Bingo

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

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.

I've been searching to see if this has been mentioned prior, but from what I can see it hasn't. What everyone seems to miss is how Fritsch approaches the ball. First, he sprints to make position before the Geelong player. He then slows and drifts ever so slightly to the right, taking space away from his opponent whilst assessing if the ball will slow and stay in. As soon as it appears that the ball will stay live, he leans into his opponent with a slight bump giving himself space to gather and shoot with no pressure. This is what makes Fritsch so special. His timing and bodywork are always underrated and is what makes him so dangerous.

Like Heeney said, they play and train all preseason in this heat and humidity. We couldn't handle the ball.

I agree with you, but it's worth the risk playing him as we have no contested marking forwards and need quality delivery.

Yet in the vfl we have Spargo who a year or 2 ago was one of the best I50 kicks in the competition...

With McKay out this week I have more faith in Lever and Tomlinson doing a job on Curnow than our current forwardline functioning....or even taking a mark