buck_nekkid

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.

We traded our fastest speedster - that would matter if we were a relay team. We are a football team, we didnt trade away our best footballers.

I like Melksham, but think others have to go past him. He may be best 22, but maybe just (if J Smith doesn’t take his spot?) i can’t see our draftees getting too much time as best 22, perhaps they can work themselves into form agree re Hunt perhaps being ‘Fringe’. If we look at 2018 form, 2019 form, or average of both we end up with wildly different predictions about who ends up where.

This may be why we didnt chase Jenkins? If we really think he is a good forward ruck prospect and available at 8, then best available at 3, him at 8, would be a great reason why we moved up this year.

Maybe we bid on him with 8? Given the talent thereabouts, we get exactly who we want with essentially the first live pick of the draft, then see what plays out. We ca take our time now to get that first pick right, then have a plan for what emerges at 8. After that, we can go to the pub.

So we have Werridee’s ‘best 22’ for 2020, however it is interesting to think about who is ‘depth’ and who are ‘fringe 22’ Here are some of my thoughts Fringe (can get a gig): Melksham Jones (where do we fit him into the 22?) Preuss (?) Vandenberg Sparrow Dunkley OMac .... and here is where it starts to get interesting Depth (gotta be a lot of development or injuries for them to get a run) Jordon Nietschke Chandler Bedford Bradtke Spargo (a big call) ANB (teacher’s pet??) If we can keep a fit team on the paddock, then these guys can all enjoy extended (development) time at Casey. So who would be in each of your lists??

Romance. FS, FFS. Not sure he cost us much in terms of pick though? He was apparently a great and professional clubman, and ‘nearly’ made it into a role player, just never quite got over the line.

I suppose that both of these players had the opportunity to ‘own’ a wing, or even be a hff. Unfortunately, looking at the list, they are now both a long way back. If we work on the principle that 80% of our players should be fit (rather than 50%) then these guys would simply not get a look in to the AFL squad with the addition of two specific wingers and we have the biggest bunch of half forward flankers going around. Thanks for your service, gentlemen, and good luck with what comes your way.

We never had Darwin as a zone, it was always seen as too good at developing players to be a zone...except as a sweet gift for the Gold Coast Banana Splits. Our Zone is Alice Springs, I think. Home zone of Liam Jurrah. Can’t think of another player developed out of there???

TMac, Weid, j Smith, Hannan and Fritsch. Add Trac, and a resting mid. That should be the bulk of it, with Langdon and Tomlinson sweeping forward for a few. You have to think that when fit and in form, these guys can get amongst it.

Looking at the top 10, with the knowledge the top 2 are gone, we really can’t too badly from this selection. 3 and 8 should do us nicely, thank you!