Pre-season 2014/2015

[aussierulesrules]

I see Josh as pretty much a clone of Jack Steven in terms of the roles he is best suited to (although I see Jack as more dangerous forward). Like Jack, he is a terrier in the packs (either fighting for the ball at the bottom of the pack, or tackling, chasing and pressuring, if he doesn't have the ball) while having the breakaway speed to be able to burst free from a pack if he finds an opening, or else be able to break the lines on the outside with his speed and run.

The 20 possies he had in half a game when subbed on and played midfield in one game last season showed us all what he is capable of when playing in what I imagine is definitely his preferred position.

 

[Defacto]

I see Josh as pretty much a clone of Jack Steven in terms of the roles he is best suited to (although I see Jack as more dangerous forward). Like Jack, he is a terrier in the packs (either fighting for the ball at the bottom of the pack, or tackling, chasing and pressuring, if he doesn't have the ball) while having the breakaway speed to be able to burst free from a pack if he finds an opening, or else be able to break the lines on the outside with his speed and run.

The 20 possies he had in half a game when subbed on and played midfield in one game last season showed us all what he is capable of when playing in what I imagine is definitely his preferred position.

great post mate. couldnt agree more

i think after he gets his body right and his confidence builds we will see some of that line breaking that was in his draft highlights

 

[aussierulesrules]

Josh can win a fair bit of the contested ball at times, and that's what makes me think he may well be able to make it as a mid.

Just further on that, almost half of his possies last season were listed as contested (63 contested, 70 uncontested), with 10 of his 20 in that game I was talking about against Adelaide listed as contested (along with 4 clearances) and 9 of his 11 against Hawthorn listed as contested (plus 3 clearances), which is why I see his best position going forward as almost certainly as the traditional "rover".

I think he'll be a lot more effective in that role than he is up forward and he is probably my tip at this stage as the one likely to improve the most this season, because I expect he will have added some of the strength that Richo and co. were after and he's clearly got the the necessary tank to play on ball, so I see him as one who is a very good chance to help fill the void left by Lenny and CJ retiring.

We didn't really draft or trade for anyone who is likely to be able to just step into the midfield and do well there, like we did with Dunstan last year, so we're going to have to find them from within, and I see Josh as being as ready to step up as any of that young group who haven't really played much if any midfield before (eg. himself, Billings, Wright, Minchington).

Tommy Curren probably another one who might also improve significantly this year, if he is freed of his previous tagging duties and allowed to just mostly go after the ball, as he was in his debut year (when he had 20-26 possies in each of our last 4 games that year, which was nothing to sneeze at). They might be almost fighting for the one spot, actually, as they are pretty similar types and with neither of them being much chop with their kicking, we might only want to play one of them in the team at the one time, ideally.

 

[gilbert the best]

with all the new additions to the coaching etc, hope someone amongst them have some skills to pass on to improve the saints general kicking.

 

[Big Mart]

Both Webster and Wright are well behind a few others for Mid time.

It's interesting

Even Saunders, Minchington, Markworth, Curren even Murdoch play as mids at Sandy

Wright and Webster have played all of their footy there down back

I would think if the have mid attributes... They'd have played midfield

Considering they are better players than the ones I mentioned

The midfield isn't the be all and end all... And not every player must play there

Ala Grant Birchall

 

[ike2112]

From memory, Richo or someone in the coaching staff said that we were basically waiting for Josh to build up his size and strength enough for him to be able to play midfield more often. As noted, his tank was already very good and now looks to be even better. The sooner he gets out of the forward line and into the midfield the better.

I remember learning this too - Think it was a comment in the review of guys who played at Sandy? Something about how he'd been given the chance to play midfield in vfl rather than forward, but the staff feel he doesn't current have the body thickness to play mid at AFL.

