buck_nekkid

In a way, we have traded next year’s first (in a highly compromised draft) for a top 10 this year. We still hold a pick in the 20’s, just shifted back a pinch. Overall, I think that is a good play. Some additional thoughts: 10 will now be about 12, with Green and Henry nominations to happen before then. 97 will not have to be used, so expect no upgrades of rookies. 10 still sits in play for live trading, if a desperate suitor comes knocking... I suspect we know the order of the top 10, and are comfortable that we can get our targeted players with these picks, and then we add a further player as well.

We dont hand Giants anything. We make a choice, then they respond. Our decisions need to be based around us winning a flag. GWS have put themselves in a great position (with massive kick along from AFL and academies), but we have to focus on us, not get distracted with this stuff. It is all nasty froth and bubbles and the moment. Lets see how it drops, but the recruiters (I assume) are thinking about MFC, making us the best that we can be. At the moment they are only kids with talent, but we are led to believe that they are all somehow ‘superstars’ that will impact games from day 1 (Toumpas anyone, or is it still too soon?). Its a fun time for the couch experts, but (player X) is not the messiah, he is just a naughty boy...

The time trial is not what they are training for, but rather a measure of one type of fitness. Regardless of what they run in the time trial, the players are being developed around specialised programs and the time trial time is only a marker of where they are at now. DB spoke about the number of repeat sprints required for footballers, so this is probably more ‘match like’ to train than the 3Km. Good to see the guys put in solid efforts, and I’m sure there will be PB’s and improvements for players. However, I want to see them with footies in their hands, repeat sprints and skill training. Looking at the photos, so many players have returned in great physical nick, and are throwing themselves into a program that will make them better and ready for 2020. This i am liking!

Looking at this, its Anderson / Jackson and Ash https://apple.news/Axx_5B9duSWm0TcaqRY4fRA Champion Data makes interesting reading of the top 30.

I have settled on Young at 3, and Serong at 8. Jackson would need to be out of the box special to go at 3 in this draft, and so I think there are others better for us right now. I also think 8 is so open, with Kemp, Flanders etc also potentially being available. I think we would need to be offered way overs in value to trade down the order, and We can always have this as an option in play if the price is right - very right - to make us give up the chance to draft at 8. The only way I see it happening is if the players we would want at 8 are already taken.

It would be good to also have a depth measure. Last year, we would have been 18th. Hopefully we keep our best players on the park. Pushed us down the list last year when we had too many injuries. BTW we are equal 7th! Certainly follows the trends - last year Brissie would not have made his top 8, now they are top 4! Does this system mean Collingwood are nearly twice as ‘talented’ as us??

Sounds like a viable tall half forward ‘roamer’ rather than a kp forward. With Preuss, Weid, TMAc and Petty (+/-) as tall forwards, I think he is depth and coverage. However, as 2019 shows, you gotta bat deep.

I hope GCS pick him back up. Laughs all round, I’d reckon!

Cal Twomey had us with young at 3 and weightman at 8! Agree with Young, don’t think so re Weightman. Would take Sarong by a mile.

But he didn’t spew, so he’s not training hard enough. Who else wants to write to the club and demand more?

If we believe he is worth it, we should go hard at him with 3, and see if GWS want to play. If they do, it costs them and we move on to next best, and if not we get a gun midfielder. Would not be surprised if this plays out on draft night.

But don’t touch the face! Channel 4 news....

If we were going to sign him DFA, wouldn’t we have done so by now? Perhaps we are looking at rookie or supplemental list? We would have to be certain no one else wanted him as well if we were to do this.

Wow. Fantastic. What a brilliant interview. So pleased he is in the red and the blue!

@Demonland, does this now warrant a ‘welcome’ title change???

Thanks for the training report, Saty. Much appreciated that you make the effort and reports back here. I was thinking that AFL is becoming a lot like Biathalon. High heart rates and intensities, followed by moments where slow heart rate and accurate skill execution (goal kicking, foot skills, hand skills) are required. I imagine the best way to train for this is interval and recovery training, with lactate tolerance work. We talk about disposal efficiency and goal kicking efficiency, but if you have just sprinted your guts out and have poor cardiovascular recovery, then the fine motor skill required is probably going to be massively influenced. This is why the shot clock can be so important. 2019, if the list were not fit enough around this, it is no wonder their skills were degraded. Lets see how they train up this pre-season to be able to recover fast and perform the core skills when not recovered (and under pressure).

Ben King vs Steven May? What exactly has King done? We filled a massive hole (hands up who would want a backline of OMac and Frost going into a final?), and got a leader. We might only get a few years out of him, but the aim is to win a flag in that time. Ben king will still be a skinny kid, finding his way. Cornes can have his opinion. It will swing like a dunny door if we do well next year. It is how the industry works.

Its so hard to put a true value on it. Humans operate with loss aversion (losses are always valued more than the equivalent gain), ownership bias (we value what we own higher than what we do not), and we suffer from peak-end effect (remember one highlight, or the last moment, as the basis for judging the value of a time period - it is also known as duration neglect). On top of that is hindsight bias and narrative bias, where we look back like we already knew, and conveniently fit facts to a story (MFCSS and Norms curse, anyone?) So, given that we are terrible judges from an emotive standpoint, perhaps its only stats and ladder position that can help? I suppose in every case, the thought at the time was that we would be better off as a list without them. In a way, once they are gone, who really cares? If the player thrives in another system, good on them. All I can hope is that the players we bring in thrive in our system, and make them even better than what they were at their old clubs. So the answer is: Who knows? (And perhaps it is entirely the wrong question???)

I like that everyone gets something different from JT’s interview. How cool is it that he can say so much, yet actually say nothing at all? He throws out a few hooks, partially agrees with some of the suggestions, and gets through a whole half hour without anyone actually knowing squat. 10/10

Why scrape this up again? The bloke wanted to leave! Got nothing to do with anything to do with Frost. BTW: Lever is not and will not be an ‘inferior replacement’, except in the mark of the year stakes. BTW2: Frost? Oh the hawks player! Let it go, man.

This is just good due diligence from Bennell and his manager. No use claiming love for one club yet. Get medicals from them all (assuming you will pass), have a nice meal and a chat with whomever is footing the bill, and see what firm offers come in. Suggest he may get a few ‘offers to train on’ from different clubs, and then he gets to make a choice - select one now with a promise of getting on a list if he meets certain targets, or train at a few and make himself open to the PSD. Given we have pick 2 in the PSD and rookie drafts, perhaps we hold a pretty good hand either way?

If he has been de-listed, then the Pies can’t broker anything. He becomes a DFA regardless. Trading players also stopped with the trade period. What I find interesting is how little we ‘leak’ information - At best it is only media guesswork that we are on the list of ‘interested parties’. Like us, they seem to know very little about our actual plans. Apart from his ‘Mumford moment’, he has attributes that could be useful to the list. I would not be unhappy if he was picked up by Melbourne.

With a big Maxx jammed down the front....

Can you really see any draftees being best 22? I would expect them to go into ‘Fringe’ straight away.

Sounds like a completely different start to the pre-season than last year, when at this time at least half of the first 22 were recovering from various surgeries. If the training plans are already underway and the guys are doing this plus ‘extra bike sessions’ etc, we should start pre-season in such a better spot than last year. Jack taking some youngsters North to train in more humid/hot conditions to increase the load is a very clear demonstration of leadership. I imagine the pressure is on for him to keep the captaincy, with Max snapping at his heels for either a share or the full mantle. Good to see him stepping up and leading.