NorthPort mentioned Ned Hawkins' re-signing back on page 2, so he's included in the count of 39, with 5 spots remaining. I believe I've got all the VFL players whose signings/re-signings have been officially announced, plus Dom Bedendo, and I've cross-checked that with the list we've been keeping here, so everyone mentioned in this thread as having signed should be counted. I'll see if I have time in the next few days to compile a list all in one place. But considering that Bedendo's re-signing hasn't been officially announced yet, I'm not sure that we really do have 5 spots remaining - wouldn't surprise me if there are others who have signed/re-signed who haven't been announced. Last season there were some new recruits who didn't get announced until March despite having apparently been signed earlier.
Yes, that is very true that Heppell leaving Port was the right decision given his position at Collingwood - not sure why it took so long for the decision to be made but in any case it has been made.
I do wonder how many big names would be available for the positions we most need. Tall players recently delisted from AFL sides seem to be largely accounted for, and I'm not sure how much the recent tall AFL retirees would have left in them. Hadn't mentioned it since I wasn't sure of the etiquette of poaching Preston players, especially when some hope remained of the club re-forming, but I'd thought if we were going to try for any of their players, Will Elliott and John Jorgensen would be worth a look - but Elliott ended up at Werribee and Jorgensen is playing in the Wimmera league, which to me looks far enough from Melbourne that I expect he's left the VFL.
To be honest I was getting my players mixed up - I thought it was hawkins that we has a question mark over but it was cahill as a result of this I'm.goinf to take a long break from drinking ouzo- gosh it's gunna be the hardest hour of my life.
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
Oh, yeah, we have/had a lot of repeated first names in the playing group... wondered if the wrong player ever comes off for an interchange upon hearing "his" name called, but that never happened that I saw... although in the Collingwood game in the last round there was a moment when James Hird twice called for "Hirdy" to come off and then was obliged to tell his son that he meant Greeny (whose knee he evidently wanted the trainers to look at)! (And that was the only time in a game that I even heard him call Tom Hirdy rather than Tom, and I was usually near the interchange bench.) Next season we could in theory play three Toms (plus a Dom), four Joshes, two Jacks, two Jameses, two Lachies, and two Matts! Made the new thread anyway since it seems like a good idea to have all the information in one place. Yes, Velissaris would have been a good pickup as well.
Our leadership group for next season has been announced: Tom Hird is captain, Kaine Baldwin is vice-captain, and Tom Highmore, Tom Graham, and Josh Green are the rest of the leadership group. Hard to judge these things from the outside, but it looks like a good group. Hird's onfield leadership has been obvious, so he seems like a clear choice for the captaincy. When he signed with us I wasn't even sure he'd be best 23, since about all he had going for him at Essendon was endurance and work rate, but his improvement each season since then has been remarkable. And Graham's promotion into the leadership group seems well deserved considering how he held the backline together after Highmore's injury.
Agreed Spiny Norman, a good group. Kain Baldwin is probably the only surprise for me.
I'm hoping that dormant vflfooty poster StationHotrl, might be live streaming at least one of the practice matches to get a look at how the group is coming together.
The re-signing announcement mentioned that Baldwin attended all the training sessions to work with the coaches on developing the younger players during his injury rehab - he must have impressed with his leadership then. Hope he can stay on the park this season - he's been very injury prone his whole career and might well still be on an AFL list if it weren't for all the injuries.
Livestreams of the practice matches would be great - the one on 20th February will be at 7:30 am for me, so I'll definitely watch that one if there's a livestream.
Archie Lazzaro was tagged as being one of the players present in a recent facebook post - not sure if that's enough evidence to add him to the list of re-signings in the other thread, but it does make it seem likely that he's re-signed. If so that leaves 4 list spots unaccounted for. Last year when he signed he was listed as a 193 cm mid/forward.
