1 hour ago, Kent said:

So Max Why did it take us so long to play him???

Maybe it was building up fitness?

28 minutes ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

I think they became obsessed with filling the Alex Neal-Bullen role. Fair enough - but they haven't found a replacement yet.

IMO Kade Chandler is gradually working into the ANB role - big shoes to fill but covered a lot of ground (16.7 km yesterday, more even than Mr Ed) and was involved in a lot of chain links.

First time seeing him live yesterday. He seems to read the play well, almost floats across the ground, and we know has strength and great hands.

I find him a really exciting prospect. Could make a real impact as a marking winger.

Needs to learn when to spoil in D50 rather than trying to mark everything though.

5 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

First time seeing him live yesterday. He seems to read the play well, almost floats across the ground, and we know has strength and great hands.

I find him a really exciting prospect. Could make a real impact as a marking winger.

Needs to learn when to spoil in D50 rather than trying to mark everything though.

I reckon he has been given the licence to fly for those marks due to his strong contested marking ability.

But I agree, moments like that particular incident he should have gone the spoil because he certainly gets good height when he leaps.

Just now, dazzledavey36 said:

I reckon he has been given the licence to fly for those marks due to his strong contested marking ability.

But I agree, moments like that particular incident he should have gone the spoil because he certainly gets good height when he leaps.

Yeah probably. He was devastated when he dropped that mark down the City End which led to a goal out the back. He did it a few other times too.

The exciting point is that he gets to these contests in the first place.

Was at Marvel for his debut and was really impressed. Worth persisting with. As others have pointed out, needs to learn to spoil in D50 or take marks if he is gonna fly. Twice it cost us yesterday. I’m sure that’ll be highlighted in his review this week.

Other than that, he is good at reading the play. Moves well and can be an aerial threat. There is much to like.

1 minute ago, titan_uranus said:

The exciting point is that he gets to these contests in the first place.

Definitely. Gets to those contests and puts himself in a great position to kill it.

Only two games, but a winger who contests hard at both ends... I'm liking him a lot.

There is a lot of Jarrod Berry to his game being the tall big bodied winger.

These are the new prototype/hybrid wingers that are perfect for the get out option from D50 but can also float float forward and become a good marking option.

Ollie Dempsey is similar as well.

16 minutes ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

Definitely. Gets to those contests and puts himself in a great position to kill it.

Only two games, but a winger who contests hard at both ends... I'm liking him a lot.

and another preseason 👍😉

He looks like he belongs out there.

Doesn't muck around with tackles lol

Edited Monday at 00:143 days by beelzebub

Pleasingly younger than I actually thought he was, he'll be turning 23 just before the start of the 2026 season. Definitely should get an extension with us. Unfathomable that WCE let him go.

Yes, I don't get it either. WC supporters main issue seems to be his pace, but it doesn't seem that bad at all, especially the first few steps off the mark when he actually looks pretty quick.


What they were saying in Perf when Culley was delisted

"If a club can fit in a midfielder who is slower than your average ruckman then go for it"

"Culley won't make it as a midfielder. He's too slow and doesn't read the play very well"

"Would've given him another year myself, after the ACL. Probably could find a spot as a defensive mid but doesn't have the breakaway pace to be the main man"

"Tough, great work ethic and can play forward but has no pace"

"I remember watching him and thinking he made Will Setterfield look speedy"

"Just too slow I’m afraid. Looks a gun at training but when intensity and speed picks up he gets found out"



And if anyone feels like a longer read, here is his entire "Welcome to WC in mid season 2022, through to end of 2024 when he was delisted

Edited Monday at 00:063 days by JTR

I'm still not sold that he's a long term player, but it was a performance against a far better opposition that suggests he will get another 1 year deal. The tackling and strength at the contest were both steps forward that he didn't show a lot against the Eagles (honestly didn't need to).

3 minutes ago, JTR said:

Yes, I don't get it either. WC supporters main issue seems to be his pace, but it doesn't seem that bad at all, especially the first few steps of the mark when he actually looks pretty quick.


What they were saying in Perf when Culley was delisted

"If a club can fit in a midfielder who is slower than your average ruckman then go for it"

"Culley won't make it as a midfielder. He's too slow and doesn't read the play very well"

"Would've given him another year myself, after the ACL. Probably could find a spot as a defensive mid but doesn't have the breakaway pace to be the main man"

"Tough, great work ethic and can play forward but has no pace"

"I remember watching him and thinking he made Will Setterfield look speedy"

"Just too slow I’m afraid. Looks a gun at training but when intensity and speed picks up he gets found out"



And if anyone feels like a longer read, here is his entire "Welcome to WC in mid season 2022, through to end of 2024 when he was delisted

Yeah the speed discussion is interesting, IMO he does not have much burst. But he cruises around the ground at high speed. Check the telstra tacker on the AFL site - he does not feature in the top 5 for sprints at all, but for average speed is =1st with Sparrow (9.7), 2nd Chandler (9.6), 3rd Langdon (9.5), 4th Libba (9.4). Also lands himself first at work rate in attack 9.7, and 4th for work rate in defence 9.0.

