There are 10 names in this week's practice match squad not accounted for on the list I've been keeping, so they must indeed be (mostly) players who are still trialling with us rather than signings - those names are Blake, Connell-Tobin, Daley, Jackson-Leahy, McInerney, McMillan, Roe, Snooks, Ward, Withers. (I'm still inclined to think that White is Malachi White and that he re-signed; leaving him on the list in the other thread and removing Withers gets us to exactly 5 spots left.) With Penry not named this game should provide some information on who else is being considered as a backup ruck.
The latest article on Port Melbourne's website lists Charlie Connell-Tobin as a new signing and describes him as a forward. Assuming he's the one who played for Old Carey in the VAFA last year (likely, as he's the only Charlie Connell-Tobin who comes up as playing footy in a google search), his goals to games ratio suggests that he has not been playing as a forward, and I found one article from a couple years ago describing him as a defender, but the club may have a positional change in mind. I also found a reference to him being 184 cm.
Have final lists been lodged? I saw a tweet from Paul Amy that made it sound like lists were lodged this past Thursday, but I don't have a subscription to read the article. That would be before our practice match against Essendon, but if all the players named to that squad were on our list, that would imply a list of 50 [edit: originally wrote 49 but had miscounted], unless other players announced as (re-)signings have since left - or, of course, unless some of them have changed their names! An article about Tasmania from October 2025 gives list sizes as 30 players plus 14 development players, so it sounds like lists are still capped at 44.
Well.the practice matches are done and dusted and although I've always said not to look too much into them the results have been somewhat surprising (at least for me) and suggest like last season we will be competitive for the most part. The result of the first game v hawthorn is as encouraging as the st kilda game - up by 5 goals in thd last against a side whose expected to be very good. I strongly believe we will get off to a good start next weekend with a win but highly important to win the first two to build moral and belief for the season, a 2-0 start wouldn't be overly surprising with I believe the tough one being v Tas away infrint of a big crowd (for some players it'll be the biggest crowd theve played in front of). Wonder what others think about how this season will go for the Borough
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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!!!
I'm not placing too much stock in the result of the Essendon game as what I've read from Essendon supporters is that they were fielding a very weak side especially in defence, although we weren't fielding our strongest side either. Not sure what to make of the game against Box Hill - what changed in the last quarter when we gave up 6.6 and were overrun? It is somewhat encouraging that we kicked more goals than behinds in every practice game, although you, Mega, and NorthPort both reported that we had more inside 50s than Williamstown and still lost to them.
Agreed that we should win the first game and have a decent chance in the second. I am concerned that we seem to be going into the season with only 2 rucks on our list, which is too few even if they were among the top rucks in the comp. I'm really not entirely sure what to expect from this season. Assuming a good run with injuries and continued goalkicking accuracy, we could make it to the wildcard round, but I expected that last season as well.
Comparing this year's side to last year's: If the Highmore to forward move works out perhaps our forward lines will improve despite the lack of key forward recruits. I've made a mental note to either retract or reiterate my scepticism of the Highmore-as-forward move at midseason, when we should have a good basis for judging whether he'd be more needed in defence. For the moment I'll concede that the loss of Miller does justify experiments like moving a top defender out of defence, and the defence did stand up without him last year, so moving him is worth a try. The midfield does look decently promising despite the losses of Hooper, Lazzaro, and Heppell (Heppell might not have had a lot of midfield time anyway since as you noted earlier he was slowing down). I expect some inconsistency there, though, as we'll have some players there who are new to either the team or the role. With the recruitment of Downie we should be stronger on the wings this season. And the defence should be stronger as long as Baldwin's field kicking has improved since last year's practice matches and as long as he stays fit. The big area of weakness is the ruck position, and if Grant gets injured that will be a real mess. So there are grounds for optimism that this season will be better - but after we beat North last year I was sure we'd make finals, so I hesitate to be optimistic without seeing how consistent we actually are week to week.
Do all developmental players count toward the list of 44? Assuming not as otherwise the numbers don't seem to work out, but although it seems like it should be very easy to find an answer to this question online, all I've found is that the list of 44 contains 30 primary list players and 14 developmental players.
Not to discredit Allesios 6 goal effort but that now makes sense as to his positive performance- I was thinking it was a case of perhaps quick development and that we may have a league leading full forward in the making but it appears more likely (by what youve read spiny) a case of playing v weaker defence than he will usually face in the season. This is not all bad though - I remember the great Johny Warren once saying that for a teams confidence they would play games v weaker opposition which would be confidence building especially for the strikers (forwards in footy) who would get their name on the score sheet,
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!!!
