Fat Tony

Weideman was 11th ranked in the AFL for marks inside 50 and 25th in the AFL for contested marks. He improved a lot in the air this year. But he still averaged less than 8 possessions a game. So I disagree that he really has very many 'tricks' other than his one wood. That's not to say he cannot be a good/great player. Tomahawk has almost been the MVP of the competition this year and Weideman plays a similar style game. Mihocek is also a low possession player, but he is a dead eye in front of goal, with 90.53 for his career. He also tackles (2 per game), which is why I think he could be a third banana alongside Weideman and Jackson. (Gunston would be better again, but he is not out of contract and would cost a lot more/seems unattainable.)

The biggest issue with Weideman and Ben Brown together would be the lack of tackling and chasing pressure. Fritsch also is a weak link in that regard. While we definitely need to improve our forward line, I think the answer needs to be with a player who is better on the ground. I think we have invested too much in Weideman and Jackson to not build around them and I think both are likely to come good.

Weideman is really a number 1 or nothing in my view. He needs to clunk marks and kick straight and be the main man. He doesn’t offer enough outside of his aerial ability to be a second stringer. Ben Brown might be a better player, but I think Mihocek would be a better fit with Weideman and Jackson.

I am happy to trade him, because he is surplus to our needs. But I don't want us to do what the market sees as being a fair trade. I want to extract the maximum return. My view is that Preuss will become a very good player. Ruckmen of that size have been shown to have a big advantage and I think he has shown enough to suggest that he will be at least a good AFL ruckman. The trade will be seen as a loss down the track IMO, but he is not going to get a game ahead of Max.

Brown is out of contract so whoever gets him will pay his full salary.

The Hawks have had a similar model and won 3. They have really only fallen off the perch since they started cutting their veterans.

My view on veterans is that they offer are better value return than draft picks. Geelong's model is the one to follow. The Cats have managed to beat the system by attracting veterans to help them stay in the finals race. This success means that their stars take less money. And in an era of free agency, being successful also helps attract quality free agents. The Cat's short-term strategy also has shown to have long term rewards. This is not to say Lewis Jetta is the player to target, as he might be finished, but he has pace and skill, which we are lacking.

Lewis Jetta has fallen out of favour at WCE. I haven’t followed his form closely but he could be a player worth looking at.

If we go for Polec, I would be willing to overpay in terms of draft picks this year to get NM to pay more of his salary. i.e. I would be happy to trade #23 for Polec if NM pay all his wages or #47 if they only pay half. My thinking is that this draft will be a crapshoot.

We traded Jesse Hogan for May at the end of 2018. So we made list changes.

Recruiting is a lottery.

We have taken about 10 players from Casey over the years and missed two of the best. ?

Pleased to see he didn’t miss the dotted line.

I totally agree on Jackson. He could be something special if he gets his marking together. It was really interesting how the Cats played last night, with Blicavs effectively playing as an around the ground ruckman after the bounce and Stanley moving forward. I don't think we would do this as Gawn is such a roadblock when we don't have the ball, but it gave a bit of a blueprint as to how we could use Jackson. I think the key is to have very few forwards who can't tackle and chase and compete when the ball hits the ground. It is not really about the number of talls and smalls. A forward line of six of Buddy Franklin would be amazing even though it would be ginormous because he is so fast. A forward line of six of Charlie Cameron would also probably work because he is pretty good in the air. The big issue for us is that Weideman is fairly ordinary when the ball hits the deck. (In addition, Fritsch is a bit of a pressure valve.) We have already invested a lot in Weideman and Jackson so we really need to build around them. Ben Brown is similar to Weideman in that he is a very good aerial target but not a great pressure player. This is not to say a trio of talls could not work, but I am a bit sceptical if it would work with Brown and Weideman being two of them.

A 2018 version of TMac could actually fit nicely into our forward line with Weideman and Jackson.

Article also says TMac will stay.

Ratugolea‘s long arms reaching up like giant testicles!

Smith is built like Michael Tuck. He could play another 100 games IMO. I would love to get him.

I would look to trade ANB for Seedsman.

Smith is a free agent.

I prefer Smith to Polec. While he is older, I think he’s better and think he’s likely to be able to have a very long career.

Think we can trade our picks. The rule is designed to stop clubs blowing their future in one offseason.

This plus the draft is a crapshoot given no junior football and the academy selections.

Better outside players would help. Sure. But we can’t jump from middle rung to contenders unless our inside midfielders tidy things up. This is a fundamental issue holding us back and it’s wishful thinking that just improving the bit pieces will be the fix.

Oliver definitely has an issue with his disposal. How does a player lead the league in contested possessions, pressure acts and clearances and finish so far off winning the best and fairest? The reason is he turns it over too often.