DistrACTION Jackson

Yeah I understand the total payments will be increasing but what I wanted to point out is a guy like Gibson, who I think is a better defender than McDonald took a lot less than he could've got to be a part of a successful side.

I've got a mate who was an accountant for a few Hawks guys. Gibson was on about 400K, that's how they win flags everyone is willing to sacrifice. We need our players to do the same to have any chance.

He's not really the big defender we want, he's more of a 3rd tall. Wouldn't say no at the right price though, however I think everyone sees we lack a genuine big key defender.

It's pretty hard defending in a side getting pumped every week. Maybe it has though I just thought he may be an option. I'd say if we can't land Hurley then the Brown's will be our next target.

Haha nah that's Harvey...... He's 31, 32 by the start of next season. O Mac really needs another season to bulk up, which I think after next season he will be 100% ready. Merrett is a free agent so would cost us nothing and could be our big fullback for a year or two if his form is good enough. By the way I would only go for him if we can't find another big defender who is younger but we need someone to help protect Omac as he needs time.

I think we have a great core of youngsters and need to add good players through trade and free agency to help push us into the top 8 next season. Hibberd, Hurley, Daw, Prestia, O'Meara, Mitch or Nathan Brown, Daniel Merrett. These are all guys we should be looking at to possibly bring in.

Maybe we can get someone to get him to sign a blank sheet of paper and then we can transpose that onto a 10 year contract? That wouldn't constitute fraud would it?

Just shows how even the comp is this year which is really great. The last few seasons have been so lopsided but I've really enjoyed this season.

On the Dogs I was thinking today that if they are paying Boyd a ton of cash then surely some of their gun youngsters who are much better may want a bit more cash in future. You would think they will have a bit of salary cap pressure and may be vulnerable to have some of them pried. Macrae, Libba, Hunter, Wallis, Daniel, Johanissen to name a few. How will they pay all these guys enough while also paying Boyd close to a mill a year?

100% agree. 2nd round pick would be a good result. Having Hibberd and Melksham at HBF will release Salem to a wing which I think he will be ready for next season.

I think that was just a hypothetical at this stage.

I think we should play Spencer and Gawn in the same team and have a forward line with Hogan, Watts and the resting ruck man. Of course this is not going to happen because our coaches have a love affair with Dawes, but this would give us one of the most dominant ruck combinations in the comp and would give us a genuine advantage in most games.

I'm pretty much convinced by Roos comments he will be coming over….. Hope not for much! Would love to screw the Bombers this time!

Beggars belief why he was played as a forward for so long when he obviously struggled there? I would've preferred to play Watts and Hogan and a bunch of smalls than Frost forward.

I'm a patient man..... I actually think we will still win 10-11 games and will finish ahead of Carlton, Collingwood and St Kilda. The main reason I'm so optimistic is I see a side coming out every week with the majority of players under the age of 25, whereas those three teams mentioned all have a large number of players in the 25-30 bracket. Yesterday we had the following: 25 or under= 17 players 22 or under= 11 players So half of our side was under the age of 22. The fact they were able to hold their own and take it up to a side like Hawthorn in the wet is a credit to those guys. This is why I'm optimistic.

The wheels are slowly turning and we are starting to become a strong side. We play them again in round 20 and if we don't beat them then we will definitely get them next season. It will be so sweet over the next 5-6 seasons when we start beating them by 10 goals, I hate their smugness. We've got the right young players we've just got to persist with them through the good and bad. Definitely need to look at bringing in established talent in the off-season to complement the youngsters, Prestia, Hurley possible targets and we really need to bring one of these guys in! The thing I really enjoyed is that we no longer look intimidated and we took it up to them physically. Incredibly it was a lot of the younger guys who enjoyed doing this which bodes well for the future. It's frustrating at the moment but I can really see the direction and have a great feeling about the next few years.

How do you know what we offered Hooker? It's all media here say and from what they said he was offered the most from Freo.

I noticed Daniel Merrett from Brissy is an unrestricted free agent. Could be a good option as the number one stopper to release McDonald and Frost to being 2nd and 3rd talls for the next 1-2 seasons?

Haha that would be sweet! Coming from WA I hear a lot of Freo supporters sure he is coming to them. It would just be great if he signed a contract extension that week and then came out and kicked a bag of 6 or 7.

I was more thinking we could go for the record in a single season. I then discovered that GWS have the record with 8 in 2012! Interestingly 2 of those nominations were D Tyson and T Bugg.

That's pretty disappointing as if he had been eligible we could be going for 4 or 5 nominations this season!

Petracca or Stretch for Rising Star this week? Is Stretch eligible after playing 11 games last season?

Extremely pumped if he plays but unfortunately I won't be here so that would be disappointing!

Someone needs to show the umpires this footage as he has mastered it and frankly he should get a free against for staging. In every video he keeps his arm low and then raises it quickly and then flings his head back. Umps fall for it everytime! Someone should've just clothes lined him on Sunday and maybe he won't do it again!

The annoying thing about our selectors at the moment is they think we can play this small back line every week. It worked against the Suns because after half time the ball hardly went down there. We knew the Dogs were are far superior side to the Suns and yet we play the same back line who struggled with the pressure. I don't know what Dunn has done to get off side but is a far superior defender than Garland. We also have been playing Frost as a forward when it was fairly obvious he is just not going to do well in that position. My team for this week would be as follows (this is if no one gets suspended which is unlikely for Bernie). B: Jetta Dunn Lumumba HB: Salem TMac Wagner C: Vince Tyson Stretch HF: Petracca Pedersen Kennedy F: Garlett Hogan Watts R: Gawn Jones Viney Int: Oliver ANB Bugg Harmes Outs: Michie (I like him but we can't play Salem, Wagner, Hunt and Michie in the same team as they all play similar roles and is behind those three IMO) Garland (doesn't defend well enough and has no weapons) Hunt (loved his first few games but needs a rest and Lumumba can come back in if fit) Ins: Lumumba to give Hunt a week off Dunn to come in for Garland ANB because he is just banging the door down