Deespicable

I popped in for about an hour and it's always interesting to watch players close up. Because of all the talk on here, I just wanted to double check that Oliver had started to look more like a strong young man and there's no doubt he looked fit and fired up. He's not so round (pear shaped) across the shoulders and clearly has been doing weights to become more broad shouldered - he's now a bit like Adam Cooney in shape. When the mids did a boundary throw drill, he and Jonesy were the standout pair - the two hardest to stop, although Viney with grunt and Tyson with deft touches were also hard to beat in the contest. The thing with Oliver, and the reason why we all of us seem to focus on him (a bit like the old Wattsy days) is that he the key man at clearances for us. Sure Jonesy is more evasive and other may have more finesse but he may yet be our Cripps at the clearances. Some doubt his fitness and sure he may not win our 1km reps, but he is still very quick and when he realises that he is among the fastest at the club, he will grow in confidence and run with the ball a bit, rather than just give it off. His other drawback is that when he kicks it, he often drops the ball from too high and as a result can spray the odd one more than Jonesy or Watts, but the coaches are on to him when he does this, and you can tell by his anger when he mis-kicks, that he gets it. He clearly has vision, he clearly has pace and he has the toughness - of all our young players he is the one that I am tipping will become a star of the game. But it may not happen this year as he has to win his way into a line-up that is mega-deep and he will have to cope with being tagged before too long. Of the others today I was ultra impressed with Chunk - I had him tipped to play off half-back this year and he still might - but I'm not so sure now we want to lose his evasiveness at clearances, particularly when you have Oliver and Viney going for the first touch off the rucks. Petracca, significantly, wasn't part of the clearance drills, and is being programmed again for a high half-forward role. But Brayshaw was a part of the midfield group, as was Jordy, Trenners, Stretch, Vince and ANB - no surprises there I guess. I watched the Weid for a while today as well and he is starting to make progress IMO. He still has to improve his agility, but his kicking at speed after a mark is improving and he generally looks less like a kid nowadays. Whether he has enough pace to be the man on the lead-up is yet to be determined, but he'll play at some stage this year barring major injury. I've got to say I really liked the way Spencil moved today. Maybe Gawny was having an off day - but Jake was doing everything you want from a back-up ruck - working hard to impact a contest, even if Gawny got the tap. I also had a good look at Dion Johnstone - the kid from NT via Scotch College. He is pretty skilfull, and seems to be fairly quick, but I'm not sure if he's explosively quick, so it may make it hard for him to win a spot as a forward flanker. But that is not surprising given the depth we have these days.

Dropped in briefly for the last half hour. Quick ball movement drill was a thing of beauty - so clean and precise and me thinks decision making was even quicker than last year, although sometimes first glance in a while can be deceptive. Having extra quality/depth with Hibberd and Melksham and McKenna Since last season Jack Viney is even more muscular - is this possible? He looked a bit like Naim Suleymanoglou as he did his 250m reps around the boundary with Dean Kent. Both Weideman and Oscar are still in need of more upper body weight training - still scrawny. Both Hunt and Smith look stronger though. Good to see range of skills drills and the Auskick one-on-one drill was a sensation as revealed earlier. Brayshaw just pipped Jones 2-1, O.Mac downed Weid 2-1. Bernie swept Tyson 2-0 with complete guts and desperation, Frosty managed to get ball to ground and won 2-1 against Hoges, Jack W was too tall for Harmes and won 2-0 and in the match-up of the day Salem was too classy for Petracca winning 2-0 with his one-hander a gem. Boys looked happy and most looked really fit (about 12 were on light duties) and two Dons seem to have fitted in perfectly. There was one player apart from Salem who stood out. When it came to 1km trials, this player was told to rack off from the second group because they obviously knew he was too quick. He nonchalantly went over to the A group which comprised Bugg, ANB, Melky, Harmes, Hunt, Oscar and Jones. He sat at the back for the first lap and then decided to just step it up and whizzed around them all and then took off the gas and won it easily with a bit of a smirk. I suspect you can all guess who it was and everything he did showed he is fair dinkum and clearly our number 1 main man for next season - subject to injury. My guess is that Jesse will play as a mobile forward similar to Nick Riewoldt this year - a bit like the Carlton game this year where he lead up and was the pack-mark outlet all day. Note: I'm not usually a huge Hoges fan, but you could just tell he's primed and it's not even December.