Yeah, agreed. Hopefully it did boost Alessio's confidence, but while he may have something I expect it'll be a while before he puts up a performance like that against a good defence. It will be interesting to see who's in the side for round 1 after the preseason experiments with different forward and midfield mixes. Looking forward to the start of the season!
Who would you go with as your key forward and not to sound negative but agreed with your prediction. I tend to think Farrant has great potential as a key forward, strong and a good mark.
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!!!
Yeah, I'd say Farrant and Highmore as the round 1 key forwards, although on further reflection it looks like Rudd has been named in all the practice matches, so perhaps the coaches have him ahead of Farrant. Hard to make a call between Rudd and Farrant without having seen the games. Can't imagine leaving Highmore out of the side, though, and it sounds like having him up forward worked in the preseason games, so it would make sense to play him there for round 1. My thought had previously been to leave Highmore in defence and swing Baldwin forward, but that's evidently not how they've trained and I will suppose the coaches know what they're doing!
Great day for.the comp.at Sandringham today, both clubs I feel would be somewhat happy with today, Port.for the win which is our first round 1 win since 2017 wil(ruth be told perhaps should have won by a couple.more had it not been for bad decision making) and Sandringham for running a great day infront of a great crowd. Should this.home.ground following continue.then I feel they won't have much to.worry about - biggest crowd I've ever seen at that ground (live). Well done Sandy - the Zebras are back!
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!!!
I've finally had a chance to watch the game - very pleased to see that we got the win and were able to make adjustments late when Sandy were finishing strong. I was concerned that we were going too defensive too early, but the team adjusted and was able to attack successfully again. Sandy did make some rather bizarre mistakes in their own forward 50 that perhaps let us off a bit, but then again we had some odd mistakes up forward as well. Overall it was a solid all-round team performance with some really great passages of play. Tassie look to be a tougher opponent, but the round 1 win should give us some confidence.
Very pleased with the new recruits, particularly Hobbs, Tovey, and Sestan. Charlie Clarke rotating between midfield and forward worked very well - I'd have him or Hobbs as best on. Sam Grant's ruck performance was good also. Good to see Bedendo continuing his form from last season. Hird's kicking efficiency was pretty good; he didn't get quite as much of the ball as he sometimes does, but when he did get it something good usually happened. Van Es's ability to play in either defence or attack will be valuable. He was responsible for some of the worst plays of the game but also some of the best, and on the bright side, a lot of the mistakes he made are ones I wouldn't expect him to repeat.
I was surprised to not be as pleased with the defence as I expected - they did do enough but will want to tighten up to face Tassie. Sestan was good, and Sparkman had some good moments at halfback. I continue to like Baldwin's attack on the footy but not his disposal - that may seem overly critical of a player who's just come back from a bad run with injury, but my concern about his disposal dates back to last year's preseason games. But he does attack the ball hard.
Some very exciting plays from Roy George, as you mentioned in the other thread, NorthPort (wasn't sure which thread to put this comment in). Polkinghorne's forward craft has noticeably improved since last season even though he was quiet in the second half - did have some good plays in the last quarter though. Max Rider was very quiet early, but it was good to see him work his way into the game enough to finish with two goals.
Looks like there will be two forced changes for next week with the Johnston injury and the Hobbs suspension. Watching the recording I didn't see the strike and the commentators didn't mention it - can anyone who was there say if there was really much in it?
I'd say no changes for next week aside from replacing Johnston and Hobbs. For replacing Johnston I would guess that either Farrant comes in and Highmore or Van Es moves to defence, or else Gahan comes in and Highmore and Van Es stay up forward. To replace Hobbs perhaps Rankin comes into the midfield and someone else comes in at halfback - not sure who.
Pleased to see also that the team seems to have adjusted already to the lasso free kick rule. Based on last season's games I was expecting to see several last disposal free kicks paid - that isn't even particularly specific to Port Melbourne; I was expecting that to be paid a few times in pretty much every game. Frankly I wasn't pleased with the introduction of last disposal out of bounds between the arcs, and if insufficient intent had to be changed I would rather have gone back to the old deliberate rule. But it looks like they've made the necessary adjustments, as I don't think there was a single last disposal free kick paid in this game. We will want to keep working on not giving away high tackle free kicks, though.
