rpfc

Or maybe, the FD just want to get things done and realise that #winning every trade is for people that get hoisted on petards and not for those that trade for players that help us win a flag? And secondly, a back up ruck to help Gawn is much more important than our 6th best inside mid. Didnt think I needed to make that explicit... Gawn has an injury history, tape around his calf second half of the season and has just played 25 games.

According to...

That’s specious reasoning borne out of Mahoney’s inability to explicitly say what he meant by ‘affording’ May. The connotations are that we don’t have the cap space but that is crap; we have been chasing Gaff and Kelly. What we will struggle to do is to ‘afford’ to acquire May with our lack of picks. So the May sitution moving forward really doesn’t mean Hogans’ is too.

More tea leaves: EnterTheDragon is stuie. On. A. Roll. #rpfcreadsdemleaves

Agreed once to go to a club in a bad state 5 years ago, totally understand him not wanting to do that again. He was a pleasure to watch until we found other pleasures that satisfied more. I don’t know his impact on the cap but I would prefer he stay for depth but we are obviously trying to move him which tells me he is on more than the 26th bloke should be on...

Well, if I am picking up what @Chook in Perth is putting down, then my questions around why the club is so ready to move on from Hogan have been answered...

Page 186 of this thread was an absolute disaster.

‘A top 36 pick’?? Yeah, the best players are always there...

The alternate reality to the Tyson/Salem/Hunt trade is not Kelly - it is Billings. Score one for the trade there... The alternate reality is not Kelly roaming the flanks in front of the MCC - it is watching Billings at Casey and moaning about another draft disaster without Salem on our HBF.

We sure do need a back up ruck. But he doesn't have to play much... Preuss, Hogan, McDonald, and Weideman will struggle to play together in the same forward line so if Hogan stays I expect to see Preuss/'whoever we get to help Gawn' to play a lot less with Weideman playing back up ruck minutes. If we were to play a dedicated 2nd ruck (Preuss) plus both Hogan and Weideman that is two talls to fit into our forward line alone. Don't see it happening... Gawn needs help but that doesn't mean reality shifts to make it happen.

Depends what Hogan does to some extent... If Hogan stays I can see us playing Weed as the 2nd ruck more in games and having a back up ruck give Gawn a break every 6-8 weeks. If Hogan leaves then we can resolve that problem to some degree by playing a dedicated ruck with a decent grab. Especially, if we are going to 6 6 6 next year.

What do you mean ‘compare Hogan to Vanders?’ One cannot go to the airport without a journalistic escort and the other isn’t recognised by Dees fans. There is no comparison to how they have handled their completely different circumstances.

Nathan no longer bombs it to the opposition. He now lowers his eyes and picks them out with precision...

Yeah, is this Tim May we are talking about? The off spinner? Don't want him. Couldn't turn a door handle that bloke...

Menzel isn’t a small forward. He doesn’t apply pressure and I would argue he is akin to Melksham and Hannan - who is a poor mans Melksham. I would think Garlett would still be closer than Menzel to the best 22...

Yeah, he is inside depth and that is it. He shouldn’t be in the best 22 next year. I don’t know what coin he is on but that will determine whether he is worthwhile depth.

Twice on every page!

He is usually so chatty...

What colour do you get when you mix red and blue?

@Clint Bizkit I agree with the ‘feeling’... I think it is because he never talked and teammates never talked about him. It’s hard to grow an attachment between player and club with no fuel to form that attachment. Brayshaw, Harmes, Oliver, and Petracca I can picture earnestly talking about the club or the coach or their teammates (or being talked about in CPs case). Hogan has always been aloof in that regard.

Let me stop you there...

Your first two priorities are the same - skills in the midfield. Your 3rd priority is now your second and it is to find a replacement for what Hibberd does. I don’t see the cause and effect that would come from that... Hibberd released more? Menzel and Breust were non-factors in the two finals we played against them. And that leads to the last priority - a tall defender. I would overspend in a trade for a skillful mid and I would overspend in a trade for a tall defender. Return on investment is measured in GFs and flags, not in what we get back commensurate to perceived player value.

@deanox what would say we should improve? Here is my perceived needs list in order: 1. Outside player with elite skills to driver into the forwards 2. Tall defender to allow Oscar to play on the ubiquitous 2nd ruck and Lever to play on the third tall 3. Natural small forward to play at the feet of Preuss/Gawn and Weideman None are glaring - we came fourth - but each have their own impacts should we successfully address them. We have a dominant midfield but we don’t kick the ball Inside 50 well, hence the number one priority. We then get sliced apart on the counter with a patchwork defence that contains a few NQR players amongst Lever, Hibberd, Jetta, and Salem. The third priority is somewhat ameliorated by the first but at the moment we have former midfielders playing a role that is unsuited to them (even though they are giving it a red hot show). So getting someone like May is second on my list for us to push for a flag. That is hard to argue against when discussing maximising the value we get from a trade. Does it matter if we get what we need?

I was enamoured with Hogan when he came because I saw a star when we had none. Now we have a little bit of a constellation emerging and I am comfortable with it. And I can see the opportunity to balance our list. We should play a second ruck to help Gawn. We have a midfield to win any game. We have no tall defender that can compete with the best forwards in the game. So I hope we can turn this unfortunate situation into something that makes us.

[Patronising tone] Our generational ruckman is not going to be bumped from being the number 1 ruck...