Training To hell and back but we never actually left hell (Preseason thread)

[Gysberts2Bate]

tbf if we had a forward who could beat up on sh*t we may have pinched one of the Sydney & Freo games and played finals

Of course that is if we were getting the 2018 version and not the 2020 version

This is actually a pretty good point, a major part of the reason we made finals that year was because we were able to consistently beat the sides below us (except St Kilda), and Hogan was part of that. Helped that we doubled up against four sides out of the top 8.

Wasn’t going to help us against the better sides though so it’s much of a muchness. We actually ran the good sides closer this year even if we didn’t smash the bad ones in the same way.

That Doggies loss was also a huge waste for us last year, we let them back into the season with one quarter of appalling defence. More than Sydney/Freo that’s where we blew our finals hopes.

 

[Grimesy87]

Melksham pulled a hammy today

 

[stabler]

Melksham pulled a hammy today

Meh.

Sorry, but i still havent forgiven this bloke for what he served up last year.

 

[markm106]

Was hoping Melksham would find some form this year. Might be a chance for Laurie or Bowey.

 

[schmuttt]

Sad for Melksham but we can only play one of him and Fritsch and I'd rather Fritsch. Excluding injuries to Brown and Weideman we should have a very balanced 22 round 1.

 

[The Dr]

Melksham wasn’t part of my best 22 (or best 30 just about) after his past two seasons. We need speed and pressure up forward and he gives neither.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Topkent]

Am I missing something or is it still mid February ...
Think he still got time this year..

 

[Grimesy87]

Yeah come on guys he's gonna miss round 1/2 maybe, not out forever.

I agree schmuttt, he and Fritsch make our forward line to "mid sized" together. Neither are fast enough or desperate enough without the ball. 2018 Melksham would make a huge difference to us, unfortunately. 19/20 Melksham, well we may as well put a medium sized potplant out there and kick it on its head. Same result.

 

[Toump Ass]

Far worse? We’ve lost Hogan, Kent, Frost, Tyson, Hannan, Vince, Pedersen, Lewis and OMac and Garlett (none of whom other than Hogan had particularly good years) and picked up May, Langdon, Brown, Tomlinson, Lockhart, Sparrow, Pickett, Rivers, Jackson and the new draftees. Seems like a net win to me. Not sure who of those 2018 players would consistently make us a better side now, and who you’d give up to get them back.

Have also cleared out dead weight like Balic, Bugg, JKH, McKenna, Spencer, Stretch, J Wagner and Ben Kennedy as well as your Mitch King types. I don’t know if I’d put any of our current players in that category.

Been reflecting on this comment while sitting on my patio.

In 2018 we made a prelim with Vince, Lewis and Bugg regularly snotting blokes. We may have replaced them (and a few others) with better players but those better players just don't smash campaigners.

The only person on on our list who genuinely hurts blokes is Stevie May but he cops a week every time the umps catch him sneezing in the wrong direction. He'd be deregistered if he took cheap shots like Lewis.

If our borderline best-22 players are struggling this is what they need to do.

Also I love Melksham. Will be best-22 by the end of the year- hopefully he captains us again too.

 

[Sonny Bonds]

Meh.

Sorry, but i still havent forgiven this bloke for what he served up last year.

A lot of players/people went sour last year.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Been reflecting on this comment while sitting on my patio.

In 2018 we made a prelim with Vince, Lewis and Bugg regularly snotting blokes. We may have replaced them (and a few others) with better players but those better players just don't smash campaigners.

The only person on on our list who genuinely hurts blokes is Stevie May but he cops a week every time the umps catch him sneezing in the wrong direction. He'd be deregistered if he took cheap shots like Lewis.

If our borderline best-22 players are struggling this is what they need to do.

Also I love Melksham. Will be best-22 by the end of the year- hopefully he captains us again too.

The Bugg, Lewis and Vince suspensions were in 2017 and we didn’t make finals that year. We lost three consecutive games when Lewis was suspended and lost both the games Bugg and Vince were suspended in.

