Red and Blue realist

Of course having some of the younger guys like Spargo and Sparrow able to play more effective time would help as well, but Jackson wasn't really ever used as an on-baller compared to a ruck who also played forward. He'll get there no doubt but his playing time wouldn't have reflected that at all this year. The team balance certainly must play into the consideration of the list management team, which is why Goody pumped up Gawn's forward ability, so it'll never be a case of the old days where they just plonk a ruckman in the forward pocket, I'm sure they think that both Gawn and Grundy will be more than able contributors up forward (and maybe down back as well) when not in the ruck, I was just pointing out that compared to Jackson, Grundy will give the option of additional time on ground, so it'll allow other players more rest.

Another small thing picking up Grundy will help with is his ability to spend a lot more time on the ground than what Jackson did, that's understandable with a younger player mind you, but if Grundy can spend another 10% or so, time on ground, that's another 12-15 minutes bench time per game that can be used for our on-ballers. Both Max and Grundy have very high average time on ground stats for ruckmen, and if they were played/rested forward more then this might even increase. We could then refresh our explosive/impact players more.

I'm not a huge draft follower first hand but reading what some observers (Twomey and from BF) there seems to be a clear pick 1 then the next 5 or 6 could go anywhere between picks 2 - 8 and then the rest is pretty even to around 30. So I'm not sure that this year it's easy to say pick 2 will be significantly better than 5, and can see that West Coast would see him as a direct replacement for Nic Nat, so would be hugely valuable for them. I still think Freo will get it done, but could see that West Coast would really be interested as well.

I'd count pick 5 and Jackson as pretty high end talent? Plus they still get a first round pick next year - it'll just be ours rather than theirs. Depends on how highly they rate their list and think this year was just a one off. I agree that he's most likely to go to Freo, and it's handy that WC are involved, even if it is just to force Freo to cough up a high price.

Gold Coast have a heap of picks this year, and very few list spots. In fact I'd love to involve them in a 3 team trade, something like: Melb Give: Jackson, pick 41 '2023 1st, pick 2023 3rd Get: Pick 7, 2023WC 1st and Flanders (suns) WC Give: pick 2, 2023 1st, 2023 2nd Get: pick 5, 2023 Dees 2nd, J Sharp Gold Coast Give: Picks 5 & 7, Flanders & Sharp Get: pick 2, 41, 2023 WC 2nd, 2023 Dees 3rd Gold Coast already have additional 2nd round (2) and 3rd round (1) picks this year, but I'd say they'll bundle them up to Brissy for their first round pick (currently pick 15) and their 2nd. Brissy with the compo from McStay should have close to enough for their 2 father sons.

I can see that if West Coast get involved that they'll split their pick 2 (as other have mentioned) for potentially pick 5 and 7 from Gold Coast (assuming that's what Adelaide have to give for Rankine) and we'd then get pick 7 and their future 1st - with our future 1st also going back to them.

No, have a look at what the dogs lose/get, they lose Dunkely, and picks 11 & 29 and only get picks 14 and Lobb back. They can probably get Lobb on his own for pick 29 and might do a 14 to 11 downgrade, but in your scenario they'd be giving Dunkley up for nothing. Plus I doubt a 4 team trade would get anywhere near a starting point.

In not great news Liam Jurrah is back in jail https://thewest.com.au/sport/afl/former-melbourne-demons-high-flyer-liam-jarrah-in-custody-after-alleged-machete-assault-c-8237970

No way both Meek and Grundy come, the salary outlay on 3 rucks would be incredible. Meek would want a bigger and longer contract, while Grundy is still going to cost even with the Pies paying a 3rd of his contract. We'd still need a young ruck or experienced one who costs nothing (like Daw).

Any dealings with Freo will take a very very long time, I'd say they have to have all their exiting players done first before they truly know what they can offer us. Like everyone I expect it to be 2 firsts from them and maybe a player - Henry would be more than handy, but that's only if we are getting Grundy, if not Meek can be the one who comes. If we deal with West Coast, I hope we're going straight for pick 2 - not letting them split it first. We could try and organise a 3 team swap with Adealide and Gold Coast, although I'm aware that Gold Coast might bundle up picks to move up the draft (Brissy need points and GC have heaps). But I'd be thinking we get pick 2 and trade it to Adelaide for pick 5 (2022) and a future 1st plus maybe Flanders from GC. GC get pick 2 and lose Rankine and Flanders, Rankine to Adelaide while we get two 1st and a young decent player (later picks would be involved too).

AA full forward - just to add to his legend!

I think Bowey has to play, while we have exceptional marking backs and great rebounders, Bowey is the cleanest when it hits the ground, which is an area that Brisbane can do some great work in, with Cameron, McCarthy and Bailey. To enable this to happen I'd do 1 of 2 things, either move Salem to the wing - Trac will play more forward and Harmes/Sparrow more midfield so it'll open up this spot or drop Rivers. We have 1 surplus mid/small back with Salem, Bowey, Hunt and Rivers in the team, so unless we move Salem to the wing, and then maybe ANB is the medi sub or Melk goes out with Trac forward we'll need to have someone come out of the team.

We've previously gotten Pig off the Bombers and he goes alright, I wonder if the footy department will think the cure is Ham?

