Departures, arrivals, resurfacing and some minor coaching tweaks all herald the 2025 season.
This weekend’s games against West Perth will show where the coaching staff see our strengths and weaknesses to be and how we can manage them during the season.
I am sure I will be derided for this next assessment but who gives … . I actually see our mid field still to be one of our strengths. I think we have depth to cover the losses, perhaps not to the same degree but given time I see the mids developing and giving us the necessary drive.
Our forward line looks the strongest it has for a long time and the question who misses out with at least 8 or 9 players all capable of filling the positions.
The backline looks as stable as it was last year and there is some depth in the reserves to cover some of the positions perhaps not all the talls but the coaching staff will have to work on that!
I think we are a top four team again and with some of the necessary luck could go back to the big dance.
Grump, it will be very interesting to see who starts in the centre square alongside Scott Jones and Hamish Brayshaw.
I’d imagine that Christian Ameduri, Tom North, Zach Raykos and Liam Tedesco, and maybe even Jimmy Sturrock, might have the odd burst in the “engine room”
You have your finger on the pulse far more than me, but would you consider using Kye Willcocks in the middle?
Jonah Brooks showed some promise last year, while I don’t know much about the returning Jordyn Baker after two years with the WAFL Weagles.
I don’t have much factual or on the money information it is just opinion.
What I would like to see is Brooks and Regan (both tall, outstanding long kicks and strong at the ball and man players) on the wings, with Amerduri, North and Raykos going in the middle with Scott, Medhat and Baker being the rotation. I think Brayshaw is better for us as part of a Graham, Kuek, Schofield and Graham forward line with Peake running through there or the mids rotating. Brayshaw could be that player who goes into middle to break the lines when required.
The backline is good with the loss of Eaton the hard one to replace, his kicking was a very useful tool for us and that is an issue for us, who fills that role. Perhaps the young fellow Gullini comes in, he had an outstanding season in colts.
[quote=“DD post=240860 userid=1749”]Where do you guys see Cody Burgiel playing? Small forward with some midfield time?
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I don’t know enough about him like some other players who are now at the club, will reserve my ill-informed opinion til’ I see him play or others make comments!
[quote=“royallucky post=240975 userid=2921”]I rang the club,it is at Joondalup.
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Right-o, thought so.
Last Friday the game was swapped from Leederville to Joondalup, but changing it back with a day to go would be asking for the impossible.
One thing we know about the WAFL, their scheduling is “fluid”.
Season hasn’t even started and WP have already had a fixturing change for round 4, game moved from Anzac Day at 2:10pm to the night before at 7:10pm.
Very rusty performance ground ball needs serious work. Burgiel could be a find and Middleton looked very good. Ameduri only has one gear love to watch him, but probably needs to dial it back to save himself for a long season.
[quote=“Larry Bird post=241052 userid=1820”]Very rusty performance ground ball needs serious work. Burgiel could be a find and Middleton looked very good. Ameduri only has one gear love to watch him, but probably needs to dial it back to save himself for a long season.
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As I predicted Larry,Middleton maybe the power forward we’ve been looking for,but whether the forwards get enough supply is the big question,and I hear Brayshaw is already carrying an injury,so the midfield is the big worry for me.
Went for the harbour side drive today,and my worst fears were unfortunately confirmed.We looked a quite uncohesive unit,and with only a Angus Scott missing from our best midfield,it appears what last season was our strength,may well we be our weakness in Season 2025.The only positives today was the form of Sebit,who bagged 3 goals and looked quite lively,and although he struggled today,I still think the burly Middleton competed well,and has a physical presence that will add something to the forward line,particularly with some decent delivery by foot,which was woeful today,and although recruit Burgiel showed a bit, he certainly is no Mitch Crowden,and I hope that was close to the Bulldogs best side,because they definitely looked a class above us.
Thanks for the pre-season update, Lucky.
East Perth rarely sets the world on fire in the pre-season, and this year has certainly been no exception.
Without having seen any of our three games, it seems like we were competitive against West Perth but were very ordinary against both East Freo and South Freo.
I’m confident that our improved forward line will perform well in 2025 - but ONLY if we can get the ball down there efficiently.
I think our defence is pretty solid, but my big concern is our decimated midfield, so hopefully Ross McQueen has a few tricks up his sleeve and can presumably fine-tune things this weekend (which I assume will be an intraclub hitout, where we can’t lose!) in readiness for an appointment with our co-tenants in 12 days’ time.
[quote=“Archie Duda Goal Machine post=241369 userid=2436”]Thanks for the pre-season update, Lucky.
East Perth rarely sets the world on fire in the pre-season, and this year has certainly been no exception.
Without having seen any of our three games, it seems like we were competitive against West Perth but were very ordinary against both East Freo and South Freo.
I’m confident that our improved forward line will perform well in 2025 - but ONLY if we can get the ball down there efficiently.
I think our defence is pretty solid, but my big concern is our decimated midfield, so hopefully Ross McQueen has a few tricks up his sleeve and can presumably fine-tune things this weekend (which I assume will be an intraclub hitout, where we can’t lose!) in readiness for an appointment with our co-tenants in 12 days’ time.
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I’m afraid Archie the loss of Cooper Stevens,who was obviously recruited to nullify the impact of losing Crowden, Schumacher and to a lesser extent Randall,was a real body blow,but at least we’ve bolstered our forward line,which enables us to entertain the idea of swinging Sebit in the midfield from time to time as he can be a real impact player,and the brilliant running goal he kicked in the 2020 reserves GF is still freshly seared in my memory,and I believe Ross should be creative with Sebit who can be a match winner on his day.
Interesting discussion on the radio the other day,where Hamish Brayshaw relayed the information that the coach had informed him that he was not going to be selected for the GF,due to the risk of playing him after his injury enforced 7 week layoff,which resulted in a heated debate about the merits of him playing,but in the end Hamish got his way. I think the right call was made,even though Hamish understandably faded in the second half,but he was very good early in the game,and still managed to accumulate 22 possessions,and he was by no means our worst player.
Let’s hope Hamish Brayshaw has a season more like his 2023 than his 2024, Lucky.
With midfield stars Mitch Crowden and Angus Schumacher moving to the SANFL, Michael (he was Mickey when he was at East Perth) Randall defecting to Perth, and “gun recruit” Cooper Stephens doing an ACL, Hamish will need to be at the height of his game.
[quote=“Archie Duda Goal Machine post=241600 userid=2436”]Let’s hope Hamish Brayshaw has a season more like his 2023 than his 2024, Lucky.
With midfield stars Mitch Crowden and Angus Schumacher moving to the SANFL, Michael (he was Mickey when he was at East Perth) Randall defecting to Perth, and “gun recruit” Cooper Stephens doing an ACL, Hamish will need to be at the height of his game.
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I don’t know Archie,it’s no secret that I like to inject a bit more interest in a game by having a little lick if the price is right,but I couldn’t have a bean on us at the moment,even though our forward line has more scoring potential.I reckon our midfield might be hard pressed to get on top of DDs mob who have recruited well,and even Subi with Giro and Clark will be a stern test,so let’s hope we get pleasantly surprised.
Solid effort and we grinded out a hard fought win,and certainly an improvement from what I saw at our last scratchy.Tom North was ok in the midfield,Ameduri and Tedesco chimed in,and the on ball division was serviceable without being dominant,but I like our forward dynamic,with the injection of Middleton and Sebit,and Schofield I believe kicked 3 goals and took 10 marks in the reserves,so the firepower is there,so it remains to be seen if we can match the better midfields in the comp,but a promising start nonetheless.