What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

[GVGjr]

We have just come off a very hard season in 2012 so it's time for a bit more of an upbeat discussion about the 2013 season and what you are looking forward to the most.

For me it's about the development of the younger players especially Luke Dahlhaus, Mitch Wallis Tom Liberatore, Christian Howard and Clay Smith.

Dahlhaus has been an exciting small forward who has certainly applied a lot of defensive pressure to his opponents and given the forward line some much need pace.
Is 2013 the season to see him move more into the midfield rotation and provide us with more dash and spark?

Wallis made great strides in 2012 and lifted his game. If he is capable of taking another step forward in 2013 then he will really be a great player for us.

We all know that Liberatore hit a significant bump in the road in 2012 and it will be interesting to see how he responds to the challenge ahead. I think he can turn this into a positive.

Howard has some similar challenges to Liberatore and it's time for him to stand up and deliver on his talents. Throughout the 2012 some good performances were often backed up by some poor ones and I'm hoping that he can close the gap between and minimise some of the poorer efforts.

Clay Smith has to benefit from a 2nd pre-season and if we can improve his kicking then he will be a very valuable player for us.

Who excites you the most for next season?

[ledge]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

Clay Smith bigtime after hearing about his Pre season last year and what he did,this kid is going to be awesome.
Looking forward to Koby at 21 is ripe to bring more hardness.
I am seriously looking forward to see a bunch of kids who just love to hit hard and go in start to make teams think wow what's this club doing!

[westdog54]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

Personally I can't wait to see what level Dahlhaus can get to in the next couple of years. What he's been able to do with 2 years in the system is fantastic. Imagine what he'll be able to bring to the table as a 50-100 game player.

I'm keen to see a fitter, wiser Clay Smith running around as well. I think he'll be something special. Scott West's kicking wasn't flash either IIRC.

[Maddog37]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

For me it is all about being competitive and sneaking a few upset wins.

Individually I have fingers, toes etc all crossed that Ayce steps up a level.

[GVGjr]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

For me it is all about being competitive and sneaking a few upset wins.

Individually I have fingers, toes etc all crossed that Ayce steps up a level.

Love it. I hope he does step up.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

There's a few on my list:

Clay Smith with another pre-season under his belt should be an interesting proposition. He had a very solid second half of 2012 but did run out of steam in the second half of games which is understandable. As has been mentioned, if he can improve his kicking, he will be a really good player. He's very combative; he'll charge through two opponents, break another in the process, and set up a goal through ridiculous aggression and persistence. I really like what he brings to the table and whilst he's another 3 years off being an absolute beast, his progress will be interesting in 2012.

Another one for mine is Jason Johanssen who I was quite impressed with in his few AFL games in 2012. He moves really well; knows when to put in a quick step, when to side step, when to compose himself. He's also got everything we need; pace, run & carry and skill.

I'll be looking at Liam Jones to bounce back after a horrible 2012. He has a lot of areas he needs to improve in, but has a nice set of attributes to build upon. Hopefully he can add a little more size too.

As mentioned, it will be good to see how Libba responds along with Dahlhaus and another year in the system.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

For me it's about seeing who our regular back 6 shapes up to be by season's end.
With Lake gone, and as per the coach's words, Roughead can expect (all things being equal) to be given a solid run at fullback.

It will be interesting to see how a relatively inexperienced back 6 holds up.
We can expect the likes of Markovic, Talia, Roberts, Wood, to see considerable game time down there.

How much Morris can contribute after such a shocking injury is another variable, as well as whether Williams, Addison and Murph are positioned predominantly up forward or down back.
We may also see Young, Jong, Pearce and possibly Austin get further experience down back also.

It was obvious our forward line was aenemic last year, and was our achilles heel. I am hopeful we will see some improvement there next season. For 2013 I think our backline looms as a potential danger for us, given the paucity of experience of the unit has a whole.

I'm not yet sold on Roughy as the answer down back and in an ideal world I would like to see him given the chance to focus on his ruckword. However it's fairly obvious that with Lake's departure he is going to be needed down back, for a large part of the season anyway.

So overall I am looking forward to seeing who amongst these guys stands up and takes their opportunity, and also who struggles with the extra burden that will come with not having an experienced dual AA defender along side them.

[LostDoggy]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

I'am not hard to please, just improvement is all I would like.

[always right]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

Many are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. I'll be satisfied if I see the tunnel.

[GVGjr]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

Many are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. I'll be satisfied if I see the tunnel.

Lets keep it in line with the opening post.

[always right]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

Lets keep it in line with the opening post.

Fine.

I'm looking forward to continued improvement from our young blokes. It's difficult when you don't know their ceiling.

I'm hoping we can get a stable big six to enable us play Murphy forward. He improves our forward line significantly and might provide a domino effect. I really want Grant to have a breakout year.

