Unofficial Preview Round 1, 2024: Bombers v Hawks, MCG 1:10pm Sat 16th March

[Yardie]

bro he played half-back for much of that last half of 2023 when he put up career-best numbers

 

[Deliverance]

Ward, McKenzie and McDonald are the future nucleus of the midfield, with Newcombe. They will be given increasing responsibility there each season, but are still young. Worpel and Nash to hold the fort until they are ready. If anything Worpel and Nash will be fighting for their spots in a year or two.

 

[TylerDurden]

I reckon Croc is a good chance to take up the slack of the Day injury.
Keen as to see more of him in the centre bounce.

 

[burner1]

Hard to see the names below not being 100% locks for round 1 if fit (assuming Day not ready). Ward probably as well.

Impey Blanck Weddle
Amon Scrimshaw Sicily
?? Jai ???
Moore Lewis ???
Breust Chol Hardwick
Reeves Worpel Nash
I:

Fitting the rest (Watson, ginnivan, Gunston, croc, ward, Mackenzie, seamus, CJ, Finn, Massimo, Serong, etc) into a balanced 22 is no easy feat.

 

[Roddy]

Ward, McKenzie and McDonald are the future nucleus of the midfield, with Newcombe. They will be given increasing responsibility there each season, but are still young. Worpel and Nash to hold the fort until they are ready. If anything Worpel and Nash will be fighting for their spots in a year or two.

We'll have one of the best midfields in the league then, coz Nash and Worps are awesome.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

bro he played half-back for much of that last half of 2023 when he put up career-best numbers

I stand corrected.

I honestly forgot about that positional move.

 

[Bugs1977]

I ‘Ken love Seamus. Was one of my favourite bits of last season watching his work

Easy to forget that he arrived at Waverley in a moon boot which wiped out season 1 for him

 

[Bugs1977]

Hard to see the names below not being 100% locks for round 1 if fit (assuming Day not ready). Ward probably as well.

Impey Blanck Weddle
Amon Scrimshaw Sicily
?? Jai ???
Moore Lewis ???
Breust Chol Hardwick
Reeves Worpel Nash
I:

Fitting the rest (Watson, ginnivan, Gunston, croc, ward, Mackenzie, seamus, CJ, Finn, Massimo, Serong, etc) into a balanced 22 is no easy feat.

Two things:
1) Box Hill is going to be an awesome watch this season with all our depth
2) Having so much depth is awesome and all but I get the feeling we're going to have some decent trade bait come the end of the season which could end up delivering us a good KPD

 

[smish]

While on the topic of Croc, he had a brief cameo in the background of this video released yesterday. I'm not from Melbourne so I found it pretty interesting. Rough ends.

 

[Sixpence]

While on the topic of Croc, he had a brief cameo in the background of this video released yesterday. I'm not from Melbourne so I found it pretty interesting. Rough ends.

Do you have a timestamp?

 

[smish]

Do you have a timestamp?

From 40:31. Don't think he actually says anything, interesting look into the life regardless.

 

[FB19]

Ward, McKenzie and McDonald are the future nucleus of the midfield, with Newcombe. They will be given increasing responsibility there each season, but are still young. Worpel and Nash to hold the fort until they are ready. If anything Worpel and Nash will be fighting for their spots in a year or two.

Imagine how good it would be if we also had a B&F winner to throw in there as well! Happy Days…

 

[thehardway]

PSA: Macdonald has played 41/45 possible AFL games in his career to date. Only 4 in the green vest.

Perplexing why he's constantly spoken about as a fringe player fighting for a spot.

Croc is a lock. Has been a standout in the training sessions I've been to.

 

[Hawkspot]

PSA: Macdonald has played 41/45 possible AFL games in his career to date. Only 4 in the green vest.

Perplexing why he's constantly spoken about as a fringe player fighting for a spot.

Although I agree he’s in the best 22 at this stage, I reckon it’s completely justified people are questioning his position this year more than ever before.

We now have Ginni, Hardwick, Watson, Chol, Gunston, McKenzie, and Butler all fighting him for spots next to Lewis and Breust.

