Bye Time Assessments

[1970crow]

Who said Ah Chee was another Rankine lol. He is a lower end of top 15 player at Brisbane and lower end of top 10 player here. A very good role player, same as ANB.

I wonder when we became aware of the issue? Did we avoid surgery near the start of the season hoping to play him through it?

Realistically, we've probably won a couple of games with him that we might have lost without him, but even so, it seems like terrible management for him to be a shell of himself for a whole season and then lose a bunch of the next preseason to recovery.

That’s a feature, not a flaw.

 

[1970crow]

Extending him after last season was one the biggest mistakes the club has made. Hopefully they have the balls after 2026 to make a serious decision.

At least it was only 1 year. After a 72% season, it quite likely could have been a lot worse. I think there is a chance some competence is spreading its wings at board level. Problem is that if Balme can’t do it, then it’s never happening.

 

[Crowtel]

So what is our ideal side heading into finals?

At the moment thinking something like v Hawks side...

Ins: Keane, Hinge, Walker, Cumming, Pedlar
Outs: Borlase, Nankervis, T Murray, Keays, Taylor

B: Michaelanny, Butts, Keane
HB: Milera, Worrell, Hinge
C: Cook, Dawson, Curtin
HF: ANB, Walker, Ah Chee
F: Rachele, Thilthorpe, Fogarty
R: McAndrew, Berry, Rankine
I: Laird, Cumming, Peatling, Soligo, Pedlar

In the mix:
N Murray v Butts
Taylor & Keays v Pedlar & Soligo
Nankervis v Cumming & Laird

Finals?

 

[WheresGroomgone]

Why does our club strive for mediocre?

Happy to be competitive it’s bs

 

[Rotayjay]

Bad: coaching. It's been diabolical, and instead of pushing for a premiership, our season is on life support instead.

 

[SellarStardom]

Against the Hawks there was just 11 points, 11!!!!! From defensive half turn overs. Every decent club punishes their oppo from defensive half turn overs, we don't.

Blind freely can see why.
1) Laird - hesitant, bad decisions and only dinky kicks are successful. Our main ball winner in defensive half is a rebounding disaster.
2) Butts/Borlase combo without Keane - these two are poor disposers of the ball. 1 is OK but 2 is diabolical. Leaves it all up to Worrell
3) Milera or Bust - without Hinge and Cumming there ball movement out of defense is now reliant on Milera..too few

Solutions
1) Bring back Murray and hope Keane can return soon
2) get Cumming and Hinge back but in the interim play Ah Chee at HB
3) drop Laird and play Bond. He locks down on the dangerous forward and releases Max
4) get Edwards and Curtin into centre and look at Dowling. These guys are performing and need to be rewarded
5) play Toby or Thilthorpe, not both
6) drop players not performing, even if they are getting disposals. Laird, Keays, Borlase, etc

None will happy at Baldy has a recipe at the start of the year and even if the cake comes out flat and tastes like shit, he keeps baking

 

[Cromulant]

So what is our ideal side heading into finals?

At the moment thinking something like v Hawks side...

Ins: Keane, Hinge, Walker, Cumming, Pedlar
Outs: Borlase, Nankervis, T Murray, Keays, Taylor

B: Michaelanny, Butts, Keane
HB: Milera, Worrell, Hinge
C: Cook, Dawson, Curtin
HF: ANB, Walker, Ah Chee
F: Rachele, Thilthorpe, Fogarty
R: McAndrew, Berry, Rankine
I: Laird, Cumming, Peatling, Soligo, Pedlar

In the mix:
N Murray v Butts
Taylor & Keays v Pedlar & Soligo
Nankervis v Cumming & Laird

Assuming we make finals.

 

[1970crow]

Against the Hawks there was just 11 points, 11!!!!! From defensive half turn overs. Every decent club punishes their oppo from defensive half turn overs, we don't.

Blind freely can see why.
1) Laird - hesitant, bad decisions and only dinky kicks are successful. Our main ball winner in defensive half is a rebounding disaster.
2) Butts/Borlase combo without Keane - these two are poor disposers of the ball. 1 is OK but 2 is diabolical. Leaves it all up to Worrell
3) Milera or Bust - without Hinge and Cumming there ball movement out of defense is now reliant on Milera..too few

Solutions
1) Bring back Murray and hope Keane can return soon
2) get Cumming and Hinge back but in the interim play Ah Chee at HB
3) drop Laird and play Bond. He locks down on the dangerous forward and releases Max
4) get Edwards and Curtin into centre and look at Dowling. These guys are performing and need to be rewarded
5) play Toby or Thilthorpe, not both
6) drop players not performing, even if they are getting disposals. Laird, Keays, Borlase, etc

None will happy at Baldy has a recipe at the start of the year and even if the cake comes out flat and tastes like shit, he keeps baking

I think we can definitely improve rebound and defensive action at the same time. Keane, Butts/Murray, Worrell, Max, Cumming, Milera and Bond would provide a good mix. Even Nank and Hinge (if in form) would still provide enough defence, but attack would be much stronger. Keane has been the big loss though, he was extremely good last year. That said, if the instructions are to look sideways first, then personell changes will have limited impact.