Saunders is already an excellent running, line-breaking midfielder.
His contested stats were a little misleading though. Rather than it being a standing-start contesting a straight opponent for the ball, it tended to be him already on the move and swooping in to scoop the ball. He seems pretty fearless when he does that too.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Wright and Webster have played all of their footy there down back

I would think if the have mid attributes... They'd have played midfield

Well it's not just us suggesting Wright moving into the midfield, Pelchen or someone like that said a few months ago that we plan on Wright moving into the midfield down the track and is there anything at all about his game and attributes that suggests that Jimmy couldn't play wing very effectively? He has the tank, the speed, the elite agility, he goes in hard, seems to read the play well, has excellent disposal (both by hand and foot) and now has a good defensive grounding, so I see no reason whatsoever why he couldn't play wing very well indeed.

The midfield isn't the be all and end all... And not every player must play there

No s**t, but when you already currently have Fisher, Delaney, Dempster, Roberton, Gilbert, Geary and Savage (that's a back 6 already, with one extra) and you're then trying to find spots for others who are clearly talented enough to be playing AFL footy (especially in a rebuilding/developing team), like Newnes, Webster, Wright, Acres and now McKenzie (plus other options like Shenton, Murdoch and Siposs), don't you think that it might be worth finding out whether some of them have the capabilities to play midfield, rather than having them simply making Sandringham's backline ridiculously talented?

I mean really, if we had our full strength backline on the park, something like this;

B: Gilbert/Roberton Delaney Geary
HB: Dempster Fisher Savage

would you really want us to have the likes of Webster, Wright and McKenzie playing in the backline at Sandy, when we could be finding out if they can play midfield instead?

If they then don't show anything in the midfield, that's fine, they can just go back to playing in defence and maybe they'll have learned a trick or two in the meantime and have increased their tanks, but if they do succeed there it may mean that we don't have to make as many trades that we don't really want to make, because we've already got a lot of the midfield talent that we might have previously thought we were lacking and it may help us to climb the ladder sooner and get memberships rising well again, more sponsorships coming in again sooner and so-on.

Not saying we need to move everyone from the backline or forward line to the midfield, but I do certainly hope we start to have much more of a look at some of them in the midfield to see what they've got.

 

[Rors]

Given where we are on the ladder, ie: last & cannot get any lower than that, wouldn't it be wise to rotate the lot of our young blokes through the middle to see what they can do & whether they can cut it in there? Webster, Minchington & Newnes are entering their 4th season & should be ready, physically, to have short stints in the centre or wing a lot more often. Wright, Saunders & Murdoch, their 3rd, should also be given a run through there as well.

There is a huge chance that Jack Steven may bail on us via free agency at the end of this season, and given our position on the ladder, I can't really see many FA superstars queueing up to join us while we're so far down the bottom. High-Profile Free agents want to play finals & win flags, they won't come to us regardless of the cash we throw at them unless we show significant improvement this year & nexts. IMO Jack Steven will leave & we WON'T jag a high-profile free agent at the end of this season. It's a scary thought, so therefore it's mandatory that we give these kids like Newnes, Wright, Webster, Saunders, Murdoch & Minchington stints through the middle to further develop their games.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Pretty much all that.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Have been watching some of the replays of our early season games from last year from before we got most of the injuries which derailed our season and we were really bloody competitive in all those games, bar the Adelaide one and while watching us leading West Coast, over in Perth (at the time when they were on top of the ladder, with a huge percentage), I was thinking that there really shouldn't be any reason why we couldn't be at least as good at times this year as well, so long as we don't get crunched by injuries again.

In that game, West Coast got out to an early lead of 27 to 12, but then by mid-way through the 3rd quarter we had piled on a bunch of goals and led by 12 points and then Eli had a golden opportunity to put us out to an 18 point lead, when he had a shot from about 12m out, but inexplicably missed it (it looked like he deliberately kicked it through the points, so maybe he got the posts confused?). Had he kicked that we would have had all the momentum and may have gone on with it and won the game, but he missed, they took it straight down the other end and kicked a goal and followed it up with a few more in quick succession, and the whole momentum of the game changed and of course we had our best win of the year a couple of weeks later, against Essendon, in spite of them getting out to an early 3 goal to none lead. So we were playing some genuinely good footy.