Unless he’s moved past one of the nailed on mids (Newk, Worpel, Nash, Day, Ward?) he’s going to have a fair fight on his hands.

It’s nice people are questioning a good players spot in the team.

 

[kazzooka]

Yeah I like that they’ve been training there but I’m not convinced it will come to fruition round 1…

Don’t see Amon being able to defend an opponent well enough to play in defence… worried opposition will try to isolate his opponent and we don’t really have anyone else that can play the wing role as well as he does… he really started to dominate games towards the end of last season…

Dimma is still our best small defender - think we lose something without him down there and have recruited Watson and Ginnivan to play as small forwards…

That's how i'm kinda torn on it too. Collingwood game we were up by maybe 2 goals and pies lifted to fight back and surge forward and go to Elliot in a 1v1 which they have done in clutch moments the last 2 years and he would kick them a goal. But Hardwick just held him out and marked it one handed and we rebounded. I don't think Seamus, Amon, Impy, Macdonald, are going to do that. Not many small defenders in the comp are winning that contest 1v1 out in the open with low pressure on the kicker.

That being said, similar to last year with Day pushing into the midfield and pushing Mitchell, O'meara, Sheils, Howe, Philips out. We know Hardwick can play back pocket, we know Hardwick will play every game when fit. If we struggle in defence without him we can slot him back. If he struggles forward we can slot him back. But at least we won't be wondering, could the guy who was the best goal kicker in his draft year, be a good AFL forward?

We took the dive to see if Day and Nash could make it as full time mids, we have learned that McEvoy isn't a CHB.

Midway through 2008 we moved Hodge from on ball to Half back and AA defender Cambell Brown moved forward and it propelled us to a flag. We didn't worry that Hodge was too slow to defend, and a few injuries in grand final and Brown goes back again.

One of my lingering questions will always be, Could Grant Birchall have been a gun big midfielder which we always lacked under clarkson with Roughead the only exception.

 

[FB19]

Although I agree he’s in the best 22 at this stage, I reckon it’s completely justified people are questioning his position this year more than ever before.

We now have Ginni, Hardwick, Watson, Chol, Gunston, McKenzie, and Butler all fighting him for spots next to Lewis and Breust.

Unless he’s moved past one of the nailed on mids (Newk, Worpel, Nash, Day, Ward?) he’s going to have a fair fight on his hands.

It’s nice people are questioning a good players spot in the team.

The problem is MacDonald is a mid. He’s made a good fist of the high HF role but at his core he’s a mid. Flexibility is great but you also want to accommodate specialists who excel in that role.
We’ve gone from being thin to being arguably too deep pretty quickly and that imbalance will need to be strategically addressed or we risk the players we want potentially leaving for greater opportunity. This is how I see it:
Stars: Day Newk
Inside only: Worpel Nash
Emerging: Mackenzie MacDonald Ward
Depth: Hustwaite Stephens
That doesn’t include wings like CJ Amon Morrison D’Ambrosio or guys like Moore and maybe Weddle to go through there too. As you say it’s a much better position to be in than at the end of clarkos time but the list management will be fascinating over the next few years.
Anyway let’s start with a dons thumping shall we!

 

[Slainte]

That's how i'm kinda torn on it too. Collingwood game we were up by maybe 2 goals and pies lifted to fight back and surge forward and go to Elliot in a 1v1 which they have done in clutch moments the last 2 years and he would kick them a goal. But Hardwick just held him out and marked it one handed and we rebounded. I don't think Seamus, Amon, Impy, Macdonald, are going to do that. Not many small defenders in the comp are winning that contest 1v1 out in the open with low pressure on the kicker.

That being said, similar to last year with Day pushing into the midfield and pushing Mitchell, O'meara, Sheils, Howe, Philips out. We know Hardwick can play back pocket, we know Hardwick will play every game when fit. If we struggle in defence without him we can slot him back. If he struggles forward we can slot him back. But at least we won't be wondering, could the guy who was the best goal kicker in his draft year, be a good AFL forward?

We took the dive to see if Day and Nash could make it as full time mids, we have learned that McEvoy isn't a CHB.

