Axis of Bob

Surely if Clarko moulds him into a potential AA superstar ..... then he would already have been a potential AA superstar before Clarko started coaching him. ?

I have completely the opposite view. Our team doesn’t play better because we ‘won’ 2 different trades, we play better because we improved our team overall over the period. The deals are not isolated, they are part of a bigger picture. For instance, everyone was filthy that we paid 25 for Melksham early, and the quickly got 29, 50 and Kennedy for Howe and Toumpas. This place was an absolute nightmare during that time because we were always pushovers etc. Then we used that pick 29 to help us go from pick 6 into pick 3 and 10, before using one of the picks we got back to turn pick 10 into pick 7. And then everyone thought we were geniuses. But we needed the extra second round pick to make those other deals happen, plus time to do the deals, so we took the hit on that trade to do it quickly and cam out as big winners overall. The point is, the trades don’t exist in a vacuum, so it’s short sighted to look at the in isolation.

I think there’s more certainty in the Hawks one. They are likely to be a mid table team again, as they have been for a while now.

From the looks of it, we aren’t expecting much. We just don’t want him and are happy for another club to take him. It’ll get done whenever the clubs want.

Pick 6 and future first (St Kilda’s, let’s say pick 8 next year) vs pick 10 and a future pick 19 (with pick 35 coming back) ...... The first round is a long round and covers everything from pick 1 to a pick in the low 20s.

Steven Armstrong won a flag. So did Jonathan Simpkin.

Can’t kick. But if I think about this, is there a chance that we pick him up for peanuts to play as a pressure forward? Is genuinely quick and may benefit from a less complicated role.

Yes. But not for long!

This is a tired cliche that your are using just because you want to take this particular punt. But your argument is plainly wrong. We took a punt on Luke Molan. We took a punt on Aaron Davey. We took a punt on Liam Jurrah. We took a punt on Michael Newton. We took a punt on James Frawley. We took a punt on James Strauss. We took a punt on Neville Jetta. We took a punt on Jordan Gysberts. We took a punt on Jack Fitzpatrick. We took a punt on Lucas Cook. We took a punt on Jeremy Howe. We took a punt on the 16 year old from WA, Jesse Hogan. We took a punt on Jayden Hunt. We took a punt on Neville Jetta, again. We took a punt on Aaron Vandenberg. We took a punt on Clayton Oliver. We took a punt on Sam Wiedeman. We took a punt on Bayley Fritsch. We took a punt on Oskar Baker. We took a punt on Toby Bedford. There are varying levels of risk taken from with those players (both in terms of the player and the cost of the risk), as there are varying levels of potential reward from taking them. It’s an interesting list that has a lot of wins and a lot of losses. Every club will have a similar list. All clubs take punts. But they need to be calculated punts where the risk is worth the reward, and the rewards will be different for different clubs as will the risks. The Bennell punt is astronomically high risk for a previously injury prone player who then became even more injury prone with a recurring injury, combined with his poor preparation reducing his likelihood of ever getting over injuries .... and also has played 2 games in 3 years. For those risks he’d need to be Haydn Bunton to justify it.

This is hilarious (and sad). It’s like reading a horoscope .... it doesn’t say anything but people will use it to justify the opinions/fears that they already have.

I think we use Max too much as a defensive saver than as an exit kick from defence. We have had real issues trying to get link ups forward of the ball because of injuries to our key forwards and the lack of speed outside the contest. In addition we’ve had injuries to May and Lever all year, plus other issues in defence, so Gawn has played a lot as a kick behind play. I believe the idea behind getting May would have been to release Gawn to be a bit more unpredictable forward of the ball, and we can see him trying to do that a little more later in the season. His poor kicking is not an issue here, as the idea is to win the ball and move it quickly. A mark coming out of defence would result in a number of players moving past and the ball being run forward, rather than having to pinpoint a kick like you do in a slow play. I think ruck dominance is important in stoppages. It’s not so much the hit outs to advantage, but it’s about being able to control the areas where you fight for the clearance. Sure, teams will try to defend it, but there’s a real advantage to getting the ball into an area where your team has an advantage. It’s not a specific advantage, but it’s an advantage that you have in the long run of a game.

