As I stated on the Thompson thread, I disagree with recruiting this type of player now. Our young players did well this year and will only get better. Rather than the Dal/Thompsons let's develop another younger player.

On 9/7/2016 at 7:54 AM, Bitter but optimistic said:

As I stated on the Thompson thread, I disagree with recruiting this type of player now. Our young players did well this year and will only get better. Rather than the Dal/Thompsons let's develop another younger player.

I do agree that an older guy like this does take the spot and potentially hinder the development of one of our young guys, but i also feel leadership is a huge issue we have that needs to be addressed, if Goody is talking to these guys he clearly feels we're totally lacking in on field leadership,

i suspect that'll be a big focus next year, trying to develop leadership so we don't drop games we should win

I'm not against it at all, but on the other hand, I won't lose any sleep if it's nothing more than a rumour.

10 hours ago, DemonLad5 said:

I'd prefer Boomer. Our midfield is very slow 

Boomer is very focused on himself only and does not offer any leadership

Hang on, aren't Dawes and Lumumba the experienced leaders we have been craving? No? Well lets add a few more broken down old hacks into the mix.

Dal Santo was done two years ago. I wouldn't touch him with a million foot pole.

Good ball skills but small willy.

The source for this is a fan site on Twitter, nothing to do with the official AFL

"Biggest account on Twitter for AFL Trade news. Bringing you all the latest reliable AFL trade news first, thanks to our inside, reliable sources"

From some of the tweets, whoever the author is reads Demonland and other fan sites

Dal Santo has always hit me as a very professional smart footballer who plays team footy.

I'd have him in for a year, as our picks in this year's draft are poor (no first or second round - if Hibberd deal on) so filling a spot with a known talent is clever. 

I do think we need to bring in some leadership, with Dunn, Garland and Dawes not being on the park. 

Just don't think Dal is it.

6 minutes ago, Mickey said:

I do think we need to bring in some leadership, with Dunn, Garland and Dawes not being on the park. 

Just don't think Dal is it.

We have leadership, 3 of them came 1st 2nd and 3rd in the B&F

Edited September 6, 20168 yr by Satyriconhome

BS.

Dal Santo is the kind of player we would have targeted during the Neeld era. Which would have been a questionable call even back then.

He is exactly the kind of player we don't need. A slow, soft and down-hill skiing midfielder. Yuck.

Cannot and will not for the life of me believe the rumour.

Edited September 6, 20168 yr by stevethemanjordan

6 minutes ago, poita said:

Hang on, aren't Dawes and Lumumba the experienced leaders we have been craving? No? Well lets add a few more broken down old hacks into the mix.

Dal Santo was done two years ago. I wouldn't touch him with a million foot pole.

Dawes- the person in Bernie's B&F speech thanked for how important he is to him and the playing group.

And H- whom Watts quoted when talking about learning to build a winning culture.

No doubt they'd agree their contribution on field has been crap, but they're more important than you're giving credit.

And Dal Santo feels more capable, he could add a lot.   Maybe with the youngest playing group, we don't need to load up on as many kids as possible...

10 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

We have leadership, 3 of them came 1st 2nd and 3rd in the B&F

Would have been handy if they  cranked up their leadership last couple of rounds and  against sure flogs like Essendon.

Edited September 6, 20168 yr by america de cali

For all those people who question Del Santo's pace, that is not why we are drafting him ffs.

Throughout the season we were top 3 or thereabouts  in contested possessions/clearances so it shows we get our hands on the footy first however our problem is using the footy wisely and this is where Nick comes into play as we need goid finishes our bollocking mids can and will feed it to.

6 minutes ago, thesleepinggiant said:

For all those people who question Del Santo's pace, that is not why we are drafting him ffs.

Throughout the season we were top 3 or thereabouts  in contested possessions/clearances so it shows we get our hands on the footy first however our problem is using the footy wisely and this is where Nick comes into play as we need goid finishes our bollocking mids can and will feed it to.

So true.  Only Oliver seems to have quickness  of mind and the skills to distribute the ball effectively.  And he is still learning.

Edited September 6, 20168 yr by america de cali

I'm all for this type of recruitment. 

I imagine at the end of the season we will be delisting/trading Terlich, Michie, Dawes, Grimes & Newton for certain.

We will likely bring in 2 or 3 drafted kids who will need time in the VFL. 

As an older player Dal Santo won't cost much in terms of money and as a delisted free agent won't cost us a pick. He will add experience and leadership while likely playing around 15-18 games for the season and adding further depth (definite upgrade on Terlich).

I think with the amount of youth on our list we can easily give up a spot to a mature age player with experience for a season.

21 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

BS.

Dal Santo is the kind of player we would have targeted during the Neeld era. Which would have been a questionable call even back then.

He is exactly the kind of player we don't need. A slow, soft and down-hill skiing midfielder. Yuck.

Cannot and will not for the life of me believe the rumour.

Yep, soft averaging a whole 0.3 contested possesions less then Vince this year. I assume you think Vince is soft also?

http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pp-melbourne-demons--bernie-vince?advv=Y

http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pp-kangaroos--nick-dal-santo?advv=Y

We need to get older and if getting a proven quantity in Dal Santo makes us older then fine.

I don't know about everyone else, but I got a bit sick of the club blaming every loss on inexperience and youth. We should've kept a really good AFL player in Cross (who was desperate to play on and averaged 31 touches in his final 2 games).

 

Edited September 6, 20168 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

1 hour ago, Ron Burgundy said:

Not sure if this rumour is true, but, if it is, I think it makes perfect sense.

I want to see us play finals next year, and we've repeatedly heard how young the side we've fielded each week has been, and how this has probably been the difference in certain games.

Has to be some short term room in our list for a quality player with a lot of experience right now.

Pretty confident GWS don't regret recruiting Stevie J.

Hope we land him.

 

Stevie J was still playing good footy at Geelong, Nicky Del is not, he's shot.

...so it doesn't make any sense to me.

7 minutes ago, rjay said:

Stevie J was still playing good footy at Geelong, Nicky Del is not, he's shot.

...so it doesn't make any sense to me.

 It was a win win for both clubs.  GWS improved and got a good experienced  player  and Geelong  also improved  and eased the pressure of  their aging list.

Edited September 6, 20168 yr by america de cali

ranked 47th this year across the league in disposals, shot you say?

Why would we want to bring in a player for 1 year?

 

16 minutes ago, rjay said:

Stevie J was still playing good footy at Geelong, Nicky Del is not, he's shot.

...so it doesn't make any sense to me.

Have you watched him this year?  No one denies he's past his best, but to say he's shot is just a plain incorrect statement. 

I hope it's just a case of you get him confused with Drew Petrie? 

 

6 minutes ago, stuie said:

Why would we want to bring in a player for 1 year?

 

If the rumor is true it could be 1 year with the option of a 2nd, just like Cross was.

If it is true i hope Salem sticks to him like glue to learn off, like Viney did with Cross.

1 minute ago, AngryAtCasey said:

If the rumor is true it could be 1 year with the option of a 2nd, just like Cross was.

If it is true i hope Salem sticks to him like glue to learn off, like Viney did with Cross.

To me, bringing in someone for likely just one year is the definition of a "list clogger". We're at a completely different stage now to what we were when we brought Cross in, surely.