roy11

Looked at an article from 25 March 2024 on the AFL website and it lists our potential out of contract/free agents as Tom McDonald Jake Melksham Adam Tomlinson^ Marty Hore* Joel Smith No mention of Hunter, when he joined us he had 2 years left on his WB contract. Imagine a player in that circumstance would be asking for an extra year to make the move worthwhile/secure as well.

There are some reciprocal rights with Melbourne Racing Club where you can attend certain events at Caulfield. Maybe they want to boost that partnership a little? And also clear us out of the MCG.

Correct, but still played out very strangely.

Losing ANB a big loss for forward pressure. But Chin still very good with forward pressure. Tholstrup with another pre-season will only improve, he's shown he's happy to pressure/tackle. Petty was showing some good pressure/tackling towards end of season too. Hopefully Spargo has some built up aggression from his lost year too.

Ah yes my bad - temporarily forgot.

Ah yes my bad - temporarily forgot.

Surely the AFL should just issue us an IOU Voucher

Biggest issue is he didn't get to be the cherry on top in our cursed season. Might have a better opportunity next year but may struggle to get in the team.

6+4 is an outrageous deal, especially at a minnow/expansion club.

Think most of us on here did. Glad he's going around again.

Went last week and saw the best and worst of the Frost man. Wish him well this week. Wonder how he'll go next year once Barrass and Battle are in the squad

Well this is frustrating, interesting he's in the program but not eligible. I am sure the club were aware of this.

Schache/BBB/JSmith off the list. Tomo/Membrey seems a good balanced swap for us.

After we lost him to free agency I'd imagine the list department will err on the side of caution if they ever want to play list-chess again and delist a player and re-rookie him.

Every so often I glance at BigFooty to try get a more "impartial" view of the world. Saw this commented on the CD thread by a bulldogs fan and had a little chuckle; "Our annual shuffling of deck chairs between our sinking ships."

Depends how cynical you are - My mate in his late 30s was not super happy/proud about it, but again he is not the target audience for the hat

I think the social media aspect did improve a little last year but still leaps and bounds to go. Point 2 is a big point IMO. Hopefully fans/attendees/social media following will exponentially increase but it will be a slow burn. Just need to get the right strategy in place and market some of those younger cult players as you've noted.

Reminds me I have a few quick emails to send before i log off for the day and head to the footy.

I am not sure of his credentials, but it seems like he's put his hand up and is willing act in an quasi-interim position whilst the review takes place. Hopefully whatever issues there may be, can be swiftly resolved or put on the road to recovery and then board can make an informed decision/vote following the review.

Not disputing they haven't worked as well as other clubs but it also depends on variables such as recent draftees, bleeding youth, cap space and other factors. Hawthorn could afford a Chol on their books but could we? We've got a lot of superstars on big money on big term deals, so the depth were cheaper options. We were basically 3 players down (at a minimum) all season with Spargo, Smith and Gus out. So the depth already being tested. Losing Jordon as a free agent only hurt us this year cos of Gus retirement, injuries and regression of form. IF Gus was medically retired before the Trade period I imagine we'd have made a better play at keeping JJ or would have kept Harmes around. Either way I don't think we're any better or worse for having swapped Harmes for Billings for example. Dunstan replaced an aging Nathan Jones who slid out of the team and Aaron Vandenberg as depth. Again not a big difference between Fullarton/Schache compared to the Weid and Mitch Brown era for example. I miss Hunt as thought he offered some line-breaking speed but the football department wanted to try something else. Were we worse off? Well we missed some of his attributes but think overall it was pretty similar net result having Hunter in the team. Agree that McAdam in has not worked so far, but still think we cant write him off yet - And it was sad to losing Bedford as he's turning into a player - but so is Chin with a more consistent run of games etc. But agree on the whole it's been uninspiring but most of those mentions were depth replacements.

'Tom Stewart will be a late out for Geelong tonight.' The old Geelong switcharoo?

Seems we can't go wrong with Pick 5. A good year to be average it seems.

How many of them were brought in as depth only players though

Interesting (read odd) concept but doubt we'll be involved next year. Looking at the fixture Anzac day falls on a Friday last year, so there will be less fixture juggling at the start of the season. So assume the big boys and exciting teams get sent up

If Mac does stay at the Suns, hopefully that's further ammunition for White to chose us given the young talls up there.