whatwhat say what

wouldn't cost a lot to bring him in you wouldn't have thought, either trade-wise or contract size. we could have him sitting in our medical room for a prolonged period of time or we could have him create an immediate impact as a third tall / ruck - something we're desperately in need of having alongside hogan and watts, even if the latter has done far better than expected as a spare parts ruckman.

oh really, i had no idea? that's a blow if so. i thought he was only out for last week.

watts has been hugely benefited by stints in the ruck. it brings different assets of his game into the game. i think we definitely need wagner back in - it releases vince to move through the midfield more. i'd like to see oliver back in for his clean hands in possession and tackling intensity. i'd still much prefer mac x2 and frost as our key defenders than bring in garland if we're sticking to the three talls back, three talls forward structure that has clearly been the preference thus far this year. i would expected those most under the kosh would be vandenberg, petracca and dawes, although the latter two are pretty important to our forward line structure. likely ins: wagner, oliver likely outs: vandenberg, stretch and stretch has been good but i think harmes can cover that linebreaking wingman role, and in the darwin conditions we'll need oliver's clean hands at the contest and physical strength. can't see bugg or one of the triumvirate of rotating small forwards going out. B: Jetta - T. McDonald - Frost HB: Hunt - O. McDonald - Wagner C: Vince - N. Jones - M. Jones HF: Petracca - Dawes - Kennedy F: Watts - Hogan - Garlett Foll: Gawn - Tyson - Viney I/C: Oliver - Kent - Bugg - Harmes Emerg: Trengove - vandenBerg - Stretch

would love to get them both for free. if we do somehow land hurley as well as hibberd with a trade as part of the deal, we're going to have to give something of significance up. but if we can get them both without having to trade, it's not durant to dubs level, but i'm happy to take it.

really pleased to see him hunting the ball carrier this week. his intent was there to tackle and tackle hard. kid is a jet.

6: Watts 5: Jetta 4: N Jones 3: Garlett 2: Hunt 1; T McDonald

Tried to take the game on in the last to win and ended up losing by 22 when it could easily have been lost by 10. But at least we tried to take the game on and win. There is a lot to like about the side as it continues to evolve. We need more pace, a genuine third tall, and our tall defenders to learn how to a) read the play and b) kick the ball.

Harmes has been great. Frost we need over Garland, O Mac's youth wins out over Dunn, and we all know Dawes is 'structural'.

'for family reasons' = don't have to move across the country and have been offered big $$ to lead freo's women's team. good luck to her, but big blow for us.

And a young gun when queried about his involvement with their academy vaguely remembers meeting with them once.

Poetic license, redleg

irrelevant, as you've missed my point, which is that howe offers greater value for money than treloar. the latter gets it 30 times and turns it over 15, puts it in a disadvantageous position a further 5 times, and if only a third of his disposals are truly dangerous, plus he's effectively on the wages of howe and tyson combined, i'd argue howe has been a 'better recruit'. treloar is a very, very good player. but he's not a game-changer in my view.

The astute judges are saying that three or four of their zone - cos it's a zone, NOT an academy if truth be told - are top 25 talent. And that doesn't include Marshall, who seems likely to be pick #1 having been removed from the GW$ zone. It's a farce. I wonder if a Hogan contract extension is the first domino that will see Watts, Jetta and T Mac fall into place, or whether the latter three will occur first?

Freo look miles off being a contender. They're ageing and their list profile is all wrong - two more years for Danyle Pearce? Sandi continuing on? Mayne has seen his form drop off a cliff, as has Mundy. They're still in the box seat to bring Cam McCarthy in on the cheap at the end of this season - they dodged a bullet with GW$ not agreeing to what would be now a trade massively in their favour. In terms of Hogan, I'm more concerned about meth coke's intentions at the end of 2017.

He's a natural defender and has arguably been a better recruit than Adam 'burn the ball' Treloar. He'd suit the zone defence we are trying to implement as he reads the ball so well in the air.

that's just silly. we're miles away from where we were three years ago. three years ago they belted us by around 100 in the wet.

forget the 8. the game now is to finish above 12th so that we 'win' the trade with gc17 in terms of 'points value' to bring in oliver / weideman last year instead of having a first round pick this year.

hm, gonna be some tired boys tonight. swans hit and hit hard and dominated in great stretches of time. tough game.

The notion of paying our primary key defender aged 23 a 'mere' $350k is laughable. On the open market his value is probably around $600k. I would expect we will sign him for around $500k over four, as per Bombay's post.

on treloar, i was having a discussion with a pies mate about him v tyson and their relative worth. i would think they're reasonably commensurate? he thinks treloar is way ahead (as he should be, really, as he's on double the pay packet). i, for one, want prestia at the dees in 2017 and beyond as he's clearly a very, very good player and he would clearly benefit our side.

methinks the year was incorrect. the size difference btw eagles 04 and eagles 05 was extraordinary and has been well documented that many believe there was something nefarious afoot over that summer.

It's byo boat I would assume. Flood levels have receded since recent downpour so you can take the 60m stroll to the SCG...

It might be quiet on the tv it at the game the demon roar definitely out powers the pies and the Tigers in games I've gone to this year. And when we boo $cully it's the loudest booing at a game I've ever heard outside of a port-crows showdown.

melksham was a second round pick as a 25 year old player the first year he was with us - i think he was way overrated at this, would've thought closer to a third rounder. lumumba i'd say cost us the equivalent of a fourth round pick - our original offer to the pies - at 28 years of age. hibberd i'd say is worth about a third rounder - probably the first half of the third round, but i would've thought a pick around 35-45 or so. i don't mind if he comes to us as i think he's a pretty good player, but do i think he'll be worth our first pick in a draft, around 28-35 or so? i don't. so therefore, i reckon his value is around about our third round pick. the alternative option is to give them our second and third rounder for their third rounder and hibberd, which would actually bring our third round pick higher as a result. that'd be my preference.

haven't beaten them twince in a season since 88 - when, funnily enough, we beat them three times in a season of football! i was super happy with the way it all played out today. we started like a house on fire, couldn't put it on the board, they got momentum for ten minutes, it evened out for the last quarter, and from the push-and-shove onwards we were absolutely dominant. it was so good to watch. i thought conditions were really tough out there - super swirly wind. gawn is a colossus. if he's not better than goldstein, he's close. vince and jones wasted possession early on but settled into their groove, tyson and viney were excellent, i thought kennedy was really quiet early but as the game moved on he started bobbing up everywhere - had more marks than any other player on the ground. he just kept running. probably my biggest disappointment was the crowd - i had hoped it might approach 70k - we fell 10k short. there was 65k there last time we played them, when it was their home ground i think?