Adam The God

There's certainly a similarity in form that cannot be denied, but personally, I think both will be very good players. As you say though, the diabetes condition would worry me as a Saints fan. This comes from a bit of an ignorant place though. I'd just assume diabetes and elite sportsperson wouldn't mix, but I could be entirely wrong.

He's still playing too much hero footy for mine. He doesn't have the same sharp footy brain that tells him when to give off instinctively like Oliver does (players rarely do - Clarry is a special talent). Jack reminds me more of a young Jones. But we've gotta be better than that hero footy stuff - Moloney was another terrible proponent of it. I've noticed Jack get caught a lot with the ball this season (as was the case pre-2016). Whereas, I felt last year he was keeping things simpler. The other thing about Viney is he's seen as potentially damaging by opposition teams, so they're putting more work into him this year. I can't imagine there's an instruction for Viney to hold back from the contest and having a designated primary extractor seems to go against Goody's philosophy too, which is back in our guys. I'd say we'd be all for Viney seeing ball and getting ball, although there may well be an increased focus on defensive efforts either during the contest or once the stoppage is completed. It might be this process that is leaving Viney second-guessing? The dominance of Oliver and Jones this year is enough to put our midfield on top most weeks. If Viney can find some early 2016 form this year, we'd be pushing for the top 4. He averaged 26 disposals last year as a 21-22 year old. The difference between Oliver and Jones is that unlike Viney and Tyson, their disposal is fantastic. Jones continues to improve his disposal. His kicking on either side is terrific as of late. So there may well be an increased focus for Jack on purity of disposal too, which might lead him to second-guess his instincts. If Jack can continue to improve his disposal and keep it simple, much like his co-captain has learnt over the journey, he'll be a much better player for it. And if we have a midfield that rarely makes mistakes by hand or foot and is brilliant has gaining possession regularly, we'll be sitting pretty near the top of the ladder.

7th in the Coaches Association running too.

Please remove Sam Rowe from that list. Sincerely, A F.

Interesting post and I wonder if the one club that ironically would have picked Heeney at #1, was us. Given we did select him first from memory.

Yeah, probably dreaming. And now he's off the market. Ah well.

Haha, just announced on AFL360 that Shiel has recommitted to GWS for $750k. Robbo reckons he might be on a little more than that, but interesting. I'd say he could well have been on $500k at the last contract.

I understand they have a larger salary cap than the rest of the competition, but you can only pay so many blokes $500k+.

We had a potentially game-changing trade and draft period there (7 out of 8 are almost best 22), but the rest of the top 10 aren't too bad. - Marchbank looks like he'll be a good player. - If Moore was in our side he'd be a star. - Cockatoo looks decent. - Wright could be anything and is an exciting prospect. - And Pickett is looking okay at Carlton. - Lever is a gun. - Heeney is a gun and will be star. - Daniel was an important player in a premiership side. The list goes on. Pretty strong draft really. We did well with Petracca. Brayshaw hasn't developed as we would have liked, but I'm still confident he'll get there if he can stay on the park.

Yeah, I get that, DA, but until we're right in a premiership window and FA comes into it, we have to go for needs. We might get lucky and have another Lewis fall into our laps, but most of the time we need to target biggest needs first. For mine, we have more pressing needs than Jake Lever.

21 disposals is bloody good for a player who is effectively a second year player. Some comparisons: - Chris Judd achieved this in his third year. - Gary Ablett Jnr achieved below this for his first 5 seasons. - Josh P Kennedy achieved below this for his first 3 seasons. - Patrick Dangerfield achieved below this for his first 4 seasons. Not only is he finding the footy in the midfield, he's finding it up forward and being instrumental with his scoring involvements. This is inconsistent Christian Petracca. Cannot wait for consistent Christian Petracca. Will be a star of the competition.

He's not a starting mid. He's nowhere near as slick in the heat of the midfield. Turns it over and panics. Has a real swagger going now in the forwardline though.

We've pursued business very quietly over the last few years. Not all of it has come off, but we're very good at keeping our heads down, but putting feelers and deals out there. The upside to Melbourne is extraordinary and the media and the football world are starting to wake up to this. If we make the eight this year and even win a final, we'll be hot property for trade targets and Victorians looking to come home. We're not in the North basket - a list of pretenders that never had the list to take them all the way. Reminded me of Melbourne under Daniher.

This would be my biggest concern. Would Shiel be on $500k at GWS? They have a lot of talent to pay to keep them up in that hellhole. I just wonder if that would get it done. It may not. I might be dreaming, but doesn't mean I wouldn't try. And Toby Greene isn't a midfielder. He's a very, very good half forward. One of the best in the league for the last year, hence the AA wraps, but he isn't a mid.

Yep, we'd have to trade, but if we can convince him to nominate us, that'll go a long way to a deal being done. Given our good trading history with GWS, I reckon we could get the deal done. The way they're intent on spreading the age of their list, I wonder if GWS would take our next two first rounders? At this point, I'd back Jason Taylor with second and third round picks to keep improving our list.

Agree with the sentiment, Moonie, but not the targets. I'd be having a big crack at a Dylan Shiel (he is out of contract at the end of 2017). Quick, ball magnet, perfect age bracket (ready to explode) and disposal is improving. Dusty and Fyfe are too expensive and Shiel is two years younger than both.

Tells me Adelaide's midfield works a lot harder than ours. As our midfield progresses, and it's making great gains, we'll find Oscar becomes even sturdier as a defender. He stills plays a bit like ANB, in that he can panic, but I suspect that's an experience thing.

Slightly digressional, but Stretch's speedy development is something that has far exceeded expectations, surely? His sound decision-making and speed add so much to our midfield. I hadn't previously included him in the same conversation as Oliver, Viney, Tyson, Petracca, Brayshaw, Jones, Lewis, Salem and Vince, but he now sits alongside them and compliments them well. He had a terrific first half yesterday (aside from one costly clanger). What he's now adding to his game is the ability to find the ball consistently. He gets himself into good positions, which makes the opposition accountable.

It's worth noting that even in a game where he started with a hard tag and wasn't at his best, he still managed 28 disposals, 5 clearances (equal third most on the ground) and 8 tackles (third most on the ground). He is going to be a super, super player.

I reckon he was tagged during the second and early part of the third last week.

Not gonna happen. Carlton will want two top picks for Gibbs and will probably not want Bugg, despite SOS' involvement.

I'd also add that he's a lot better kick than this article gives him credit for.

And then it looks like ANB falls out of the bin...

Brayshaw was ordinary on the weekend, but he's being played out of position and will be a very good player when he gets a run at it. He showed this in the middle towards the back end of last year. If you're going after Lever, it's draft picks. You don't take from the midfield we're building. We still need to strengthen the midfield, so taking another player from that area is stooopid.

Nope, unfortunately. Upon reflection, I just can't see us satisfying the Crows. We might be able to convince Lever, but can't see the Crows coming to the table.