DeeSpencer

McVee has excellent agility, it’s probably his equal best strength as a player to go with his defensive discipline. I don’t think he has contested ball strength nor accumulation to play midfield, but it’s also his first year at afl level so there’s no rush. Makes far more sense to try Riv who’s bigger, stronger, more established.

Dolphins Giants Chargers

And at the same time someone bumps a Schwab thread we are fiddling around with logos again

As I’ve said in other threads where this has come up I’d only do it if 1. The eagles offer a second rounder with their future first 2. we don’t rate the talent available at 6. 3. we can use our future first and an Eagles second rounder to end the draft night with say picks 8 (11 + eagles second) and 17 (future first and 42). Given we traded up for 11 the indication has to be that we like the top 11 in this draft and we aren’t going to sit it out.

I didn’t mind Watt for Campbell. Watt looked good for me and it’s been a long year for Campbell. Plan might’ve been to use Pearce forward more too. Ivey for Wilson was very strange. Paxy a late out, I would’ve bought Wilson back in and sent Ivey forward. But no good options there given we likely didn’t have any runners as emergencies. Need Paxy, Aimee Mackin, Colvin and Gay back next week if possible with hopefully just Watt out injured. Gall, Ivey, Fitzsimon (unlucky) make way. Can Sheriff play 3rd wing and Banno go deep forward and get them out the back?? Bannan is ineffectual on the wing and high half forward, needs to be able to do her out the back runs. FB: Gillard Colvin HB: Goldy Birch Gay C; Mackin Heath McNamara HF: Paxy Harris Mithen FF: Zanks Hore Foll: Pearce Purcell Hanks Int: Chappy Banno Sherriff A. Mack West

[censored] me, that non holding the ball

Lions defender was 2 feet from the kick off the ground

Finally a Hanks holding free. Only 3/4 too late

Just hasn’t been Eliza West’s season and we don’t have the mids to replace her or cover her against the best sides.

Spare behind the ball was smart in q1 but it’s a bit soft now. Play to win and test the backline out, back them in to fight through it

Our mids aren’t disciplined at stoppages, they’re all getting caught goal side. I know they need her down back and are scared of the Lions pace but Heath almost has to go on ball for more accountability.

I swear Kate Hore has kicked 20 amazing goals this year and is 0.8 from running in to an open goal

If Hanks gets a week for that we are in trouble

Another Birch cheap shot after being beaten in the contest. Just a very difficult player to barrack for

Should’ve spoiled it anyway but Zanker being on the mark rather than the goal line is an inexperienced ruck mistake and poor communication

Harris of course, remains a strong contender for players who like it on their own terms

Whilst no one will ever overtake Birch, Bannan has rocketed herself to 2nd place in cat watch. Any chance she could halve a contest?

Harley Reid, McKercher or Duursma aside if you're looking for a player with similar damaging midfield style to Butters in this draft then the hope would be Nick Watson can overcome his lack of size to do more in the midfield or at least up the ground. Or you'd be looking for Ryley Sanders to add more creativity because he's already very good at quick accurate disposals. Darcy Wilson has the athleticism of Butters and can at times be creative but I think he's better when he keeps it simple. Jake Rogers is more skilled than he gets credit for too. Otherwise I think you'll have to go all the way out to someone like my favourite Phoenix Gothard who's very much a small forward and hope you can develop his contested game. It's such a thin list of midfielders yet alone guys with Butters' combination of skills and evasiveness.

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/player/zak-butters/ This is a much better write up that accurately sums up Butters' creativity and potential for damage with the ball, his athleticism and his potential. In terms of whether he compares with Leake or Windsor I'd say he's not similar to either but Leake is the one who - whilst stylistically is much different - has a similar potential for impact in that he does dynamic things with a degree of class and could make a big impact. Windsor to me is just a pure outside running player. He might be able to adapt that run to half forward or half back but what he does well is run the lines and kick well. He's a bit like a young Andrew Gaff or a more pure kicking version of Ed Langdon. Whilst there's a chance he could develop an inside game or some forward craft to add strings to his bow I don't think it's likely. The hope is he does his strength - run and kick - at a very high level.

Hately was an extremely well performed junior but so far has been too plain athletically to make an impact, his height was part of his potential I guess but overall his biggest weakness is lack of power. RCD had all the power in the world but not the footy smarts. Even with limited exposure Butters was better performed than RCD, but not as consistently good as Hately. Quicker, smarter, more skilled than both obviously.

I don’t see much brutality in his game, in fact the opposite. He’s highly skilled but shaky in the contest both in the air and with defensive accountability on the ground. Unless he has the tank for the wing or the pace to go with smalls across half back I’m not sure exactly what role he’d have. His attacking game would have to be so good to really carry him and whilst it’s very good I’m not sure it completely overrides his deficiencies.

Viney will be 30 next season, Petracca will be a forward sooner than later IMO and Oliver I’m not allowed to post about. And even with all that I don’t see why Sanders would be a very handy half forward or wing rotation early in his career with the way he accumulates and moves the ball on quickly. Im just not sure how good he is or more importantly if he’ll be there at our pick, but I’m not worried about positional overlap.

Delisted free agency occurring now is for the main list. For players to go on to the rookie list they must either be taken in the rookie draft or in the case of delisted players they can sit out the drafts and sign as supplemental selection players after the draft. But you can't be delisted and then relisted in the SSP by the same club unless you've nominated for the draft. So in Melksham's case he has to nominate for the draft. Meaning we may as well draft him and get him back on the list rather than waiting another week or so for the SSP window.

I’m not a fan of keeping the old boys either but…. We have a pick available if we want to take Kynan Brown in the national draft and we have 2 rookie spots available. We also can wind the old boys up at the end of summer if they aren’t healthy. Hopefully we get clarity on the clubs plans with Kynan. I’ve always thought he’s a rookie talent so if that’s the way it goes it will be a nice result.

Harris in for Gall is the obvious change, but I wonder if Colvin and A Mackin come in or if they stick with Wilson and Campbell/Fitzsimon. Could really do with Gay fit for finals too.