old55

He's not a Free Agent until the end of 2021. He was drafted in special mini draft in 2012 but was not on our senior list in 2013 and could only play for Casey because he was too young. First season on our senior list was 2014. 8 years to qualify for FA means end of 2021. He is out of contract next year though.

Maybe the Saints have to send their 1st round pick 3 or 2019 1st round to Sydney for Hannebury and get a pick back they can use for Kent? Sydney have 31 and 34 or thereabouts. Alternatively they could offer a future 2nd for Kent but that would stop them being able to use future 1st vfor Hannebury. I reckon this will drag on in trade week.

That's a well written informative and generally very positive article. There's no way that could cause offence. If anything it's this previous article referenced in the recent article that is in play: https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theage.com.au/sport/afl/gary-pert-s-resurrection-a-contentious-call-at-melbourne-20180629-p4zojn.html It is critical but hardly ban worthy. I think it's dangerous to declare war on such an influential journo who has been supportive of us recently. I'm not a Caro hater though.

There's absolutely no way Gawn and Preuss can both play with a forward line of Hogan, TMac and Weed. All those 3 have to play so something has to give there. Either Weed or Hogan play key back and push Frost out or it's in anticipation of a Hogan trade and resulting restructure. There has to be consistent structure from week to week so the plan gets settled. Goodwin is emphatic about playing "our way". IMO it wont generally work to have Preuss play just "some of the time". It's either on or not. If it is on then we play 2 rucks consistently. If it's not on he could give Max a bye as necessary but we play one ruck consistently and rarely or never play 2. I love the idea of Preuss as ruck depth but I'm sceptical of the consistent 2 ruck plan - it costs an extra midfield runner. An in match injury to a mid leaves us very top heavy and stretches rotations to breaking point.

Jesse has crack in his navicular and this is a notoriously difficult injury to fully recover from. Let's say Freo is waving 6 years x $1M at him - I bet that insurance looks very attractive. On the other hand MFC has Viney, Stretch, VDB and Hogan all with foot problems that create a lot of uncertainty. Maybe we want to manage some risk and are not enthusiastic about competing with that Freo offer right now. I can see this influencing the market.

Nope, we ran out of petrol.

I wasn't there so it's hard to know if he was whinging about progress at every base camp.

That just confirms you don't get the journey

Lever 10,000-1 Alex Rance allegedly greatest intercept marker ever has accumulated 31 votes total in 10 completed seasons: https://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/A/Alex_Rance.html

I pity you that you are unable to enjoy the journey.

There is definitely some strange Brownlow voting but I think the winner is almost always a legitimate result. I value the Coaches award far more highly though and always look at the votes there. They know what is really going on. AFLPA MVP maybe not so much but likely to be produce a fair result too. Some years the best player is clear cut e.g. 2017 Dusty, other years there's a number of great players.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/coupler.foxsports.com.au/api/v1/article/amp/afl/afl-draft-how-fatherson-and-academy-draft-picks-work-explaining-the-bidding-system/news-story/2336f3c1b618638b6f5637bab62676fd Academy club also gets 20% discount on the points of the pick the other club initially selects the player with so only has to give later picks worth 80% of the points.

I agree it's a mystery, particularly since I think we'll struggle to fit Hogan, TMac and Weed into the same line up. Adding Preuss just makes it harder.

I'm not a fan of 2 rucks, especially when we have solid and capable relief in Weed and TMac.

I can see that we could improve our KPD stocks, despite Frost's good year I'm not a believer. I'm not a believer in 3 tall forwards either. I'd much prefer to go with Weed back or even Hogan. They would be better than May IMO and we already have them. May is excess IMO

I'm strongly in favour of recruiting Preuss as depth ruck but I'm strongly against playing two rucks when we have Weed and TMac already doing good job. Not sure why Preuss would come under those circumstances but I'd welcome him.

And yet you've made the same post about 30 times in this thread. Irony?

We've had a great year and we have young talent so we look set to have organic improvement through development and no loss of key personnel. We have good list balance with no glaring deficiency But that won't be enough on its own to take us to the next level. We need to keep making the changes to the structure and players in the team. Even then flag success is not guaranteed - some luck is required. The Saints missed out through more than a dozen years of opportunity through to 2010. Freo had a surge in around Pavs career but missed out and Adelaide have been close but no cigar for a couple strong surges since their flags 20 years ago. We need to take our chances when they arise. Exciting times ahead - enjoy the ride.

No

I never saw him reported as a Free Agent. Link to evidence?

Lever wasn't a Free Agent. With all the discussion associated with that trade last year it's difficult to understand how you came to think that?

No Martin no Richmond.

He was drafted in 2013 so next year is his 6th year so he's not an FA until 2021. He is out of contract next year.

This analysis is key to the selection of Smith. Roughead, Schoenmakers and Gunston - 3 talls and Gunston got away and was best Hawk. Kennedy, Vardy and Darling - even taller. The choice betwen say Tyson and Fritsch looks like a choice between the contest which is "our brand" and kicking efficiency. It's a trade off which focuses on what we value. I can understand the FD thinking.

I've never seen Joel Smith take a ruck contest. Are you confusing him with Tim Smith? I've never seen him "shat his dacks", which usually means fail to show courage. He is crazy brave in his attack on the ball and the man and partly why he has had impact injuries.