Ted Lasso

He looks like he's quite natural at the forward/second ruck role which is exciting! amazing he slipped to the MSD

2 hours ago, adonski said:

Who cares, midfields more important

Not to us

This will be a really challenging game for us because Freo are capable of matching us or beating us out of the middle, we will have to score a lot from pressure, turnover and transition in order to win, which we're capable of doing but it'll be a grind, especially in conditions that might be humid and slippery again. 

It's always hard to measure the best in a defensive position, but he's been bloody good for a few years now, has lost a battle maybe 5 times in the last 5 seasons and consistently been around the All Australian mark 

5 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

i figure whoever offers tomlinson a three year deal will land him as a free agent

I agree, but possibly we wouldn't offer him more than 1 year at this point so if he's got outside interest it seems likely he will go. he'd be a good fit at a club like North. 

Tmac is probably one more injury away from retiring, so really trying to enjoy his great form while he's going so well

I think it's going to take some time for him to adjust to a totally different system than what he had at Adelaide which was a lot more aggressive all over the ground, he's showing some okay signs early but i'd say he needs another 2-3 weeks to really start to hit form. 

He was absolutely flying at times during the pre-season 

I think this move strongly hints that we will enter 2025 without Tom McDonald or Adam Tommlinson AND we intend to persist with Petty forward into the future. 

Battle isn't going to come to the MFC to sit in the 2's until May decides to retire, he would rightly want to come to a situation where he is clearly starting 22 

If nothing else it does suggest we're running out the games pretty well. i'd say first quarters is a mindset thing, i wonder if perhaps early in games the players are maybe trying a little bit too hard and they relax into it as the game goes on, but as we saw with Carlton, Brisbane and West Coast, by the time we settled into those games we were miles behind 

The only thing worse than losing is playing a slow, defensive garbage game style and losing, while at the same time having an deep lack of talent from systemically overrating and overestimating your list. 

I don't see a way forward for the Saints that doesn't involve bottoming out completely 

35 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

This is simply untrue.

Please point out when he had been tried at senior level for us?

His 35 goals at GWS were over 8 seasons and a good deal were when he was playing wing

Early days in his career at GWS they tried to play him as a mobile tall forward and he was solid without being spectacular, i think given the way Brown is playing, it wouldn't hurt us to give him a go in the forward line. 

I really liked the signs from Turner though so when fit i'd have him back in

6. Max Gawn 

5. Christian Salem 

4. Adam Tomlinson 

3. Alex Neal-Bullen 

2. Kozzie Pickett 

1. Jack Viney 

Love it! 

Gawn: Greatest Ruckman ever 

I wonder if Lever could play smaller and we could keep Tommlinson in? we looked really good in the air 

Taj is incredibly stiff, it's pretty rough to give a bloke a full game who's shown next to nothing in the 2's over a kid who's been playing quite well in the 1's

1 minute ago, Jaded No More said:

What makes no sense is why, if Gawn is in doubt, did we take Fullerton off the emergency list and we don’t have Verrell listed either?

maybe it's only just come on in the last hour or so? in any case it really does highlight our glaring lack of ruck depth. Jacob Van Rooyen rucking against Rowan Marshall for a full game is going to give the Saints a pretty big edge if Max doesn't get up.

McKenzie is coming along really nicely at the Hawks. 

I think we're still definitely capable of doing some damage at the end of the season but we'd have to improve a lot, the gap between our best and worst footy is widening, the form of some of our really important players is still a long way off their best and we're relying on a 21 year old and a 24 year old to carry our forward line when one has always been a defender and one is still finding his feet at AFL level, we're asking a fair bit. 

The loss of Gus has been profound on the team. 

