demoncat

Happy to sell the farm to get this kid if WC are willing to trade with us As others have pointed out this might be the only draft for years to come that we’re going to have access to elite talent - not to mention one that is being spoken about as the best draft prospect in years If we pull it off it could be the move that extends our premiership window beyond the next three to five years - particularly if Reid lives up to the hype and becomes a 10+ year player for us Another factor is our fellow competitors - all of Collingwood (Daicos), Brisbane (Ashcroft) and Port (JHF as well as Rozee and Butters) have drafted elite young talent that are not only having huge impact now, but will keep their teams at the pointy end for years to come Yes every draftee is a risk, but if JT thinks he’s worth giving up our trade hand for then I’m am all aboard the Reid train

The Curtin factor will be key. Presuming we finish with pick 4 and looked to trade for pick 1, WC would have to know that both North and Hawks would skip over him in order for them to make the deal. At this stage it’s line ball - Reid and Walters are probably the only two who would definitely be above him, with McKercher, Sanders, Duursma and Watson all likely to fall around that 3-6 range. North may end up being the preferred trading partner if they have enough capital from the McKay compensation (not that he should be worth any thing more than an end of first round pick mind you) But North need picks too and them trading out multiple picks at this stage of their (never ending) rebuild would be a big call Whatever happens, very excited for this trade and draft period! In JT and Tim Lamb we trust

Am I correct that there is an option to buy tickets to this game in the designated ‘opposition member bays’? A very helpful Demonlander sent me a link to purchase these tickets for our game at GMHBA last year - was hoping that if this is still the case someone may have access to that link as I can’t for the life of me find anything about it online!

I’m out in Werribee @binman - very frustrating as it was probably the one Casey game this year that would have been convenient for us in the west to get to!

Following on from this - I'd love some discussion on @Watson11's brilliant post from the 'Why are we continuously being beaten in clearances?' thread, which touches on the same point as above with some clear examples of where our stoppage game let us down on Friday night:

I’m in the same boat as you @The heart beats true Putting aside everything else that made us great in 2021 - the one thing that gave me belief above everything else was our ability to match it with and beat the best sides Every team we beat in our finals campaign we had beaten during the H&A season - and it was that fact that gave me the ultimate belief that no matter what position we were in in a match, that we could never be counted out (19 points down in a GF, anyone?) However, ever since then we’ve been making up the numbers against other contenders I’m personally at a point now where I’m treating matches against anyone who’s not a contender as fugazi - not that they don’t matter, but that they’re not going to tell us anything substantive about how we will go in a finals campaign A win against Collingwood on King’s Birthday is now a non-negotiable if we’re going to be a legitimate premiership threat - lose that, and we will have lost to them, Brisbane and Port, arguably the three most likely teams to win the flag Come on Dees, give us that belief again!

Do we need to reevaluate our stoppage set up? I understand that we go -1 at the stoppage to set up an extra number behind the ball to intercept and spoil, but teams are getting better and better at winning the stoppage clearance, gaining territory and bringing the ball to ground in our defensive 50. This problem is compounded by the fact that our midfield is not winning enough contests. The set up works when our midfield wins contests but our “star studded midfield” seem to be getting beaten every week by young stars like Anderson and Butters who are hitting the ball at speed and leaving our players out paced and outnumbered. Long story short - is there any value in equalling or outnumbering at the stoppage to ensure we are winning more contests, winning more clearances and gaining more territory with out star studded midfield? For a team that is built on contest and territory, we aren’t winning either against the better sides Love the pod fellas and hope you can bring some frustrated Dees fans a bit of hope that we’ll get this aspect of our game right sooner rather than later!

We need to sort out our clearance game ASAP I understand the discussion around post-clearance possession being more important than clearances - which, it is - but you can’t lose clearances at the rate we did tonight and expect to win games against the best sides We won a Premiership with clearance dominance for goodness sake!

Petty taking TMAC's place up forward and Hibberd taking Petty's in defence? 🤔 Unlikely, but Goody has flagged changes ahead of this game, so you never know...

