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Looking forward to next week's changes Tomlinson, Hore (Omitted) Salem (inj)

Do we still have a no DH policy? Could be a problem

i'd say he's dined out on defences for the last several years... brilliant 2021 culminating in being second on the goalkickers list and 6 goals in a premiership excellent 2022, finishing 5th on the goalkickers list injury hit year in 2023, but was right in the mix when he broke his foot currently 12th on it in 2024 your disdain for him is clear, but why you feel the need to denigrate his performances i simply do not understand

Jefferson gets selected. Doesn’t kick 10 goals on debut. Demonlanders call to trade him.

Any player selected at any pick in the past is irrelevant to weighing up 2024 pick 7 (if we end up where we currently are) and it's value in relation to a potential trade for DH. The decision the FD must make is probably based upon: - who is likely to be available at Pick 7 and their worth to us going forward - is DH worth pick 7 (or more)? - is our priority a ready made 28yo player or a top 10 draftee for the next 10+ years? Personally, I want DH big time, but think pick 7 this year is more important for the long term success of our list. Having said that, I don't think coaches who see the window starting to close look more than 12 months ahead. Eg. Dimma trading in Prestia, Hopper and Taranto for the farm

Just curious to know if you will bag him just like you are bagging Petty when Matthew finally gets a chance and gets 2 possessions and zero goals? Not saying that will definitely happen but there's a fair chance and I'd hope that you then acknowledge that he has a long way to go, and your constant nauseating carry on for him to be selected was a bit premature

You'll get unhappy players in every club regardless how successful they are. That can come down to team selection and probably a number of other factors as well.

Any chance we can bring the attitude and zest for the contest that we brought to the recent Brisbane game as opposed to the suburban league level pressure we brought to the Freo and Dogs games? Even the GWS game was more than acceptable. Feels like we’re picking and choosing which games we can be azzed turning up to.

That’s seriously disappointing from the coaching staff. They had the chance to get some minutes into Jefferson and the chance to look at our future with petty back and Jeffo forward instead we’re back to Tomlinson and Petty forward. Yuck

We will win this game. I just know it.

okay then so we won't end up trading them and don't want to leave Thanks for clarifying your previous post was incorrect

Not this year’s crop, but if anyone’s interested in having a look at our highest profile NGA kid in next year’s group, Tairon Ah Mu, he’ll be lining up for Vic Country in bottom age trials this weekend (will be streamed):

At the end of 2020 I had the pleasure of chatting to the father of a player who is now on another list. He didn't have great things to say about the communication within the club between the coach and players... Wasn't too scathing but definitely wasn't complimentary. At the time I was a little concerned but then 2021 happened. I think footy clubs are big places... Lots of players, lots of coaches, lots of family. There are always going to be issues happening... Most families are like that.

I like the fact we all have different opinions and challenge things - but it just gets a little tedious tbh when someone continues to endlessly and frankly pointlessly keep posting the same thing. Good for you that you think he is ready - personally I don't but acknowledge that when the season is 100% dead in terms of finals then maybe he is given a taste. That way he can realize first-hand just how much work he has to do to play football in the AFL I'm not being critical of the young man and genuinely hope he has a great career but having watched him in a lot of Casey games he is still a long way off - just my opinion!

Losing one of Clarry or Rivers (or both), then still going for Houston would make no sense

Collingwood would be kicking themselves at giving up PICK 6 for Lachy Schultz. They have no first rounder this year and already have questionable young talent outside of the Daicos brothers at both ends of the ground. They should be our measuring stick. They got greedy, paid overs because they thought they could go back-to-back and sacrificed their future for the now. We cannot do the same. Houston's form is off the back of playing with the same defensive unit for years and so there's no guarantee he just waltzes into our program year one and plays to the same level. Schultz case in point. These players are role players who are excelling thanks to the system they're in. They're not top end/brilliant individuals who dominate from word go. It's not their position or role. Go to the draft, nail a top 7 midfielder and develop them. I'll pay those odds anyday over giving up the farm for Houston to help win us a flag next year.

Port have been using a very tall forward line recently. With no Georgiades, Howes has no match up. Could you imagine Howes lining up next to Esava or Dixon? He'd be ragdolled. Hore and Tommo make sense here. Bowza will take Rioli Salem gives us more experience and while AMW has impressed, he routinely has run out of legs in the second half of games this year. Good match up for Byrne Jones.

We are clearly still trying to win as many games as possible to make finals. Goodwin said as much. I’m not sure why anyone is surprised by the selections after he said we will do everything we can to make the 8. If we lose this week, which we likely will, I suggest we will see a number of players managed. I would have thought that regardless, Salem shouldn’t be rushed in after multiple soft tissue injuries this season. Oh well.

