Training 2025 Pre-Season chat

[patience]

Thank you for sharing @CHAWKTS .

 

[ShaunWDT]

I don't mind SDK in the ruck but if fit I think Conway should be out more default pathway. TDK had a good year in the ruck but I actually at times TDK struggled against the more big and physically rucks and it was one weakness in Carlton's set up.

In the back of the clubs mind would be how much his brother has progressed over time I reckon, when he first started he was a mile off as a Ruckman.

I get the vibe that the clubs not as big on Conway as this board is in all honesty, think that was made pretty clear when they invested so much time into De Koning as a Ruckman and then have added Edwards and Mollier in the last couple years that are that similar mobile type with huge upside scope.

 

[ShaunWDT]

If Guthrie is fit he’s an automatic inclusion in the midfield.

Add Smith to the midfield mix too.

On paper,

Reckon the days of Guth as a bonafide starting mid are over, having experience earlier in his career and being a great clubman will allow easy transition to other roles aswell, looking to keep him on the park and prolong his career as much as possible reckon he spends just as much time in that half back/wing role as inside this year.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

It's gonna be hard for one of these younger mids to get a run this year.

They'll probably get a run in dribs and drabs unless someone really steps it up.

Knevitt is the one that could be ready to step up... but he was a noted "track flyer" last preseason and didn't look at the level when given his opportunity. No doubt he will improve... but will it be 5% or 20%... the more the merrier.

Smith automatically comes in and takes a mid rotation posi (pumped to have him).

Then we also have Guthrie who is a bit more of a wildcard now IMO (fingers crossed though with him).

Bring on the season already please.

Yeah with Knevitt I think we need to account for the way he was used last year. Like, he was used as a tagging winger at times. Hard to look like a star in that role. 2023 they used him as an offensive winger and he went ok.

 

[Schmuck]

Miers trick kick to dempsey to scratcher to danger for a goal. I am privileged to be here and can’t wait for Feb!

Lawson to Holmes to danger to close for goal. Noticable that a vs b now. Coming out of backline to forward

Thanks for the updates.

Did any of the 1st year players have much of an impact or do anything eye catching?

 

[CHAWKTS]

Thanks for the updates.

Did any of the 1st year players have much of an impact or do anything eye catching?

I liked polkinghorne and number 20 (sorry don’t know who). Good impact in the forward line in first match sim.

I don’t think they have expectations for any of them in 2025 but I liked what I saw from those two (I may have missed a lot as hard to focus on 36 players).

The other one that was interesting for us vfl lovers is the brother of paddy macartint . He is mid 20s and playing vfl this year and looked very likely at full back

 

[2022andbeyond]

Love the IG clip of the three up and comers, Clark, Knevitt and Clohsey. The GFC basically saying to us, keep an eye on these boys, they are the future.

Look at Clark, they are basically throwing games into him to increase his experience. They know he will make it. He’s only 20 and playing against seasoned midfielders, very few can do that so early.

Knevitt had a spot last year but was overtaken by Dempsey - hard to argue with that decision.

Clohsey has only played 3 games in two years. They’ll try to give him another 6 to 10 this year. I love the way the club find a way to build them slowly and then suddenly they “burst” onto the scene. As Scott once dryly said about SDK, he’s been a 3 year overnight sensation…


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

I always like to check the list about now and work out expected movements among geelong teams. this is what I came up with;
Retirement : Danger, Blicavs, Duncan, Stanley
Provisional afl : Neale, Humphries, Mannagh
Expected jump to afl 2025 : Knevitt, Clark, Conway, Mullen
Expected jump to afl 2026 : Closey, COS, Edwards, Stephens, Hoffman
7 young project players and the rest 24 are afl standard but some role players in this group could be used as trade bait.

 

[iameviljez]

On paper, I believe the team can be better than the

GF side. The big unknown is the full forward position.

The same names will be three years older, though - a lot depends on a ruckman stepping up, and Cameron, Stewart, Dangerfield being able to at least produce in bursts.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

By the way atkins not lost anything. For those (ie me) who thought he might get squeezed out - not on today’s performance. Looking strong in MF

Quick question. Did you think Clark and clohesy showed a fair bit in MF today?

