Lord Travis

Here's how I see the middle men. Some are long term options, some are not. Of these I'd say Stretch, Salem (if he can keep healthy), Harmes and Bugg will all play a decent amount of games next season with the others floating round the VFL. Stretch: He's a really dedicated and disciplined trainer, which is why he's probably developed a bit quicker than expected. He doesn't have blistering pace that we would like, but his agility is elite, which allows him to twist and turn his way out of a lot of tricky situations. His skills are decent and even though he is slight he goes when it's his turn. I can see him being a part of the team long term and think he's developing nicely. Salem : Obviously far more talented than the others on the list, but he just can't seem to shake his ongoing health problems. If he can keep fit and healthy I'd love to see him play midfield and wing. He struggles down back with defending and is often out positioned and straight up beaten. The coaching staff need to move him out of defence and into the midfield and forward half to utilise his weapon, kicking skills to a target. Salem hitting Watts and Hogan on the chest is what we need. We have plenty of other players who can play the half back role and defend better than Salem. Here's hoping he can get healthy because he'll be best 22 long term. If he keeps struggling with his body eventually we will have to cut our losses. Bugg: He's a role player. He can tag, run through the midfield or play in a pocket. Even though he may jump in and out of the 22 in the future I think he is important depth for us for the next few years, but don't think he is a long term option. Love his attitude! Kennedy: similar to Bugg in that he is a role player. He was really good early in the year, and if the coaching staff can get him confident and consistency performing then we have a weapon in our forward half. His recovery is fantastic, he would often fights an opponent for the ball, win it, and then be back on his feet and taking off while everyone else is still on the ground. He needs to work on his consistency to remain on the list long term and I don't think that will happen. Harmes: Harmes has some weapons but lacks polish. He's a good leap and mark for his size, he's got mongrel and decent pace. His skills however are all over the place. Some games he looks a million bucks hitting teammates and snagging a few goals, other games you he shanks it repeatedly and you wonder how he is even on an AFL list. He needs to tidy up his skills or he won't feature long term. AVB: Reckon he's a one season wonder unfortunately. His first season he played midfield and was a bull. He laid big tackles, crunched into packs and won ball. For whatever reason, and it may have been injury, he performed poorly and lost all the elements to his game that made him damaging. His hunger to the contest disappeared this year, he didn't win much ball, he struggled for pace and just couldn't impact games. If he was injured the coaching staff shouldn't have brought him in and out of the side and just let him recover. It was strange seeing such a change in attitude. I recall in one game an opponent was shoving him around and he just took it and dropped his head and jogged around disinterested. In his first season he would've shoved the guy back twice as hard and then won the next contest. If he can't get that hunger for the contest and his pace back then he will get delisted in the next few years. ANB: When he was drafted I thought he was a bargain and would be a long term option. His first season he played well when he got his chance at senior level and kicked a few small bags of goals. This year it just didn't work for him. In the VFL he won a stack of ball, but his skills were poor. When he got the chance at senior level again he could not impact at all whether up forward or through the middle. Watching him in the VFL grand final it was alarming how poor his skills were. I now don't think he'll make it. Trengrove: He was my favourite player and his first few years were brilliant. I think people forget how good he was. Even though the club was in a bad place, it says something that he was elected the youngest captain in AFL history, he was performing that well. The injuries have obviously cut him down. When he returned this season I thought he was actually pretty good. Statistically he was in our top 10 players across the matches he played, but then got dropped after one poor one. Due to the injuries robbing him of his pace he can really now only play as an inside midfielder and unfortunately for Trenners were are well stocked with many ahead of him in that role. Don't think he'll be around much longer which is a shame as he's a talented and good guy who's had a tough run. JKH : Showed a few glimpses in his first year and has been rubbish since. He's barely had a run at it the last 1-2 years, and when he has he just doesn't have the weapons to impact. He's not quick enough for a small guy, and his skills aren't good enough. Will be delisted at end of next contract. Wagner: Good rookie pickup, but I don't rate him. He laid a few big tackles this year and has decent kicking skills when he has time to dispose of it. He struggles under pressure though and winds up with some horrific turnovers due to this. Unlike Hunt he doesn't have a weapon like Hunt's pace, and with so many other half back flankers that are just better than him I think he'll be around long term. He's currently behind Hibberd, Jetta, Hunt, Salem, Melksham, Lumumba, Vince in terms of smaller defenders who can also rebound. He's value for a rookie pick, but not a long term option.

...We didn't take him ahead of Petracca. Petracca was pick 2, Brayshaw was pick 3. I agree with you though. Brayshaw is a natural footballer and struggled with a range of different injuries this year from the very beginning. First the knee, then multiple concussions. He'll hopefully have a good run with injury next year and remind everyone why he is so highly touted. His first season was really good until he tired late in the season.

