Deespicable

I actually reckon our depth now is better than last year. Defenders (7) - Adams, May, Lever, Turner, Jiath, Salem, Bowey Wings (3) - Langdon, Lindsay, Culley (also fwd) Mids (6) - Pickett (also fwd), Rivers, Steele, Viney, Langford (also fwd), Windsor Rucks (2) - Gawn, Petty (also fwd) Forwards (5) - Mihocek, JVR, Chandler, Sparrow, Fritsch Emerg: Tholstrop, Melksham, Heath Fringe: T.Mac, Sharp, Laurie, Moniz-Wakefield

As someone who has for some time been critical of the role played by Tim Lamb in the post 2021 period, I have to backtrack and say that in the past two weeks Lamb has achieved one of the greatest back-from-the-dead performances by a list manager in recent history and all credit to him. This is the same guy who has made one mistake after another since 2021 - almost single-handedly bringing down the club whether it be a litany of terrible recruits from other clubs, the missed trade chances for draft deals (read Petty or the last two year's amazing deals to Gold Coast and Essendon for access to picks that saw us secure Tholstrop and Lindsay) or the incompetent decision to sign Oliver to a seven-year contract extension on massive money in 2022, a deal where he appeared to have no awareness or ignored significant off-field issues that already had surfaced with Clayton. Even this year I was gobsmacked at his decision to sign Kossie for nine years, when a five-year deal on more money would have made more sense in my view. However in the past three weeks he has been dealt with some tricky cards and while time, the new coach and luck with injuries will tell the full future story, I cannot but feel he has just made amends in the best and biggest possible way. Sure we all loved Trac, but he clearly has not been happy with his lot at Melbourne since his life-threatening injury and the deal with Gold Coast is a cracker with us clear winners, although the Suns achieved two second-round picks that help their academy kid points cause. Don't forget, John Ralph was originally saying pick seven was all that we would get for Trac. Sure Olly has been a superstar and a Goody favourite at the club since he arrived in 2015. His effort to win four best and fairests including the premiership year just shows what an inspired draft choice he became before his sad demise in the past two and a half years. On the surface we have all heard the positive spin-doctoring on him from Gawny and others on how Clayton had become a better person this year, but clearly that view was something of a smokescreen. King came in and effectively said he didn't want the unnecessary distraction and Lamb has had to make the best of the situation, fully knowing that once the "we're happy for him to look elsewhere," mandate went up, he was a lost cause as a trade bait scenario. What was most pleasing was that for the first time in Lamb's reign, he stayed abreast of what was going on at other clubs. I suspect he made several calls to Kingy in the past week, checking to see if our new coach valued and rated Jiath and Steele. While nabbing Steele from the Saints for virtually nothing was no biggie given like Oliver, his club had expressed a desire to lose him, the acquisition of Jiath for pick 41 was mega impressive. The Hawks would doubtless have asked Lamb for our pick 24 or 28 to help their Merrett chances and some would say that Jiath was worthy of that sort of pick. But Lamb stood his ground on those two picks and as a result we have a first-rounder for next year from the Suns. Even more pleasing was that Lamb only gave Jiath a three-year deal rather than getting caught up in a five-year push from his manager. Earlier in the draft he had also addressed pressing list issues by recruiting a gutsy key forward in Mihocek, albeit one who is getting slower these days, and again he got the deal done without losing any significant draft collateral. Those with long memories will recall the Craig Turley at 30 first-round deal and based on Lamb's past indiscretions I had a real fear that he'd offer something overs. And he didn't fall for the uncontracted player loophole, which would have meant our pick 41 for Spargo was diluted. He also addressed our future ruck stocks by securing Max Heath, again for virtually nothing. Heath has some great highlights from Sandringham and whilst he may well still fail to shape up to the AFL level, he is well-worth a stab - after all that's what we've been doing for over a decade now, I think we have now had 10 ruck stabs and all have been failures. Jackson and Grundy are not in that league - there was no punt involved in assessing their ability. I suspect Heath impressed Tom Campbell enough at Sandy in his time there and he would have provided a bit of intel on him. Regardless though, it solves the ruck back-up problem for a couple of years. It's now over to Jason Taylor to see if he can snare a couple of classy kids with picks 7 and 8 and another handy one at 37 before adding White and Sinnema as rookies. But I reckon Tim Lamb would have enjoyed a well-earned sleep last night. It was a phenomenal effort from him and one that I'm happy to admit, in Mark Neeld style, that I didn't see coming.

I think his pace would be a great asset and I assume Kingy likes him and has given Lamb a tick of approval. Hopefully Lamb doesn't offer him a five-year contract. As to the trade pick, I would have thought somewhere near our picks 28 and 41 is about right.

Would be great if we could keep pick 23 and offer the Suns our two other second rounders in return.

To me the Trac deal is a watershed moment for Tim Lamb - although it can be argued he's already been on the losing end of enough watershed moments. If Lamb manages to facilitate the trade of Trac for Bailey Humphrey he gets a big tick. If he can't get Humphrey, then getting Gold Coast's pick 6 and 7 (via St Kilda and Sam Flanders) is also a big tick as it will give JT another two high picks to formalise a very impressive bunch of under 24s. Quite likely he would have to send our three second rounders back to GC as part of that trade, giving them the points they need for the Academy kids. But ultimately the above two scenarios are the only ones which would give Lamb any credibility, no matter what type of spin he tries to put on it post trade.

