whatwhat say what

helluva player rated super highly internally but not nearly enough externally

the obvious answer is oliver given the amount of games he's played, his age, and his durability thus far left field option could be charlie spargo

what a career he had can't wait for his kids to be in red and blue in 20-odd years

bang bang. bang. bang.

brayshaw and may

the feeling of panic when he did his hamstring in the prelim was my worst football-related feeling in 2021

bobby hill has shown a lot of promise in his first 30 games, but i can completely understand why we would prefer someone like kade chandler who we've had in our system for the last several years and is a 'next best fit' selection over a prospective pick-up from another club

is this the same mick malthouse who writes utter garbage in the little paper and talks complete rubbish on aunty? fraser might've been 'belted up' but he was the #1 ruckman from the get go in a side that was a regular finals side and he played in excess of 200 games across a 13 year career, was vice-captain of his club, and more than held his own as #1 ruck over the course of his time

josh fraser was picked #1, was his side's #1 ruckman from almost his first season in a regular finals outfit and in consecutive grand finals, and played over 200 games across the course his career - it's a complete myth that he was 'belted' early because, like jackson, he was an expert reader of the ball and knew how to position himself to be effective not just as a ruckman but almost as a ruck-rover type due to his athleticism for mine, the closest comparison jackson has is as an oversized adam goodes - he can play ruck, midfield, forward, and potentially on the wing too a true 'utility' in the old way of thinking

so next year it'll be 7 players taking pay cuts!

i am still pissy he was ROBBED of a possession by champion data's bean counters and the sole mantle of being the #1 possession getter in a premiership

like most folks, i don't see him going anywhere there was some talk from an actual reliable source - it may even have been jake niall? - that his parents are actually looking to move to melbourne

i would all the talk is that he's firming for top 10 if not top 5 i think the immediate success we've had with luke jackson has changed the attitude to prospective hybrid ruck / forwards

is he a titch 'small' for a modern key position tall? they're more and more around the 200cm mark...

signed for $200k less with carlton per annum than he was offered from freo we couldn't get the trade done, clearly

joel hamling left straight after being a key defender in a premiership side too so that's five who've left - jones, hamling, adams, roughead, and now young meanwhile they brought in alex keath as a kp defender from the crows at not inconsiderable expense

not even melbourne under neeld was THAT bad 😈

hewett, cerra, and young for pick 6, a future 3rd, and sps is a big win for the bluebaggers imo the way footscray treat players that others play as key defenders is really strange over the last decade or so - jones, roughhead, and now young are all or are likely to be long-term key position defenders for their new clubs

important thing to remember - lenny hayes personally chose to pass his #7 jumper on to dunstan, so once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away (pre-ratten, basically) the aints REALLY rated dunstan

not named jack; are we SURE he's an aints player?

don't rate; don't hate he'd be basically replacing nate jones as our 28th player?

https://www.afl.com.au/news/65216/the-behind-the-scenes-guy-who-rebuilt-the-dees choice quote: "In my job, ideally you don't want to be going to a club after they've won a premiership. You want to be going to Melbourne, who hasn't won one (since 1964) – it's a challenge you're seeking to show your competitive spirit," Taylor told AFL.com.au.

footywire is yr friend for this sort of thing... https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/td-melbourne-demons 2010-15: pick 12 2010 - lucas cook pick 33 2010 - jeremy howe pick 36 2011 - rory taggert pick 2 2012 - jesse hogan (priority) pick 4 2012 - jimmy toumpas pick 26 2012 - jack viney (father/son) pick 9 2013 - christian salem pick 2 2014 - christian petracca pick 3 2014 - angus brayshaw pick 40 2014 - alex neal-bullen pick 42 2014 - billy stretch pick 4 2015 - clayton oliver pick 9 2015 - sam weideman so six premiership players from 13 selected in that time period, one other still on our list, and two others elsewhere 2016-2020: no 1st or 2nd round 2016 pick 29 2017 - charlie spargo pick 31 2017 - bayley fritsh pick 37 2017 - harrison petty pick 27 2018 - tom sparrow pick 33 2018 - james jordon pick 3 2019 - luke jackson pick 12 2019 - kysaiah pickett pick 32 2019 - trent rivers pick 21 2020 - jake bowey pick 22 2020 - bailey laurie so nine premiership players from 10 selected (!), all still on our list i think the more pertinent thing to look at is when jason taylor joined - in 2013 in that time he's made 18 first or second round selections, all bar one remain on our list, and 14 are premiership players

plays a more difficult role than the likes of dunstan so gets judged far more harshly by all and sundry played in 10 games this year for a 9-1 result for the reigning premiers if we'd lost a neal-bullen or plugger mac during the run-in to the premiership, he may well have been next 'in'

i'd rather invest inside mid rotation time into sparrow and jordon, and possibly woewodin or moniz-wakefield or who knows who else if he wants to play first or potentially second midfield rotation then i don't think he'd be wanting to come to us i don't particularly rate; i don't particularly hate him