whatwhat say what

I think the push for may is that each year you want to add something that becomes a 'best 22' automatic. See Hibberd, Michael and Lewis, Jordan in 2017. I think Hannan, Mitch could well be the same - but he was a speculative pick; another Jason Taylor masterstroke. Would May be best 22 for us? 100%. But if Maclure is right and he is about to sign up at GC17 (which he really should, as he's their skipper plus Ablett is leaving and thus clearing a lot of cap space for them) then we have to look elsewhere. Our tall defenders are T Mac, Frost, O Mac, Keilty with Garland, J Smith, Hibberd at a pinch - but really they're more rebounders. None are overly tall nor capable of particularly strong one-on-one contests...but all have strengths / weaknesses. A best 22 key defender would be a fantastic addition to the side - May, Lever, Trengove - and is something most fans are baying for in 2018. I'm definitely keen on Trengove as a free agent personally.

The other advantage of Trengove (over May) is his flexibility whereby he can play in the ruck and also pinch-hit up forward as required. I'm definitely warming to getting him as a free agent and holding onto our first round pick rather than giving anything up for May / Lever, as much as I love Lever. You'd expect they'd all be on similar $$ but getting Trengove would cost us nada in terms of giving anything up (other than the cap space) to get him in.

Neither Lever or May have the height to match the modern 200cm+ mobile key forwards - fortunately our zone defensive style is the key to guarding those monster talls. I'll take either tbh I find it hard to fathom the captain of a side walking out on his side - but such is the nature of modern footy I guess

Josh Begley was taken with pick 29, which became 31.

He's a great addition to the team

jake = woogie but generally speaking his 'mail' is better than most

adam sambono sounds like an interesting talent. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-05-19/exception-is-made-for-exceptional-talent

mccartin. no one questions trac's i would've thought he had all the hallmarks of a power forward - if he's not making serious waves by year 5 it might be a concern, but massive units like mccartin take time. i'm guessing certain clubs are 'talking him down' to try to reduce his trade value, which is patently ridiculous.

apparently clubs are questioning his body shape for modern afl.

yes, ballenden, that's the one. said he think he's the best prospect at this stage and wouldn't be surprised if whoever holds #1 bids on him first up.

Someone whose I said to me last week that this current crop of Vic Metro and Vic Country kids 'may be the worst ever'. He reckons there's 5-10 really good kids and then, he said 'a whole lot of plodders'. Reckons Brander and Fogerty are pretty clear standouts, and some tall forward kid that Brisbane has academy access to too.

weed's hands have looked good i thought. but at the moment he's not getting his hands on it. mccartin doesn't get involved at the moment either, but he's significantly bigger than weideman at this stage.

That's very interesting the diabetics stuff. Not a good outlook moving forward for McCartin

do you go for st. kilda?

it's the same quote every year. "this year is okay, but wait'll you get a load of next year's crop!"

I'm personally pretty happy with the way O Mac is developing, but I'd say T Mac was playing a key role for us as a defender at around the same age / development? Great post Axis.

gw$ are going to have to lose some more mids. as we all know, north have thrown the chequebook at kelly. whitfield has long been rumoured to leave for hawthorn. it'll be interesting to see where they go, if they go.

joel garner better come off the long run!

nup. not calling for brayshaw's trading either; just that as a clearly highly-rated player he may have value.

actually, i did.

i really hope so. he's stopped developing at this stage imo.

no, i don't "want" anyone delisted - i want them all to succeed. but i'm cognizant of the fact that, at the moment, brayshaw is tracking no better than toumpas as a player. i would love it if he could become a valuable contributor to the side, but at the moment is averaging less than 15 disposals a game at 68% efficiency across 33 games. it's not good enough, just as toumpas' average of less than 15 disposals a game at 74% efficiency across 35 games is similarly not good enough for a modern footballer be they a midfielder or a push-up half forward. if brayshaw was what we had to give up to get a lever in, i'd do the deal in a heartbeat.

Our backline is thin tho and lacking in skill - at the moment Lumumba and Garland are 'gone' for their career and 2017 respectfully, Frost cannot maintain fitness, and Hibberd has come to the club and immediately broken down at the age of 26, 27. Lever's skills are miles higher than the two Macs - and I'm a big fan of both those boys, but they lack the natural ability of Lever. Midfielders can always be found - there's an expectation that Petracca will go into the midfield, Stretch is getting better all the time, and ANB has started 2017 in much the same form as Brayshaw (middling, at best). It's always "easier" to find mids than quality ball-using key defenders.

But that's the things @TickleMeTyson - you've got to give to get. Brayshaw's ceiling is high; so too is Lever's. I'd argue that the latter has more scope for improvement and greater natural ability than Brayshaw. Both are highly rated, and if we have to give to get, Brayshaw could be a possibility - he's definitely rated higher than ANB for instance, and Stretch (who I'd argue has more impact on a game-to-game basis than Brayshaw).

I just don't rate Brayshaw. He can't get the ball and when he does get it he turns it over. Either he improves massively in 2017 or he's trade bait for mine.