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Passed away tragically and unexpectedly. He would have been 65 Today. For those who haven't seen it I posted my Ode to a great player and even better Bloke 6 years ago !! RIP Mate PF Rob loved days like today. He probably would have thought it a tad hot for footy, but would have played and dominated, anyway. His greatest pastime on days like to day would be cooking a BBQ for family and friends, playing golf, or on his boat catching a few "Flatties" and maybe the odd "Snapper" in Port Phillip bay, or just shooting the breeze on his sundeck at Sorrento. Rob was at his happiest when you were happy, it seemed as if by some magical formula he had the "knack" of making you feel as if you were the most important person at that moment he was speaking to you. He loved his family and he loved and valued his friends! Charismatic people have this gift. Some use it for gain, and power, Rob used his charisma because he was genuinely interested in you and your family. Yes Rob was a "Superstar" footballer Bernie Quinlan so rightly said yesterday. But Above and Beyond he was a "Mega Superstar" person! Is this not a better, more substantially satisfying legacy to leave?In private life he was a generous with his time and expertise, as he appeared in public life. I have seen and been lucky enough to witness the way he gently and compassionately met people who at the conclusion of an interaction walked away much happier for the experience. Floating on air is as real as an experience I have seen and been a part of, and just as euphoric! Just ask any who met him and knew him. I count myself extremely lucky and enriched by knowing him as a friend and mentor! The Euphoria stayed with you and lingered on and on. Over the 35 odd years I have known the man, I have been extremely fortunate to have been welcomed into part of the fabric of his life. He had many "Brothers" in arms and his own two brothers, Tom and Jim must have thought that they had won tattslotto every day of their lives having him as a brother. I can tell you he felt the same way about them! A more gentle, humble, empathic, generous, self effacing, humorous, genuine person you could not find than Rob Flower. I was at his funeral yesterday, and I will be at his public funeral tomorrow. Each time I look up at the sky on a clear night I will seek out the brightest star. If all stars represent great people, then Rob's star will surely be the brightest! With more people like Rob Flower in the world, it would be a more sensational place to be! Vale Rob Flower, a shining light in my life, never forgotten, always remembered "No Regrets" Thanks mate

See, I'd argue that opposite. We could have easily rolled over and given Smith a 2 year contract as is pretty standard. Instead, it seems we've questioned if he will be in our best 40 in 2 years time and only offered him a 1 year contract (or Smith didnt like what we offered in the second year). I'm happy that he is signed up so we have someone to play key back if someone gets injured, but is not signed on for a second year if he becomes surplus to needs. Lists are incredibly hard, and we dont have all the information at the moment. I acknowledge that it feels like some of these decisions are mind-boggling, but I think it would be tough to find a better replacement for Smith as a key back, on the money he is on, with the picks we have, and our list demographic. I hope Smith makes it, I'm not confident he will, but I am glad that we have someone there if May/Lever goes down.

I know I'll get howled down for this, but with the right coaching and development I think OMac will become a handy backman. Only 24yo, would do much better at Rich or WCE. Rich turned Grimes into an AA. Not comparing the two, just illustrating that development is king

Hi all. Been a while. Yze coming home

Look this is a pretty average post. 1) with no exposed u18 form, a comprised draft, no first round pick, and Lockhart and Brown as potential rookie upgrades, we are not bringing in lots of players from the outside to fill roles this year unless they are FA. 2) Its been reported OMac is on the way out, so we do need coverage for a 3rd defender (or even a May, Lever injury), with Tomlinson likely to be trialled on wing on the bigger, wider MCG, and Petty showing promise forward. 3) One year for Smith simply provides that cover. 4) Next year the soft caps are reducing, and we will be down on coaching structures. A player / coaching role for Jones is a way to allieviate this, while also having cover on field if needed. Do I think he'll be the best coach? No. But he'll be better than no coach. It's actually a pretty innovative option. What do you want them to do? Dump everyone to prove they are ruthless then try our luck with pick 80+ in the draft?

