Dappa Dan

I think for sure we have to go up and kick the tires. Problem is what do we have to trade with... and also how much room. I really am comfortable with the list. Mess with it too much and you can break up a good mix.

What we think is happening vs what is ACTUALLY happening behind the scenes. I really do suspect it's way more game of thrones than any of us ever learn. As such, I have a strong feeling Lever has kept one eye on the demons all along, and has had his manager keeping him in our thoughts since he was a teenager at Romsey. In the last 12 months he's been watching how we play. It's all basically coming together. As another side note, a guy I used to work with lives in Romsey and knows his family. Says the reports about him are true. You can't find more stand up citizens and strong character than Lever and his family. Appears those reports are true as well. I was really [censored] we didn't get Prestia as I had him rated really high. Look at all this stuff now.

Stop it. STOP IT. Actually. A few months ago I spoke to his juniors coach at Rovers. A bloke named Tim. Bit of a character, so take it for what it's worth... but the more beer me and my old man plied him with the more gossip he threw our way about the demons. He spoke about Hunt (fast but sprays it), Salem (skilled and good player but lacks ticker for the contest), and Brayshaw (lost count of the amount of times he carried him off the ground with concussions)... At this point I put it to him he likes finding the negative about players. He agreed, and said he does go straight to what can go wrong with them. Old habit of a coach. Then he threw in that they have another kid in the group he said he can't find anything wrong with at all. Kelly. How crazy is it that all 4 grew up together and now all four are some of the most sought after talent in the AFL.

I was thinking about that... Speaking pure game theory... The rest of the league will be paying a hefty HEFTY price for a first rounder in 2018... But look at our list. We are so stacked. Whatever player we get will find it hard to squeeze in. And to make matters worse a 198cm+ King twin will need 5 years (they always do)... I reckon if you're smart, you get market value for a first rounder next year. Personally, I absolutely do think we need to give two first rounders for two reasons. 1, our picks will be very late first rounders and 2, you need to pay overs to get a kid like Lever. The key phrase there is market value. I'm all for trading 2018 picks... if we get our due in return. I have Lever that high. What's more, from what I hear, Taylor was all over him like a rash on draft day and has been ever since.

Ooooh. Don't... DON'T

I feel like that will be our starting offer. I've been saying 1st 2017 and 1st 2018 for a while and I still think it'll end up that, possibly with some swaps of later picks thrown in. Part of the reason for that is that in years gone by, those picks might be in the 1-7 range. Now they'll be pick 10-14ish for the first one, and pick 15-18 for the next. Hardly high on points value. I feel like we might do some dinky thing like take both our first rounders, and we get their 2018 second rounder back. Apparently 2018 runs pretty deep, so to end up with two picks around the 30-36 mark... we might be able to get that kid we've targeted. Or even flip both to move into the early twenties. Keep in mind our list profile now. We have heaps of good players who are in the sweet age spot. We don't have heaps of room. If you mean because you think we got shafted out of the Kelly deal... no glasses here. Tyson and Salem for Kelly. Loved it. Would do again.

Every time I see him with an arm around a kid player whispering, I forget he's there... been huge.

Zing. I reckon he wasn't right. In the last few minutes following a contest on the boundary he only jog/walked back to his mark and was very ginger despite not taking contact. Bit of a decoy role I feel. So do we know Oliver wasn't hurt? If that's cramp then it must have been a helluva cramp.

Lol. Yup.

Exactly what I said before round 5. Tigers are terrible (and they are, I agree with you there). And I DID put the house on it. lol

Certainly not Dons at Etihad. I'm ok with them at the G though. I mean... whoever we take on they're gonna be handy. Best to keep it in Vic. Yeah. Richmond, sure. But losing to them? If we did... and I'm not saying they're better... but if we did. Way more galling.

Is it worth starting a new thread? Hypothetically, if you make the finals, who do you want as your week 1 opponent? Away and Home. Watching West Coast Choke... If we got them week 1 at the G, that would be ideal. I don't mind playing Dons at the G either. Sydney will be last on most lists.

Yeah. Add to that the perhaps natural improvement a bit of confidence will produce. Will he go from 15 to 20 then 25 touches... And yeah very interesting. I've always thought that Jetta is our only pure shut down guy. Omac, TMac and Frost as the bigs all have rebounding and possession winning as strengths. Hibberd is a sensational set up guy. Lewis too. Salem. Hunt. They're all KNOWN rebounders. So you may be right. A stay at home guy with a simple job could excel. And yes, we did look THAT good in the first half that you have to look closely at how we got it so right. Certainly if we take on the Power again. I love Jack. And want the best for him. But I also consider the knowns. When he did get his few games back a couple of years ago, he was one of those Brock McLean fast starter types who'd have 12 touches at quarter time, and 20 by the end of the game. I worry that what we saw yesterday is his ceiling. I will say this though... he's still a beautiful user. How do we harness that.

Fair enough. I think it also comes down to matchups and, in the end, I suspect the same old story where dappa rates JKH higher than Trenners... and Ox rates Trenners higher than JKH. Interestingly, sentences 2 and 3 above.. agree with everything... but I assess it the opposite way. I'd LOVE it to work out as Jones getting midfield time less, along with the rest. I want to see them rotate more so Viney doesn't break down. I feel like in a final, we'll hold teams at bay and put Gawn, Viney and Jones on the bench til the last ten minutes of the last quarter when they come on and put us over the line. I love the idea of pulling our punches until such a time as we need them. Having just completed watching the replay. I think people (rightly) are being kind to Trenners. He wasn't a passenger necessarily... but as a defender, he wasn't Jetta either and shut his man down. JKH on the other hand had a handful of fantastic disposals. High risk that came off. Once again, I like JKH... so I play him. Jones for Trenners, Lewis goes back and dappa is happia. All good points tho ox. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. See you in a few days.

