whatwhat say what

that really wasn't that far away from voges just then.

great start for australia.

yr not wrong. reckon we can entice pendles over?

he didn't suffer from concussion, he had what sounds like an injury to the neck. if he's right, play him. if he's not, don't. we shall see, i guess. i've come around to the idea of fitz being in. if he's in, and presuming brayshaw is passed fit: B: Jetta - Fitzpatrick - Dunn HB: Garland - T. McDonald - Cross C: Tyson - N Jones - Brayshaw HF: Watts - Dawes - vandenBerg F: Howe - Hogan - Garlett Foll: Gawn - Vince - Viney I/c: Toumpas - Lumumba - ANB Sub: JKH Emerg: Stretch - Jamar - M Jones if brayshaw misses, stretch comes in. the idea of n jones, vince, viney, tyson, vandenberg, brayshaw and occasional stints from lumumba, garlett, cross, and toumpas being a midfield rotation is very encouraging.

zaharakis doesn't have any such threat over his head, as he's not one of the 34. from memory, neither is zach merrett, but there's no way the bombers will give him up. zaka would be a fine addition to our side, but bombers, as is their wont, would demand hogan, brayshaw and some magic beans for him, and then go off in a huff when we declared that price was a bit steep. our second rounder (18-25ish) would be what you'd want to pay.

we need players who can see ball, get ball, use ball. if if he can get over his knee injury without any major concerns - and it's a big IF at this stage, as apparently it was a pretty nasty one - then we'd be mad not to chase prestia. in terms of targetting players from the northern clubs, prestia and treloar would be top tier, dixon, bennell and josh kelly next, and then the likes of plowman (richmond want him), tomlinson, leuenberger (again, tigers into him in a big way apparently), lonergan, et al.

hm, interesting with 'vandemon' and grimes also up and about... i'd expect lumumba, vandenberg would practically be auto-ins. jkh must come under consideration given we'll need run, and lots of it.

dunkley hasn't confirmed whether he wants to go to the swans yet. he has plenty of time to nominate himself as a father-son, i believe? he may prefer to go into the draft.

no, it really isn't. when hogan comes out of contract, the new cba will have been arranged - the aflpa is trying to get it tied to revenue in the game, around the 25% mark. hogan could easily pull in $1m a season in his third contract, and wouldn't even be that extravagant. i wonder what the tipping point is going to be for the afl to really become a different sort of business.

garland has already been speculated to be worth $500k+ on the open market. tall third defenders are hard to find.

he's a fair bit taller than 190cm now, isn't he? i guess it'll all depend on who finishes stone motherless. blues could use a weitering, lions would love a schache, gc17 would probably take either, and we would go schache, i guess (the real answer is callum mills, of course).

Oh yes, slip of the thumb... Apparently it's Dixon and Bennell: http://m.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/gold-coast-plan-to-lose-harley-bennell-and-charlie-dixon-20150706-gi6g1z.html Our first rounder, second rounder and Howe.

Caro is saying Bennell is on the move - would love him, I reckon with Roos, Goodwin, McCarthy and Jetta to take him under his wing like he has with Garlett GET HIM TO THE DEMONS!!

that's fantastic news. god i hope he can get back and play the way we want, and need, him to do.

confirmed by moloney prior to the start of the season. unbelievable, to be honest.

whether or not he's in play might be irrelevant, as we're at 100% of the cap, don't have anyone notable on big money going (possible exception being jamar), and have a couple of reasonably significant players - garland, howe - out of contract. also, i can't see treloar leaving gws, and if he does, i can't seem him heading for the dees.

this.

there's every chance that mills and weideman are the players with the greatest potential to be stars in this year's draft crop. one is just a consummate midfield mover, and the other has a genuine 'presence' a bit like hogan - his read on the ball and ability to position himself in the contest to mark it is, according to the scouts, first rate. can't see him dropping out of the first 5-10 by the time the draft comes around; if he can get back and play the back half of the tac cup or excel at the camp, he could push himself right up into top handful contention.

Is suntan set on Balic because he played with Brayshaw and Roos Jr last year, plus had time at the Dees as did Brayshaw the year before?

saints have one player on their injury list. one. makes the world of difference. they've also got a heap of players with a welter of experience: - riewoldt - montagna - ray - dempster - gilbert - schneider with big game finals experience. steven and armitage are like two nathan joneses for them too. make no mistake, they've recruited well but they've also been astute with who they've let go and who they've got playing on.

if we were unfortunate / incompetent enough to finish it that position, it'd be whichever of schache or weitering that wasn't selected i would expect. or, better yet, do another tyson / #9 for #2 / our second second rounder trade again. preferably without giving up the later pick too.

there's no doubt that his expected worth has been thrown by the last minute offer from gws last year - don't forget, whilst melbourne might've liked it, it was ultimately jeremy's choice to stay with us and not leave. gws were pretty sneaky making the offer with a half an hour to go in the transfer period, and there's no telling how much it's messed with his head in terms of where his place is within the side and where his value lies on the open market. personally i still think he's best utilised defensively; he gets absolutely lost deep forward.

Still not worth it for gc17. O'Meara is an elite player when fit, but his knee issues would also be a consideration.

5th? i'd say he's about on a par with viney, just behind vince and jones. he's so damaging with the ball in hand, plus he's arguably the best tackler in the team...the wellingham one where he got injured excepted.

it'll be interesting to see what essendon play like today, given that they've completely recast their side in the wake of injuries to bellchambers and carlisle. mckernan is a player who'll never stop trying, but has limited ability - however, he does get around the ground to impact contests. i guess daniher rotates with him? they're going to need to completely rejig their forward line; watson to play deep? hurley to go forward? they're definitely looking nippier down there with the inclusion of winderlich, the merrett bros, zaharakis rotating through etc. i agree with everyone who says we need to have some fresh legs coming in after the darwin game. OUT: bail, m jones, spencer, (brayshaw?) IN: lumumba, jkh, newton, (michie?) fitzpatrick would also definitely have to come into consideration, as we don't have an 'occasional' ruckman without pedersen available as well, and he could simply go wherever daniher goes, be it deep forward, up the ground, or into the ruck. the biggest concern re that is that we're way too top heavy with fitz joining dunn, t mac, garland, hogan, dawes, gawn, plus howe all in the side limiting running rotations. could this be the week howe gets dropped?