DubDee

Thanks for the pics

I will shed a manly tear when Trenners makes his comeback.

Great (and unusual) to see us practice footy at this time of year!  usually we just run and run for the first few months

the intensity you can see on each face.  i have a good feeling about this group

15 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Anyone know what's happened to tasmanlvr?

he posted on FB apologising for not reporting recently - due to some family health issues.  he then added "not too serious"

so im sure the master of prose will be back in action in Jan

would be great to see JT back next year,  we'll have to be patient though.  

he hasnt played a game for 2 years and is coming off a zero base.  hopefully he will be right for casey in round one.  play a couple of months and not get any soft tissue injuries and be vying for a spot for the Dees by mid year

Id be staggered (and elated) to see him in the AFL before round 10

He is a less likable version of Fev.  and will follow the same route as he is a fool. id be surprised if he is still playing AFL in 4 years.

he does a lot of damage tio the image of the AFL and its support of women in general.  the tigers will not suspend him for any more than 2 games just like the Hawks did as he is too important to them.  they cannot improve without him.  so its a perfect example where the AFL should step in

And get a [censored] haircut!

injuries play such a massive part in a 22 game season - eg GC and Brisbane this year

but for the risers, id say GC will take a big step.  just missed the finals last year and were decimated this year with their entire midfield out. will benefit from Bennell not being there and Eade will get them in shape

Apart from them, The Dees will finally rise up the ladder after 9 years in the bottom 6 and finish in the top 10

The pies will also improve - as much as I hate to say that - Treloar is a gun.

For the Fall - Adelaide will slide, St kilda will finish just above the Blues (time will catch up with Nick and Joey).

And I think the Hawks will finish outside the top 4.  coming 5th.  better players getting older, hunger is very hard to maintain

As it's a sports station and carries a lot of AFL coverage and by extension coverage of our club I thought it was worth a post on the changes for the next year at SEN.

I'm happy to see Francis Leach back. I think he can be a bit of a smart a... at times and he can drive me to distraction but I also think the station needed some intellect back on air.

It has been pretty lightweight since Mark Allen came on board to replace Francis. I think KB can be ok but often plays up the contrarian view at the expense of the issue. Half is ok but can be limited when the big issues come up, Marko & the Ox....dumb & dumber (a bit unfair on the Ox I know but he needs someone stronger than Marko to work with). Andy Maher is a bit beige, Finey is Viney...or is Viney Finey...

what are the changes?

Just leach back?

impressive!

does he fight crime by night as well?

Geez....Imagine Viney, Vandenberg,Brayshaw,Petracca and Oliver in a few years time, monstering the opposition to our first flag in 40 years, with Hogan and Weideman picking em off in the air.

We have a plan , and I like it.....alot.

you're livin in the past man

Not without a chance against port and north either.

Anything less than 10 wins is a fail for me. if we get on a run and dont have too many injuries.... who knows!?

Cant wait to SMASH St Kilda in round 6. just grind them into the ground, literally.

theres a lot of players that are just over the 10 game mark that would have done well: Heeney, Lever, De Geoy, Cockatoo

but I guess you need to draw the line somewhere and 10 games is as good a number as any

Id pick Mills to win it next year. Too much to expect Tracka to play 22 games after an ACL - but he is a freak so who knows?!

We finally drafted some key forwards!

maybe we wont have to have the likes of Rivers/Garland/Frawley/T Mac playing out of position soon?

exciting

Even the profit we posted was talked down by the herald sun. in the title it said something about how equalisation was helping the Dees manage a profit. fark me. might be the case but free agency and the fixture certainly dont help!

that paper is a disgrace - if you want to know which player has new tatts or a new hairdo then the herald is your paper

Changed my vote from Other to Collins.

Just a gut feeling.

I still think Other has a good chance

I assume they have done away with the 10 -1 count down which sucked and will just call them out starting at 1?

the coverage couldnt be worse than last year - but I back them to somehow lower the bar. lets talk to some kids' parents while pick 25 is being read out and we can't hear it! arrg!

Agree. I would have been happy to go with Parish and Mathieson to get a good mix of midfield talent with 4 AAs between them.

I wonder if the reluctance to pick Parish has to do with the nightmares endured in the wake of the decision to take Toumpas ahead of Wines three years ago.

im wondering if it more the trend of inside, strongly built mids being a safer bet with a high pick. Guys like Toump, O'rourke, Aish that are elite users of the ball and that killed it in the juniors just dont seem to have as good as strike rate as the more inside bigger guys - Brayshaw, Wines etc. not saying it is that cut and dry but it may be a trend.

all about risk and reward I guess. we would have argued in 2012 that Wines will have a impact straight away but his ceiling is not very high. but these days you dont need too many elites users of the ball - once you can kick well, its all about the stoppages

People talking about Parish's lack of size; you all saw Billy Stretch a few years ago and what he has/is becoming now.. You know they don't always stay that size forever right?

Stretch is still small as he has a small frame - although he has bulked up some and looks toned/fit. he would not last long in the centre square. but he'll be fine on the wing

you cant say every player if they work hard will end up like Fyfe. some guys just dont have the frame and thats what the Dees will be looking at with Parish. genetically, is he more of a yze/bruce/fletcher or will he develop significantly with hard work - get that barrell chest and and broad shoulders you need to break a tackle

Personally think Parish would be extremely stiff if we passed him up.

Dual All Australian, a capacity to be equally as damaging off half back.

two ultra consistent seasons, with a great mix of contested and uncontested ball winning.

the skills, dash and creativity to add a new dimension to our midfield

Oliver makes me nervous, i can see why we'd want him, he's a competitive animal, but ultimately he's played half a good season, didn't get picked for national champs, tested pretty well at the combine but i think people are really riding a wave of hype here.

when a bloke goes from being ranked around pick 12 to ranked at pick 3 and doesn't play a game in that time, that makes me nervous.

