rpfc

Yeah, a few things: Tom is the better player. Oscar is a promising kid who is developing at a normal rate. Oscar is not best 22 in 2017. He is progressing well and the fact that he is 'making so many mistakes with the he footy' as 21 year old with 26 games is a good sign. The hardest thing in footy is getting the footy. But his brother and Frost are ahead of him in the backline for talls and they are more dynamic and versatile. Hibberd, Jetta, Salem, and Hunt are starting 18 backs and will make it hard for us to play the big three down back.

I am going to stand up for tackles here, tackles are great. Leaves tackles alone!

So people say you can't read tone from text... My little story answered your question - of course I would play a champion like Lewis ahead of more talented players because of the intangibles that he brings. If footy was so simple as to be the winner is the team with the most talented players - it would a lot easier to tip (and to coach). I always get uneasy when I see players written off when they are as good as Lewis. I am not going to say we won't move past him because that happens - players hit a wall. But my gut tells me that he still has a lot to offer the team on the field, even if it isn't with the footy in his hands.

I had 'hide' in inverted commas so I wouldn't read too much into that... Last year, I played a 28 year old with a shot body, no speed, fumbly with the footy early in the season... and I played him because he was like having an extra coach out there amongst a very young group. We could have won without him too, but in the last game of the season, the most important one, was the one we nearly lost but we didn't because when we were headed in the last quarter for the first time all year - we had someone out there who was instructing and imploring and pushing the younger players to keep their heads up, and keep doing the small things. He had been doing that all year - one of the few who did - and I think it paid off in the Grand Final. The kids saw an even bloke who was telling them to do the same things he had been telling them to do all year. He was one of my first picked, and he wouldn't have averaged 10 touches in the middle, but he didn't have to get the footy - we had plenty of talent - we just had no experience, brains, or calmness.

I think this would be a by product of his role in contests - we want him on the end of handpass out of traffic not in there competing and tackling to handpass out...

My experience is the opposite - the better your team becomes the easier you can 'hide' a leader with a declining game or body. Lewis will decline but I don't think it will be rapid and it will be evened out with the continued ascension of those around him like Oliver, Petracca, Hunt, et al. And intangibles are hard to quantify, I agree, but I can quantify his leadership because his captains mention it, his coach mentions it, and his direction on the field is plain to see and hear.

This group needs a coach on the ground. That is my analysis with my coaches hat on and you are welcome to disagree but I am big believer in the intangibles of a player like Lewis.

Yeah, that's the question I begged in the last post... You don't draft talls and turf them after two years... unless you made a Prenderghastly decision with the pick...

Hulett should be afforded time surely? You don't draft talls and turf them after two years.

Bump. Finally showed up... Welcome.

Not even. Different drafts.

Brayshaw has the potential to be an A grade mid - they don't grow on trees. i hate it when people say - 'we can find a mid anywhere'... You won't stumble across a rolls Royce often and mids win flags.

Double bump. You know you have been here a long time when you can do that... I don't agree with you, Wise - CB is usually positive but like all of us, has his bugbears - one of them are the basic things that excellent teams don't do but we just can't get out of our habits. Saw those bad habits on display yesterday - and yes, we are few months younger than the average AFL team - pointing out those habits helps explain performance like yesterday, and the difference between seasoned teams that will beat us this year and us.

I liked Roos' line about Oliver's footage and his ranking; 'if there 14 better players than Oliver, it must be an unbelievable draft.' I recall a similar conversation on here with Clint Biz around the same time, over footage of Oliver.

We didn't get in the way of players developing themselves - Jones, McDonald, Garland, et al. So that in itself makes it better than our drafting - we were terrible. I don't want to start a 'drafting' vs 'development' argument because you need both but the raw materials are delivered through the draft and we didn't get them in to even experience our poor development...

And then re-started in 2014 when Roos turned him into one of those Sydney Defender Robots that just do everything right and don't get beaten.

@45HG

Lots of 'tea leave reading' going on here. It's just ignorant extrapolation.

Why don't we all take a holiday?

I believe in Jesse.

...that you know of ...that the media pumps up. God, you post some nonsense from time to time.

That is 15% of the cap in 2016. In 2018, the first year of that hypothetical deal, that number might be down to near 10%, and the value will only improve over the life of that deal. I don't know what deal is being presented but if Hogan is asking for THAT much, we should be asking for THAT long to do that deal.

If not for his suspension, he would be playing in that backline, being a part of what is going on and you lot would be grooming your pincers talking about how good "the recruitment is 'round ere, these days..."

If Viney has a case to answer, that is where I would head for his defense - the guy stayed short - kept his knees bent and was trying to milk a reversal by going down like the proverbial. He should have retired last year.

The NBA are doing it that way. Salaries that are agreed will not increase with the cap - this is why LeBron James has been signing one year contracts for the last two years so he gets the maximum possible each year (the cap in the NBA is about to jump from $58m to around $91m). I think the AFL will do something similar to the above. So that means that I don't think it is wise to have an agreement with 1 player about their salary being a percentage of the cap when other players won't have that luxury. I also don't think we should be trailblazers by giving all our players a bump if other clubs are not forced to - it will give other teams a competitive advantage over us to suddenly have $3m in cap space.