How soon do you reckon we will get the date set?
We will be back end of the window, so expect 10/11 August.
We have quite a few 1st team squad likely to be in France at least until 31 July. If by some fortune we make it through to the Olympic final we’d be fielding a somewhat under strength side in Melbourne.
The Olympics squad members - likely Payne, Sutton, LK-H, Conchie, OVH, Old, Surman - will have also had basically no off season break. You can't really expect them to just keep playing right through to October without say a 1 month spell, at some point. They might want to do a bit of European sightseeing, watch some other Olympic sports etc. Moot for Old & Surman anyways if they are leaving the Nix
Say yeah I'd expect a very weakened squad for this South Melbourne game, even if it is as late in the window as August 10th/11th. As always be a bugger to get knocked out of the Australia Cup early, as nothing beats competitive games in pre season. But there is a new ALM team up SH1 that would probably be happy to play couple of friendlies before the new season starts.