demoncat

For what it’s worth Tom Morris is now reporting that there is a watch on Sam Flanders in the second half of this year:

Unfortunately I can’t see Freo entertaining any trade unless Jackson is effectively forcing himself out (and as much as I’d love for him to come to us I hope his personal situation isn’t so dire that this is necessary) Still, I love to see Freo getting a dose of their own medicine. They deserve it after all the off the book recruiting they’ve done of WA born players in recent years!

Brilliant news And to all those worried about the length and cost of the deal - I get it, but it’s just the nature of the market these days Plus the CBA will be rising so these types of $1 million + deals will become more and more common, even for players who aren’t half as good as Kozzy And if nothing else, it gives us control over any potential trade for the rest of his career (not that he’s going anywhere mind you!)

I have to say I’m sick to death of these losses where we have more shots against our opposition but come up short because our players lack any sort of composure - both in front of goal and when making decisions with ball in hand The difference today with how Pendlebury, Sidebottom and Howe managed that last five minutes compared to our senior players is damning It’s cost us home and away wins, finals wins and dare I say a Premiership somewhere between 2022-24 I don’t know what the answer is but it has been a massive failure of the current FD to get our players in the right headspace to finish all of the good work they do

I couldn’t have said it better myself @Bring-Back-Powell On the one hand you have to give Goody credit for devising a gameplan that consistently has us in positions to win games against the best clubs And I don’t doubt the effort and intent of our players, as well as their love of the coach But I have to say I’m sick to death of these losses where we have more shots against our opposition but come up short because our players lack any sort of composure - both in front of goal and when making decisions with ball in hand The difference today with how Pendlebury, Sidebottom and Howe managed that last five minutes compared to our senior players is damning It’s cost us both home and away wins, finals wins and dare I say a Premiership somewhere between 2022-24 Ultimately the buck stops with Goody and as much as he’s done for this club, he has failed massively to get our players in the right headspace to finish all of the good work they do

The more forward half talent we can bring in the better Get it done Dees

I’d love JVR and Jeffo to make it as our one-two punch long term as I think they compliment each other really well as different ‘types’ Unfortunately JVR has regressed badly this year and Jeffo, while improving, is still at least a year or two away from having the body for AFL football, and that’s before we really know whether he’ll make it at the level or not I don’t want to write either of them off but I still believe we badly need an interim forward in that 25-30 age / 195cm - 200cm height range to give us a focal point and take the pressure off those two Why we’re not heavily into Oscar Allan is beyond me - he’s not a star but he’s proven and fills a need we’ve had for years

McDonald needs to be in this team whether that’s as a forward or a defender - there are plenty of players in those positions not performing to the level so it shouldn’t be hard to make room for him Windsor needs to be played back on the wing - I liked the idea of him behind the ball and am not opposed to him staying there for his long term development if the club sees him as a half back, but I think he ultimately projects as an outside midfielder so the wing is where he should play for now Lindsay can either move to half back or Langford can move inside/forward to make room for him, or if the club are bold enough they can bring in Sestan to give him a run at the level Sharp shouldn’t play unless he’s sub, and Laurie should only play if he’s replacing a midfielder for a full game - otherwise both go out next week Oh yeah and kick straight next time - go Dees

While I’m a big believer in expected score as an indicator of performance, what it can’t account for is the scoreboard pressure that gets applied when a team kicks straight Confidence rises, the opposition panics and games can look very different very quickly Imagine if in the third qtr of the grand final we kicked 3 behinds in the last minute of play instead of 3 goals? It could have been a very different game in the fourth

It’s time the club stopped playing games in Alice Springs I love the community work the club does up there but we’re giving up a competitive advantage not playing at the MCG, with three of our worst losses in the past three years being played at the venue

Wherever we finish this year the number one priority in the off season has to be finding quality forwards - big and small Reckon on balance we have the worst group of forwards in the comp

