The pre-season thread - 2022

jamesgould said:
Not to mention even the less serious Omicron now spreads so quickly that it's still likely to overload hospitals.

Pretty bleak to say survival of the fittest, lose someone close to you and you might not think that.
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Unfortunately, it is what it is. We likely all catch it 2-3 times next year.
 
Baz suggesting Kiraz going to dogs so 4 spots left. Ed Lee likely taking one of if all goes well with rehab.
 
Kiraz never belonged in the top 30.
There must always have been a deal in the works if we gave him top 30 money for the preseason and doggies could pick him up for the rest of a minimum wage deal.
We had him on a 2 year development deal - so we get to use that for Croker or Lucas or someone if we lose Kiraz.
That's all I can think of to explain what's going down.
 
It concerns me when we lose local juniors that we have spent effort and money on for 2-3 years or more to let them go to other clubs but we have to assume that somebody within the club has a plan.
why would we let Toa go and keep Musgrove, more to this than we are aware, obviously Lee is most likely fit and ready to play otherwise no sense, Young is being earmarked for a wing spot, him or Lee.
Time will tell but we must trust the system even if it hasn’t always worked
 
O'Brien has said in interviews that he doesn't look at the histories and lower grade form of players.
Reporters talked to him about Brodie Jones getting dropped back to Cessnock for a game 2 years ago and O'Brien didn't know about that and wasn't interested in it.
He takes players how he finds them.
Musgrove is classic example of a guy who looks great in training - coach after coach through the grades have loved the guy - but he never looks that great in games. Just a few years ago he was outplayed in every game by a kid from Dubbo named Mitch Andrews - but we kept Musgrove and let Andrews go. In under 18s he was outplayed in game after game by Sam McIntyre, but we let McIntyre go and kept Musgrove. Last pre season Musgrove impressed the hell out of O'Brien by training the house down and was rewarded with a contract.
The flip side of that is Matt Croker. He was our best middle forward in under 20s for 3 years in a row and represented NSW in under 20s, but I don't think he has ever looked great at training. Players like Saulo and Momoisea got plenty of time in reserve grade, while Crokes never got the call-up, despite nearly always outplaying those guys. Now that Crokes is too old for juniors he is setting the standards in reserve grade on the field - but still getting little love.

I'm largely happy with O'Brien making up his own mind on players based on what he sees for himself, and I think he is building the squad he wants based on that - but we have seen a few guys get too much love and a few guys get too little love - based on how good they look in training drills.
 
Seems like he’s targeting guys who are big and athletic and hoping to get their skills up to speed later. Hasn’t worked out super smoothly yet
 
Billy said:
O'Brien has said in interviews that he doesn't look at the histories and lower grade form of players.
Reporters talked to him about Brodie Jones getting dropped back to Cessnock for a game 2 years ago and O'Brien didn't know about that and wasn't interested in it.
He takes players how he finds them.
Musgrove is classic example of a guy who looks great in training - coach after coach through the grades have loved the guy - but he never looks that great in games. Just a few years ago he was outplayed in every game by a kid from Dubbo named Mitch Andrews - but we kept Musgrove and let Andrews go. In under 18s he was outplayed in game after game by Sam McIntyre, but we let McIntyre go and kept Musgrove. Last pre season Musgrove impressed the hell out of O'Brien by training the house down and was rewarded with a contract.
The flip side of that is Matt Croker. He was our best middle forward in under 20s for 3 years in a row and represented NSW in under 20s, but I don't think he has ever looked great at training. Players like Saulo and Momoisea got plenty of time in reserve grade, while Crokes never got the call-up, despite nearly always outplaying those guys. Now that Crokes is too old for juniors he is setting the standards in reserve grade on the field - but still getting little love.

I'm largely happy with O'Brien making up his own mind on players based on what he sees for himself, and I think he is building the squad he wants based on that - but we have seen a few guys get too much love and a few guys get too little love - based on how good they look in training drills.
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I agree Billy, I think it is a bit of the Melbourne way to make sure guys are getting rewarded for training hard as hell. Downside is you may miss the natural footballers that are coming back into the game under the new rules.
 
This is terrible news. Unless we sign someone I think that’s our top 8 gone. Who do you all see playing there now? Please not Mann argh!!!
 
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