Lord Travis

Believe we tried both Mitch Lewis and Ben King. Both were long shots and extended at their current clubs.

Gus is in his prime at 26 years old. He's shown he can be a great mid (2018), good wingman (2021), and All Australian level halfback (2022). His versatility and leadership make him a valuable commodity. I'd rate him around the pick 10-12 mark. That's better than what we'd get as compo, but not drastically so. I don't believe Gus will leave, but if he does then end of first round compo is likely what we'd settle for. I'm someone that believes picks are overrated though and would rather a proven good player than speculative great one, so in my eyes we lose either way if Gus leaves.

Gus is an All Australian level player now, but more importantly he’s a cultural linchpin of the playing group. Him leaving would be disastrous in my opinion, far worse than Jackson leaving. We simply must retain Gus. If Freo landed both, it’d be the biggest off season I can remember by a club, and our direct competitors for the flag would leap from us for the future.

Basically Rex Hunt had a go saying Daisy only had a job due to a gender quota. Talked up Wayne Carey as a superior commentator and that Daisy stole his spot on Friday nights due to her gender. It’s lead to a swell of toxic support online from some seriously sexist and brain dead people, if you can even call them that. Rex is obviously an out of touch old fool. Daisy is one of the most insightful commentators going around. She provides better insight into what’s happening in the matches than most other commentators, especially the blokes old boys club types. She understands the modern game better than players from 2-3 decades ago who spend the matches beating their chests and the best insight they can give is getting a players name correct. You’re best off ignoring the rubbish online if you have any semblance of humanity left. Some of the stuff said about Daisy has been disgusting and shameful.

If we’re going to lose Jackson then we can make it work for us. As good as he is for a young ruckman, I don’t think he’ll ever reach the highs of the million dollar a year top 10 in the league type player he’s being talked up as. We’re cashing in whilst his value is highest IMO. He’s being hyped on potential, not output. Another two years would mean less potential growth, but even if his output is very high his value won’t increase past what it’s being spoken about as now. If we’re able to pry a young gun like Serong or Young plus a top 10ish pick, then I’d say we’re winning the trade and improving our list. Alternately if we can pinch get pick 1-2 from West Coast I’d take it and run. We lost Hogan and won out from that, hopefully we can do the same here.

Would love Logue to be part of the deal with a first rounder. He had a slow start to his career and struggled with his body, but last year or two he’s really come on and shown he can be a good tall defender or forward. I’d go so far as to say he’d be near All Australian calculations as a defender this year, done jobs on a bunch of gun forwards. We’d be wanting him as a forward though, so he’d need to be happy playing as a forward and shifting away from defense (unless he replaces May permanently in a few years?). He’s underrated amongst the footy world because he plays for Freo and doesn’t get seen much, but has high value as a 24 year old KPP.

Bloody love watching Kozzie play. Brilliant performance with goal of the year contenders! He got the job done for us today when lots of his mates showed a lack of skill.

Gawn and Jackson vs no proper ruckman and we’re losing clearances by 13. Neither have impacted the game. On a side note, Jackson is not worth a million a year and never will be. Overrated.

Lazy. None of our players are moving. Blake loading all you want, but if you lose and don’t even finish top four then who gives a [censored] what preparation you’ve done. Definitely feels like we’ve lost our team spirit.

Incredible goal Kozzie!

We’re still well out of form, especially with our midfield going inside 50. Bedford has been MIA again thus far. Chandler should’ve replaced him weeks ago after his strong VFL form.

Port are in better form than us obviously, so they should start favorites IMO. Our mids need to ramp up the pressure this week and lower the eyes going inside 50. If we can withstand their pressure and do that, then we’ll win. If not then it’s going to be tough and top four looks less likely.

100% agree with this about the Pies. They’ve been immensely lucky to have won so many close matches, some with dubious free kicks right at the end too. That sort of run is not sustainable. It shows their gameplan doesn’t control games and they’re stumbling over the line. Credit to them for overachieving this year and being ahead of schedule in their rebuild, but it’s not sustainable and they’d be the least likely finalist to win the flag. Percentage is the most accurate measure of a teams performance, and the Pies percentage is probably the worst in living record for a top 8 side at 102. Ranking by percentage, they’re 11th in the league this year. That’s a far more accurate ranking of them. If they’d split those close games 50/50 instead of winning them all, they would be 11-12th on the ladder. Credit to them, but they’re no chance of a flag and I’d be stoked to get a freebie against them come finals time when the pressure ramps up and the whistle goes away. Freo and Sydney are the ones to worry about IMO.

Scoreboard flatters the Blues. Their defensive ability across the whole ground is not there yet. They’re zero chance of winning the premiership this year due to that, but will be a serious contender in the coming years. Both Freo and Sydney are serious contenders. Freo for mine are ready to swoop on the flag. They’re probably the best defensive team going at the moment, and defense is what wins premierships.