I agree that it isn't typical and also not a surefire winner, but the key is Jackson. The opposition may wish to focus on Weid, as they probably will, but they will likely be in different parts of the ground. Weid didn't have the high impact late in the year because he was forced to stand down the line and just compete for long balls whilst his best footy was as a move flexible foil for McDonald. Most of his success came from either getting out the back or getting it one on one. He's quite mobile and clever but couldn't use any of that doing the dog work down the line. By bringing in Brown/Petty, you can have them set up down the line to do the aerial competing and Weid can be set up slightly away either to attack the contest if in range or position himself to be dangerous as the next target. For instance, you may wish to focus on stopping Charlie Cameron, but if Brisbane are still going to kick it long to McStay then you still need to defend it and that creates opportunities for others. As for whether it's possible, last night Port mostly played 3 tall forwards (Dixon, Marshall and Ladhams), which mostly shut down Geelong's strong interceptors and allowed their dangerous small forwards to reap the benefits. But Jackson is unlike any of those forwards because of his unique mobility for a player of his size. His unique attributes make him the sort of player that we can almost create a position for. You could play him as a medium forward, or perhaps even as a 'high half/tall forward' where he plays up around the ball but then pushes forward as a marking threat. Where he ends up, we don't really know because he's different to what has come through in the past. I suppose my point is that we should be setting up a structure that functions without Jackson because Jackson's flexibility and mobility allows us to play him in unique ways, rather than pigeonholing him as a tall forward. But if we play tall then we do need to get the smalls right around them. Sorry, that's just kind of just a brain dump. I hope it made some sense.

The article says Smith signed for one year. If Oscar leaves and Petty is not ready to go we will need depth in the backline. Hibberd is yet to re-sign (I assume he will) and is getting older so we also need coverage for him. So I have no problem with a one year extension.

I think Tomlinson along with May, frees Lever up. Watching T Mac down back and him dispersing it by foot use to give me nightmares. I think Tomlinsons last 6 games were excellent and he is very safe by foot

I'm probably in the minority here, but I really like Smith and think he just needs a bit of continuity. He's strong, quick and can play tall and small. His upside is enormous so I'm happy with the signing particularly given that he's likely to be on peanuts.

I appreciate that Murph, however whilst I am grateful and flattered by some positive comments I received of late, I'm pretty uncomfortable with it. I think it's really important important to note that I'm not an expert on any of this, and have only the barest amount of information and experience of those employed at football clubs. There is so much that they know about football that we don't know, nor would we even realise what information is around for us not to know! I think we all need to realise this, and also that there isn't one way to skin a cat in a game as complex and random as AFL. But it's still fun to try to work these things out with many of the thoughtful posters on here.

Running machine Tom is good Tom. Marking on the lead is much preferable to trying to outbody his opponent.

Randomly looking through North's bigfooty page and saw this.. Someone rang up Adelaide radio yesterday saying he’s spoken to Jared’s brother who had told him Jared was going to be traded to Melbourne.

We would be mad to get rid of Brayshaw.

If the answer to TMac is as simple as strip extra weight off and all of a sudden he's back to 2018 TMac, I'm a massive, resounding yes. But I'm relatively sure it's not as simple as that.

Goodwin said that we need to be a ruthless club. Re-signing players like Smith, to me, shows that we still don't known how to make decisions that smart clubs make. Will only take an announcement that Jones has been extended for a year, and I'll put a freeze on my membership for 2021. That's my opinion. Many will think it's a poor one, but it's where I'm at with this club now. I want greater accountability for poor decisions.

An absolute disgrace that Smith has been extended. Is this Mahoney's last [censored]-take before he is rightly moved on?

Forget about it, he isn’t going anywhere. Essendon have already counter offered this from Super Amart.

Glad Petty is signed on. I was afraid he’d get cut with reduced lists due to ongoing injuries. He’s got potential at either CHB or CHF. Could be the missing piece of the puzzle for our forward line if he get stay on the park.

