Game Day Cats V Blues 8 quarter Preseason Blockbuster.

[Kobe Gryant]

Let's say we play a couple of finals this season.

10 games to Conway and 15 to Stanley sounds about right. This manages Stanley's workload and gets us quality (which he still has) over quantity. And sure if any injuries pop up maybe Conway gets a few more games. But I wouldn't be signing him up for 25 games and Stanley sitting on standby, at all.

Conway's ready to start stepping in but not required to take over unless Stanley is seriously bad.

To be clear, I wasn't suggesting Toby playing the full season.

Just throwing him in early and seeing how we shape up, as we know that we tend to experiment a bit for the first couple months of the year.

I agree that we'll likely be playing finals, and I wouldn't want either Stanley or Conway playing more than 15 games this year.

There's a large contingent in that group. Tomahawk, Danger, & Duncan in particular need to be managed to be cherry ripe when it matters.

Stewart & Cameron can probably hold up, and Blitz is an unknown because he's such an endurance freak, but maybe him too.

 

[hoopla]

 

[CHAWKTS]

Are we expecting big T-Rex Conway to get the nod over Stanley round 1?

The only knock on him is his endurance at this stage, he'd have Rhys covered in just about every other aspect.

Feels like we've got the perfect foil for him in that respect with Blitz too. Can't hurt having one of the best runners in the league to help him out when needed.

Plus, Tomahawk will be taking a lot of the F50 stoppages, and SDK might even be doing some in the D50.

Feels like it's all setup for Conway to play now. His only flaws can be covered well by others.

I thought stark difference when he was in the ruck as opposed to Stanley. Not a knock on Stanly but Conway is just better! But as you say I don’t think he can pull off number 1 ruck yet over multiple games…so I reckon we just spend the year giving them both opportunities and see who is in best team by the end…Conway is going to be very good

 

[Pure_Ownage]

dempsey...get ready for round 1

And mannagh.

 

[CHAWKTS]

MOC was a fringe player I was happy not to get a game but assumed that they might still play him.

After today I’m still far from convinced he is B22.

Same with Touhy… He just doesn’t look anywhere near the same anymore.

Although I do understand it’s preseason and experienced players may just cruise through this kinda game.

Personally I think the guys on the fringe need to put there best foot forward as they don’t have the wiggle room to look average.

Duncan wasn’t great but has enough credits in the bank for mine.

MOC doesn’t.

Bowes looked much more effective to
My eyes… but MOC still might cling on as Knevitt didn’t go great and I doubt they’ll play both Dempsey + Mannagh (who both looked plenty good enough).

Mullin playing more than Bews indicates to me they might prefer Mullin… although I’m not sure either should be playing… but if not at least one of Touhy/MOC will.

Ahh I need to see another game now.

Bring on Essendon.

Reading that was like a Mackie press conference!!

But I get it…today left me with more questions than answers. Next week I think we learn a lot more - AT HOME!

 

[Lingsface]

Are we expecting big T-Rex Conway to get the nod over Stanley round 1?

The only knock on him is his endurance at this stage, he'd have Rhys covered in just about every other aspect.

Feels like we've got the perfect foil for him in that respect with Blitz too. Can't hurt having one of the best runners in the league to help him out when needed.

Plus, Tomahawk will be taking a lot of the F50 stoppages, and SDK might even be doing some in the D50.

Feels like it's all setup for Conway to play now. His only flaws can be covered well by others.

I agree with this good bye Rhys.

 

[Lingsface]

Look forward to Edwards and Conway being very good ruckman for us in the future, it’s been a while since we had that luxury.

 

[moond0g]

Are we expecting big T-Rex Conway to get the nod over Stanley round 1?

The only knock on him is his endurance at this stage, he'd have Rhys covered in just about every other aspect.

Feels like we've got the perfect foil for him in that respect with Blitz too. Can't hurt having one of the best runners in the league to help him out when needed.

Plus, Tomahawk will be taking a lot of the F50 stoppages, and SDK might even be doing some in the D50.

Feels like it's all setup for Conway to play now. His only flaws can be covered well by others.

I think they'll lean toward Stanley still, but I can see the rationale if Stanley is only considered a role player and they think Conway can be more than that.

But for all the great signs that Conway shows, he still doesn't actually get much of the ball (which is fine given his age/stage of development).

I'm not really concerned who plays round 1 though tbh. I imagine they'll definitely both get a run throughout the year at some stage either way, so I'm more interested in whether Conway grabs his chance and is in our team rounds 20-23 rather than round 1.

 

[Turbocat]

Looked on afl.com.au and apparently Guthrie has already been injured?!?!?! Wtf happened?

