Lord Travis

No apologies here. My point about the midfield remains and I'll ask you to put down the bottle before posting. Gawn is on the decline. He has 3 years left on contract and will then retire. He's still a great player, but his influence is diminishing as other rucks rise and the game changes. I'd wager TDK, Xerri, Jackson and other athletic rucks pass him next year. Trac staying for now is good. We'll need him because we're bottom four without him. My point still stands about our midfield. It's the biggest issue with our list. 3 years on from a premiership and it's in tatters. You'd expect we'd have had pull to be a desirable location to play, yet no one of worth has come to the club since and we've lost many. Our midfield needs a significant uplift for us to return to finals.

Limited viewing but I feel the same. Langford on the other hand at 190cm seems a natural big bodied ball winning mid who has foot skills to go with the clearance work. He hits the scoreboard too so looks a genuine mid-forward type.

Should've just drafted him in the first place. Him and Anderson were always going to wind up the best players from that draft.

Looks a great talent. Not sure if I'd prefer him over Langford, but he's clearly got the attributes to succeed as an AFL player. 194cms is a big mid, Cripps size. He looks to link well and be a good kick. I didn't watch any carnival, but curious he didn't perform well or make the underage All Aus team. Langford on the other hand won the Larke medal as best player, made the All Aus team, and at 190cms is a big midfielder too. He appears to have good drive and skills too. We likely won't have the choose anyway and just take whoever is left at pick 5, but if we did have to choose I'd trust JT to make the right call.

Roffey should have spoken to Petracca. This is a marque player who is destabilising the club she leads. Why would you, as leader, not reach out and try to mend the relationship or negotiate? Poor leadership. If she has spoken to him, but wanted to keep details private, then state that instead of lying and looking incompetent and feeling the negative narrative. Poor leadership. Seems we need new leadership at the top. I hope we see those meaningful changes over the off-season.

Gawn's 33 next season. His body is breaking down with more injuries now and his impact on games is diminishing. Viney just had his worst season in about 6-7 years and is 31 next season. Had a few good games this year, but he's rapidly in decline. No way to argue that. The fact he was one of our most consistent performers in 2024 is a reason we finished 14th this year. We just don't have the cattle in the midfield to be competitive. 12th for clearances. 9th for contested possessions. 16th for ball movement. Our midfield is below AFL average in every single stat.

If he has no contract infront of him, then we could nab him as a delisted free agent, so no draft picks required in a trade. I'd be all for that. He'd be a midfield depth upgrade at worst, and lord knows we need to replenish our midfield depth big time. He's played some good footy in years gone by too and has a bit of pace and smarts about him. On our midfield, it's gone from our biggest strength to our biggest weakness. We need both stars and depth at this point. Our midfield from our 2021 premiership team is in a sad state a few years on: Gawn - Contracted, ageing and on the decline Jackson - Gone Oliver - Contracted, shadow of what he was and hopefully returns to his best next season onwards Petracca - Gone? Viney - Contracted, ageing and on the decline Brayshaw - Gone Neal-Bullen - Gone Langdon - Contracted, performing his wing role Harmes - Gone Sparrow - Contracted, hasn't come on and is depth Jordon - Gone Currently on our list we've added Windsor, Laurie, Billings, Hunter, Woewodin and no AFL level rucks to the midfield since. Pretty sharp drop off considering you'd ideally be an attractive destination to play for when you're successful...

Lukosious should be on our radar. Proven AFL tall who is on the outer. One of the best kicks in the league and were crying out for good kicking skills. Was brilliant down back a few years ago and could be a cheap option to give us drive off half back if we push Rivers and others into the midfield in future. Alternately, kicked 40 goals last year and even this year in a down year kicked 23 from less games. Could shift Petty back to defense where he belongs. Luko would give us more than Petty and a few others up forward in terms of scoreboard impact. If we can get him for one of the bunch of second or third round picks we have, I'd be all for it. Just turned 24 this month so plenty of footy ahead of him.

If he's there at pick 5, then we take him. We need to build our next premiership midfield, and he'd be a key part of it for the next decade.

McKay has decent management apparently. Clear statement made, move on. Petracca's management appear limp in comparison. Amazing how they can stay silent and let their client get destroyed in public.

This is the problem for us if we don't hold firm. Collingwood don't even have a first round pick to trade. Blues and Bombers both have one, and neither is high enough to be a key part of a package. For Blues, Cripps, Weitering, TDK and Curnow from the Blues would be the only players we'd consider. Unlikely any of them are options, maybe TDK if we get lucky. For Pies, N Daicos or DeGoey the only options. Daicos obviously impossible. DeGoey plus them somehow securing a high pick on top of him could do it, but won't happen. For Bombers, Merrett the only one and that's unlikely. We need to deal with Richmond and get pick 1 or ship him off to the Gold Coast to get some high picks and a good kid. If he wants to go to Pies or Blues, then it's going to be a bad result for everyone concerned, including Christian himself. If this is about "brand", then Trac has just shot himself in the foot before even moving club. His reputation is being smashed. Irony is he's chasing Instagram likes or whatever bullsh*t, but he's going to have to turn off social media because he's going to cop it for years now. What a debacle this is. Lol at his management working overtime to dig their grave deeper here.

If Trac demands a trade to the Blues as rumoured and the relationship is broken beyond repair, then we should get Tom DeKoning and a top 10 pick in return. Their problem on how to get us the top 10 pick, but it's not negotiable for a top 5 player in the league still well under contract.

Only been a few weeks, but seems he needs the game in front of him and struggles with congestion around. Also appears he doesn't have great top speed and so rushes and shank kicks bursting forward. When down back he has side step from whats coming front on and kicks after a few steps, not on the run. Appears better suited to half back based on this. Not every good small defender or forward needs to be made into a midfielder.

Moore subbed out with concussion. Kozzie will likely get suspended now. What a ****ful end to the season.

RIP football. 2024 was the end of AFL as we know it. Not sure if will be watchable going forward.