Maybe they can throw in pick 7 when we steal him away?

So who do you suggest? Who is on the market this off season? Who are we going to draft that will make an impact next year? And before you say one of next years RFA like McKay or Curnow, there is no guarantee they would leave their clubs and it would be bad list management not to try and improve our list in other areas while holding out hope that they’ll join us. People need to stop throwing out this tired line that we need a KPF but then not giving any realistic proposals of how we are going to get one in the short to medium term. Our list management team are clearly aware that we need one, but they would be just as aware that there may not be one available to us - that is why we’re looking at players like Grundy who may fill other needs and make us better. Obviously everyone has their opinion of whether we should go after Grundy specifically, but please, let’s stop talking about this magical KPF who is going to fall in our laps.

Irrespective of whether or not we make a play for Grundy, I think people need to put aside the notion that we are going to be in a position to get a ready-made KPF during this off season. There are no KPFs who are coming out of contract at the end of this year that would be worth making a play for. Our only option would be to use any first round picks we receive from the Jackson trade to try and draft Aaron Cadman. Obviously I am all for that and I actually think that will be our aim, but like any key position player he will take a few years to develop and I don't think he would make an immediate impact next year. I've also seen some people say that we should save our cap room and trade forward our picks to try and lure a KPF like McKay or Curnow for the following year. As much as I'd love to snag one of them - or any of the other up and coming KPFs like Naughton and the King brothers - we can't bank on players deciding to leave their clubs, especially because those clubs are going to put a premium on retaining them. That's not to say that it won't happen - for all we know there could be discussions going on behind the scenes that the media isn't privy to - but to bank on that without trying to improve our list in other areas would be poor list management. At the end of the day, I have full faith in Tim Lamb, JT and Alan Richardson to make the right call on any trade or draftee. If we are looking at Grundy, its because we genuinely believe he would make our list better and that he wouldn't risk our ability to recruit a KPF. In other words, if we end up recruiting Grundy, it won't be because we didn't identify a KPF as our #1 need - it will be because we did so but didn't have any viable options to fill that position in the short to medium term. I actually think we could be in a position to recruit Grundy AND a tall from the draft. If the Pies are desperate to offload him and Grundy nominates us as his club of choice, there is no way we're giving up any of the first round picks we get for Jackson for him. If we're only giving up picks from the second round or later, we could potentially be in a position where we would still have one or two first round picks that we could use to either trade higher up the draft and get Aaron Cadman, or draft one of the taller prospects from the middle-end of the first round. All hypothetical, but it could end up being a very productive off season for us.

I think we forget just how hard our draw has been this year. First Crack did a segment on Sunday where they analysed quarters won against top eight sides across the season. We ranked somewhere in the top four alongside Geelong, Collingwood and Sydney. But the difference was that we had played significantly more games against the top eight than any of these other sides. I cannot remember the exact number but I remember being shocked at just how many more quarters they said we had played. As much as I can’t stand him, David King actually used this as evidence as to why he believed we were still a contender. Anyway, that isn’t an excuse for our losses - there are plenty of other reasons for them - but still, it does offer some perspective.

Great analysis @JimmyGadson. The foundations of our game - contest and defence - are in great shape and will set us up for multiple shots at the flag. Regardless of what happens this year, Dees fans should be excited for what this club can do over the next five years. Having said that, every great team needs to continually evolve their game-plan and upgrade their personnel - particularly when you’re the reigning premiers and other teams are so focused on picking you apart. Clearly the biggest chinks in our armour are a lack of a pack crashing key forward who can take a contested mark and bring the ball to ground, and classy ball users who can deliver the ball inside 50. Obviously if we dominate general play to the extent that we did in last years finals series and the Brisbane and Freo games, we can put on large scores without those personnel. But as we’re finding out this year, that isn’t always going to be the case. That is why regardless of what happens this year, this off season could be so exciting presuming that Jackson leaves. We would be in good stead to bring in players who could address these needs - like Richmond in 2018 - and re-prime ourselves for more tilts at the flag. Obviously this is all easier said than done, and we don’t know what the trade landscape will look like at seasons end, but there is still enormous upside with this group!

