30 minutes ago, Bates Mate said:

I'm out of the loop on this comment

Rumours abound that Bomba Thompson pinched Kingsley’s wife then shipped him out so he didn’t have to deal with the fallout.

6 hours ago, Bates Mate said:

I always thought of him as a Saints version of Kent Kingsley, seems to always play well against us but generally a bit of a spud. His stats suggest him to be more consistent than I give him credit for. Would not be against picking him up.  Will help keep fritta honest who got games this year he didn't deserve

And who would you suggest that we should have replaced Fritta??? With? 

Melky if he was fit but wasn’t!! 

Need to stop recruiting B grade players at the end of their careers. Follow the Hawthorn & Cats strategy & get quality players who are struggling to get a game due to oversupply, have salary pressures or want to return home. 

They can be picked up cheap.

55 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

Need to stop recruiting B grade players at the end of their careers. Follow the Hawthorn & Cats strategy & get quality players who are struggling to get a game due to oversupply, have salary pressures or want to return home. 

They can be picked up cheap.

It’s not like 100 players are changing clubs every year, so we are starting a long way back when compared to the Hawks and Cats (Culture/Reputation etc)

Then you have the deep pockets of Collingwood, Richmond and Carlton.

At absolute best, we are 6th in line of the Melbourne clubs, more realistically, we are behind a few others too

Edited September 11, 2024Sep 11 by BW511

13 hours ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

I have a "level of interest" in finding out where all my missing socks go to. It’s either the washing machine is a black hole or they’ve started a secret society somewhere. But that is where my interest ends.

I also now have a level of interest in your socks...

It's Zero!

I dont mind Membrey. If it was cheap it would be un upgrade on some of our recent trade ins.

4 hours ago, Cranky Franky said:

Need to stop recruiting B grade players at the end of their careers. Follow the Hawthorn & Cats strategy & get quality players who are struggling to get a game due to oversupply, have salary pressures or want to return home. 

They can be picked up cheap.

We seem to be linked with a who's who of underwhelming recycled soft drink cans.

4 hours ago, Cranky Franky said:

Need to stop recruiting B grade players at the end of their careers. Follow the Hawthorn & Cats strategy & get quality players who are struggling to get a game due to oversupply, have salary pressures or want to return home. 

They can be picked up cheap.

Got any names?

Because Geelong have the inside track on guys like Henry and Bruhn and are now getting Cotton on to pay Bailey Smith.

Ginnivan and Gunston were unusual circumstances. D’Ambrosio was great use of Essendon being Essendon. But players of that calibre rarely fall out of clubs. Chol they paid a fortune too and presented opportunity, but half decent prime aged tall players are rarely available and he’s only half decent too.

The best player who makes sense for us is Peatling and Collingwood and the Dogs are super keen on him too. There’s a dollar amount when you have to fold your offer and he might just prefer other clubs.

We can squeeze Carlton’s cap and get Matt Owies maybe, but it’s Matt Owies.

Ted Closehy, Caleb Mitchell, Nathan O’Driscoll, there’s a few interesting out of contract players available but it’s slim pickings. 

Tim has had (well publicised) mental health issues in the past.

Thankfully he seems to be in a better place now.

Edited September 11, 2024Sep 11 by Winners at last

15 hours ago, layzie said:

We seem to be linked with a who's who of underwhelming recycled soft drink cans.

Perhaps better than a tomato can! 

https://boxing.fandom.com/wiki/Tomato_can

19 hours ago, BW511 said:

It’s not like 100 players are changing clubs every year, so we are starting a long way back when compared to the Hawks and Cats (Culture/Reputation etc)

Then you have the deep pockets of Collingwood, Richmond and Carlton.

At absolute best, we are 6th in line of the Melbourne clubs, more realistically, we are behind a few others too

We weren’t 1/2 years ago and it’s only your opinion. Simon has wooed some of our best recruits Maysie and Lingers I believe so Maybe with Maxy get started again. 

Prior to the last 2 years we've done quite well attracting good to very good players from other teams. 

Bernie Vince started it. 

Shortly thereafter it was Jake Melksham, Jordan Lewis and Michael Hibberd. 

Not long after that it was the quartet that assured the premiership Lever, Langdon, May and Brown. 

But, no doubt we've taken a few hits to the body in this space the last 18 months. To outsiders it may appear we've reached the mountain and coming down the other side now. 

13 minutes ago, 58er said:

We weren’t 1/2 years ago and it’s only your opinion. Simon has wooed some of our best recruits Maysie and Lingers I believe so Maybe with Maxy get started again. 

Lever 2017, May 2018 and Langdon 2019 were all quality. Following that we have landed Brown in 2020 and Grundy in 2022, who were both pushed out of their respective clubs.

Hardly shooting the lights out but as I said, the trade pool is always very shallow

 

17 hours ago, BW511 said:

Lever 2017, May 2018 and Langdon 2019 were all quality. Following that we have landed Brown in 2020 and Grundy in 2022, who were both pushed out of their respective clubs.

Hardly shooting the lights out but as I said, the trade pool is always very shallow

 

Part of that has been lack of draft collateral. Remember we had Cerra on the hook before it emerged that only Carlton was willing to cough up enough to satisfy Freo.

We also had Houston on the line until the Petracca situation & our key figures went & forked it. Earlier than expected placement of our first pick also complicated matters.

