Little Goffy

I have a bad feeling that Rockliff to us would turn out to be Brisbane's revenge for Travis Johnstone and Brent Moloney. On the Lewis and Hibberd potential trades, I'm quietly pleased and confident it would work out well. Meanwhile, does Brown leaving Collingwood place a higher priority for them to keep Frost, and in turn boost the possibility of Brisbane wanting Dunn? Aaargh... I stepped onto the spinning wheel and now I can't get off...

'perpetually offended'? Tell me, how does the AFL women's league make any progress to professionalism if they are being paid less than a backpacker without a work permit? Or, to put it another way, if an entire women's AFL team gets paid less (after also covering their own insurance and gear) than a single average AFL male player? It's basic practicality. Or do you only water plants after they've grown?

Yes but which prayers? We really need some prayers with pace and skull, and ideally a forward/[censored].

A first rounder and a second rounder for Tom Rockliff? Has the world gone mad? I'd be bitterly disappointed. Particularly given our recent drafting performance. Put simply, I'd back a 'Jason Taylor' rnd 1 and rnd 2 combo ahead of a $700,000+ jar of fig jam.

Hawk's must be really annoyed that the AFL has put off the Watson Brownlow decision. If Mitchell was a Brownlow winner, they could have at least pushed his trade price into the 3rd round.

Has there been any player more respected in recent times than Corey Enright? Honest question, I'd be interested to hear nominations. Imagine a young player who is going 'ok' but currently on the fringe, battling for a spot amongst a large group of HBF/midfielders on Melbourne's list, and questioning whether they are going to make it as an AFL player. Once a week Corey Enright, the triple-premiership player Geelong rated above Ablett, takes you aside for an intensive 1-1 training session and a chat about your most recent game over coffee.

sic transit gloria mundi

In the end, a good laugh at Fremantle. But, with the information available on hand at time, Sylvia was a much more valuable commodity. Sylvia's best was very very good (bitterly) while Vickery's best includes about 5 genuinely outstanding games and the rest is empty.

Pick 26 for Vickery? Wowee, that's almost as much 'overs' as we got for Frawley. The Richmond list managers must be doing a little barn dance around Punt Road. Getting rid of Vickery and picking up an early 2nd round pick at the same time, just spectacular.

I'm almost as uninterested in Rockwit as I am in ---kery. This might be the first time in a while I'm going into trade period more anxious about who we might recklessly pick up than who we might miss out on or lose. Also, proper lol at the guy calling Prestia a "B+ meat and potatoes" midfielder. The only real question on him is his knee, which has clearly limited him in 15/16.

I'm not at all convinced it is a very even competition. Three distinct groups; the dominant, the adequate, and the strugglers. It is possible that this coming season will see a tightening of that into the dominant, the adequate, and the Queenslanders, but I've never heard of a class system being called 'even'. As far predicting who we'll beat in advance, don't even try given the Demon paradox; A better record against highly rated teams than does any team below or around us. A worse record against lower rated teams than does any team above or around us. Anything could happen.

Heheh. I see what you're doing there. Hawks with Vickery and Rockliff would be hilarious. C-C-C-C-Culture breaker! We can only hope that the Dogs go cold on Cloke and he also ends up at the Hawks.

Does this give us an excuse to upload that tackle again? Always loved Jordie. Even when I thought his name was Tommy.

Already a champion, obviously.

I had the same kind of thoughts. I remember poring over all the profiles and phantom drafts and wondering what might be useful and suitable for us, and thinking 'there seems to be a lot of options right near the end of the first round, shame we're only at 26'. Hibberd is probably better than anything likely to happen at 26, so I'm ok with that, but it does sound a lot like we're thinking about acquiring a pick in that late teens/early 20s range. A bit of fun GWS academy rorting maybe?

I hesitated to put him in for that reason, but the rationale was that as a midfielder becoming 'top of position' means competing on even terms against the likes of Dangerfield, Pendlebury, Kennedy, Gray and Ablett. In contrast, McDonald for example just needs to improve some specific weaknesses and he'd sail past Rance. And Gawn didn't win our best and fairest, but definitely was the best ruckman in the game this year!

This poll isn't so much about the promising kids as it is about the players who have already got a few seasons into them, have shown a bit (or even a lot), and might just be about to break out to become a genuinely top player in their position. It's all about a player making the decision "I want to be the best, the absolute best" and backing it up by overcoming their limitations. After all, you can't go half-Gawn.

I was going to say something about how annoying and inconsistent it is, and that Brisbane are actually in much better position than we were, with a less awful recent performance history. But honestly, 'meh' is winning me over. I just don't care about Brisbane and I don't expect I'll much need to for a long time yet.

Yeah, it's an awkward one. I personally have real 'belief' in all three of those tall forwards, and I also think they all are/will be capable of being quite mobile and contributing around the ground. But it still to me looks awkward to add one extra big tall player to that mix. Positionally, I'd reckon Blicavs seems like the fit for what we would want backing up Gawn. But that's not likely to happen at all, let alone at a reasonable cost. Once upon a time Stefan Martin was playing more time in defence than anywhere else, so it is possible to have a ruck-defender. Then again, that was probably also a major part of why he left!

Drunk? Possibly. Touching themselves while they type? Certainly. It would explain why TGR kept hitting the enter key over and over. We should keep this thread going. We really should. Please don't close it, mods.

Premiership medallion. Chris Dawes. Heritier Lumumba. Steven Armstrong. Chris Heffernan. Gary Moorcroft. Shannon Byrnes. Some elite Demons there.

Boyd at $1mil, versus Griffen (or equivalent trade value) and pick 6. I wouldn't say it was 'no Boyd no premiership'. Especially given the Dogs recent recruiting performance. And indeed, just on the value of pick 6, the story is they were looking at either Peter Wright or Jake Lever, both of whom have outperformed Boyd by a respectable margin. Reference Would we be happy enough with Hogan = equivalent of Ryan Griffen + Pick 6? Would we probably work out with a better list position on paper in that event? Probably. And yet, I'd rather Hogan choose to stay and I'd rather the team hold together to build something special.

Interesting, you have a grand total of 3 posts, and all three are in regard to the timing of Hogans big answer. If you're right, what a start to Demonland posting. If you're wrong, presumably you'll be 'delisted' as a troll.

Remy was chosen especially to trouble Paul Roos. Remy..sy?

Given that the AFL at the moment is suffering from a lack of 'gross weight of talent' which is leaving some clubs looking shambolic on field, there could be a case for formalising a general academy system. For example; Every club gets allocated $1m/year to be spent exclusively on development pathways and programs for juniors. For each year that a kid spends in a club's development program the club gets a small discount on the 'draft cost'. Let's say the equivalent of 4% draft value per year with the club, up to a maximum of 5 years/20%. By making it incremental and having an annual cap on the spending, it stays fair and also free from the problem of arbitrary and disproportionate benefits. In theory a kid could spend two years with one club and switch to spend three years with another. If the AFL are serious about developing talent in the TV states, then yeah, alright, GWS, Sydney, Brisbane and Gold Coast can have an increased budget for their academies, with of course the restriction of only putting it into kids in their states.