DeeSpencer

Do you mean wedge as in the narrow piece of Government trust last - because that isn’t being sold. Or do you mean wedge as in leverage to development the ovals? Because I do imagine there’s going to be fierce competition to use them as exclusively as an afl club would like to.

Cranbourne golf club sold for 190M to Fraser Brown of all people. Money put in to a fund for Jewish community interests. Mt Scopus have bought the old training stables land along Kambrook Road according to the Age. We’re going to have to share or fight for these ovals.

Time trial result was excellent but otherwise I’m not sure where the positive reports are coming from. Pulled out of every training I’ve been to for rehab running. I’m glad he’s having a red hot crack and keen to see more but I need to actually see him doing some main drills before I see much reason for optimism.

That’s just because you haven’t seen much of him yet, he has all the same weaknesses of Chandler and without the overhead marking and burst power.

Postponing birthday celebrations for one night isn’t exactly a major test. The big test will be whether he gets a kick in round 2!

Some stuff about Tracc, notes the guys in the rehab group, and the following ‘players who impressed’ Harvey Langford - The No. 6 pick looks ready made for the level. Already a good size, Langford found himself in the right position on multiple occasions with space and execution to deliver inside 50. Kozzy Pickett - Pickett, who will miss the first three games in 2025 due to suspension, was playing through the middle during the full-ground drill. He put his speed to good use and also delivered a few pinpoint passes going inside 50. Tom Campbell - Now at his 3rd AFL club, the 201cm ruck seems set to be the backup ruck for Premiership captain Max Gawn alongside Will Verrall. The experienced Campbell was clean at ground level and showed some good acceleration during the full-ground drill, also showcasing impressive skills for a big man. Kynan Brown - The father-son product, who played two games in his debut season, was speedy and was brushing off tacklers with relative ease. Featured in some drills but ran laps for the majority of the session. Also looked to have put on some muscle.

Kolt, Kalani and the new boys jogging laps. Main group just doing end to end lane work with 2 vests v 3 cones at each end and a 2v1 defenders in the middle to link up. Really simple but fundamental running and decision making. Now with 2 footies so it’s getting all multi ball

He’s doing a lot of agility and very structured short running for a shoulder. Might be knee related shoulder surgery

Bowser and Salo the 2 man backline now. Moving fast with lots of diagonal stuff which is good to see. Not always connecting to the forwards - nice Kalani intercept and spoil there - but Riv, Viney, Koss have all run the ball through the middle

Match sim. Lovely mark on the lead by Dees CHF Harry Petty (they’re playing with a backline of Judd and Windsor most of the key backs are rolling through a forward line). Jed Adams nice run and receive on the next piece of play. Bad Harry Sharp turnover kicking to Bowser. Clarry and Tracc racking them up

Rando training player looks a lot like former cat Mitch Hardie

Saints, Bills. Bengals

Got to believe AJ, Big Jacob and the Rizzler will return us to goal scoring glory.

Vfl last year: McAdam: 11d, 4 tackles, 4 marks, 2 goals Roy: 10d, 1 tackle, 2 marks, 1 goal I understand we are all frustrated with Shane’s first year but he’s contracted for 2 more and at least deserves the benefit of the doubt for this year to go out and play his best. Similarly Roy has talent but he didn’t even lock himself in to the Casey team last year. Assuming he’s even worthy of a lost spot is a stretch at this stage.

I think his time trial was solid, ran with a group of talls and was behind Disco but ahead of May/Jefferson if I remember correctly.

He needs to get through preseason and play his role in practice games but he’s already appearing in media best 22’s and Petty going back is a sign they’ve bought in reinforcements forward. And it’s not like he’s competing with Franklin, Roughead and Hale. If he plays to his best vfl form last year he’ll be in round 1. The biggest deterrent might be that JVR doesn’t look ready to be the main man up forward. A lot of people think the ruck has hindered him, I’m firmly in the opposite camp.

