goodwindees

No mention in that article that he’s submitted the transfer & registration form. That was submitted today.

Here’s a little one that the media don’t know about yet. Ben Cousins has just completed paperwork to play for Old Xavs this year. I hope it happens and it is great to think his health is such that Ben believes he could play that competition at 46.

I’ll try to get an update, but as we all know, Geelong is just about the number 1 destination club. They don’t lose players they want to keep, and Max is one they will want to retain. Couldn’t see him going anywhere in the short, medium term.

I’m only guessing, but he has had a strong start to 2024, and he was particularly good against the Dees in Round Zero, so that may have stimulated their interest. Lever is on the record as saying he’s a very difficult match up as that 3rd/4th tall. I know the Swans were disappointed with him in 2023, but what we’re seeing now is some of those Swans forwards excelling now that Buddy is not hogging the forward line. I think he’s a handy player, but I wouldn’t be over stretching for him just because he’s a free agent.

Current situation is that Swans have lowballed Hayward as they’re happy for him to be the one that goes. He’s currently on $600k a season and was on the “to be dropped list” about 5 times in 2023, but survived due to injuries. Carlton have been interested for 12 months, the Dees interest is a lot more recent. Swans are very keen to retain Florent, and by pushing Hayward out, they’ll most likely be able to.

Been an enormous distraction to the Lions, at last count about 6 couples have separated at least temporarily. I know a couple of guys that have been betting big against the Lions and getting juicy odds, particularly for their Gabba losses. Once again it’s hard to imagine how this story hasn’t broken long before this with all the guys covering the game Mrs Cameron is not popular.

Josh was asked to look around due to not being able to play Sam Mitchell & Brad Sewell in the same team. Hawks preferred Brad Sewell at the time, Brad was very good for them, but in hindsight they pushed the wrong one out the door. That said, there was an element of the pressure of the Kennedy name was going to weigh Josh down so they thought they were doing him a favour.

Thanks Storm Boy. You’re correct, Gulden is in for a very significant increase and WA clubs are coming hard for Logan. I try to pass on innocent little snippets here and there, would love to pass on more, but must be mindful.

The feeling right at the moment is that both Florent & Hayward are more likely to leave than stay. Remarkably, the Blues are heavily into both.

I thought I’d add that David Hussey told me many months ago that he asked Alex & Jack Viney to talk to the VIC cricket squad mid last year and he told me that Alex spoke so exceptionally well that he could never recall a more impressive young sportsman address a group. He told me went straight up to Alex and told him how impressed he was and that he has an outstanding career in sport leadership, management awaiting if he so chooses.

I don’t know Fisher but if he is, he’ll have to nominate for the Draft between 10 Oct & 13 Nov. Just because they were an early selection, you have to be a cautious in your expectations.

Guys, I can let you know that the lifestyle story around Grundy to Sydney is not quite correct. More accurately is that Longmire impressed far more than Hinkley and the two 23 year olds Ken brought to the meeting. It is also looking likely that JJ will also select the Swans.

Hey DD. I’m not hearing much at the moment except for a few gentle enquires they’re making here and there. That said, I wasn’t aware of the McAdam one. I’ll let you know if and when I can.

As I say, despite Swans being in for everybody, they didn’t initiate contact. I’m hearing they’re pretty cool based on his history of groins & hammys.

You might find this interesting because at this stage I don’t believe the media even know about it. As strange as it seems, Taylor Adams from the Pies has contacted the Swans himself to discuss their interest in him moving there. Wants to play more midfield and clearly feels he’s not getting the love from the Pies. Totally separate to this, my sources tell me that Callum Mills has badly damaged his shoulder/collarbone in a mad Monday wrestling match and will miss a major part of preseason. Apparently Longmire was as angry as he’s ever been after hearing about it.

I’ll tell you what I think is insane. It’s insane to say that Max has a broken big toe so we needed ruck cover as the Sub so we picked Josh Schache instead of Grundy. It must rank as the worst of many bad selection decisions during Simon’s tenure.

Sydney are now quite confident they’ll land Parish and are also going hard for Bailey Smith. They’ll have to lose a player or two that they’d prefer not to, however, I suspect that it will be difficult to pry Amartey or McLean out of there.

Things change very quickly when you have Clubs passionately selling their story, however, due to a changing family situation for Brodie, the City of Adelaide is very attractive. Right now, I'd have Port Adelaide just in front of Sydney because as I stated, Sydney are working very hard at it. Watch this space on Luke Beveridge.

Hi Dazz. There is a bit going on and I'll be in a better position over the coming weeks to possibly announce some details. I can tell you though that the Swans have, and are still having an enormous crack at Brodie, however, Brodie has almost totally decided it is back to SA for him due to changing family reasons. This will probably leave Port as the most likely. Lots of details yet to be worked out and tricky with both Clubs going deep. I can also tell you that the Swans are heavily into Parish & Bailey Smith, I don't the media has caught up with their interest in Parish, but they're very keen. It'll come as no surprise but it is almost certain that Bailey Smith will be elsewhere next year. Stay well & Go Dees.

Tomlinson MUST come in as either a tall defender to play on one of their tall forwards, or as a defensive forward on James Sicily.

Not sure it would be wise to go into a final, with only 1 ruckman and a 19 year old kid who isn’t quite AFL ready, as your main ruck backup. What a disaster it would be if Max went off in the first quarter. Also, imagine how the opposition would target Max if we had no recognised ruckman as a backup.

Out Petty & Spargo. In Tomlinson & Hibberd. Play Bowey forward instead of Spargo

The Port Captain doesn’t quite have the credibility of Max, in fact, he doesn’t have the credibility of any AFL captain.

Couldn’t agree more. The absolute frustration for me is that they played them both in games against Geelong & GWS that were played in really wet, slippery conditions that Max was never going to take a mark, and he didn’t, yet tonight which is perfectly dry, they pull the trigger. Brodie’s style of ruck play is much more suited to wet/slippery conditions, but they didn’t have the courage to make the right call which would’ve been to manage Max, or make him the sub, in case of an early injury to Brodie. The original plan was for Brodie to play predominantly on-ball and Max play predominantly up forward, but as no surprise to knowledgeable supporters, the Club and Max has belatedly realised that Max isn’t a 65% forward. It is also just as certain that Brodie hasn’t been, and will never be an impact part game forward. Max’s body language has appeared to be a little dispirited lately, really looking forward to seeing how he responds in a lot of different ways tonight

A player named on the interchange is a fully participating player. He is usually in the game within the first 6 minutes and usually all interchange players get as many minutes on ground across the entire game as players who just happened to start the game on the field. The enormous difference between an interchange player and a Sub, is that a Sub might never get to participate in the game and simply sit on the rear bench all game, eg, James Jordan in the Premiership team. What an incredible anti climax it would be to name a first gamer as a Sub, and he never get to take the tracksuit off.