Red and Blue realist

Weightman who has been mentioned as a connection to us, toured the Doggies HQ today, according to the little paper. Looks like even if we did split to 15 & 20 (GC) or 14 & 17 (Cats), then we'd miss out - if we wanted him anyway. If we did want him and be able to split the pick then maybe we'd talk to the Power, but would they give up 12 & 18 for 10 & 28, I doubt it.

Like the thought, but the AFL wouldn't tick off on it, nor would GWS go anywhere near it. Say if we split 10 into 15 & 20. If we then bid pick 3 on Green, GWS could then use pick 4 and be left with the approx. pick 50 after their discount or alternatively we trade them picks 15 & 20 for 4 and there left with equivalent of pick 50. Either way GWS end up with Green and a pick in the 50s, there's no compelling reason for them to do that, even including pick 28 would be questioned.

I don't watch much of the under age stuff, so have only seen highlights so not the most qualified to offer this up, but Toumpas was rated a phenomenal kick in his draft year, however as we all know with the extra speed and pressure the AFL brings as compared to under 18s, he was found out. I think a few years ago there were stats going around that the best players from the 18s come through with a high % of their stats being contested - not sure how this applies to Young? Most of the best half back flankers have evolved from their draft year, playing mostly as midfielders who then find that position when at AFL level - Hodge was mentioned earlier but he was a mid, then from last years premiership team Vlaustin was hard in and under mid and that's where Houli started too, in our team Salem was a mid turned HBF while Hibberd got a chance as a mature pick up. Not at all saying Young's not a worthwhile pick but he needs to be more than a great kick to make it at AFL level, the speed pressure etc. is so much higher than what he's been playing against. Have people seen that in him, or just the great kick?

Sometimes it can depend on the type of injury though and the players role. Gus has a back injury which while he still managed to play 22 might have meant he was much more restricted than Oliver with his shoulders. An injury set back can effect you're whole body sometimes and others it only impacts 1 area, so running/strength work might still be possible. Hopefully with no set backs this year Gus returns to his 2018 best, but backs are hard to manage.

Unfortunately Bombay, there are a heap who've gone early on the criticism of Taylor/Goodwin for looking at a 'ruckman' who's going to be worse than Lucas Cook and can only kick floaters. I'd love to see some vision as well, I was just pointing out the Taylor has expressly said he's gone to see him play forward on a few occasions and doesn't see him as just a ruck,

I see this as a real draft day decision, I think we'll take Jackson at pick 3 and then will see how the rest of the draft order shapes up to see if we split 8 or not. There's a chance Young or Serong are available at 8 and I think we'd take them, but if both are gone, then I think we'd looking at trying to get access to Weightman, Pickett or Taylor.

Taylor has said a few times that he's seen him play forward and was excited by that, this is something that's been completely ignored by most on here who see him as mostly a ruckman. I know some clubs think it's possible that he'll potentially develop into a super tall mid as well.

GWS win because of the generous academy, but it won't really impact us too much. We'll either get Green or Jackson (if he is the choice at pick 3), while GWS would have to weigh up matching Green with taking Jackons and Young (1 player vs 2). It will reduce down who might be there at pick 8, but again that might not have made any difference to us at all, or might encourage the splitting of pick 8.

The younger Green wouldn't qualify for us, unless he has parents who weren't born here. We don't have the same rules as the northern clubs with our academy.

Wonder how stuff like this gets ticked off from the AFL, assuming Green does get bid on by Sydney at pick 5, with the discount they need 1,502 points. However, they only have pick 40, 59 & 60, which add up to 733 points. So they will be 769 points in deficit but we know that can carry forward into the next season, but they've traded away their first. If they finish higher than 12th then they'll loss their 2nd round pick (although they do currently have 2 3rds for next year - but these will be pushed back). I suppose it might create a fire sale situation where they have to actively trade a number of players to get extra picks/points next season.

Port are trying to hold onto those first 3 picks (12, 16 & 18) while having enough points to pay for their F/S. He is ranked around an early 2nd, from what I've read, so pretty smart by them. While the Lions don't have a heap of list spots so had no need for those extra 2 picks they gave away, and they get to 'death ride' Port all next season. Without knowing how next season turns out, on the surface this is a smart win-win play by both.

But you have no idea if they were running in the same group, so you instantly had an unnecessary crack at a few guys. The overreacting from you and others on here is ludicrous at times.