The big positive is that at the end of the season and moving forward we will have considerable salary cap space open and some assets to trade so we can plug some holes and look to re-load for 2025 if we don't get there this year. 

a gun key forward would be very very handy 

44 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

memo to Goodwin.  His name is Bradley Hill.  He runs and runs and delivers.  Elite disposal.  Elite efficiency.   You must pay heavy attention to him and fellow quarterback Wanganeen-Milera.  Do not let them wander around unmanned!!!  FFS. 

absolutely. i'm unsure who we have that's actually capable of going with them though, perhaps it's a case of whoever is on them needs to make themselves dangerous, you don't mind Hill getting 25 cheap touches on the wing if his opponent kicks 4 goals

It's going to be a grind this one, i am concerned about the Saints running power and their half backs on the MCG. 

if we lose this game i think it'll be really challenging to finish top 4 this season, 

Time for Viney, Oliver, Salem, May and all the other really good players who haven't been quite at their best to step up and find their best form because we desperately need them if 2024 is going to bring any sort of meaningful success. 

3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I'm a big Kane Cornes fan but he's missed the point here.

The landscape in the player trade industry has changed over the years, contracts mean nothing now.

Once a player nominates a club which he did with Sydney, then realistically we've got to find the best deal possible for the club. We didn't help out a contender, we had no other choice because that's where Grundy wanted to go.

Yes we could have held him ransom to his contract and all that, but doing that would have benefited no one in the long run. The Grundy Melbourne relation was never going to work so we had to trade him off.

Grundy is obviously playing good footy and well on his way to success and Max is hopefully on his way to a 7th All Australian.  Both came out winners in my eyes.

that explains ALOT! 

You'd have to imagine we would identify our lack of midfield depth and look to address that, i am sure if the club knew Gus would be forced to retire we may have retained Harmes, or fought harder to keep Jordan, the outcome ultimately is that we lose 3 AFL level mids from our depth and look a bit thin behind the big names. 

Unsure who specifically we might target but i'd guess we will at the very least be looking at the available mature age midfielders

1 hour ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

And here I thought you were a nice person ☹️

 

*deletes Ted Lasso from her Xmas card list*

 

 

I did feel dirty typing it. i'll show myself out! haha 

I like the Dons, i think they're a team that can surprise a few come the end of the season, it looks like the Swans flag to lose but i wouldn't be at all surprised if the Dons are there abouts in Prelim week 

1 hour ago, binman said:

Its almost as if goody was not joking when he has repeatedly said our goal is to be playing our best footy come September or that the team who improves the most during the season are the ones contending at the pointy end of the season.

I mean, I guess he might have some evidence to support that supposition. Like the blues and swans last year.

And the lions too for that matter, who were 6-4 after 10 games and were flogged by thr hawks, who finished the season in 16th (and beat the pies in round 21), in round 10.

It's almost as if goody has done some analysis of why we went out of the finals in straight sets the last two years and what other clubs that have done well have done. 

are you suggesting Simon Goodwin the AFL premiership coach might know more about what he's doing than some of the fans on Demonland!?! outrageous 

I don't think Goodwin is single focused on any one week or even the 2024 season, i think his goal is implement a game style that's consistent and has us there abouts year in year out, and keeps us towards the pointy end as long as we can. 

On the weekend we had 

Kade Chandler (24)

Harry Petty (24)

Tom Sparrow (23)

Kozzie pickett (22)

Caleb Windsor (18)

Judd McVee (20)

Jake Bowey (21)

Trent Rivers (23)

Blake Howes (21)

Taj Woewodin (21)

I personally think it's pretty impressive when nearly 50% of our best 22 is 24 and under and we're playing at the level we are, it's a good indication that the team is not only going to be hard to beat now, but will continue to get better. 

Our profile, age wise wasn't too dissimilar to West Coast on the weekend, a lot of youth and some good senior players. 

Normally we'd also have Turner and Van Rooyen in the side, so as long as we're playing a team that's anywhere near the 50% mark in terms of youth, we will be at times inconsistent, we will have down days and they'll find it harder to handle the pressure of big games and moments than senior players will, this is clearly a conscious decision by the footy department to go down the live re-set path.