Would gladly take him as steak knives if Jackson chooses to leave. We have no ruck depth. Gawn is 31 next year, Daw has retired, Bradke was delisted. If Jackson leaves we have no proper ruck backup on the list for Gawn and will be reliant on make shift rucks like Weid, Brown, Tomlinson etc. Meek is a solid guy, still quite young for a ruckman. He's no world beater, but he's serviceable with scope to become a good AFL ruckman. He is solid in ruck contests, gets around the ground on the wings to contribute, can provide a marking outlet, and knows his limitations to handball to receiver after marking if play is quick too. He's a country Vic boy, so may agree to come home to too. Definitely worth pushing to get thrown into the Jackson deal along with first rounders.

Expected and best ins available. Dunstan in for Clarry is a no brained. He’s next cab off the rank in the midfield and has been consistently good in VFL waiting for another chance. Chandler has been our best player in the VFL over the course of the year. Surprised he didn’t get promoted after his 29 disposal 5 goal game 2 weeks back! Bowey omitted for poor form a few weeks late, but at least they’ve made the call now. Hunt the likely replacement. Hunt should never have been dropped, and our backline (and team) have performed worse since he was omitted. Cannot understate how important he is as a small/medium lockdown defender who has pace.

It’s an issue because some players are actively playing for these free kicks instead of playing the game as intended. Ginnivan is obviously a rodent, but just this week Luke Shuey was interviewed and asked about it and said “I’ll keep doing it unless they change the rule and I don’t get free kicks anymore” (paraphrasing but close). We’ve had Weightman come out and say it’s a skill in his game to draw free kicks for high tackles. We’ve now got Dangerfield defending it. The fact the players have trained themselves to essentially go weak at the knees and raise their arm to draw high contact when faced with confrontation instead of actually playing the game is a problem. Someone will get hurt and there will be no sympathy. It’s also a terrible look for the sport. The rule just needs to be officiated as it’s written. If the initial contact is below the shoulder but is then pushed high due to a shrug, then it’s not a free kick for high contact. It’s either play on or holding the ball depending on the success of the tackle. The duck/shrug/flop/arm raise is prior opportunity. At the end of the day, these footy matches exist to entertain us. If the customer doesn’t like the product, then change the product to fit the customers needs or die. In this case, officiate the rule as written, and no free kicks for tackles that are pushed or adjusted high by the tacklee. The players need to reel it in and accept they’re not above anything. If it wasn’t for us supporting with our dollars, they’d likely be brick layers in bumfuk nowhere on a pittance of a wage.

I feel for Noble. He was clearly never going to have success at North, and has had to deal with being surrounded by incompetent rubbish whilst having a poor playing list to utilise. The media jumped on and no-one can survive a losing record like that. He's a good football person and will get another gig elsewhere, likely in an assistant coach or football ops type role.

Zuurhaar isn't a key forward at 189cms, he's a forward/mid type. Very powerful, decent pace, fierce at the contest and hits the scoreboard. At a good club he could be a real weapon IMO and would add a different dynamic to our forward line. Larkey would be a huge get. He's a very promising tall forward who has already shown he can be a main target, clunk marks and hit the scoreboard. I think both players are contracted, but if the place implodes we should get in their ear and see if we can lure them across.

Can we pinch Larkey or Zuurhaar? Both could add to our forward line!

Yep, sitting on a beach in Hawaii sipping cocktails while North burns. Roos is a great footy person, but doesn’t seem to have been entirely invested in North!

Lewis is a very solid KPF, however he signed a long extension last month and will be a Hawk until 2027. Obviously a key pillar in Hawks rebuild and doubtful he'd be an option. Would also cost a first rounder we don't have.

He's 28 years old, will be 29 early next season. He does not have a marking presence and has not been effective up forward. He can only play number 1 ruck and he's on over a million bucks a year for another 5 years. He doesn't fit our age demographic and would retire not long after Gawn. We need Gawn's replacement to be younger than Grundy, otherwise he is a very expensive stop-gap. If he had a presence up forward like Lobb or Marshall type, then I'd consider it. As he doesn't, I'd avoid and look for younger, cheaper, more suitable options.

Ok that makes sense thanks. So further up the ground, not inside 50 then. That is still surprising, but disappointing to see such a low success rate from him. He's definitely out of form, but frustratingly we lack quality tall forward depth. A lot of that failure is on the delivery to him also. With the ball being bombed long or moved slowly, it makes it harder for him to have it kicked to his advantage. It's a problem all over the field though, not just forward. The synergy is just not there and needs to be found in the month to come or we'll struggle come finals time.

I fee like that stat is wrong. He took more contested marks than that in the first quarter lone the other night! Or were they further up the ground or winning 1 vs 2 or pack situations (even harder lol). Regardless he's definitely not in form, but that stat seems off. Back on topic, Weid has the runs on the board and has held his own at AFL before, even excelling in finals 2018. As well as JVR is going in the VFL, Weid is going just as well, and mostly better, so even on form Weid gets the nod. As exciting as JVR is, and I think he'll be our best key forward long term, it's probably not the right time to blood a kid in a tall forward position.