Literally 30 seconds into the first quarter...... leg injury

 

[D BRIDGE]

I reckon Conway would get destroyed by Rowan Marshall

19

Rowan Marshall

Age

28

Ht

201cm

Wt

105kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.4

4star

K

8.8

3star

HB

6.6

4star

CL

3.4

5star

HO

20.2

5star

D

12.9

3star

K

9.3

4star

HB

3.6

2star

CL

2.8

4star

HO

17.8

5star

D

10.6

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

4.8

4star

CL

1.0

3star

HO

7.8

5star

if he played R1… but so will Stanley.

That’s really no slight in either guy though… whoever plays will likely get out powered by the very very strong Marshall.

I’d let Stanley take that lick for sure.

He is far more experienced at being beaten in the ruck.

 

[dangerwood]

I thought stark difference when he was in the ruck as opposed to Stanley. Not a knock on Stanly but Conway is just better! But as you say I don’t think he can pull off number 1 ruck yet over multiple games…so I reckon we just spend the year giving them both opportunities and see who is in best team by the end…Conway is going to be very good

Yeah Conway rucked better.

 

[Vivy]

Unfortunate we didn't get the video of the VFL quarters.

Would like to have seen the young players and those on the fringes

 

[CHAWKTS]

And mannagh.

I love that when you love you go fully in! Tanner and now Mannagh (ahhh. Maybe they need to rhrym). Love it

i agree that mannagh did all he could in the 2nd half. He is afl ready

issue I think is they can’t have both of him and Dempsey in same forward line with Miers close and Stengle….and then there is Neale who also showed what he can do today.

we will get a proper read with the squad next week. I think 6 on the bench

 

[Turbocat]

Like to see the second group of the trial to see some of the other players...

Id say guys the size of Conway ..are probably not going to produce their best in Feb when its 38degrees...He seems our version of Darcy ..and come the cool climbs of winter ..he will be a great options for us if he is fit. More than anything id say he just needs game time...to play and play and build his experience ..meanwhile ensurig that he does stress that huge frame. History also says its rare for Stanley to play week in week out ...Considering RS's age if they play 10-15 games each then we probably are on the right track


Really I cant see how anyone would be definitive about any player on today. COS for xample..looked a bit tenative a times but then did a couple of nice things. First run around in the 14 ..odds are what ever he does next time will be better ...but like SamDek.. we probably needs a year seasoning to play a key role down back. Probably plays some games and then we see how he goes but would it surprse anyone if we prefer more mature bodies.

Id say Demp showed a bit of what we have seen before in the VFL, Mannagh showed that he may be able to make time and space for himself ..if he can link up to a forward he will be very handy... but he probably will be ina group of players pushing hard for a chance.

I wonder if we try to play Neale and then use Jez more around the ball. He is as creative as anyone we have.

 

[calder_daddy]

Unfortunate we didn't get the video of the VFL quarters.

Would like to have seen the young players and those on the fringes

No idea what happened but our social media team posted this, couldn’t find a thing

 

[CatToTheFuture]

About Conway, he competes well at a stoppage and throws his body around. But can’t recall him actually getting many/any touches around the ground. He’s young, so not worried. But I don’t think he is replacing Stanley for round 1 at the moment.

Don't think he was ever going to

 

[BORIS332]

Look forward to Edwards and Conway being very good ruckman for us in the future, it’s been a while since we had that luxury.

Reckon Edwards will surpass Conway at some stage too. His junior hit out numbers were crazy.

 

[winty]

View attachment 1910694

Love Jezza's reaction!

 

[D BRIDGE]

Did anyone watch the second match?

Does anyone actually know where or if it can be watched?

 

[Vdubs]

No reports on Guthrie’s torn quad?
Hope it’s not a 12 weeker.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Up to 3 quarter time on kayo and I think I've had quite enough of Holmes in the backline.

 

[D BRIDGE]

Up to 3 quarter time on kayo and I think I've had quite enough of Holmes in the backline.

Yep, I mentioned it earlier.

Dude needs to be in the middle (or wing).

He doesn’t have the kicking skills to be exiting it out of the backline by foot.

The experiment should already have a permanent marker line through it imo.

He actually makes a noticeable difference once he moves into the middle.

 

[calder_daddy]

From what I’ve watched
Half way through half time I can just see why Jhye Clarkeeeee has so much love
Kid is talented

 

[numbwombat]

No reports on Guthrie’s torn quad?
Hope it’s not a 12 weeker.

Cats twitter posted that it was just precautionary (very ssoon after, so unsure of reliability):

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Yep, I mentioned it earlier.

Dude needs to be in the middle (or wing).

He doesn’t have the kicking skills to be exiting it out of the backline by foot.

The experiment should already have a permanent marker line through it imo.

He actually makes a noticeable difference once he moves into the middle.

Yeah exactly that on the last one. I feel like we were battling to get space and his first few steps were just either breaking lines for him or else drawing players and making space for others and making others better. We just visibly found more space at stoppage with him there.