News 2026 AAMI Community Series

[Soapy V]

Get yer hand off it Soap unless you go the early crow like this poster did leading into the draft....no point puffing your chest

Bloody Hell some people are miserable. Bit of light hearted banter after I said these games mean nothing.

 

[teddy-hopkins]

His poor kicking was only last season, which suggests to me it was either that he was hampered by injury, or it was a coaching/setup issue. He was an above average kick before then.

It’s not about people not being able to criticise. If you are going to criticise, make it constructive. Not just “he’s no good” or “we need to move past him”. That’s not criticism, that’s just thoughtless fodder for fans who just want to be negative about everything

People need to conform to your criteria before expressing a negative opinion?

Anyone with 2 functioning eyeballs can see his disposal / decision making was poor last year.

Guarantee nobody will give a stuff if he starts hitting targets. You'll never hear another peep about him being dropped.

I thought he was good against Bris - kicked a goal and set one up. Unfortunate about the hammy.

 

[BigFrizz36]

Gee Nick Austin played a cool poker hand on the Talor Byrne selection. Was obviously keen but rather than bite traded in a 2026 2nd rounder rather than jump early. Then traded in a 2026 3rd rounder rather than jump early and then used pick 45. If he becomes the footballer that we hope that he might be (and that he showed glimpses of last night) that will be terrific recruiting.

 

[teddy-hopkins]

Can we just NOT with the lame narratives of Kemp is a poor kick for goal after watching one game.

His actual record under real AFL pressure is 14 goals and 8 behinds.

Is he great or is he bad, who knows? But declaring Kemp is a bad kick for goal is just analysis slop. Let's lift the quality and not knee-jerk.

First game back from a 10 month injury... Saw some guy on youtube saying how we should end the "experiment" with Kemp going forward. So the whole preseason forward structure planning has to go out the window after 3 missed shots in his first game back in a preseason game.

Especially in a game where the forward line overall functioned the best we've seen in 2 years minimum. And Kemp was a part of that. He got the ball on the flank one time and hit the short pass back into the centre square to Cerra which set up a goal. I think BA kicked it but that was Kemp's goal.

Hard to make judgements from a meaningless game but looked like there was freedom there for the mobile guys to just use their judgement to get into dangerous positions.

For one goal Reidy seemed to purposefully palm the ball from a marking contest over the back for one of our short people to run onto it. Was just a random / structureless goal where Reidy used his smarts to put it on a plate for his teammate who ran into a dangerous spot. Classic easy goal that clever players create and we never seem to get (in previous years).

Will be interesting to see how much better it gets with Franky back. Another clever player.

 

[CoachB]

What’s people’s impressions on Moir?

Best 23?

X factor all day, lacks work rate and defensive skills on a consistent basis. I think he will be in and out of the 23. We need to get games into him but too big a gap between his best and worst atm.

 

[teddy-hopkins]

Bloody Hell some people are miserable. Bit of light hearted banter after I said these games mean nothing.

All the players hate Lij and Kemp won't be fit for the start of the season... yeah can't stand these miserable bastards.

 

[Crippa#9]

Gee Nick Austin played a cool poker hand on the Talor Byrne selection. Was obviously keen but rather than bite traded in a 2026 2nd rounder rather than jump early. Then traded in a 2026 3rd rounder rather than jump early and then used pick 45. If he becomes the footballer that we hope that he might be (and that he showed glimpses of last night) that will be terrific recruiting.

Looking like a very smart selection.
Credit to the departing Mick Agresta too I reckon. I’d say he had as much influence with that selection as Austin did.

 

[Lukeblueboy]

Throw Byrne in the guts to replace chez!
Kids a star

 

[SurreyBlue]

Can't imagine why you'd single those three out...

Imagine putting Williams in as bad user of the ball. I think that speaks volumes!

 

[BigFrizz36]

X factor all day, lacks work rate and defensive skills on a consistent basis. I think he will be in and out of the 23. We need to get games into him but too big a gap between his best and worst atm.

I would look to make Moir tag Will Heyward in a full match simulation. Would give him an update on the amount of work that he needs to do and give him an insight on the places he needs to run to. I'd guess that Moir has similar abilities to Heyward (solely based on skills) but the work effort and street smarts are poles apart.

 

[BlueNath]

I watched the game back late when I go home from work. The biggest takeaway that I took from the game was the energy with the group. It just felt different. Hopefully that freedom and and excitement, without fear of failure, can remain when the pressures of the real stuff begins. Big tick to the club for getting the group to this point from the stressed/broken culture that seemed to exist for much of last season

 

[Benaly28]

Just a shout out to George,looks like he’s going to have another good year.

 

[BigFrizz36]

Just a shout out to George,looks like he’s going to have another good year.

George is just George. Just makes the right choices and gets to the right spots. We take him for granted but I'd imagine that he does a power of work to give the impression of having mastered his trade.