I don't care when we play them as long as we f*cking destroy them!!!

Let's hope for a ruck man or a quick midfielder. We are nearly set for most other parts of the list. Been a long time since our list looked so healthy and rounded!

He always tried hard and had a few good seasons with us down back. I'll remember him for his booming kick and some long goals he kicked too when playing up forward. Hope he does well at the Pies, just not against us and I expect him to line up on Hogan and get demolished

I raised it on here a week ago but apparently he has nominated the Blues and will likely get there today. We don't have anything left to give up for him. Our earliest pick is now 57 so unless we can upgrade we're done for this trade period.

He's about as good as Hibberd, so we got a bargain.

Is there going to be anyone decent left at pick 57 when we enter the draft? Only late pick I've heard touted was Darcy Cameron but I doubt he will last that long.

Gold Coast have a lot of first round picks, is there any way we can package something up to trade for one of them? They're going to have 5-6 first rounders and our first pick comes in the late 50s! We've done well this trade period but it would be great to get further back up the draft order.

Hibberd is a great pick up for the club and immediately becomes our best halfback flanker. He's good defensively, has a bit of fight in him, and is a good rebounding halfback who can accumulate 20+ possessions easy. He'll be good for guys like Hunt and Salem to learn more off, but also so they can push further up and play on the wings. 29 is a bargain for him. He's borderline All Australian and Cats just gave up a first rounder for Tuohy, who is on par if not worse than Hibberd!

Good pickup this, especially for a late pick swap. He's going to bring leadership, maturity and experience to the group and help guide our youngsters on the path to glory. Interesting he said in his interview that witnessing us beat them comfortably first hand and play hard football attracted him to us. It shows us there are no nothing games, it's unacceptable to put up performances like we did the last 2 rounds as it could cost us a player or supporters. Welcome to the club you Balding Sniper!

Nathan Vardy touring Eagles facilities, looks set to become an Eagle. He's really the only ruck/forward we'd aim for unless we landed a shock like Tippett.

Jarrod Pickett would be a good target. Top 5 pick only a year or two ago and has great pace and kicking skills. He could develop into the outside midfielder we need. Media says Carlton the front runners for him. Is there anything we could do to bring him across to us?

That's a shame. He would've been handy and an upgrade on all our depth midfielders available. He's a talented and well balanced mid and will do well at the Saints if he gets there.

Why didn't he just come home at the end of last year instead of signing a fresh contract? It'd be good if this was true though as he has a combo of good pace and mongrel.

Kennedy won it and won me my money haha He had a great finals series and is a real big game player. No other player in the last 25 or so years has won as much contested ball in finals as he has. Hopefully in the future guys like Oliver and Viney will be able to have similar impacts during finals for us.

Can't see it listed anywhere who won. I through $10 on Josh Kennedy so hoping he won it. He dominated all series and probably should've got the Norm Smith. Definitely a big game player. He cracked 20 contested possessions in 5 finals now. Most since the stat has been recorded. Next closest player...Sam Mitchell has done it twice.

Good to sign another talented young midfielder up. He was really good in the s come hakf of this year, back to his 2014 form. He's a valuable player for us going forward.

I'd take him if he didn't cost much. A change of environment and coaching staff might get him back on track. If he could regain his 2015 form he'd become a march winner and be exact type of outside class and goal kicking power we need. If Geelong shop him off cheap we should grab him. Not for a first rounder though.

He played before I was born, but I saw his cricket highlights and home was a true champion. I met him about 2-3 years ago at a function and he was a genuinely friendly and funny guy. Wasn't too happy with how the Dees we're going at that stage but we had a laugh anyway. Thiughts with his family and friends.

Absolutely destroyed today. The midfield just didn't try outside of the 2nd quarter. If you lose the possession count AND the tackle count it means you're not trying. As simple as that. Outside of Oliver the mods were all well down. Guys like ANB, Grimes, Michie, Kennedy, Jones etc were all poor. Disappointing end to the season.

7-8 goals to no score for the quarter. Even Oliver is tired out and losing contests now.

Game over. 10 goal loss coming up. [censored] hell what a let down. Best team all year and that get completely outplayed and not bothering to try. Work rate this quarter has been some of the worst I've seen. They've had double the amount of possessions AND double the amount off tackles. That's pure work rate and is unacceptable at any level.

Umpires definitely favoring the Dogs, but the Dogs are also just playing much better. We're lucky to only be 6 goals down thanks to their inaccuracy. Very disappointing!

8 Casey players yet to touch the ball in the 3rd quarter after 20 minutes! Pathetic work rate!