Bingo

I think all of Collingwood, Geelong and Brisbane have shown that age is irrelevant. Just take a look at our own Jake Melksham. It's more dependant on the overall health of their body. We genuinely do have very few "established" prospects. That's why an out of form JVR and an inexperienced Jefferson are being asked to be our key tall forwards.

Why is this such a bad idea? honestly. We need to both top up and to re-build on the run. Neither are mutually exclusive. I've read pages and pages of people complaining about Tholstrup and others who are not up to speed and their need to develop at Casey. Whilst also reading about the lack of quality @ Casey at the same time. It's clear that a re-set of sorts is required where hard calls need to be made on players who cannot make the grade are delisted (We clearly have a number of players who appear to never be in the frame for selection). So I agree, a rebuild on the bottom 40% of the list is required. BUT.... We also need experienced players. We need to remain competitive, whilst we understand who will make the grade and who won't. The last thing we want to do is return to the days where James McDonald and the like were moved on...taking us back to the good old days of (circa 2012). We need to build selection integrity, we need our juniors earning games and with consistent performances in the 2's (i.e developing in the VFL). And not least, we need our current senior players to believe that they have have a chance to win, that the club is trying to do everything it can to win now. I know who I'd rather have playing key forward for this club if you lined up Jefferson, Johnson, Van Rooyen, Petty and Daniher.

The pies forward efficiency is sickening to watch. I'm used to 8 goals 16 behinds...not the inverse.

The two biggest changes I noticed was the concerted effort to avoid hack kicks from stoppage, using forward handball to run into/toward forward 50 and secondly, the movement inside forward 50 was starkly different to the first 5 rounds. Was fantastic to see and made is so much more dangerous and less predictable.

Not sure why all the negativity?? Personally, i love this pick. We absolutely need a competitor in the forward half of the ground (in addition to JVR). This is exactly the reason we persevered with Petty this season when form was nowhere to be seen, and the same reason why Fullarton and Schache were not selected. Playing key forward is more than being tall, you need to want contact, and AJ looks to have that, is physically developed and is plug and play. This also allows Petty to go back if necessary and judging on training reports, is on the cards. We've also lost key position depth as mentioned with Brown, Schache and Tomlinson in addition to McDonald and May nearing the end. Not to mention the swing and miss at Derkson.

Andrew Mackie is the new Dedoro. I understand that Smith is out of contract but when you lure a player over the course of 18 months and have them commit to your club, it is incumbent on them to work the deal. Yes you want to get the best deal possible for your club, but the visible lack of effort to deal other assets, be it players, current year picks or future picks is embarrassing. Personally I'm proud that the Dees are creative and look at getting their deals completed early. Sometimes we pay overs, other times we get a break because we're easy to deal with. Swings and roundabouts and I know which side of the coin I'd like to be associated with.

I think you take best available and re-visit Derksen next year when out of contract. We have a few option in JVR, Jefferson, Disco, Petty etc and we could possibly take a delisted free agent for a stop gap such as Membry or Tabiner that can play the same role. I'd prefer to take the best 2 mids available...our midfield was terrible this year and think the natural growth of our forwards will make that area of the ground less of a priority.

I felt that when Tholstrup played he impacted games in the first half and then tired. I'm hoping that with another pre-season he can increase his endurance to impact a whole game. What he does have though is a natural aggression and confidence that cannot be taught.

Feels like a low cost Nibbler replacement who can run all day and allow our onballers more bench rotations. Ed Langdon 2.0

Once the trade period washes through, delisted free agents like Matt Taberner and Seb Ross should be considered as depth options considering how thin our list was this year.

If this is a salary dump, I'd do the deal if it's similar to the Jack Bowes situation a couple of years ago (see below). "Geelong was the first club to exploit the newly-introduced salary dumping, taking pick No.7 and Jack Bowes, as well as his $1.6 million contract, off Gold Coast’s hands for just a future third-round pick." https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-news-2022-trades-salary-dump-jack-bowes-contract-move-to-geelong-gold-coast-suns-deal-draft-picks/news-story/391d79749c2163cc78399fd151f97018

I think he'll be playing elsewhere next year...He could easily come out and re-commit to the Dee's but his silence is defining. What I think we're seeing is the negotiations happening behind the scenes. Clubs will be currently orchestrating their list strategies for the off season and our reiterated public stance that Petracca will be a Dee for the next 5 years and will be traded under no circumstance, is the clubs way of stating clearly that the offer needs to be too good to refuse.

Goody said in the media that they want to play strong footy through to the end of the year, hence minimal changes. It would do even more damage to our brand and ability to land recruits through the trade period if we were to get flogged in the last 2 rounds. Would Jefferson cause that? probably not, though we've already exposed many youngsters this year and realistically, he'd be replacing JVR, Petty or Fritch, who in my opinion would offer more this weekend.

With alot of our midfield depth gone and now Nibbler on the way out, I wouldn't be against the idea to select Mitch White with a late draft pick to help replace some of the leadership that will be walking out the door. Separately, with Nibbler no longer working a HFF, we have the opportunity to play someone with a more natural attacking bias, though this would require Goodwin to adjust his game plan....in reality we play alot of defensive forwards and have few natural goal kickers atm.

That was woeful. Honestly feels like a loss.