 

[BlueLocke]

Pleasing to see the second-string midfield was more than competitive in the final quarter and a half, even if the Lions didn’t have their all-star lineup.

Lord and Ollie do a lot right but really need to tidy up their disposal. Nothing wrong with taking the easy option in space.

Thought Walsh was awful in his limited TOG, which is a ‘good’ thing considering the time of year and what we know he can build towards.

We need to get the ball into Jagga’s hands forward of centre as much as possible. Cripps, Walsh and Hewett will win plenty of contested ball, if we can free him (and Hollands, Hayward, Ainsworth as well) up 3-4 times a quarter within 70m of goal, well you can pencil in another 3-4 scoring opportunities.

Although HOK had a donut, I’d rather pick him and one of Reidy and Pitt. No idea which one yet.

 

[Benaly28]

I think our mantra is going to be simple….

Play your role.

 

[Coona Blues]

Was about 23:30 on the clock in the third - couple of hops and a clutch of the hamstring, spotted it as it happened and made a mental note of the time. With his history, I think even a mild soft tissue injury will warrant a very cautious/conservative approach.

Cez went down around the same time Walshy and Jagga were “put to bed”. Brisbane have arguably the best midfield in the game, yet our second stringers gave them a serious run for their money. Yes it was a preseason game, but augurs well for our next generation like Lord, Moir, Ben Campo and a couple of others. Williams had time in there as well.

It would not be hard to argue that our midfield was not working hard enough defensively in that first quarter.

 

[Sharks On A Plane]

Gee Ainsworth is a high IQ forward who IMO instantly improves us significantly. Ditto Hayward. The forward mix is undeniably better now.

 

[teddy-hopkins]

Pleasing to see the second-string midfield was more than competitive in the final quarter and a half, even if the Lions didn’t have their all-star lineup.

Lord and Ollie do a lot right but really need to tidy up their disposal. Nothing wrong with taking the easy option in space.

Thought Walsh was awful in his limited TOG, which is a ‘good’ thing considering the time of year and what we know he can build towards.

We need to get the ball into Jagga’s hands forward of centre as much as possible. Cripps, Walsh and Hewett will win plenty of contested ball, if we can free him (and Hollands, Hayward, Ainsworth as well) up 3-4 times a quarter within 70m of goal, well you can pencil in another 3-4 scoring opportunities.

Although HOK had a donut, I’d rather pick him and one of Reidy and Pitt. No idea which one yet.

My guess would be Reidy and Pitt play.

HOK couldn't impact so might have to build some touch via the VFL.

 

[Inzy7]

any news on the VFL game last night?

 

[Rippa Crippa]

Did Flynn Young play in the ressies?
Not named in either side, I was wondering if he's injured or sick.

 

[BARGE ARSE]

Byrne for our next Prime Minister ?

 

[manang magoos]

I missed the end of the game because of my son's basketball game, but just got home in time to see the last 15mins of the replay.
We went up 94 to 86 and one of them said we were up 11 points. Couldn't even get the basics like the margin right.

When we hit the lead for the 1st time earlier in the game, it took them a couple mins to even realise we'd hit the lead for the first time. Then when we hit the lead later for the 2nd time, they said it was the first time we'd led all game.

I'd bloody take BT over those two and that's saying something.

Yer maths not a strong point for Richard Champion there

 

[SurreyBlue]

Byrne for our next Prime Minister ?

Maybe our next premier. Can’t possible do any worse….

 

[manang magoos]

Under pressure 20m straight in front vs STK…. it’s not his strong suit. Reserves form as well.
Massive RFI if he’s to impact as a forward.

Edit: prone to poor disposal down back too. Inconsistent. Wasn’t the sharpest back there either.

So I take from that your a Kemp hater

 

[BlueTongue]

Sorry but this is completely ridiculous.

Cerra walks into our (and pretty much all other) best 22s.

I know a lot gets said in these threads but this is an all timer

Don't be sorry - All Opinions welcome!

I'm sure he's a nice bloke and does the team things but he doesn't have the footy brain for it & his body is a walking soft tissue injury.

• Despite being in the AFL system 8 years - he still has no instinct, he always hesitates and he is way too slow at disposal
• He is a one trick pony in an age where AFL players need to be flexible. Midfield or bust for him.
• His body is one disappointment after another. Despite looking racehorse fit, his soft tissue injuries continue.

Look, i don't like being negative about our players (especially after a great win) but I think people have their head in the sand about some players because they want them to succeed and become one of our revered players so badly.

TBH, the most optimistic I can be about Adam is that hopefully he can play the Mid/Grunt role that Cripps, Hewitt, and to some extent Lord, play - except they all do it better than him so he's up against it.

He's good depth, but players like Cerra, Fogarty, Motlop are going to be liabilities now we have some decent 'AFL Ready' players in the respective positions.

More than happy to eat my words or have blowback but I haven't seen anything in the last 3 years (apart from the odd one or 2 games per season), that will change my mind on these guys.