From that game against West Coast, when we were super-competitive (and they were on top of the ladder, with a huge percentage) we've lost Hayes, Gwilt, Stanley, Jones and Maister, yet we were also missing Steven, Fisher, Schneider and Billings, amongst others, while Gilbo went down with a recurrence of his foot injury in the first half and was subbed off, Savage was in his very ordinary (non backline) early season form and Dunstan and Templeton were playing just their 3rd AFL games.

So if you look at who we need to replace from that team, and who we have to replace them with, there really ought to be no reason why we couldn't be a better team at times this year than we were even when we were playing very decent footy last year:

Who we need to replace - Options we have to replace them with, who didn't play that day:

Hayes - Steven/Ross. (Steven break-even, Ross not so much)
Gwilt - Fisher/Roberton/Bruce/Goddard/Shenton/Acres. (Fisher an upgrade, Roberton and Bruce much of a muchness, maybe Shenton, too)
Stanley - Bruce/Lee/White/Longer. (While none of the first 3 will match Rhys in the ruck, they potentially all could up forward, especially combined)
Jones - Weller (tagging)/Billings/Schneider/Saad/Minch. (Weller is now a break-even, the next 3 all potentially more damaging/better, especially forward)
Maister - Bruce/Lee/White/Membrey/Markworth/McCartin. (Any of them could potentially give us what Beau was around that time, or more)
Forwardline/midfield version of Savage - Backline version of Savage. (Savage was about 10 times better once moved back!)

Those that played in that game that ought to be much better for another year of games and/or experience and another preseason under their belts: Dunstan, Templeton, Webster, Wright, Saunders, Hickey, Newnes, Curren, maybe even Savage.

Those that might be expected to drop off this year, due to age or whatever: ? Maybe Roo, although knowing him, I wouldn't bet on it. With Dempster and Joey both recently doing time trial PB's, I won't be betting on either of them dropping off considerably this year either, especially Joey, who it's fair to say was playing injured from about R8 onwards last season.

So when you look at the list of those who we will definitely be without this year who played in that game against West Coast, when we were playing really good footy, but just looked to run out of gas on a hot day, and how those we have to replace them with are generally as good, if not better and there are also generally so many other decent options to replace them with, I really don't see why can't play just as well as we were early last year, if not better, as long as aren't getting crunched by injuries again.

None of the following 18 played that night: Steven, Fisher, Billings, Schneider, Weller, Ross, Roberton, Acres, Saad, Lee, Longer, Bruce, Membrey, White, Murdoch, Markworth, McCartin, McKenzie.

Another thing in our favour of course is that with 30 on our lists who are currently under 24yo, we are as likely as just about any club to have improved fitness across the board, due to us having what is meant to be the hardest preseason of recent years, which ought to do wonders for the fitness of those in their 2nd-4th years at the club in particular.

Last year the likes of Billings, Dunstan, Templeton and Acres would have been on modified preseason programs, due it being their first preseason, but this year they probably won't know what's hit them, ditto the likes of Spencer White, who has also not done a full preseason prior to this year. Yes, I realise that thanks to Burgess and Port Adelaide every club in the league is probably doing a harder preseason than they've possibly ever done before, but with such a young list, we are probably likely to notice the difference more than most.

Not saying that we're likely to be in finals contention or anything like that, but I can see genuine cause for optimism that we have the potential to have a better season than we had last year and that if we start with pretty much a full list, we can play even better footy early than we were early last year (when we won 3 of our first 6 games and were super-competitive in two of the other 3).

 

[sonnywalters]

great positive post aussierulesrules. The only person i wouldnt be counting on in 2015 is schneids. i see him as an asst coach pretty much. i doubt he will play a game unless we get injuries to a few of saad, templeton, billings, lonie, minch.

You inspired me to have a look at that game



Some of the clangers! dear oh dear. frustrating.
One observation is we make them look fast - whereas they are genuinely considered one of the slowest sides in the AFL.

