Accepting Mediocrity

They have some pretty glaring weaknesses. Their key defenders are average at best and their backline is undersized. Tom Lynch and Harry McKay exposed them badly. Their forwardline isn't great either. That said, their midfield is stacked full of goalkicking mids and is good enough to make Josh Bruce look like a capable forward, which is saying something.

I get that, and I'm as excited as anyone about the player he's going to become. I just think some people get carried away by the player he is in 2021 - I don't think that the side is weaker for his absence at this stage. He's better than Weideman at ground level, but Weideman is stronger overhead and a much bigger threat when he goes forward. Overall, the net difference to the side is minimal IMO. This week might be an exception though - ideally we'd play Gawn behind the ball for longer periods to negate McKay, which might not be possible with Weideman as backup ruck.

No doubt you'll get howled down for this, but couldn't agree more. He's going to be scary good and a matchup nightmare - but he's a couple of years away from justifying the hype. It's easy get carried away by youth - if Weideman had been playing Jackson's role and putting up the same numbers, people would be calling for him to be dropped. At the moment, Jackson's biggest asset is that he gives us the flexibility to play Gawn behind the ball without giving up ground in the middle. That in itself is a huge achievement for a second year tall - but Weideman can play a similar role and is a much stronger marking target.

I've seen this line trotted out a bit and it's absolute BS in my opinion. The compensation was a pick immediately after our first pick, which is how the compensation system operates. It just so happened that our first pick was pick 2. If we had lost Chip after playing finals and the compensation was pick 12, no one would have batted an eyelid. Easy to forget that at the time, he was a 25 year-old, AA key defender and widely regarded as one of the best young key position players in the game. He was probably the equivalent of Weitering in today's terms. Absolutely he was worth band one compensation at the time, regardless of how his career progressed afterwards.

Non issue. There might be a few media nuffies talk up the possibility for clicks, but I doubt North will even ask for one unless they go through the season winless (which they won't).

Nonsense. TMac's resurgence has zero relation to Weideman, or Brown for that matter (other than healthy competition for a place in the team). And Brown was recruited to partner Weideman, not TMac. Also, the Weid's shown plenty of signs, but it's revisionist to suggest that he's performed consistently in the VFL before now. In 2017, he kicked 14 goals from 14 games (6 came in one match). He kicked a couple of bags in 2018, but had other games where he couldn't get near it. 2019 was ruined by injury. That's not a knock on him, just the reality for most young key forwards. Last year was his first real run at it. And he performed damn well for the most part - despite an awful final month of the season, he averaged 1.5 goals per game overall - ranked #13 league wide. He's on the cusp of becoming a gun key forward. They don't grow on trees.

What's the point? 29 year-olds, even good ones, have close to zero trade value. If he maintains his current form throughout the year, we might get a late third round pick for him. He's worth more to us than that. Making players kick the door down is well and good, but the problem is that Weideman seems to need to prove himself for Casey far more than the Melksham's of this world. It took until round 6 before he could get a game last year despite a string of good games in the 2's. Same thing is happening this year. I wouldn't blame him if he was getting frustrated. There's a reason clubs value talls so highly - good ones are damn hard to find. Weideman has shown plenty to suggest he'll be a damn good full forward for the next 8 years. Our side will be better with him in it - find a way to get him in.

Hope he managed to get his BBQ at least. He made it to the Mascot BP for a gas bottle and the Bondi meat shop afterwards, so I'm feeling pretty good for him.

Not to mention every single BBQ store in the Greater Sydney area.

Summed it up well, good post. He gets judged harshly because he looks so damn ungainly, but his defensive efforts are actually pretty good for a bloke that's 2m tall. His tackle on Ziebell to create a Fritsch goal during the third quarter was a case in point. It's obviously never going to be a strength of BB's, but there haven't been too many top 4 sides without a tall bloke at FF with defensive limitations.

So he needs to kick more goals than any forward since Kennedy in 2016 (80 goals) to be best 22? Pretty high bar to set mate. The value in any key forward is the goals they create as much as the goals they kick. All he needs to do is bring the ball to ground, kick his 2-3 each week, and not be a complete liability defensively. On another note, pretty sure Fritsch is only the 3rd Demon since Neitz to kick 6 in a game (after Hogan and TMac). Sheesh.