Happened with the Bont and that has worked out pretty well for the dogs. he got noticed in his last few games but it wasnt until the week before the draft that the rumours circled that he might go top 5

him being 'ranked' as 12 is the media and pundits/fans. the clubs know best and leasks start to come out in the last week. maybe sometimes on purpose to throw other teams off

the club will just do their research and pick the best lad and ignore all the gossip

Can't believe its two days away and we aren't even sure who pick 3 is let alone pick 7! Man I would love to see how te dees rate the top 10. Maybe we didn't have one player ear marked for pick 3 we just judged the talent to drop off around pick 8-9 so we wanted to grab two good young guys..

I know two years ago we seemed to rate the top 10 differently to other clubs. Alluding to the fact that we wouldn't have picked Kelly at 2 and we rated Salem higher etc. such an even group I think it is unlikely we will get a grade A gun but hopefully we get 2 very good long term players

Can't wait!

thought id look back at KPFs taken early between 08 and 2012

2008: 1 Watts 8 Vickery

2009 8 Butcher 19 Grifiths, 24 Carlisle 29 Gunston 38 S Reid

2010 2 Sam Day 11 Lynch 26 Darling

2011 1 Patton 9 Tomlinson

2012 10 - Daniher

I quickly scanned the top 50 of each draft for KPFs - there was surprisingly few! Although I probably missed some. I think it shows that they are almost as likely to come from later picks than from top picks. Patton is a gun but injury prone. 2009 where butcher was touted as top 3 and then all others ended up being better than he is. Sam Day hasnt done much.

Unless there is a standout, use the high picks on mids as KPF are risky business.

and YES i put Watts down as a KPF as that was what he was drafted as.

The under18 Talent dude was on SEN this morning - he is also affiliated with the geelong falcons. sorry didnt hear his name or title properly as my 2 yo was yelling nonsense (takes after his old man)

he was a massive wrap for Parish. paraphrasing: most complete midfielder, will go in top 5. likened him to Joel Selwood! and this is not a he might turn out like selwood - he said that at the same age they are very similar. Andy M asked about the knocks on him not being as super competative as Selwood and he said Parish is a country boy and is hard at it and driven to succeed.

he mentioned, curnow and mathison as well and was positive but not nearly as glowing as for Parish

by the end of it I was pretty keen on parish!

I will declare this ANB reminds so much of a young Mark Lecras it's not funny that kid will kick 300 odd goals he's a gem.

that would be sweet. but i dont reckon he has the class of Le Cras.

he is tough though. i expect him to be in the midfield before long

Parish at pick 3 by a country mile.

Champion data has him ranked as the best available player behind Weitering and Schache if they're to go at one and two (exc. academy players).

Both Parish's contested and uncontested possessions are above average.

Some consider his shorter frame a knock, I don't. The shorter builds of Murphy, Mitchell, A. Swallow or even Jack Viney haven't hindered them.

Now lets say "if" Parish didn't develop into that week in week out on-baller, having the likes of Viney, Tyson, Brayshaw and Petracca named in that position ahead of him.

He would make an excellent outsider midfielder who's more than willing to put his head over the ball, nor shrug a contest when encountered (a rare attribute in outside mids) - thus the team wins more contested possessions.

He has silky skills, excellent awareness and poised under pressure. He also leads the U18 stats with the most meters gained.

I think there is very little risk with Parish, rather than selecting someone like Curnow that just "might" develop into a "bigger bodied midfielder" (that flavour of the month word).

Parish is TALENT, and the best available at that (hopefully).

i like your confidence mate. you've convinced me!

Answer me this. Which has more depth right now as we speak. Our forward line or our midfield?

i wasnt saying we dont need forwards I was just addressing that saying we dont need midfielders is ridiculous.

most of the year we had Jones, Vince and Viney as our only strong performing mids and we need a heap more than this. we have high hopes for our good youngsters obviously. Tyson/Vanders in particular might step up next year

fwd line depth, we have Hogan, Dawes, Pedo, Kent, Garlett, Pecracca. maybe include Watts

id say the depth is comparable between mids and fwds for us. average for both. big upgrade from pathetic which our midfield was 2 years ago

pick best available. dont want us to take a risk and end up with a Gumby or Butcher when a quality mid was out there.

im not against a fwd at all, we need one. once we dont overlook a better option

I understand what you are saying but it would also involve you going to the football and watching Jack Viney play for Collingwood or Carlton.

I can see the Academies as a aide to the Northern states, of course it is, and the future may not have them in our equalise game but these local products just have to sold to local markets playing for local teams right now - it is important to the growth of the game.

I would fix the draw and our half pregnant Free Agency before attacking the academies - there haven't been too many dominant Academy players that have come into the system so far have there?

this we can certainly agree on!

Exactly this. I keep harping on about it. We don't just need midfielders.. People keep crying out that we have a weak midfield. We don't just have a weak midfield. We lack experienced and veteran midfielders. We don't NEED to draft another young midfield brigade. Look at the list that was quoted above ^. Which is exactly why we need a tall at 3 or 7.

Are you kidding?? suddenly melksham has been added to our great midfield, hows things have changed. he got dropped twice this year from the dons terrible midfield. I dont want to bag a Dees player and I want him to succeed, but he has been quite poor to date despite some decent games in 2013. and ANB/Stetch show potential but can we say both will be 200+ game midfielders for us? no. and with JT and other injuries we need a lot more midfield depth! just look at port, hawks, sydney etc.

our midfield needs a lot of quality added to it. even if our young guys develop as we hope