MadAsHell

Just had a read of this thread. One option for a mature forward to compliment Hogan & Watts next year while Weid continues to develop who is good in the air and would also be able to put on pressure when the ball hits the ground is already on our list. ..... Colin Garland! Fact of the matter is that he's contracted for 2018 and with Tommy & Oscar Mc, Frost and the emergence of Joel Smith and Wagner, I think we all know Col's days in defence are over. I hope the club tries and turns him into a forward in 2018 for his own sake. No point having him 6th in line for tall defenders when you could try him in a position he was initially drafted for where we lack some depth. Worst case scenario it doesn't work and we delist him at the end of 2018 anyway. Food for thought.

Not the worst thought. Will at the very least keep the likes of Kent, Harmes, JKH, Dion Johnstone etc honest.

Not an inconvenience at all. Demonland has provided a lot over this last decade!

I will make a donation after pay day (May 9). Bread & water till then...

I remember him. Struggled to have much of an impact, even in the D-League and was delisted after 1 year. Happy for him.

Good to at least see Trenners, Kennedy and White continue their decent form.

There's always a carry over player when the VFL plays the day before.

How's Trenners, Harmes etc going?

Tell me about it. Was thinking of driving down for the game, until about 11:45 when I realized it stated at 1 instead. Quickly changed my mind after that.

We both agree that defence seems to be his most natural position. But I encourage everyone to check out the footage of VFL Round 2 last year when it was Collingwood v Casey at Olympic Park. Was on the club website at the time. Keilty played the whole game in the ruck v Mason Cox, giving away about 15cm and 20+kg. I was really impressed at how well he competed in there. He probably wont play. I just think he should.

I reckon we should play them both. We're loosing two key position players, so bring 2 in with Keilty & Pedersen who can split ruck 50/50 given neither is a genuine ruckman in their own right. This would then allow Watts to stay as a permanent forward with Hogan to help us out structure wise.

We've been caught out with poor list management plain and simple. Around trade time last year I along with many others on this site were calling for us to recruit another ruck option. From memory Nathan Vardy & Tom Downie were popular nominees along with Will Minson as a stop gap given after Gawn the only other ready to go ruck was Spencer who'd just put in a shocker VFL Grand Final. With Gawn & Spencer now injured we find ourselves with a choice of two specialist rucks who are 18 & 19 (Filipovic & King) and nowhere near ready, or picking undersized part time rucks who are about 193/194cm each (Pedersen & Keilty). So we've been caught with our pants down and looks like we now need to wear it.

Get your Keilts on people! It may nearly be Declan Keilty time. ROUND 1 Declan Keilty: He had 11 possessions, three tackles and 10 hit outs. He’s taken over our main ruck role, since Jake Spencer was promoted to the AFL. Declan’s made some real progress in that area of the game. He pushed forward and took some really good contested marks. ROUND 2 Declan Keilty 2 goals 1 behinds 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 3 marks 8 tackles 12 hit outs 86 dream team points

First things first, time to promote Keilty off the rookie list. IN: Bugg, Keilty, Lewis, Pedersen OUT: Petracca, Smith, Spencer (all injured. SEN reckon trac will miss) Tyson (omitted) Pederson & Keilty to share the ruck duties and spend some time deep. Watts to stay as a permanent forward. Tyson's omission is as much a horses for courses approach given Essendon's speed as it is one based on form. I actually wouldn't have any issue with him coming straight back in the following week. Melksham & JKH on very thin ice. FB: Hibberd, T. McDonald, Jetta HB: Hunt, Frost, Salem C: Bugg, N. Jones, Lewis HF: Harmes, Hogan, JKH FF: Watts, Pedersen, Garlett FOLL: Keilty, Oliver, Viney INT: Melksham, Neal-Bullen, Stretch, Vince EMERG: Kennedy, O. McDonald, Tyson Let Kent & Weideman find some form in the VFL and on the track before earning a recall. And hopefully Melksham can finally find some form against his old team.

IN: Hogan, Pedersen OUT: Hannan, Weideman Hibberd needs another week. Will be an automatic inclusion with Lewis.