On 11/09/2024 at 22:13, Winners at last said:

Tim has had (well publicised) mental health issues in the past.

Thankfully he seems to be in a better place now.

I just don’t know whether the return is greater than the risk in any potential play for Tim…. from both the player’s and the club’s point of view.

I would like him, but my only concern is that our forward line already is poor for applying pressure (apart from pickett). Melksham, petty, JVR, disco, fritta and add membrey don't really chase hard.. ideally id only play 2 or max 3 of these players. Have a look at hawthorn and its pretty much all small pressure forwards who get up and back. I really like the direction that club is going (annoyingly). 

Happy and confident on Membrey happening! Could be missing link from def to off we sorely need and won’t cost much.

I was preying for Peatling he’s be such a massive boost but it’s a 1-7 chance atm it seems but media cannot get handle on where he wants to go so it’s still a small chance!

Sidenote: just heard Cleary say Petracca still a watch.. fml 🤦‍♂️  

19 hours ago, Dee*ceiving said:

Prior to the last 2 years we've done quite well attracting good to very good players from other teams. 

Bernie Vince started it. 

Shortly thereafter it was Jake Melksham, Jordan Lewis and Michael Hibberd. 

Not long after that it was the quartet that assured the premiership Lever, Langdon, May and Brown. 

But, no doubt we've taken a few hits to the body in this space the last 18 months. To outsiders it may appear we've reached the mountain and coming down the other side now. 

5-star post. Agree we were attractive but now are seen as in decline and with a media led toxic culture.  We must pick our targets closely.  It’s the draft this year.  5 quality youngsters at least plus perhaps two mature players traded in. 

2 hours ago, Wunders said:

I would like him, but my only concern is that our forward line already is poor for applying pressure (apart from pickett). Melksham, petty, JVR, disco, fritta and add membrey don't really chase hard.. ideally id only play 2 or max 3 of these players. Have a look at hawthorn and its pretty much all small pressure forwards who get up and back. I really like the direction that club is going (annoyingly). 

Losing ANB a big loss for forward pressure. But Chin still very good with forward pressure. 

Tholstrup with another pre-season will only improve, he's shown he's happy to pressure/tackle.

Petty was showing some good pressure/tackling towards end of season too.

Hopefully Spargo has some built up aggression from his lost year too. 

 

2 hours ago, Wunders said:

I would like him, but my only concern is that our forward line already is poor for applying pressure (apart from pickett). Melksham, petty, JVR, disco, fritta and add membrey don't really chase hard.. ideally id only play 2 or max 3 of these players. Have a look at hawthorn and its pretty much all small pressure forwards who get up and back. I really like the direction that club is going (annoyingly). 

I agree with this. Membrey makes sense as a depth option, but the mix of forwards is an issue.

Pressure acts are crucial and Petty (14 per game), Fritsch (8), JVR (8), Turner (6) and Melksham (6) are poor pressure players. Membrey (10) is not much better

We need more speed. 

Matt Owies (12) would be a player we could look at and Brandon Parfitt (25) was the eight best pressure player in the AFL this season. ANB was 10th best with 24 pressure acts per game.

20 hours ago, BW511 said:

Lever 2017, May 2018 and Langdon 2019 were all quality. Following that we have landed Brown in 2020 and Grundy in 2022, who were both pushed out of their respective clubs.

Hardly shooting the lights out but as I said, the trade pool is always very shallow

 

I am saying our strategy needs to change as per our success previously. We targeted players through Simon and Max interviewing prospects.  

2 hours ago, Wunders said:

I would like him, but my only concern is that our forward line already is poor for applying pressure (apart from pickett). Melksham, petty, JVR, disco, fritta and add membrey don't really chase hard.. ideally id only play 2 or max 3 of these players. Have a look at hawthorn and its pretty much all small pressure forwards who get up and back. I really like the direction that club is going (annoyingly). 

You do realise that the major role of forwards is TO KiCK GOALS.

It’s Goody’s and therefore some Dees fans over fascination with defence that means you say no to recruits thst may be worthwhile or don’t average 10 tackles per game it’s a NO. 

BTW you forgot Chandler and ANB. Who are tackling mad. 

It’s a cautionary YES but no big coinage. Swap Tommo with Tim. 

 

34 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

I agree with this. Membrey makes sense as a depth option, but the mix of forwards is an issue.

Pressure acts are crucial and Petty (14 per game), Fritsch (8), JVR (8), Turner (6) and Melksham (6) are poor pressure players. Membrey (10) is not much better

We need more speed. 

Matt Owies (12) would be a player we could look at and Brandon Parfitt (25) was the eight best pressure player in the AFL this season. ANB was 10th best with 24 pressure acts per game.

This suggests Parfitt is probably grossly undervalued and should be on our radar for the ANB role - if we stick to the current method

22 minutes ago, BW511 said:

This suggests Parfitt is probably grossly undervalued and should be on our radar for the ANB role - if we stick to the current method

Agree. Hes not great but adds value in a position now available… certainly not a hunter or Billings buy… he’s not 29 and in decline.  

Spoke to an Aints mate of mine, who is an astute footy person, he believes he would be an excellent acquisition for us and not just for depth, but to play 22 games plus finals. I like endoresements like these!!