If you didn't try so hard to shoehorn this in every time then it would be a little bit less sad. You've jumped on a losing side really early and you're trying desperately to make it an issue. But it's only an issue to you. And it's only an issue to you because you took the wrong side too hard too early as part of some 'hot take' you were making. Now you're just holding on like a gambler who's down a bundle but swears the next spin will be a green. Stop embarrassing yourself. It's very difficult for some of us to watch.

I agree that Lyon is a terrible commentator and footy pundit in general. Unfortunately he's charismatic and surface level smart, do he has always been able to cruise through without doing any work. He's lazy and unaccountable. As such, he's a very, very superficial analyst. He knows the general things to say so that he doesn't get caught out, but his lack of preparation is very obvious.

Ha! You are trying so hard to make this stick, aren't you? Despite everything, you just want it to happen so, so hard. You're wrong, of course, and Lever was excellent today, but it's just a bit sad watching you trying so hard to make this a thing. I feel like giving you a couple of little pats on the head while reminding that there are people in your life that still love you. Chin up, sport.

The most pointed thing about this thread is the lack of specific talk about what the 'game plan' is or what changes people want made to the 'game plan'. I think this demonstrates the average footy fan's inability to grasp how footy works when they watch it. It's a complicated game at the top level. It also demonstrates the quality of the argument when those same posters complain that they don't like the game plan.

I think we end up at the same point in this, but I don't see it as arrogance. I just see it as an excellent footballer who is getting old and can't physically do the things he's been able to do before. It happens to a lot of footballers as they get old as they still have the competitiveness but can't do it physically like they used to so they play closer to 'the line' to make up for what they now lack. Letting go is hard, so sometimes you just do whatever you can to hang on. I think that this is what Lewis is doing (and Bernie too, to an extent). I certainly know that as my body slowed down my mouth sped up!

Then deal with it through the correct channels, rather than by baiting and bullying. It's awful to watch. Posters get in on it together and figure it's OK to do it because there are other people doing it. It's not. Stop bullying.

I disagree with much of what he says, but this is rubbish. A group of posters gang up together, bait him, and then smash him whenever he opens his mouth because they know he'll react. It's been happening for years and those posters should be ashamed of themselves. It's like high school. He likes thinking the best of the players. Why don't you just view his reports through this lens and not be a [censored] about it?

I appreciate Saty's reports of training. I don't always agree with what he says but he fronts up and gives us his thoughts and descriptions of training. He (correctly) called out a poor comment from Dr D (whose report I also appreciated) that Bradtke won't make it .... based on a November training, which is an immensely premature call to make on the least developed player on our list. That's fine and both posters are entitled to their opinions. Both acted very respectfully. But the posters coming in afterwards are a waste of space. Posters complaining that their posts will be deleted .... they bloody well should. Small minded bullies. Posters ganging up to bully Saty are just pathetic.

I think Bedford will be bid for somewhere in the 30-50 range, otherwise we wouldn't have done the pick swap for 28 with St Kilda.

Membrey was only a delisted free agent because he was out of contact and a prospective deal from St Kilda, who had pick 1 in the preseason draft and didn't do a trade deal with Sydney. That's why we had to trade for Friday, as St Kilda threatened to use that pick for him. Roberton requested a trade back to Victoria, which didn't work out so Freo delisted him before St Kilda signed him.

That's the most disappointing nickname attempt since someone here tried to start calling Trac 'Petraccattack'.

Overall, Hogan to Freo was the equivalent of pick 2.

Overall it's Neale for the equivalent of about pick 3 by itself. It's pick 6 and 55, plus an upgrade of 30 to 19. The pick shuffles at the end aren't actually worth much overall.

I think it's probably the sort of thing that comes with experience. In his first year he's trying to win every deal but soon he'll realise that the true value comes from having the assets available when the real bargains are there to be taken. He'll probably start realising now when all of these bargains are going to go around and he's too busy haggling over an unavailable 5 vs the 6 they had originally!