 

[Velvet George]

We’ve hit the bye and despite incredibly sitting 7th, it’s been a disappointing year.

So what’s your GBU at this stage, mine is:

Good
McAndrew - been great in first year, thanks to Straghan and Norwood for making him possible
Cook - if there ever was breakout season, our classiest player
Dawson - huge to come back the way he has
Rachelle- showed can play midfield well and dangerous up forward, should have continued to play midfield
Milera - Club Champion, unreal season
Berry - most consistent mid
Peatling - reckon he’s been mostly decent
Kochie - claiming Port aren’t rebuilding

Bad
Edwards- because he’s only been given 2 games
Wins - coming against 10/11/13/14/15/17 and losing to 1/3/4/8/9, effectively we are downhill skiers
Keays - seagull goals doesn’t cut it
Soligo - had enough time to do something
Injuries - some ordinary ones
Selection - some baffling, 4 talls against Brisbane, playing Thilthorpe against Hawks
Dowling - his treatment has been deplorable
SANFL - ordinary
Pedlar - no midfield
Midfield - collectively can’t cut it

Ugly
Nicks - creates a stupid defensive gameplan
Nicks- some dumb selections
Nicks - doesn’t take responsibility for the clubs performances
Nicks - media work sucks, stupid comments
Management - re-signing Nicks for one year before season started
Gameplan - just dumb and curbs our strengths
VB - in charge of dud midfield
Laird - extending his contract early
ROBs - 3 year extension
Media - oversaturated and over flogged
2026 - no chance of a flag

Weak
Clappers - who are vocal after a win, critical of supporters who are vocal against club and Nicks and then go into hiding after a loss, use pathetic excuses like “too busy” on other boards, cat ate my password

 

[Carn The Texan]

Ugly - apart from the odd half a quarter here and there (Collingwood game, North game) our football is ugly. It is aesthetically horrible stuff. Tepid ball movement, poor skills, turnovers at crucial moments. Worse than that, when we're beaten we are beaten by what we know, in much the same way we have lost in the past (see Hawthorn game, almost a carbon copy of last year's scrap).

Ugly is the word. It's no secret. You can find it in most of our own press conferences - "we won it ugly".

 

[ABAB]

We’ve hit the bye and despite incredibly sitting 7th, it’s been a disappointing year.

So what’s your GBU at this stage, mine is:

Good
McAndrew - been great in first year, thanks to Straghan and Norwood for making him possible
Cook - if there ever was breakout season, our classiest player
Dawson - huge to come back the way he has
Rachelle- showed can play midfield well and dangerous up forward, should have continued to play midfield
Milera - Club Champion, unreal season
Berry - most consistent mid
Peatling - reckon he’s been mostly decent
Kochie - claiming Port aren’t rebuilding

Bad
Edwards- because he’s only been given 2 games
Wins - coming against 10/11/13/14/15/17 and losing to 1/3/4/8/9, effectively we are downhill skiers
Soligo - had enough time to do something
Injuries - some ordinary ones
Selection - some baffling, 4 talls against Brisbane, playing Thilthorpe against Hawks
Dowling - his treatment has been deplorable
SANFL - ordinary
Pedlar - no midfield
Midfield - collectively can’t cut it

Ugly
Nicks - creates a stupid defensive gameplan
Nicks- some dumb selections
Nicks - doesn’t take responsibility for the clubs performances
Nicks - media work sucks, stupid comments
Management - re-signing Nicks for one year before season started
Gameplan - just dumb and curbs our strengths
VB - in charge of dud midfield
Laird - extending his contract early
ROBs - 3 year extension
Media - oversaturated and over flogged
2026 - no chance of a flag

Weak
Clappers - who are vocal after a win, critical of supporters who are vocal against club and Nicks and then go into hiding after a loss, use pathetic excuses like “too busy” on other boards, cat ate my password

Maybe you shouldn't have been the OP since there will be quite a few who have placed you on ignore lol. Downhill skiers mean we get smashed by the good team, we are competitive against the good team due to the talent and despite Nicks and we beat the lower team due to the talent and despite Nicks.

 

[Crowtel]

Good - Brayden Cook, McAndrew, Milera. That one quarter against North which made us look like the Harlem Globetrotters. Bigfooty profile rebrands.

Bad - having George on ignore, Reilly O'Brien

43

Reilly O'brien

Age

30

Ht

201cm

Wt

105kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.4

4star

K

5.9

2star

HB

8.5

5star

CL

1.6

4star

HO

23.8

5star

D

14.4

3star

K

5.9

2star

HB

8.5

4star

CL

1.6

4star

HO

23.8

5star

D

12.6

4star

K

4.8

2star

HB

7.8

5star

CL

1.0

3star

HO

24.8

5star

's dad's pull out game, Matthew Nicks

Matthew Nicks

Age

51

Ht

187cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.6

3star

K

9.4

4star

HB

4.2

3star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.7

4star

G

0.7

4star

No current season stats available

D

6.6

2star

K

4.4

2star

HB

2.2

2star

M

2.2

3star

T

1.4

4star

G

0.4

3star

in every facet that isn't good vibes, bullying George, the headhunting of Rankine that affected his 2026 form.