 

[aussierulesrules]

We ran out of puff from about half way through the 3rd quarter, but prior to that we had more scoring shots than them very early in the game, but were very innacurate and that allowed them to get out to a 27 to 12 lead, but then we tidied up our accuracy after that and as I said, piled on the goals until about half way through the 3rd, when we got out to a 12 point lead (in a low scoring game) and then could have so easily gotten out to an 18 point lead with all the momentum, so we were more than competitive for a big chunk of the game (it was still just a goal in it early in the last) and were probably even better a couple of weeks later, when we beat Essendon, after they kicked the first 3 goals, and we had chance after chance to beat Brisbane the week after that, in spite of Roo aggravating his knee early in that game and having little influence afterwards.

Another thing that on its own could make us considerably better this year would be if we cut out those atrocious first quarters that we rolled out week after week last year. It was like giving the other team a 5 goal head-start before the game even began!

As for Schneids, I really don't want to guess what he will bring to the table this year. I don't see him as too old to play good footy again, so I think it will come down to how fit he is and whether he has an injury-free run. He apparently had a really good preseason last year, but then got an injury at an inopportune time, so if he has a full preseason again and doesn't get any significant injuries this time around, then I don't see why he won't still be capable of playing high quality footy, especially as he'll know every game could be his last.

 

[Big Mart]

Schneider is a rookie

He will play if a senior play middle/fwd is injured long term

 

[dewah07]

Schneider is a rookie

He will play if a senior play middle/fwd is injured long term

I seriously just think he's their for schneiderman

 

[Nutsngum]

and of course we had our best win of the year a couple of weeks later, against Essendon, in spite of them getting out to an early 3 goal to none lead. So we were playing some genuinely good footy.

Nice post but you have an odd way of spelling "Freo"

 

[aussierulesrules]

Oops, haha, yeah I forgot about that one, I guess it's just because they are our bunnies!

 

[CursingFijian]

Is McCartin on a modified program? It just seems like Goddard is having a red hot crack at competing for a first round position while Paddy seems to be managed a lot more. Wondering if anyone knows why. Or just put me in my place and tell me I'm dreaming!

 

[aussierulesrules]

I would suspect that Hugh is fitter than Paddy at this point in time, so if he is doing greater loads at training that may be the reason why, being more ready for it. Haven't heard if he is doing more than him though.

 

[Mindtraveller]

Is McCartin on a modified program? It just seems like Goddard is having a red hot crack at competing for a first round position while Paddy seems to be managed a lot more. Wondering if anyone knows why. Or just put me in my place and tell me I'm dreaming!

Could be to manage his diabetes with increased workload. I would assume an AFL preseason is more than anything he has done before. Did he have any niggles?

 

[gringo2011]

Just further on that, almost half of his possies last season were listed as contested (63 contested, 70 uncontested), with 10 of his 20 in that game I was talking about against Adelaide listed as contested (along with 4 clearances) and 9 of his 11 against Hawthorn listed as contested (plus 3 clearances), which is why I see his best position going forward as almost certainly as the traditional "rover".

I think he'll be a lot more effective in that role than he is up forward and he is probably my tip at this stage as the one likely to improve the most this season, because I expect he will have added some of the strength that Richo and co. were after and he's clearly got the the necessary tank to play on ball, so I see him as one who is a very good chance to help fill the void left by Lenny and CJ retiring.

We didn't really draft or trade for anyone who is likely to be able to just step into the midfield and do well there, like we did with Dunstan last year, so we're going to have to find them from within, and I see Josh as being as ready to step up as any of that young group who haven't really played much if any midfield before (eg. himself, Billings, Wright, Minchington).

Tommy Curren probably another one who might also improve significantly this year, if he is freed of his previous tagging duties and allowed to just mostly go after the ball, as he was in his debut year (when he had 20-26 possies in each of our last 4 games that year, which was nothing to sneeze at). They might be almost fighting for the one spot, actually, as they are pretty similar types and with neither of them being much chop with their kicking, we might only want to play one of them in the team at the one time, ideally.