Declan was quite impressive early in the VFL season with his stints in the ruck, up forward and primarily as a tall defender. But he had a relatively poor finals campaign for Casey, which has meant he is no longer talked about as someone who will attract the sort of interest that would make see him taken in the normal draft - and the rookie draft now seems a more likely spot for him and us. It may come down to a choice between him and Jack Hannath - who we were keen on four years ago before Freo nabbed him before us. I'm hoping we go for Declan because it will also send a signal to Casey players that if you play well, then it is a potential road into Melbourne. I'd also be happy if we took Footscray's Ben Long who is a pacey, medium forward from Darwin - yes indigenous - Rioli's cousin. I always think we should be supporting NT players now that we have a relationship with the state and he is obviously one that we missed and the Dogs now have the jump on him. But I imagine if he's still around when it comes to pick 69 then he'd be perfect outside pace that we need to punt on - Dogs may take him at pick 50 though.

I think you will find that NightCrawler has already made a number of astute observations about him on the Delisted Free Agents thread - see below. The only thing that I would add is that if we were keen, then you would have thought we would have tried to deal for him as well when it came to the McKenna trade. Basically, if he's smart, he'd knock back any offer we made him because he would be about No.10 in line to play as an inside mid for us and there are a lot of other clubs where he could get a game next year way more easily. Posted 5 hours ago · Report post Barrett has been told he will be picked up by GWS as a rookie. He has been in great form in the NEAFL this year. Big possession winner, high tackle numbers. Good clearance player. I would love it if we scooped and used our first rookie pick on him. I think a club will take him as a DFA though. We would have a hard time attracting him when he would be behind all our other inside mids.

I think this topic this year is going to be great all the way through to the clash in late March with St Kilda because no matter how good a judge we think we are, or how much inside info we have, this year we have depth in almost every area (except a mobile ruckman/forward) and there are about 30 players who most of us would be very comfortable getting a game Rd 1, yet there are only 22 spots. As to who gets the final spot, it is so variable and will depend so much on fitness, form and Goody and his assistant coaches special preferences. I mean who would have honestly tipped last year that our vice captain of 2015 would be so out of favour because he turned up with a bit of extra puppy fat pre-season. We all knew that Lynden Dunn lacked pace, but we all thought that his other good points (thumping kick/great tunneler and experience) would make him a starter and we were all wrong. As a result I am a bit worried that Bernie may become the "too old, not fast enough" scapegoat, but he showed in his second year at the Dees that even without a proper pre-season he was up for a scrap and it wouldn't surprise me if he emerged as a very dangerous high half-forward goal scorer. My only hope is that our selectors err a bit towards the older guys for the first couple of weeks as I always like it when in line-ball decisions we show respect before hope.

1) Casey wins the flag - easily. Trengove/Vince tie for B&F. Maynard wins Norm Goss Medal. 2) Goodwin admits he was brains behind diamond defence and the Kent/Petracca centre bounce roll, which all sides now try and copy. After his side masters zone defence, Goodwin tries an automatic switch to man-to-man defence at 25minute mark of every term. Takes David King all year to figure it out. 3) All-in brawl v Saints in Rd 1 with Lewis and Oliver suspended for two weeks. 4) Making finals for first time since 2006. Other 7 finalists are - GWS, Adel, Syd, Geel, WB, Rich (yes, Richmond) and St Kilda. 5) Five newcomers in 2017 - Hibberd, Melksham, Smith, McKenna and yet to be taken back up ruck/forward - Zac Clarke if delisted, Keilty if no Clarke. 6) Big surprise - Harmes plays every game, except for suspension. 7) Lumumba retires in April after two games in VFL. 8) Hoges AA CHF, Jones AA hbf, Gawn AA ruck. 9) Joel Smith takes mark of year of the year on a Lion (not Garry). 10) Roughy asks to join Dees in off-season.