Would be extremely heartened if our draft picks could have an impact this year.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

I looking forward to see some of our team who are yet to show what they can really do, go to a new level: Jarrod Grant; Ayce Cordy; Liam Jones; Zeph Skinner and/or Pat Vezpremi. I want to see at least one game each from as many as possible of this lot to make their mark this season.
Also look forward to seeing:
- Tom Williams enjoy running amok at CHF, enjoying the chance to present and create as opposed to primarily negate at CHB;
- the McCartney influence and game plan paying dividends;
-Dale Morris continue his career and overcome his injury;
-Tory Dickson continue to snag goals;
-Fletcher Roberts winning a Rising Star nomination

[F'scary]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

From the first bounce of Round 1:

Jones & Cordy start holding all the big grabs. Suddenly, we have an invincible “twin tower” forward line. All year, the other teams have a massive headache finding defenders big enough to cope with these two sticky-fingered monsters. Their conversion rate is a steady 67% and both kick 40+ goals for the year playing deep.

Higgins & Dickson feast on everything that Jones & Cordy do not mark. They kick 50 goals between them for the season.

Grant, J leads everywhere on the forward line burning off tagger after tagger, taking 8+ marks a match from leads. Other teams cannot find someone who can go with him all game and cut off his leading marks. His conversion rate improves to 67% and he kicks 20 for the year.

Koby & Clay become an acclaimed defensive midfield double act teaming together all day to completely choke supply to the opposition's forward line.

Cooney's knee has been successfully treated and he plays to 90% of the standard he achieved in his great 2008 season.

Morris steps back into the ring as if he had never been away.

Howard, Addison & Wood all have consistent seasons of a high standard and can be relied upon to beat their opponents week in and week out.

Jong, Johannison, Talia, Cambell, Roberts & Pearce all build substantially on the promise they showed in 2012.

Skinner becomes the Nitro X-Bomb sub of the competition.

Roughead cleans up all year and is voted all Australian FB or CHB. The photo highlight of the season comes when he takes a massive specky over Brian Lake who has been moved into the Hawthorn forward line after failing at FB.

We finish the home & away season in the top 6 and Macca is voted coach of the year.

[ledge]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

From the first bounce of Round 1:

Jones & Cordy start holding all the big grabs. Suddenly, we have an invincible “twin tower” forward line. All year, the other teams have a massive headache finding defenders big enough to cope with these two sticky-fingered monsters. Their conversion rate is a steady 67% and both kick 40+ goals for the year playing deep.

Higgins & Dickson feast on everything that Jones & Cordy do not mark. They kick 50 goals between them for the season.

Grant, J leads everywhere on the forward line burning off tagger after tagger, taking 8+ marks a match from leads. Other teams cannot find someone who can go with him all game and cut off his leading marks. His conversion rate improves to 67% and he kicks 20 for the year.

Koby & Clay become an acclaimed defensive midfield double act teaming together all day to completely choke supply to the opposition's forward line.

Cooney's knee has been successfully treated and he plays to 90% of the standard he achieved in his great 2008 season.

Morris steps back into the ring as if he had never been away.

Howard, Addison & Wood all have consistent seasons of a high standard and can be relied upon to beat their opponents week in and week out.

Jong, Johannison, Talia, Cambell, Roberts & Pearce all build substantially on the promise they showed in 2012.

Skinner becomes the Nitro X-Bomb sub of the competition.

Roughead cleans up all year and is voted all Australian FB or CHB. The photo highlight of the season comes when he takes a massive specky over Brian Lake who has been moved into the Hawthorn forward line after failing at FB.

We finish the home & away season in the top 6 and Macca is voted coach of the year.

Haha love it

[westdog54]

Re: What are you looking forward to the most for the 2013 season?

From the first bounce of Round 1:

Jones & Cordy start holding all the big grabs. Suddenly, we have an invincible “twin tower” forward line. All year, the other teams have a massive headache finding defenders big enough to cope with these two sticky-fingered monsters. Their conversion rate is a steady 67% and both kick 40+ goals for the year playing deep.

Higgins & Dickson feast on everything that Jones & Cordy do not mark. They kick 50 goals between them for the season.

Grant, J leads everywhere on the forward line burning off tagger after tagger, taking 8+ marks a match from leads. Other teams cannot find someone who can go with him all game and cut off his leading marks. His conversion rate improves to 67% and he kicks 20 for the year.

Koby & Clay become an acclaimed defensive midfield double act teaming together all day to completely choke supply to the opposition's forward line.

Cooney's knee has been successfully treated and he plays to 90% of the standard he achieved in his great 2008 season.

Morris steps back into the ring as if he had never been away.

Howard, Addison & Wood all have consistent seasons of a high standard and can be relied upon to beat their opponents week in and week out.

Jong, Johannison, Talia, Cambell, Roberts & Pearce all build substantially on the promise they showed in 2012.

Skinner becomes the Nitro X-Bomb sub of the competition.

Roughead cleans up all year and is voted all Australian FB or CHB. The photo highlight of the season comes when he takes a massive specky over Brian Lake who has been moved into the Hawthorn forward line after failing at FB.

We finish the home & away season in the top 6 and Macca is voted coach of the year.

I don't know if you're being overly optimistic or you're being a touch facaetious but I loved reading it anyway.

Having said that, I'll bookmark this post for the last round of 2014. I reckon you'll have just about nailed it for then.