Made a couple of updates to the list changes thread. Archie Lazzaro being tagged as present in a training post seems like pretty good evidence he's re-signed, so I added him. And Lachy Wilson has already left to play a full season for Heidelberg, so I removed him from the list of recruits. That is disappointing, particularly with the need to replace Hooper and Charlie Lazzaro in the midfield, as on paper anyway he looked to be one of our top recruits. Right now only 3 recruits have consistent experience at state league or higher (Sestan and Lugsdin in the VFL and Hobbs in the AFL). [Edit: it occurs to me that this is only the case looking at the past year; there are some who played mostly local footy last season but mostly VFL in a season prior to that.]
So we're at 30 confirmed re-signings, 9 confirmed new recruits, 10 confirmed departures, and 5 list spots not known to be filled.
It does seem like there's a good chance that Baldwin is the first to be appointed vice-captain without playing a competitive game for the club (aside from whoever held the position when the club was founded, I suppose). I wondered if it might have happened after one of the league recesses during the world wars, but it wasn't the case in 1918 or 1945 at any rate. It is a bit concerning to have appointed a vice-captain who hasn't been able to play yet, but hopefully he'll stay on the park this season.
It is concerning re the vice captaincy, theirs a heap of concerns at present more so then any other time that I can remember. The fact that a young top recruit who could put himself on the afl radar by playing for us has now rejected us to play in a lesser league is both a concern that we've lost a top player but also a sad reflection of the state we're in, their was once a time when we were a destination club that players wanted to plsy for a powerhouse was the term often used, a term nobody woukd use in this era. When McCartney and Hird were appointed many thought we woukd enter a new era, a era of attracting a great squad with great players retention, unfortunately it seems finances have put a huge dent in those plans whilst recruitment has been ok retaining players hasnt. Never thought ild see the day when we are merely making up the numbers and without the Rex to bring in $$$ it appears we will be doing so for a long while yet.
Often hear around the club good sides take time to build (whilst I don't agree) how can you build when players don't stick around? If we can't get it right during times of record sponsorship and membership numbers I fear we will never return to the days of being a real force.
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
The squad has been named for the practice game against St Kilda. There's not a lot of new information about who's on the list. The two names not on the list I've kept are White and Withers. White seems likely to be Malachi White, who was on our list last year and played one game for us; this White is wearing the same number Malachi White did. Withers must be a new signing, but the last name by itself isn't enough for me to figure out who he is (google suggests various soccer players and of course Bob Withers, who is 92). Does anyone here know?
That brings us to 41 list spots confirmed and 3 list spots remaining.
Josh Chatfield and James Lugsdin are the only two confirmed new recruits who aren't playing. Surprised not to see Clarke, Manton, and Green named; would probably have expected to see Lloyd as well. Hope none of them are injured; could just be a question of getting a look at other players.
Well, I would say that good sides often take time to build, but you're right, Mega, that there's not much sense in having that discussion when we're losing key players. Our ruck stocks seem to consist of Sam Grant and Flynn Penry, which is not enough - even if they were the best rucks in the comp we'd need others as injury insurance. Josh Tovey reportedly has some experience as a backup ruck in local footy, although he's apparently played mainly as a midfielder. I checked last season's stats to see if anyone still on our list other than Sam Grant won a hitout for us last season - James Van Es, Josh Green, Tom Highmore, Archi Manton, and Paddy Farrant all recorded one hitout each for the season. (So did Jack Boyd - don't know if he's still on the list or not, but honestly would be surprised if so.)
Will be interesting to see if Tom Highmore actually plays up forward. Van Es being named forward is no surprise since McCartney was playing him there a bit late last season. As for Highmore - well, I have a generally positive impression of McCartney's coaching, but I do wonder why he keeps looking at one of the best defenders in the comp and deciding to play him in positions other than defence! Granted, we are rather desperate for key forwards and the defence held up well without him last season. Still, Baldwin struck me as a more likely candidate to go up forward, but admittedly I haven't seen him since last preseason.
Nice article by Paul Amy about Tom Hird. Hope he does stick with the club long-term. Would be deserving of a spot in this year's VFL representative side for the game against the SANFL.
