JJJ

Yes.

If we rated him higher than Weideman we would’ve drafted him. I knew of 2 clubs that didn’t think he was a flight risk to Carlton and would’ve taken him had he fallen to them. Credit to Carlton, they drafted 2 players and spent the time and effort required to develop them into Coleman Medallist’s. They had the requisite skills and make up but Carlton did something right. We went with a guy who was very highly regarded as a 16year old and injured a lot in top age but ticked every box from a personality perspective except for perhaps competitiveness.

One thing I am curious about Windsor is his height. He is listed at 185cm but looks smaller on the field. It could be a lack of muscle perhaps. Not sure… What I am certain about is that his speed, poise, aerobic capacity and work ethic are elite already. Add some size, a bit more of the contested stuff and experience and he will be top shelf. I’d love to see him attend some centre bounces next season as it would add another string to his bow. Something Lingers doesn’t have. (As good as he has been for us since coming from Freo) Windsor should be a 200 gamer if we develop him correctly.

Curnow is a weird miss I think. He comes from an awesome family and had a few minor things occur but it was over hyped on the negative. Ask any Carlton supporter and Charlie is the last to leave the track signing autographs for kids, volunteers for hospital visits and generally an all round ripping bloke. May is his kryptonite at the moment though… 😉

Reid is a gun and will be a top liner sooner rather than later. Back to topic, Windsor has pretty much everything you could ask for in a modern winger/mid. I told my 4 year old to get his number on her jumper when she asked me the other day. In my house, that’s the official stamp of approval.

Wild stuff but I heard yesterday that Trac was sore. Is Kolt there for him? Laurie or Woewodin would step in for Chandler. Side note; I loved Chandlers game. It’s exactly the type of game I think he can play consistently if healthy. He’s a tough little bugger.

McKay was widely seen as a player that lacked the required hardness and hunger to make the most of his talent. On talent alone he was top 5 easily. I watched him live 3-4 times in his TAC Cup days and he would often drop out of pack for the Joe the Goose or sweep past his teammates for the handball receive. He didn’t act or play like a KPF. Other times he’d pluck the ball out of the air like he was a man amongst boys and dob goals from outside 50 without raising a sweat. I’d turn to a colleague and we’d discuss how frustrating a prospect he was. I saw less of Sam but felt he was a 2nd round prospect and his lack of games has never really surprised me.

They are right about one thing. That fella Lachie Jones dropped a lot of uncontested marks.

This is an ok signing. As mentioned above it wouldn’t have cost us much and Laurie has a chance to repay the faith. Also, given the state of our list due to forced retirements and other, it is better to keep a player with upside and who knows our systems rather than delisting him as well and adding a further player requiring additional work just to understand our play.

I feel for Brown. Goodwin has form with decisions like this but Brown was useful last week. The only thing I will say regarding Brown is that he is so appalling defensively due to his lack of mobility that perhaps he is purely on the list for depth if the 1st choice guys are fit. But then again, having him a sub makes no sense in that context… Maybe it’s Goodwin’s god complex shining through?

It’s a little perplexing. Petty’s lack of footy aside, I thought the balance of our team last week was pretty good so dropping a mid for another tall seems odd.

I spoke to a former player about this and he said there were a group of players who didn’t trust Jack as he would often drop easy marks or get out competed if the ball hit the deck. I agree it was noticeable that he would find space only to be ignored. I also saw him drop easy marks and turn the ball over so I get the other side too.

It wasn’t his fault that we erred in picking him at #1. He was extremely talented but flawed. Didn’t have the right mix of hardness and mental fortitude to capitalise. One of the best blokes you’d ever want to hang around though. Met him many times socially. See him regularly at Sandy Basketball courts and he is still the same happy go lucky fella he was when we drafted him. Always up for a chat. Big smile on his face. I wish him well.

Impressive kid. I loved how hard he ran to create space and how calm he seems under duress. Good to see some class pushing through the ranks.

I’ll be interested to see the coaches votes. Considering the work the Doggies put into Clarrie I would think he was BOG with Gawn not far behind. An incredible effort by Clarrie. Petracca was pretty poor by his standards in the 1st half but was good when we got on top. A Dogs supporter near me kept yelling, “Bont is better than you Petracca!!!” Eventually I’d heard enough and replied, “That’s ok, Oliver is better than both of them!”

Moving the incident from the finals to one side, this is a sad way to end your career but a great call. He provided some of my fondest highlights in 2021. His set shot in the GF was laser like. Enjoy the additional opportunities to hit the golf course Gus and thanks!

Woewodin or Howes. Woey II can do a lot of different things well which should give him more opportunities. Howes is the type of player we could use in terms of physical traits. If he can stay healthy he might surprise as he offers a point of difference.

I loved him but I don’t think it was any secret that he and a couple of others were seen as net negatives with their off field lifestyles. Shame, he was great with fans of all ages at club functions and worked his backside off to get where he is now. As mentioned his kick to Fritsch in the GF was top shelf.

We don’t. We 3 young backs who help form an elite backline.

I disagree with that. We knew internally what we had on our hands, hence why we stuck with him for so long. All a journo would have to do is ask someone for an off the record type comment on Gawn. Job done. But back to the article, whilst I do find the article a little confusing when they talk of recent draftees and their ranking, the rest of it is ok. We haven’t had a lot of access to early picks of late and the results show.

Is it the words or the ranking that people are not happy with? The ranking is about right when you think about where we have finished and our very small rotation of players over the past 2 seasons in particular. On exposed VFL and AFL form, you’d only circle a few of our players as genuine future/potential A-Graders; Kozzie, JVR & Rivers. If we still had Jackson our outlook would be a lot better. Plenty of quality AFL types on our list but the next Petracca, Oliver, Gawn, May, Lever et al I don’t think are on our list, hence the desire to get the 1st in the draft this year.

Definitely the former. There are plenty of inert blobs when the former players catch up though.

Up close the kid looks like he’s got a lot of upside physically once he gets into an elite program. I was expecting him to be thicker through the hips and legs based off his highlights but he is just a lump of clay. That’s pretty exciting to think about given he’s already played senior WAFL footy.

Had a beer last night at Bad Shepherd with the same fella. We chatted the draft amongst other things and I asked him if he was surprised that we got Brown via the Rookie Draft. He reckons Brown dropped later in the year due to some disposal issues and limited scope for improvement. Under pressure missed some targets by foot and his contested work is scrappy, not clean and momentum building. Also wondered about his ability to get bigger. In saying that, he did say his club didn’t put a lot of effort into Brown as they try to avoid non WA players at the later stages of the draft. On a positive note, he also said if Goody told Brown to run through a brick wall he would and is very coachable. He thought we had a pretty good draft as Windsor and Tholstrup are good enough to play round 1 next year.

Every time I see footage of Kynan I see someone who can run, hard at the contest and tackles well for his size. I like his work in close too. To me he projects as a small defender if he can make sure his DE% is up to par. I like the idea of someone with Pig level intensity starting their journey back there. The timing could work well for us as McVee should be looking to move up the ground by the time Kynan could be ready if his development is on track.