whatwhat say what

Lever has had a far superior start to his career than Brayshaw - he can hit a target by foot which helps. Brayshaw to Carlton, Gibbs to Adelaide, Lever to Melbourne plus a shuffle of draft picks. You've got to give something to get something, and Brayshaw could easily be the makeweight in any deal to get the likes of Lever in.

i remember prior to the draft i was speaking to a champion data employee who was also a saints supporter - he was 100% confident that they were going to pick trac as he was, clearly in his view, the best underage player they'd ever seen in terms of where his ratings sat, and his influence upon games. he was shocked when it turns around to 'needs' rather than 'best available' and they picked mccartin.

i still think mccartin is going to be a very good player - he reads the flight of the ball well and is a terrific mark, but at this stage he simply doesn't look anything like fit enough to play afl-level football. the concussion issue is a massive concern tho. i would ask whether it's worth saints re-tooling him as someone who can learn the trade as a defender first, but his leading patterns and the like are actually pretty good; he doesn't need to follow good forwards around learning where and when to run, cos it seems pretty instinctual to him. so at the moment he's just a bit of an overweight key forward - and make no mistake, i think he'll end up a better forward than bruce or membrey, the latter of whom is a classic undersized third tall and the former who is a hit-and-miss player. fwiw, i am so very, very happy with weideman. once he starts clunking the marks he's getting his hands to - hopefully this week against the blues - he's going to be a really strong aerial threat who is a pearler of a kick both at goal and around the ground. petracca has the arrogance of stringer and neck tatts and hopefully will be better than both.

Gotta be GW$. Took the best 17 year olds out of drafts when we were down and a rabble desperate for quality kids, stole our #1 picked player, dominated drafts as we continued to struggle along, and currently have a winning record over us, one of few teams they do already in their young life. I loathe them.

carltank supporting mate is celebrating already. he's convinced they're finishing stone motherless and will appeal for a priority pick, have picks 1 and 2 at the table, and pick up these two potential gw$ boys. i personally think if that does happen it's far more likely sos will give picks 1 and 2 to gw$ for some magic beans, but whatever...

when you look at those numbers, the biggest differential is the 18 months age gap that tyson has on kelly. also interesting that whilst dom makes 1 more 'clanger' per game, his actual de% is higher, and obviously as an inside player dom's clearances are slightly higher and kelly's i50s are slightly higher. both are very, very good players - easy to argue that kelly's ceiling is higher, but i think the trade in and of itself is a classic win-win.

It is such good news, reading yr posts drunkn you can feel the excitement. Go Dec and go Dees!

i think of it as lewis and hibberd for our second round pick. unbelievable result.

they want our second round this year; we've offered second round next year. it'll go back and forth and be thrown around how to get it done and then one way or the other it'll happen, primarily cos they need his contract off their books due to all their new deals for various peptide payments to players like hurley et al who were out of contract.

he wants his kid at the dees? happy days.

his reading of the play and his attack on the ball - particularly after salem went down - was very exciting to watch.

It's more what we give up to get him that concerns me. I think he'll help us add depth and skill, but I still say he's a solid but unspectacular player. Same as his old buddy Melksham who I would argue has more variable attributes which makes him a more beneficial depth player, whereas Hibberd should be a lock-down best half-back. However, he is completely one-sided and limited in terms of flexibility in a game that is increasingly becoming about variety of roles that can be played and skills that can be executed. If we pay more than our 2017 second round pick we've been gypped.

Shaw was a general at the pies and he's a general at the Giants. Hibberd is a solid foot soldier. He'd absolute be best 22 for 14 or so sides I would guess, including ours, but I fear we will way overpay for a solid player who is limited to only playing one position.

I still don't see the massive appeal of Hibberd. He's a 27 year old one sided half back flanker who has never been able to be part of the midfield rotation. In modern football more often than not yr back 7 consists of a genuine small (Jetta), three talls (Mac x2, Frost) then a rotation of ostensible midfield runners who rotate back. He strikes me as a classic 'good, ordinary' player and I cannot understand what massive benefit he would bring to our side.

Good kicks, smart kicks, and clearance players.

Don't see how - he's not going to win centre clearances.

Agreed, I said as much the same to the source - my guess is just a bomber trying to justify losing a best 22 player. Like the velvety sledgehammer saying keeping Hurley and Walla = more important than having those dudes plus Hibberd.

Got this from today someone involved at the bombers: "Rumours swirling that Hibberd has been offered around 725k for 4 years from the Dees" That better be a joke. No way he's worth close to that.

Loving his contribution to the team.

As a matter of interest, would the median age / games played provide a different perspective?

That's less of a blow that Viney. He picked a shocking time to break his hand throwing a punch.

That's nuts how young and inexperienced we are.

kid looks a jet in the making. should've nailed at least three of his four points today.

he would waltz into our forward line and provide a great chop-out for gawn. very, very good player.

Callum Mills should take out the rising star I reckon. Petracca and Oliver will hopefully split people on which Melbourne young gun to vote for...