Red and Blue realist

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.

I'm not doubting he's got his life together, my main agreement is that no-one has seen him even run after the surgery. So why give anyone a contract when we've got no idea if he can even play footy at a high level anymore? If he can prove he can hit top speeds, hasn't lost any reflexes, still had the same game sense and coordination then maybe he's worth a shot. But until then he's just a guy who used to have a lot of talent who hasn't played a good game in over 4 injury interrupted years, so how anyone could think he's worth a 2 year deal is beyond me.

So you want us to give him a 2 year contract even though there's a good chance of him never playing a game? He's one of the best talents of the last 10 years but has played 2 ordinary games in the last 4 years, and had major injury issues. Why would anyone offer him even a 1 year contract let alone a 2 with incentives

Massive difference in taking on a guy 1 year out of the game who didn't have any injury issues, he was just fat. Bennell hasn't effectively played for 4 years, who knows if he's even still got the same speed, reflexes or coordination. Brereton was another who had a year off due to injury then went to the swans and then the pies and was horrible. Until he proves he can run and maintain a decent level of fitness for some time I'd be avoiding him

Don't get why so many are so keen on him, and are down on the club for not taking a risk on him (even though they still could??). The guy hasn't played AFL well for 4 season, the 2 games he had for Freo were in 2017 and weren't anything remotely special. I get that he's had massive talent in the past, and his game against Geelong in 2014 was seriously one of the better games you'll ever see by an individual. But it's been 4 season, since he's played a good game! Besides the massive injury risk, that he is yet to prove that he's actually over - Yes they think they've found the latest problem, but he still hasn't even ran yet, so does anyone know for sure the treatment worked? But what toll have missing so many years taken from that talent, will he still have the same speed, the ability to take a bump, run all day etc. I think it'd be crazy of any club to consider him until he's shown something in the pre-season that suggests he could play again, otherwise I'd be waiting until the mid-season draft if he manages to play a fair few games at a lower level.

We've got a number of docs and medico's on staff that all sit behind Burgess, but Brukner is a massive get, his experience in the sports medicine field is nearly unmatched. No matter how big/small his role this is great for the club. Have a look at his resume if you want to know more. https://www.peterbrukner.com/

The secret sauce is no stars, so no players who they've developed themselves who deserve good $$$ so they go out and pay a fortune for others. At least 10 of their best 22 come from other clubs, don't think there's ever been any premiership winners with anywhere near that amount of recycling

Think the Suns would be trying to force him to sign on for 1 year prior to the PSD, just using the threat of them picking him up then holding him to the 2 year contract, otherwise he'll find himself locked in their for those 2 years and going through the same process next trade period. Would work for the Suns because surely a player wouldn't sit out or play badly when that much money is on the line?