NorthPort mentioned Ned Hawkins' re-signing back on page 2, so he's included in the count of 39, with 5 spots remaining. I believe I've got all the VFL players whose signings/re-signings have been officially announced, plus Dom Bedendo, and I've cross-checked that with the list we've been keeping here, so everyone mentioned in this thread as having signed should be counted. I'll see if I have time in the next few days to compile a list all in one place. But considering that Bedendo's re-signing hasn't been officially announced yet, I'm not sure that we really do have 5 spots remaining - wouldn't surprise me if there are others who have signed/re-signed who haven't been announced. Last season there were some new recruits who didn't get announced until March despite having apparently been signed earlier.
Yes, that is very true that Heppell leaving Port was the right decision given his position at Collingwood - not sure why it took so long for the decision to be made but in any case it has been made.
I do wonder how many big names would be available for the positions we most need. Tall players recently delisted from AFL sides seem to be largely accounted for, and I'm not sure how much the recent tall AFL retirees would have left in them. Hadn't mentioned it since I wasn't sure of the etiquette of poaching Preston players, especially when some hope remained of the club re-forming, but I'd thought if we were going to try for any of their players, Will Elliott and John Jorgensen would be worth a look - but Elliott ended up at Werribee and Jorgensen is playing in the Wimmera league, which to me looks far enough from Melbourne that I expect he's left the VFL.
I woukd have also.liked Valisaris - great player.
To be honest I was getting my players mixed up - I thought it was hawkins that we has a question mark over but it was cahill as a result of this I'm.goinf to take a long break from drinking ouzo- gosh it's gunna be the hardest hour of my life.
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
Oh, yeah, we have/had a lot of repeated first names in the playing group... wondered if the wrong player ever comes off for an interchange upon hearing "his" name called, but that never happened that I saw... although in the Collingwood game in the last round there was a moment when James Hird twice called for "Hirdy" to come off and then was obliged to tell his son that he meant Greeny (whose knee he evidently wanted the trainers to look at)! (And that was the only time in a game that I even heard him call Tom Hirdy rather than Tom, and I was usually near the interchange bench.) Next season we could in theory play three Toms (plus a Dom), four Joshes, two Jacks, two Jameses, two Lachies, and two Matts! Made the new thread anyway since it seems like a good idea to have all the information in one place. Yes, Velissaris would have been a good pickup as well.
Our leadership group for next season has been announced: Tom Hird is captain, Kaine Baldwin is vice-captain, and Tom Highmore, Tom Graham, and Josh Green are the rest of the leadership group. Hard to judge these things from the outside, but it looks like a good group. Hird's onfield leadership has been obvious, so he seems like a clear choice for the captaincy. When he signed with us I wasn't even sure he'd be best 23, since about all he had going for him at Essendon was endurance and work rate, but his improvement each season since then has been remarkable. And Graham's promotion into the leadership group seems well deserved considering how he held the backline together after Highmore's injury.
Agreed Spiny Norman, a good group. Kain Baldwin is probably the only surprise for me.
I'm hoping that dormant vflfooty poster StationHotrl, might be live streaming at least one of the practice matches to get a look at how the group is coming together.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
The re-signing announcement mentioned that Baldwin attended all the training sessions to work with the coaches on developing the younger players during his injury rehab - he must have impressed with his leadership then. Hope he can stay on the park this season - he's been very injury prone his whole career and might well still be on an AFL list if it weren't for all the injuries.
Livestreams of the practice matches would be great - the one on 20th February will be at 7:30 am for me, so I'll definitely watch that one if there's a livestream.
Archie Lazzaro was tagged as being one of the players present in a recent facebook post - not sure if that's enough evidence to add him to the list of re-signings in the other thread, but it does make it seem likely that he's re-signed. If so that leaves 4 list spots unaccounted for. Last year when he signed he was listed as a 193 cm mid/forward.
Baldwin is the first vice captain i can remember who has been given the title without playing a competitive game. Could be the.first in club history?
