TeamPlayedFine39

Please elaborate on your suffering???

For the most part I would suggest that it was the summer spent in the rehab group. As he’s never been considered a chance for JLT or round 1, he’s just fallen out of the write-ups. Hopefully when he strings some games together, he’ll set tongues wagging.

Carlton also had big doubts about Curnow which is why they took Harry McKay ahead of him. In fact, Curnow was the 6th key position player taken in that draft behind: Weitering Schache Francis Weideman McKay. None of those player have set the world on fire yet. Some will, some won’t. But the fact of the matter is we won’t know for a few more years yet. In addition, it’s probably worth noting who was playing full back last night for Carlton whilst Curnow played full forward. Liam Jones is a KPP who didn’t play a good match until the age of 26. Some guys burst onto the scene... some take time.

Has had significant ankle surgery twice already in his career and spent most of this pre-season in rehab. I wouldn’t be wanting to see him in the seniors for the first half of the year as, I’d rather see him developing and building confidence in the VFL. Pederson is definitely ahead of him in the pecking order at this stage at any rate. Weideman need match fitness and a run of good form. Not concerned... yet.

Would you rather he said... "I'd love to end my career a one-club player, and I anticipate that will be the case."??

Spot on. The Schwabby one always looks like it was designed by a committee and everyone’s ideas needed to be included. It was cluttered and haphazard. FWIW I think our current monogram is great. It’s simple, effective, stands out and is timeless.

Why would he have wanted his son at the MFC 2013??? He should be thanking his lucky stars that we passed on him and he has gone on to play plenty of finals football in front of huge parochial fans at a great new stadium. Maybe he could be filthy with the Bulldogs who passed on Ollie twice and have won a flag in that time.

With that express intention? No. However they will be offering him well below market value. They are banking that the talent they have brought in, at significant expense, will bring them immediate success. This success, they’d be hoping, will make players accept much less money to stay. If they are not successful this year (a flag or close to it) players will wonder why they are accepting less to stay.

You’re right! No club has ever felt the salary cap squeeze and had to let a player go as they were not able to meet his demands! It’s not as though Mumford had to leave Sydney to accommodate Franklyn? Mitchell and Lewis from Hawthorn to make room for O’Meara and Mitchell? Lobbe’s trade last year to Carlton was so they could get his contract off the books to free up some cash for the free agents. Ever wonder why GWS didn’t kick up when Treloar asked for a trade?? Because cap pressure meant they needed to lose someone. His money went to Cameron and Sheil. Famously Shane Woewodin was dumped by Melbourne to free up cap room. Bradshaw to Sydney to pay for Fevola. To retain Hird, Essendon cut Heffernan, Caracella and Blumfield in 2002. Cap pressure (and release) is part of list management. It’s why good teams always preach the virtues of getting paid ‘unders’ In exchange for success. It is entirely absurd to argue otherwise.

My 'argument' being that it's possible that they have a tight salary cap after spending 2-2.5 million of a 12 million cap to bring over 4 players from an opposition clubs... it's not a huge reach. Leaves 10 million for the remainder of the list, including Boak, Gray, Wingard, Polec, Hartlett, Westhoff, Pittard, Ebert, Powell-Pepper and Ollie Wines. Polec, Westhoff, Wines, Gray, Boak and Byrnes-Jones, Neade and Wines all out of contract this year.

Paddy Ryder was reported to have crossed over for 700K Rockliff over 650K per season Dixon over 620K per season Motlop is over 500K per season That's not exactly poo-change. But I'm not saying they have mis-managed their cap, I'm saying it is possible that they have. If they've been sensible with their contracts (like Geelong/Hawthorn) then they won't have a problem re-signing Wines. If they've got carried away, which offering huge contracts to Hamish Hartlett and Matthew Lobbe suggests they may be inclined to do, then they could find it difficult to meet Wines' realistic demands. Time will tell...

Yes... but free agents, particularly ones from interstate, always come at a premium. Like I said, it depends on whether or not they paid 'overs' when they brought these experienced players in. If they have managed their cap sensibly, then they have nothing to worry about. If they 'pulled an Adelaide' and spent a fortune on retaining a player like Jenkins, then they might be in a bit of trouble.

It all comes down to what they paid to get Rockliff, Motlop and Watts over. They paid through the nose to get Dixon on a long term deal a couple of years ago... maybe the purse is looking a little bit tight over at PA?? It was said to be a 'low ball offer' that initially opened the door to negotiations with Lever.

He got that number from Gysberts!

This is an article from the week leading up to the Carlton match: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/dons-longterm-weight-gain-brings-shortterm-pain-20120415-1x1mm.html This paragraph from another article is particularly cringe-worthy: “At the start of the 2012 pre season coach James Hird promised the playing group that they were in for their hardest pre season ever, with an emphasis on bigger bodies and overall fitness. Apart from the occasional one paragraph news article tracking the Bombers progress through the pre season we have been basically kept in the dark with the club choosing to close down most training session from the prying eyes of the media... Internally the club appears to be ecstatic about the progress made over the pre season”

Essendon put of so much press at the start of that season about their off-field program. They were boasting about how much weight and size their players had added, whilst maintaining their speed and endurance. They were hiding in plain sight.

I think the Essendon Cheer Squad even had a banner saying ‘We have the Weapon’... cringe.

I'm excited that we can draft players and talk about about not seeing them play in round one next year! We can finally develop young draftees through the VFL with, perhaps the occasional taste of senior footy, to help in their education. In the past, Petty, Spargo and Baker would be penciled into the round one team with people placing absurd expectations on them. Let them build up their bodies and knowledge and then earn their place in the team further down the track.

Never seen him play but he always seems to bob-up at the right times during the Casey gameday threads. Is there a highlights package of his kicking around somewhere??

That’s assuming that Petruccelle was ranked by Taylor and co as the next best available...

Everyone looks great on a highlights reel but he looks a good size and has some great speed and lateral movement. We tend to have some pretty close eyes on the Northern Leagues under Taylor.

Really happy for Jack! Hopefully he gets a good run at it.

"If we draft Bayley Fritsch, all our pets will become communists and our children will transform in horses."