Turner

i cant hate the bloke, hes just a normal guy doing his best to get along in life, hes made some mistakes no doubt he owns them and i dont think theres any animosity from his side towards the dees. just the way life goes, hell play good footy next year because thats what he does best

top 12: Gawn, KPickett, Bowey, Fritsch, Turner, Mihocek, Rivers, Salem, Langford, Lever, Viney, May this is what the start of season next year currently sits like, think its fairly accurate ie, May could still play lots of footy for us and a drop from 8 to 12 based on no games played is fair and without any exposed form from petty as a defender for 3 years now its unfair to immediately have him ahead, expect this to change by the byes.\ lever also has been sliding for last 18 months but could be a big riser first half of the year if he can return to his best, im pessimistic but its a chance langford is there for now but i imagine there will be times where he might fluctuate down to 15-20 range if he's not having such an impact etc.

Taylor Petty Turner Jiath Lever Salem Langdon Viney Lindsay Fritsch JVR Chandler LPickett Mihocek Melksham Gawn Langford KPickett Steele Rivers Windsor Culley ?Tholstrup E: May Heath ?Sparrow Bowey would be in place of Kolt if fit and relegate CJ or Salo to the pine

top 12: Gawn, KPickett, Bowey, Fritsch, Turner, Mihocek, Rivers, Salem, Langford, Lever, Viney, May i do a rolling ranking which i update at the end of preseason, at the bye and after our last game of the season. Prospectively this is what the start of season looks like, i changed from drawing it up as a clean slate each time to actually sliding players based on the previous list. i think given the uncertainty over our midfield mix going forward and the levels between first choice and reserve across other positions i might weigh some players unevenly. However i base it off an importance to the team and naturally kicking goals wins games. this is how it sat at EOS 25 top 12 Gawn, Pickett, Petracca, Bowey, Fritsch, Turner, Rivers, May, Salem, Lever, Melksham, Oliver viney had a down year but comes up given the exits, salem, lever are so high as the only depth behind them was howes and AMW on an ACL (CJ hadnt yet arrived) meaning their importance was greater than if we were flush for options. fritsch and melksham were our only goalkickers, draftees and mihocek change that slightly but he is still our most dangerous fwd half player and most capable of swinging a game for us (also had no competition for spots in 25 with mcadam inj and everyone else [censored]) May is sliding with age and with petty's return to the back half i expect him to rise throughout 2026 draftees usually start at the bottom however recently our top selections have begun their rankings around 20-25 as theyve been expected to make immediate impacts and play regularly from the start

2 extra's but berry filled a vacant B slot hence the 1 differential

Going to have another go at assessing the 2026 EOC crop way ahead of time to see how my thinking stacks up against Lambs and to see who outperforms their expected output and earns themselves longer Retire: May, McDonald, Campbell, Delist: McAdam, Henderson, Laurie, Johnson, Moniz-Wakefield (i wouldnt with AMW personally) Trade/FA: Sparrow this is what i predict Lamb will see it, i think maybe Melky holds on again, if they get tight for list spots Culley might get squeezed, i think theyll go around AGAIN on Jefferson (i wouldn't) If it was up to me you'd swap Jefferson and AMW. I think also a trade watch on Lever at the end of the season too, could get a May-esque nudge if his can't get on top of his knee/ankle issues

i have no idea how he snagged a two year contract mid last year, and especially given our recruiting, i really struggle to see any pathway into the afl for the rest of blakes time on the list, another laurie now

could develop like tomlinson did and become somewhat of a swingman and some versatility and depth across a long period of time, a player of his size once at afl competent fitness and strength can have multiple careers, 4 years as a big bodied mid, 5 as a key defender

and someone we bid on in his draft year too

I was just gonna go with Atom, theyre small and zip around or something dont they, science wasnt my strong suit. Tom Matt --> Matt Tom --> Atom or thirsty coz hes got two first names so theyll just call him firsty and then that just morphs into thirsty same way thilthorpe is filthy

are you my dad @Go Ds im just greatful we didnt end up with a sparrow and a farrow to go with our langford and lagdon

i think we all misread exactly why we were ok to let Clarry and Trac leave, it was to change our midfield mix, so it makes perfect sense we havent topped up on the inside Viney, Steele, Langford, Rivers with Langdon capable of pinch-hitting KPickett, Windsor as genuine class with Salem capable Tholstrup, Chandler, Sparrow, Culley ?? all looking for time up the ground either pinch hitting or coming off a wing it's not like we don't have options and we've been crying out for a small forward for years, hopefully we're onto two winners and we can focus elsewhere again next year

We aren't rookie-ing an inside mid, we just didn't rate the mids this year, next year might be different NHH, BOB, Wright maybe in the picture tomorrow We've been absolutely robbed on Allen but sounds like we also didn't really like him Hetherton, Krasnadamskis surely get picked by someone tomorrow

all that changes is he's paid outside the cap and a 1yr deal instead of 2 and yes DL has overhyped him, hes tall and athletic but has plenty to work on to get to the next start line (afl debut)

think its just an agreed thing that he's off to the roos first up tonight

interestingly if we do go the Taj Hayes path it does actually circle back to JT and co not rating this draft, 4 picks 2 overagers and 1 FS meaning only 1 maybe a second as a rookie live pick

add Sam Allen to the list

since when was a small forward graded on their number of disposals, he needs to be invovled in scoring chains, goals, defensive intent. you can make some argument about spargo here, but he didnt do the goals/pressure part either. picketts do, its in their blood.

Won't be Byrne given the Pickett selection RookieMe linked us to Brodie Atkins, similar mould to Allen and Rory Wright Definitely put the Ison bid on, then Allen, NHH, Swadling, Wright for mine, depth through the guts but also with scope to play across HF/HB Sharkie, Bridge, Jackson Voss, Fergus McFadyen I still like for rookie picks, Flynn Riley too the Blues VFL ruckman 206cm Thredgold you might snap up if available too given May, McDonald in final months even with the Petty move back

midfielder seems the likely play here given how we selected early, Sam Allen top of my list LeRay, Swadling, Fincher, Hibbins-Hargreaves, Wright would be other names in the mix, don't think we'd go for Greaves or Onley Maybe Thredgold if he got to us or an Ison bid would be possibilities too

great pick, he moves the ball forward with leg speed or by foot, hes strong in the air and he doesn't shirk a defensive contest. perfect McVee replacement, perfect Lever replacement, perfect Rivers replacement, perfect Salem replacement, i dont think he needs or will become a midfielder he will just be the most dependable 200 gamer down back for a decade which is exactly what we needed

wrapped with this, some players just have it, latrelle is one of them, a defenders nightmare, will excite the faithful for a long time and will be a genuine difference maker in games. the price of that is better than any bog standard 22 disposal game sometimes. on his own merit he wsa selected and i think he should be aiming for 15-20 games of senior footy next year i see no reason why he couldn't play a full year deep inside 50

on gettable now, basically all but confirmed we will be taking him, we are the earliest interest, so will certainly be becoming a dee

there'd be some hope still that this is kolt also this is similar to my arguments against sharp, there are inside mids every year, we were sure on langford last year and looks the goods, if we have any doubts on sharp we are rightly holding out for next year when there could be a stack of better options we still ahve enormous depth through the middle across all age brackets on our list too so we have time to pick the right types to place in there whilst also fleshing out elsewhere across the ground too

his year is going to go one of two ways next year, he'll either drift into the abyss and maybe crop up at casey in '27 as a 23rd man whilst playing overage CTL or he'll shoot up boards into mid second round contention as one of teh most dangerous smalls his age