DemonJack 14

I’m keen to hear the panel’s thoughts on our tackles inside 50 numbers this year. They are way down compared to last year. 20 to Port Adelaide to our 9 last round. Is it because we are trying to play different this year by placing less emphasis on front half football and score more from defensive half chain ? Or is it that we are not putting enough pressure on in our forward line to lock the ball in and need to improve this stat ?

If Petty goes we absolutely have to recruit a decent key forward. Most likely Brown and T. Mac retire, Schache not reliable unfortunately, Jefferson young but question marks on his physicality. our Key position forward talent is wafer thin already let alone with Petty leaving. Not sure who we can poach, but if we only seek draft picks as compensation for Petty we must thinking rebuild.

Agree PF! Our midfield gets really shallow of elite talent if we let Clarry go in addition to the retirement of Brayshaw Geelong will argue he is only worth a second round pick to due to the off field issues. Would be staring at a full scale rebuild if we lost Petty and Oliver at the end of this year. We need to get aggressive at the trade table ourselves I feel.

Hey guys, Love the podcast, the analysis and discussion is fantastic. Others teams are physically targeting Max in and off the contest more and more. Teams are seeing it as a legitimate tactic to nullify Max and therefore the team. We are particular vulnerable with out a consistent mature back up ruck How do we combat this ? Is it up to the coaching staff, the players , or is it up to Max him self to come up with some new tactics or attitude ?

With Fullerton possibly out for sometime surely the club has to look at a pre-season or selection ( if we can put someone on the inactive /long term injury list ) on a back up mature aged ruck from a state league ? if Max went down now we would be stuffed in the ruck

Hi Guys Thank for your all your tireless efforts with the podcast again this year ! Do you think that we have enough marking power up forward and around the ground , this a concern for me in relation to our premiership credentials Petty going down will really impact us even potentially next season unless we recruit to address this Kenn to hear your thoughts ?

Great get with getting Troy on the podcast Andy ! Well done How are they seeing young defender Jed Adams' development in the VFL is he somewhere who they see taking over Steven May's role in time ?

Where is our list really at ? Maybe it's not the entire problem. Obviously other factors such game plan, structures, fitness and work rate/effort I think are contributing to where we are at the moment. But I think our list really does need some reworking. I know it's a highly rated list on paper, but a lot of players I think have reached their peak and are regressing or have stagnated. Only a handful of players have progressed from last year. Key Forwards Huge issue for me. Almost every other club has better quality and depth of key forwards than us. Tmac and Brown are almost finished and lack speed ,mobility and presence at ground level. I Can see why Goodwin wants Petty up forward to give us some marking power. JVR looks promising and competes hard. He still needs to keep improving and we can't expect him to kick bags of goals every week. Jefferson needs more time in the gym and a few more pre-seasons. Early in the season he looked promising in the VFL but has dropped off significantly lately. Schache should be given a bit more time to see what he has got at senior level I think but hasn't been smashing the door down at Casey. I would like to see Joel Smith given a go considering his recent VFL form and before he inevitably gets injured again. I think it's likely one or both of Tmac or Brown retires at the end of the year. I think we need to target another established key forward from another club. ( Riccardi - GWS, Georgiades - Port , Mitch Lewis - Haw ) Or we draft another with a first round pick (Archer Reid, Daniel Curtin or Nate Caddy) Small/General Forwards Fritsch, Chandler, Spargo, Pickett. ANB is a good group of small to medium forwards. The pressure they apply is usually good. 2nd in the league for tackles inside 50 testament to that. Chandler has really come on this year. I think we could do with some more speed and more skill in this area however. some attacking flair ( Liam Henry - Frem, Kai Lohman -Bris , Jade Gresham - Stk) Maybe draft Nick Watson if he is available Mids I think our midfield really lacks some pace and skill. We have some elite ball winners but we still drop off in quality quickly when one of the big 3 aren't there compared to other sides. Really need Sparrow and Jordan to take the next step. perhaps Rivers becomes that outside/inside midfielder we lack. Our connection with our rucks seem off more often than not and even though clearances aren't every thing we need to still break even if we want to play forward half game. We need to develop some young elite mids in the next few years likely from high draft picks. Our wings look on paper close to the best in the league but Hunter lacks pace and Langdon isn't having the same impact. I think we need some more height and marking power from our wings. Hopefully Howes and Woewodin can be this type. Players to possibly improve our midfield that could be gettable ( Flanders - GC, Ash - GWS , Duursma - Port , Robertson - Bris , Macrae - Coll ) Small/ General Defenders We need to find a Hibberd replacement soon and we could do with some more run out of the backline. McVee has looked good early in the season and Rivers has been good at times. I think we need another medium Intercepting type that can provide some run. As people have mentioned our ground level defending has often looked shaky, which is not great considering we often play a spare defender. Not sure who we could look at to improve this area. Key Defenders Ok at the moment here. I think Lever would be more effective as the 3rd tall. Turner looks good in the VFL. May isn't getting any younger. Adams is showing some signs in the VFL. Tomlinson looks past it at AFL level. may need to draft another young key defender. Be nice if we didn't need Petty up forward, perhaps Himmelberg - GWS as a FA could be an option Rucks Obviously strong at the moment, however Gawn is not the player he was two years ago. We definitely need another young up and coming ruck soonish. Maybe Verrall can be that player, but another area that needs addressing I feel. Very keen on here others thoughts on where the list is at and what/who we need to get better ?

I will join too if there are any spots left ?

That’s true, but in those players you have listed there is not much ruck / key fwd depth there anymore

Yeah I agree Daw , Mitch Brown, Weideman , Rosman and LJ all gone only Grundy coming in. We need some more Rucks and Key Forwards , but only have pick 13 as a significant draft pick this year ? We really do need a Schache type player/s or another tall with some experience that can play a role if injuries occur ! We surely have a plan not just to rely on young draftees to fill the list spots

Great Podcast guys Do you think we need more experienced depth. Obviously we don’t want list cloggers and need to turn over the list. But we have lost Jackson, Hunt , Bedford and Weideman and delisted Rosman, Mitch Brown and Daw with only Grundy coming back as an established player Surely the rest of the list spots can’t be filled by young draftees and rookies ? Your thoughts ? Thanks, Jack

Yeah I agree with you there, but if we are losing some solid role players. We can't just rely on draft picks to fill these positions. But yes have to be selective not to just end up with list cloggers

With the game becoming more attacking and if we lose Bedford and Hunt, which is looking likely. We definitely need more players with some pace. Not sure who we can recruit but this has to be a priority if we lose both Bedford and Hunt

I am bit concerned that if we lose fingers best 22 players like Hunt, Bedford, Weideman and Tomlinson. We lose a lot of our mature depth. I wouldn't want to replace them with just draft picks. If that did occur we would need to find some cheap replacements from trade or delisted free agency and so far we have been linked to no-one outside Grundy. Particularly because the talk draft is meant to be quite shallow and teams would rather push picks to next years draft. could be as few has 50 picks apparently.