ChaserJ

The two biggest beneficiaries of dodgy goal umpiring decisions face off in an elimination final. Surely this game has to be decided by a goal review.

Thanks @goodwindees, great mail! Hard to see how they wouldn’t, but would be interested to see how the deal effects any Ben McKay deal. Both sides widely reported as being well into McKay. Does Sydney still offer enough to trigger band 1 compo? If Essendon lose Parish, but get McKay, will they still sign as an FA and dilute any Parish compensation?

Were we still being informed on his intentions? It had been reported (I know, I know) that we had stepped that back when Koz resigned.

Any feel for which of Sydney’s targets is most likely?

I suspect you’re right on that @rpfc, my first thought when she gave the info she had was that it was either Brodie’s agent or one of the clubs pursuing that had informed her. The speculation on the trade cost sounded like this was the preference of a buyer (as opposed to what an MFC source would have claimed the cost would be). Was too specific to be a thought bubble from Caro.

I'm in this boat. Looking at some of our direct competitors, Port have Butters, Rozee and JHF as a young powerful midfield combination that will challenge for years, Brisbane have had their midfield supercharged by the arrival of one Ashcroft with another on the way (Fletcher looks more than handy too) and Collingwood have had their entire trajectory changed when Nick Daicos walked through the door. I don't think it's unrealistic to think that a player of that calibre and capacity to impact early can be found in the first 5 picks of this draft.

Swans have Hawks 2nd rd pick from the Weddle trade last year. That probably gets the deal done.

If that’s the case, makes the signing of Ben McKay very interesting. Bombers looking at good compo for Parish if he goes. Signing McKay as a FA would dilute that compo, they may be best served by trading for McKay.

I’m guessing one of Smith or Schache will play as a nullifier on Sicily. Schache played that role well on Allir Allir in ‘21, Smith very capable of playing that role as well. Take your pick of Tomlinson or Schache as the in, Smith will be at the opposite end of the ground to one of those two.

I can understand that Marchbank and the Blues were just so desperate to get a win at all costs. Conning the umpires in this instance is a bit like going up for an appeal, when you reckon it wasn’t really out, but you go up anyway to see what the ump thinks. Worked out for Carlton this time. Made me think what Dee players might have done in the same position. Marchbank might have been injured for this one (odds on at least) so might have missed the example set by Koz:

Apparently the goal umpire thought the ball hit Marchbank’s wrist, Marchbank opined that it hit his fingers but was hoping for anything. Those discrepancies tell me everything I need to know. Whately this morning considered whether we give the ARC the soft call, and if we do, should the goal umpire clarify where the ball was touched to give the ARC something more specific to test. I think either one of those tweaks instantly improves the process.

No Coates League games on last weekend and Duursma wasn’t selected at Casey (good to see Kynan Brown get a run though), so he might have had the week off or played local footy.

Followed this up with 20 touches and 6 marks in a loss against Freo affiliated Peel Thunder on Saturday. Heading into top 3 territory.

Foxsports draft wrap, including a bit on Duursma and the potential for him to line up for Casey on more occasions and be viewed up close by the Dees list management team: https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/draft/afl-draft-news-2023-harley-reid-essendon-game-impresses-brad-scott-zane-duursma-melbourne-jordan-croft-western-bulldogs/news-story/f64b7da13b4375b4d6a9cbc7b4f2360c

Reid’s game has been covered off in the Harley Reid thread, but quite a few prospects delivered today. Dan Curtin played well for Claremont’s senior team, picking up 21 touches in a loss to East Freo. Zane Duursma continued his good form bagging 6 for Gippy in the Talent League, with Archer Reid jagging 3. Nate Caddy got himself 4 goals in a loss to GWV, who had George Stevens amongst the best.

Harley’s had a major impact for the Bombers, 14 touches and a goal assist to half time, and this:

The non-partisan in me was pretty chuffed to be able to watch Dusty and Bolton turn it on (the partisan in me was wrapped to see this and still get the win) with the kids watching alongside. Reckon It’ll be one of those games over time where the kids and I look back on and talk about the quality of (a couple of) the players from the other team as much as what we saw from ours. My daughter in particular was petrified whenever Bolton got his hands on the ball in any space!

Nice work @Viscount Cardwell. Good representation of why we should shoot for pick 1, but also why we might want to co-opt the Kangaroos into the process. They could have as strong an influence in shaping this draft as the Eagles.

I’ve been thinking about this. I agree that if Kangas get band 1 compo, that’s a complication for a pick 1 deal for us. I’d wonder if we would include North and make it something of a mega deal to work in a scenario where they get some assets (which may include a key back replacement for McKay - like Tomlinson) whilst also selecting players not named Curtin. There’s a deal there to make it worth everyone’s while in this scenario, Curtin would then only need to make it past the Hawks (at this point, one of Watson, Duursma or Caddy would likely be available for Hawks).

Yep. Our natural first rounder could end up drifting past pick 20 by the time academy and father son picks are factored in. You’d think our future first could be similarly placed (2 of next years projected top 5 are f/s tied to Adelaide & Brisbane).

He hasn’t spent significant time in midfield yet. He copped the head knock in the 2nd Academy game (after being best on in the first) was in cotton wool till the champs (and even during at times). I’ll expect that Reid will get more midfield time in midfield in the run home. This will include a match up against Duursma & the Power at Shepley Oval. That should be a cracker.

From recollection 13 touches (quiet first half before getting involved in the 2nd) in the first game and 21 disposals in a narrow loss where he was quite influential in the 3rd quarter, among the best players for the Blues.

This is one of the most appealing factors for me. Reid has performed very well in all areas of the ground, he is not a midfield or bust type, you can start him in whichever zone is in need. There's a lot of hype around his clearance and burst from stoppage, but his marking is incredibly strong too. Some of his intercept marking last year was something else:

Absolutely. We were able to extract Freo's 2nd rounder for this exact reason. They begrudgingly relented to our demand and gave us the pick because all parties believed Freo would be much higher on the ladder and that 2 picks in the teens would not have been a fair price for Jacko. They bet on improving (or at worst holding steady) and now we're getting better than expected value. A win for us, but how big won't be known for a while yet.

It's this sort of uncertainty around what will happen with compensation picks/priority picks/bid matching inside the top 10 which makes me lean toward trading up for pick 1. All picks below pick 2 look like they'll be diluted. Only one way to avoid all of that - trade to the top.