I'd be guessing they might try and get Gold Coast involved if they get pick 5 for Rankine, they might give picks 2 and 20 (before all the F/S and academy picks), for picks 5, 7 & 43 from Gold Coast, and then West Coast could give us 5 & their 2023 1st. I think that would be more valuable than just pick 2 this year. However, these dealings will take a while because Gold Coast are involved and I think they'll be trying to consolidate some of their 2nd and 3rd round picks into 1st round swaps.

Gold Coast already have 2 extra second round picks and an extra in both the 3rd and 4th rounds. So they are flush with picks, so they'll be very actively in dealing this year. Brisbane are the ones who'll really need picks, so I'd imagine they'll talk to them first but I'm sure we'll be talking with them, it's a skill we've mastered like few others.

This has some merit, although for the interstate teams they really should face the other team in their state twice. So maybe there is an allowance there - but it wouldn't mean the team who finishes 3rd gets the wooden spooner!

If Yze does go to the Giants - and good luck to him if he does, he really does deserve it! Maybe we could trade for Stevie J, I think he's got the making of an excellent coach - super footy brain, plus like Dimma and Goody, still seems to have a bit of mischief about him that the players love and relate too. I think he could work well with our forwards and mid/forward connection.

The draw always is and always will be unfair and unbalanced - nothing can help that unless we all play each other twice. However, for this particular season I've put together the table below. In short we have the second toughest run - unless the Dogs make it into the top 8, then we have had the hardest. IMO this is the way it should be the grand finalists should have the toughest run the next year. I've only looked at the top 9 teams only, as they are still in it at this stage. Clearly the top 2 have done very well with their draw this year, and all the Melbourne based teams do very well with their home games. Team Games against top 8 Top at 8 @ home Top 8 away Games against bottom 9 Cats 7 3 4 (only 1 is interstate!) 13 Swans 7 4 3 13 Demons 10 7 3 10 Lions 8 3 5 13 Magpies 9 7 3 12 Dockers 8 4 4 13 Tigers 8 7 1 13 Blues* 10 8 2 11 Dogs 11 6 5 (2 interstate) 11

Are Bedford and Chandler injured or being rested - we've got the game next week on the Friday night so I'd think a few more might come out of this team.

Not sure why some are already dismissing this, or talking down Grundy's ability. He's easily been the 2nd best pure ruckman of the last 5 years. Why I think we'd be getting him is so Max can play predominantly forward, and while his kicking hasn't been great, his leading and general forward craft has improved out of sight this year. With a full pre-season this will improve further, and instead of our outlet kicks going towards Brown or Weid, we'd have one of the best contested marks up forward, while also giving him the license to drop back for the last few minutes of a quarter or if we're under pressure. On top of this Gawn would then have the ability to play in the very high 90s of game time. Allowing our mids/explosive players to rest more on the bench, given May/Lever/Petty and Langdon already spend a lot of time on the ground. At the moment Grundy is a better player than Jackson, not sure if that will be true over time, but I think it'd be an upgrade to personal for the next season or 2 and could dramatically improve our overall structure too. Having said that, we'd want the Pies to be paying 30% or so of his contract and we wouldn't want to be over paying in a trade either! Treloar in potentially similar circumstances was traded with two 2nds and a 3rd round for a 1st round and future 2nd. If we get 2 first round picks for Jackson, I'd happily give our 1st round pick next year (not Freo's), and our 2nd this year for Grundy and one of their 3rds this year.

I know Selwood has been doing it for years, but half of his comes from the strength to lift his arm, not always dropping the knees. However, Ginnivan and Weightman for the Dogs have taken this to a whole new level, which is why I think we're seeing them get punished more. I don't think Kossie does it terribly much, he's just low to the ground at speed - very similar to why Viney got a free last week, he was low at speed, as compared to dropping the knees. Ginnivan drops at the knees and throws his head back - nearly before contact's been made. It's very hard for a tackler not to go high in those instances, some have even been no more than 60cms off the ground when they make contact but was high before the crack down! So normally lower than the waste, just made high by the actions of the player.

Anyone else hope we tackle Ginnivan like this?

Gold Coast in particular - they've also got the Pie's and Freo's 2nd rounders and the Pie's 3rd, so a heap of pick's/points to offer up. I think clubs can apply to the AFL if they have a need for extra points, so they can accumulate extra picks. The AFL just don't want to see teams passing on picks in the first 2 rounds.

Yes, the Lions, will have to match it - but with points. They will get a discount of 20%. All picks are assigned a value, so for instance if North bid pick 1, the Lions will have to come up with 2,400 points. At the moment they have picks 14 (worth 1,161 points), pick 32 (worth 582), and pick 68 (worth 59 points) of their own and also Port Adelaide's 3rd (pick 43 worth 378 points). So all up they only have 2,180 points at the moment. They can go negative next year, but they also have Fletcher coming through who might get a bid i the early 20s. So they'll be desperate to find more draft picks this year.

That'd be a 3rd party that's involved, and really the only way they'd have anything to entice Brisbane with. They could also trade future picks to get back into this years draft or trade other players, but as it stands now they've got nothing to offer Brisbane. We'd be better off sending our 2nd, 3rd and Adelaide's 3rd to Brissy for their 1st.