 

[Kobe Gryant]

The same names will be three years older, though - a lot depends on a ruckman stepping up, and Cameron, Stewart, Dangerfield being able to at least produce in bursts.

By that same token though, the youngsters and players who were early in their development/not yet on our list are also three years older. It goes both ways.

I'd say it's unlikely though. That 2022 side was pretty special, as a decades long journey all came together at the right time.

 

[CHAWKTS]

Quick question. Did you think Clark and clohesy showed a fair bit in MF today?

Not particularly but I was very focussed on lots of players. I noticed Ted more but I tend to with him anyway! He switched to blue team in second period and did some nice things.

Clark seemed mostly of half back of the orange team but also jumped in the middle from time to time. Noticed a couple of things at the end

Nothing bad from either of them but didn’t stand out relative to atkins smith Holmes and knevitte and bruhn.

 

[MacStradbroke]

I liked polkinghorne and number 20 (sorry don’t know who). Good impact in the forward line in first match sim.

I don’t think they have expectations for any of them in 2025 but I liked what I saw from those two (I may have missed a lot as hard to focus on 36 players).

The other one that was interesting for us vfl lovers is the brother of paddy macartint . He is mid 20s and playing vfl this year and looked very likely at full back

McCartin has had some legit reasons why he hasn’t played for so long, be some sort of comeback if he makes it. Great story.

 

[iameviljez]

By that same token though, the youngsters and players who were early in their development/not yet on our list are also three years older. It goes both ways.

I'd say it's unlikely though. That 2022 side was pretty special, as a decades long journey all came together at the right time.

You don’t get players like Dangerfield and Cameron very often.

 

[Whiskers]

Cats having meetings with Matt Rowell

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Hey CHAWKTS I don't think you said anything about young Hasselhoff but pops interview he was glowing about him. Did you notice lenny much?

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I liked polkinghorne and number 20 (sorry don’t know who). Good impact in the forward line in first match sim.

I don’t think they have expectations for any of them in 2025 but I liked what I saw from those two (I may have missed a lot as hard to focus on 36 players).

The other one that was interesting for us vfl lovers is the brother of paddy macartint . He is mid 20s and playing vfl this year and looked very likely at full back

Mccartin (charlie) is interesting because we do need key backs coming through in the vfl team. Did kreuger play the match sim? 20 is molier FYI unless they mixed the jumper numbers around.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

In the back of the clubs mind would be how much his brother has progressed over time I reckon, when he first started he was a mile off as a Ruckman.

I get the vibe that the clubs not as big on Conway as this board is in all honesty, think that was made pretty clear when they invested so much time into De Koning as a Ruckman and then have added Edwards and Mollier in the last couple years that are that similar mobile type with huge upside scope.

I wouldn't say that. Remember that Stanley and blitz are basically done (age wise) Hawkins is gone neale hasn't signed yet (he likely will but we would want contingencies if he doesnt) and we delisted project talls like foster furphy jeka etc.
So guys like Edwards and molier were the natural succession plan for those guys not anything to do with Conway.

I think it is fair to say though that for this year the club either thought Conway would be fit and be the starting ruck, or if not they were comfortable rucking sdk because they made no effort to get a mature ruck (say harry boyd type) in the off-season (which they would have done if they were desperate not to ruck sdk).

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Cats having meetings with Matt Rowell

Every club in Victoria would be meeting with Matt Rowell (or at least trying to).

 

[thejester]

Hey CHAWKTS I don't think you said anything about young Hasselhoff but pops interview he was glowing about him. Did you notice lenny much?

Where can we find this interview?

 

[CHAWKTS]

Mccartin (charlie) is interesting because we do need key backs coming through in the vfl team. Did kreuger play the match sim? 20 is molier FYI unless they mixed the jumper numbers around.

Didn’t see Krueger…. Thanks on the number…Molier looked ok in the first session (it was against not first team defenders then though).

McCartin played against first team forwards and looked ok

 

[CHAWKTS]

Hey CHAWKTS I don't think you said anything about young Hasselhoff but pops interview he was glowing about him. Did you notice lenny much?

Actually I did notice #23 running around and put a mental note to find out who he was…but forgot! Yep he did some nice things. Again mostly in the first session when it was more “like for like” but certainly he has athletic attributes and goes hard.