To me, today was yet another example that the same board review team that decided Goody had to go, has hopefully made the similar move to delist Tim Lamb. Being list manager is a tough gig, but I can only sincerely hope that he realises now that he is not quite cut out for it and it's time to let someone else have a go. Effectively he has taken large steps towards destroying what many felt after 2021 was the best young list in the comp and included a great group of core veterans. Sure he would argue that he couldn't do anything about losing Jackson and ANB along with Angus and it's the coaches fault that Grundy barely got a go as a ruckman in 2023. But his trade initiatives have been abysmal - Schache, Hunter, Fullarton, Billings and Hoire on top of this year's Sharp addition. Then there's his inability to kick back on player agents - significantly the lengthy deals for both Oliver and Kozzie are fraught with danger - why a significant carrot wasn't offered for a shorter term is beyond me. This year the new coach, presumably Buckley, may want to trade a couple of our players on top of McVee, but does anyone feel Lamb has a good grasp on the trade market and a player's ability. By contrast Jason Taylor has been pretty much bang on, although I really wish he had taken one of Caddy or Tauru to help solved our marking crisis - outside of Gawny that is.

6 Gawny - will win his third best and fairest and his eighth AA. Meek tried to maul him, but there is a thing called class. 5 Salem - yep I know he wasn't a linebreaker (never has been) but he's always smart and clever and he went at 83% disposal efficiency. And whilst McVee was mainly on the Wizard, he only played on Moore part of the time. 4 Trac - our only offensive weapon, mainly because we didn't use Kozzie, he looked dangerous at times and seems to have gone back to embracing a more forward/mid hybrid role after four years largely in the guts. Almost took a lovely hanger as well. 3 Petty - I normally don't give him a vote, but this was the first time I thought he looked like a forward and he even moved the ball forward quickly a couple of times. Did well in the air on Barrass and Sicily and contested all game. Sent back late in game to cover May. 2 Sparrow - thought he was our best player to half time with Gawny and like Viney he worked his butt off and tackled like a madman. He also went at 78%, Viney went at 68%, Olly 61% - so those of you knocking him today had your blinkers on. 1 Rivers - Ed was our running man early, but as the game wore on Trent got more involved, even had a couple of bounces. With no Windsor and Kozzie ignored, his dash, along with Ed's, was crucial.

Wow Turner is having an absolute mare - it's almost like he totally lost confidence after his turnover across goal last week. Hope he can get his mojo back before end of season as he's had a good year up until now. May had to be moved off Turner and is probably having the worst 250th gamne in history. I have been impressed with Sparrow, Langdon and Salem - all working hard and being smart - while Gawn and Trac have been our only two winners. There would be three but unfortunately the players don't get that the game plan works better when you use Kossie. It's also noticeable how little our guys block or shepherd to help teammates - we used to do that in 2021 - but now that's not in our make-up. The Hawks are doing it heaps though.

First three inside 50s all turnovers. Oliver bombs long to Sicily. Petracca misqueues unir minimal pressure. Viney panics and swings short prayer ball to Hardwick. Then amazingly Sparrow spots up a short kick to Petty - GOAL.

Given we almost always do the dirty on our VFL side at this time of year, it would be nice if we actually tried to help them (within reason) to get into the eight and play finals. There are three players who missed last week and are available - May, Sharp (our 24th man) and Lindsay. And we should only lose one, Windsor, to injury. That should mean we are much stronger than normal when our VFL side meets Box Hill on Sunday - the day after our senior side clashes. It would also be nice if we help our chances the following week by blooding a couple of VFL regulars at the higher level - namely Kentfield and Brown - just as we have so successfully done with Culley. Having an AFL game under his belt now will really help Adams' progress as it did with Jeffo, but clearly they are still a long way off AFL standard and that's why May has to come in for Adams and the list manager needs to hold off any contract extension talks on Jeffo and Adams until next year. The VFL finals should be a great audition for Jeffo and Adams to see if they are getting close to ready. So I'd go with the following: Out: Windsor (inj), Adams, Sparrow In: Kentfield, May, Brown Make Melky the sub as he is clearly tiring, but his smarts in the final term are incredibly useful. Play Lindsay, Sharp, Sparrow and Adams in the VFL to insure Casey has the perfect mix of grunt and run to beat Box Hill. PS: To the send Rivers to the midfield again lobby. You are aware how bad he was in that role at the start of this year and that it's only been in the last month that he's got his mojo back - and that's been playing exclusively as a defender.

6 T.Mac - thought he was superb all game on Sam Darcy. 5 Gawny - hard to believe TV commentators were rating English so highly formuch of the game. 4 Rivers - I am really liking the way he has been running out of defence recently. Much better mix of long and short balls. 3 Olly - yep, he was good and worked his butt off. At this rate everyone will want to keep him next season, including Bucks. 2 Bowey - gees he's a determined little guy. Should finish third in our B&F. 1 Turner - brilliant early, although lost his way a bit after that cross-field howler.

