deespicable me

One of the major problems is that our two main defensive players that we spent lots of money on aren't available at the moment and the two incumbents in Frost and Oscar are looking at downgraded expectations as soon as the other two are ready,

It's not a great plan to "buy into" for those two.

Right guys heres the plan. You go out there and get beat up by Buddy and make sure you fill that hole and hold your ground when Buddys bearing down on you at 100 mph, then when we've got these other two guys up and running we're going to f**ck you off to Casey and then more than likely delist you at years end.

Not a great working environment.

I think we need to look back,,,,,, to go forward... when honorable losses were an art form, web pages were created in honor of Richmonds Jordan McMahon and we could all look forward to juicy "priority picks" and create Messiahs out of young men who hadn't even played a game yet.

Yes lets tank!!!!

12 hours ago, dbj1983 said:

Maybe if the delivery to our forwards was up to AFL standard, we wouldn’t even be talking about him.

None of our forwards have played well in both games. Fix the bigger issue and see if the problem remains.

Goody has some serious quick learning to do before the season is derailed.

 

I agree. It's not just Petracca. Look at Tommy Mac, Weid, ANB. Look at the scoreboard. If we don't get some system down there 25 points in 3 quarters of football won't beat anyone. The only forward playing reasonably well at the moment is Melksham.

A good team with system would simplify the game for Petracca and help him become a very good player, maybe in time a gun. If we are in for a bad year, lets not eat our own.

Oh come on. No last chances for ANB. I've had enough. I'd rather play with 21.

And O'Mac needs to go back to Casey and try and enjoy playing footy. Go for a mark. I've never seen such a defensive mindset in a player. Poor coaching.

17 minutes ago, DV8 said:

In this mindset impatience and despair can become problems for the club/team...   negativeness/fear of loss,  is an infectious disease, that only devours our confidence.

Ommmmmm

3 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

This is what I have been told by people within the club with much better football analysis skills than me. Apparently Weid can take a mark at the highest point and is a tall player with a leap. This, therefore, theoretically, makes him a unique forward who can break modern zones.

I don't see it. 

Weid was not being served well by our midfield yesterday.

Goodwins game plan is contested ball with plenty of random F50 entries. I don't think this game style suits Weid at all. It suited us with Hogan in the team as we had structure, Hogan had the great presence of a full forward.

In my humble Weid needs to watch tapes of Lloyd from Essendon in his prime and Goodwin needs to change our game plan to suit.

I think Weideman could be elite as a leading full forward if we got a game plan together that stopped bombing the ball in randomly and they worked out leading patterns that freed up space for him to lead into.

I can tell you they don't practice it. 

Went down to training and very pleased to report no new injuries!

Preuss was doing a lot of work with the mids and I would suggest he is in strong consideration for Saturdays game. Didn't look hindered and trained the whole session.

Players "next in line"

KK. He was in the midfield group and another who trained the whole session and looked good. They trialled him on the wing in their midfield "plays". Really think he can add something when he is right to go.

Baker. Another who they trialled on the wing in the midfield plays. Looking forward to a good year from him, he is another who has a lot of upside and is close to selection

Sparrow. Last time I went along to training I wondered what all the fuss was about with him but after a taste in the pre-season you can see he has come along very nicely in the last few weeks. They have him in the middle mixing with Oliver, Gus, Viney and the likes and he looks like he will be equally as good in a year or two. He finished off slamming goals from outside 50. Massive boot, he looks the goods.

Watched Gus for a while and if he was a racehorse you would say he is a lazy track-worker, he rarely stands out and as some of the young guns want to show off and impress and have a laugh Gus was just doing what he had to to get through. I think he might have his sights firmly set on Saturday.

Melksham looked tired. Really wanted to see him as he is so important to us but he didn't overly involve himself. Don't know why and I'm sure it was nothing but I hope he fires up on Saturday.

8 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

A big problem I think in all of this is folk isolate a player and then somehow attempt a valuation.

I see it differently.. Hogan is a forward...May is a back.  I think we can all at least agree upon that.

Here's where I diverge from the groupthink model.   I see it as a comparison of effects.

What does May added to our back arc do as compared Hogan being in the front arc ?

Add May to Lever, Hibberd , Jetta, Oscar  and say Salem...  thats formidable...take out May...not so much...as dynamic reverts back to before...somewhat problematic

Hogan in the fwd 50 with Tmac , Milkshake, Trac...any of Spargo... VDB  etc etc...is also quite effective.

Take out Hogan...put in Weed...or someone else..its still reasonably effective, and possibly not so mono-centric in nature  of attack.

So for mine the impact of May in far outweighs Hogan leaving

Have a suspicion out FD sees it similarly.

Yeah sure, all this is accepted by most, they see the Hogan out May in scenario loud and clear.

What people aren't so sure about is the trading out of a potential champion of the game, a Brereton or a Carey for a bloke who has shown his full potential and sure we can build a defence around him but he won't finish his career as a champ of the game.

Also sure you have to give up something significant to get something that you need but look at Richmond getting in Lynch. We give up two first round picks for Lever, I think we just want very fair at worst compensation for Hogan, if not overs. Or don't do the bl@@dy trade!

If Hogan doesn't go this year I would think he won't go there (to freo) for quite a while. He has ummed and ahhhhed about moving home and really when you look at it I think he thought he might get on a good contract and be on easy street for the rest of his career.

I reckon this is a good thing, He might just dust himself off and having come so close to the crap of off-season moves re-focus and get stuck in.

