Pulp Fritschon

Good. A low key round 1 game at home. Won’t be a big build up to this and I think it is best we have a low key preseason. Get the work in for sure but we don’t need to tell the world how good we are tracking. Less emotion, less fanfare, more winning.

If we move to Casey full time it wouldn’t be to grow our supporter base it would be to give our club the best chance to win a flag. Pert/Bartlett are on the new base close to the G ticket and I hope it happens. But I just wonder if it doesn’t get up in the next few years maybe they or the next CEO/President might have to look strongly at Casey. Be an absolute massive call but maybe the sensible one given our current setup and ongoing endless search.

Lockhart May Lever Salem Petty Rivers Langdon Oliver TMac Fritsch Weideman Harmes Pickett Brown Jackson Gawn Petracca Viney Int - Brayshaw, Sparrow, Bowey, Laurie Emg - Chandler, Tomlinson, Hibberd, Spargo

Negative - On the road again Positive - We play two weeks in a row and we get a Friday night game ( telecast into VIC)

I stumbled upon and watched the GWS draft night video. Some observations - - Clubs didn't enter selections via computer, they rang them through - GWS didn't rate Cox or Perkins in their group of players they targeted. They must have rated Reid. They were happy to get Bruhn. (could sense some dislike towards the Bombers) - Chapman was on their list but Freo took him. They then took Stone who they rated. - They were going to select Laurie with pick 24. When we picked him they did a trade with Collingwood for their future 1st pick

Really like what I see and read about Laurie. That step he has reminds me of Sam Mitchell.

We had plenty of options at 21 & 22 and I like what we went for - ZIP!!!! Exactly what we needed. Don’t see these guys as small forwards in the Kozzie mould at all. Will add to our mix around the midfield/wing. And both look excellent kicks. I like this very much.

I believe have 5 spots to fill on our list. It looks to me like it will play out like this - 3 tonight (National Draft) 1 in the rookie draft 1 spot to remain open for the midseason draft

Carroll Bowey Angwin

Not sure this is either good or bad. I suppose you just have to hope that Pert and Bartlett know what they are doing. Jackson wanted him to be our next CEO. 2018 is certainly long time ago for everyone.

Foxsports have us linked to Jack Carroll. Nice. Fingers crossed Final draft board: The top 20 AFL prospects, and where they’re likely to be picked

Given the effort the AFL put it to making the draft a constant part of the news feed the lack of player highlights this year is particularly poor. Budget cuts I guess. Looks like we will have to wait for the players to be called out on draft night to see some vision as this will be released by the clubs.

I would have thought on draft night when a certain player had slipped through they could have go something better then. Looking at Geelong they have a suite of 2nd round picks. When it came to the crunch on draft night they might have handed over one of them.

Terrible call Jackson looked good in the Ruck against Goldy. Then he got injured after that. His real strength as everyone knows (except Dwayne) is that he plays as another midfielder when it hits the ground. Looks every bit a Grundy clone (the good Grundy version) to me.

With all the handouts GC just don't value their draft picks as much as others. Geelong the beneficiary on a the last few occasions. Other clubs could have also made offers though. Lucky thing for all of us that GWS made them pay for Cameron. The academy bidding system/NGA points ect has provided the opportunity for some dead set 'rorts' of trades. The sooner they fix this the better but we need to remember we did quite well in our trade with Freo last year to allow them to get ahead of a bid. We swapped 8 for 10 and 28.

Slow news day

I hope Xavier Campbell (as well Adrian Dodoro) have long term contracts at Essendon. Loving their work. Really kicking goals down there at the hanger.

Good pick up. I see the job says it is based at Casey Fields. Are we going to be based at Casey for 2021? Does anyone know?

Would this move be a promotion for him? I would doubt it, maybe more secure. So I’ll assume we didn’t want him anymore. If he went to another AFL club I might have been disappointed.

I think Baldwin is a very good chance to go in the first round. Good tall players are hard to find compared to other types. He is a risk no doubt so I think a team with multiple early picks will be the one to take a chance. If GWS doesn't strike I think we will. We have shown that we don't mind taking a risk in the draft. I might be wrong but I'd like to see him still on the board when our first pick comes.

Believe Chandler was/has been played back. I think in one the hub videos Egan described him as a 'Rory Laird' type. Happy that Chandler has been retained. I think he will might be ok. I can't see Bedford making it though so if he was delisted I would say fair enough.

4 week rolling fixture, draw not released until Feb, another 20 day footy frenzy - The AFL are losing the plot here.

From those highlights certainly looks like a good mover and a very neat kick.

Not Melbourne related as such but the following does highlight how our attitude does get things done in trade week compared to others - Regarding the deal for Caldwell, who the Bombers secured along with Picks 44 and 74 for Pick 29 and a future second-round selection, McCartney took aim at Essendon for how they conducted themselves. “In isolation (as a deal), I was disappointed in what Essendon Football Club ... you need to be fair and reasonable to try and facilitate a transaction and that was somewhat frustrating, I’ll be honest with that,” he said on the club’s website. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, McCartney was even more scathing. “The Caldwell one was a millimetre away from not getting done either. That’s Essendon: target a player, high quality, get him in the door, and then not (be) prepared to stump up the price to actually facilitate the deal.” Relating to Hately, who the Giants will now get no return for losing, McCartney said a sour taste had been left by the Crows. “We knew there was a threat there of the pre-season draft ... we were honest with Adelaide right from the word go, he was a Pick 14 two years ago, we thought he was a pick in the 18 to 25 region and closer to 25 in all fairness,” he said. “They weren’t willing to get anywhere near that deal, which was really disappointing considering some of the deals we’ve done with Adelaide over the last two years. “It was left way too late by Adelaide to facilitate something on the night.”

What do you think of Jake Bowey? Looked good to me in that that futures game. On the small side at 175cm but plays wing and has some real zip and looks a really good kick. Exactly what we need.