2 minutes ago, MrFreeze said:

Yeah the speed discussion is interesting, IMO he does not have much burst. But he cruises around the ground at high speed. Check the telstra tacker on the AFL site - he does not feature in the top 5 for sprints at all, but for average speed is =1st with Sparrow (9.7), 2nd Chandler (9.6), 3rd Langdon (9.5), 4th Libba (9.4). Also lands himself first at work rate in attack 9.7, and 4th for work rate in defence 9.0.

And as we see, speed is over rated, Baker, Rowan, Hunt etc all with great speed, but not great players. Pendles, pretty slow, star.

Speed of thought and delivery is better than pure speed.

3 minutes ago, Gorgoroth said:

And as we see, speed is over rated, Baker, Rowan, Hunt etc all with great speed, but not great players. Pendles, pretty slow, star.

And also not just one monolithic thing.

Everyone talked about Langford's speed in the draft discussion. I think lots of people are still talking about it now - I've worried at times during the year. But his top speed is fast. He just takes a while to get going. If he was a FIFA player he'd have a speed rating of 85 and an acceleration rating of 50.

DEES TO REWARD PRE-SEASON PICKUP

MELBOURNE is rewarding Jai Culley with a new contract after an eye-catching fortnight from the former West Coast midfielder.

The 22-year-old earned a lifeline at the Demons after the AFL briefly reopened the pre-season supplemental selection period in February, following knee injuries to Andy Moniz-Wakefield and Carlton's Jagga Smith.

Now Melbourne is extending the Langwarrin product with a contract for 2026.

Culley played 12 games across three seasons at the Eagles after being selected with pick No.1 in the 2022 mid-season rookie draft.

After being delisted at the end of 2024, Culley joined Casey at the start of the pre-season when Melbourne didn't have a list spot available.

The Demons then signed Werribee premiership player Jack Henderson after Shane McAdam ruptured his Achilles, but were blown away by how Culley handled that news from former coach Simon Goodwin.

Culley got his first shot for Melbourne against his old side West Coast in round 21, where he kicked two goals from a wing and showed he can perform at the level, before finishing with 16 touches, 11 contested possessions and five clearances against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday. – Josh Gabelich

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1388149/race-heats-up-for-in-demand-blue-record-in-sight-for-veteran-lion-luckless-saints-new-deal

Liked his game, goes in, puts body on line, good aggression at both ball and body, good size, good overhead, from what ive read suggested he is slow but to my eye he hits top gear fairly quickly and looks smart around goal.

Culley had 9 handballs against dogs. I reckon he could be another Williams Carlton who won a couple of Medals.

Posting from Isle of Skye beautiful place and its 6.20 pm here! Luuurve Jai Culley already very good player....

Anyway out for Dinner with Mrs Fence for Black Pudding, Haggis, Dirty Faggots, Ditties, Toad in the Hole and Lobscourse,

Good cheer to all xheers P.F

@picket fence beautiful part of the world … what time is sunset ? 11pm ??

Well done JC

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by Roger Mellie
Wrong

2 minutes ago, Roger Mellie said:

JC's done a commendable job coming in for his first game and playing on the wing, where he'd never played. Congratulations on a new contract.

He played mostly midfield at Casey and debuted in a new position! Honestly though, it might have been helpful for him to play him there at least some of the time at Casey rather than throw him in the deep end. Same with Laurie who plays midfield at Casey then only forward at MFC. I really don't think this sink or swim style is a great method of development. Cudos to Culley for succeeding.

He was moved to the wing half way through the year at Casey

Just now, MrFreeze said:

He was moved to the wing half way through the year at Casey

My bad! He said in his interviews it was new to him. I deleted the post - cheers

On 11/08/2025 at 00:51, deanox said:

Maybe he just needed to pull on the jumper of his childhood club to feel the passion?

In all seriousness though I think it's one of the biggest flaws with the AFL and pathway systems. It is all set up to try to unearth the next star, not collect the best 414 players in Australia (23 players per team each weekend).

I think that AFL lists are probably the best 270 players in Australia, plus a bunch of journeymen and developing kids. It's possible that high percentage of players 271-750 are not on AFL lists, which means they don't get the fitness and conditioning and have no prospect of making it.

If you aren't drafted at 18, you fall so far behind draftees in terms of development and conditioning that it is rare to make it later on. I'd love to see more invested in the 50-100 players who don't get drafted each year.

Expand the rookie list. Let those kids play VFL or even the next level down if they aren't up to it and are just working on fitness.

Similarly, expand the reserves list so that the VFL level comp (or officially the reserves) can be made up of the next best players in the country, where those players can be training full time for fitness and the standard of reserves is much higher. Surely playing against the best would fast track development of elite juniors?

Agree Deanox, when the clubs fielded U18, Reserves and Seniors all the best kids had an avenue if they were good enough. A lot now fall by the wayside if don’t make the U16-U18’s Coates League. Once you got into the Club environment you had access to better coaching, facilities, etc.

10 hours ago, picket fence said:

Anyway out for Dinner with Mrs Fence for Black Pudding, Haggis, Dirty Faggots, Ditties, Toad in the Hole and Lobscourse,

Sounds like a viable dinner option...

On 11/08/2025 at 07:29, Nasher said:

According to wikipedia: mid-season draft in 2022, ACL in 2023 and delisted end of 2024. So he was on the list 2.5 seasons, of which he was available to play about 1.5.

Fair to say they chucked in the towel pretty quickly with him.

If we had adopted the west coast approach we would have delisted Max!