Adam The God

I agree, it's more likely it'll take trading one of our players to get another pick in the top 10.

I don't know if it's just his number 5, but O'Sullivan reminds me of a less explosive Trac, but still nimble with good vision and smarts. I agree, I'd definitely have Langford ahead of him. I'd be happy with either Langford or Lalor. Wouldn't be disappointed with Draper either. If we could somehow nab two of these guys, particularly the first two, Lalor could play forward, and Langford at half back and in the mid rotation. I want Houston as well, so we're likely to swallow our future first with a trade for him, but if we can use Nibbler and a future second for Houston, and trade our future first into this year's first round, getting Langford and Lalor would mean our midfield under 22 would be set for the next decade, with Rivers, McVee and Windsor. It'd then just be about filling holes in that 25-27 list demo over the next 2-3 years.

Wow, okay, huge coup for them.

If he hadn't already been with us, I'd say Jennings, but he's obviously at GWS. Leppitsch would be a great get given he's strategy at Collingwood. That would be some good offensive IP. Or conversely, we move McQualter into this role and bring in a new midfield coach. McQualter's Richmond IP would still be massively helpful.

I completely agree. I wonder if we could get a ball movement coach who doubles as a strategy coach.

Factually not true though that Goody doesn't change things. He started as an extremely attacking coach and has reverted to defence, and won a flag and had 3 top 4 finishes. It'll be hard to move away from that, but maybe a lowly finish like 2024 will shift the dial towards more attack.

That's true, but Charlie is an elite kick and user. Swings and round abouts.

When you lose certain players, it can force you into changing game style and method, which Nibbler's departure may do.

Nibbler has been better at it but many more pre seasons on Charlie. Charlie was playing wing and high half forward all through 2022, so has good endurance.

Great post mate. I know this is a thread about Nibbler, but for me it's Spargo. Was basically playing the other flank with Nibbler, now Chandler has played that this season. It means Spargo and Chandler both get spots. Spargo is one of our better kicks too.

Losing the leadership of Gus and now ANB will be huge. A vacuum will need to be filled.

Gutted to be losing Nibbler,but that certainly gives us something to offer Port for Houston.

I'm hoping the fallout of all this (alleged) discontent vis a vis Trac, Clarry and Viney is one of the positives to come from 2024. A bit like 2020, where there was murmurings of alleged discontent in the ranks, and we made some smart off season choices, re-galvanised, had some honest conversations around the fire place and snapped our 57 year streak. Obviously there are other wins this year like the emergence of our younger brigade and the small margin between being in the top 4 (losing by a goal to Carlton, Brisbane, GWS and Port) despite never really getting going and playing some really poor football. I've been again really impressed with our development program as well.

Yep, that's what Commonwealth austerity will do to the place. I notice the weeds bloody everywhere for the last 12 months. We need to get creative with funding sources and find angles that attract government funding.

I was expecting more dynamite in this thread. Look, to be honest, it is hard to know precisely what Kate is like as a leader, but I'm not a fan of the board. They had one important job RE facilities and very little has happened. And to put it mildly, they appear hostile to differing views. I much prefer leaders to operate quietly and collaboratively in the background, an Eddie McGuire or Jeff Kennett type would [censored] me up the wall. So I prefer to hear less, but the president and her board need to ensure the facilities are sorted by the time the likes of Trac are done. Any longer would be a disaster.

This is the set up I hope we go back to next year, circa 2018. And if you have more guys like Houston and McVee that don't turn it over, you can be even more aggressive. Windsor is another one who rarely turns it over.

I think Turner has shown he could be a good forward at AFL level. Jefferson has not shown that yet, because he hasn't played at the level. Let's hope we can add both to the list in 2 years time. As for picking apples from trees, that's probably not quite apt for list management, but it's not a mile off.

