Radar Detector

Tim Harrington conveyed an understanding that each club to lose players to free agency would most probably receive a single pick based on net loss. Hypothetically, Port Adelaide could currently be sitting on a first round pick which would explain their reluctance to participate in other FA deals.

Indicative draft order as it stands... http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/148933/default.aspx

Capability isn't the issue, it's the AFL rules...

Chris Connolly said the same thing to me after the Melbourne Business Community function on Monday night. I suspect that Viney may have been asked to convey that message in his interview with the Gold Coast at the combine.

I have to agree with WJ that everything they said made sense and it sounds like we have a solid plan that we're sticking too. Neeld's main priority seems to be accelerating the development of the 20 or so core players that he thinks will make us a very good side.

Neeld said he wold love to coach Tippet. But he also said we're still a fair way away from the situation where landing one big fish will be the difference between a flag or not, so spending $1m a season is not smart for us. Same rationale with Goddard, Cloke etc. What he did say, as did Harrington, was that they will look to players from strong, successful clubs who can play in the side but also really lift the standards at training to the levels we require. Players who are happy to point the finger at teammates who don't work hard enough. Neeld singled out the value of acquiring James Sellar in this regard which surprised me.

They should put Dunn on a 6 weekly contract extension. He seems to manage to string together half a dozen serviceable games at the end of each contract with not much in between. This would maximise his effectiveness.

I can also confirm that all of the family has been notified except one member who is not in Australia. Still, should wait until the club announces officially.

My Bombers supporting mates (all of them) would love him to head to Melbourne... or anywhere that isn't Essendon really... Not excited about this rumour at all.

The only reason it's 3 weeks is his five year record of good behaviour. Trengove, for example, didn't have a good or bad prior record so really the panel assessed Wellingham's hit as nearly twice as bad.

Very good game is way overstating it for Fitzy. He was ok and broke even (or slightly better) with Majak Daw after half time. However Daw played a Natanui-like game and broke the contest open in the first half with a number of eye-catching plays. Fitzy is still a way off deserving an AFL game on that effort but agree he and Couch were the best of an average lot. Cook and Williams were good from very limited opportunities. Not great conditions for them. I was most excited by Jetta despite his limited posessions. Really showed a will to get involved and his touches were class, it was just his fitness that let him down IMO. I haven't been a big fan of his over the journey but I reckon he will crack the Demons side before year end and could add a bit. I know he is more of a mid but could be used as a forward tackling machine.

Glad I didn't fly up. Likely to lose my sh!t in front of the TV.

Agree, was basing my comments on today only.

Headed down today and wasn't a great performance from any of the boys really. Would characterise as follows: Knocking the door down: Nil - nobody even close on today's form Had a dip: Fitzpatrick (hosed by Daw for most of first half but beat him comfortably in the 2nd), Couch (good at this level but doubt he'll translate into a long-term AFL prospect) OK in patches: Cook (starved of opportunities), Williams (see Cook), Jetta (faded but liked his attack first game back), Davis Below expectations: Gysberts, Strauss, Morton, Tynan, Petterd I'd give Gysberts and especially Strauss some leeway given it's their second game back. Cook and Williams couldn't have done much more in greasy/wet conditions with very little supply and appalling delivery when it did get into the F50. The disappointing thing was that the guys I would've expected to dominate at this level were the ones I thought played the poorest. Werribee looked pretty slick and had Casey covered pretty much everywhere.

I think Billy deserves some defending here. Of the last 8 Premierships (Geelong x3, Collingwood, Hawthorn, West Coast, Sydney and Port Adelaide) only one of those could really be described as on the back of two dominant key forwards, with West Coast not having one at all. The common thread (with much fewer exceptions) is supremely talented and/or deep midfields. Certainly up until the Brisbane Lions era it was far more common to share two dominant forwards, but even then, Brisbane, Essendon etc. all had great midfields. I think a sole gun forward is sufficent to get the job done if the midfield is good enough. That's not to say two gun forwards isn't more desirable than one though!!

Martin for Clark should be the only change. You build confidence through continuity. Excited to see Gysberts and Strauss in the seniors later in the year but it shouldn't be this week. Tapscott hasn't been in great form all year and should be made to re-earn his spot through Casey. Same with Morton.

Apparently Watts and Davey approached Mick independently off their own bat. Morton and Beamer would need to show the same initiative to get the same attention.

We would need to delist more than probably 7-8 players before not at least offering Beamer a contract becomes sensible. We desperately need players of his age and experience. It's unlikely that a Couch or even a Viney will come in and be consistently better than Beamer straight away (Couch probably never, he is a good honest C grader like Magner). There should be plenty ahead of him in the queue for the scrap heap.

Watts Rivers Grimes Jones Clark T-Mac

The Hawks seem to go ok without one...

Best revenge would be a win this week and a raid on their talented homesick kids in 18 months time. Doubt it will cost $1m per season to lure some away from tumbleweed stadium. Edit: Beat me to it Philthy!.

Personally, I hope we only look for this type of player in the rookie draft as we will have high picks in a supposed super draft. We have plenty of players of Magner's calibre on the list, what we need is more cream. And a lot of it.

There would be plenty in that sort of boat by your reasoning. Including many 'Land favourites like Ro Bail, for instance, who has barely fired a shot all year. IMO Morton has shown plenty more over his entire career (he was pretty impressive early days and is nearly 1.5 years younger) but I don't hear any cries to delist Bail. Bennell, Jetta, Dunn, Bate, Petterd and Joel Mac would all be higher up the delisting queue as would Spencer. And Green will most likely retire. So I don't see why we wouldn't wait to see how much improvement Morton has in him under Neeld when we're likely to make plenty of changes anyway.

Cale's biggest problem is that his 3 clangers per game are usually so bad they make you want to tear your eyeballs out. But he is clearly improving his workrate and desire for the contest and is also getting a fair bit of the ball...I think what Cale brings to the team is worth building on and persevering with... PS i know stats can tell a lot of half truths but despite averaging 3 clangers per game (third most in the team and approximately the same as Chip, Jones and Mitch Clark, for instance) he is also ahead of many of our better users for disposal efficiency (Trengove, Howe, Tapscott, for example).

Current superstar? No. But it's hard to disagree with these sentiments: