Red and Blue realist

I've said before that I think he'd fit in really well with the way we play our defense, giving he's quiet mobile and probably a bit quicker than a first glace would suggest. He also has the advantage of being a genuine option in the ruck. One of the bigger advantages is that he wouldn't cost us any draft picks or trades. There was some talk that while he has been loyal to Port in the past, they might actually encourage him to take up free agency as they have traded away their first pick in this years draft and the size and length of the contract would get them back in the first round.

Hard to make a realistic judgement of how well we'll do out of the increase to the cap, without knowing finer details. Obviously the Saints and North have made it clear they are currently paying under 100% to bank funds to go even harder at trade targets. I don't know if it's been stated or even if there's an article, saying if we've done the same, paid 100% or even up to 105% over the last few years. Even if we did pay 100% (or more) then that might actually give us more to spend, if we were heavily front loading contracts in anticipation. I'm hoping that the likes of Viney who's got a longer contract and Jones and Lewis are all front ended, meaning that with Lumumba's contract as well we're in a very good position to either go after someone they think we need, or help retain Tracc, Oliver, Hogan, Salem, Hunt and Gawn etc who I anticipate might be on the receiving end of big offers when they come out of contract over the next few years.

He just re-signed last year, I think we had a fair crack and he decided to stay. Plus dealing with Essendon would cost at least our first this year and next, Brayshaw, Tracc, Oliver, Gawn, Hogan and Viney.

Don't get me wrong, I think he's a very high quality player in particular in his primary role. However, I think with the way we play he'd be asked to be part of the zone more often than not, and he got caught out a couple of times having to double back or zone off (as someone mentioned earlier he got done over by Garlett). So I think he might not work fully with our game plan. Plus the cost would be high - both $ and acquisition (draft picks/players).

I thought this before the weekend, and given our set up this has confirmed it more so for me, but May while a very good player, is more a stand next to a gorilla and nullify them, rather than fit into a zone and be able to play on bigs and smalls. He is a very good full back, but I don't necessarily see him as also potentially a CHB or 3rd tall. Given we're very much into the zone structure we need guys with a bit more flexibility, Frost, TMac and even OMac can play all of FB, CHB and 3rd tall. I still think Trengove from Port might be a better fit to the way we play, plus as a free agent won't cost us as much in what we have to give up. Might be the same $ but no draft picks or loss of players.

Salem has been fantastic this year, and is a clear best 22 now. He's the perfect guy to have in next to Lewis, his skills are now much better than Lewis's but learning the leadership Lewis showed in the second half would be brilliant for the next 5+ years. We'll have Gawn and Hoges come back as well (hopefully very soon) which will mean from the guys who played the suns on the weekend there'll be 3 who play at Casey until an opportunity opens up. That's what we need to push into the finals this year, quality depth. Pencil being ready will only help as well. Pre-season everyone on here was excited about our depth and struggling to find a true best 22, that means there'll be unlucky guys, who hopefully put enough pressure on those just above them so who ever is in the team performs every week.

With Salem coming back in, and with Lewis and Hibberd down back, I think it's time to have Vince back in the midfield, either as a permanent tagger (he could go with Pendles) or on the wing pushing forward. I think he's been a little shaky down back, which wasn't his preferred position anyway. I'd want him to be an aggressive tagger as well, don't just limit your man but try and win your own ball and score on him as well. I think he could be one of the most effective at this in the comp.

Yeah 4:35pm AEST time.

Exactly right, unless the recruiting managers come out and say we rated player xyz at position 1,2,3....right through to the end of the draft - You can never really compare how well trades have done. In this deal we gave up 2, 20 and 72, which (including the draft movements due to free agency etc.) became Kelly, Impey and was passed. We don't know if we would have taken Kelly, Billings, Bont, Aish, Scharenberg etc at 2 and Impey, Gardener, Crouch, Lobb etc at 21. We also might have kept and used 72 which I acknowledge would have been for a rookie upgrade, but then might have afforded us an additional rookie pick. Comparing who won/lost a trade deal is no where near as black and white as some make it out to be. For mine, I'm happy with Tyson, Salem and Hunt and see them as best 22 for us for years to come, so I take that as a bit of a win.

This, plus Gold Coast's last game was putrid, I know ours was bad but their's was significantly worse. Will be interesting to see if their rest makes any difference, normally you'd think that might help them with a bit of early energy, but it'll be hard to tell because we've started so badly in the last few games.

Don't quote me on this, it's the impression I get, but in the VFL I imagine that overall as the speed of the game is down then there are less possessions had. It would then be more likely that in and under players will get more of the ball as well, plus outside movers will find it harder to get clear/clean space to be effective in. So he might not be getting 'heaps' of it, but may not also be playing badly, just the drop down in standard might not suit Stretch as much as some others. I still think he's going to be very good for us long term, but still is a 3rd year player so where he is isn't a surprise, given there's probably specific things the coaches will want him working on.

He'd be great but I don't think he'll actually leave, plus I think the price might be very high which some have pointed out could cost us in terms of either planning to replenish the older guys or cost us one of the younger guns. What about a free agent hit with Jackson Trengrove from Port? As far as I know he hasn't re-signed and would cover not only the key back spot but also offer ruck support if needed. I also think he'd play much better with the zone defense we're using, compared to May who's better just staying on the bigger guys.

