You just weren’t able to see what others were telling you earlier in the season, that our Win/Loss was extremely flattering.
We didn’t throw anything away because we lack the ability to win important games with real pressure, when known consequences are attached.
It happens time and time again.
That’s the most disappointing thing for me last year just shat the bed
“We could do a hawthorn, you never know “
I feel like your taking a jab at me
Its not impossible for that to happen to be fair.
we’ll win 13
then get bundled out by a combination of poor play, poor umpiring and only zack and durham turning up.
it will be one of greatest seasons any of us have seen or can recall.
will set us up perfectly for the 2026 preseason.
Considering the off-season changes, I’m more excited for this upcoming season than I have been in at least a few years
Brads interview with Cal is now up
Who are your tall/medium forwards in this scenario?
I’m mostly just hopeful for a decent run with injuries so we can get great development out of the list, especially given how many kids we’ve brought in & all the improvements made to the VFL program.
That and finishing with a percentage of 100ish - regardless of how many wins or where we that leaves us on the ladder - is what I’d love to get out of this year.
Ultimately I think we have quite a lot of decent players with a fit list but (currently) lack star power. At a guess, I see us finishing around the 10th-13th range.
There’s gotta be a world in the multiverse though where we get a good run with injuries (full seasons from Ridley, Draper, Duursma, etc) and kids like Caddy Perkins Tsatas Reid Bryan Durham Martin Caldwell Hobbs Jones Roberts & Davey all improve.
Shiel, Redman, McKay, Gresham, Setterfield & Menzie could certainly all have better/healthier years, then there’s Kako, El-Hawli & Prior who are all capable of having an impact. For the love of Hird, all of that has gotta be at least possible.
Anyway there’s some blue sky dreaming if those kids improve & our senior players regain form. The comp is so even though, a healthy list will be the main factor for us (and all clubs really) this year.
Draper, Caddy, Langford as the taller marking targets.
Perkins and Martin as smaller mediums (Martin will rotate CB, Wing & HF).
Kako & Gresh are the smalls at this stage.
When Draper is resting Bryan in the Ruck, Jones slides forward to maintain some aerial support to Caddy & Langford.
Draper will require regular bench rests as well and that’s where Jones is valuable, as I don’t see Bryan as a forward at all.
Caldwell, Merrett and Hobbs (if selected) can rest forward occasionally.
This is actually the least I’ve ever cared about this club since Blitz inception, perhaps ever. Pre season training is great but like, after 20 years of saying player x is ripping it up, it just has no meaning now. I’d say we’ll finish around 12-16th. I think we’ll be next to North, Richmond, WCE and the Saints fighting for those bottom spots.
Wouldn’t be so bad if we play Bryan in the ruck all year, actually develop players with a chance to step up. Let Saad loose at half-back/wing for somone much needed pace injection, Kako all year up forward, draftees games, Tsatas and Reid games, Hobbs a chance a block of a few months to prove his ware. Caddy and Perkins given the ball to run with. Lets get some pace and excitement back at the club…
Melbourne finish bottom 4 also, get us two high picks. Develop kids.
But what will happen is a 10-14th finish, playing Goldstein more games over Bryan, Kako dropped after a few games, draftees left to mostly rot, Saad no games until a few months in. Wright fumbling and bumbling in the forwardline, doing the usual plodders and Shiel down back. And no, lets NOT play Joes as a fcking winger. I don’t trust Brad Scott anymore to not make stupid decisions after last year.
I guess we’ll see how it goes but the first month or two looks pretty brutal fixture wise, I reckon the wheels will fall off. We’ll still snare the unexpected win to bump us up to out of the bottom couple.
In an ideal world we take a huge step forward and a bunch of younger guys Martin, Durham, Duursma, Reid, Perkins, Davey, Robert’s, Caddy, Kako, Hobbs, Cox, Bryan m, Saad, Jones really come on. We catch fire and win a final.
Our second best option is we finish bottom four, have a good run late (so we don’t look like a total basket case) and get improvement from younger guys.
Our least best option is finishing mid table and still having a lot of questions about our U25 talent, but I think that most likely.
I don’t mind that. I think we have tried to squeeze in too many tall/medium forwards in the past, throwing in Cox and Stringer as well at times.
Where I disagree is that 2MP starts over Jones, at least initially. And I would rather another quick small over having two smaller mediums. Perkins is just another Stringer, defensive/pressure wise.
I just cannot put all 3 of Draper, Bryan & 2mp in the same team.
At least Jones gives us some flexibility as he wasn’t awful as a wingman, and his tackling and ground level play far exceeds 2mp’s.
Edit. I want Gresh closer to goal, Perkins HHF.
Guelfi will make his way back, but he isn’t the speedy small forward we are craving.
Martin into the leadership group
I would just replace McGrath as VC
That’s were the extra small comes in.
And Jones is a waste on the wing, we need more from players than not awful, even for flexibility.
2MP is still a better big forward at this stage, confidence pending. But if he doesn’t deliver after a few weeks, straight out and Jones in.
Every time Draper or Bryan are on the Bench, Jones will be forward.
He’ll hardly see any Wing minutes.
In my mind, if Wright is playing, Bryan isn’t.
Scott referred to McGrath as VC again