There are 10 names in this week's practice match squad not accounted for on the list I've been keeping, so they must indeed be (mostly) players who are still trialling with us rather than signings - those names are Blake, Connell-Tobin, Daley, Jackson-Leahy, McInerney, McMillan, Roe, Snooks, Ward, Withers. (I'm still inclined to think that White is Malachi White and that he re-signed; leaving him on the list in the other thread and removing Withers gets us to exactly 5 spots left.) With Penry not named this game should provide some information on who else is being considered as a backup ruck.
The latest article on Port Melbourne's website lists Charlie Connell-Tobin as a new signing and describes him as a forward. Assuming he's the one who played for Old Carey in the VAFA last year (likely, as he's the only Charlie Connell-Tobin who comes up as playing footy in a google search), his goals to games ratio suggests that he has not been playing as a forward, and I found one article from a couple years ago describing him as a defender, but the club may have a positional change in mind. I also found a reference to him being 184 cm.
Have final lists been lodged? I saw a tweet from Paul Amy that made it sound like lists were lodged this past Thursday, but I don't have a subscription to read the article. That would be before our practice match against Essendon, but if all the players named to that squad were on our list, that would imply a list of 50 [edit: originally wrote 49 but had miscounted], unless other players announced as (re-)signings have since left - or, of course, unless some of them have changed their names! An article about Tasmania from October 2025 gives list sizes as 30 players plus 14 development players, so it sounds like lists are still capped at 44.
Well.the practice matches are done and dusted and although I've always said not to look too much into them the results have been somewhat surprising (at least for me) and suggest like last season we will be competitive for the most part. The result of the first game v hawthorn is as encouraging as the st kilda game - up by 5 goals in thd last against a side whose expected to be very good. I strongly believe we will get off to a good start next weekend with a win but highly important to win the first two to build moral and belief for the season, a 2-0 start wouldn't be overly surprising with I believe the tough one being v Tas away infrint of a big crowd (for some players it'll be the biggest crowd theve played in front of). Wonder what others think about how this season will go for the Borough
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!!!
I'm not placing too much stock in the result of the Essendon game as what I've read from Essendon supporters is that they were fielding a very weak side especially in defence, although we weren't fielding our strongest side either. Not sure what to make of the game against Box Hill - what changed in the last quarter when we gave up 6.6 and were overrun? It is somewhat encouraging that we kicked more goals than behinds in every practice game, although you, Mega, and NorthPort both reported that we had more inside 50s than Williamstown and still lost to them.
Agreed that we should win the first game and have a decent chance in the second. I am concerned that we seem to be going into the season with only 2 rucks on our list, which is too few even if they were among the top rucks in the comp. I'm really not entirely sure what to expect from this season. Assuming a good run with injuries and continued goalkicking accuracy, we could make it to the wildcard round, but I expected that last season as well.
Comparing this year's side to last year's: If the Highmore to forward move works out perhaps our forward lines will improve despite the lack of key forward recruits. I've made a mental note to either retract or reiterate my scepticism of the Highmore-as-forward move at midseason, when we should have a good basis for judging whether he'd be more needed in defence. For the moment I'll concede that the loss of Miller does justify experiments like moving a top defender out of defence, and the defence did stand up without him last year, so moving him is worth a try. The midfield does look decently promising despite the losses of Hooper, Lazzaro, and Heppell (Heppell might not have had a lot of midfield time anyway since as you noted earlier he was slowing down). I expect some inconsistency there, though, as we'll have some players there who are new to either the team or the role. With the recruitment of Downie we should be stronger on the wings this season. And the defence should be stronger as long as Baldwin's field kicking has improved since last year's practice matches and as long as he stays fit. The big area of weakness is the ruck position, and if Grant gets injured that will be a real mess. So there are grounds for optimism that this season will be better - but after we beat North last year I was sure we'd make finals, so I hesitate to be optimistic without seeing how consistent we actually are week to week.
Do all developmental players count toward the list of 44? Assuming not as otherwise the numbers don't seem to work out, but although it seems like it should be very easy to find an answer to this question online, all I've found is that the list of 44 contains 30 primary list players and 14 developmental players.
Not to discredit Allesios 6 goal effort but that now makes sense as to his positive performance- I was thinking it was a case of perhaps quick development and that we may have a league leading full forward in the making but it appears more likely (by what youve read spiny) a case of playing v weaker defence than he will usually face in the season. This is not all bad though - I remember the great Johny Warren once saying that for a teams confidence they would play games v weaker opposition which would be confidence building especially for the strikers (forwards in footy) who would get their name on the score sheet,
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!!!