If we want to play finals, gotta learn to throw and get away with it.

Oscar is neither as good as a few make out nor as bad as many make out. He has deficiencies but can come in and do a defensive job and if selected ahead of Tomlinson, can run a zone, allowing May & Lever to do their thing. His bad games have usually come when the team defence as a whole collapses and he becomes a convenient scapegoat. If he stays he's good injury coverage. If he leaves I won't be overly fussed. The thought of reading a Hawthorn backline of Frost, Frawley & Omac does provide some amusement though.

I don't think we need to trade any of the mids, unless we got an unbelievable offer. It's been said before that it can take around 100 games together for a team to real gel, and if you look at Gus, Viney, Trac, Oliver and Harmes they've all played around that 100 game mark, so my hope is they start to click a lot better about who's turn it is to go and who has to defend/drop back a bit. Sometimes you'll get a Selwood or a Judd who happen to come into a team and be that missing piece but often guys are still figuring out their own game, let alone knowing the best team game might mean they aren't playing the best individual game.

Hawthorn could pick him up to form an impenetrable backline trinity with Chipper and Frosty.

I totally agree on Jackson. He could be something special if he gets his marking together. It was really interesting how the Cats played last night, with Blicavs effectively playing as an around the ground ruckman after the bounce and Stanley moving forward. I don't think we would do this as Gawn is such a roadblock when we don't have the ball, but it gave a bit of a blueprint as to how we could use Jackson. I think the key is to have very few forwards who can't tackle and chase and compete when the ball hits the ground. It is not really about the number of talls and smalls. A forward line of six of Buddy Franklin would be amazing even though it would be ginormous because he is so fast. A forward line of six of Charlie Cameron would also probably work because he is pretty good in the air. The big issue for us is that Weideman is fairly ordinary when the ball hits the deck. (In addition, Fritsch is a bit of a pressure valve.) We have already invested a lot in Weideman and Jackson so we really need to build around them. Ben Brown is similar to Weideman in that he is a very good aerial target but not a great pressure player. This is not to say a trio of talls could not work, but I am a bit sceptical if it would work with Brown and Weideman being two of them.

I'm not a fan of Smith and would not have been upset if we had let him go. A one-year deal is not the end of the world though. We can't delist everyone and if the rumours suggest we're looking to move on from OMac, then it makes a bit more sense to retain Smith.

http://sen.lu/3cPvi7L

He made it up. For example, we're paying Goodwin $46 million a year.

Albanian sauce

Jesus christ Chook where the [censored] have you been? Don't you dare disappear on us again! Bring more of these zingers please!

Can’t believe the ridiculous view that we are better off without Viney. Ridiculous. Heart and soul. Competitor. B&F results show his year on year performances. Only year he wasn’t in top 3 was when he was injured. In watching the finals, Viney is the TYPE YOU WANT PLAYING IN YOUR TEAM. SIGN HIM UP. A DEMON FOR LIFE. 4 YEAR DEAL GETS IT DONE.

Can someone please tell Bruce to shut up!! He doesn’t have to repeat everything twice or keep asking rhetorical questions.

Thought it was an interesting like

Go Brisbane tonight

It's called unemployment.

How do you paint a picture to the young ones of the grace of Robbie Flower and what he meant to us on those long ago, cold winters days at the MGG, with a crowd of around 20,000 and defeat a near certainty. To watch R Flower as the Bromlow announcers called him, rise for a mark or gather the ball and then dance a merry one around superior teams, but not superior individual players was something I will never forget. A few days ago a friend was talking Gary Dempsey, like Flower he was always at his best in State games and we were proud to show him off. What a player. I have never been as certain of a players ability with ball in hand as I was when Robbie went to work.

You are just as likely to pot the club for keeping him when he puts in a bad performance.

