Dappa Dan

Stupid thread is stupid. You'd be singing a different tune if he didn't get hurt in the Tigers game.

It really is absolutely miraculous, frankly, what the midfield has done without Spencer and Gawn. To the point now that we have a ruckman available and won't play him... Gee we're watching something special with these kids... and Jones et al

I'd have preferred Spencer vs Boyd and Roughead. We gain so much from one inclusion... Pedo being able to stay inside fifty. Jack too. And TMac to go back to spoiling and rebounding. Also, I feel like the Dogs would have felt hard done by seeing a proper ruckman against them as they have hard working but only semi effective guys to call upon. As they say in chess, you should always make the move your opposition least wants you to make, even if you have one you think is better. Having said that, after such a famous victory, I'm more than happy to show faith in Goody's calls. Going in unchanged... doesn't happen often... and is good reward for commitment from the 22.

Giving his body a break a la Sam Mitchell you think? It'll be interesting to see if they do this with the younger kids.

I can't believe more isn't being made about punters throwing things at players at the footy.

Given the upcoming 6 day breaks and the breakneck speed of QB game... Must have been tempting to roll some changes through. Wagner and JKH particularly. Watts got his hip jab and pre game ankle.

Yeeeeeah I know... But still... Let me believe it. lol I want to put together a paragraph about how players are playing longer into their careers now, that he started late, is super professional now blah blah blah. But you're right. What can I say. I love the guy. He's gonna be missed when he hangs them up, I can tell you that.

http://demonwiki.org/Most+Contested+Possessions+in+a+season Just found this on demonwiki. This is some pretty great reading. Or terrible reading if you consider how bad we've been since 1999. So our top ten record holders for contested possessions in a season... and 7 of the records are held by current starting midfielders. Viney (2nd), Jones (3rd, 4th, 6th and =9th X2) and Tyson (8th). Why do I bring this link here? After 11 rounds Clarry is on 161... The current record holder (Moloney) is on 271. In other words, if Oliver averages 10 contested possessions in the last half of the season he'll break the record by an absolute mile.

Yeah I was with you. Not disagreeing.

Lovely work Nascent. Pretty soon this will be an enormous stat to watch. By my count, if he doesn't miss any games, he'll be in 9th by the end of the year over Jeff White... And in the end of 2018 he'll be 4th, in between Stynes and Yze.

The dogs made heaps of changes. Boyd, Campbell, Cordy, Honeychurch, Libba, Morris, Webb, Williams... Adams, Cloke, English, Roberts all out and the big one... Matty Boyd. You'd think one of Cordy and Campbell don't play. Williams and Webb don't get in I reckon either. Boyd will play given how bad we've been against talls.

No Max. Campbell in for Dogs. Damn.

Good post. This is the stuff of demonland. A bit of "maybe this is what he's thinking." For the record too, I reckon Watts would have gone through whole months like that.

Love him. I don't reckon he's leaving though. Then again, I said that about Lever and now it seems the noise around him is getting bigger and bigger.

195 I think? heh. Carlisle sucks. I don't know that that's true. Caleb Daniel is a jet... He doesn't even come up to my sternum. Midfielders have gotten way taller than when I was a kid. Pendles is the classic one. But I reckon Cripps will be a real statistical outlier. I reckon it goes with the talent of the players, doesn't it? Stringer is better now and will probably end his career better than all these 2 metre guys like Lobb, Wright etc... Daniher probably has him beaten, and I daresay Moore will go down as an absolute champion... Other than that though I'd take Stringer over almost all the 200cm guys. But like I say, 200cm forward doesn't necessarily mean we HAVE to have a 200cm defender to stop them. Defenders have to be able to rebound as well. If all they do is shut out a bean pole, then that's a bit limiting. I reckon curtailing these guys is the right option... I like that our KP guys are good below their knees. Or at least good enough not to trip over their own feet. You can spoil a tall player without being massive yourself. Hunt's a good example of that. You get given a long rope when you're 10cm shorter than the guy you're up against.

And likewise, just because I'm hopeful he'll turn out ok, it doesn't mean I'm "assuming" anything. I didn't offer any opinions or facts about Weed other than to say he did well at VFL level. Not do I think his value as an early pick makes any difference of any kind, other than to say it's likely his draft position makes him more attractive in a trade. I'll give you the tackle thing though. Classic case of supporters clutching at straws. Hipwood's an exception, along with Hogan. Brown possibly, Riewoldt. Want some examples of talls who took years to get good? Lynch, Lynch, Daniher, Buddy, Kreuzer, Hawkins, Hooker, Lobb, Brown, Waite, Kennedy, Dixon... And that's just the now guys. History is littered with KP forwards who went from frustrating or downright disappointing at 20 to dominant at 23. Disagree McCartin's shown more. He's had an extra year in the system, is way heavier and match ready and has never kicked more than 2 goals in a game. Weed struggles to get involved, but has more time on his side. Also never had Reiwoldt to take the best defender. There'll come a time to write Weed off... and you never know, you may be right in 2 years if he ends up being a dud. The point is though, if we get off every 195cm kid after his first 18 months, we'll never find a good foil for Hogan. It's not about predicting whether or not a player is going to be a star. It's about at least giving them an opportunity. Weed hasn't had one. And it's stupid for fans to get on his back this early. Get on Goody's back for playing him though. That's fair enough.