These changes suggest Goody is serious in thinking that we're not out of the finals race. We're not going to make it and it's hurting the development of a player that can help us next year (AMW).

Rushing an undercooked Christian Salem back into the side while dropping two developing and encouraging defenders in AMW and Howes is a ripping move.

Not as sad as someone else on DL.

The club has played the Rivers situation beautifully. In 2020 they let him go home for lockdown and do his fitness there. He came back at the end of the carnival of footy and was great. Moved him into the midfield just as he was starting to question whether it would happen. They let him go home regularly and kept it out the media. Rivers is very happy in Melbourne but if you've met someone from WA ever, you'll now the love never leaves and certainly something he'd explore later on in his career. Nothing to worry about in the immediate future.

Spot on. Those who claim he is past it obviously haven't watched him this season. Been the Iceman down back, contested marks, spoils, beating smaller opponents at ground level, and - can't believe I am saying it - super reliable by foot. A dirty night against the Dogs doesn't negate the rest of the year. Recruit of the season (to the backline).

If he slips while sitting on a knife's edge, being traded will be the least of his problems.

Don't think we'll ever see him back to his best again to be honest. There'll be a lot of psychological hurdles that will really take time to get over and then the physical aspect of being hesitant of getting another knock in that area. Just another note and not wanting to start any controversy, but I bumped into a current players folks at the local footy two weeks ago and we discussed the current state of the club etc. We got on the topic of Petracca and they stated that apparently there is still tensions between the Petracca camp and the footy club. Christian isn't overly happy still but they put that down to him just being so isolated from the footy club environment and his mates. But clearly there is still some underlying issues there that need to be amended from both parties. Also confirmed that there are a number of players certainly not happy within the club and that's senior players included. This is based around number of factors including team selections, current game plan and obviously the aspect of now missing out on finals as examples. I personally wouldn't be surprised if we have another off season where a top line Melbourne player attempts to seek a fresh start elsewhere similar to Petty last year.

https://x.com/TheRunHomeSEN/status/1820711406049935655?t=ZTVq22eDoy000hXTHQJV2w&s=19 Jack Lukosius on the market this year, another KPF too look at. Not necessarily the bulking KF like Waterman but an amazing kick and has a lot to like.

‘Premiership gun’ 😂 Who gives a [censored] if he played in the premiership or not we’re three years past it champ. Hasn’t even been ‘good’ for three years. Should we bring Ben Brown in cause he was a ‘premiership gun’ ? Shocking take

Great to see Hore back. If he had been more lucky he’d be a regular AMW has had a good taste but has plenty to work on would have been nice to see Jeffo. hopefully next week

The difference with Dimma is that he traded those players in when his stars were 30+. Besides Gawn and May, our guns are all in their mid to late 20’s. Lever, Clarry and Trac are in their prime. So it’s a very different situation. We also have greats kids coming through in Riv, McVee, JVR, Petty etc. People who think we shouldn’t be going all out to win another one are kidding themselves.

If he is interested in coming back move heaven and earth to get him back to the Dees, this guy is the absolute top of what he does and if he stayed i suspect we would have won 2-3 premierships. that's how big an impact he makes.

Club, including goody, were absolutely devastated to lose Burgess

Watching gettable yesterday and the idea that at least 8/9 players could go pick 1, we’d be crazy to give it up for Houston because of “window” reeks of the Tim Kelly trade

Not what Burgess said in that lengthy interview he gave at the end of his time with us.

You’re kidding right? If supporters & the club are ok with a 3x AA, 4x B&F, 2x AFL Coaches Award, the club is a shambles. One bad year in 9 at the club, I’ll be backing him in, if the club won’t, they won’t be getting any of my hard earned money Clarry is the best since Robbie F

Discussing fitness coaches is exhausting work

Kalani White also named in the Queensland team👍🏻

Signing Brayshaw when we did, on the terms we did, was completely reasonable. The "history" of concussions was a thing of the past and what happened to him at the end of 2023 doesn't mean our decision was wrong. Signing Clarry when we did, on the terms we did, was probably something we had no choice over. If we didn't do it, someone else probably would have, irrespective of whatever he was dealing with off-field. There are very valid discussion points around Grundy (not so much trading him IMO as failing to make it work), Petty and the depth list management issues though.

I'd love to watch this but I'll be playing footy myself. Will you watch Chaser? Berry is a gun mate. Has come through the development ranks and certainly spent time with him in our under 16's program (I have no role in the under 18's) He reminds me so much of Toby Green with his skillset and ability to provide X factor in big games. He likes to pushes up the ground and be creative around the midfield stoppage as well. Last few games at Coates level He's played midfield and still find time to push forward and hit the scoreboard.

