RalphiusMaximus

Happy with this development.

Dare I suggest writing in to the AFL and pointing this out to them? It's probably early enough for them to make a minor change. They could even make the AFLW game a curtain-raiser at Optus.

This fixture is a shocker. SO many media "analysts" are saying it's a good draw because we play side who were weak this year twice. So what? They start out by exhausting our side with a trip to Perth to play in the hottest part of the day, then a six day break and back to play the runner's up from last season meaning we are pretty well guaranteed to start off 0-2 and bottom of the ladder. The majority of our home games are against interstate sides meaning our crowds will be small and revenue low. This is compounded by putting us in the Sunday afternoon slot more than any other team. They will then use our low crowd numbers to justify not giving us any decent slots the year after as well. It's possible that we'll recover from the first two rounds and do ok on the ladder, but we'll be relying on two matches to make up the financial loss we take on the rest and break even for the year.

Nope. Right now he is a Delisted Free Agent. This means that during the FA signing period he can sign with any club at any agreed contract. If he chooses to train with multiple clubs during the lead-up to the draft, he will then lose his FA status and have to go into the PSD and see if anyone picks him, that is where he would nominate pay and contract length. . If he waits until after the draft and trains with one club, that club is able to take him as a supplemental rookie before the season begins in March. He has already decided against that PSD route. Melbourne has offered to have him train with them from December onwards. This would allow him to play in our pre-season games and we could then take him as a rookie in the same way we took Lackhart this year. It doesn't look like anyone is willing to pony up an upfront contract to grab him as a Free Agent without seeing if he can train first.

I can't find the article I read. It was only a few hours ago. Annoying.

We need to offer something to get the guy to the club. If Geelong are offering one year, we offer two. If they are offering two, we offer two + one with a trigger. There are at least four clubs looking at him and we're probably the least successful of the lot. We're not going to get him for a one year deal. Beyond that simple fact, one spot on our list simply isn't that big a deal. We just re-signed both Wagners, Dunkley, Baker, Chandler and Lockhart. Is Bennell a worse option to have on our list that any of them? I readily admit that he's a risk and might never even play a senior game for us, but he's certainly not any weaker than the fringe players we have already given contracts to.

That's the theory behind offering him two years with a trigger clause for a third. One year to get his game back in shape, second year he needs to perform. Length of contract could be a big factor in luring him to Melbourne.

He was linked to Sydney a week ago. If we offer him decent terms he can be linked to us too.

I agree it's not a high percentage move, but the potential rewards are great if it comes off. Given how little it costs to take the chance it is worth the risk. Offer him two years with an activation clause in his second. He gets a year to get fit and find form, then he needs to play senior footy in 2021.

As far as I can see, there's only one serious talent in the PSD. Either we go for Martin or we sit it out.

Reminds me of a punt Hawthorn took once on a fat ex-footballer.

I HOPE this is the thinking.

Worrying about an 18 year old kid not playing in his first season is pointless. He shouldn't be playing seniors in his first season anyway. A year of rehab means he will be better prepared physically when he does debut.

I hadn't actually noticed that you posted both comments. ?

To force them to use their first pick on him. If he's not nominated before their first pick then they grab another talented kid and then pay for him later in the draft.

JKH and Stretch are gone. We can expect Wagner to be upgraded to the main list I think. So two live draft picks, one rookie upgrade and we have two spots still up for grabs. One of those is probably the guy from Collingwood. Hopefully the other is Martin or Bennell.

My ideal result would be Kemp and one of Young or Serong. Kemp could be a superstar while the other two both fill genuine needs.

He won't be in the draft. He's a free agent. He can simply walk in to whichever club comes to an agreement with him.

Or possibly he feels that the player we're eyeing off at 8 this year is better than anyone we'll get in the next draft? Given that Kemp won't play next year you could regard him as next year's draftee. His quality would put him well in the upper ranks of next year's group. I look at that footage of Kemp and I see good burst pace and plenty of power. His attack on the ball reminds me a little of some plays David Schwarz made in his day where he burst through tackles. Obviously this kid isn't another Schwarz (wouldn't it be awesome if he were?), but he has power and explosiveness and he can kick. We keep talking about how the club plays it safe with their picks. This is another kind of risk, and we should back ourselves in to manage him properly and get a star out of it.

Ideally I'd like us to go after both of them.

He wouldn't be a FA if he came to us.

He's also over 2m tall, mid 20s and topped the goalkicking for Glenelg this year. He walked out on the Tigers because he didn't want to play footy anymore, grew up a bit and decided he really does want to play, hence the SANFL. Good on set shots too.

Funny, I've mostly had the opposite reaction. Guys like Dunn and Robertson were much bigger in person than they seemed on the TV. Of course, I also bumped into JKH in a crowd and he barely came up to my chin, so it goes both ways...

It was mentioned very briefly on SEN. They felt that Martin might put an unrealistic price on himself to discourage us. Not sure that would work given Carlton can't be any better off than us with their cap. Maybe the theory is that he goes to them then renegotiates a new deal? Either way, as far as I'm concerned he's the best possible option for us in the PSD. Certainly a better option than upgrading a rookie to fill a list spot or re-signing Stretch and JKH.

Still want this guy. We can go for the little pacey guy at three and hope he's still standing (or not given his knee) at eight.