The defensive forward and tagging roles certainly restrict a players personal output. Clint Jones looked like he was going to get leather poisoning in round one when a few regulars were missing and he had to move into the midfield. I remember watching the highlight reel of Josh Saunders and thinking he was a guy who watched a heap of Joel Selwood growing up. He had that ability to take the ball at speed and extract it with his momentum. To me he's an exciting prospect with his pace and clean hands. Ross for me is the most likely to really explode this season. His numbers keep going up every year and most games that he was given decent time on the ground netted around 20 possessions with a 28 possession game against Geelong. Lenny Hayes mentioned him as the player he didn't want to keep out of a spot and along with Armo you imagine those two are the most likely to be the centre square extractors in the absence of Lenny.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

Could be to manage his diabetes with increased workload. I would assume an AFL preseason is more than anything he has done before. Did he have any niggles?

Diabetes/increased workload wont make a difference to Paddy.
If he increases his workload he just adjusts the supply of insulin . He'd be on two different types that he would inject a few times each day. A long lasting insulin to remain in his system and a fast acting one he has to inject before each meal. So game days & training days would be different levels than a day he has no footy.
Hes been doing this for 10 yrs. He would totally know what he is doing.

 

[By a Point]

than

Have been watching some of the replays of our early season games from last year from before we got most of the injuries which derailed our season and we were really bloody competitive in all those games, bar the Adelaide one and while watching us leading West Coast, over in Perth (at the time when they were on top of the ladder, with a huge percentage), I was thinking that there really shouldn't be any reason why we couldn't be at least as good at times this year as well, so long as we don't get crunched by injuries again.

In that game, West Coast got out to an early lead of 27 to 12, but then by mid-way through the 3rd quarter we had piled on a bunch of goals and led by 12 points and then Eli had a golden opportunity to put us out to an 18 point lead, when he had a shot from about 12m out, but inexplicably missed it (it looked like he deliberately kicked it through the points, so maybe he got the posts confused?). Had he kicked that we would have had all the momentum and may have gone on with it and won the game, but he missed, they took it straight down the other end and kicked a goal and followed it up with a few more in quick succession, and the whole momentum of the game changed and of course we had our best win of the year a couple of weeks later, against Essendon, in spite of them getting out to an early 3 goal to none lead. So we were playing some genuinely good footy.

From that game against West Coast, when we were super-competitive (and they were on top of the ladder, with a huge percentage) we've lost Hayes, Gwilt, Stanley, Jones and Maister, yet we were also missing Steven, Fisher, Schneider and Billings, amongst others, while Gilbo went down with a recurrence of his foot injury in the first half and was subbed off, Savage was in his very ordinary (non backline) early season form and Dunstan and Templeton were playing just their 3rd AFL games.

So if you look at who we need to replace from that team, and who we have to replace them with, there really ought to be no reason why we couldn't be a better team at times this year than we were even when we were playing very decent footy last year:

Who we need to replace - Options we have to replace them with, who didn't play that day:

Hayes - Steven/Ross. (Steven break-even, Ross not so much)
Gwilt - Fisher/Roberton/Bruce/Goddard/Shenton/Acres. (Fisher an upgrade, Roberton and Bruce much of a muchness, maybe Shenton, too)
Stanley - Bruce/Lee/White/Longer. (While none of the first 3 will match Rhys in the ruck, they potentially all could up forward, especially combined)
Jones - Weller (tagging)/Billings/Schneider/Saad/Minch. (Weller is now a break-even, the next 3 all potentially more damaging/better, especially forward)
Maister - Bruce/Lee/White/Membrey/Markworth/McCartin. (Any of them could potentially give us what Beau was around that time, or more)
Forwardline/midfield version of Savage - Backline version of Savage. (Savage was about 10 times better once moved back!)

Those that played in that game that ought to be much better for another year of games and/or experience and another preseason under their belts: Dunstan, Templeton, Webster, Wright, Saunders, Hickey, Newnes, Curren, maybe even Savage.

Those that might be expected to drop off this year, due to age or whatever: ? Maybe Roo, although knowing him, I wouldn't bet on it. With Dempster and Joey both recently doing time trial PB's, I won't be betting on either of them dropping off considerably this year either, especially Joey, who it's fair to say was playing injured from about R8 onwards last season.

