On 11/11/2020 at 10:56 AM, Patches O’houlihan said:

Outside of massively overpaying in terms of a contract and pick for a half back flanker, Carlton are playing this quite well

Spoke too soon mate. Carlton just wasted everyone's time there.

Please just get Tom Phillips 

5 minutes ago, layzie said:

Please just get Tom Phillips 

Its not happening 

1 hour ago, spirit of norm smith said:

I thought the Dees really should have gone for Witherden from the Lions.  
Elite skills. Small defender.  That’s a gap for us.  Whilst some on here thought he was not gettable, ultimately the Eagles got him for a steal imv... Pick 58 and Future 3rd rd pick. I’d have give that up.  

when you see what phillips and witho went for you'd be spewin that u just gave hunt two years, and have ANB and AVB signed up

9 minutes ago, Turner said:

when you see what phillips and witho went for you'd be spewin that u just gave hunt two years, and have ANB and AVB signed up

Well we know that Phillips is on very good coin, and with the Lions paying a huge chunk of Witherden’s salary at the Weagles, i’d say that we couldn’t afford them, particulary with TMAC’s wage.

Edited November 12, 20204 yr by Demon Disciple

9 minutes ago, Demon Disciple said:

Well we know that Phillips is on very good coin, and with the Lions paying a huge chunk of Witherden’s salary at the Weagles, i’d say that we couldn’t afford them, particulary with TMAC’s wage.

u just said it yourself tho, the lions r paying a huge chunk so they coulda done the same for us. eyes on Cedric cox and narkle if they become delisted FA's

20 minutes ago, Turner said:

when you see what phillips and witho went for you'd be spewin that u just gave hunt two years, and have ANB and AVB signed up

Witherden crumbles under pressure. We have too many similar players already. Phillips would've been handy but I expect we couldn't move on Tommy and that ruled us out. If we wanted his contract to come down we would've had to pay up a decent pick.

Personally I like the longer term solution to our lack of run and skills by going to the draft. That's where you find guys who can run, kick and do it under pressure. Most of the guys up for trade are up for trade for a reason. 

3 minutes ago, Turner said:

u just said it yourself tho, the lions r paying a huge chunk so they coulda done the same for us. eyes on Cedric cox and narkle if they become delisted FA's

I'm not that keen on either of those players but delisted free agency is absolutely a market we should look closely at. They'll be value out there this year.

The trade period this year was as much about positioning ourselves for next year's trade/draft periods as it was about looking to improve our list for next season. I think there is a strong belief internally at the club that we have the list to do well next year as long as we do not have injury problems and that we can get some incremental improvement into some of the players. 

I expect us to play finals next year and would not be surprised to give it a good nudge. 

Our trading and our attitude to players wanting to move on is a strong indicator to all in the competition that we are a good place to ply your trade and expect this to be reflected during the next trade period.

On 10/28/2020 at 3:21 PM, adonski said:

I think it is interesting to note that when we talk about our bottom 4 or 5 players on match day, almost all of them play in the forward line. ANB, AVB, Jones, Hannan, maybe even Melksham this year. 

We keep talking about mid/forward connection, but it must be difficult when all of your weakest players on the field every week essentially play the same position.

Good to see the MFC agree 

Brown, Laurie, Bowey transform the forward line. Couldn't have done much better from an attacking point of view. 

3 hours ago, adonski said:

Good to see the MFC agree 

Brown, Laurie, Bowey transform the forward line. Couldn't have done much better from an attacking point of view. 

There's no doubt we needed half forward talent upgrades but these young guys are going to have about as much success as the Hannan and ANB's of the world if we don't fix the midfield. Our midfielders largely escape scrutiny if they rack up 25 touches but they're the ones butchering the ball. Laurie and Bowey need to get up in to the midfield too because they should help the skill level there.

We missed a chance to turnover the backline group a bit as well. Every year there's decent mature age defenders late in the draft. We didn't need top picks or big name trades, just a couple of handy young state league guys to improve the depth.

I was hoping to hear the first rumour of the year when I saw this thread was active

Does anyone have a list of RFA and FA in 2021?

Still reckon we’re short on outside run. Draftees may address this but if not then we may trade in. Josh Kelly is a free agent I think. A very good player if not quite the superstar he’s made out to be.

Could we finally land Kelly 7 years after we controversially traded the pick to GWS they used to select him?

Interesting tid bit from an article today on afl.com saying we were interested in Caldwell. I don't think I once heard us connected to him in the media which shows there's a lot going on in the background that never makes the news for whatever reason. I know a few of us on here were keen on the dees making a play for him.

"While the Giants lifted their offer to four years to keep Caldwell, the Bombers also had competition for him in Melbourne, with St Kilda also interested."

 

https://www.afl.com.au/news/549397/why-jye-chose-essendon-over-staying-a-giant

27 minutes ago, Nascent said:

Interesting tid bit from an article today on afl.com saying we were interested in Caldwell. I don't think I once heard us connected to him in the media which shows there's a lot going on in the background that never makes the news for whatever reason. I know a few of us on here were keen on the dees making a play for him.

"While the Giants lifted their offer to four years to keep Caldwell, the Bombers also had competition for him in Melbourne, with St Kilda also interested."

 

https://www.afl.com.au/news/549397/why-jye-chose-essendon-over-staying-a-giant

in Melbourne as in the city not the club

14 minutes ago, Grimes Times said:

in Melbourne as in the city not the club

Ah yes you're probably right actually. Ignore me.