Houston started as a mid. He was a mid until Butters and Rozee took over. He's a perfect Gus replacement due to his flexibility. This is from his profile on the Port website. You could be reading about Gus: "A true all-rounder able to play up forward, in the middle, or down back, Dan Houston has continued his rise as one of Port Adelaide's most important players." I think what his recruitment would do is enable us to wax Rivers, McVee and Houston between midfield and half back. They are all ball carrying players, and in the case of McVee and Houston, are elite kicks. It enables Salem to hold the fort at half back, and even dip in for some mid minutes if required. If we can get Houston for a future first, it's a great piece of business.

Ruckmen can play longer than bang and crash mids. As long as Max's knees hold up, he could play for another 2-3 years at an elite level. And then you replace him with a competitor, and you tweak your method to accommodate not having Max's aerial strength and stoppage strength. As for May, I think he probably has 1-2 years left at an elite level. Lake played until 33, Frawley until 33 as well. But we have good cover for May in Petty. I'm no longer worried about the key position spots in the back half. 28-29 is the peak powers of most players, so having stars in that age bracket is important for a flag push in Lever, Trac and Clarry. I think talk of our depth woes is overstated. We've shown this year that our youngsters are very capable at the AFL level, which means some of the older fringe guys will have to make way for the next generation at the end of this year and next (Tomlinson, Hunter, Schache, BB and Melksham), and replenish underneath them. Over the next 24 months we'll get at least two F/Ss to get a look at and a highly fancied NGA next year that will fill list needs (forward/ruck and key position tall). I believe we can continue to replenish on the fly. The obvious list gap is the age demographic of 25-27, but this cohort is either now in free agency or approaching free agency, which means we're a chance to shift the age profile of the list a bit further with some clever recruiting. Isaac Cumming for example is 26 and fits that profile. If we could land him and maybe one or two others in that demo, we spread the list profile a bit. Houston is 27 too. But at this stage we should be thinking about two elite ends of the list profile. Obviously, the elite talent is stacked in the 28-32 age range (May, Max, Lever, Clarry, Trac, Viney, Langdon, Salem and Fritta will be 28 in December). That's 9, plus we had Gus in that age bracket too. And TMac and ANB are also in that group, although I'd argue they're highly reliable role players with flaws, who occasionally play elite games. So that's 11 in that older group, now that Gus has retired. The other group is obviously in the 19-24 group that isn't necessarily elite yet, but has the potential to be and contains Windsor, McVee, JVR, Petty, Kozzy, Rivers, Bowey. That's 7. So I'd be targeting players in that age demographic in 2025-2026 to start to hand over more responsibility to that generation. Think adding someone like Finn Callaghan (21) and/or a player like Bailey Humphrey (19), or Zak Butters (about to turn 24, who held off signing at Port until he knew whether Ken was staying). I guess what I'm arguing is we can keep our list build going and compete at a high level IMV. But I agree that we need to look at game style and not be afraid to trade out someone from that older elite group. And if we do trade someone, instead of directly replenishing through the draft, try and flip whatever we get for a player and convert it into a player in that younger age demographic, or in that list hole demographic of 25-27.

Wouldn't mind Macrae and Brodie. Particularly, if our midfield is a little bit younger next year. You need those older bodies and heads over the course of a long season.

I'd like to give him more than one game in midfield before we rule him out as a mid, but you could be right. I just thought he rushed some of his possessions because it was like he was expecting more heat than he actually received. He is a player with time, and I reckon he could well make a great outside mid, who can also defend to a very high standard, and his upbringing in defence has solidified his defensive game. I want to give him the summer, and if it doesn't work, he returns to high half back. I have a sneaky feeling he'll slot in nicely to our midfield, along with Rivers, Houston and even Windsor.

Most of last year was a slog on here and we spent the year in the top 4. Unless it's perfection, people are whinging.

Great post.

This is not really true though. Maybe in season it can be true for periods, although we've changed it up a number of times this year, for example. But it's certainly untrue from year to year. In 2017-2018, we played some of the most attacking football in the league. We scored 155 more points than minor premier Richmond in 2018 FFS! We scored comfortably 200 more points than the next closest that year. Are people being deliberately disingenuous or have they just got dementia?

I agree with @Ted Lasso that Byran is a good get if he'll come and play AFL with a view to taking over from Max. But I'd also target Peter Wright to play second ruck.