Giving Smith a year, after being selected for the last 4 games of the year whilst we were competing for a finals spot, indicates that the coaching group thinks he provides some value. He only got a one year deal, so they're clearly not convinced, but he's certainly worth a spot on a list rather than pick 80 in a year where half the potential draftees haven't even played a competitive game. As for Jones, even if it isn't just about coaching, I can see him getting a year on the list. He's not the player he used to be but he's still a player capable of being in the bottom couple of players filling a role in the side. From round 8 on, he played every game where he was fit (and even one he wasn't!) because of his ability to do a selfless role to a reasonable level. Plus his cost is almost zero (ie, the same pick 80 as above), so why not? Plus he would be a good influence around the group.

Good to hear about Petty and Sparrow Smith is no good, can't understand them extending him even if only for a year. Put him on the rookie list if you have to (is that still a thing next year) but don't waste a senior list spot on a guy who isn't even that good as a depth option

No, Fritsch has not yet re-signed. Rivers is contracted to end of 2021. All player contract details are in this thread. I'm updating as list/contract changes occur. It is pinned at the top of this forum.

Why did we re-sign a guy who averaged 3.8 effective disposals a game this year? Anyone?

A year extension for Joel Smith may suggest that the club are still confident they can find the right shaped hole for this particular peg. He wouldn't be on serious coin anyway and the worst that can happen is that he plays the season out down at Casey. Hardly the end of the world.

Interesting how the tone of this thread changed after it was edited to include news of Smith also being re-signed. Sparrow has shown some good signs and is a handy signature. Petty looked good forward before his never ending injury. Fingers crossed he comes back fit and firing. Im in the "what do they see in him" group when it comes to Smith.

There are plenty I would sign before Smith Not a footballer and a waste of a position on our lis> I have really tried to see what others apparently see in this guy. Unfortunately I haven't! Really cant understand this signing But there you go I haven't been able to understand very much of what our footy department do This is just another poor example in my opinion

Wouldn't get much maybe 2nd round pick swaps. Id keep him still young and not as horrible as most on here make out.

Ablett has been poor the last few games. If it wasn't for the name would he even get a game next week? If he does, nostalgia may cost them a Prelim. Having said that very happy for them to go out in straight sets again.

Dean Laidley might be able to help drag them off the bottom.

Brilliant recruiting. They gave up Wingard to Hawthorn in return for Burton and after lots of pick swaps got pick 5 used for Rozee, Butters at pick 12 and Duursma at pick 18. Somehow Mayes came from Brisbane in all those pick swaps. That is a recruiters dream

Ever been to Kardinia Park? I despise Jeeelong Hawkins had a massive choke tonight He copped it from the crowd

I've turned up to the 'Axis of Bob fan club' only in the last week or two, but I've got to say thank you for such well thought out and balanced posts. Thoroughly enjoy reading what you have to say. The Jack Viney analysis a few days ago was a ripper. Cheers

I'm not 100% against Brown (as much as he annoys me as free kick actor) because he at least provides us with a number 1 target that makes each of our other forwards more effective. Weideman as a second tall this year was very effective, but got smothered as a number 1. But I think we can use our chips in a better way. I think Petty can play as the contesting forward with Weid and Jackson being the dangerous secondaries, much in the way the McStay plays for Brisbane. Brisbane's worst loss this year was against Richmond when McStay was out of the lineup and Richmond key Brisbane to 4 goals (admittedly it was 4.17!). McStay only kicked 10 goals for the year, but he kills the long kick forward, which allows players like Cameron, Hipwood, Rayner, McCarthy and their midfielders to get good opportunities. Weideman did this at the end of the year when forced to, but he more valuable as the second banana. Jackson can play anywhere because he's a freak. But there's only so much salary cap and draft assets to spread around, and there are probably other way we can spend them rather than a key forward. But I can also see the argument in favour of recruiting a high quality marking forward at below market price.

You didn't say it had to be real! You said 'real or fake I don't care!' And now the experiment is ruined, unless Sam McClure has already tweeted it...