DeeSpencer

Max will be 32 next year and playing solo ruck, it’s not exactly ground breaking to say he’s now at an age where his main focus should be individual performance. Hopefully he’s dealing with a new born and another kid too. Viney, Tracc and Lever are the guys who are in the right age range to be captain. It’s not unreasonable to suggest one or more of those guys should take over the title whilst Max stays as a vital leader in certain ways.

If he’s close to a spot in the best 22 I’d start him at half back given that’s the easiest place to come in to the side. Otherwise if he’s ready for it physically at VFL level I’d have him on ball rotating forward. The question I’d like answered is what’s his 2km time? He’s valuable as a forward and back who can develop his on ball game, but if he can genuinely run he has great attributes with his kicking and marking to be a winger.

Eagles Chiefs Ravens

Walter would go pick 1, Duursma v McKercher would be roughly on par with Rayner v Andy Brayshaw in 2017 I think. McKercher a solid midfield prospect, Duursma the could be anything type but not a guarantee. Better than McGrath/Taranto, not as good as Walsh/Luko/Rankine or Rowell/Anderson. Good enough to trade plenty for but North aren’t moving back unless it’s part of a pick 1 deal.

No, I said moved from the midfield where her lack of contested strength and pressure were being exploited. We’ve been a better side since she’s playing wing and now high half forward

Cal’s had Caddy and Curtin to us but I don’t think either have been definitive, both seem to be based on his order. He’s been stronger on the top 5 than any link to us. The link to Leake comes from the HS. He’s been strong on Windsor as a top 10/top 12 pick. Which means us, GWS, Geel, Adel or Ess. That surprises me a bit.

The only one that matters in the Twombstone seems confident on 1. Reid, 2/3. McKercher/Duursma, 4. Watson. 5. Sanders With talk that Curtin might fall further than that. Perhaps: 6. Melb. Leake 7. GWS. Caddy 8. Geel (?trade) Curtin 9. Ess. Wilson 10. Adel. O’Sullivan 11 Melb ??? Plenty to play out but Twomey usually gets it right at the top

If this is to be believed https://www.wafootball.com.au/news/24511/state-combine-duo-impress-afl-recruiters Then Van Twoyen ran a way quicker agility time than anyone at the national combine and one of the fastest times in draft history. If that’s the case I think we’d be really keen on him. We’ve often valued guys with good agility.

It’s certainly a win for the President and CEO as well as all the admin who work across The men finishing 4th with a strong percentage gave the women a great platform to top it off. Hopefully it creates a stronger bond between the two playing groups as they can work together for success. Over 5k per bonus per bloke, 8k odd for the girls based on list size of 31, not bad going.

And deal that doesn’t get North 1 doesn’t get them Reid. North have had a stack of picks and young talent, they’re in the perfect position to really go hard for pick 1. And so far it seems the Eagles won’t accept 2 and the late picks, they might not accept 2 and 8. Dealing with Melb and North simultaneously is how the Eagles get three picks inside 11.

Trademark inexcusable mistake from Birch and then Wilson beat dead in the foot race.

‘What’s the motivation to play today’ asks the commentator of the assistant coach of the team currently in 8th, [censored] me

If there was ever a good shot for goal that ended up a point that one from Galway Gall was one. Most AFLW players wouldn’t get near the distance kicking in to the breeze from there. She looks a talent

Might’ve been Mackie just talking for talks sake but the Cats pick has been fairly consistently linked as been open for a trade down. Cats pick 8 will be 10+ come draft night, they may well rate 2 bites at the next range of talent over 1 player already outside the top range. The Dees were very keen to move to 11 but I’m struggling to see just who’s available there who’s a clear standout over the next few aside from potentially getting more tall options still on the board. The 10-20 range all look talented but far from a sure thing to me before a further drop off from 20+

Melbourne to North: 6 + 11 for 2 North to Geelong: 15, 17 for 8 North to WC: 3, 8, 11 for 1 North turn 2, 3, 15, 17 in to 1 and 6. Maybe a future 2nd from Eagles to Geelong for a later cats pick? I’m sure they’d be 100 other picks involved.