For once I'm with Stuie on this one in his Wags battle with Abe. Clearly Abe doesn't rate Wags highly and thinks two years is inappropriate. Yet Wags was chosen last year before Hunt and only lost his way a little late in the year when illness and then tiredness got him. I think we all get that Wags will find it a hell of a lot harder to get a gig next season with Hibberd playing his position, but that doesn't mean you don't reward him for a very solid first season - I mean he's 22, not 32. And even if he spends most of 2017 in the magoos because of Hibberd or the Smith honeymoon factor or the Jones to defence lobby, the fact that he is contracted for two years means that other clubs will look more closely at him next trade year because we obviously rate him - even if Abe doesn't. Gold Coast may even finally admit they cocked up and try and lure him back. Abe may then even admit his rating was a little out of line! The left foot defender who is under the pump a bit is Mitch White, who is yet to show that he can handle the step up in pace to make it as an AFL defender and more than likely will just get a one-year rookie extension deal.

I can only see three options for pick No.47 (which may end up being about pick 43) and given Tubby Taylor's recent track record I am sure he'll be on the money. 1) Tall forward/mobile ruck option - It wouldn't surprise me if we nabbed an out of contract player like Zac Clarke if available but he will more than likely be taken even later - possibly as a rookie. Alternatively we may go another project tall. Once again we may wait until the rookie list for this. 2) Pacey small forward/midfielder - with our defence now shored up (Hibberd, McKenna and Smith), this posy is now a priority. We will want to be picking up someone who can apply pressure to Jeffy, who is facing a huge year after a fairly average second year at the Dees. Given we picked up another slowish midfielder (Lewis), it will be a player with major pace - hence someone like Galluci if he slipped through. But most of the quick kids will be taken higher than expected because all clubs now realise that pace is critical to the current transition game. 3) Someone who sneaked through who Taylor rated highly - Unless there is a gun awaiting us in the above two categories us, then the most likely option is that we will go for someone who we think has been underrated by other clubs. What position that is, is pretty much irrelevant as apart from two above areas, we are now pretty much covered.

Barlow is a tough, hard-working tradesman and we just traded in Lewis for that role and he's an upgrade on Bugg. We needed Barlow three years ago, not now.

Obviously a lot can happen, but here's my 50 cents worth. I have only picked the locks, the rest depend of injuries, form, match-ups and whether a few guys improve majorly. B: Jetta T.Mac Hibberd HB: Hunt O.Mac Jones C: Stretch Lewis Salem HF: Kent xxxxxx xxxxxx F: xxxxxx Hogan Watts Ru: Gawn Tyson Viney Int from: Frost, Oliver, Brayshaw, xxxxxx No Vince because we have to wait and see if he returns injury-free. I really don't see him playing defence, especially now that Nat Jones has to move back. I imagine Bernie could be a very handy forward, capable of snagging quite a few goals. But I see him battling for his spot with Petracca, Harmes and Vanders. No Melksham, but he'll probably get a game Rd 1. But the Jones to defence means it's a little unclear where he'll play. He might end up lining up on a wing, but I expect Salem and Stretch to be our big improvers next season, so someone has to miss. No Jeffy. His up and down form means I reckon we'll look closely at JKH and BenKen for this role and we may also think about playing Vanders or Harmes as tackling forwards if all three small forwards aren't measuring up. No Vanders or Harmes - at least one will get a game Rd 1 as they both are hardnuts who have pace and love to tackle. No Bugg - sadly he's the big loser out of the Jordy deal. He'll need more than charm to get a gig on a regular basis. No Weids - not yet anyway. I'll be interested to see which back-up tall we draft or rookie list to replace Dawes. Hoges to CHF is one option if we can't nab anyone with form and another is to send O.Mac forward and play Garland down back. No Wags, Smith and McKenna - all three youngsters will probably play at some stage and they are all so versatile. But Jetta, Hibberd, Hunt and Jones are the first cabs off the rank down there, so the trio will need injuries to get a gig.