If this deal doesn't go through (and I hope it doesn't) we may see clear air with Jesse, not the "will he won't he" scenario some posters are afraid of.

Hold out, hold out.

Long time reader first time poster on this subject and most every twist and opinion has been canvassed.

My only point I would like to add to the discussion is we should never lose sight of the fact as to how good Hogan may yet become.

I think this trade is short sighted. Looking to build a side to win the flag in 2019. And that is fair enough. But if WC get Kelly from Geelong they will be the team to beat. And if we don't win the 2019 flag we could rue our decision to trade out Hogan.

Remember he hasn't yet committed to the whole idea of playing professional football. If he does when he turns 26 he will be a superstar. We are being short-sighted.

I really hope he stays.

1 hour ago, Dappa Dan said:

We could potentially end up with 5 and pick 1 next year. But is pick 1 next year better than pick 6 in a superdraft?

Pick 1 next year is a great bargaining tool, think Kelly from GWS, so this years pick 5 and next years pick 1 would be a great trade for us if that was the scenario that played out.

Trac is still learning what he is capable of. He is very ambitious but his ability isn't quite matching his ambition.

A perfect example was in the 3rd quarter against St Kilda when he got given the ball on the wing after a turn-over and looked up at an open forward line with a player free over the back. Ne was probably 70 metres away and Trac tried to kick it there but couldn't quite execute and it dropped short to the Saints player. 

He has good vision and wants to do the extraordinary and when he learns to match his ability with his skill level he will be a gun. A matchwinner. He's only young and still developing.

Gus is a chance to become elite but he is an accumulator, more blue collar. Like Harvey from the Saints by the time both boys hit 25 they will most likely both be top 50 in the league. Great for us to watch them slowly deliver on our hopes and dreams.

23 minutes ago, Nasher said:

I feel for McCartin. The way the footy public crush these early picks with expectations and them [censored] them mercilessly with them disgusts me. He needs to be given time and patience, there’s no doubt about it.

I don’t feel for the Saints fans though. Years of being kicked while down by other supporters has made me bitter and spiteful. I get a bit of a kick at seeing them seethe.

I did.

There was a bloke near me who barracked for the Saints and he was in a bit of pain blaming umpires and the players etc. It made me realise we are becoming a good team because I remember carrying on for the last umpteen years getting frustrated and looking to blame anything or anyone. I was very calm today. I enjoyed watching the footy. Gus was great. He has a great winning attitude.

I'm very appreciative to go to the footy today and watch a game where my team was clearly superior to the Saints. We had winners all over the ground and the Saints only had one good player in Stephens. Things can change quickly and Gill will try his best to create deals that favor them but they were poor today with very few prospects. Boy I'm glad we finally look like we're out of that awful rut.

Touch wood, fingers crossed.

Both Hibberd and Melksham had great games yesterday.

Hibberd was sensational. Robbie Grey and Wingard hardly got a possession. He's fast, heavy and he closes space so well, then his tackles stick.

Port were badly outcoached letting Hibberd roam free like that. We used him so effectively coming out of defence. I think he'll get tagged more often.

19 hours ago, grazman said:

Ahhh - I see you've fallen for the player that is a spud against every other team, but played alright against Melbourne once in their career.  See Tim O'Brien.

Yeah, I have.

He is 22, only played 13 odd games, 7 this year, mainly because of injury and put into the right system and structure I think he would be a good addition. He beat Tommy Mac in many one on ones which was a good effort. Also he will cost half what May would. We need another tall defender. 

I may be wrong but I think your confidence that he is no good after only 13 games is a bit premature.

I also think O'Brien is developing into an O.k player. 

I preferred their player Jack Leslie, if he was available, or gettable. Probably on a lot less than May so an offer of around 500 a season would be a good deal for us I reckon.

Not surprised to read the Eagles "dossier" was suppressed by Fitzpatrick. Gee how's the game going to survive without him.

What an arrogant c### he was. 

I just think Hird has tried every possible angle to be viewed as "the victim" in this whole sad and sorry mess.

Well theres no way any draft picked kids are going to get gifted a game.

They know right from the start they are going to have to work their butts off to get a look in.

Finally this is how a good side should look and we get a good look at the kids to see if they are any good and if one is it is viewed as a bonus, rather than the spate of "saviors" of the last ten years.

All good

They are drug cheats. Fact.

On 9/19/2016 at 1:23 PM, DV8 said:

Your missing the point CB, the national draft still exists.  But the first few top kids get to stay local.

Its not like the old zone recruitment area, with no draft.  I agree, it was lousy & unbalanced,  but in today's schools environment, & the effort parents, teachers,, & clubs put into teaching kids its all very different.

It just helps keep up to 3 top kids at home,  per year,  per club.   This would also bring back the interstate clubs academy's back to the field, as they would also be restricted to just 3 free picks,  before any bidding started for other academy kids.

It's a nice idea but I just wonder if the game hasn't got so big that you'd get clubs giving out scholarships to schools in their zones etc. Those three pre-draft choices would be like gold and probably very soon exploited. Which club is in the private school belt and can offer a scholarship to Xavier, Carey etc.

I think he will leave. To me he does seem the type that wants ultimate success over money. The amount of work he's done to make himself one of the best in the comp. I don't think he's "putting it out there" for the money, he's got heaps, he's already set for life.

Freo better get their act into gear if they want to keep him but I'd say he's a strong chance to leave.