deespicable me

4 hours ago, demoncat said:

a moot point

I love a moot point

He trained really well on Monday at Gosch's🤭

Went down this morning which was my 3rd trip this pre-season.

It's obviously so very early yet without the senior men back but still I have seen enough to make a few judgements and observations.

Firstly on the running, there were 4 or 5 groups running at intervals and with some players getting passed and at one stage one group going in the opposite direction it was hard to keep up with but I was very impressed by Kolt who blitzed his group by almost 40 metres. This was a quality group with Culley running very strongly in second with Windsor and Langford 3rd and 4th going okay. Sparrow and CJ had a good battle in one of the other groups, AJ easily won his group powering away to beat JVR who did well to get up for 2nd with Lindsay bringing up the rear and another really good battle was Kentfield and AMW. AMW just sat on Kentfield and got away in the last 50 metres. He looks good even though he's not yet back in the main group. New recruit Berry got lapped by Kolt and ran last by a margin but completed the task and it was nice to see Kolt make his way across the oval to Berry to chat and encourage him. Kolt has real star quality about him, he is probably one of the players who can step into the vacuum left by Tracc and Oliver leaving. I know he's barely in the top 22 let alone the top 50 of the AFL but there is something about him and if his footy can rise to a break out season .... well anyway he has started his pre-season well.

Another who looks like he might rise to another level is Jai Culley. Has put himself in everything from contested mid work to impressive forward play and he, like Kolt is very fit. In one end to end drill he played forward, always found space and finished well, with a few classy dribblers ala Kate Hore (obviously without the pressure). He is a nice size and most often outmarks smaller opponents which makes him dangerous floating forward.

It was great to see Fritta and Salo turn up and contribute. They are super classy without match day pressure and laced out their passes with ease. At one stage they competed in a simple one on one marking, wrestling, scrapping drill with the ball being kicked in from 40 metres away and it was great to watch. Fritta got the best of Salo probably 3 of the 5 contests with finger tip marks or body positioning and Salo won the other 2 with equal class. TMAC wasn't beaten in any of his match ups. Jefferson won a couple of his with nice contested marks.

On TMac in the ground drill he was sighting, positioning himself and intercept marking quite a bit and with the emphasis on keeping it all flowing he would play on and 3 or 4 times in a row he was going to CJ who would just turn and sprint,....and invariably run into trouble. It's like he's playing British bulldog, he goes left, then right trying to find a way through. Frost ball is back, he's going to be a lot of fun.

Our kicking is poor, we were missing targets under no pressure, just running quickly, and goal kicking for a while there was horrendous. I think they were working at about 20%. Worst offender was JVR who was working at about 10%. Heath probably shouldn't be forward and is nearly marked by me for Casey, but AJ was good and kicked well. He is another giving himself every chance to get a gig.

Steele was in jumper 22 and he actually looks a bit like Howes with their thin tashes so I had to concentrate on him a bit coz he doesn't do anything flash, but he is a quiet achiever, just rolling around like he's in second gear, moving the ball on to the next bloke and rarely if ever missing a target. He will be good for us, no doubt.

Anyway I love this time of year, it renews my faith in the team and you know, the boys are going ok. Thanks

Taylor looks a gun. Having looked at 5 players from this draft he is the best, closely followed by Sharp. That'll do. Looking any further just breeds confusion. Get 'em in.

Please if we take 7 & 8 to the trade table can we rule out Pickett. He is speculative and a worthy pick post 30, but not for our top 2 picks

I preferred the other medium tall in SA's National side who won everything. Mitch Marsh. I reckon he's got more upside than Schubert.

Schubert 5 years in for 15 games and a touch of promise, then he wants to go home. Oooh yes please.

1 hour ago, Roger Mellie said:

Just looked at the footage from the game above (as opposed to highlights). What an odd player. Everything about him seems odd, unco, awkward. Even his handballs look like pie floaters. His ball drop is unco yet he hits targets. Even his gait looks painful. I don't think he's a Schache type but not sure what he is. Need more footage, I think, to form a rank amateur opinion.