On 10/28/2020 at 3:21 PM, adonski said:

I think it is interesting to note that when we talk about our bottom 4 or 5 players on match day, almost all of them play in the forward line. ANB, AVB, Jones, Hannan, maybe even Melksham this year. 

We keep talking about mid/forward connection, but it must be difficult when all of your weakest players on the field every week essentially play the same position.

I have a different take, High half forward is possibly the most difficult position to play. You have to rely on a lot of things happening up the field, you run to make position - get ignored 20x a match , have to defend and finish off with goals.

A half back flanker can take the play on and be more creative. They get more freedom to move. Particularly as their opponents move up the ground...

So it looks like they are our weakest players but so much has to go right for a half forward to get 20 touches in a game, let alone week in week out....

5 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

I have a different take, High half forward is possibly the most difficult position to play. You have to rely on a lot of things happening up the field, you run to make position - get ignored 20x a match , have to defend and finish off with goals.

A half back flanker can take the play on and be more creative. They get more freedom to move. Particularly as their opponents move up the ground...

So it looks like they are our weakest players but so much has to go right for a half forward to get 20 touches in a game, let alone week in week out....

Fair points, but I'd suggest ANB, Jones & Vanders would be crap half back flankers, too!

3 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

I have a different take, High half forward is possibly the most difficult position to play. You have to rely on a lot of things happening up the field, you run to make position - get ignored 20x a match , have to defend and finish off with goals.

A half back flanker can take the play on and be more creative. They get more freedom to move. Particularly as their opponents move up the ground...

So it looks like they are our weakest players but so much has to go right for a half forward to get 20 touches in a game, let alone week in week out....

Yep I think if you surveyed any team, but especially bottom 10 teams, and asked for the worst players who regularly get games you'd get a list of half forward flankers. Especially team first defensive guys or those with inconsistent skills.

ANB and Spargo would've both been very highly regarded by fans in 2018 and then in 2019 they would've been at the top of the list for whipping boys. They didn't drastically lose ability. The effectiveness of the game plan and the midfield efficiency dropped away.

2 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Yep I think if you surveyed any team, but especially bottom 10 teams, and asked for the worst players who regularly get games you'd get a list of half forward flankers. Especially team first defensive guys or those with inconsistent skills.

ANB and Spargo would've both been very highly regarded by fans in 2018 and then in 2019 they would've been at the top of the list for whipping boys. They didn't drastically lose ability. The effectiveness of the game plan and the midfield efficiency dropped away.

yep

a tiger nuffie i know constantly castigates castagna cos he misses shots at goal too often - doesn't see how vital he is in terms of their forward set-up

16 hours ago, jnrmac said:

I have a different take, High half forward is possibly the most difficult position to play. You have to rely on a lot of things happening up the field, you run to make position - get ignored 20x a match , have to defend and finish off with goals.

A half back flanker can take the play on and be more creative. They get more freedom to move. Particularly as their opponents move up the ground...

So it looks like they are our weakest players but so much has to go right for a half forward to get 20 touches in a game, let alone week in week out....

One of the reasons I wanted to keep Hunt, who was played out  of position there, getting few possies, but as you acknowledge in a difficult position on the field, but scoring when he got the chance. 

2 hours ago, Redleg said:

One of the reasons I wanted to keep Hunt, who was played out  of position there, getting few possies, but as you acknowledge in a difficult position on the field, but scoring when he got the chance. 

There have been a few players who have been played out of position including Hunt, Brayshaw and Harmes are the ones off the top of my head that i can think of.

All their form dropped dramatically as a result yet didnt go back to their usual positions where they excelled.

I really am not sure what Goody was thinking. Its not working but lets just keep doing it.

I have serious doubts about Goodys coaching abilities and i am very glad we have Mark Williams in the background.

Edited February 18, 20214 yr by DemonOX

On 2/18/2021 at 11:35 AM, DemonOX said:

There have been a few players who have been played out of position including Hunt, Brayshaw and Harmes are the ones off the top of my head that i can think of.

All their form dropped dramatically as a result yet didnt go back to their usual positions where they excelled.

I really am not sure what Goody was thinking. Its not working but lets just keep doing it.

I have serious doubts about Goodys coaching abilities and i am very glad we have Mark Williams in the background.

One selection, in playing Preuss with Max, in atrocious conditions in Cairns, really baffled me. Winning that game would have had us in the finals.

26 minutes ago, Redleg said:

One selection, in playing Preuss with Max, in atrocious conditions in Cairns, really baffled me. Winning that game would have had us in the finals.

I remember that question was asked last year at a AGM maybe? One of the fans asked why on earth did we select Pruess especially as the forcast had predicted heavy showers throughout the week. Alan Richardson was given the task of answering the question. When he finished answering I still had no idea why on earth they selected him that game. They tried to deflact with some [censored] excuse.

27 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I remember that question was asked last year at a AGM maybe? One of the fans asked why on earth did we select Pruess especially as the forcast had predicted heavy showers throughout the week. Alan Richardson was given the task of answering the question. When he finished answering I still had no idea why on earth they selected him that game. They tried to deflact with some [censored] excuse.

It was asked at the fan forum night I believe online! And no real sense in reply !! 

29 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I remember that question was asked last year at a AGM maybe? One of the fans asked why on earth did we select Pruess especially as the forcast had predicted heavy showers throughout the week. Alan Richardson was given the task of answering the question. When he finished answering I still had no idea why on earth they selected him that game. They tried to deflact with some [censored] excuse.

AGM is on Monday  night DD !!! 

1 hour ago, 58er said:

AGM is on Monday  night DD !!! 

Somehow I don’t think the club will entertain a question based on the selection of one ex-player in one game