There aren't any serious defenders in the league that play at 200cm. And they're not going to put a spot on the list for a guy that height who only defends. Plenty of good 193-196cm defenders who do the job well. Rance 194, Hurley 193. The height isn't the issue with our guys. Nor is their quality. They're just young.

Exactly. ie, better than McCartin. lol His first season he was doing great in the VFL. I think leading their goalkicking before he started getting some games with the Dees. That's more than Paddy's done. And yes, since you made the point, that's enough to keep him. We all know how it works for 195cm players. They get a pass for a few years while their bodies develop. You're expecting midfielder returns on a player who's the same height as Jeff White. Check out the Adelaide Lynch's stats for the first few years of his career. Two years at Saints doing less than what Weed's done so far and they made the same mistake you did. Traded him to Crows for peanuts, who gave him 12 months, after which he exploded and is now a key part of the best attack in the game. Getting good took Watts about 5 years, and he's the same height. Gawn took longer. There's really no point in drafting these kids if we only give them 24 months to start winning games off their own boots. They can't all be Hogan.

Not a comparison of players. The comparison is on ground position and draft position. Just to highlight how far apart they are despite similar entrances to the league.

Each to their own I guess. In 2014 though: Players taken after 20, Laverde, Steele, McLean, Miller, Howe, Blakely, Daniel, Dale, Stretch... That's a number of fairly highly sought after types most of them highly skilled. The way I see it it's been this way during and since Hawthorn's big years. They got 3 flags as arguably the most skilled side ever, so everyone has put a premium on skilled players in the last 5-10 drafts (Lucas Cook anyone?). I reckon after about the second round, pick 30-35 or so, that's when you start seeing a skill drop off. Here's an interesting comparison. Thinking back to super quick back flankers with dodgy disposal... Rohan Bail was taken in the 60s, and as a mature age player. I liked him, but he was never a star. Bail debuted a few months before his 21st. Hunt just after. Both are quick, love a goal, can kick the leather off the thing but spray it a bit... They're miles apart in terms of quality. It says a lot about Hunt's competitiveness. Spoiling. Decision making. Taking the game on. Toughness in body on body stuff sometimes against much bigger opponents. Sometimes he tries to tackle ruckmen with just his head. The vagaries of drafting are still enormous in the AFL. And the longer I look at it, the more I'm thinking we're not just getting lucky suddenly.

According to the radio today, heaps of interest in McCartin, and Saints desperate to keep him. If McCartin has value, Weed has even more. He's younger and has done more. I'm sounding a bit like a broken record, but since the Tom Lynch (Adelaide) trade a few years ago, teams will be very cagey when it comes to trading KP forwards 23 and under... I suspect also the 2018 draft which is stacked with tall forwards might play a part in teams' plans. That's well into the future of course.

Then we'd need a replacement for Weed. We're thin on for KP forwards. Hogan for future, Pedo for the next few years. I'd love a third to rotate in so we can free up Watts to roam far and wide. Hulett not looking to good at this stage. In reality we probably need 2 more while Weed develops. Reid is the obvious target there, and if the papers today are to be believed, McStay as well. He's a KP defender, but has played forward a lot. I think he was recruited as a forward possibly.

I have a strong feeling round 23 will be for 8th spot and will be footy folklore...

I dunno that the ones paid for us really helped us that much. We kept turning over or not scoring off them. And the ones where they were inside their own fifty and gave one away didn't affect the scoreboard. Even the Greenwood one, had the umpire not called holding the ball it would have been a ball up, we'd have had time to get back and clear the ball. As you say you "felt it" while watching. I have to say I felt when watching that it was a game neither team deserved to lose. Both put in amazing effort. Impartials watching it said it was exhausting and both teams should feel proud. Now looking back at those calls, I don't think they had the impact you say. Not on the scoreboard at least.

I really hate to harp on about this Bugg thing... But I've just taken another close look. I'm pretty crap at uploading etc... not sure how to do short videos and captures. Here's a picture I took of my finger anyway. That's Bugg I'm pointing at. He's behind Olly, Harmes ANB and Hunt as would-be chasers. When he crosses the paint of fifty he's still just jogging and the ball has been kicked to Sidebottom. I'd love it if someone could tell me the exact distance between the arcs, because in exactly 10 seconds (3:41-3:31 on the clock) he covers a bigger distance than that. No-one anywhere else will single him out because he didn't make the tackle. Only just affected the kick... but bloody hell I hope Goody does.