Dee Boys

[censored] off Brayshaw. God this kind of stuff is unseemly. It’s January and he’s contracted for 3 more seasons.

Keep in mind he was an absolute mess off-field at the time and couldn’t get his body right, so you can see the club’s point of view. Easy in hindsight, but he’s exactly the player we lack at the moment.

When did anyone argue otherwise? I just responded to a post asking which players have left while under contract.

Grundy, Harmes and Weideman in the last couple of years just off the top of my head…

Not a walk up start by the end of it! 😜

Sure - but I’m not saying we should’ve thrown the farm at big name players. As @DeeZonepointed out I’m not sure we’ve had the salary cap room. But Ed Langdon’s needed a mate on the other wing for a while now while we mixed and matched with Brayshaw, Hunter, Billings, Woewodin, Windsor etc. While Hawthorn gave up pick 60 for D’ambrosio who was in the AA squad and Carlton gave up pick 50 for Blake Acres who’s been more than serviceable. Both of whom would’ve been cheap as chips salary wise too. Of course recruiting and list management is easy in hindsight but there’s no doubt ours hasn’t been good enough in the last few years. We’ve been saved by Jason Taylor largely nailing the picks he’s been left with.

Quite right - he was a year later. Still, nobody since the end of 2019…

The fact that it’s been 7 years now (Steven May) since we’ve recruited anyone from another club who’s been consistently fit and a walk up start for the senior side is an indictment on the list management team. Since then it’s been bargain basement NQR’s like Schache, Billings, Hunter, McAdam, Fullarton and Dunstan. Ben Brown gets a pass as he contributed to us winning a flag but could never get himself fit enough and played only 45 games in his 4 years with us. Of course the priority has been re-signing our best players, which largely we’ve been able to do well, but you still need to be bringing in solid best 22 players in areas you’re weak in to augment the list.

Jon Ralph is a buffoon.

Based on what? Both were drafted as skinny, raw KPF prospects but Weid was picked to play a few games in his first season, and in his third had 24 touches, 7 marks and kicked 3 goals in front of 95,000 in a final at the G. We’re all hoping desperately that Jeffo has a (much) better career than Weid but as he enters his third season, saying he’s looked more promising so far in his career than Weid did at the same time just isn’t right.

I think this is fair. Nobody’s doubting the talent he has, but if he can’t get his body right he’s not much use to us. And this “oh it’s only a minor hammy” stuff isn’t actually insignificant. It’s these sort of incidents over and over and over again which means he can’t build up any base fitness levels or learn patterns and jell with his fellow forwards. No he’s not doing ACL’s or breaking legs but he’s not getting any sort of consistency in his training to give him the platform he needs to perform. And approaching 30 it’s not going to improve.

Try to get down most Wednesdays when they’re at Gosch’s mate but as I said I’ve generally got one eye on my little mate so I’m definitely not watching every single little detail forensically.

Not so much ball in hand stuff - he can definitely finish. More the body on body stuff that is so vital to becoming a good key forward at senior level. He gets outmarked, outbodied and out-thought far too often in contests and isn’t explosive enough to cause separation when leading at the footy. Dearly hoping to be proved wrong!

I’m desperate to see Jeffo succeed as I feel a player of his type would make us so much better. I watch him closely whenever I’m at training. Physically he’s a tick, definitely has an AFL ready body now. But I’m afraid skill and intensity wise he’s still a long way off. Just my opinion. Sorry @picket fence!

Hard to pay full attention with a 3 year old running amok but there were three clear standouts for me from what I saw: Fritsch, Windsor and Langford.

It’s also not their jobs to be Dees nuffies like we are. Their job is to be objective, disinterested and to call things as they see them.

No.

Haha they’re both about to turn 30! They’re not getting any better, they are what they are. The ones we need to really kick on and make a difference are those in the 22-25 bracket like Sparrow, JVR, McVee, Rivers etc.

Wayne thanks for the reports. When you’re referring to “Ollie” in your posts are you talking about Ollie Sestan or Clarry?

He’s 23…

Is this right @Ghostwriter? I thought Jan 22nd was a family day and was going to take the little man along. Any info would be appreciated…

Love the response. I think he tested all of our patience in the off season, and still has work to do. But he’s so important to us achieving anything next season so got everything crossed bridges will be properly mended from both sides.

I thought you hated Petracca GW?