JJJ

Sestan was told a few weeks ago that he was close to selection and was given a couple of key items to work on in order to debut. I haven’t followed the Casey games closely but I think he is going ok, might be a smokey next week.

Maynard only goes hard when it on his terms. How many contested possessions for the hard man yesterday.

Free agency this year might get us a solid player but we need to be aggressively looking at “pre-agents” like LDU from North.

It’s a pretty sad state of affairs. A lot of Dees supporters have, quite vocally, called out the lack of adaptation of our game plan. Our lack of youth pushing through. Ive been at functions where footy dept types and board members, arrogant and dismissive, have pushed back on the above by stating that our game plan is fine and successful clubs can’t develop youth due to competing priorities. Now we find ourselves with an unbalanced list regarding age profile and position and a game plan that is considered legacy. If you move aside the top liners such as Lever, Petracca, Gawn etc and look at the list of U23 who have shown they have a future, it doesn’t read well. Backs: McVee Bowey Rivers Howes On ballers: Windsor and maybe Woewodin… Forwards: Pickett, Van Rooyen That might be the worst group in the AFL or at least the shallowest in terms of number. We still have a couple who are yet to play or haven’t had enough exposure. Backs: AMW, Turner, Adams Mids: K.Brown, Verrall, Laurie Forwards: Sestan, Tholstrup, Kentfield, Jefferson Again, not a great looking crop of talent. I heard the club is very high on Sestan, Tholstrup, K.Brown & Verrall so I’ll give them a pass when creating a team below: Howes, May, Bowey Rivers, Lever, Salem Windsor, Viney, Langdon Tholstrup, McDonald, Pickett Sestan, Van Rooyen, Fritsch Gawn, McVee, Oliver ANB, Tomlinson, Chandler, K. Brown Laurie, Jefferson, Sparrow, Woewodin, Turner, AMW Injured or requiring a reset: Petracca McAdam Petty The rationale is to choose players with upside for next year and need some time mixed with senior players who are proven and set the right example to the young guys. We should be rotating young players. We need depth next year otherwise in 2026 we’ll have no May, Gawn, Viney and nothing to show for it in 2025. (I put T-Mac up forward as it kills me ti see JVR playing without another senior tall to help him out. FFS, he is our only tall asset forward of centre, don’t kill him)

We need another potential A-grade mid with 70 games under their belt. But why would they choose us? Our trajectory is going the wrong way. If I were an up and coming player I’d look at Hawthorn before us.

Correct. It’s not personal. Putting aside his ill timed trade request, I put most of his form issues down to injury recovery and match committee. 1: He missed a large chunk of the preseason and was managed heavily. 2: The match committee persist with playing him forward. His perceived effort or interest level I can’t comment on but the above 2 factors are enough to slow down most AFL players. If he still wants to leave, and I believe this to be the case, then so be it. We will have to be ready for an underwhelming offer from Adelaide.

Flicked through the afl.com article about players pushing up in the hope that I had missed someone. Even the author couldn’t make a case for anyone… depressing.

The Rachele situation is potentially a watch and see I reckon. I heard that there are some Melbourne based clubs who think he would like to come home. Mind you, that was from a player agent who has nothing to do with Josh so I took it with a grain of salt. Some of those people talk out the side of their mouths. They also try to unsettle clubs and players by talking garbage. 🫠

Whilst I agree that his hands are poor, this is an argument that goes nowhere on DL. Believe me I’ve tried.

Pretty sure I said it wouldn’t bother me if we dropped Petty instead. One of the problems with Tomlinson is that he offers very little positional flexibility and since he did his ACL in 21, seems only capable of playing 1 good game in the seniors followed by a mare or two.

Who they replaced them with wasn’t my point. I’ve mentioned this before but we had a crack at Harry McKay last off season.

They were happy to see Harmes go. Grundy too. Different reasons at play. JJ left for $$$

He’s just not a natural forward. It’s that simple.

After the StKilda game I thought we’d have our work cut out for us against Freo and would start underdogs against the Pies. I may’ve overrated our position. Staggeringly. I don’t mind suggestions from some about swapping Petty and May. I think something like that is worth a try. The midfield in its current state will get slaughtered. Utterly destroyed. With that in mind I would try a few things. Start Petracca in the midfield, resting forward. Give Viney a job. Daicos? Not sure he has the running power but I would take a result like 12-15 possessions to Viney and 20-22 to Nick Daicos. Oliver is the conundrum. He is so out of sorts I’m not sure what to do. If Windsor is fit which I think he is, match him up on Josh Daicos. He needs at accelerate his development for 2025. I’d also like to see Max, mix up his ruck technique and bash it forward a few times a quarter. It’s basic but I think we need a bit of variety from bounce downs. McDonald backs up Max and plays up forward. He can support JVR if May needs to swing back during the game. Move ANB back to high half forward. Bring in JVR if fit as he is the only tall who draws the footy and can apply pressure defensively. Goody needs to hold our forwards to a higher standard when we don’t have the ball. Play a disciplined negative player on Maynard or whoever is deemed a critical release player. Quaynor? Give Woey a negative role on one of them. I’d be ok with a 60 vs 70 score line. Use some running power and strong defensive play to lock the game up. Lastly we shouldn’t worry about debutants this week. We are not the 2008 version. With that in mind, I’d be ok if we selected Jefferson. F: Pickett, JVR, Fritsch HF: ANB, May, Woewodin C: Windsor, Viney, Lingers HB: Rivers, Petty, Salem B: Bowey, Turner, McVee R: Gawn, Petracca, Oliver Int: McDonald, Jefferson, Sparrow, Chandler McAdam (sub) this role might suit him in his current state of fitness Out: Hunter Tomlinson (Unlucky as he tried so I’d be ok if he and Petty swapped)