As said earlier I have zero expectations of any of those new draftees playing in 2025 but a few of them have good attributes to work with

 

[Phill Hendo]

Where can we find this interview?

Mystery surrounds star Cat's role, the Geelong draftee looking "really good"

“There’s a bit to work through around that.”

www.zerohanger.com

Kelly also mentioned Molier.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Not particularly but I was very focussed on lots of players. I noticed Ted more but I tend to with him anyway! He switched to blue team in second period and did some nice things.

Clark seemed mostly of half back of the orange team but also jumped in the middle from time to time. Noticed a couple of things at the end

Nothing bad from either of them but didn’t stand out relative to atkins smith Holmes and knevitte and bruhn.

Clark off half back is interesting. Was he taking any kick ins or was it mainly half back distribution work?

Sounds like knevitt was the standout of the younger guys but Clark and ted were still good.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

So first match sim done. 30 minutes. Will do my best but found it hard as so much to watch!

Firstly about 8 players not running around. Mannagh (foot) Toby, Martin (hammy) Reece (shoulder) new Irish boy, Jack Henry, Kolo and Tyson (away). So a few vfl top ups.

it wasn’t strictly a vs b team so actually much more interesting. At one end had afl first team forwards vs afl first team back.

At the other mostly b team with notably MOC Guthrie and Duncan at that end.

Middle was interesting. Blue team ruck was Edwards (more on him later). Pike and SDK sharing duties for Orange (SDK has yellow hat on meaning not full contact).

Knevitte smith and atkins did most of starting for blue team with dempsey and max on wing. But max and smith rotated a lot (which was exciting!). Danger played forward the whole qtr.

Bruhn and Clark in orange team with Bowes and chloshey in middle.

Blue team dominated the middle as you would expect. Edwards seriously is exciting. No doubt Blitz replacement over time. The way he moves.

Smith exciting. Tackles and moves. And with him swapping with Max you didn’t miss a beat. I can see that happening all year.

Mitch Knevitte good out of the middle. He brings something different. Couple of good grabs and hard at it. I can see him breaking out.

AFL backline was on top. Danger did very little and Jeremy a cameo. Scratcher unsighted. Ollie Henry made an impact. But best forward was the wingman! Dempsey was very clever and would have had 5-6 score involvements including 3 himself.

Will do more later as second session just started (with a Jezza poster and then a dempsey steal to other Ollie for a goal)

Bowes playing mid. First for Orange and now blue. Most mids are then rotating either to wing or off for a break (getting warm now)

Henry playing deep. Danger just in front of him. Jezza half forward (but scratcher is on bench and I think he was deep when on).

Haven’t seen much of Clark but it is hard to watch everything. Tanner going ok. In fact Tanner and knevitte have dominated this period for the Orange.

Clark playing off half back and then half forward in Orange.

Guthrie done some nice things but still work to get back to best I reckon

By the way osh coming out of backline with huge run to miers to Henry in goal square. Nice

Hopefully the mannagh issue is minor because it's a big year for him. A few questions/comments from me.

I know you cant read much into A vs B matchups as they were mixing up guys to fill teams (given 8 outs) but it's interesting that you say MOC Guthrie and Duncan played in the B team. Maybe we will see a changing of the guard with guys like Knevitt in the A team.

Speaking of knevitt did he play mainly inside mid (as it sounds like holmes and dempsey were the wingers) or was he on a flank again? I'd like to see him settled in a role I think because hes versatile he's thrown around too much.

Danger fwd was probably load management but again we might see this more this year. Do you think Neale was quiet because the delivery was poor or was he ordinary? We need a lot from him this year otherwise we will be looking to our 4 small forwards for score a lot.Were they playing ollie (henry) at FF or on a flank? (that might be a clue for the year)

When you say out of backline was mullin taking the kick ins or was guthrie doing it and mullin and clark were just the back flankers?
Also would you say Pike kept up with Edwards running wise or did he blow up (for tank)

Also completely unrelated to best 22 (because he wont play afl this year) but did you notice Ivisic and any feedback?

 

[catswhiskers]

Quick question. Was/is training inside the stadium or at Deakin?

And thanks for the report.

Cheers