TOPIC:

Mr AFL,
To be brutally honest i dont like either of the line-ups,thats not your fault its the personel we have or don't have that is the problem.
For example the midfield rotation names you have put up how many have that natural goal kicking flare,this will be our problem,i cant see any of those guys worrying the scorers multiple times during a game.Which leaves the extra load on our "smallish" forward line to kick a winning score each week.
Also not many of them "hurt" the opposition with the numbers they collect.
Too much is going to be left to too few imo.

Too many "ifs" going into this season,guys staying fit that have struggled the past 2 or so seasons,inexperienced guys expected to cover experienced losses,under-sized players in key areas,lack of mature/experienced talls,guys that just don't seem to improve from one year to the next.

Anyway we are all entitled to an opinion,yours is one of excitement mine is one of deja vu of seasons past,certainly our questions will be answered one way or another after the first 4 to 6 games of the season.

I agree the lack of talls is a problem and we may well struggle this season. However look at who we had last season and their impact. McInnes was ordinary in my opinion. He couldn't seem to hold marks and I don't know how many goals he kicked, but it wasn't many. Tunbridge played about 3 good games for the whole year and then at times he was very quiet, or suspended. I remember one game against Swans at Basso he had about 6 disposals for the match.

We certainly need Bevan and Stack to have good seasons again.

Cesspit wrote: I agree the lack of talls is a problem and we may well struggle this season. However look at who we had last season and their impact. McInnes was ordinary in my opinion. He couldn't seem to hold marks and I don't know how many goals he kicked, but it wasn't many. Tunbridge played about 3 good games for the whole year and then at times he was very quiet, or suspended. I remember one game against Swans at Basso he had about 6 disposals for the match.

We certainly need Bevan and Stack to have good seasons again.

I agree McInnes was quiet but he still copped the best tallest defender from the opposition each week,he was a tall target up forward,he did have a couple of good games...he's only going to get better.
He was in 2013 our best option for CHF we have lost him and not replaced him.

Tunbridge was injured for almost half the year,he still had a couple of good games,big bodied player that was a better option than we have now.
Yes they are AFL players but they were still up for Perth selection in 2013 and imo needed to be replaced in 2014,moreso McInnes,i consider them as losses!!

I personally think we will need Bevan in the midfield.
As it stands right now i reckon we will field the weakest midfield we have had in years.

Cesspit, McInnes kicked only 18 goals from 19 games last season. Not a good return for a key player but, as 30+ has stated, he took the best defender each week and many times was double teamed.
Tunbridge kicked 15 goals from 10 games. In addition to injuries he also missed games through suspensions.
Both are losses that have to be replaced and it seems the replacements will be from within.
IMO, the midfield will be a wait and see proposition. Sketcher, Jacobs, Smith Reimers seem gone but we have gained Ugle and a couple of Mortons.
No doubt Moody will spend more time midfield which IMO is where he should be playing. Likewise Bevo should spend more time in the middle along with Bateman and Dene White. Florio will probably be used off the bench as an impact player. His run is very good and an asset at times when we have momentum.
It remains to be seen whether or not a Colts player, perhaps Scott Doncon, can step up.
Yes, there are a lot of ifs at the moment. Hopefully we will get a better idea when practice games start.

My days of pre season ladder predictions, season expectations and player picks have been exhausted the last few years.

Now I get excited about going down and watching the footy, pay me money, scream me lungs out, give opposition supporters heaps of shit, have few froffies and have a bit of banter with the boys.

Anything else and for me with this club and I would be in a bloody loony bin!

Beasley Hutton wrote:

Mr AFL wrote: I'm exited about the fact that football is just around the corner.

Also I believe I was fair and reasonable in my explanations towards 30plus and Smokey regarding player positions and what I think might happen and will freely admit that the squad has deficiencies.

I'm sure there are players at your respective clubs that you are hoping to take the next step.

Looking at 2013 from a stats perspective we won 10 games for the year, the most since 2003 and for 75% of the season we were in the top four.

Yes we fell away badly in the second half of the year and our game plan became a bit stale and predictable and more often than not we looked to Stacky and Bevo going forward.

At the start of last season heaps of people wrote us off and said we would do nothing. Yes not playing finals AGAIN was a big disappointment considering our good start to the season and the fact we were in the top four for majority of the season.

However I chose to have a little optimism about 2014 and maybe a player or two may surprise, a ball or umpiring decision goes your way in the final minutes of a game etc... and of course we win more games than we lose. And after that is all said and done that is why we rock up week after week to watch our respective teams play.

I think you may mean you are EXCITED (looking forward to) not EXITED (as in left the building) mate!!

Arghhhh crap. Well done boys didn't even realise haha. Bloody Autocorrect

Has anyone got some news on potential recruits Borrett and Hunt??? Are they both still training with the club?

Any news on these two or any other recruits?

Mr AFL wrote: Any news on these two or any other recruits?

Report out today from the club. Among the confirmed recruits were:

Cale and Mitch Morton
Gerald Ugle (returns)
Chris Billings (Returns)
Blake Borrett (ex EP)
Rowan Brookes (ex EP)
Sean Lynch (ex SF)
Tim Hunt (ex Warrnambool)
Scott Moore (Returns)
Ben Power (Returns)
Matt White (ex GWS rookie)

Interesting in is Ben Power. I do recall that he was at the club a year or two ago and was a very big lad who looked like he could play.

Sadly, Teddy and Ali are taking a year off but Julian Jacobs is still a chance, work permitting, to lineup again.

Happy to pick up Borrett, adds to the tall kids we have.
Also picked up Chris Franklin from EP & country.