My rank amateur opinion has seen enough to pray that Taylor passes on this bloke. He will need 4 years in the system filling out etc, etc. Haven't we been tortured enough.

I'd like to give a bit of love to Phillipou. Been mentioned a couple of times only and in my completely uninformed and useless opinion (with so little research to the point that I really shouldn't have an opinion) but heck, every bloody half informed fool and his dog have put forward their two cents, so Phillipou for me

28 minutes ago, Vagg said:

So, I just reckon this whole thing of Player Contracts is a farce. I reckon that, if both Club and player agree it's best for the player to move on, then that means both parties agree to cancel the Contract. This would therefore mean that there is NO on-going commitment to pay part of the player's salary at his new Club. The Contract is dead and buried, and the player then negotiates a new contract with his new Club. All liability on the former club is then ceased.

But, what would I know?!!

More than the bozo's in our footy department. Worst all-time deal. Ever

A lot of the interstate teams aren't old enough for Father/sons yet. They will be coming through in the next 5 or so years. Then we're really fu##ed

Get him back and put him through rigorous weekly testing for anything illegal running through his system, catch him out then sack him on the grounds that he broke the conditions of his contract. Or threaten to unless he takes a pay cut, or a payout.

Sounds a bit messy eh. Oh well lets go with the 3rd rounder.

4 hours ago, Demon_spurs said:

If he was the same player we would have got pick 12

What!!? He's not the same player. Has he morphed into someone else. Taken some poly juice.

He had a down year in 2025 at 22, suffering injury for the first time. He has so much footy in front of him. He is a great pick up by Fremantle and we just rolled over.

Pick 23 for a best 22, 22 year old with upside to become a top 15 player is not good enough Lamb. We have never got above what we should have and consistently get below what we would like. Look at all our players playing around the league that we have got peanuts for. Bent over yet again. Honest Lamb could never be a used car saleman, he'd go out of business.

Nothing less than a pick in the teens. 20 at worst. There's very little value in picks further on, they become extremely speculative.

Taylor has a scout in WA who is obviously very good with good intel and we have recruited well from WA. But when they go the other way it's always to Freo and we always get reamed. It's time to make a stand. Let him go to the pre-season draft. A pick at 25+ makes it easy to say f### off.

1 minute ago, DutchDemons said:

This is highly disappointing.

I have always liked Judd as a player, thought he was humble with a good work ethic and a desire to fit in. A good team player. I know we haven't seen it this year but obviously this decision affected him this year so Freo buying at the right time. I would play hard ball and think the points from a pick 20 would be about right.

We do have a player who had a serious knee injury though in AMW, who has the potential to be better at the back pocket role. He is good one on one and is attacking. I look forward to his rise into a lock in our best 22.

I think Trac and the club have learned lessons from last year and are approaching his potential trade a lot more professionally this year. (mind you considering what happened last year it would be almost impossible to [censored] it up worse this year). This means Trac isn't ranting and raving about a need to get out, and Melbourne aren't having to defend it's integrity at every turn. Thank God for that.

I do however think Trac wouldn't mind a fresh start at a new club. But he is understanding that 1. Melbourne will want fair compensation and 2. He will not come out publicly and state a club, thus making it harder for Melbourne to broker a deal, until the behind the scenes thrashing out of who pays what and how the deal looks is virtually done and sits comfortably with all parties.

It won't be easy for him to move on as Melbourne hold most of the cards, and it will take a fair commitment from any new suitor to get him to their club. Consequently I also think Trac is okay with that and if it doesn't come through he will be happy to play for Melbourne next year.

If this is the case then I think all parties should be congratulated for a more mature and professional approach.

I think you will find if this comes to pass he will be on at least 800 a year for at least 4 years and to pay for this we will need to trade on Petracca to make salary cap space.

If we take a little off our salary cap and end with a clean swap Petracca for Windhager I think this would be a good deal.

Mind you this is all semantics until Geelong sign off on it. We all know they have first dibs on any talent looking for a new home. It's just a matter of working through issues such as what size farm they want.

Nice, RTG

12 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

It’s like the AFL don’t want the women’s game to succeed.

I actually saw Dillon with his wife out at Vic Park for the game against Collingwood.

