fr_ap

Genuinely embarrassed with the effort the last two weeks. To be honest, the women's team hasn't looked the same since Goodwin said he could sniff an AFLW flag at the BNF.

Windsor looks taller than 184. Weird

Ok then

Fair enough. Clearly I wasn't there and you were - my perspective was from watching both those videos which are clearly extremely limited samples. Nonetheless, they meet at several contests, certainly enough to make it look like they at least started the game on each other (Tholstrup forward, Curtin back). In the contests they were both involved in, Tholstrup won most. Not fussed how Subi made Claremont look. My opinion doesn't count for anything, but I see a nice player who for his size is unnatural and unhappy in the contest. All I've watched are highlights, so I'm not claiming any knowledge. Just first impressions and observations. I assume I'm wrong as far better judges than me think he'll be great, but they always do on these prospects & each year c.30-50% of the top 10 are busts. They're often wrong. Clearly if we draft him I hope he's a generational star forward, mid, back, wing, quarterback, wherever. Just go and watch the Adam Tomlinson 2011 Draft video on Youtube. Similiar wraps. Played forward, back, midfield. Clean skills, huge tank. Nice looking player. But there was always a hesitancy / fragility in the contest that Tommo still plays with today relative to the absolute unit of a body he has to work with. I see some similiarities.

I'm not sure a taller Salem is something anyone needs. Salem doesn't play on anyone that tall and nor should he if he is a rebounding creative half back. Are there any weapon 197cm quarterbacks in the league? Stewart would be the tallest wouldn't he and he's 190. The Wing call I don't believe in either - tall wings have been tried and mostly fail. Tomlinson is actually in many respects a similiar athlete to Curtin and that failed too. In fact - Tomlinson is probably a good example of the danger of picking Curtin. There are similarities to Tommo at the same age. If you're saying he's a Mid at 197cm, he needs to play like Cripps to make the most of that size, as he will invariably be giving away speed, agility, ground level. I'm not sure Curtin plays anything like Cripps. Watch this: Now this is a kid in the WAFL so not going to be overly critical...but he already has the body to compete. I don't see a whole heap of competitiveness, tricks, or thirst for the contest. Relatively meek in the contest. Looks lovely in space, a very nice kicking action and does win some defensive 1v1s...but coughs the ball up in most contest situations. Tholstrup, who certainly has his flaws, played for the opposition and actually made Curtin look a little second rate at several contests. With a smaller body:

I'm not sure on Curtin for a few reasons: 1) Speed / Agility appear a little lacking if he is indeed to turn into a bid bodied mid; in that context I'd like to see more of his contest work in the midfield to assess 2) At the same time, as a key back he's a little undersized and doesn't have huge athleticism to match the likes of Curnow, Walter etc. 3) Appears a different kind of character to the other boys at the top end (can go one of two ways) Looks a well skilled and balanced footballer but I just don't see the dynamism for the top level. Almost the polar opposite of Caddy in that regard who has all the dynamics but question marks over a lot of the other stuff. The Steven May comparisons look well off to me - people see a left footed full back and go there immediately. I honestly think Sanders or O'Sullivan are probably our best bet at 6, though I'm not overly enamoured with either of them either. 11 can take either the slider out of the bunch and/or get into the Windsor/Leake/Wilson range. Watson - I would be keen but we have so many smalls on the list. I won't hate it if we take him, as he's a potential game-winner/cult favourite and could release Koz for more midfield time, but it seems a waste to have so much of the list focused on small forwards. *EDIT* just saw the highlights package in the Watson thread. I'd be ok with him... It's just such a shame we won't get McKercher. Assuming Oliver gets back to being himself, Colby would totally complete our midfield and make our forward line issues look way better too. Such a shame.

80/20......our gate takings each year rise and fall on the Anzac Eve and QB games. We know the seasonality of them. Bigger picture & longer term thinking - with the amount of night-time games, the brand will get more exposure - if we play well and are decent to watch. Not going to hold my breath on that though

Laurie isn't exactly tall ...and he plays smaller than his height? Not even sure how that would work

I don't understand this round zero thing. When do we get our extra bye? Sydney in Sydney to open the season will be tough considering the respective off seasons. Grundy v Max again like the old days.

Old mate on the absolute warpath here Love it

A couple of things on this thread: 1) Aaron Vandenberg is a legend. Thanks to the poster that brought up his name. Good memories. 2) We should have smoked Collingwood really

Not every recruit needs to play in the 1s and have 30 mate. We're not assembling a fantasy team on FIFA. Dunstan was a crucial contributor to Casey winning a flag, which benefited all of Chandler, Woewodin, JVR, Turner and Bedford (benefiting GWS), most of whom are now regulars in the 1s. Schache likewise - takes the best defender and kicks bags in the VFL Casey's success is crucial to our fortunes in so many ways. A lot of people don't understand this but there is a clear correlation of the strongest VFL teams with the strongest AFL teams. Bit chicken or egg - but either way, seasoned experience that helps Casey is valuable. Not saying I love this acquisition btw as I never really thought he had the athleticism against AFL forwards. I'd rather someone who was depth but a greater capacity to impact at the top level and carve out a spot - someone like Mannagh. But appreciate he will likely go in the ND.

