rjay

...and here I thought either 'Stuie' or 'Lord Nev' were back. It's only Tom Morris.

That's great news 'BDA', looking forward to the mens season to start then more to come after that. Let's hope it's "Back to Back" for the girls.

We all know that Oliver is the best player in the game...Robbo still hasn't figured it out.

...but we were & are not a team in development. Lyon & Clarkson are often portrayed as not being development coaches. This is shortsighted & unfair...they built their teams, developed a game style & were hunting flags, they had their team & it was hard to get into. We were shooting for a flag & you don't win those from the bottom half of the 8. Unfortunately we didn't have the luxury to rest our top players, we were fighting for our spot all the way. Again you listed a bunch of players who could have come in but how about making the changes. Which key players do we rest & who replaces them? Would Tomo come in for Lever? post knee reco he just hasn't had the agility to play that type of role. J Smith was injured as usual & Turner was unfortunate in his debut game to cop a bad injury that was confidence sapping. McVee couldn't get a kick in a stampede in 2022 but another year at Casey & a good preseason now it looks like we might have a player. Bedford & Chandler weren't coming in for key players, they might give ANB or Spargo a break, hardly keys. JVR wasn't ready, we might have had no choice if Max didn't come up as our tall options were limited. Maj retiring put a big hole in the tall options bucket.

It's easy to name the players struggling with injury. Now name the players you would replace them with and tell me how they would make us better?

No, you can't get off that easily. So many are blaming Goodwin & the FD when I believe they had no realistic options. If you are going to blame the FD as you did then tell us what changes you would have made? ...and why they would have made us better. Not just say as others have, bring in fresh legs. We could have brought in Chandler or Bedford but neither would have changed our fortunes, that would be fiddling around the edges. At the end of the day, you can't replace champions, that's why they're champions...

Dunstan, a player that the Saints moved on despite those votes. He had played 5 games for us, no votes and wasn't able to reach anything like that 12 vote form. He's purely a break glass player... Weid, been tried enough. Making changes would not have helped and may have made us worse.

How could we, we were fighting for a place in the top 4. Again, name the changes you would have made and tell me why they would have made us better?

One of the modern myths in football...

What a lot of people don't seem to understand. This is depth 101... - Depth only covers your bottom 6 players - Depth will never cover champions - You do play champions when they are injured because in most cases they will give you more than what your depth can - All clubs play injured players - When the amount of (%) injuries mount up in your top10 players you are stuffed Last years GF (and you will find stories in all GF's) gives us some great case studies. The Swans played Reid, it was a gamble that failed...they played him as they had no one else that could do what he could. For them to win it was crucial for Reid to play his role which in part freed up Buddy to do his magic. It wasn't a great bet on past history, a very long odds gamble that didn't pay off. Geelong played Hawkins, going into the finals series with a foot injury that has since been operated on. This bet payed off as they won the whole thing, Hawkins was instrumental in setting up the game and taking away the Swans belief...it might put an early end to his career yet but they gambled and won. They also had no one that could do what Hawkins can do.

Name them...there was no one at Casey that would have made a difference that's why they went with what they had

Unfortunately if there were 5 or 6 guys in the same position we didn't have the dice to roll.

I guess we're more concerned about what they have now, not what's coming through. Just hoping they finish in the bottom half of the ladder. Not likely but it would be nice.

He's never been that sort of player though, in his prime a smooth mover never a bash and crash player.

Was it Jimmy "ya know" Barnes???

Joy erupting as each day is another day closer to Pickett re-signing...

Legal action is a pretty big issue.

Hibbo...

Which number was he 'dazz'? I didn't hear him called & don't know him by sight but thought he would have been out there.

Agree with pretty much all you say here, will add a little bit from my viewing. Verrell in particular for me today...looks really promising. Hibbo as you say too good for the level, will be great depth this year. I think AMW will be a step up from Bedford...just a better ball handler and very clean and clever with his ball use. From the track watchers of which you are one I think he has been in rehab for a lot of the preseason so a good performance coming in underdone. Howes needs to get involved, just goes along for the ride. On his output to date very overrated.

Great bass player...

McVie looks pretty good.

Sorry 'Katrina', just a poor attempt at humour on my part....

Is he???

I guess for the reason they are not normal working folk. I'm not disagreeing with you and in an ideal world that would be the case. ...but in a world where players are treated as special & above us normal folk is it any wonder that some behave as prima donnas.