I hear this logic every week, for every team. Giants have injuries and are flakey and only playing on talent. Adelaide score heavily until Sloane is tagged. Port have no injuries and have won against lower teams so they're "nothing." Conversely demons have beaten teams higher up on the ladder, so that means they're great, right? Conveniently avoiding the fact we lost games to Hawthorn, Freo and somehow, North... All of whom aren't strong sides. We can use stats to make an argument any way we like. All I look at these days is purely one-sided football. I check out teams I think are awesome regardless of opposition. What they look like when they're confident and getting the rub of the green from the umpires. And how they play defensively. For example, the Dons when they're on are as good as anyone. When they're off they're undisciplined and inaccurate. Look at Port. When they're on, they have awesome attacking players and ooze class with Boak, Wingard, Gray and Dixon who I rate. When they're off they still defend and can play dour. Like I said, they have the balance across their starting 22. Injuries be damned. We're not comparing lists going forward, we're comparing the 22 that play and will play for the last few weeks of the season and finals. If we were comparing lists, demons would be in second place across the league, only behind the Giants. Like I say. I rate Port, and since they have the percentage, I still pick them to end up 4th. Beat the Ginats in two weeks and I'll review.

Yeah. Braysh, Jones, AVB and Vince are the only players you could argue are in our best 22 that missed. I reckon had Wingard not gotten hurt they might have pushed us even closer too. Let's not forget also we were at the G. I don't buy that their success is down to an injury list. I've watched them play closely this year and they have been, at least in patches, absolutely superb. They've got the lot. 3-4 good mids now with Wingard in. An absolute superstar in Gray. Some good talls in Hoff, Dixon, Trengove... and a dominant Ruck. They're balanced, quick and skilled and have flair. I thought they'd find holes in us and expose them. Then of course, they scored their first goal with a few minutes left in the first half. I could barely believe my App.

Why not? He's played there for significant time all year? And with Tyson and Viney already back in and flying, we're back to our starting midfield. I'm not saying he'll play there the whole game. Just that he'll do periods there the way we've done all year putting two behind the ball. The only guy playing serious game time in the backline that's missing is Vince. Of course all those players played yesterday in the same backline. We have the full list of starters in. That's my point. So back to the first question. Who goes out if Jones comes back. I reckon it's Trengove. I feel like JKH after a good game first up might retain his spot over Trenners. And I don't think Trengove is required in the backline. Or midfield for that matter as we have that many names, and Trenners doesn't provide the rebound we're looking for.

Not JKH most likely. But Hunt, Hibberd, Lewis, Salem and Jetta have been the mainstays. That's a lot of players and game time. Melksham less likely, but has played down there. And if nothing else, the guy coming in, Jones, has been rolling off the backline this year as well. Man. That's some good names right there. Vince comes back as well the following week. Don't get me wrong, I'm as thrilled for JT as anyone. And it's less a reflection of him, more of a reflection of how hard this 22 is to get into.

Interestingly there's only two demons opposition punters love to watch. Tracca and him.

Trengove comes out if Jones comes in. Everyone knows that, right?

Braysh would have got tongues wagging if he kicked that.

Said it before and I'll say it again. There needs to be a "post of the week" thread, with links so you can see context. Finally it happens to a mod, so maybe something will be done. lol He was injured, Faulty. It still exists?! Yeah. I reckon it was one of those where certain movements, like jumping or sideways movement aren't doable, so you're forced to run in straight lines all day and hope the ball is delivered on a dime. He wasn't good, injury aside... but he's more than earned a bad game or two. Hogan took 3 weeks to find form, and he's not carrying an injury (aside from post surgery + emotional scars). Getting back to the thread. Not too many people are talking about how high they rate Port. I rate them SUPER high. They're my pick for top 4 (probably 4th), and have been all year. There is NOTHING to be angry, sad, or disappointed about from this week. But some posters will insist on being glass half empty.

Said it in one. (And some other gubbins) That wouldn't have looked out of place in a final. We earned the win against what I think is a top 4 side. We did it with brilliance and guts. Couldn't be happier. I place it comfortably in 3rd place in terms of wins this year. Behind Crows and Eagles. What a year. What a great year. Other years we will be lumbered with some serious expectation. Not this year. This year is already qualified as "that year when" we discovered Tracca, Oliver and others. Haven't loved footy this much since 2002 when Neita was running around.

He'll take on Ebert head to head. Viney on Wines. Bingo bango...

I dunno that his technique is going to be the problem. I reckon he hasn't had the confidence to put it into play. His technique is good. Not great. Just good. Same as his pace. It's all at required levels, everything he does. What worries me is that nothing about him physically or skill wise set him apart from anyone in his draft year. It's his smarts and work ethic that pushed him up high. The intangible stuff. Running players down to tackle, yes it takes some speed... but it takes timing too. Choosing when to time your run and when to lead is as important if not more than having the pace, or size to get clear and mark it. That's why in his first season he accumulated possessions without much fanfare. In his draft year you had McCartin who had physical attributes as well as kicking skill. Petracca has unusual bulk and power as well as a prodigious long kick. Brayshaw is just a good smart footballer. Take away his decision making, or even just his confidence in his decision making, then what is he? Probably just another player. That's all I'll be looking for. Even if it's only a quarter or two of good footy, can he make a couple of those super clever decisions where he inserts himself at a stoppage in just the right place, and dish off a handball to someone running through. If I can see that a few times, then he can build on it, and you back him in. On the plus side, it's not like he's a Trengove who was already slow, and then lost another yard of pace and became useless at AFL level. Physically he's still all there. That's something.