I think he's being played slightly out of position at the moment. He's trying to be a second crumber, meaning he is trying to stay within 60/70 meters of goal at all times. I think he's better of playing the role that Bugg's doing at the moment, with a bit more freedom to move up to a true high half forward then back deep, hoping to get a mismatch. I think we'd be much better if ANB came in took the role Kent has played for the last couple of weeks, plus I think ANB has added some real pressure instincts to his game this year which also suits that role (nearly half crumber/half defensive forward). Kent can then take Bugg's role, and be given a little bit a licence to use his speed both to get up the ground a little but also get back and hunt some goals. Not sure what to do with Bugg, he's a real defensive type winger rather than an expansive one, he might be worth sitting on GAJ for this week, sending Vince back to Salem's half back role or he goes out and we bring in Stretch to provide some run. Either way, I'd like (at least for a week) to see Kent come back up to a true high half forward position to see if that gets him back involved.

Salem gone for a week. Think Melksham will come back and take his spot. I'd also swap Bugg for ANB.

I think the idea of a 'destination club' is a myth, if you look at the seriously good players who move clubs they are rarely drawn to so called destination clubs, they either go for (1) money - they might give another reason though; (2) family or (3) to leave a bottom club to be closer to a premiership. What I like the idea of is being a club that's good enough to attract decent talent, not those clinging to life as an AFL player. You can debate the circumstances but our latest acquisitions - Lewis and Hibberd - are decent talents who I'm sure wouldn't have given us a second look 2 or 3 years ago.

Any information on this? Nothing on the website yet, or any major papers etc. Sorry just saw the above, hope they got it early and he makes a full recovery, footy should come last.

Hannan didn't get a lot of it, but he chased and harassed brilliantly, in particularly in the second half. If Hogan's fit (or ready) then if be happy to swap, but both Hannan and weid put great pressure on without kicking goals, which I think will be a great step in their team play development

I just think we all expect him to be playing at his peak straight away, whereas he won't get there until his mid to late 20s. I imagine the expectations on here would be vastly different to what the coaches want. Let him get to 50 or 100 games before you give up on him

If we played exactly the same with Hogan instead of weid we still would have won. I think it's more everyone's expectation of the result is changed, or at least significantly lowered, when Hogan is out. I am hopefully that like the Geelong game a few years ago that seemed like the making of Gawn, that weid takes his effort yesterday and keeps going. The goals and marking will come with a bit more size but the competitiveness was great

Lamb, Jakcsh, Sumner, Pickett and Phillips, plus they've got Gorringe, Kerridge and Jones in the team as well. There also missing Palmer and Smedts who aren't in the Carlton team this week. Not to mention 6 from other clubs in the 1sts. (16 total) In comparison from other clubs, we've got Kennedy playing and only Milkshake and McKenna missing. While in the 1st we so have 7, but if you're going to go get players from other clubs you want them playing a role for you. (9 total) Nothing like developing your own.

I think the majority of Gus's issue's have been more bad luck than a technique issue. He copped a wet ball to the back of the head and the latest was behind the play, so not much he could do about them. I'd like him to have a good block, at least 3 or 4 weeks (maybe longer) at Casey, even if he does go back and kill it this weekend, just to make sure when he comes back there's nothing in the back of his mind that might hold him back.

It was said in the media multiple time's that St Kilda could win the same amount or even lose more games this year than last and still improve, and I always thought we could do exactly the same. I've been enjoying us play this year, and being in front (or level) in the last quarter of every game shows we've taken massive strides, in the last few years we would have been blown away by Hawthorn or Freo or the Saints when they went on big run but we've been able to peg them back. We've had major injuries against the Cats and Tigers - I know it's no excuse for not winning but the way we played despite being down on numbers was great. I don't think missing finals is a failure for this year, failure will be going back to old ways and going down by 100 points or getting beaten badly by a team well below us. Have a look at the way our side is balanced from an experience point of view, against the Hawks we had 1860 games of experience, of that nearly 1,000 came from 5 players - Jones, Lewis, Vince, Watts and Garlett. There's a lot of maturing to be done by guys like Hogan, Oliver, Salem, Petracca, Hunt, OMac who've all played less than 50 games.

Undoubtedly if he came to us and said I'm happy to forego an extra $150k - $300k he might be able to get elsewhere and we didn't have to give to much to GWS then he'd be great, but I think he'll cost in excess of $800k a year and the trade would be our first this year plus decent extra's (a first 22 player or next years first etc.). Paying too much will hinder our chances of retaining all of Oliver, Tracc, Hogan, Salem etc. when they come out of contract next, because we have a few on the team that are shaping as deserving the bigger coin. We've seen the Hawks, Dogs and Cats in recent times develop their own and (besides Boyd) not going chasing the big fish, but fitting role players around what they've got. I think we're much better to do that.

Doubt we'd be prepared to pay as much as rumoured North have put out there, or have the currency the saints have. I think we're backing in our talent and will find role players rather than chasing something too expensive

I don't think our biggest issue is our main goal kickers at all, so far Garlett, Watts, Tracc and Hogan have hit the board regularly. The issue we have is the midfield hasn't been getting on the score board, so far Jones has 4, Lewis and Salem 3, Stretch and Viney 2, with Tyson and Vince only 1. Oliver is yet to hit the score board (goals). We need more score board pressure from the mids as well as the main goal kickers, that will also potentially help with the flood some teams have used pretty successfully against us this year as well.