Good evening,

Sitting here tonight watching West Coast v Collingwood in the first of the NAB Cup games prompted me to pen a few words about the Bombers prospects in 2009.

Early injury signs were promising before yesterday's serious ankle injury to Andrew Welsh. I wish him a speedy recovery but he is a big loss. Also, best wishes to Brent Prismall for a speedy recovery from his knee reco.

My hope is for another strong year from our seasoned campaigners in Lloyd, Lucas, McPhee, McVeigh and Fletcher. Our mid level types need to continue to grow into leaders such as Watson, Stanton and Hille; and the youngsters in Lonergan, Myers, Pears, Monfries, Houli, Nash, Neagle and Ryder must start to provide discipline and structure. I really hope Lovett, Dempsey, Davey play with freedom and abandon and that Riemers 2009 boot colour doesn't distract us too much! Surprise packets and smokeys? Pre-season feedback on Bellchambers, Skipworth and Bock has been very promising. Best wishes to our high draft picks, especially Hurley and Zaharakis and is there any chance Gumbleton and Daniher can spend some quality time on the park? Concerns? Well I would be fibbing if I said I wasn't worried about the potential contributions from Dyson, Winderlich, Laycock and Lovett-Murray. I would be delighted if they proved me wrong.

I also expect significant improvement from the coaching staff. Particularly in their ability to work together, in devising strategies to win games we otherwise may have lost and to maintain overall team focus and competitiveness in the heat of battle (thereby maintaining a healthy percentage). And to be fair, our new off field development and conditioning staff need at least a year to prove themselves IMO so I'm sure so 2010 will tell us more about their contribution.

Therefore my 2009 ladder prediction is, sadly, around 9th - 10th. Nevertheless, go Bombers! Go hard or go home!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

PS - That is not an image of me at left. I have grown up a lot and matured in my attitude towards football and the evil forces that habitually conspire against us. Yes, really!