I think he gave a nod and a wink to the umpires before they went on that free kick spree that nearly got the Pies over the line. Or that could be just a viscous rumour

I am a no go to Casey as well, but will go to any inner city venue, and like others enjoy the grass roots element of the AFLW.

Ima happy to go to any of the following venues before Casey Fields

Western Oval, Ikon Park, Arden St, Vic Park, The Lexus Centre, Coburg, Port Melbourne, South Melbourne, Junction Oval

Why ida even be prepared to go to Box Hill City Oval, Moorrabbin, Geelong. Why even Frankston for [censored] sake. Any the [censored] where before takin' that goddam trek out to Casey!

14 hours ago, Billy said:

We finished 14th the last two seasons

That’s not AA Captaincy material

8 All Australians. No other Ruckman has achieved this. In the history of the game. There have been 3 anomalies with the All Australian Captaincy. Hawkins in 2022, Jeremy Cameron in 2025 and Buddy in 2018. Of the six other players that have achieved 8 All Australians, there are 2 forwards in Ablett snr and Buddy, and 4 mid-fielders in Ricciuto, Harvey, Ablett jnr and Dangerfield. Max was Captain in 2021, but in 2022 he either should have retained the Captaincy or there was Lachie Neal or Patrick Cripps, but no Hawkins gets the gig. This year sure Dawson or Harris Andrews would have been noteworthy Captains but if you are looking left field then recognising Max for the body of work over the last 8 seasons, including the last 2 where his team has been poor, he would have also been a worthy Captain of the team.

On top of that a Geelong player has Captained the side 6 of the last 13 editions of the All Australian side. In a time when they have only won the premiership once. Fair. I don't think so.

21 minutes ago, Demon Disciple said:

Taking the red&blue glasses off for a moment, AA captaincy should’ve gone to Jordan Dawson.

Don't agree. Max deserved it for being a mainstay in the AA team for 8 years. Speaks so well, and is a natural leader. Has led our team for a long time and won a premiership as Captain. Absolute joke to make Cameron Captain. Disgrace.

3 hours ago, Dees_In_October said:

With injuries to Lampard, Mackin and Purcell (are we doing alphabetical order injuries now, or what?), we're now back into top-up territory, with 7/30 unavailable.

Barring anything else that crops up - Chaplin looked sore as well, though hopefully just a bad corky - here's those left standing:

B: Ebert, Taylor

HB: Chaplin, O'Hehir, Goldrick

C: McNamara, Hore, Paxman

HF: Fitzsimon, Harris, Bannan

F: Gall, Zanker

FOLL: Pearce, Hanks, Heath

IC: Campbell, Johnson, Mahony, Wotherspoon, Pisano

EMG: Rigoni, Dethridge, ????

Plenty still to like in that team. Maybe we'll uncover a jet as a top-up. How's that for positivity?

I thought the girls played without wings???

But maybe I'm on the wrong forum. Rather than Demonland maybe I should be on La La Land

First of all thanks for your efforts over the year, it is much appreciated and loved by many, myself included. Happy holidays for a while at least and I believe it's good luck on the punt to Binman although I'm sure your analytical mind would find lots of winners.

I'd like the panel to discuss the Rising star award. Once again Langford put in a great game for us but remains an outsider to win the award. The main 3 everyone is talking about are Read from Freo, Curtain from Adelaide and Ashcroft from Brisbane. Who do you guys think WILL win the award, who do you guys think SHOULD win the award and long term, say in 3 years, barring injury, who do you think will be viewed as the best of the draft of 25

Thanks

I love all the NO memes, if that is what they are, but lets see, he is an upgrade on Billings, Fullarton, AJ, Campbell, and many others running around in the 2's.

He is sure no more than a depth upgrade and wouldn't get a game in front of May, Lever and Turner, or probably even TMac, but if every other club is shaking their heads like all your memes then he might be money-ball. He averages 1 good game in 5 and is perennially injured so he would have to come cheap. That is where another club might offer slightly overs coz they need tall backs, maybe even Dogs, but if he's falling cheap then I think as I say he is an upgrade in depth.