DistrACTION Jackson

I hope you mean A Brayshaw otherwise Demonland will go into meltdown when that happens....

It's obvious this season is done, but I'm not wrist slashing as it's easy to see there are a number of reasons for our poor performances: - 15 off-season surgeries resulting in a large portion of our side coming in underdone. - An extensive injury list with 8 or 9 of our best 22 out last week and v the Eagles the week before. - Loss of confidence as a result of our poor start to the season. - Lack of outside run that has been severely exposed by the new 6-6-6 rules. I think our list is still very healthy heading into the next 5 years and this is merely a down season, which can be common (think the Cats in 2006 after making a prelim the year before and Hawks in 2009 after winning the flag). I've run my ladder predictor for the remainder of this year and predict we will likely finish in 12th of 13th with 8 or 9 wins. This will give us pick 6 or 7 in the draft and it is imperative we get this right and ideally bring in a gun forward in the mold of De Goey or Stephenson. The next issue is the management of our current list. IMO the following players will be gone at years end: Lewis, Stretch, Garlett, J Wagner, Maynard & C Wagner. With the addition of Dunkley tonight lets assume he gets given a new contract, that leaves 5 list positions to fill. IMO our most pressing needs are: electric forwards, quick outside mids, back up ruck. With that in mind, I'd like to see us go after the most electric forward with our first pick, more quick outside runners with later picks and a mature ruckman as depth. We should also be looking at potential free agents to add to our list such as Coniglio, Brandon Ellis, Alex Sexton or Stephen Hill (assuming he can get himself fit). A full pre-season into our team and a potential best 22 for Round 1 2020: B: Jetta May Hore HB: Hibberd Lever B Ellis C : Salem Oliver Baker HF: (1st pick) Preuss Melksham F: VanDenberg McDonald Hannan R: Gawn Brayshaw Viney Int: Frost Hunt Petracca Quick small forward (anyone but Spargo and Neal-Bullen) Depth: Dunkley, Spargo, Neal-Bullen, Weideman, Jones, Kolodjashnij, Petty, Fritsch, J Smith *Players in bold weren't playing last week and are best 22 when fit.

Go and find the most electric small forward we can please.

We can't stay out of the news at the moment...... it was a very strange decision to keep playing him in a praccy match and I think Mahoney needs to do some explaining.

I have a theory that early season games favour the quicker sides, but this advantage drops considerably as the season goes on. The reason for this is that the player's bodies become more fatigued from continuous games and the toll it takes on the body. Hence why we had a fairly good run come finals as we were well built with the inside game. The aim is to get a fairly even mixture however, as not enough quicker, more skilled players means it is harder to get easier wins earlier in the season.

Pickett looks a likely type. Could be someone we look at in the draft as we are crying out for a fast, skillful small forward. Anyone know much about him? The commentators said he is Byron Pickett's nephew... which I also like.

Garlett to come back in? We still need outside class badly.

I think it works and we should continue with it. Just means we dominate the majority of hit outs and also have a big tall either back or forward. They showed the heat map and Gawn sat back for a large portion of the game. That is exactly what we want, he can out mark any forward or bring the ball to ground for our backs to mop up. To think our backline had no May, Lever, Jetta or Lewis there......

If we are 9th-18th after round 23....

Surely May and KK can get in his ear....

Please MFC go get this guy.... we are crying out for some speed and X Factor to complement our ball winners.

We will take Brayden Sier instead and add him to our list of inside mids....

I'm still confident about our side long-term. We are just going through a very poor patch. We have a great core of players in Brayshaw, Oliver, Harmes, Petracca, Lever, Viney etc. We just need to keep adding to our side. Let's not forget that Geelong lost a prelim in 05, missed the finals in 06 and then the rest is history. We just need these young guys to keep developing. Trac: he needs to back himself. He had a chance in the third quarter to kick a goal from 50. Instead he chips a kick to a 50/50 contest. Take it upon yourself young man. Brayshaw: gun at finding the footy and just needs to clean up disposal. Oliver: I love him so nothing bad to say. Just get back to your best. We will be ok.

I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt coming of a long lay off. His second season with GC was one of the best for a second year player.

Our FIT starting 22 next year must look something like this: B: Jetta May Lever HB: KK New CHB Hibberd C : New outside mid Oliver Salem HF: Vanders Weid Hannan F: New Small forward TMac Melk R: Gawn Brayshaw Viney Int: Preuss Petracca Hunt Fritsch Emg: Jones OMac New Backup Ruck Some new player with heart

I agree. But Jones is cooked. If he's not playing inside mid he's useless. We need another quality outside runner and a quality small forward.

Yeah he's fast but did you see his 4 runs last weekend that ended in a turnover? He is DUMB

I think some context is required when discussing Petty. He was playing in a VFL practice match, it's a massive step up to AFL. I think Petty will absolutely become a permanent fixture of our backline in the future. He's 197cm, agile for a big man and from what I've seen reads the play well and has decent disposal. But he is not ahead of OMac or Frost yet and should continue to develop at VFL level this season unless we have a ridiculous amount of injuries (fingers crossed). FYI I'm looking forward to a back 6 next season of: Jetta May Lever Hibbo Petty Salem

Wouldn't that be sweet to end up with Oliver and Parish haha. He would be perfect on a wing for us.

He was my best mate's Uncle. Lovely guy. Very sad.

100% agree. Frost has way too many brain fades to be considered a viable long term option. May number 1 defender. OMac number 2 and Lever 3rd tall/interceptor is good for now. I suspect Petty will go past Oscar though in time. Not ready yet though.

Our best side at the moment would look like this: B: Jetta O McDonald Lever HB: Kolodjashnij May Hibberd C : Salem Oliver Fritsch HF: Petracca McDonald Melksham F: Neal-Bullen Weideman J.Smith R: Gawn Brayshaw Harmes Int: Viney Vandenberg Hannan Jones Emg: Lewis Preuss Spargo Frost

I think Vandenberg would be well ahead of Jordon at this stage. Hannan and Vanders make a massive difference to our ball movement and leg speed across the grounf. Getting Kolodjashnij fit and in the team shoul be priority number one. He is quick, skillful and a good runner. Perfect for half bac and the wing. I think we will see Baker at some point this year, but I don't know if he will be up to the level just yet. End of the day, we just have way too many injuries at the moment. May, Lever, Hannan, VandernBerg, J Smith and Kolodjashnij would all be in our best 22 at the moment.

Any updates? KK and Baker?

This is not the finished product yet. And the season isn't over yet so we may still win a flag, you never know. Seriously, we've got one of the best cores of under 25 players: Oliver, Brayshaw, Lever, Harmes, Petracca, Viney, KK, Fritsch, Salem, Weid. We will continue to add to that list of players where we need to. We need an electric forward and a silky outside runner and then I think we are a complete side.