So when you look at the list of those who we will definitely be without this year who played in that game against West Coast, when we were playing really good footy, but just looked to run out of gas on a hot day, and how those we have to replace them with are generally as good, if not better and there are also generally so many other decent options to replace them with, I really don't see why can't play just as well as we were early last year, if not better, as long as aren't getting crunched by injuries again.

None of the following 18 played that night: Steven, Fisher, Billings, Schneider, Weller, Ross, Roberton, Acres, Saad, Lee, Longer, Bruce, Membrey, White, Murdoch, Markworth, McCartin, McKenzie.

Another thing in our favour of course is that with 30 on our lists who are currently under 24yo, we are as likely as just about any club to have improved fitness across the board, due to us having what is meant to be the hardest preseason of recent years, which ought to do wonders for the fitness of those in their 2nd-4th years at the club in particular.

Last year the likes of Billings, Dunstan, Templeton and Acres would have been on modified preseason programs, due it being their first preseason, but this year they probably won't know what's hit them, ditto the likes of Spencer White, who has also not done a full preseason prior to this year. Yes, I realise that thanks to Burgess and Port Adelaide every club in the league is probably doing a harder preseason than they've possibly ever done before, but with such a young list, we are probably likely to notice the difference more than most.

Not saying that we're likely to be in finals contention or anything like that, but I can see genuine cause for optimism that we have the potential to have a better season than we had last year and that if we start with pretty much a full list, we can play even better footy early than we were early last year (when we won 3 of our first 6 games and were super-competitive in two of the other 3).

Thanks AussieRules. This was a really insightful post and I agree there is some cause for belief of a better result. This will involve some closer results against better teams and we will take advantage of any inconsistency. We should a be a real contender in our group from 15-18 from last year.

 

[Persevering Saint]

great positive post aussierulesrules. The only person i wouldnt be counting on in 2015 is schneids. i see him as an asst coach pretty much. i doubt he will play a game unless we get injuries to a few of saad, templeton, billings, lonie, minch.

You inspired me to have a look at that game



Some of the clangers! dear oh dear. frustrating.
One observation is we make them look fast - whereas they are genuinely considered one of the slowest sides in the AFL.

Just had a look at the first half highlights for that game, by the same Youtuber - it's worth noting that he's a one-eyed Eagle, and so completely ignored any positives for us as a team. Not one goal. That's no slight on him - he's looking at what's relevant for his audience. But it's a poor way to analyse our team's performance.

 

[Smoke_Me_AKipper]

Have been watching some of the replays of our early season games from last year from before we got most of the injuries which derailed our season and we were really bloody competitive in all those games, bar the Adelaide one and while watching us leading West Coast, over in Perth (at the time when they were on top of the ladder, with a huge percentage), I was thinking that there really shouldn't be any reason why we couldn't be at least as good at times this year as well, so long as we don't get crunched by injuries again.

In that game, West Coast got out to an early lead of 27 to 12, but then by mid-way through the 3rd quarter we had piled on a bunch of goals and led by 12 points and then Eli had a golden opportunity to put us out to an 18 point lead, when he had a shot from about 12m out, but inexplicably missed it (it looked like he deliberately kicked it through the points, so maybe he got the posts confused?). Had he kicked that we would have had all the momentum and may have gone on with it and won the game, but he missed, they took it straight down the other end and kicked a goal and followed it up with a few more in quick succession, and the whole momentum of the game changed and of course we had our best win of the year a couple of weeks later, against Essendon, in spite of them getting out to an early 3 goal to none lead. So we were playing some genuinely good footy.

From that game against West Coast, when we were super-competitive (and they were on top of the ladder, with a huge percentage) we've lost Hayes, Gwilt, Stanley, Jones and Maister, yet we were also missing Steven, Fisher, Schneider and Billings, amongst others, while Gilbo went down with a recurrence of his foot injury in the first half and was subbed off, Savage was in his very ordinary (non backline) early season form and Dunstan and Templeton were playing just their 3rd AFL games.

