Fat Tony

I prefer no double chance and a knock out system. I like the old NFL system with 12 finalists for the AFL. Essentially it would work whereby the top 4 get the first round off and 5-12 play against each other to get into the second round of 8 teams. The match ups and home ground advantages work through ladder seedings. The four winners then play off in the prelim. Again the match ups and home ground advantages work through ladder seedings. This means the top 4 need to to win three in a row and 5-12 need to win four in row to be premiers.

Bedford got off on another error of law. What an embarrassment. The whole kangaroo court needs to be sacked.

What a joke the AFL are. There is about 50 lawyers working at AFL house and they repeatedly make errors of law at the tribunal.

Goodwin has shown that he is capable of making ruthless decisions on players who are distractions. This is definitely a 'watch this space' and, if we do put Oliver on the trade block again, I trust that the club knows more than us. I view salary cap space as the club's most important football asset (much more important than picks because the draft is inefficient and players can get to their preferred clubs) and so an Oliver trade could look terrible on the surface but leave us in a better position. I also think that the difference between Oliver being a superstar and a plodder is whether or not he can regain his elite speed. He is not a great kick and, when he cannot break away from congestion, he has become a liability on the field. Is the loss of Oliver's breakaway speed due to his poor preseason or is it due to age and the rest of the competition catching up? (I am sure it is both, but it is hard to say which is more.)

Shannon Gill is a Demon fanatic and was talking about Jako on Whateley this morning. Hope this link works https://megaphone.link/NTETP1385721706

They are official AFL player ratings for 2024. Houston was 24th rated in the AFL last year. https://s.afl.com.au/staticfile/AFL Tenant/AFL/PlayerRatings/PlayerRatings_HOW.pdf

Dan Houston is the 33rd ranked player in the AFL this year according to Wheelo Ratings. Gawn and Petracca are the only Demons ahead of him. He is definitely worth a 2024 first round pick. By comparison, Isaac Cumming is ranked 90th. (But is a younger free agent.) Trent Rivers is ranked 119th Judd McVee is ranked 193rd Salem is ranked 308th.

Cumming would be better than Houston given he is a free agent.

Our captain would vomit at the thought.

We have been contending for the last four years and so we have almost certainly been backloading contracts. Petracca, Oliver and Kossie are now all on mega long-term deals. You can always fit players in by extending and backloading contracts, but eventually you have to pay the piper (unless you are the Pies or Cats who have the advantage of being destination clubs and pay only 75 cents on the dollar). Other clubs (Hawthorn, Crows, Saints, Roos etc) have been front loading contracts in recent years and have war chests to spend. The way for us to reload is with cheap veterans and via the draft.

Bolton is not in our price range. He is already on a large, long-term contract and the WA clubs are all over him. It is fanciful.

I think we also played a bit differently in terms of our method. Without Max we added an extra player to the stoppages, which increased our pressure around the ball. And, as good as Gawn and Petracca are, they are not favoured by the wet. Petracca can fumble and it takes away Gawn's biggest advantage, in his marking.

I don't know if I would call it a re-build because that implies that we have cut the list and we are giving young players a chance ahead of time. But our recruiting was good again last year and we have picked up some good AFL level talent with later picks in recent years. Windsor, Pickett, Rivers, JVR and McVee are clearly going to be or are already excellent players. Bowey is a good AFL player. Tholstrup and Turner look extremely promising and I would bet they make it. AMW, Howes, Woewodin and Brown have also shown they are chances to make it. And Sparrow, Chandler and Petty are only 24.

They're not much chop.

We finished the 1998 season in fourth with a 14-8 record and a percentage of just 102.7%.

I think Turner is a more capable player around the ground than Fullarton and Petty/JVR will compete harder in the centre bounces than Fullarton. It is not that odd. Goodwin and the coaches would have considered the pros and cons. Fullarton has not shown himself to be an AFL standard player and has never played an AFL game as a first ruckman.

I would have selected Petty and agree with the idea of rucking Petty, JVR and Turner. I think Petty will primarily take the centre bounces and then Turner will mostly play as a follower ruckman. From VFL watching, Fullarton looks to me to be capable player around the ground, but he is not a dominate centre bounce ruckman. I think Petty, JVR and Turner are better or just as good in the centre bounces. (We are still at a disadvantage at centre clearance though.) In terms of our defensive structure, we can't replace what Max gives us. He stifles the opposition ball movement just by his positioning and our plan is to force the opposition to kick down the line to a contest with Max on a slow play. In around the ground stoppages, we will need to play with at least equal numbers this week, which could expose our defence. (Salem will need to push up to the stoppage, as I don't think we can play a man down with an inferior ruckman.) Going forward, we lose Max's marking threat as a deep forward, but we gain a bit more pace and unpredictability. I don't think we want it to rain because our midfielders are better in the dry. And I think we will want to play a more expansive game style (a bit like last week against the Eagles and not down the line like against the Lions and Roos.)

I have always loved the small forward pockets. Ricky Jackson, Wizard, Davey, Jurrah and now Pickett are some of my all time favourites. (I even loved Smoker, Armstrong and Heaver.)

That could be right, but that possibility needed to be considered in making the trade. And we could have aborted and found a live trade back to the previous year. The 'out' on the picks being poor after Laurie is only telling half the story.

We did pull forward our draft pick from the future to take Laurie, so that needs to be also considered.

I think the Bombers will only play one ruck. They are coming off their best win for years and won't drop Nate Caddy, who looks to play a bit like a young Charlie Curnow, or Harry Jones who is also showing a lot. Peter Wright played in the second ruck role for them and he will still give them an edge in the clearances against us.

The point you make is right. The ability to go through the stoppage at speed and with clean hands means you don't need to be a big bull in the centre square. This is especially now the case with the big ruck circle. Butters is another good example of a very good centre clearance player who is small. I like McVee, but I think Nick Daicos is at least one level above and he is a fair bit quicker and stronger. The other thing to note is how well Darcy Cameron is going in the centre bounces at directing his taps and the Pies are setting up for Daicos to run through the centre stoppage at speed. We have been trying to do this sometimes with Kossie, but you can only really afford to have one attacking player like this in the centre clearance. A great thing about Kossie in this role is that he is dual sided. I actually think Windsor is actually more likely to be an inside midfielder for us than McVee in time because he has elite pace off the mark and he has shown exceptional handball/decision making in tight.

Melksham looks like he got off without any penalty.

I am not sold on AMW and I think that some of the comments on here are a bit over the top. I like that he plays with AFL intensity but needs to be cleaner and more precise with his disposal and keep his feet on the ground balls. Some of his decision making shows his inexperience as well, but obviously that could improve with more games. I prefer what Howes offers at this stage because he is a better kick and better interceptor. I also think he plays to the defensive system better.

McVee is too light and lacks the power to play in the centre bounces IMO.