Lord Travis

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!

Drag him along every week! May he bring us a premiership?!

I'll probably do all 3 if we lose I'll be that disgusted and furious. Surely after all this improvement we can beat a bottom 4 side at our home ground!

Irrelevant. Writing off 9 attempts is ridiculous. It's embarrassing that we haven't beaten North for over 10 years. At least with a team like Hawthorn or Geelong you know they both had eras of greatness so it's not surprising if you haven't beaten them for a few years. North however have been a bog average middle of the road side. We will beat them this weekend. If we don't, I'll burn the MCG to the ground.

He kicked it more this week and he's usually damaging with his kicking. He obviously kicked a miracle goal, but he directly setup another goal by pulling the trigger and kicking long instead of hand balling it off like he usually does. Goodwin has started resting him forward too which is a good move as his hands are strong and he's setup a few goals now while resting down there (set one up for Petracca last week and two I can remember last night). This kid is already a great player, but he could be a star of the comp in the very near future. So excited to have such a talent playing for the Dees!

It's a tricky one, as Oliver and Heaney have less exposed form to go off. 1. Bont - Hard to argue he's not the best young player in the league. He's the most proven, stood up in finals and is still very young. Match winner with versatility and x factor. Hard to believe he's only 21 with 67 games to his name and is already one of the best in the league! 2. Oliver - Best inside mid going around and still has a lot of development still left in him. Could become the best of the lot if he can learn to rest forward and hit the scoreboard. He has good kicking skills and decent pace, so if he can make use of those more the sky is the limit for him. 3 - Heeney - He's already kicked bags of goals as a forward, and shown he can be damaging as a midfielder. We bid pick 2 to take him, so rated him highly. Could become the best of the lot. 4 Cripps - Gun inside mid but fairly one dimensional. Doesn't have the pace or kicking skills of Oliver so don't believe his ceiling is as high. He's got more exposed form than Oliver and Heaney, but think he won't improve much further and they pass him.

The betting apps offer a 'cash out' option most of the time these days. So if you place a bet at say $10 odds, then the odds come in for whatever reason, e.g. 4 of your 5 teams win in your multi, or in our case Oliver continuing his good form so his odds drop, you have the option to cash out at the rate offered instead of waiting for the bet to end. Oliver has already come from $67 to $51 since that article was published. If he keeps this form going and comes in to say $15 I will be able to cash out and make a profit without waiting for the Brownlow to happen. I did the same thing with Gawn last year and made a few bucks. Oliver's in tremendous form, but I don't think he'll win the Brownlow. Maybe in a few years when umpires recognise him more and stop pinging him for throws. Tremendous young talent and so happy to see him stepping up at such a young age. Hopefully his teammates in Petracca, Brayshaw, Hunt, Hogan etc can all find similar consistency and impact as they are also very talented footballers.

I threw $20 on him at that price too. He won't win, but I'll be cashing out once his odds tumble now that he's getting some media recognition. This kid is an absolute star. A teenager with 19 games under his belt and he's already one of the best inside mids in the league!

True. He was running at 34% disposal efficiently late in the last quarter. Absolute nothing game he played and did not deserve any votes at all unless there was a turn over merchant award.

I think this would be a good move actually. Our half backs have been shaky this year with two way running and defending properly. Brayshaw is a great tackler. The thing he did best in his first year was bursting off half back and using his great side step agility to dodge opponents and tear up the middle of the ground. I can still remember that beautiful run and long pass over the Pies press to a running Garlett like it was yesterday. He had a big impact running forward and creating like that. Put him back there and see what happens. He's obviously behind the current on-ball brigade in Oliver, Viney and Jones so why not freshen him up off the half back line and play to his strengths again.