old55

West Coast and North winning in consecutive weeks doesn't bode well for the vital signs of tanking ... We tanked too obviously and I admit I was in favour of it but I was wrong, it was bad cultural practice and teams have learned from that.

Certainly a possibility. And we would have had access to him in the Jackson trade so it appears we didn't rate him sufficiently. We might have dodged a bullet and avoided diluting the lucrative Freo draft haul there. Matt Flynn is UFA this year ...

Who exactly would you have recruited last year who could have capably rucked while Max was injured this year and rucked 50:50 in 14 games enabling Max to hit this time of year in full fitness compared to last year when he was broken? You provided an example of someone who wasn't available - that's not too hard to do.

Kieren Briggs signed a 2 year contract at GWS at the end of 2022, he wasn't available to us last year. https://www.zerohanger.com/giants-ruckman-kieren-briggs-re-signs-126716/

Except he's not in the 26 so it's going to be tricky for him. @Demonstone miles ahead of me ...

I think we can find out what TMac offers at Casey. It's about his mobility and ability to jump. We know what he can do at AFL level if these are up to scratch. We also know what Tomlinson gives at AFL level and it's not ideal. Now is the time to see if D.Turner can give more, we can't find that out playing him more at Casey. We need to see him at AFL level. We're going for a tall Fritsch for a small Laurie - so the sub will be a small.

Cripps and Docherty out for Carlton. If Carlton loses by about 4 goals, St.Kilda loses and Sydney wins by about 4 goals - Sydney can leapfrog both into 5th. Expect Sydney to be motivated.

If we didn't have Grundy who else would we have got? Name names. It would have to be someone who could genuinely offer something at senior level like Grundy has when Max was injured and in tandem with Max. Have you completely forgotten that Max was totally broken at the end of last year and that's a big reason why we lost two finals narrowly? Grundy has definitely enabled Max to hit this part of the season fit and firing.

I think the first part is correct, the player decides where they want to go. WC were never in the frame for Jackson. However, it's not confirmed that 3 clubs can't pay a player and in fact there's suggestion they can.

We're still trying to polish cohesion and will be making a significant change with Fritsch coming in. We need to use it as a dress rehearsal for the QF and go in with our preferred structure. Maybe use the sub to rest whoever needs it most.

A modest two year extension makes perfect sense and encourages Goodwin to make medium term selection and list decisions rather than rash short term ones. It also gives assistants like Yze clarity on their future.

What's Lyon's role in this? We don't have to convince Reid of anything, we just give him a courtesy heads up that we, a top 4 Victorian club, like him and want to draft him, and he may hear that we're after pick one to do it. What's not to like? It's the holder of pick one that needs convincing.

It often looks like that each year but teams rankings shoot up with good finals wins and come into the historical flag range.

Do you think they're worried that Brisbane might tear them apart at the Gabba?

Squiggle has us winning the flag: https://live.squiggle.com.au/# - see Forecast tab I think we will if we beat Collingwood in the QF, if not it's going to hard.

I think Taj and Laurie are mids, but they're smaller than JJ.

From @Diamond Jim's post: Here's a good article listing the 202 players by club who are out of contract at season's end. I see it lists Schache who I thought had another year Melbourne (8): Luke Dunstan (unrestricted free agent), Michael Hibberd, James Jordon (unrestricted free agent), Jake Melksham (unrestricted free agent), Andy Moniz-Wakefield, Josh Schache, Deakyn Smith, Kye Turner. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/deal-or-no-deal-naming-the-202-afl-players-who-don-t-have-a-contract-for-2024-20230818-p5dxn7.html @Lucifers Hero when you get back from holiday you could update him in the table, thanks

I think it's probably better for us that McCartin is playing, we're going to be trialing new forward structures with Fritsch back and it's good to do it against the best opposition we can meet, particularly in what is most likely a dead rubber. It's unfortunate that it's at the dinky SCG which is hardly representative of the finals' venues we'll play at.

Wow I didn't realise how severe Eliza's injury and surgery were - spinal fusion: https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/video/1015978/i-had-to-learn-to-walk-again-elizas-road-back-from-spinal-injury Love her playing hope she has made a full recovery and can continue on with her great 2021 form.

The Age is saying Sydney is leading the chase for Ben McKay and their offer may be enough to trigger band one compensation ie pick 2 https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/money-talks-swans-offer-may-net-kangas-top-two-in-draft-20230821-p5dy8z.html

Rubbish. The place where we have a list hole is between Oliver at 26yo and Petty at 23y9m - we have no-one in that bracket and should be looking hard at FAs and pre-FAs to fill it.

Suns are $1.33 and North are $3.37 at Sportsbet according to the AFL site. Suns look surprisingly good value.

Votes are not published for the final two rounds. I think Butters gets votes vs Fremantle but Petracca doesn't against Hawthorn. That probably puts Butters into the lead.

From Titus' knee jerk reactions: "Now they get Damien Hardwick who has to fix the mess that is the Gold Coast Suns. He did fix Richmond, so he’s a chance, but he had Brendon Gale and Peggy O’Neal there and that Dustin Martin guy. Sometimes I think Hardwick left Richmond in a hurry because he knew he had this job sown up and wanted a holiday in between, but that’s just silly. " From the reader comments: "I think you’re wrong about Damian Hardwick - after all he didn’t need a break between Mrs Hardwick and the marketing chick."

Can we get Garry Lyon out there to be at the base?