2025 Pre-Season chat

[BennyGan]

any reports from anyone that went to training today?

 

[cats_09]

any reports from anyone that went to training today?

They are training the house down

Career best years from all

 

[BORIS332]

They were bouncing off him in the guts this year.

After a bunch of games seeing it the coaching staff moved him to the outside and he was banished from centre bounces (and fair enough). Think he was hardly in the guts much in the VFL after that.

Hopefully he gets much stronger... He has intent (plenty of it)... but not a huge amount else at this stage.

Reckon he needs a couple more preseason IMO. I don't think he will break out this year.

Clark played as a full time mid in every VFL game I watched.

 

[D BRIDGE]

Clark played as a full time mid in every VFL game I watched.

Not sure how many games you watched towards the end of the season then.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Credit: @Cenchfooty on IG

 

[Gazza Greatness]

Not sure how many games you watched towards the end of the season then.

Agree with this as far as ressies were concerned in latter part of year DB, as MC/coaches started to redirect how they want him to play, at least in the short term when taking into consideration his early development wasn't what it was expected to be due to current physical capabilities and other areas of concern.

 

[Gazza Greatness]

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Credit: @Cenchfooty on IG

GREAT NEWS as I just love this kid and his going to be 'gun' and...... GO CATS

 

[longtimecat]

160kph winds with 2 million embers like cricket balls in the breeze.

We've had bigger and badder fires at home but the intensity of this was unique and whats more is the population density made it worse.

And then add the complete lack of civilian fire safety awareness overall in the populated residential areas and it was never gonna end well.

Didnt matter how many trucks, water stations, planes and choppers ( that couldnt be up anyway) were there that firestorm wasnt being stopped.
Add the issues they all encountered and we have what we see now.

Fortunately im locaed in between Palisades and Eaton fire so with some luck and a little good management we'll continue to be ok. But we will see with the winds coming back tomorrow.

So thats my pre season update.

Thanks and be safe all

GO Catters and all the Fireys.

Stay safe man, praying for u
You

 

[strauchnyy]

I was in the not draft him camp, he didn't really stand out to me. He had a few intangibles mainly around application of pressure around the stoppage but pick 8 was way too early for that. I don't like how he didn't really break away from or through congestition. His ball use wasn't particular interesting.

We have a lot of competition for inside mid rotations, and we already play an extra mid then most. Pulling him out of the midfield rotations is for the best, get him a little more well rounded, a hope with a few years on the running track and in the gym, he becomes useable at AFL level. I think he'll get games and like Parfitt, some of them will be good ones. Wouldn't surprise me if he is traded in the short term.

Agree and I was in the same camp of not drafting Clark at the time for similar reasons. I fear the fact he was a falcon blinded us somewhat.

I was in the draft Philipou camp. Got shot down at the time. It’s clear we made an error on this and also something that is not hindsight but clear at the time as it is now.

I still think there is a role for Clark. I think he can potentially become that 4th/5th string defensive mid that every team needs that enables the better mids to play more to their strengths. Like Atkins.

Issue is we could get this type of player in the rookie draft… but hope for Clark is not lost. Needs to take strides this year and demand a spot.

 

[strauchnyy]

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Credit: @Cenchfooty on IG

Hope so. I was gutted when we didn’t take Nate Caddy.

Hoping to see some strides this year from COS

 

[cat_shack]

Don’t get any of the negativity around Clark or O’Sullivan. Clark played 14 games last year, predominantly as an undersized, 19yr old mid. From what I saw, he had decision making and toughness at the contest. Could buy himself time, and knew where to run when the ball was in dispute. He got bullied at times for his size, and the time he could usually buy for himself at TAC level wasnt there because of this. That will change as he gets bigger with every off season. As for O'Sullivan, a key position prospect, that debuted as an 18 yr old, and looked super comfortable? Give me a spell. Guys like Selwood and Taylor shape opinion, because they contributed straight away. But it is such an unrealistic expectation. If you asked anyone in the Cats development program I’d hazard a guess they would be chuffed with development of both.

 

[OzeSparky]

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Credit: @Cenchfooty on IG

Nice to see Zach is making Connor happy.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Nice to see Zach is making Connor happy.

That is some unfortunate positioning