old55

I think it's very fortunate that our 2021 pick fell where it did and we took JVR. From all reports we were keen on half-backs Chesser, Wilmot and Brown who all went earlier. They may all be very good players, Wilmot looks very promising, and I think we do have a need for strong players with sure ball handling in that area - but they are easier to come by than good KPFs.

Petty KPF, Weid KPB would be a free improvement worth trying over summer.

Yes but it's not all about the numbers is it. Have a look at Spargo's numbers in our run at the end of last year - small but important: https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pg-melbourne-demons--charlie-spargo?year=2021 13th in last year's BnF in some pretty illustrious company between Dogga and Angus. Spargo will play 200 games and multiple flags and old mate @picket fence will scream for him to be dropped in multiple posts each week. If you re-read my original post you'll see I do have Bedford and Chandler as an upgrade on ANB. They're just starting out in the toughest role on the field. Not everyone is Kossie ...

I did not say I didn't rate any of them. @Fat Tony said: "Compare these players to the small forwards in all the other finals teams and they are miles off it" That's what I was responding to. Our small forwards are not "miles off" the players I listed

Good, brave, right call by Joe.

Jason Castagna is a triple Premiership small forward. Brad Close, Gryan Miers, Beau McCreery?

Goodwin is right to stick with personnel and method. Trust and belief is a two way street. This group is going to be together for multiple campaigns. If we don't win it this year then there will be changes, but until that happens we should stay the course. We haven't been far off it, we could make changes now and still not win and what would that tell us? If we win this week, then barring injuries there won't be changes. Strap in!

Charles a Geelong fan after Timbertop?

Hopper: I made a picture called Super Mario Bros. (1993), and my six-year-old son at the time - he's now 18 - he said, "Dad, I think you're probably a pretty good actor, but why did you play that terrible guy "King Koopa" in "Super Mario Bros."?" and I said, "Well Henry, I did that so you could have shoes", and he said, "Dad, I don't need shoes that badly".

Wait, what? The team that beat Brisbane by 10 goals at the Gabba two weeks ago? Outrageous!

Better than Fritsch - you're joking surely!

Not in a PF

AA Tom Stewart vs 2 gamer JVR - do I have to spell it out.

We're trying to win the flag. Geelong and Sydney's intercepting defenders will eat JVR for breakfast, we've gotta stick with Melksham.

In his press conference Simon Goodwin just sad that max played "64-65% ruck time last week" as he has consistently, he played 91% game time, so 91% - 64% = 27% forward time.

I much more optimistic about our the young component of our list. It's hopefully true that we won't have access to early draft picks for the foreseeable future because we'll be contending and all our best players are locked in on long contracts, but we'll still have a first rounder each year and Jason Taylor has a proven track record with later picks. Assuming absolute worst case scenario that Luke Jackson goes to Freo and we convert him into Brodie Grundy and a replacement for our missing 1st rounder this year, our 18-22yo list is looking solid. Future AAs (2): Pickett, Petty. Proven premiership players (5): Spargo, Bowey, Jordon, Rivers, Sparrow Likely AFL-level (6): Bedford, Laurie, JVR, Howes, Chandler, Turner Development (5): Rosman, D.Smith, Woewodin, McVee, AMW I'm assuming Baker will be delisted and it's probable that Bedford or Chandler will leave for more opportunity this year. Even if only half the "Likely AFL-level" and one of the "Development" players make it, we've got 11 players or half a team in that list. We should also be able to free very significant salary cap and be heavily involved in the FA market. As has been posted elsewhere, we need to continuously turn the list over to make sure that the young players are getting AFL opportunities and stay the journey with us. From @Lucifers Hero excellent contacts thread, we have the following players coming out of contract over the next 3 years and I think we can probably move all of them for cap and list space. Maybe recontract some on short-term deals and bring forward the trade of others. That's 11 off the list with a hell of a lot of cap money freed up. 2022: Hibberd, Melksham, Hunt 2023: Dunstan, ANB, Weideman, Tomlinson 2024: B.Brown, Harmes, McDonald, J.Smith I think there's every reason to expect that Max and Steven May can play into the 2025 season, Max is already contracted and I expect May to get a solid contract extension next year. Our 2025 22, taking those changes into account and not adding any new draftees or FAs, looks very competitive: B: Rivers May Lever HB: Salem Petty Brayshaw M: Langdon Oliver Jordon R: Grundy Petracca Viney HF: Spargo JVR Bedford/Chandler F: Pickett Gawn Fritsch I: Bowey Sparrow Howes Laurie In 2026 we've still got Turner in the hopper as a potential replacement for May and we've got 4 draft, trade and FA years to find a ruck/forward replacement for Max.

So far we are infinitely ahead on the selection with Jackson a crucial contributor to our premiership while Young would not have improved the flag backline. Jackson's market value is higher than Young's, if he does leave let's see what we turn that into. We've got Bowey outside the 22 and Freo seem to rate Jackson very highly. If I had the choice between Jackson and Young in our 22 this final series there's no doubt I'd pick Jackson.

Brayshaw went into the midfield partly to enable Petracca to play more forward. With Petracca on one leg it's unlikely Angus will come out of the midfield rotation.

As @La Dee-vina Comedia points out, Freo have to trade for Jackson, so they don't end up with Young and Jackson without cost. Hogan to Fremantle for May and Rivers, both MFC Premiership players, along with Jackson. Two from WA and one from the NT.

Harmes = Careless, Medium impact (Lloyd got up and kicked the goal), Body = Fine

Posts (pun intended) on BigFooty show it was definitely a behind. https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/goal-or-post-a-pole.1329324/#post-76443961 https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/goal-or-post-a-pole.1329324/page-2#post-76446034 A pity really, would have been even more fun if it was a goal, a la Wayne Harmes tap - #TigerTime

The goal umpire at the opposite end did magnificent positioning work for the Daniher goal - no review required.

If the post extended up to the level the ball went through I'm very confident some part of the spinning ball would have touched the post. It doesn't have to flush the post to be a behind. I think the ARC made the right decision on the evidence.

Expected a Bentley ute at least, edit: kudos @John Crow Batty - way ahead of me

Yes mine was on QB this year and on the QB Watts debut debacle.