Unlike others, I really wanted Michie kept because he is all class and our VFL forwards love having him in the side because he is so good at hitting targets. Ultimately he is just a tad slow to make it at AFL level, but he's been an absolute star at VFL level and I imagine he'll be snapped up by Port Melb or Willy for next year. Dawes I suspect never really got over his hand injuries from his Collingwood days. He's an honest worker, but you can't keep dropping marks at AFL level. Newton's cards were effectively marked when he was majorly exposed for pace at Subiaco in 2015. But he has that knack of just being in the right spot to snag a lovely goal. Max King seems like a lovely guy and has nice skills, but hasn't been able to impose, even in the development league. Could be a very handy VAFA player next season.

A great motivating tool for our list - having a senior Hawk talking about how good our list is becoming and wanting to join up just shows we are on the right track. Lewis is tough and a good user generally and should insure we are not intimidated by the likes of Swans and Cats. It also increases our midfield depth massively, but if we don't get injuries, then it's a little hard to figure out who will be squeezed out to fit Jordy into the centre square. Being a very similar player to Tyson, it puts a bit of pressure on him and it's hard to see Bernie ever being required in the middle now.

Two things about Hibberd. The first is that the DL camp who have highlighted him as a good pick-up have underestimated (ignored) one of his main ingredients that he adds to our list - a left foot defender. At present we have Salem and Wagner as our only two left-footers back there while sides like Hawthorn and Sydney have quite a few. Wagner is handy but not a thumping kick like Hibberd, while most of us would like to see Salem tried in the midfield. So Hibberd's acquisition is huge and those that watched him pre-2016 know that he's as tough as nails and will be part of our back seven (six plus one interchange). The other is I don't quite get why we want to try and trade out of next year's draft already. Perhaps some have got cocky after our improved showing with a young list, but there's no guarantee that we won't slide a little next year as we wait for our young squad to fully mature. And when we grabbed an extra pick last year (for Weideman), we were told by the club that the 2016 draft was shaping as being a little thin. And there's also no obvious other trades on the horizon this year, but next year we may want to use our second round pick - just as we do this year. One can only presume that our maestro Jason Taylor now is keen on a couple of players who may fall in that 20-30 bracket. But there are ways of getting back to the second round, even if we have to trade our current pick for Hibberd. For example - Dunn to Brisbane should net us the Lions third round pick 49. We then can go after the Gold Coast's pick 25 or 29 on the basis that trading them our two third rounders (picks 46 and 49) will actually earn them more points to be used for either Jack Bowes or Brad Scheer.

Story via the local paper on Pedo. Everyone has there own opinions, my soft spot is for Garland - I still reckon he's quick enough and a good enough kick to play - and I reckon he's trying his darndest to become an attacking defender, rather than the back up the line style that Neeld loved. Either way, we need him as back-up, just in case one of our big three go down and he's signed for another two - so why not just keep him.

Yze was a freak - his 2000 season as a defender was amazing and later he was able to play some incredible games asa small forward because his kicking and evasive skills were a bit like Cyril. If Salem gets to that level then we'll be playing finals. Salem may be part of an impressive back seven (one rotating) next season with T-Mac, O-Mac, Frost, Hibberd, Jetta, Hunt. Apart from Hibberd, I don't know why O-Mac can't be used as the kick-in man on occasions - he's one of the longest and best kicks we have now. Or if Melky, Harmes or Smith are showing form down back, then Salem might find himself up on the left wing, where he could be the clever kick inside 50m or play a more defensive role on someone like a Gaff or Sidebottom. That role depends on whether he can get his tank up to a really high level. I can't really see him going inside - nowadays you have to be either a big body like Cripps or Bont or a gung-ho small like Viney or Libba or Mitchell.