Ugly - Harry Schoenberg, thinking 2023 and last year were unmitigated successes, going from 72% W/L to 0% overnight.

His kid better be the next Gary Ablett Jr - Chayce Jones

1

Chayce Jones

Age

26

Ht

180cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.0

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

4.6

3star

M

1.7

2star

T

1.9

4star

CL

1.3

3star

D

8.9

2star

K

4.9

2star

HB

4.0

3star

M

1.4

2star

T

1.6

3star

CL

1.1

3star

D

9.4

3star

K

4.4

2star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.6

2star

T

1.8

4star

CL

0.8

3star

 

[Velvet George]

Maybe you shouldn't have been the OP since there will be quite a few who have placed you on ignore lol. Downhill skiers mean we get smashed by the good team, we are competitive against the good team due to the talent and despite Nicks and we beat the lower team due to the talent and despite Nicks.

Ironic I had to unignore your post to read this

That’s your definition, meaning it’s wrong.

 

[ABAB]

Good - Brayden Cook, McAndrew, Milera. That one quarter against North which made us look like the Harlem Globetrotters. Bigfooty profile rebrands.

Bad - having George on ignore, Reilly O'Brien's dad's pull out game, Matthew Nicks in every facet that isn't good vibes, bullying George, the headhunting of Rankine that affected his 2026 form.

Ugly - Harry Schoenberg, thinking 2023 and last year were unmitigated successes, going from 72% W/L to 0% overnight.

His kid better be the next Gary Ablett Jr - Chayce Jones

Rankine was always going to have a start slow after doing his hammy toward the end of preseason until he was fit enough to play midfield, exploded in the last few weeks and 1st half against the Hawks in there and then did his calf.

 

[jackster83]

Rankine was always going to have a start slow after doing his hammy toward the end of preseason until he was fit enough to play midfield, exploded in the last few weeks and 1st half against the Hawks in there and then did his calf.

Story of his career.

 

[Crowtel]

Rankine was always going to have a start slow after doing his hammy toward the end of preseason until he was fit enough to play midfield, exploded in the last few weeks and 1st half against the Hawks in there and then did his calf.

Let's hope it doesn't take him long to get back to what he was starting to show

 

[Velvet George]

Included Keays in the bad, he’s been ordinary barring a couple of good games.

 

[Bovo]

Good

• two wins at The MCG
• McAndrew, Berry and Milera
• that showdown still gives me goosebumps

Bad
- games we lost after seemingly taking control of the game.

Ugly
- our dysfunctional forward line

• our defensive exits
• our midfield fumblings
• so I guess our gameplan

 

[Velvet George]

Looked different against us ….

 

[Scorpus]

Looked different against us ….

Of course we couldn't exploit Brisbane's lack of defending ball movement. Because we don't have ball movement

 

[SellarStardom]

The Bad
1) Defensive exits with Laird, Borlase and Butts hacking it forward.
2) lack of creative users going into the forward 50
3) playing an underdone Filthy, the same with Curtin (should of come back via a few games in the SANFL) and continuing to play Keays
4) sideways chippy shit football


The Ugly
1) Continuing to play Laird at HB instead of putting him in forward pocket and asking him to perform like we do of Taylor and others
2) Thinking that a backline can opwrate with more than 1 poor user of the footy and the selecting three in Butts, Borlase, Laird
3) not dropping players and rewarding Dowling, Edwards and others when they play well in the 2nds
4) installing average play and poor form as acceptable because they "have runs on the board"

 

[Samcro24]

Story of his career.

Yep. It’s getting super old.

Ugly: soft tissue injuries post burgess.

 

[Samcro24]

Good - Bigfooty profile rebrands.

Who dis?

 

[Mattrox]

They did analysis of our ruck situation this year vs last on 5AA Apparently the numbers showed not much difference, ROB slightly in front in some areas.

So a 13 game player is doing the same as an experinced veteran on about 70% tog (sometimes a bit less) when ROB was 90+% TOG.

And the ruck rules have changed which make ROB ineffective.

With some tank and experience he should do well.

Ruck is one area we have kicked the can down the road a long time. With a touch of luck we might be coming up Milhouse.




The ugly is all the soft tissues. Some injuries are un avoidable. I hope we can work them out for a solid back half of the season.

 

[NSolis]

Rankine’s calf comes at a disappointing time as I think he was building really well in the last game and a half. I’d have had him in the disappointing list until a couple of games ago.

Other players on that list for me are Ah Chee, Thilthorpe, Curtin, Keays, Soligo and Fogarty. Mostly injury related but all players I’d have hoped would have had a bigger impact so far this year. I think a couple of them could still have a notable impact in the second half of the season.

Positives are mostly very obvious: Milera, Cook, McAndrew, Berry. I’d probably include T. Murray and Walker as well who have had a bigger impact on 2026 than I expected, and Rachele keeps getting better every year. I also think we are starting to build more depth in the midfield and create some selection pressure.