old55

I like Spargo's understated celebration when he does well. I saw it at the end of last year when he was playing well too. He just keeps his game face on like "we haven't achieved anything yet". He looks pretty determined to silence his doubters including me who said he was too small and without any tricks. I think he has the trick that he knows how to play and has really improved his power.

WWSW, I think at this stage we need to pick the best 22 in search of that mythical unicorn - cohesion.

Poor man's Luke Jackson.

Didn't you get the 2020 Member pin?

Great story, well done ANB!

How's your man Preuss looking for you now champ?

Players 200cm+ and the same age or older than Bradtke with 0 games: Colina, Samson, S.DeKoning, Sweet, Meek, Reeves, Hayes, Jamieson, Briggs, Alabakis.

Yeah you can flip those two names in my Daw argument and it still comes out the same. I realise you're not saying it does come out any different. TMac vs M.Brown is another issue and will be decided in the fullness of the season.

The strategy is sound. We're down our 2 first choice KPFs so we're going to use our back-ups Jackson and TMac. They also happen to be a big part of ruck back-up plan too. I could name a workable 22 with just B.Brown and Weid out, but if Jackson, TMac or Max get injured too, then we're M.Brown away from playing short. Coverage for the first 6 weeks also makes sense - we need to get off to a solid start in a season we are aiming to go deep into finals. We've got 3 list vacancies so we can afford to use one. We've got Weid, Petty, Jackson and Bradtke as developing talls - we don't need to add another one, we need someone ready to go Round 1 in any one of multiple roles. Daw makes perfect sense because he can play ruck, forward or back at a reasonable level and is ready to go Round 1.

Yeah OK while we're at it maybe we can get Tim Lamb and Alan Richardson down to advise you how to do your job.

No, go right ahead. I thought you just might have some idea of a better alternative and that's how you decided it's a "bad call". Have a listen to the Alan Richardson SEN interview, he said they looked at many options and decided Majak is the most suitable one for our needs.

How about - the club's talent scouts who watch the lower leagues have decided that Majak Daw is the best all round solution? It seems logical that they would have looked into it.

Like who?

Versatile mature depth player who could ruck if Max gets an injury - I like it. With B.Brown and Weid out, Jackson and TMac have become 1st choice KPFs and have weakened ruck depth. Daw addresses this.

When it's something over which you have no control - optimism is the only rational position.

I don't think the injuries to B.Brown and Weid mean we should be looking for more key forwards but it might mean we should look for some mature ruck depth now. I was OK going into the season with Jackson, Bradtke and probably some combination of TMac and M.Brown as back-up depth to Max. But now it's pretty clear that Jackson, TMac and M.Brown are required to fill the KPF roles. So I think some mature ruck depth is warranted.

Yep we're doomed - no doubt.

I don't think "needs" is the accepted wisdom on early picks e.g. 1st rounders, it's the best player at that point and as @DeeSpencer says - they should have a list in order and they should just put a line through the names that are picked and take the next one at their turn. Later on in the draft is the time to speculate or go for needs -like Rosman.

I hope and expect we did draft the best 2 available players with our first 2 picks and one of the reasons they are the best players is because of the reasons given - they are the best kicks and they love the game. At the 3rd pick I think it's fine to start to look at needs and possible upside and take a risk based on who has already been selected. I think this is pretty much standard accepted wisdom isn't it?

Yes I agree. Best 22 / Next 22 should consider all players available except confirmed LTE like Hore IMO. As for R1 - well it's premature, as B.Brown's injury has shown.

Don't forget Brayshaw and Oliver with post-season operations - start panicking now so you can beat the rush.

I'm not alarmed. Brown came to the club right before Christmas and has resumed training through January. It's very reasonable to see how his knee goes over this period with load ramping up as a test before taking action. Now there's an issue to examine and deal with one way or another - let's wait and see what the path is. It seems to me that the club has approached this reasonably.

Eddie digs deeper: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/i-got-it-wrong-mcguire-apologises-for-comments-on-racism-report-20210202-p56yvz.html “Under the pressure of the day, the use of the word proud was wrong. “I did not, I did not mean we were proud of past incidents of racism and the hurt that had caused. “It’s been interpreted widely that way and I regret that deeply.” No Eddie that's not what was interpreted, it was that you tried to spin Collingwood's addressing of the issue as the main story, not the issue itself. Here's the essence: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/eddie-still-doesn-t-get-it-pies-can-t-rebuild-from-a-position-of-denial-20210202-p56ytt.html He simply does not get it and has to go.

Even if Lynch is a better player than Brown, your argument is that Brown is the wrong TYPE of player and he is the same type of player that Lynch is. Lynch is a better player than Brown but the difference is not huge, Brown is still a very good player: https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_player_compare?playerStatus1=A&tid1=12&playerStatus2=A&tid2=15&type=A&pid1=3964&pid2=3457&fid1=C&fid2=C

What? Like Tom Lynch at Richmond you mean?