Fat Tony

Treloar will nominate his club and GWS will get a first round pick and steak knives.

I think just reducing the interchange is a good idea but it would have less impact than everyone thinks. Zones whereby three players from each side needed to be inside both 50s at stoppages would be easy to police. There are seven umpires on the field.

Oxley was named in the best last week with 23 possessions and is just named on an extended bench. I doubt he will be dropped.

We let him go because he can still leave via the draft and we get nothing.

The AFL is slowly coming to the realisation that congestion is killing the game and it is just going to get worse as players get fitter. The ‘let the game evolve’ camp have had enough time and the game has evolved to garbage. Zones at stoppages, interchange caps and 16 per side should be brought in from 2016.

David King had an interesting segment on AFL 360 last night and they discussed how Hawthorn regularly go back only two meters off the mark and then kick on a 45 degree angle. He also highlighted how their forwards play from behind the formation defense.

No chance. No club will offer Leuenberger a monster deal.

I think this is a very stupid way to look at trading. I would be happy to see Garland go if he were to net us pick 3, but it isn't happening. We may get pick 26, but we might get pick 43, either way it isn't a great result in a shallow draft. As for opening up a list spot, there are a dozen players on the block before Garland.

The draft is a lottery and, while pick 26 may get you a star, it is much more likely to get you a bust. The recent pick 26’s have included great selections in Darling and Edwards, but the mode selection would be lucky to net you 30 games. Recent Pick 26's Toby McLean Zachary Merrett Jack Viney (James Stewart at 27) Todd Elton Jack Darling Aaron Black Jayden Post Brett Meredith Shane Edwards Garrick Ibbotson Matthew Little There is also the impact on the playing group of losing another senior player which I feel you are not valuing at all.

I think it is tried to some extent, but the game is so fast and rotations make it difficult to get set up. Also the congestion around the ball means the pressure is on the kicker is high and the third man up has a field day.

Frawley got us pick 3 and Garland will get pick 26 in a weak draft if we are lucky. Steve your unhealthy obsession with Garland is like Titan with Dunn and Picket Fence with Toumpas.

Clarkson plays more forwards and Hawthorn gets a lot of goals over the back. It works because they are all quick.

Not directly. Only Garland is a Free agent.

I think it is right that we want to be innovative, but we also need to be aware that most ideas that are considered to be innovative in the AFL are really just further advances on previous ideas. The three key innovations over the last 60 years have been the use of handball as an attacking weapon and play on from defence (invented by Len Smith and used by Barrissi), flooding (Rodney Eade) and formation defence (Alistair Clarkson). Innovations like Pagan’s Paddock and Wallace’s deep flood were just an evolution of Eade’s original idea. And the modern day press is a progression from Clarkson’s Cluster. Innovation also needs to reflect the players at the coach’s disposal. You wouldn’t attempt to play a tall forward line if you had four Chris Dawes on your list. Likewise, you wouldn’t play without a ruckman if you had Todd Goldstien. Moreover, it needs to be remembered that there are only two real ways to move the ball – kick and run and handball. And there is only two paths to goal – boundary and corridor. So the number of different game plans is relatively limited.

I couldn't disagree more on this. Nic Nat's chasing, tackling and smothering is first rate. As is his follow up work around clearances. He just struggles to find the ball in general play. But, IMO, he is still a star because there are nearly 80 clearances per game. I also don't think West Coast's midfield is that strong and, indeed, he is the one making them look good.

Our game plan is currently very similar to the Swans and Freo, which looks to have been worked out by Clarkson. A key point of the thread is that Roos needs to re-evaluate whether what he is trying to deliver has already been superseded. Personally I think it has and we need to inject some outside run and class into the list.

I am all for innovation, but it is also a risk to be too far apart of the pack like Mark Neeld, Gerard Neesham and Neil Balme. Particularly when your list is not in contention and there is the potential for rule changes.

Max Gawn would be a much better player if he could improve his goal kicking. It is a disgrace.

I think Nic Nat is a gun. While he doesn't take many marks, he influences games significantly with his dominant centre bounce ruck work and pressure acts. The fact that Max Gawn is being spoken of on the same page as Nic Nat says more about big Max. He has been sensational in the last five games except when he was beaten by Nic Nat.

While Brisbane would be incredibly hypocritical to ask for a priority pick, I have some sympathy with the Lions given they have lost so many players due to homesickness. Moreover, the gap in quality between the best sides and the worst sides in the AFL is still huge and I feel the fairest way to bridge the difference is via the draft and salary cap. (This gap needs to narrow IMO, because I am sick of watching so many uneven games of footy.) But the decision by the AFL that priority picks now be handed out by the commission arbitrarily leads to activism against the pick being given by the other 17 clubs. Brisbane, indeed, were a key complainant against Melbourne getting a priority pick in 2013 when Voss was in charge. Greg Swann also lobbied hard against Melbourne being overcompensated for Frawley leaving last year. It is therefore impossible for Melbourne supporters to feel Brisbane deserve a priority pick when we didn’t get one, especially given our performances were much, much worse and because Brisbane look to be playing well below their capability this year. Personally, I feel the AFL needs to consider revising the draft order so that all the sides outside the finals have two picks prior to the top 8. This would be essentially a priority pick for every team that misses the finals and would take away the annual debate which is bad for football.

Is Parish very quick? IMO a lot of good outside mids at U18 level are really struggling with the contested brand of AFL footy. (i.e. players like Toumpas and Aish). I feel outside players now need to be super quick like Lewis Jetta and the Hill brothers to be high quality AFL players.

Good news. Round17 Injury Report

Bailey was trying to be more like Geelong and Neeld like Malthouse (at Carlton).

I agree they hit targets, but I also think that it is partly due to Clarkson's willingness to play skilled, undersized players in key posts. (i.e. Gibson, Stratton and Gunston.)

I think picking up a player like Kelly would give us an extra win (and a little less whinge from you old dee). The thing is these players would all command a first round pick plus 6% of the salary cap.