Colm

Agreed with a lot of your post but not sure about the strength of the list. I think to have a good list we need more depth. I think Sydney’s list is in a fairly similar position to ours. I count that they had about 6 best 22 players out injured over the weekend. We had one in Viney. It’s no coincidence that our form has improved as we have had nearly a full list to pick from. If we had to bring in another 5/6 from Casey we would have struggled to perform nearly as well. Pies ran over the top of north yesterday without 8/9 of their best 22. North smashed us when we had 5/6 out. Of course there are other reason to for our improved form as our new game plan beds in and some key players finding form. I’m still very confident about JVR and the Kolt will be in our best 22 at some stage this year and clearly the same goes for an aging Tmac and Viney. I just don’t think we have enough quality beyond that to cover our best 22, we need our good fortune with injuries to continue for the remainder of the season.

Doesn’t look like he played for the Stingrays over the weekend. Does anybody know if he’s injured and if so what it is?

I also thought Judd McVee probably had his best game since returning from injury. Is it just me or does he look like he’s lost a few kilos? His frame looks like he did when he first joined us. I thought he almost looked unwell, has he had any other issues other than the hammy?

Two player observations from yesterday’s game. Disco Turners form over the past few weeks has been as satisfying for me to watch as the quick progress of Langford and XL. I was expecting our two new recruits to shine but not so much Disco. I’ve been thinking he was a solid 3 tall either up front or down back but if he can continue his current trajectory he could end up being a genuine A grade key backman. Having Lever and May back might help him improve even more over the coming weeks which would be a massive win for us.

Yes thought he was good yesterday. Has definitely lifted his game in terms of his defensive output. Took 3 good marks yesterday,2 from directly in front. His goal kicking is still a fair way off his usual high standards. Just squeezed one in from directly in front and 20m out. His reaction afterwards I think showed his unhappiness with how he’s kicking it.

Ah that explains a few of BTs comments during the game. At first I thought he was having a crack at Melbourne supporters but then he was saying you really have to be at the game to get a proper feel for the crowd. I flicked over to fox during the adds but after less than a minute of listening to Breteton I had to switch back. My god he is painful.

His interview afterwards was interesting. Said he's happy and loves playing for Freo but failed to say the rumours were untrue or that he intends to see out his contract. I’d be worried if I was a Freo supporter.

I think with the F/S and NGA they should scrap the 20% reduction if the club decides to trade out their pick that would have been used. Otherwise it’s just double dipping. How many times have we seen the Suns get the player and a first round pick the following year. So for example Collingwood have traded out their first round pick this year knowing they have a top 10 pick coming through. If anybody bids on him in the first round then they must match the full points value.

Thought Melksham had a great game. The commentators on fox said we were using an extra forward which meant Brisbane didn’t have a spare interceptor. For those who are more across the tactical side of things than me( probably most), it’s this a new tactic and if so how did we manage to do it while still winning the clearances?

The overall talent isn’t meant to be as good as other year and then it compromised by F/S and academy players. We also have a F/S and academy that at this stage look more likley to be picked later in the draft. Leaving the Jackson stuff aside I’d say our chances of trading into the first round will be very high as teams with quality F/S and NGA picks could find themselves in the same position as the bombers last year and our future first pick will be more attractive than most.

It’s a fair point about how highly we rate our new young brigade. I do think we have a great young bunch coming through but so do most clubs in the comp. If you look at North, the Suns, Bombers, Richmond, eagles even the likes of the lions, cats and the filth they all have some great talent coming through( and more coming via F/S and academies) that you would love to have in your side. Most clubs do . Casey doesn’t seem to have the next lot waiting in the wings if we are to get back to contending for flags we need to get a lot of decisions right over the coming months and years

Agree with all of this. Do you think the possibly availability of Jackson will change this rebuild strategy though? I assumed we would try to add more quality via the draft this year but if Jackson wants to come does this throw that strategy out the window a bit? Unless we also lose Pickett in which case we have future picks to trade into this year.

I think if we brought in Jackson we could hope to get 2/3 years out of Max if he doesn’t sustain a major injury. He’s still running other rucks into the ground and covers and amazing amount of ground. He’s work rate is off the charts. LJ would allow us to greatly reduce Max’s work load and I could see him being around for a while yet.

If in the event both players want to be traded I assume the value of their contracts will decide who has the greater trade value. Both clubs will be aware of the amount each player is willing to accept at a new club.