I could live with that 🤷‍♂️

Freo’s pursuit of Jackson seems incredibly short-sighted to me. Freo are a young team with huge upside for the next few years. They’ve already shown that they can compete with the best teams and, personally, I see them as one of our biggest rivals over the next few years. Why you would want to jeopardise this - by forcing out players and forcing them onto smaller contracts - just to land one player in the infancy of their career is beyond me. Jackson doesn’t even fulfil a list need for them. Could be a culture killer if guys like Darcy feel like they’ve been taken for granted. As of right now this is all hypothetical, but geez it makes you glad to have Tim Lamb and Jason Taylor at the head of our list management!

I'd love to see Joel Smith in the forward line. He's athletic, makes a contest and can take a good grab. It won't be this week - and it might not be this season - but I think he could be a really handy forward for us, especially with a full pre-season under his belt. If Jackson stays, we likely won't be in a position to draft or trade for a KPF for 2023. And even if he goes, we may have to wait another year to go after a tall draft prospect or RFA's like Curnow or McKay. In the meantime, we could utilise Smith as a forward, particularly as we're so well covered for defensive depth.

I would love to see it but it relies on us having a good enough replacement for him in the backline. I rate Tomlinson and would love for him to have a permanent spot in our best 22, but I don't know if we've seen enough from him this year to have him fill that role in the last four weeks and in a finals series. I am also excited to see what Turner can do over the next couple of years but I doubt we'll see him again until next year and he will benefit from another preseason under his belt. The other consideration is how many goals we are saving + scoring from rebound with Petty in the backline as opposed to the amount we would gain from moving him forward. If our defence and contest are working and we are getting a lot of inside 50s then Petty up forward could be a huge advantage and a difference maker. But if we're under the pump and are conceding a lot of inside 50s, then his absence could be the difference between conceding multiple goals or absorbing the opposition's pressure and keeping them to a low score. If the past is any indicator, we'll keep Petty in defence and persevere with our increasingly makeshift forward line. We know that Goody values defence and contest above everything, and if those two aspects of our game are in check, we're still able to score heavily. But jeez there is still a part of me that would love to role the dice and see what happens 😅

For an article titled “How Freo can land unicorn”, the author spent very little time explaining how Freo can in fact land the unicorn.

And just a week ago he was “sticking fat” with us as his number one seed because he believed our best could beat anyone 😅 God he’s a joke - but hey, at least he always has his laptop with him so he can get his facts straight, right?

Thanks for another great pod and for taking the time to discuss our questions!

Following on from @Deeoldfart’s question - do we think that our experiment with a smaller forward line has run its course? As much as I love having Bedford in the team, I think there were still times yesterday when we were crying out for another tall forward 50 target (even though our entries got better throughout the game). Personally I think that we should bring back the two talls structure for the rest of the season and give one of Weid or JVR a run at the last four or five games. That way, they either have had preparation for a finals campaign or - if fit - TMac can slot right back into his usual role without reintroducing a structure that hasn’t been utilised for two months. As always, looking forward to the pod and curious to hear you thoughts. Go Dees!

Ideal scenario. But this is far more likely 😅

Fair point. Perhaps I was being a bit simplistic about it. Obviously if they are the best players for a particular role, they should be in regardless of their playing futures (as you point out). I guess my thinking came more down to these two players in particular - in that I think for the roles that they would be bought in to play, that there are players that would bring just as much but have a longer term future at the club and would benefit from a good run at it. Having said that it is easy for me to sit here and presume that other players would deliver more. Clearly if Goody and co choose to play one or both of them, they believe that they are the best players to come in.

Oh god I can see it already 😅 I think we really need to commit to using players who at the very least are going to be on our list next year. Whether that is Weid and Dunstan or LVR and Laurie. Far be it from me to criticise Goody and co's selections, but I think I speak for most people when I say the time for selecting M. Brown and Melksham over players with longer term futures at the club is just about over. No disrespect to those two however - they've been great servants of the club and in their own ways have contributed to the success we are seeing now.