You need the salary cap space and the players wanting to join to get Rankine and Dawson, purely on picks it’s not nearly as good a deal, especially when they asked for a North second rounder back as well which would’ve cancelled the Dawson pick. If we could swap 11 and a future first (providing we play finals which is far from a guarantee) for eagles 2nd or even 3rd rounders suddenly we aren’t giving up nearly as much in that part of the trade. If 11 and a future first got us some high profile trades in then I’d say let’s use them for mature star players, but we just had our 3rd trade period without bringing in any quality so we are either cash strapped and/or far from a destination club. Looking at our list build our best pathway to bringing in stars is the draft and particularly the top 5 or so picks.

He can seriously mark a footy and kick it too and he seems to have got stronger and more athletic as the year went on. I’m not surprised to see him in top 10 contention

I’m almost certainly wrong because those 2 are very solid prospects but am I completely crazy to like a 3rd Bushranger as much if not more? He’s not nearly as proven or well rounded but give me Phoenix.

Not a surprise, strikes me as a JT type of player, he’s been my preferred option at 11 for a while but might to be picked at 6 if we want him.

If I’m west coast and I rate Curtin as either the 2nd best player or the best option for them I’m trading; pick 1 to the Roos FOR 2 and ideally North’s future first (or another first) and a late first trading pick 2 with Melbourne FOR 6 and 11 or 6 and a future first. That way they end up with 6 and 3 other firsts. Not sure a team has ever traded anything for 4 first round picks. And if it includes Norths future first and pick 11 from us then it’s a good collection of them too, not just later ones

Watson to the Hawks at 4, Sanders to the Dogs at 5 is the early mail, which makes it Curtin the only one standing from the so called top 6 (non-academy). But I always stress at this stage of the process the narratives about sliders and bolters are always nonsense, it's a small sample size of both media and games for these kids. Cal Twomey and the Rookie Me guys are about the only ones who are seriously studying the draft and clubs are tight lipped about their orders. Most of the other journos just repeat the same stuff. For all we know Curtin might have been overvalued the whole time, Caddy might be undervalued and there could be a stack of other names in the 6-11 range I remember Twomey never had Jackson near his top 3 and was surprised by it when he learned of Melbourne's intentions and then after the draft a number of clubs confirmed they had him very highly rated too.

Trent Williams was a huge loss for the Niners. He gives them a lot in the run game, but also provides Purdy and Kyle confidence in the pass game that the backside is locked down. So I wasn't totally shocked to see the Niners offense struggling. My guess is they kind of have some up and down weeks for the next stretch of the season whilst they contemplate how much they can ask of Purdy in the playoffs. The Vikings offense surprised me, but Kevin O'Connell knows the Niners D from his time at the Rams and is a good coach, so I guess it shouldn't have been a total shock that they had some chances. The big surprise was Kirk didn't go full prime time Kirk and was making plays late in the game.

He makes sense for both clubs but I wouldn’t be surprised if Freo don’t try to trade either Collingwood or Port’s future first round pick to North for 17 or 18. Doesn’t make a lot of sense for North to have 5 picks in the same draft and Freo will be desperate to get a first rounder in rather than wait for 3 next year.

I wouldn’t be sure of that, we’ve still only moved 7 players out and bought 3 in. 2 picks and 2 rookies is just as likely, with the flexibility to take Kynan Brown in either draft. Id be pretty surprised if we used 42 straight up. If it doesn’t go in an earlier deal I’d expect it to either be traded out for future picks or possibly a trade up for a slider

I think you’re underselling Caddy’s athleticism, his agility is great and his pace is good given he’ll have a powerful frame and won’t be matching it with skinny back flankers. His kicking penetration looks fine to me too, but he’d be in for a fair amount of work with Choc Williams to get consistency. Would be nice if he was a little taller or a little cleaner with the ball but to me it comes down to how sticky his hands are. If the belief is he’ll hold a good share of his marks then I’m fully on board.