Mach5

At times the club has thought we were close to a solution, only for it to all fall in a heap. The fact that zero progress has been made on what should be our highest off-field priority (save for ruling possibilities out) in the last 5 years is an indictment on the current board. Change is needed, and the only thing that should have held us back is a lack of quality alternative options. Lawrence appears worthy of a chance and we need more.

Clubs have pared back the staffing resources and media depts were heavily utilised during the hub, earning well-deserved holidays. We may need to recalibrate our expectations.

Learning so much in this thread! I’ve always worked off an inch being 25mm. Little did he know it was actually 25.4mm. It’s funny what you (or I) take for granted as “known facts.”

Sorry to be the resident pedant, but 6 foot is 180cm on the dot, so just over in fact.

I always assumed that the “Yowie” pronunciation was correct, since it’s how Gervais says it and they were mates. There you go.

I think you might even find that Bowie rhymes with Yowie also, in spite of the commonly accepted pronunciation.

Looks taller than advertised imo.

List balance/needs pick rather than best available, imo. Welcome aboard young fella.

Happy to bring in a couple of players who understand how to get front and centre, and can read the fall of the ball off a contest. Seems an unnaturally rare skill these days.

GC weren’t going to use 27, so they get something for a pick that is essentially worthless to them. The issue is that GC surely could have shopped it around & received a better return from elsewhere, but then again, maybe not. Teams generally aren’t looking to pick up an extra pick this year & to trade out of next years draft. Maybe it really is the best return they could get?

Also sounds like we’ve got an eye on moving pick 50 to move up the order.

There’ll always be someone you miss out on. Georgiades was in contention for our 3rd pick (well, not really but we hoped so). We managed to nab Rivers who we obviously rated and knew he had more scope to improve, having missed preseason with glandular.

It’s worth bearing in mind, that although picks will be pushed back in the draft sequence by NGA selections, later picks will come in as the later draft picks are eaten up. e.g. While the dogs will select JUH early, it will eat up their pick 26, brining our picks 28 & 50 forward. It will also likely eat up their 33, 41 & 42. 50 will come in more as Port’s 35 & 47 are eaten up for Lachie Jones. Sydney’s 34, 37, 43 & 48 should all evaporate. Freo’s 32 will disappear. GC getting ridiculous concessions stings. Having said that, we also have to factor the picks clubs receive back as “change” from the points used to match bids, so 50 will likely push back out a bit, but 28 might be in a bit of a sweet spot. This is something I tried to unsuccessfully articulate last year, but it’s a bit easier now with real world examples; in essence, trading into later picks in this draft may not be such a bad thing. The COVID implications make it even better if you back your talent ID dept to have done the work earlier & better than the opposition.

Over half a dozen delisted FAs will be.

To be fair, development (I think) is generally misunderstood and is not about turning kids into superstars. It’s about rounding players out and giving them the tools to be able to develop into young men who are capable of managing being AFL players, who can then blossom. I found it interesting listening to the Sacked podcast yesterday with Barry Hall, who said that the culture was bad when he was at St Kilda but he was lucky to have some good influences who helped him to develop the tools to stick around and eventually somewhat fulfill his potential. Also being taught how to play as a proper KPF, after getting by in juniors on talent having been a tall mid who went through a massive late growth spurt. Just having someone to spend the time with kids who all chase the footy and use their raw talent, then face the reality of needing to learn the defensive aspects of the game at AFL level and work on their craft, positioning, etc. A club doesn’t need superstar coaches for this work, but they need to put in the resources.

I know nothing.

Huge call that Oliver would be able to put it all together to the point where he was worth pick 4 and more. JT has elephant balls.

He has a bit more going on than just that. Fair to say, he shouldn’t be seen as a role model.

I think I’m getting Jones confused with another. Can’t recall all the draftees & academy noms, but I thought North had one likely to be called around 11. Update: checked and can’t find any reference to a North NGA candidate - must have just gotten confused and all of the above is obsolete.

North are the club to keep tabs on. I can’t imagine us using all of our pick allocation and we only need to use 1 selection as a minimum, although I think we’ll use at least 3. North are in the unique situation of needing to accumulate points for NGA purposes, but also needing bulk picks to fill 11 recently-vacated roster spots (list reduction notwithstanding). I’m sure they’ll be after some DFAs, but you’d expect they’ll also play a heavy hand at the draft. With Jones being a top end selection, they’ll be willing to move on pick 11. I’d propose 18, 19 & 28 for 11, 30 & 39. That is, if we’re hellbent on a certain player or players & not confident in then lasting til 18. I think 18 & 19 is a better hand, but I have no clue as to the prospects. I highly rate JT’s ability to disseminate the draft pool however - giving him the hand he wants would be a priority. anddddddddd after all of that I’m wrong, no North NGA candidate.

It did, but this was done by govt themselves. Internally we [censored] ourselves that the leak came from us & the govt would be filthy, until we found out otherwise. It was all political grandstanding. Pert has plenty to do and has achieved little so far. His attitude doesn’t help and I fear he’s already damaged the culture of the club as a whole.

A lot of Geelong’s recruiting begins years ahead of the actual move. They’ve been chasing Higgins for 10 years plus, and into Cameron for the last 5 or so. Their regional setting and links to the far reaches of the south west through the falcons, mean they have an inherent advantage to recruiting these types. Whether it’s a good strategy or not remains to be seen.

All the best to Jesse, hope he gets the support he needs at GWS. And for those who thought we didn’t win the Hogan trade by getting May... we did.

All good on this end, just busy. You’d think with COVID life would slow down, but it’s been anything but.

Wells is a nice bloke and good at what he does, but like most put on pedestals his ability is overstated. And Geelong certainly bends the rules, but they aren’t the only club to do this.