So if you look at who we need to replace from that team, and who we have to replace them with, there really ought to be no reason why we couldn't be a better team at times this year than we were even when we were playing very decent footy last year:

Who we need to replace - Options we have to replace them with, who didn't play that day:

Hayes - Steven/Ross. (Steven break-even, Ross not so much)
Gwilt - Fisher/Roberton/Bruce/Goddard/Shenton/Acres. (Fisher an upgrade, Roberton and Bruce much of a muchness, maybe Shenton, too)
Stanley - Bruce/Lee/White/Longer. (While none of the first 3 will match Rhys in the ruck, they potentially all could up forward, especially combined)
Jones - Weller (tagging)/Billings/Schneider/Saad/Minch. (Weller is now a break-even, the next 3 all potentially more damaging/better, especially forward)
Maister - Bruce/Lee/White/Membrey/Markworth/McCartin. (Any of them could potentially give us what Beau was around that time, or more)
Forwardline/midfield version of Savage - Backline version of Savage. (Savage was about 10 times better once moved back!)

Those that played in that game that ought to be much better for another year of games and/or experience and another preseason under their belts: Dunstan, Templeton, Webster, Wright, Saunders, Hickey, Newnes, Curren, maybe even Savage.

Those that might be expected to drop off this year, due to age or whatever: ? Maybe Roo, although knowing him, I wouldn't bet on it. With Dempster and Joey both recently doing time trial PB's, I won't be betting on either of them dropping off considerably this year either, especially Joey, who it's fair to say was playing injured from about R8 onwards last season.

So when you look at the list of those who we will definitely be without this year who played in that game against West Coast, when we were playing really good footy, but just looked to run out of gas on a hot day, and how those we have to replace them with are generally as good, if not better and there are also generally so many other decent options to replace them with, I really don't see why can't play just as well as we were early last year, if not better, as long as aren't getting crunched by injuries again.

None of the following 18 played that night: Steven, Fisher, Billings, Schneider, Weller, Ross, Roberton, Acres, Saad, Lee, Longer, Bruce, Membrey, White, Murdoch, Markworth, McCartin, McKenzie.

Another thing in our favour of course is that with 30 on our lists who are currently under 24yo, we are as likely as just about any club to have improved fitness across the board, due to us having what is meant to be the hardest preseason of recent years, which ought to do wonders for the fitness of those in their 2nd-4th years at the club in particular.

Last year the likes of Billings, Dunstan, Templeton and Acres would have been on modified preseason programs, due it being their first preseason, but this year they probably won't know what's hit them, ditto the likes of Spencer White, who has also not done a full preseason prior to this year. Yes, I realise that thanks to Burgess and Port Adelaide every club in the league is probably doing a harder preseason than they've possibly ever done before, but with such a young list, we are probably likely to notice the difference more than most.

Not saying that we're likely to be in finals contention or anything like that, but I can see genuine cause for optimism that we have the potential to have a better season than we had last year and that if we start with pretty much a full list, we can play even better footy early than we were early last year (when we won 3 of our first 6 games and were super-competitive in two of the other 3).

Nice post mate.

I think we'll be so much more competitive this season and fitter. That is the main thing I've been hearing is how much fitter the boys are, running PB's etc.

Will we move up the ladder? Not sure. Will we win more games than last season? Not sure. Will we be more competitive in games compared to last season? Hell yeah!!

I still think we'll be bottom three however we will be so much more in the game for much longer. Depending on injuries of course but there will be no blowouts like last season. I don't think there will be those 10 goal plus losses after 10 goal plus losses...

The big problem will be who is going to play when most are fit? Will we start to see more of a game plan this year with the guys being that much fitter?

 

[SK_MD_#7]

Nice post mate.

I think we'll be so much more competitive this season and fitter. That is the main thing I've been hearing is how much fitter the boys are, running PB's etc.

Will we move up the ladder? Not sure. Will we win more games than last season? Not sure. Will we be more competitive in games compared to last season? Hell yeah!!

I still think we'll be bottom three however we will be so much more in the game for much longer. Depending on injuries of course but there will be no blowouts like last season. I don't think there will be those 10 goal plus losses after 10 goal plus losses...

The big problem will be who is going to play when most are fit? Will we start to see more of a game plan this year with the guys being that much fitter?

Smoke

I think it is time you get into the ear of Stevens manager and get some goss!