Lord Travis

Bizarre accident where he fell backwards through a glass door and lacerated both his hammies and buttock. Had ongoing issues with hammies after that and was never the same player. Was a genuine fun but that shorted and limited his career. Happened with lots of our stars in the 90s

Is Clayton Oliver statistically the best second year player ever? The only other players I can remember such an impact in their second seasons were Chris Judd and Joel Selwood. Is anyone able to somehow check his second season stats against other superstars? This kid is a ripper. He's had an unbelievable season for someone so young, and will be the main ball winner in our midfield for the next 10 years!

Only against the rules for free agents to meet with other clubs. Lever is too young to be a free agent so it's fair game. Sucks for Adelaide that they continue to lose talent. That's Dangerfield, Phil Davis, Tippett, Bock all gone when they were at their peaks or close to as players.

Time to pull the Lever Seriously though he is the ideal target for us. He can play key defender or roam a zone and become the general. He currently doesn't need to play as a pure key defender most weeks as Adelaide have good tall options. This has allowed them to use Lever as a backline general roaming the zone and he has excelled in a big way due to his high football IQ and clean hands. Our backs currently get crucified by opposition tall forwards, statistically we are worst in the league against them. Get Lever in there to steady the ship and we aren't golden. If we'd had him on our list this year we'd currently be sitting in the top 4 IMO. Also on Mitch McGovern, he will 99% go home to WA and has a big contracts offer already from the Dockers (where his dad played). Eagles will likely also have a crack at him to see if they can lure him to play with his brother. At 191cms I don't think he solves a problem for us anyway as a tall option. If his leap is taken away from him he doesn't not have other weapons.

Though he's not what he was a few years ago at the Hawks, I still think he's had a good patch of form leading up to finals. He's hitting his straps at the right end of the year. His leadership and direction out on field have been great. His main weakness at this point seems to be getting down and taking ground balls cleanly. Thing is, if he isn't able to take it cleanly and there is pressure, he positions himself in a way that he earns a free kick, gains us possession of the ball and releases the pressure. It's smart, and some of our other mids need to learn this instead of panicking and just knocking it to an opposition player in fear they will get caught and pinged with a free kick.

Great news if true. If quality is available then you go after it. What do we all think a realistic trade would be? First round pick and either a late pick or fringe player?

I think it will come with maturity. We definitely don't have the killer instinct yet, evidenced by the fact we have the lowest percentage of any team in the top 8. We often dominate periods of games but don't convert that dominance into scoring. The fact we were only 5 goals up at half time against Port on the weekend was pretty poor. Based on the stats we should've been 80 points up. I think with more maturity and synergy between young core players we will start to win by bigger margins that more reflect our dominance in games. At this stage in our development though it's good we are managing to stick tough and win close games. Even a few months ago we were losing close games constantly so there's clear improvement already being shown.

He was very good last night and did his bit in a midfield missing a number of key players. Has had a decent few weeks, hopefully he is just starting to gear up for finals!

22 disposals, 11 marks, 11 spoils, 7 rebound 50s. Another great game tonight. Really showing leadership and organising the back half while cutting off anything that was remotely near him. Doubt he will leave the Crows. Looked really happy in the rooms and his teammates love him. That said, he's a genuine gun and we should offer whatever we can to get him!

He hasn't been great but hopefully he has a big few weeks playing through the middle and relishing his leadership role.

Only 3 of them were actually effective... so I'm sure the Eagles are stoked they'll be able to retain that incredible output. Love that Clarry has more effective touches in one match than Schofield has in two months

His defensive run and pressure has been disappointing. Often if the ball is turned over and opposition player closest to him gets it he just can't chase them down and doesn't appear to try to. Offensively he has been ok, not great. He's definitely not what he was a few years ago where his kicking was elite, but he is far from our worst. His leadership has been great. He just gets to the right spots to fill holes and directs the tea where to move. He's a level above all our other players out there and is essentially player coach. You can see Goody talks to him at the end of quarter breaks and gives him a pat on the back, Then he is straight out there directing and relaying Goodys commands. I think he's going to continue to slow up and struggle to play out the 3 years as best 22, but it was still a good trade and he's proving valuable. No coincidence that since he has returned to the side and we've been far better organized and are pushing for top 4.

I'll give him credit where it's due. He played a great second half last week and played well again today. The change is purely in his intensity. In the past, while he has always read the ball well and made it to contests, he would fly and not put the required aggression into it and often give a limp attempt at spoil. This past 1.5 games when he flies he has been spoiling with authority, or more surprisingly, marking with authority! He has obviously grown in confidence and hopefully he continues on with it. His kicking has always been better than his brothers and was never an issue IMO. It's his confidence and intensity in aerial contests that has changed remarkably. Keep it up Oscar!

Reportedly signing on again with Good Coast. Did an interview saying it was done, his manager was at the club a day or two ago to do the paperwork, the club is just waiting for a good time soon to announce it. All efforts now move to Lever I guess.

