruckman (JVR to preferably take a few forward line ruck duals only) Question for you PF (or anyone else) What's Schache like in the ruck at AFL level? His hit out stats on AflTables aren't all that startling

The game is more open than it was 5+ years ago and that might have something to do with the limit on rotations and/or the 6-6-6 rule 2013 - Unlimited rotations 2014 - 120 rotations 2016 - 90 rotations 2019 - Introduction of 6-6-6 2021 - 75 rotations I reckon the sub will become the 5th interchange player sooner or later but they might limit the rotations to 60 eventually. (or they won't)

We might have to go mid-sized if we run out of talls again With a style of play to match it What we do know is that the f50 entries has been acknowledged but needs to be enacted (both at practice and in the games) There's a fair chance we'll see a new approach in the 2 practice games

They'll have lots of reunions down the track but let's hope we can add another flag or 2 so there can be multiple reunions Local level flags are one thing but at the high professional level? It's their whole life and source of income. There's no other job like it Although many professions outside of sport are extremely rewarding ... they just aren't rewarded with premierships! And then there are the champion players and A graders who never won a flag The last bloke picked in a premiership winning team gets the flag but great players often miss out completely

If T-Mac is good to go then we might have to play him forward Max to carry the greater workload or Schache to be the back up? A tricky decision but I'm not sure that Schache will be the sub again so I've left him out (Max won't have a broken toe for the first game) If Petty is declared fit then he's in for T-Mac ... if T-Mac doesn't come up as well, then maybe Schache) As it stands, one of T-Mac, Schache or JVR will be needed as the 2nd ruck) But I'm hoping that T-Mac (at least) is good to go. Petty doubtful? For the Sydney game HF Fritsch JVR ANB/ Petracca F Chandler T-Mac McAdam or Billings

I see Dwayne has nominated his best 25 forwards Kozzie at 22 but no Fritsch. Bayley missed a big chunk of games, but if the 25 is projecting forward, surely Fritsch gets in the top 15 or 20? When quizzed about Fritsch's omission, Dwayne was a bit sheepish as if he'd overlooked him Dwayne Russell Best 25 Forwards

Is the curse back? (remembering that Norm was a key forward) "Let it go Norm, enough is enough!"

The title of the thread is quite misleading It's not everyone

I'm probably the most bullish this year than any other year. But I was reasonably bullish in 2021, 2022 & 2023 Before that, 2018 & 2019 in terms of finals only 2009 - 2017, not confident at all in terms of contending or finals @old dee went the early crow in 2021 (predicting the flag) and I'd be interested in his thoughts on this year. But old dee is a true realist as a few others are (but most here lean optimistic or pessimistic to varying degrees) But again, I don't take much notice of the scribes. Most are looking for a headline or are grandstanders. But we click away don't we?

In a lot of ways it's a fruitless exercise as no one ever gets if all right so there's no bragging rights Equally, those that get it horribly wrong just end up pointing out all the others who got it wrong Did Caro predict that the Tigers would win the flag last year? If so, what was she thinking?