Time for youth and some major changes amongst this squad, We're in dire straights! Poor old Burns & Ferguson had shockers. Voges is done. Neville just doesn't make enough runs. I like him as a keeper, but he's averaging just over 20. We need him to be averaging around 32 - 36. Menie is in the same boat to Siddle. He's not overly fast and doesn't swing the ball enough to justify picking someone who bowls at that pace. Time for a bit of youth crossed with x factor, technique & aggro. Mass changes for Adelaide. OUT: Burns, Voges, Ferguson, Neville, Menie & Lyon IN: Bancroft, Handscomb, Maxwell, Carters, Agar & Tremain XI: Bancroft (Young up and comer who bats with a good technique. Has been on the radar for awhile and has made runs for Aus A on turning wickets while also growing up on the bouncy WACA wicket) Warner Khawaja Smith Handscomb (Young batsman who has been in very good form for Victoria the last 3 years now. One of the best players on spin in the country and can bat anywhere in the top 6. Also capable of putting on the gloves if need be) Maxwell (X-Factor selection. Guy can do it all, and with Nathan Lyon's poor form and Mitch Marsh not cutting it, he's more then worth a punt given his ability) Carters (Good gloveman and a dour batsman who can bat for long periods of time. Has opened the batting for NSW before, as well as bat down the order, so he knows how to face the new ball and the older one) Agar (Time to give the left arm orthodox kid another go. Good fielder, can bat and his bowling's on the improve. Adelaide Oval seem a good venue to try two spinners. Agar & Big Show) Starc Tremain (Another x-factor selection. Tremain bowls at a lively pace and has been known to hit/hurt the batsman consistently with Victoria. He would be a better foil for Starc & Hazlewood then Siddle & Menie have been. Someone who can show some aggresion and worry the batsmen) Hazlewood

Serious?

If it gets to Pick 44 in the Rookie Draft and none of Xavier Richards, Josh Watts, Mitch Brown, Alex Silvagni, Mick Martyn are left, then maybe......

Love Smith and really hope he gets a shot at it. Doubt it will be us, but who knows?

Boring, predictable and underwhelming are some of the words that come to mind when I look at the Australian Test Squad that was announced today. http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-28/australia-names-bolter-joe-mennie-in-12-man-test-squad/7974820?pfmredir=sm Although Mennie doesn't do much to excite me, I can understand his inclusion the issues with Pattinson, Cummins & Coulter-Nile. However I roll my eyes at a few other selections i must admit. Peter Siddle's been a great servant, but it's time for the selectors to move on. Pick James Faulkner as a bowling all rounder or Chris Tremain to try and rough up some batsman and lets get some agro going. Sids line & length role is already covered by Hazlewood now. Given we've fallen off our number 1 perch, is there really much point playing someone like Voges now? Really? For goodness sake lets get a young middle order batsman in there to try and grow. Handscomb would be my pick, but Travis Head is an option also. But seriously Voges purpose has now been served. And while on the topic of young batsman, we'd finally started playing one in Jo Burns who showed some decent formon our wickets, yet struggled in Asia. So much so that we've dropped him for Shaun Marsh who can only score runs in Asia and can't buy one in Australia. Pitty the tests he's replacing Burns for are in Australia! And finally surely we've learnt by now that our 6/7 combination of Mitch Marsh/Nevill having a combined average with the bat of less then 45 isn't sustainable. Puts to much pressure on the top 5 as our tail starts at 6! We either need to go back to playing 6 specialist batsman or Matthew Wade has to keep and bat at 6 despite his keeping flaws. Until these issues are tweaked, I can't see us winning a series for awhile.

I'm actually hoping for Garlands sake that they give him a new role as a genuine utility who spends time back, forward, on the wing etc with tne view to see if he can force his way into the seniors in that role. He's got 2 years to run, so no point seeing him rot in a back pocket at Casey all that time. Give him a new role and see if he can make it work. If they do that with Col, combined with Dunn's departure, there's a few key defensive posts on our list that need filling as back up to the McDonald brothers and Frost. I suspect we'll rookie draft one from the U18's and target a matute age rokie with the other. Possibly Xavier, Mitch Brown, Silvagni etc.

If no one takes him, then I'd be happy to pick him up with our 2nd Pick in the Rookie Draft.

Cause they'll probably see Wagner on the senior list with someone like White or Smith upgraded prior to Round 1 more beneficial then Pick 84 in the National Draft on the senior list and only one of Wagner, White or Smith being able to be upgraded. There's every chance whoever we like at Pick 84 in the ND will still be there at Pick 8 in the RD. I'll be staggered if we use Pick 84 rather then upgrade Wagner.

Can't see it happening i have to say. Although i do suspect the club will rookie a mature age defender given the state of our stocks back there.

1. GWS 2. Sydney 3. Bulldogs 4. Geelong (just) 5. Melbourne 6. St Kilda 7. Adelaide 8. West Coast Hawks to just miss and Roos for bottom 4.