We needed midfield talent and depth at the time, so Bradshaw was the best choice. MFC did seriously rate Lever and wanted to get him, but they were looking at taking him and hoping he could develop into a big bodied midfielder ala Nat Fyfe, Josh Kennedy, Jobe Watson etc. Don't think that would've worked, he's definitely a defender. It's just unfortunate what has happened to Gus injury wise, as he is clearly a talented footballer and was what we needed at the time. You only have to look at his first season to see what he can produce and the impact he can have. There's still plenty of time for him to get over his issues and fulfil his talent. On output thus far though Lever is obviously ahead because he's been on the park more. We should be throwing the kitchen sink at Lever. With him down back, we would be far more settled and have better depth. I'm assuming the club will make him a big offer and if he wants to come across then we'd have to find enough compo for Adelaide. First rounder plus a player?

Watching Crows vs Cats tonight and Lever is bigger than I thought. Also playing with more mongrel than I remember. I reckon he would be a perfect target for us. First round pick to Crows, good cash offer to Lever, bring him across and our key defenders are sorted. Oscar can then develop at Casey and may be decent long term. Kid has leadership potential too as he is touted as Adelaide's next captain by their fans.

Jones would cost a first round pick. He was drafted first round at pick 15. 3 years on he is proving he is AFL quality and will likely finish top 5 in Sydney's bnf. It'd cost a first rounder to get him. He's worth that, but we have other pressing needs first IMO.

Missed the second half of it. He talked about junior footballer and lead up to the draft. Was hoping to get selected as a rookie by Richmond 3 weeks out from the draft. Then Brisbane showed interest and he thought he'd go pick 30s to them. Then a week out from draft Melbourne showed real interest and he got drafted pick4 and was wrapped. Said he still needs to improve his fitness and the defensive side of his game. That's what coaches have told him going forward. Was a very outside player until he was about 16 and got OP. Couldn't play footy for a year, stacked on 20kgs, came back and had to learn to play inside because he couldn't move much. Worked out for the best as he loves the contest and stoppages. Was talking down his standing in the footy award rating for The Age, Coaches Association etc and is just happy he's been able to get over a poor preseason where he didn't commit with his conditioning and made some poor choices. Didnt head the second part of the interview but jeez we have landed an absolute ripper in Clarry. Credit to Jason Taylor and his team for taking the risk as it's paying off big time.

Interview with Clarry coming up on Triple M for those near a radio.

True. He is more reliable having shots for goal than passing to teammates inside 50 after one of his trademark dashes. Jones would be top 5 in Sydney's bnf this year and would be a good pick up, but only if we got him cheap. We have greater needs with quality talls at both ends.

Did you just describe Zac Jones or Jayden Hunt?

Agreed. ... so that gives us a month or so to dream!

He's a club captain and one of the best key defenders in the league behind Rance and Talia. We pay a first round pick and get him across. We have enough young talent to build around. We need leadership, mature bodies, mongrel. Our biggest hole at the moment is a quality key defender. We are getting destroyed by oppositions tall forwards every week. You have to pay to get quality. First rounder for May is fair. Take it and laugh all the way to the bank. He'd help us become top 8 straight away and give younger talls time to develop at Casey as they should be.

I'd recruit this bloke just so he can line opposition players up with his trademark big bumps. I'm sick of seeing us pushed around by mediocre teams like we did on the weekend.

Here's our record against key forwards in 2017 Round 1 v St Kilda: Nick Riewoldt (4 goals, 7 marks) Round 2 v Carlton: Levi Casboult (1 goal, 8 marks, could've kicked 3-4) Round 3 v Geelong: Tom Hawkins (5 goals, 5 marks) Round 4 v Fremantle: Cam McCarthy (2 goals, including the match winner) Round 5 v Richmond: Jack Riewoldt (6 goals, 3 marks) Round 6 v Essendon: Joe Daniher (1.6 goals, 9 marks, could've kicked 6-7 goals instead) Round 7 v Hawthorn: Jarryd Roughead (4 goals, 6 marks) Round 8 v Adelaide: Taylor Walker (2 goals, 3 marks, well held) Round 9 v North Melbourne: Ben Brown (5 goals, 6 marks) We are getting destroyed by key forwards. Oscar isn't ready. Mac is being thrown around the ground to cover injuries and holes elsewhere. Frost is a decent rebounder, good when the ball hits the deck, but not the best defender in aerial marking contests. We need a strong key defender. It's our number 1 deficiency. I'd be offering up our first round pick for May and throwing in steak knives if required. He's a proven quality key defender, one of the best in the AFL at present. If he'd been in our team this year we'd likely be somewhere between 4th-8th on the ladder at the moment as some of those key forwards wouldn't have got a hold of us. He's also a leader and has some mongrel in him. If he was around when the North players were sniping behind play he probably would've lined a few of them up! Should be our number 1 target in the off season. Make it happen Dees!