Marc McGowan reported they ran the time trials in smaller groups, maybe just be happy that Bedford looks to have really worked hard over the pre-season, rather than in-correctly potting others.

I think whatever position the coaches think they want him, he desperately needs to train their all summer. He looked a little lost in the forward line on occasion, but not sure how much work he did there last pre-season, and when he got moved back again looked a little out of place in the game. He's a guy who I think really needs a set position, only then will he able to use his best asset. Personally I like him back, not only for his pace but also when switched on and full engaged he has a desperation that few can match, maybe he's the answer to replacing Nev as a small defender?

Sorry read the post wrong, agree with you and DS

Thanks Saty, thanks for the reports!

Saty, could I ask how Weid is looking in his running? The photo's look good, but he had his hips done and a few places have said he'll be a late starter to full training. He certainly looks to have put on some decent size (despite the broken jaw!).

I'd highly doubt that who we look at as a delisted free agent would make any difference to who we draft, realistically a DFA might help plug a gap but there would be a low % they become long term valuable team members, whilst a draftee, in particular at the pointy end, you'd hope to have on the list for 12 years.

And none of them are due back at training for another 2 weeks, so what's your point? 1st to 4th year players are due today, which will be a pretty small group really, so it will be interesting to see if many of the senior guys join in, but as long as those that aren't there have been doing the training program it doesn't matter where they are.

The take on him is that he's too slow/not agile enough to be a true small/pressure forward at AFL level, but uses his strength to dominate the position at NEAFL level.

For anyone who says the draw doesn't matter, of the same version for the 2019 draw, only 3 of the top 8 listed as having the hardest draw made the finals. West Coast, Collingwood and Essendon, and we know the 2 of them bombed out early. Interestinly the 2 teams that were assessed as having the softest draw in 2019 didn't get close to finals - St Kilda and Adelaide, but Brissy who had the 3rd easiest draw came flying back in. Using a similar logic to last year, you'd think Brisbane, the Dogs, Collingwood and Geelong should be a very good chance to make finals, plus Richmond should be a certainty as well, leaving around 3 or 4 spots swinging.

Absolutely agree on why were looking at him, the risk vs reward benefit could be massive, and he will cost next to nothing (maybe some extra rehab staffing). But some on here are carrying on like we could be picking up 2012-2015 Bennell - the likely-hood of him even getting close to those levels are very remote, I'm just trying to bring some balance to those working themselves into a frenzy, wait until he shows some signs of being an AFL player before getting excited.

Exceptional stats, however: 2016 - 0 possessions/0 goals 2017 - 19 possessions/3 goals - from 2 games 2018 0/0 2019 - 0/0 Throughout the period from 2012-2015 he was one of the most talent players in the comp. Since then, which is a whole 4 season. He has done nothing. As much as his talent will excite many, the reality is he hasn't even gone for a run since his latest bout of surgery, who knows if he still has his speed, agility and even co-ordination that he once had. We've seen what injuries did to the highly talented Jack Trengove on our own list. We need to have him complete training sessions with us before we even consider him, otherwise we'll just be paying for someone to do rehab who never plays a game.

We need to ensure the guy can still run and is a good chance to be able to actually play again before blindly offering him a contract, just because other clubs are. I'm glad we're reported to be putting him through a medical, but he still hasn't started running yet. It'd be stupidity of the highest order to offer him a 2 year contract (or more as you suggested) then for him to break down within a few weeks of returning to running. He'd need to be able to show he can return to top speed, use some agility and be able to jump before we should consider a contract, we've got right up to when the season starts to do that, make him work for it first. To answer your question is he a worse option that Wagner(s), Dunkley, Baker etc, well clearly over the last 4 season that answer is YES. From last season, May, Lever, Jetta and Hannan all played less than 10 games due to injury while AVB, KK and JSmith played 0, bringing in another player with a significantly worse injury history than any of them is not smart, yes it's only 1 list spot but coming off a massively injury effected season means we should be extra cautious, and I'd want to see he's got some capability to get back to footy, not just offer him a contract because everyone else is!

KK at least played in 4 out of the last 6 games in the season before we picked him up, going out for the last 2 rounds with an injury not related to concussion. So he had recent history of playing, and playing reasonably well in the lead up to being traded to us, plus came as steak knives in the May deal, and has only just turned 24, so could reasonably have 6/7 years left.