 

[Toump Ass]

The Bugg, Lewis and Vince suspensions were in 2017 and we didn’t make finals that year. We lost three consecutive games when Lewis was suspended and lost both the games Bugg and Vince were suspended in.

I hate when facts get in the way of my stories.

 

[Demon 16]

A lot of players/people went sour last year.

Melksham has dished up 2 seasons of junk now.

 

[Imet Hassa]

Have been doing my usual preseason routine of watching only replays where we played well to drive up unrealistic expectations. Random player thoughts from this exercise.
Clarrie really is a good player
Petracca is even better
May is a rock
Rivers will be a gun
Kossie may just have it
Viney gets caught too often and may not be loved by peers (did he really poll higher than Clarrie!)
Lever needs to concentrate more on eliminating goal conceding brain lapses than on pseudo intellectual utterances
AVB may be done
Max is a ruck
Tomlinson did more than I thought
Melksham - see AVB
Run Ed Run, see Ed run
Salem is important (the letter “r” is vital)
Spargo showed a bit
Gus I can’t figure out
Oskar will be interesting
Tom hopefully gets a reboot - foot pun?
Joel Smith should not play back
Harmes supports the Dees and sometimes plays for them
Jones used to play for the Dees

 

[markm106]

So does anyone know when the Richmond game is? Has this been announced?

 

[rhaz]

So does anyone know when the Richmond game is? Has this been announced?

Don't see why it wouldn't be ANZAC Day Eve. It's a Saturday night so they don't even have to stuff around with fixturing to make it happen.

I'm more interested in crowd announcements for Round 1 & 2. Getting to the MCG against Freo should be fine regardless of capacity, but Round 2 at Marvel against the Saints at 50% capacity could easily sell out.

 

[markm106]

Don't see why it wouldn't be ANZAC Day Eve. It's a Saturday night so they don't even have to stuff around with fixturing to make it happen.

I'm more interested in crowd announcements for Round 1 & 2. Getting to the MCG against Freo should be fine regardless of capacity, but Round 2 at Marvel against the Saints at 50% capacity could easily sell out.

Sorry I should have been more specific. I meant the pre season game. I think we play them
Before the dogs.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Don't see why it wouldn't be ANZAC Day Eve. It's a Saturday night so they don't even have to stuff around with fixturing to make it happen.

I'm more interested in crowd announcements for Round 1 & 2. Getting to the MCG against Freo should be fine regardless of capacity, but Round 2 at Marvel against the Saints at 50% capacity could easily sell out.

I wouldn’t hold your breath re: those two fixtures going ahead exactly as scheduled.

 

[schmuttt]

I wouldn’t hold your breath re: those two fixtures going ahead exactly as scheduled.

Yeah unfortunately things can change super fast, I'll be getting tickets to round 1 but won't be sure its happening till I'm seated at the ground.

 

[Proper Gander]

Sorry I should have been more specific. I meant the pre season game. I think we play them
Before the dogs.

Richmond then dogs preseason has a disturbingly 2019 vibe to it

 

[schmuttt]

Sorry I should have been more specific. I meant the pre season game. I think we play them
Before the dogs.

We only play one preseason game now don't we?

 

[Topkent]

We only play one preseason game now don't we?

One official I think, then we can organise whatever we want

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

R23 2019 Melksham and Fritsch had nine scoring shots between them. I remember they did something similar in a preseason game last year and looked like a deadly pairing.

IIRC both games were in Tassie...do we need to relocate?

 

[markm106]

We only play one preseason game now don't we?

Yeah but there’s a unofficial one against tigers. I thought it’d be this week.

 

[markm106]

This article has the fixture. We are TBC. It also has us playing Hawks and Dogs in AAMI a series. Of course that’s a typo.

Practice match time: Find out who your team is tuning up against

Clubs will have one practice hitout before the AAMI Community Series kicks off from March 4-8

www.afl.com.au