I watched the Freo game over the weekend with this in mind. I don’t know if Kozzy would be a great fit for them. Bolton plays more or less the same role as Koz. He goes into the centre bounce about as much as him and the rest of time is a dynamic small who can make things happen. Murphy Reid is another one of their smalls. I rate him very highly, very skilled and creative, but neither of them are the gut running hard tackling type. They both need role players around them to let them do their thing. Add Kossie to the mix I assume Dudley gets dropped. They have a lot of tall timber too. But who’s their quality mid size role players. They gave 2 first rounders for Bolton last year and Kossie should demand a better deal. That’s a lot of capital for similar players. Also Freo made it known earlier this season they were prioritising Warner before Koz. That’s clearly off the table now but may indicate how they are thinking. Would WC still be a chance if he needs to get to Perth?!

Ok they can have Kossie if they give us Jackson and Murphy Reid as steak knife’s.

Bottom 8 team? They played finals last year and are currently in the top 4. It was getting to finals and playing an attractive brand of footy that allowed them to bring in Barrass and Battle who regardless of what you think of them had plenty of other suitors, key backs have been massively in demand in recent trade windows They put their name in the hat for every free agent for years before that and couldn’t land any. So they brought in the players I mentioned for a packet chips and made finals with them. The point I was originally making is I see us in a similar spot as the hawks were when Mitchel took over. Bottom 6 and won’t be able to attract big stars so we have to target players that aren’t in other clubs best 22. Like Derksen.

Have to be realistic about our current situation. Hawks were only able to get Battle and Barrass in because they traded well with in the previous two years bring in players that other club didn’t want. The likes of Meek, Amon, Chol, Ginnivan and D’Ambrosio. All brought in for very little. We need to get those sort of trades right and start playing better footy before we can attract bigger name players again.

We might struggle to attract mature players during the next Trade window. He would fill a need and having been already been interested you’d hope we would be in a good position to get the deal done. He’ll be out of contract to I think so would cost FA.

Neale only had 17 disposals and no real impact yesterday. I only saw the second half but it didn’t looked like he was tagged to me. Maybe just out of form. Zorko had 39 at 84% efficiency. Ashcroft has been in great form over the past few weeks. Id put Milkshake on Zorko and let the Kolt run with Ashcroft if nothing else it will be a good learning experience for him. Lions will be much better at Gabby but they were pretty average yesterday I thought. North smashed them in clearances.

I wasn’t having a crack at either of those two players. Such a shame Gus is no longer playing and I hope Clarry sticks around and returns to his former high standards. My point is about cap space, as I understand it as the AFL’s contribution towards Brayshaw’s contract decreases each year and Clarry’s contract increases up to $1.7m. That’s a fair whack of cap space gone for the next few seasons and if Clarry can’t return to his former high standards then we aren’t going to be getting a great return for investment. Having said all that, I had a look at the money clubs are paying other rucks and $900k for Luke isn’t stupid money these days

It’s overs for me, we need to get a books in order so we can attract players out of contract where we don’t need to give up draft capital. Max is on $900k. Now that’s a bargain. Edit- having done a bit of googling it seems $900k is fairly standard for any half decent ruck at the minute with the better paid ones getting as much as $1.3m and TDK report offered $1.7m to go to the Saints.

He’s not player at a level that’s reflects his $900k a year contract. We are already not getting value for money from Clarry and still on the hook for some of Brayshaw’s contract. I don’t think we can afford him unless Freo are willing to pay a chunk which won’t happen.

I don’t really get why everybodies so angry at the media clowns for discussing Clarry. We are discussing Clarry, our captain discussed it and pretty much confirmed there’s something in it. I don’t like any of the clowns that are reporting it so I don’t watch any of it. Feel for Clarry as I think he’s put in a big effort to get back in shape and turn things around and he probably hasn’t got the rewards he thought he would for doing so. Not hard to see why the thoughts of a new start- different fitness program and new ways of doing things might be worth a shot to get his career back on track. Be nice to be earning the coin that he is but I’m sure at times it’s a weight around his neck.

Fans won’t stand for it. Just have a look at Fritter our best goal kicker of our flag era. Not fat at all but certainly doesn’t do a lot of defensive running or get his heart rate to high and maybe that is a factor in his ( usually) quality set shots. But he’s getting some stick for not doing the hard stuff.