ChaserJ

I don't think the Pies will want to lose Daicos now that he's established himself on the wing. Has played the role extremely well, but they shouldn't leave it too long either. My feeling is that there's a mid tier group of Stephenson, Elliott, Mihocek & De Goey (depending on who they are shooting for trade-wise) where one or two of those might fall out to allow them to sign a key forward (Brown or even Cameron if they can swing it). Collingwood have one really good look at a premiership with Pendlebury, Sidebottom & a couple of the other experienced guys and they are a key forward short. Would imagine they'll roll the dice in the off season. Academy & F/S have them set up nicely for the next wave of young talent.

UFA at end 2021.

Collingwood trying to shift some mid tier contracts by the sound of it. Apparently Elliott could be available as well. They need to re-sign a couple of their guns & they are also in desperate need of a key forward. Something has to give.

Saad has also been very good with his defensive assignments. We've looked particularly vulnerable to the ground ball in defensive 50 since Nev has gone out of the side. A genuine two way player that helps genuine areas of weakness for Melbourne. Makes too much sense.

Not sure this should be our priority unless our next key forward is going to be Steven May. Another wing who can use the ball please!

Those sweet, sweet tears...

Makes a whole lot of sense for Brisbane too. There’s chatter around them going for Dixon as well, so very keen to get a big key forward in. They’re swinging for the fences too!

Yeah, I think it's all about our medical staff tbh. We could juggle things to afford him, given the number of players off contract for us. If Burgess is comfortable, then we move forward. I agree with earlier posts that Jacko will take some time to be consistently impactful, and by then he'll be increasing his time in the ruck/on ball division. Weid is stil maturing and could use a mature no.1 key forward alongside him. Sadly looks like Tommy Mc can't be that player. There's a fair amount of talk that Daniher's injury has been managed poorly (by both medical staff & player), and that has caused the frustration between Joe & Essendon. Makes Burgess a significant selling point. Not sure how much of a selling point they are, but if he has positive relationships with the Essendon connections currently at the club, that could be beneficial as he'd at least have some familiar faces already here. Maybe we could get Neale in his ear as well. Would be kind of neat to have a Daniher on field at the next Big Freeze. It makes too much sense for me, especially if we miss on Williams, may as well address another area of need. Our list profile should have us in the window, we may as well swing for it.

Marc's been watching this all year, good to see an analysis of all of the midfield tinkering to get to the current mix. Tells me that the coaching group has been working pretty hard to get the best out of our best, despite how little can appear to have changed on gameday (particularly in our losses). Also highlights how stats can be overrated in assessing the performance & worth of players like Tomlinson & vanDENBERG. Tomlinson may not be playing full time wing, but he's actually helped solve our wing woes in his current role, and AVB's defensive work on the wing helps release Angus to play more time inside. Those two playing have become pretty important to us playing our best footy for the year. Jonesy doing his bit too, which I thought he did exceptionally well last weekend.

He’s probably in top 5 calculations now, McDonald’s had a terrific season for Perth so far.

I think we still need another key tall to support Weideman & Jackson. I’m not sure if T Mac has many tickets left, and we need a mature body up front. Maybe that’s Wright, maybe it’s Daniher. No doubt we’d ask the question of Cameron’s management, but just can’t see that happening. Our best bet is someone that needs a change of scenery. A pacy ball user is always on the wish list, but they aren’t falling out of trees. Williams probably the best option available.

Yep, Williams & Cameron are RFAs. Cameron deal may mean GWS are banking on Williams going elsewhere as they won’t have the cash to compete. If Cameron takes the money elsewhere, then they can pay Williams. Will be a few clubs throwing money at Williams and we should be one of them. Unless of course someone throws a tonne of cash at Viney & he chooses to leave, thereby netting us a first round compo pick! Might try and manufacture a trade in that scenario.

Big second half from Angus was good to see...coincided with him attending more centre bounces and playing in the guts. Was a critical adjustment in the second half. Huge arm wrestle between the arcs in the 3rd quarter tired the Crows out and set up the 4th quarter procession. The midfield mix looked so much more dynamic with Clayton bursting out of there. I'm glad we had to work hard for the four points, think we will take much more out of that than an absolute hammering.

Correct. Calls are almost never entirely down to the recruiters. They rank the kids and make their cases, but ultimately the call gets made by committee. Taylor has advocated for some left field choices, which I like, and a good number have shown that their up to AFL standard, but development and coaching then picks it up from there. I can think of at least 4 games off the top of my head where he sealed wins with late goals. I'm still not sure we are better off as a team without him in it. Gawn's hit out to advantage percentage is second highest in the comp (behind Ryder). He's getting it to our mids, but they are either butchering it, or being besieged as soon as they get possession. Too predictable.

Zac Williams.

Also, AFL is paying for grandparents to be included in the hubs?!

Reported as Richmond, North & Carlton.

Rapey tone notwithstanding, they are quick to turn on a team that’s top of the table!

Thanks for posting the examples DS, had been discussing this with Dees twitter post game. Drove me nuts on Sunday! Happens to.Clayton every week and a big part of why we can’t capitalise on Max’s ruck dominance.

With rucks being so influential this season, there could be a decent market for Preuss. Can't see his fit going forward with Max still going strong and Jackson looking so exciting and ahead of Brayden in the tall rotation. He probably has some strong currency with the clubs that are regularly getting monstered at the clearances by Gawn, Grundy, Goldy & some of the other good rucks at the moment. GWS & Essendon immediately come to mind. I also wouldn't be against pursuing Caldwell from GWS. An inside mid, but with a good inside outside balance and a point of difference to our current inside mid group (CP excepted) who are pretty similar in how they play. Was considered to be in the upper tier of that stellar crop of 2018, has had a tough run till now with injury, but had a few games in now & Burgess would keep him on the park! Saad would be well worth pursuing, his defensive game holds up pretty well considering he is known for his rebound. Ess wouldn't let him go cheaply though. Another key forward is needed, but Ben Brown not the one for us.

I wonder if we could arrange to head to Tassie direct from Adelaide? Might give us some sort of leg up on North as far as the travel goes.

Such sad news. Leaves behind a young family. Gone too soon, but hope he finds peace. RIP Tucky.

Bailey Smith would have been the other one in consideration in the hypothetical world where we didn’t trade for May. The top 7-9 in that draft were highly touted, so my gut was always in knots about trading out of that draft. My understandings that we tried to get a pick after 10 to get Butters, but didn’t happen.

Makes for some bleak reading now: https://www.afl.com.au/news/81078/patton-hogan-daniher-or-boyd-who-s-the-next-great-power-forward-

Develop and keep. I'm very concerned about what is happening with our development of young talent at the moment. Petracca aside, a lot of players have stagnated.