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
Made a couple of updates to the list changes thread. Archie Lazzaro being tagged as present in a training post seems like pretty good evidence he's re-signed, so I added him. And Lachy Wilson has already left to play a full season for Heidelberg, so I removed him from the list of recruits. That is disappointing, particularly with the need to replace Hooper and Charlie Lazzaro in the midfield, as on paper anyway he looked to be one of our top recruits. Right now only 3 recruits have consistent experience at state league or higher (Sestan and Lugsdin in the VFL and Hobbs in the AFL). [Edit: it occurs to me that this is only the case looking at the past year; there are some who played mostly local footy last season but mostly VFL in a season prior to that.]
So we're at 30 confirmed re-signings, 9 confirmed new recruits, 10 confirmed departures, and 5 list spots not known to be filled.
It does seem like there's a good chance that Baldwin is the first to be appointed vice-captain without playing a competitive game for the club (aside from whoever held the position when the club was founded, I suppose). I wondered if it might have happened after one of the league recesses during the world wars, but it wasn't the case in 1918 or 1945 at any rate. It is a bit concerning to have appointed a vice-captain who hasn't been able to play yet, but hopefully he'll stay on the park this season.
It is concerning re the vice captaincy, theirs a heap of concerns at present more so then any other time that I can remember. The fact that a young top recruit who could put himself on the afl radar by playing for us has now rejected us to play in a lesser league is both a concern that we've lost a top player but also a sad reflection of the state we're in, their was once a time when we were a destination club that players wanted to plsy for a powerhouse was the term often used, a term nobody woukd use in this era. When McCartney and Hird were appointed many thought we woukd enter a new era, a era of attracting a great squad with great players retention, unfortunately it seems finances have put a huge dent in those plans whilst recruitment has been ok retaining players hasnt. Never thought ild see the day when we are merely making up the numbers and without the Rex to bring in $$$ it appears we will be doing so for a long while yet.
Often hear around the club good sides take time to build (whilst I don't agree) how can you build when players don't stick around? If we can't get it right during times of record sponsorship and membership numbers I fear we will never return to the days of being a real force.
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
The squad has been named for the practice game against St Kilda. There's not a lot of new information about who's on the list. The two names not on the list I've kept are White and Withers. White seems likely to be Malachi White, who was on our list last year and played one game for us; this White is wearing the same number Malachi White did. Withers must be a new signing, but the last name by itself isn't enough for me to figure out who he is (google suggests various soccer players and of course Bob Withers, who is 92). Does anyone here know?
That brings us to 41 list spots confirmed and 3 list spots remaining.
Josh Chatfield and James Lugsdin are the only two confirmed new recruits who aren't playing. Surprised not to see Clarke, Manton, and Green named; would probably have expected to see Lloyd as well. Hope none of them are injured; could just be a question of getting a look at other players.
Well, I would say that good sides often take time to build, but you're right, Mega, that there's not much sense in having that discussion when we're losing key players. Our ruck stocks seem to consist of Sam Grant and Flynn Penry, which is not enough - even if they were the best rucks in the comp we'd need others as injury insurance. Josh Tovey reportedly has some experience as a backup ruck in local footy, although he's apparently played mainly as a midfielder. I checked last season's stats to see if anyone still on our list other than Sam Grant won a hitout for us last season - James Van Es, Josh Green, Tom Highmore, Archi Manton, and Paddy Farrant all recorded one hitout each for the season. (So did Jack Boyd - don't know if he's still on the list or not, but honestly would be surprised if so.)
Will be interesting to see if Tom Highmore actually plays up forward. Van Es being named forward is no surprise since McCartney was playing him there a bit late last season. As for Highmore - well, I have a generally positive impression of McCartney's coaching, but I do wonder why he keeps looking at one of the best defenders in the comp and deciding to play him in positions other than defence! Granted, we are rather desperate for key forwards and the defence held up well without him last season. Still, Baldwin struck me as a more likely candidate to go up forward, but admittedly I haven't seen him since last preseason.
Nice article by Paul Amy about Tom Hird. Hope he does stick with the club long-term. Would be deserving of a spot in this year's VFL representative side for the game against the SANFL.
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