Midway through 2008 we moved Hodge from on ball to Half back and AA defender Cambell Brown moved forward and it propelled us to a flag. We didn't worry that Hodge was too slow to defend, and a few injuries in grand final and Brown goes back again.

One of my lingering questions will always be, Could Grant Birchall have been a gun big midfielder which we always lacked under clarkson with Roughead the only exception.

Birchall was much better in space than in traffic.

 

[SSSSSS]

Birchall was much better in space than in traffic.

True but he knew how to cause damage with his body when he wanted to.

Had a ripping hip and shoulder. Hard but fair.

 

[Slainte]

True but he knew how to cause damage with his body when he wanted to.

Had a ripping hip and shoulder. Hard but fair.

I agree but it took him a long time to want to.

 

[WWSD]

I know Chol can play in the ruck, but I would prefer to see Ramsden as the second ruck. The more time Chol spends in the forward 50 the better.


B: Jiath, Blanck, Hardwick

HB: Scrimshaw, Sicily, Amon

C: Ward, Worpel, Weddle

HF: Gunston, Chol, Moore

F: Breust, Lewis, Ginnivan

R: Reeves, Newcombe, Nash

INT: Impey, Watson, Ramsden, Maginness, MacDonald

EMG: MacKenzie, Grainger-Barras, D’Ambrossio, Butler

 

[Tony3163]

I know Chol can play in the ruck, but I would prefer to see Ramsden as the second ruck. The more time Chol spends in the forward 50 the better.


B: Jiath, Blanck, Hardwick

HB: Scrimshaw, Sicily, Amon

C: Ward, Worpel, Weddle

HF: Gunston, Chol, Moore

F: Breust, Lewis, Ginnivan

R: Reeves, Newcombe, Nash

INT: Impey, Watson, Ramsden, Maginness, MacDonald

EMG: MacKenzie, Grainger-Barras, D’Ambrossio, Butler

Interesting that despite club comments and Hardwick doing all pre-season as a forward people still have him in defence. Time will tell.

 

[cs61]

I know Chol can play in the ruck, but I would prefer to see Ramsden as the second ruck. The more time Chol spends in the forward 50 the better.


B: Jiath, Blanck, Hardwick

HB: Scrimshaw, Sicily, Amon

C: Ward, Worpel, Weddle

HF: Gunston, Chol, Moore

F: Breust, Lewis, Ginnivan

R: Reeves, Newcombe, Nash

INT: Impey, Watson, Ramsden, Maginness, MacDonald

EMG: MacKenzie, Grainger-Barras, D’Ambrossio, Butler

Agree with this point on Ramsden. On top of keeping Chol in position, running with Ramsden would give us an extra big man on the ground to compete in the air. Reeves, Blanck, Lewis, Chol isn't that many compared to some sides, with Scrimshaw playing as an undersized key position defender. Also Ramsden drifting forward next to Chol, Gunston, Lewis would be be a real nuisance for the opposition defences.

 

[Topiary]

Interesting that despite club comments and Hardwick doing all pre-season as a forward people still have him in defence. Time will tell.

Unbelievable. He will only play back if we need him desperately to.

 

[Slainte]

Agree with this point on Ramsden. On top of keeping Chol in position, running with Ramsden would give us an extra big man on the ground to compete in the air. Reeves, Blanck, Lewis, Chol isn't that many compared to some sides, with Scrimshaw playing as an undersized key position defender. Also Ramsden drifting forward next to Chol, Gunston, Lewis would be be a real nuisance for the opposition defences.

I like Ramsden as a prospect but Lewis, Chol and Gunston seem like plenty of forward marking power to me. There is room for another tall but DGB would give the side better balance because the height may be more important in the back half.

A lot will depend on form in the scratch matches.

 

[burger09]

It will be an interesting watch. Is Ramsden ready? Is he best 22? Is there a spot if he is? Is Gunston, Chol, Lewis, Reeves and Ramsden too many talls.

My guess is he's still handy back up while he continues to develope at Box Hill. He should get games, It would be a minor miracle if the names above play full seasons.