Also while I love the community work the club does up there, playing in Alice Springs each year is a serious competitive disadvantage

When are the coaches going to admit we have a serious problem with accuracy? We are going to kiss any chance of finals goodbye because we can’t kick straight against a bog ordinary Saints side

I’m surprised at just how many are either underrating McKay or presuming that we don’t need a forward of his type because we’ve had a good 5-6 week patch Yes good ball movement and clean kicks inside 50 are the most important factors when it comes to scoring, but there will be games (particularly finals) where you won’t have the luxury of efficient entries or shots at goal, and will need your forwards to stand up and take a contested mark or a clutch set shot And for that you need A grade talent in your fwd half, and if that talent is 2m tall all the better. At the moment we only have Kozzy who fits the bill (although Melksham has been very good too). That’s no disrespect to our other fwds, but it’s clearly an area where we have less ‘talent’ than other teams Anyway, it’s probably all academic because I don’t see it happening, but I’d jump on him in a heartbeat

We should 100% be interested if it is a salary dump situation I don’t know what we could offer to make a deal work but we’ve been crying out for a McKay style player for years 2m players who can take marks, kick goals and chop out in the ruck are invaluable, and I dare say if he was on our list in 2023 we would have won the flag Plus with his kicking for goal, he’ll fit right in 🤣

This is a good point but it does make you wonder where the club sees him sitting amongst Clarry and Viney though (and to a lesser extent Rivers) Or perhaps it’s just a case of wanting to get good talent through the door and figuring out the rest later 🤷‍♂️

This was it Ralphy essentially saying that the key to Freo keeping him is allowing him to play the #1 ruck role (although blind Freddy could tell you that’s how you get the most out of him)

I’d take that deal too While trading future picks is always a gamble, I feel we really need to start supplementing the middle age bracket of our list instead of drafting more young players or trading in older players We’ve got young guns and old guns, now we really need some (middle?) guns in that 23-27 age range that we’re really lacking in - Dogga fits the bill

I agree It wasn’t a position I envisioned for him at the start of the year but I think it’s been a master stroke by the coaching staff Allows him to use his size and strength against undersized wingers, as well as his skills, smarts and positioning to get the ball on the outside It also means he can naturally drift forward to take fwd 50 marks like he did last weekend He’ll be an inside bull one day but for now it’s a great position to allow him to impact games while still developing his body/tank

Agreed FWIW Rhino is a good journo, so I don’t doubt he’s genuinely reporting what he’s heard from his sources But you’d be naive to think this is anything but an attempt to appease the club and kick the can down the road Houston said he wasn’t leaving and we know how that ended up… where there’s smoke there’s fire

While I agree it would be difficult, I would point to the Houston trade as an example of where a club has had to take unders because the market for that player was small Houston ruling out us and North, and Carlton focusing on the draft, essentially meant that only Collingwood was in a position to trade for him So while they did end up trading a future first and a couple of players (although in a four team deal), they ultimately were able to land Houston for far less than what he was worth, and Port had to choose between holding him to his contract or taking what they could get and run So while I think ultimately Kozzy for Jackson would be the likely deal, there is definitely a scenario where Kozzy stays, we get creative with future picks and player movements, and Freo ultimately has to decide whether they want to force a player to be unhappy with them or play ball

I love the West Australian now

I don’t want to lose Kozzy and would much rather keep him than bring in Jackson (if the two are mutually exclusive) BUT if the club is resigned to losing him at the end of his contract I’d much rather bring in a known quantity in an elite player like Jackson than be forced to take a couple of middling first round picks If both story lines continue to develop it could be very interesting come trade time

Was quietly confident until I saw Viney and Melksham out - reckon those two have been super important to our resurgence over the past three weeks Still, Hawks aren’t in great form either and Port have shown the blueprint of how to beat them - pressure, pressure, pressure Bring the pressure we’ve brought over the past few weeks and I reckon we’ve got them

Come on Luke, you know you want to