Hey Angry at Casey. I appreciate your feedback from the VFL, but I just can't quite understand your team logic above. I mean the minute I saw Brown (either one is slow, and both would be backward steps in an area where we have three good young talls and at least one back-up), I lost my sense that you were on the same page as most of us. The same applies to Dal Santo. Yes he is highly skilled and should come cheap but as with the Browns, all we'd be doing is slowing down our side at a time when we have a Goody gameplan based on fast transition. Happy for us to consider the freakish skills of Harvey, because he's still quick, but I doubt he'd consider us. To my way of thinking we already are planning to recruit our most crucial need - a fast, long-kicking left-footer who is tough - Hibberd. Whether he requires more than our mid-range round two pick is the main thing open for debate. The only other real position we lack is a mobile tall forward who can also ruck, so that we don't have top throw Wattsy to the wolves again. I note that you have said Vardy, but it sounds to me that there's already been a fair bit of interest in him from other clubs. Tomlinson is off to the Blues and Vickery to the Hawks. Zac Clarke is worth a look, but I'm not sure about his forward work being good enough. Petrie may now also be just too slow to consider, even if just for a year. Maybe we just have to bide our time a bit and see who else gets delisted. And if no-one does, then Casey's Keilty is worth a go. Anyway, to me it seems that we have already decided not to overdo the changes and allow our youth time to bear fruit with the signing of Trenners and the apparent decision to get Pedo to the surgeon. Once we upgrade Smith and Wagner, that leaves possibly only five left on the list as replacements for Grimes, Newton, Lumumba, Dunn, Terlich, King and Dawes with two of those as rookies. The VFL finals will help us solve part of the riddle. Exceptional form from some players - (eg: ANB, JKH, Michie, Dunn, Grimes) may tempt other clubs to get keen on giving them another shot at the big dance and an extra trade pick may help us get the Hibberd deal done or even prompt another deal for a back-up tall forward/ruck. To me we are heading down the following list path for next year: Tall defenders: T-Mac, O-Mac, Frost, Garland. Medium defenders: Hibberd, Wagner, Smith, White (re-rookied), Maynard (special rookie) Small defenders: Salem, Jetta, Hunt, N.Jones (when not required as mid), Michie (great value as a classy rookie). Rucks: Gawn, Spencer, King Tall forward/rucks: Pedo, newcomer (Keilty)? Tall forwards: Hogan, Watts, Weideman, Hulett Medium forwards: Vanders, Vince (I no longer want to see him down back), Petracca Small forwards: Garlett, JKH, Kent, Kennedy, quick newcomer Quick outside mids/wings: Melky, Stretch, M.Jones, quick newcomer Mids: Viney, Tyson, Oliver, Brayshaw, N.Jones, Trengove, Bugg, Neal-Bullen Utilty: Harmes Rookie: Two spots available

Not trying to spoil the Max Gawn party, but unless Paul Roos has very little say in the vote-giving, then the B&F will be won by Jack Viney and by quite a big margin I'd suggest. If you don't believe me, then go back and look at the coach's votes in the early rounds and Viney will probably be so far ahead by the time he hurt his knuckle in Round 10 that there'll be no way he will be caught. Of course if someone can tell me that the match committee aren't involved with the voting and that those that do disagree vehemently with Roosy and reckon he has no idea, then I'm happy to hear another view. But if you are going to the count and see a bookie and Jack Viney is more than 2-1, then get on board quick.

My biggest bugbear with the fixture is that everybody wants to play Friday night games and very few clubs want to play Sunday afternoon games. So wouldn't it make sense to schedule two games each Friday night and reduce the three game Sunday arvo commitments to just two games. That way you could even decide mid-season which Friday night game is on free-to-air and which is not and the chances of primetime massacres are reduced - remember Carlton in 2015. If that were the case then I'd like us to have five Friday nights, five Saturday arvos, five Saturday nights, five Sundays arvos, one Monday (QB v Coll) and one Anzac Eve (v Rich).

