Red and Blue realist

He's incredibly inconsistent in the VFL, there was no stage where he had 3 or 4 good games in a row, he might play 1 or 2 OK games that would get people excited but then be down the next week. He was nearly a free hit - a 3rd round pick we weren't going to use on the draft - so didn't cost anything except for the list spot, and maybe we thought he was maturing into his body and AFL life. Hopefully another pre-season and he can push towards a game?

While there are exceptions to this, in general in women's sport, they seem to hit their peak earlier than men. AFL players generally hit their peak in their mid to late 20s - 27/28/29 before that they are building their bodies and after they start to decline - yes I know some come in and make an immediate impact and their can also be those who continue to excel well into their 30s. However, for a number of reasons women seem to be at their best athletically in their late teens/early 20s. I suspect some of this thought comes into our drafting strategy and moving some players on -or in this case letting them go without much fight. I think we might be a little ahead of the curve when it comes to drafting/trading in the AFLW space, the likes of Brisbane and the Crows seem to be ahead with development, but if we hadn't been smashed with injuries this year and the draw was more equitable then we would have been right up in finals again.

I suspect they might want Windsor to do a similar role to Brayshaw, playing both wing and half back as required. XL might be eased in on the wing but be interchangeable with Windsor, but he might also take a little longer than the Duke to get ready for the main team.

I know this will not be a popular opinion and I don't know the exact amount of spots we've got on the rookie list, but St Kilda have let go of Brad Crouch with the promise to re-rookie him. He was injured this year, but played nearly every game the 3 years before that (since he move from Adelaide). If we wanted a midfielder to walk in and make an impact (as long as he's over his injuries), then we could do the Hugh Greenwood to him and get him before the Saints. Might provide some protection for the young guys we pick up at 5/9, while he has clearly been a high level player in the past.

Not really true, he was dropped round 1 then came in late and was in the team until injury then came back via the VFL, but was there for their final rounds and final series when over injury. 2023 he played every game for us and was very good in our final against the blues. It didn't work out this year, but cost virtually nothing and filled a gap we had. Hopefully Sharp is the longer term option, and I think he'll be better long term, and I'm hopeful it'll allow Windsor to develop more inside than if he is seen as more of a pure wingman

Geelong are able to control the media narrative better than any club, the local paper (the addy) is more or less a newsletter about the Cats, but it's well known that their local journos are not to write anything negative - unless the club wants a player out - otherwise that persons job is in danger. Hence when Stengle OD out the front of a nightclub recently it was all swept under the carpet very quickly and he even played the next week.

Could see us giving up a combination of our current late picks - 49, 54 and 65 - picks we're not going to use, but gives the Lions points (maybe even with a future 3rd/4th coming back to us for White points next year). They won't be using any of these, just matching Ashcroft and Marshall bids. Probably why they are happy for Sharp and Dev Robertson move as well, they are being replaced instantly.

Very highly rated as a person, I wonder if he's in a semi ruck coaching role with Verrall, Fullarton etc. while offering the big body Max needs to train against, plus offers a break glass in case of emergency option.

Nibbler moving for family, free hit - but the other two are money - the crows have heaps of cap space because they haven't played finals since 2017 so aren't paying huge salaries to stars anymore -Sloane, Walker, Laird etc, are all on much smaller deals or retired.

Seems like a reasonably even draft, so if Carlton wanted to dump his salary (as above they might be trying to renegotiate with him now to fit in Houston which could squeeze him out), we might be happy to slide from pick 5 to pick 11 and throw in our later picks (say 50 and 61) for them to match their father sons. Despite missing games this year, he played 22 last year, is very consistent in games and will 25 at the start of next season.

Or to the PSD, not that we normally operate that way, but if Adelaide are really cracking the sads we won't trade a contacted Petty to them just because they want him, then they must forget they have no leverage with the uncontracted McAdam

Salary cap dump by GWS. Haynes is owed close to $1 million next year, whereas we could absorb that but get the good pick doing so. We might have to trade a future 2nd but get pick 7 and Haynes. GWS get a token pick and salary space.