Yeah, agreed. Hopefully it did boost Alessio's confidence, but while he may have something I expect it'll be a while before he puts up a performance like that against a good defence. It will be interesting to see who's in the side for round 1 after the preseason experiments with different forward and midfield mixes. Looking forward to the start of the season!
Who would you go with as your key forward and not to sound negative but agreed with your prediction. I tend to think Farrant has great potential as a key forward, strong and a good mark.
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!!!
Yeah, I'd say Farrant and Highmore as the round 1 key forwards, although on further reflection it looks like Rudd has been named in all the practice matches, so perhaps the coaches have him ahead of Farrant. Hard to make a call between Rudd and Farrant without having seen the games. Can't imagine leaving Highmore out of the side, though, and it sounds like having him up forward worked in the preseason games, so it would make sense to play him there for round 1. My thought had previously been to leave Highmore in defence and swing Baldwin forward, but that's evidently not how they've trained and I will suppose the coaches know what they're doing!
Great day for.the comp.at Sandringham today, both clubs I feel would be somewhat happy with today, Port.for the win which is our first round 1 win since 2017 wil(ruth be told perhaps should have won by a couple.more had it not been for bad decision making) and Sandringham for running a great day infront of a great crowd. Should this.home.ground following continue.then I feel they won't have much to.worry about - biggest crowd I've ever seen at that ground (live). Well done Sandy - the Zebras are back!
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!!!
I've finally had a chance to watch the game - very pleased to see that we got the win and were able to make adjustments late when Sandy were finishing strong. I was concerned that we were going too defensive too early, but the team adjusted and was able to attack successfully again. Sandy did make some rather bizarre mistakes in their own forward 50 that perhaps let us off a bit, but then again we had some odd mistakes up forward as well. Overall it was a solid all-round team performance with some really great passages of play. Tassie look to be a tougher opponent, but the round 1 win should give us some confidence.
Very pleased with the new recruits, particularly Hobbs, Tovey, and Sestan. Charlie Clarke rotating between midfield and forward worked very well - I'd have him or Hobbs as best on. Sam Grant's ruck performance was good also. Good to see Bedendo continuing his form from last season. Hird's kicking efficiency was pretty good; he didn't get quite as much of the ball as he sometimes does, but when he did get it something good usually happened. Van Es's ability to play in either defence or attack will be valuable. He was responsible for some of the worst plays of the game but also some of the best, and on the bright side, a lot of the mistakes he made are ones I wouldn't expect him to repeat.
I was surprised to not be as pleased with the defence as I expected - they did do enough but will want to tighten up to face Tassie. Sestan was good, and Sparkman had some good moments at halfback. I continue to like Baldwin's attack on the footy but not his disposal - that may seem overly critical of a player who's just come back from a bad run with injury, but my concern about his disposal dates back to last year's preseason games. But he does attack the ball hard.
Some very exciting plays from Roy George, as you mentioned in the other thread, NorthPort (wasn't sure which thread to put this comment in). Polkinghorne's forward craft has noticeably improved since last season even though he was quiet in the second half - did have some good plays in the last quarter though. Max Rider was very quiet early, but it was good to see him work his way into the game enough to finish with two goals.
Looks like there will be two forced changes for next week with the Johnston injury and the Hobbs suspension. Watching the recording I didn't see the strike and the commentators didn't mention it - can anyone who was there say if there was really much in it?
I'd say no changes for next week aside from replacing Johnston and Hobbs. For replacing Johnston I would guess that either Farrant comes in and Highmore or Van Es moves to defence, or else Gahan comes in and Highmore and Van Es stay up forward. To replace Hobbs perhaps Rankin comes into the midfield and someone else comes in at halfback - not sure who.
Pleased to see also that the team seems to have adjusted already to the lasso free kick rule. Based on last season's games I was expecting to see several last disposal free kicks paid - that isn't even particularly specific to Port Melbourne; I was expecting that to be paid a few times in pretty much every game. Frankly I wasn't pleased with the introduction of last disposal out of bounds between the arcs, and if insufficient intent had to be changed I would rather have gone back to the old deliberate rule. But it looks like they've made the necessary adjustments, as I don't think there was a single last disposal free kick paid in this game. We will want to keep working on not giving away high tackle free kicks, though.
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