6 Gawn - how good was his marking today. Just shows when he gets a clear less impeded run at it he has amazing timing and judgment. 5 Viney - stats show he had 13 clearances. He mauled their second tier midfielders plus Kelly. 4 Pickett - sure he didn't kick any, but just so clean under pressure and how about that low-burning pass to Fritter. 3 Trac - dangerous all game, playing mainly as a forward. With Windsor in the middle and Langford next year, maybe that his role next year if he stays. 2 Fritsch - as with last week, enjoyed the step back in opponent ability and he's had a very good month. 1 Oliver - lifted after a quiet start and was our other hard man in the middle.

Jeffo has now been given a pretty good crack at AFL level with seven games this year. He has shown a handful of good glimpses - last week he took a couple of nice marks, kicked a low flat set shot goal from about 45m and made a nice smother. And he has shown he has enough pace on a lead to get free of most opponents. But ultimately he has been a complete liability in every game he's played and some of his kicking and handball howlers have made a mockery of the entire team. I have no problem with us trying to speed up his development especially in a dud year like this one, but the same leniency should be shown to some of our other draft stabs to see if a game or two at AFL level helps or speeds up their progress. Right now another speculative draft choice in Luka Kentfield has shown signs that he is getting closer to AFL level - like Jeffo he's realistically still a mile away, but our desperation to find tall options means that we need to try him out with 2026 in mind. And it's pointless playing him alongside Jeffo because then you have two weak links in the same forward line which is easy fodder for any team and soul destroying for our midfielders when the ball comes back from attacks with interest. So if we are looking longterm as we should be, then send Jeffo back for a couple of weeks and play Luka then switch again for the last couple of AFL games.

Most of us seem to agree with our best six - the exception being those whose anger with Salem's insipid safe little kicks missed the fact that Saylo had his best game of the season with several face-saving defensive plays on top of a couple of ripper passes through traffic - including one that hit JVR and another to Fritter - both goals. I agree he's been frustrating this year with his at times innocuous safe disposal when we need more for him, but he had a ripper. 6 Pickett - quiet in the second term, he was electric the rest of the time and ironically we now have two likely AA players this year in a side that is going to finish bottom five. 5 Salem - yep this was his night. Played tight, intercepted when needed and cleaned up and saved us all night - stats say he amassed 475m gained and he went at 80%. 4 Fritter - with Melky drawing the Weitering card, we needed a spark up forward and other than Kossy, he was it. Clever and at times courageous (yes I said it) and even team-oriented (yes I said that too), he has returned to his 2021 form in the past three weeks. Would be nice to know how/why that has happened - is it fatherhood? 3 Gawn - Not a dominant night as Pittonet entire role was to nullify him. But gees he worked hard even attempting a huge smother late (didn't come off, but I saw it). Along with Kozzie, he was our one winning presence all night. Question: Why doesn't our coach go into bat for him like the Pies do for Daicos about how he is constantly being impeded at marking contests. 2 Rivers - Third really good game in a row by Trent and the key to his return to form is clear - he is playing as a pure defender. Yes it was good that he was tried out as a midfielder but he is way better suited to peeling off and intercepting and he seems to have a bit more awareness that he can mix up his long bombs with short kicks now. 1 Oliver - I actually had him as one of our worst up until three quarter-time, but he came out of the final huddle and played with a gay abandon that I haven't seen since 2021. He attempted a couple of hangers, he ran like a wild banchee, had a bounce and did everyone see that short kick inboards he made. He played on Cripper all night who was good but not dominant like he can be.

After two big wins, there's a lot of players in contention this week, including Howes, Spargo, Billings, Culley, Sharp and our 24th player from last week Tom Campbell - the Blues do play two rucks in Pittonet and TDK after all. On top of that list we also have Petty and May to consider, if they are fit. The definite outs IMO are Sparrow and Lever - the latter of whom is clearly not fit and hasn't been all season after persistent knee issues restricted his pre-season. I also think sending Lindsay back to dominate at VFL level for a week isn't a bad thing, while you can certainly make a case for Tholstrop to be omitted, who I think will be a player but is still yet to really impose on a game. I am not sure why people want Rivers going back into to the middle - he's come off his two best games this season and both were from down back. He's even starting to mix up his kicks with several clever short dinks - so my previous comment that he was looking more and more like Brent Grgic 2.0 may be a tad rude. I've been critcial of Jeffo in the past and he's certainly a long way from being an AFL standard player, but he does lead up and is showing signs with his pace for a big bloke that he may still make it and against a weaker cdefensive unit like North helped his confidence. Another game or two this season won't hurt - although I'm actually quite excited to see if he can now dominate a VFL game. So basically I'd go with four out - Sparrow (conc), Lever (knee), Tholstrup and Lindsay. My four ins are May (if fit), Spargo, Howes and Culley. I'd play Petty at Casey for a week - and I'd give some consideration to playing Tom Campbell given the two rucks for the Blues, but I am not sure who comes out if we go that way. And with Howes back, I'd start McVee on the right-side wing.