Haynes only has the 1 year on his contract to go, so he wouldn't get in the way of a bigger target for next year, if that's what our plans are. Makes sense if they want him off the books. Don't think Petty has to come into the thoughts on this deal

From memory we were the ones who placed an academy bid on him, so fair chance we had a bit to do with him before he got drafted

I reckon if Grundy goes to Port Sam Hayes could be part of the package coming back, he's 24 was highly rated in his draft year but slipped down lower than expected. He hasn't set the world on fire but a move back to Vic behind Max might be good for him and provide the support needed until Verrall is ready. Wouldn't be on big coin either

Didn't realise he's 28 already, he came on the scene late. Is a fair bit taller then chandler and kossie, so could nearly be a 3rd target, but knows where the goals are.

The only handy thing is that we don't have a bye this week! Any fringe player still has a chance to impress

The Sydney game is much more important than this week. They'll be playing finals type footy to try and secure a spot in finals in that last round, which would be the perfect tune up pre-finals. If we 'do whatever floats your boat' in that we rest players because we've secured top 4, not only does that give them 2 weeks off, but also if we get beaten badly then it sends a message to the rest of the comp that we're vulnerable against the better teams. Given what's at stake with finals, and how we limped in last years finals, giving Gawn a rest and seeing if we can get Grundy up and going this week makes sense to me, but as I said I'll be in the minority with that view.

Yeah, completely understand that. But I think for our premiership aspirations we'd be better off to let Gawn be 100% for finals, and also hope Grundy can re-discover his confidence and best form which might mean Gawn has to play his 200th in Sydney. In my opinion (and I know I'll be in the minority - but I've been calling for a Gawn rest for a while) we have to make sure we don't make similar mistakes to last year and run into finals with players who aren't as close to 100% as they can be at this time of the year. It's a head over heart decision.

I know Gawn's scan was just routine and he'd be right to play, but I think I'd give him a rest this week. He looked a little sore on Saturday night so giving him a week off will do 2 things, help him be super fresh for the finals (with the pre-finals bye after Sydney) and give Grundy the chance to find form. I think if we are still going to look at the Gawn/Grundy combo we need Grundy to be back to full confidence and when he rucked 1 out from rounds 2 to 5 he was really good, in turn between rounds 6 to 8 Grundy and Gawn combined for 7 goals. I also think we need an extra tall defender again, we could go without against Cartlon because they had Curnow and smalls (plus the rest ruck occasionally), whereas the Hawks and most others have 2-3 talls. So Tomolinson to come back in (and stay in). So my changes would be Gawn and Jordon out, Tomlinson and Schache in. With Woewodin to be the sub - Hibberd needs a full game, but hasn't done anything to warrant this being at AFL level. Schache being the best of the talls at Casey for a few weeks, although he wasn't great Sunday, he deserves a shot before TMac. Melk lucky that Fritta is still not right.

Suggests that Brown won't be attracting any sort of early bid, even though he'll be coming to us (if we want him!) other clubs do take take the combine's to look as to how earlier to place their bids. So my guess is he'll sit well outside the top 40, and we might even be able to rookie him.

Certainly wasn't expecting him to play again this year, but he's potentially an option to fill the Petty void down back with a full proper pre-season and guidance there. We've gone from having a very low amount of key forwards to a huge amount (although not all are ok) but by taking a key defender away to do this, I think we're short on depth there. If we persist with Petty forward, we need options and Schache is one that might be handy depth down back.

No way is he going to terminate his contract to have 1 year less and a total of around $1.8 million less, he'd stay for sure if that were the case. His alternative's are either to stay and fight for his spot or go elsewhere only if a trade can be arranged, but no way is he getting that much less time and money.

No good JNM, did the TV come with the app or did you have to install it? I've never experienced much buffering through the pre-installed app and that's been a common theme in discussions with friends, the app on the TV works really well but the casting has been ordinary, so sorry to hear yours isn't working. You could try uninstalling and then re-installing or clearing the cache?

He played reasonably well there for the Dogs in their 2021 grand final run, he'd be worth a try over a full pre-season with the likes of Lever, May and Tomlinson (if he stays) to learn off, lets be honest Keath and Cordy weren't ever going to offer the best leadership in defense, and the voice's of Lever and May could really transform him.