Swooper1987

He's been a great pick up. Pay no attention to this "Rising Star" nonsense. For goodness sake, Lewis Taylor beat Bont for it in 2014! Dane Swan, Jonathon Brown and Gary Ablett Jnr never even got nominated. It's a speculative award at best. Windsor will be an absolute star.

For us this draft has to be all about the midfield. We need to try to replicate the 2014/15 drafts.

Winning covers up a lot. Dazzle talks about Hodge but he had a number of off field incidents, including his own drink driving issues during a finals series, the mysterious Hawthorn drug scandal that somehow all went away, involving you know who, the fracture between the club and it's indigenous players which came to light recently. Yet three flags in a row papers over the cultural cracks. https://www.afl.com.au/news/199051/hawks-skipper-hodge-caught-drink-driving

second this

Max continues as captain for the next season or two and then I'd expect it pass to Rivers or JVR. Both play with the spirit I'd expect from a leader. Max is a genuinely great leader on and off field. He cares about his team mates, his club and the supporters. Whoever the next skipper is has enormous boots to fill.

It was the same with blokes like Buckley. They are so good, so often and fans and media alike are desperate for the next new thing. When you are as consistently good as guys like Buckley and Gawn, it gets boring. You are right - enjoy it while we can. I have not seen a better ruckman since Simon Madden. Gawn's ability to genuinely influence games goes beyond marks, possessions and hitouts. Teams develop game plans to nullify him. They try to play around him, or rough him up. The big fella always finds a way. He is an all time great and in time will take his place amongst the absolute best in the Hall of Fame. I have a feeling his influence might extend well beyond his playing days.

Good on him and good on Port. Nice to see.

Gawn now one ahead of Cox and indisputably the best ruck since Simon Madden. Absolute legend!

Gawn will make it. This is a popularity contest like the under 22 side that left McVee out. Two blokes in from a team that won 3 games just isn't going to happen.

Robbo on 360 of the view he'll formally request a trade.

Congratulations to Max. It's a great achievement and well deserved. Staggered Marshall from St Kilda didn't get listed.

Likely he'll be gone before our pick.

Quite possible he goes before our pick. Huge scope with this guy according to someone I trust.

Out of date. Twomey is rarely wrong. Try this https://www.afl.com.au/news/1195410/cal-twomeys-phantom-form-guide-top-draft-prospects-august-ranking

Don't underestimate Reid. He's coming with a rush. He's highly regarded.

No relation. But a gun all the same. https://www.afl.com.au/news/1161442/reid-all-about-it-slick-mid-dominates-for-vic-metro

Don't trade it! With Levi Ashcroft a likely number 1, we will have a choice of one of Jagga Smith, Finn O'Sullivan, Murphy Reid, Harvey Langford, Sid Draper or Josh Smillie. All should be excellent AFL players.

Could be as soon as next year if we get the next 5 or 6 months right. There are reasons for our decline which we have some control over. There are also reasons we have little control over. We lost by less than a kick to three highly credentialled finals teams in the last 6 or 7 weeks - Brisbane, Port and GWS. That was far from full strength/health. I completely disregard Friday's result. 6 day break off a very warm day game on the Gold Coast - a bizarre fixturing move, and missing a big number of key players. We are not far away despite all the doom and gloom. And we get a bottom 6 draw!

He's had a stellar year. One of only 6 players to average over 17 CD ratings points for the year - the others are Bont, Cripps, Heeney, Serong and Neale. That is some decent company. He should win his third Bluey and his 7th AA. Congratulations Max.

Re any president - they come and they go, usually with reputation diminished. That is the lot of public office. I admire Roffey's ability to keep out of football matters - that is a massive plus. Time will tell on the other important off field matters.

Thanks Wheelo for your input this season. Much appreciated.

Was a hard watch at the ground. Defensively really poor. Votes are difficult to give in this one but there were three standouts for us who everyone has identified. 6. Gawn - beat Cameron convincingly on a night that didn't favour the big men. 20 disposals at 75%, 13 contested, 5 clearances, 5 marks and 3 of those contested as well as 25 hit outs. 5. McDonald - a heap of intercept marks. Did a decent job on Hoskin-Elliott who wasn't a major influence. A good end to a decent season and worthy of another 12 month contract. 4. Pickett - Koz looked our most dangerous and destructive forward all night. When he's on he plays with real spirit and last night he had it. 3. Salem - a massive second quarter, where he amassed half his total stats for the game. He is creative but also costly. Hopefully a full preseason might see him back to 2021 standard. But he was ok last night. 2. Chandler - covered ground but not great in the contest. At least provided options. Not enough tackles for a small forward but wasn't horrible. 1. Billings - much like Chandler but slower. Still he worked hard. Tholstrup did a couple of nice things. As for the rest, very little to report. Congratulations to Gawn on his outstanding season. He is a true warrior and a deserved winner of the Demonland POTY.

Would possibly flip Neitz and Lyon but that is a great top 5. Hard to believe Lyon still isn't in the AFL Hall of Fame.

He played a major role in the 21 finals series. And a great bloke. Has a big future with our AFLW program I'd imagine. Thanks for everything.

On the Couch tonight - Lyon supremely confident that Viney is staying and an extension will be announced this week.