TMac broke the golden rule of country footy today - never play a good game in the backline. Weid mostly played pretty close to goal last year, but I think he can play the high half forward roll pretty well. Can take a grab, good endurance, and underrated defensively. The final against Geelong springs to mind. Petty vs TMac in the backline is probably a 50/50 call, but I'm leaning towards sending TMac to CHB. I rate Petty, but I think he's a couple of years away from holding down a key position. Weideman is too good a footballer to not be out of the side, and this is the perfect opportunity to get him in.

In other words if we're losing, it's all Goodwin's fault, but if we're winning, it's all down to the assistants. We've reached peak Demonland.

Theoretically yes, but it doesn't seem to work that way in practice. Has there been a single high profile free agent that didn't go to a flag contender with a bunch of highly paid stars? If he nominates us, it will happen. He's a very, very good player. Not on the level of Oliver or Petracca, but he'd be our third best midfielder and offer a point of difference. He's just about the best kick in the league and would comfortably slot into our midfield rotation. Not saying I want him necessarily, but worth having a serious think about. Given our list profile, we might get better bang for our buck chasing a big name key defender in 2-3 years when May starts to slow down (depending on how Petty progresses).

TBH the main reason I'm glad he's playing for us is that he isn't playing for North. Sometimes, in my darkest moments, I get flashbacks to North surging forward with Brown one out with OMac in the goal square. We can finally watch us play that mob without the crippling and entirely rational fear that he's going to kick 10 goals on us.

This. We might have been top of the ladder after round 18, but we weren't even close to being contenders, even without the injuries. We were a couple of gun midfielders short of being able to compete with Brisbane, Port or St Kilda in finals. This year feels different. There aren't any sides that we aren't capable of beating.

It's a strange quirk of the media that they only talk in terms of first round, second round picks etc. It's not like we handed over 2x top 5 picks for him. Lever and third rounder for picks 10 and 19 = 2 first round picks - overpaid! Lever and third rounder for picks 10 and 20 = 1 first round pick and exchange of later picks - bargain! I'd doubt there's a single dees supporter (and certainly no one at the club) that wouldn't do that trade again in a heartbeat.

Might not be your thing, but you can always pitch a tent at Yulara or Curtin Springs for $20 a night. You can see some cool gorge country in the West MacDonnell ranges along Namatjira Drive (just out of town) which is all sealed from memory. If you have access to a 4wd (or a car with a bit of clearance at least), Finke Gorge national park and Rainbow Valley are worth checking out. The loop from Uluru to Alice via Kings Canyon is epic, but you'd want a few days to do it.

How's old mate whistling to himself near the microphone.

Our forwardline has been functioning well, mostly because each player has a clearly defined role that they understand and suits their skillset. Replacing half the personnel in the space of one week is asking for trouble IMO. Like most, I've been a Melksham critic, but the fact is that he can do things in our forwardline that no one else can. Plus he's probably the best set shot in the team. He stays for mine. Fritsch for M Brown, and May for Petty are obvious changes. Having said that, I loved Brown's effort against the hawks - he's a limited footballer, but he put his body on the line for us and got absolutely crunched a couple of times. Can't ask for more from a fringe player. I'd bring in the Weid, play TMac on a wing and move Brayshaw to a flank. In practice, TMac has been spending a fair bit of time up the ground anyway so it's not such a drastic change. In: Weideman, Fritsch, May Out: M Brown, Petty, Jordon No idea who goes out for Ben Brown next week.

He's been flying under the radar for the last couple of years. Never had a breakout game ala Gawn at Kardinia Park that made everyone sit up and take notice, but he's developed into one of our most consistent performers without anyone in the footy media really noticing. There's not too many better half backs around and he should go close to the AA squad this year. Great news that he's signing on.

One of the biggest myths in football I reckon. 4 times out of 5 the brownlow is won by a gun midfielder in a top 4 team, despite having other good players 'stealing' votes. It's damn hard to get votes in a losing side.

Yep that was a weird one - if TMac had clearly missed the goal without the need for a review, the ball probably would have been given back to Jackson. Grey area for sure.

I'm not generally one to criticize umpires, because they are set an almost impossible task by the AFL with perennially changing 'interpretations' and so many grey areas - but the umpires had a shocker I thought. No doubt we had the rub of the green most of the day. It's probably been mentioned elsewhere on here, but that reversal of the HTB decision in our forwardline because of a subsequent high tackle is one of the most creative pieces of adjudication I have ever seen in a game of AFL.

An unconvincing 50 point win against Hawthorn isn't something I thought I'd see in this lifetime. Love it.