Oh also re JJ leaving. He didn’t leave for greater opportunity, Horse Longmire spoke to him about a specific role that’s true, he left for money. We were way off and couldn’t match it.

I think the 24 Doomsday clock has ticked past midnight… ie the current group is requiring reinforcements to bring us back to 11:55pm. LDU from North and Lukosius from GC or players of that ilk could help drag us back into a position to compete for a Premiership in the next 18 months. That and a dose of (shudders) internal development and luck with injuries. Maybe jag a player in the draft too. Of course that is easier said than done. We don’t seem to attract players like the above and JVR aside, I’ve not seen a lot from our recent draftees that points to brighter future. Even Bowza has stalled since a scintillating start.

He has a podcast?!?

Not publicly.

McDonald is retiring at seasons end. It would take a monumental change in heart to go around next year. Personally I think the lack of key forwards who can ruck is a weakness of ours. As Binman pointed out on another thread, using our best prospect in JVR as a backup ruckman is not ideal. Other teams have shown, having a hulking aggressive backup ruck can do well at AFL level and this kid could fit the bill. It also points to the changes going into next year. McDonald, BBB & Schache are out. Petty is still a chance to leave at seasons end while Jefferson and Fullerton are both still unproven. Better to get another prospect in early and see if we can get him up to speed prior to the preseason.

Worth a shot. He ticks a lot of boxes from the reports. Mid season draft picks don’t normally pan out so I have no issue swinging for the fences with a Forward/Ruck. Good luck Luker.

What happened with McLean? Did Bevo do a number on him too?

I was at a function last week where I was told that while Goody wants to move the ball more aggressively he will not budge on the defence first mantra. Hence it’s at times ugly and the players look lost but ultimately as long as we are moving the ball well and maintaining our defence by mid August, he will be happy. Expect more ugliness.

JVR’s trajectory is going well. I think we differ an where he will finish up. More on that later. On your 1st point, JVR does not consistently impact the game as a key forward should YET. His trajectory points to that in the future but he is still young, developing and learning his craft. I believe he will get there. One can lack impact but still be on a positive trajectory. I am not sure how you don’t understand that concept. I don’t believe I have ever questioned his impact for a player of his age and experience. That’s not a metric I’m interested in as we are in the Premiership window. If he is playing, he has to fulfil the role he is given. He has a lot to work on but he is already important to us structurally. There is no contradiction in pointing out his poor hands and average body work to his trajectory as a key forward. As you clearly state, he has other elite traits. Athleticism, work rate, leading patterns, defensive work, goal kicking, attack on the ball and aerobic capacity point to an end product that could be pretty bloody good. He also has an appetite to win the footy and the requisite strut but that shouldn’t be mistaken for his lack of craft when one-on-one. Regarding the Amiss comp. It’s a good one as they are contemporaries in similar situations. Amiss has stalled a little this year but I believe he is potentially an AA in the future. JVR similarly has flattened out a little in 2024 but should get back on track. I have watched a lot of footy in various capacities and from the eye test, Amiss seems to have a higher ceiling with a few more strings to his bow. I see JVR peaking as an A-Grader and key pillar for our future but would be surprised, pleasantly so, if he won an AA blazer. But development is neither a given nor is it linear so who knows?!

Wow. I don’t think JUH is impactful enough yet either. Also, I wouldn’t compare them statistically like the above, as comparisons like that are mostly useless unless you’re comparing in a vacuum. Key forwards are measured offensively on; number of targets inside 50, contests won/lost & score involvements/assists. Anyway, if you’ve read my other posts you will also realise that I acknowledge that he is young and going well. Just pointing out that as a young key forward he hasn’t taken the step where he consistently hits the scoreboard or asserts himself when things aren’t in our favour. It will come. Lastly, I have never once questioned his trajectory other than to say that his hands aren’t elite for a key forward nor his body on body work. The latter can be developed, the former not so much.

Curnow would dominate for us. Even this year when we are still learning a new style of ball movement. He is way more dynamic than JVR. McKay is a better comp from Carlton. JVR hasn’t learnt to use his body well in 1on1’s, rarely wins the ball on the deck and still has hard hands. It doesn’t mean he won’t eventually develop and become a game winning key forward. Just means it hasn’t happened yet. I am happy for him to focus on drawing the footy, bringing the ball to ground when he can’t mark, giving Max a chopout, applying defensive pressure and kicking straight when he gets a chance. Anything above that is a bonus.