If we do that deal and take Duursma we will regret it for a very, very, very long time.

Not sure if anybody has said it but the comparison is Fyfe. Moves extremely similarly Edit: sorry indeed others have said it

Why would we do this for Duursma? Mckercher is far and away the better prospect

Sorry but this is nonsense. Neither Curtin nor O'Sullivan have any significant exposed form forward of the ball, so your comment is entirely subjective and baseless. Caddy certainly plays like a key forward. Whether he can be a good one is of course up for discussion. I'm not sold but there are some exciting aspects to him. Would be unnecessary if they believe in Jefferson (I do not). On balance I think there will be better options for us at 6, but would not be surprised if we pull the trigger on Nate. I do doubt we would draft talls with our first pick three years in a row....but stranger things have happened.

What's the consensus on Nate Caddy? If McKercher is out of the frame, I'm warming to Nate as the slightly undersized key fwd (though he plays bigger, jumps at the ball) that we need (assuming Petty is out long term). He's far more dynamic than JVR and I like the way he plays with aggression and authority. Has a little bit of DH about him but in a good environment he has the tools to be a star (potentially C Curnow like). Feels like one we'll regret if we miss. Pretty sure he wouldn't last to 11 but not sure about him at 6. Anyone know anything more about him? Would definitely prefer him to Watson.

I'm a Yes because I've been vocal on our need for depth with AFL experience. I think he'd provide good cover around the midfield, wings or half forward. Similiar to the Hunter pickup but probably with more upside/time on his hands?

I think what people miss is its not necessarily the players who need to be back home, near their mum etc. With Jackson, and I think here, a driving force is that the parents / families in many cases are very dedicated to supporting the player, and attend most games etc. in support. That becomes a whole lot easier if 2 out of 3 weeks they're only driving 6 hours to Adelaide rather than 6 hours to Adelaide, 3 hours transit to Melbourne and staying at Harry's house overnight. Not excusing his comments and I'm still furious, but I think its clearly more families than players themselves that drive this as soon as the player has any sort of leverage/power (which they don't have when they first enter the system - need to go where they go and establish themselves)

Honestly disgraceful interview. The channel 7 one is all he should have said. Why should we invest any more in his development, his rehab, his leadership, his knowledge of the game when he has told us he'll be out the door and it's just a matter of time? Many of us get the realities but the club's and players owe a duty to their extremely loyal and long suffering fans to not let dialogue like that into the open air. If you're to say that, just request the trade and be done with it.

Sounds to me like they're still in his ear trying desperately to convince him. For all our sakes let's hope they're unsuccessful as we've never been a team to hold a player back from a trade once they've actually lodged a request...

Fair enough. I think all of JJ, Harmes and Dunstan (though never used) were reliable enough. I certainly knew with JJ i'd be getting midfield accountability, and with Harmes, an understanding of the structure that makes us a good team. With Dunstan I knew that if there was a 50/50 to be won - he'd put his weight into it as he understood what it takes to play at AFL level. Certainly none were without flaws and JJ and Harmes let us down in particular moments. All speculative as to whether a certain kid would have done better in that situation, or even worse, or maybe never even been in the chain of possession to turn it over in the first place (in Harmes case). We will see I suppose - experienced AFL depth is valuable imo - very raw kids can be a total liability and none of the 3 in question were quite that

Happy to concede that 'unbridled' is an over embellishment on my part, but don't conflate exaggeration with misrepresentation. One is an amplification, the other contravention. He/she picked up on not 1, not 2, but 3 posters well-reasoned thoughts & outlined his/her basis for disagreement, which is perfectly fine. To then sign off that it is "pointless viewing the situation in anything other than my way" (optimistically) is, indeed, directly saying that he/she is not interested in any other point of view (as to do so would be pointless and not worth the time or effort). It follows by any logical inference that he/she would therefore not be interested in discussing said other points of view. So yes - as good as saying not interested in discussion. Is hypocrisy a pet hate as well?

Of course you can - but again, that's not what you said. You said you 'frankly can't see the point of anything other than optimism'. Just like you saying you can discuss things while being optimistic, I was saying equally, you can discuss things whilst being realistic. In any case - moving on haha

You said you don't see the point in anything other than unbridled optimism. On matters of opinion that's as good as saying you're not interested in discussion. Agree on the FS, a total game changer. We benefited with Viney (Woey?) & hopefully get our dose coming soon with Kalani (maybe Yze, but the wraps arent as high).