Redleg

Was speaking to Whispering Jack the last few weeks and he was suggesting we look at Kaine Baldwin a very good player before 2 ACL's curtailed him. I then looked him up and got quite excited and was quietly hoping we would take him with one of our free Rookie spots. He has just been listed by Essendon, which has several new key position players taken and traded recently. We will see, but I fear he will be a better prospect than Daw and Declase or Farmer and Smith.

Minimising turnovers alone will win us more games and as a result make us a better side.

I go back to when Saad left GC and I pushed hard to get him and we were uninterested. While not a perfect defender, his run off the back flank, especially with the new manning the Mark rule, makes him a very valuable player in setting up scoring opportunities.

You are not alone.

You missed my point, which was that the blokes we might move on, are all in their last contracted year, meaning no need to pay out their contracts. In other words it could be a salary cap disaster, if the blokes you didn’t want, are all on longer contracts. It wasn’t the number of players we might turn over, but rather that nearly all of them will be uncontracted at the end of the year.

FWIW, I agree with you that those 3 are the only MUST keeps on the 21 column. Of the rookies JJ will be uplifted and possibly Chandler and Bradtke should be kept. You could have 8-10 changes from those 2 lists ending this year, which to me demonstrates great list management, with most players you want to retain still contracted beyond this year.

You could say that about any delisted or unwanted player who plays well at his new club. Just for an old example and a favourite of mine, Brett Lovett with his 235 games for us, showed the Hawks couldn't develop players, correct? BTW I saw the second of Oscar's goals and it was a soft chest mark against a small opponent. Hardly makes him Lockett. Good luck to Oscar and I am not one of his knockers BTW.

I know nothing about him, but in the highlights he looks balanced and mobile and appears a nice mark and a long kick. That's a good start when you are 195 cms.

AVB still injured, or just not able to get fully fit?

Was in my class in Year 12 at Melbourne High, way back when. I remember telling him not to leave school to go into Music admin, in the September holidays, which he did anyway, as his parents were away on holiday and it would be too late for them to do anything about it when they returned. At a school reunion several years ago, I was the compere and heaped sh-t on him about being a roadie or something to do with music and I said as well as the all the successes in the room, we also have failures like Mike. I tore him to shreds and he loved it. I made him stand up and gave him even more. At the end of the night he came over and said he loved it and he couldn't stop laughing. Agree, taken much too soon, the Grandfather of the Aussie Music Industry. RIP MG.

Deserves 6 games, more than any other current demon and will get them barring injury, as we have several injured players who have opened spots up for the first few games. However, he looked really slow on Friday, like the end of last season and his turnovers were very costly. His reaction has obviously slowed with age and in lightning fast modern footy, it can be a game killer. I look forward to him breaking the banner in his 300th, but think he will struggle if we have a pretty full list to add to that total. He has been a champion of the club in difficult times and his loyalty will see him remembered as a great of the club. Well done NJ. Hopefully there is a bit more left in the tank.

Weid said he is back running next week, so here’s hoping he will be back quicker than first thought.

Brayshaw, Viney, B Brown, Weid, Melksham, Kossie, Hibberd, Lockhart, Hore and Joel Smith if he was not playing, add a bit of depth.

Does anyone know anything about the second game for the rest of the lists?

Went off injured arm. Has had 3 arm breaks. Hope he is ok. Back on looks ok and kicks his 3rd. Kid having a good game.

Premiership ball use against 2nd rate poor disposal. Same problem we have had for years. Sorry it is not poor it is terrible. We are giving them the ball at every opportunity.

Yes, in the middle of an earthquake.

Hope we have enough players to fill the side when the season starts. Seems like quite a few are going down with injuries.

Big call.

I see Preuss is out for a large chunk of the season, as is Hannan. Love when the media say something about a “star” player and when I see the name, I barely know the guy. Talk about accuracy in reporting, though that is probably an oxymoron.

For those hanging out for the answer, it is yes, there was banana in the Açai bowl.

One selection, in playing Preuss with Max, in atrocious conditions in Cairns, really baffled me. Winning that game would have had us in the finals.

One of the reasons I wanted to keep Hunt, who was played out of position there, getting few possies, but as you acknowledge in a difficult position on the field, but scoring when he got the chance.

As part of my new awakened mindset, I am on a health kick and am about to get an Açai bowl at the coffee shop nearby. The question I pose is “ will it contain any banana “. It will probably be only a short time until Majak and I will appear like identical twins, with our rippling torsos bursting through our workout singlets. The only difference to the naked eye will be my slightly paler skin tone. Back to the footy though and I guess the construction sector is in full fly, with all the houses being trained down at footy clubs and needing to be rebuilt.

I wonder if the AFL have put Jeff up to this to force North’s hand.