6 Salem - Showed poise and class and hopefully this stops anybody talking about trading him. 5 T.Mac - Sure Tom-a-Hawk got six, but T-Mac was a tower of strength intercepting. 4 Brayshaw - Brilliant goal being held almost whole way. Kept pumping it forward. 3 O.Mac - Another clean display down back. Why isn't he ever allowed to kick the ball in? 2 Hunt - Usual lively display, although hard-pressed to understand why he was put on their slowest player - Bartel - for whole of first half. 1 Frost - Mainly for his early tackle on Dangerfield. Shame our midfielders couldn't get any to stick on him.

Always an interesting time of year and the backlash to North's Harvey treatment highlights how emotional it can be and how side's can get it right and sometimes wrong. Angry at Casey has already highlighted that there are six to eight expected departures before we even get to Trengove and that list does not include a couple of rumoured trades - ie: JKH to Carlton, ANB to Port - that will probably only happen if the club gets itself in a bind over luring Hibberd. Trengove and Michie, who I can't figure out why people are saying is going because he's probably the best rookie in the VFL at the moment and is a complete bargain, will be part of a list management decision. Goody's own personal perception will also come into it, but I suspect he has already made hard calls on Grimes and Dunn, who has another year on his contract. Do we want to, or need to, take away our depth of midfielders? Sure we all like Viney and Tyson and Oliver and Brayshaw, but at some point they will have injuries and as the Dogs have shown, you need back up. But as I have said before, my biggest annoyance with the club is that it has never, as far as I'm aware, brought in a specific sprints coach similar to what Sydney did with Matt Shirvington to work with the players during the off-season - even for a few weeks. Instead it has left guys who clearly lack pace to down their own work in the off-season. As a result we have seen guys like Toumpas shown the door (he had other flaws as well, mind) and our biggest complaint about Dunn, Newton, Grimes, Salem, Tyson, Michie and Trengove is that they lack pace. I get the side's need pace for transition, so if it is such a high priority - why do we assume that our fitness coach (Missen) is also a sprints coach. They are two completely different things. Missen knows how to set them an overall program, but I have never seen him working on improving any player's running technique at training. So my biggest wish is that we keep Trenners and Michie and that we employ a sprints coach for a four-week period in the off-season and try and correct our only major concern about the way they play football. The group should include Salem and Tyson and Brayshaw and Petracca and any of the players that feel they need the extra speed work. They are still young enough to pick up an extra yard and if they do, we may find they can play a key role - because they all have footy smarts.

Actually I'm a big fan of Edwards - he's a very classy player when he's fit and on. The issue is that the Tigers would want a second round draft pick at worst for him so I can't see how we can offer something worthwhile up for a trade.

So Stuie, in your opinion, did GWS make a mistake in signing Steve Johnson?

You are not the only one - but as per my comment below on the rival Brent Harvey thread - Nick Dal Santo would be a strange step given Goody has signalled he is all about quick transition. This is what I said on other thread: Of the four, there are two we should consider and two we shouldn't. The main reason that we consider them is that we are one of the youngest side's going around and with Melky and Hibberd on horizon, we will also already have even more outside run than this year - which means we should be one of the faster lists in the comp, as well as youngest. As a result we are one of about four clubs that are the right mix for them, just as GWS or the Bulldogs were the only two clubs where Stevie J could have gone last year without him just slowing their side down even more. The two players who we can't consider are: 1 Nick Dal Santo - while he is skillful, we already have strong depth in our midfield ranks and he will just slow our midfield down. Goody can't get rid of Grimes and Trengove and justify such a replacement. 2) Barnaby Firrito - he's as tough as old nails but now just too slow as a defender and Goody has made it clear he wants quick transition. He would be a Mark Neeld type backward step. The two who we can consider are: 1) Brent Harvey - he is still pretty freakish as a player and kicks the ball as well as ever. If he wants to play on, then we'd be mad not to talk to him. Is he better than Jeff Garlett? Based on this year's overall work - yes. The likely losers if we go Harvs are Jeffy and Ben Kennedy - but injuries do happen and his inclusion would give us great depth and quality in the small forward ranks. But he may just decide to stay loyal to the Roos and call it a day. 2) Drew Petrie - As with Boomer, he has to want to play on before we consider him. We also have to check that injury-wise there's no issues with him going into the ruck - as he used to do before Brown kicked on. His arrival would solve our current problem of not having a reliable forward/back-up ruckman and he would come way cheaper (free agency) than Vickery (who's going to Hawthorn), Daw (who will now stay at the Roos) and Vardy (who sounds like he's going to the Swans or GWS). His arrival would also mean that both Dawes and Pedo are delisted - some would argue that's no big deal. His arrival would also mean Weideman would have to wait a bit longer for games - but clearly he is a project player and is still at least a year away. Having an older head like Petrie around the club, who tackles hard, would also help with both Weids and Hoges, who of late have forgotten the importance of that role once the ball hits the ground. His arrival would also reduce the chance of Jack Watts getting injured as back-up ruck. In Petrie's case, there may be another tall forward/ruckman who becomes available - so it may be a wait and see what's around for a few weeks before committing. In Harvey's case, he's still a freak. He will be able to choose where he goes if he decided to play on for another year. The good thing is that we now shape as a side that is no longer merely a developing side. As a result, we appeal as a one-year potential finalist for either player.