Clarry has a lot of work to do next year on his disposal by hand and and foot because it is poor and not damaging at all by comparison to other top grade players and hopefully he will be in the right headspace next year to do this.

I would hold your horses on this one dazzle. All I can see is him saying Langdon's re-signing was imminent, and that was well after Sam Edmund tweeted it. Would love if we could get some more ITN posters on here like goodwindees and ChookinPerth, but there's a reason those two stay quiet most of the time.

I feel for Dan, he seems to be aging at an incredible rate He doesn't turn 28 for another 9 months!

If the players were happy at the moment, I'd be furious. Its been the worst 3 months of footy for years. The LG should let the coach and club know their view if they haven't already

Are you saying you would rather continue to play an underperforming Petty to the blooding of a largely in form Jefferson? Also remembering yes he HAS a long way to go but, given form ( Remember that element ) Petty hasn't deserved a game as a forward all year! It isn't as much as bagging Petty as much as the continued stupidity of trying to make him into a forward which he just is not. Everyone knows this except our stubborn footy department and Coach! Just my opinion... of course! Petty is and was a very good defender, and Matt Jefferson in time will be an excellent forward, again just my opinion!

I find rumours of players being unhappy (not including Trac) hard to believe given everyone has re-signed recently, including a player in Petty who the media were 100% was going back to Adelaide. Langdon has signed for 4 more years, Kolt and Windsor have both signed long term extensions. I could definitely see Tomlinson being unhappy given we hardly play him... but hard to see who else would be. Time will tell though if players start asking for trades then maybe there is truth to it.

Langford is a beauty. Bigger bodied mid too at around the 191cm mark. The type of player that would be a round 1 starter without hesitation.

Agree that people overrate early picks, especially once they fall out of the top high end range of a particular draft. And the strange thing about this draft is it might be even between 5-15. So whilst 7 is a great pick it might not be much better than 15. But I also think you need an elite midfield to contend for flags as well as talls with an advantage somewhere on the ground. May, Max and to a lesser level Lever were our advantage in talls. It's fair to say May and Max aren't at that level anymore, even if Gawn is All Australian he's finished the last 3 years hobbling along with injuries. And Lever worries me too, he was in great form before injury this year but has regressed badly since and whether he will have the agility and fitness to go with smalls so he can dominate as an interceptor off them is hard to know. There's optimism with Petty, JVR, Jeffo, Disco that we have a solid platform of talls but its not exactly a strength anywhere. Midfield - well that's even more up in the air. Oliver - who knows. Viney - looks pretty spent as a dominant inside force. Tracc - I have my doubts on his midfield longevity especially at his pre injury size. Sparrow - barely AFL standard as a mid. Pickett - not a mid. Kolt and Windsor - promising but probably going to have some second year blues and ups and downs on their way to 70 games like most kids before becoming consistent. Does Rivers play mid? Does Houston come in and play mid? Nothing is going to compare to the Tracc-Oliver-Viney 2021 combo but it's getting hard to see just how we produce a midfield big 3 plus quality role players even if those big 3 are still on the list. The Hawks went all in on Roughy, Buddy/Gunston, Mitchell, Hodge, Lewis, Rioli, Isaac Smith, Birchall because that's a group you could just ride with. Especially when they added Gibson, Lake and Frawley so they had backline tall dominance as well as forwards and mids. The price has to be right for Houston and we need some associated moves to find other missing pieces to pull off this retool on the run.

Dan Houston is top 5 in the league at the moment in damaging use of the footy. Hayden Young is #1. Any wonder we're interested in him given the slop we've been dishing in week in week out. Giving up a top 10 pick and potentially more is a valid argument against trading for Houston, but it doesn't take away the fact that he'd be instantly our best user of the footy, and easily top 10 in the league. Better than peak Salem.

When he was interviewed last week, he sounded pretty authentic about staying at Port.

Yes, I agree with you Dazzler. We can't be parting with our pick 7. If Port Adelaide insist that pick 7 should be involved, then we should walk away from it the trade. Hearing Simon Goodwin's media conference today said for the the 3rd time, we no longer have Angus Brayshaw and Christian Petracca is out for the season. It's an absolute no brainer we have to go to the draft to get 2 Elite midfielders. I can't stress enough how important this trade period is and we need to nail it. No mistakes or misfires, we have to hit the targets. Tim Lamb, I hope you are reading this message. Please don't get up 2 First round picks for Houston. If Chris Davies insist, just walk away.

Cal Twomey said that he thinks he'll be playing at Melbourne next year and it will take our pick 7 and next years first as a starting point. I'll be absolutely mortified with the club if we part with pick 7 for a 28 year old half back flanker and next years first.