Of the four, there are two we should consider and two we shouldn't. The main reason that we consider them is that we are one of the youngest side's going around and with Melky and Hibberd on horizon, we will also already have even more outside run than this year - which means we should be one of the faster lists in the comp, as well as youngest. As a result we are one of about four clubs that are the right mix for them, just as GWS or the Bulldogs were the only two clubs where Stevie J could have gone last year without him just slowing their side down even more. The two players who we can't consider are: 1 Nick Dal Santo - while he is skillful, we already have strong depth in our midfield ranks and he will just slow our midfield down. Goody can't get rid of Grimes and Trengove and justify such a replacement. 2) Barnaby Firrito - he's as tough as old nails but now just too slow as a defender and Goody has made it clear he wants quick transition. He would be a Mark Neeld type backward step. The two who we can consider are: 1) Brent Harvey - he is still pretty freakish as a player and kicks the ball as well as ever. If he wants to play on, then we'd be mad not to talk to him. Is he better than Jeff Garlett? Based on this year's overall work - yes. The likely losers if we go Harvs are Jeffy and Ben Kennedy - but injuries do happen and his inclusion would give us great depth and quality in the small forward ranks. But he may just decide to stay loyal to the Roos and call it a day. 2) Drew Petrie - As with Boomer, he has to want to play on before we consider him. We also have to check that injury-wise there's no issues with him going into the ruck - as he used to do before Brown kicked on. His arrival would solve our current problem of not having a reliable forward/back-up ruckman and he would come way cheaper (free agency) than Vickery (who's going to Hawthorn), Daw (who will now stay at the Roos) and Vardy (who sounds like he's going to the Swans or GWS). His arrival would also mean that both Dawes and Pedo are delisted - some would argue that's no big deal. His arrival would also mean Weideman would have to wait a bit longer for games - but clearly he is a project player and is still at least a year away. Having an older head like Petrie around the club, who tackles hard, would also help with both Weids and Hoges, who of late have forgotten the importance of that role once the ball hits the ground. His arrival would also reduce the chance of Jack Watts getting injured as back-up ruck. In Petrie's case, there may be another tall forward/ruckman who becomes available - so it may be a wait and see what's around for a few weeks before committing. In Harvey's case, he's still a freak. He will be able to choose where he goes if he decided to play on for another year. The good thing is that we now shape as a side that is no longer merely a developing side. As a result, we appeal as a one-year potential finalist for either player.

Agree - all clubs play the real estate game initially. Our pick 27 probably is a little unders, so we will have to decide whether we give up our third round as well, maybe for a switch with their pick four. We should pick up something for Grimes (round 4 pick) and maybe Dunn (round 4 pick) and I am waiting to see what Goody decides on Trengove (potential round 3 pick) and Neal-Bullen (Port Adelaide second round pick). Why have so many jumped off the Salem bandwagon?