Right now I’m sure it just experimenting but I’d like to see Bowser’s kicking on a wing both inside 50 and also to pierce the ball back in to the corridor. And he can be a defensive sweeper too. Even more than that I like Windsor providing pure counter attacking speed off half back to break down zones before they get set. Similar to Max Holmes at Geelong. Especially if we have Salem and McVee we already have 2 kicking players. And we have Lindsay as another player who should provide kicking and play half back or wing. The biggest factor though is I like genuine cross training of players for their development as well as what it offers the team.

AFLW players are paid in tiers. For 2025 Tier 1 (2 players) 110k Tier 2 (6 players) 89k Tier 3 (6 players) 76k Tier 4 (16 players) 67k We'd be struggling to fit Lil in to tier 3, where as she'd probably be tier 2 at the Suns. Potentially 22k which is worth moving for. Her podcasts with the club seemed to fizzle out but I imagine GC would have some way to get her some extra cash there. Plus perhaps a more permanent on ball role to develop her footy too? Hate to lose her but I think many of our core group sacrificed a lot longer than just about any other team and then once 4 of them left last year others have seen the writing on the wall.

If we kept Harris we'd probably lose Georgia Gall and right now I think the time is right to keep Gall with the offer of a good contract and more game time and let Tayla walk. She'll do well for the Hawks for a year or two before probably falling away. We've still got Zanker and Bannan for experienced talls (or at least experienced for AFLW) as well as Gall, Georgia Campbell and I hope Aimee Mackin is back in 2025 for another quality medium forward. Tayla has poor discipline as she so often gives away cheap free kicks and poor commitment. She continues to prioritise boxing and other interests over her footy preparation. We got the best out of her and a flag, but I'm not disappointed at all that we are moving on even if it signals the list is in a rebuild.

That’s overly optimistic, he mixed some very good games in with some quiet ones. I suspect he would’ve struggled in any senior games aside from the Gold Coast win where we moved the ball far better then any other game in the back end of the year. He should debut early in 2025 if he has a full preseason but he won’t do well at AFL level unless the team sorts out their ball movement and forward structure. We can’t keep playing footy that makes the key forward role in to a heavyweight UFC fight every week.

The big questions with Petty down back are does he have the speed off the mark to really go to the next level as a defensive force? May and Lever provided him a lot of protection in 21/22 and he had a very simple role. Is he willing to provide us more rebound and attack than when he last played down back? Tommy Mc was our best rebounding defender at times last year because he always has a go despite his faults. Petty has the skills and athleticism to be a really strong rebounder but he needs the right mindset. His default setting is playing it very safe. He has skills to use the footy and marking to be a target for kick outs and switches. It’s good to out him back to his preferred spot for summer but if he’s going to be at his best he needs to go to a new level. Otherwise if May, McDonald and Lever are all healthy he might end up in the forwards again just on form.

That's a lot of cash but the same deal will likely be available in 2 more years when he can move as a free agent and thus strengthen their team without costing them the farm. Plus he'll be joining early peak Harley Reid and a bunch of other good draft picks who have 2-4 years under their belt. I'd still bet that he signs for 2 more to get him to free agency.

I think it's more that train on players have to be approved by the league and you either have to have a list spot that guys are working towards earning or you can have your state league club guys filling in for extra experience. He'd still be able to sign as an SPP for another club but clubs aren't going to just sign him out of the blue at this time of the year, they'll invite him for training if they want him. Up until the deadline where in recent years clubs have been a little poachy. Oleg Markov for instance was training with and probably about to sign with Carlton when the Pies nabbed him.

Rookies replacing LTI’s is how it worked in the 90’s/00’s. These days you can just put someone on your list if you get a LTI. They go on the Inactive List and you get an extra spot. The deadline is about a week before the season (as SSP). With an opportunity to do the same via the mid season draft. Sign him to Casey which then allows him to train with the AFL side, then see if there’s an injury/retirement before March. It never made sense that George would have Cat B rights for us given he’s never been in our academy. We’d have needed some kind of super special exemption.

I took it as first for the Jason Taylor/Tim Lamb crew in the national draft. Keilty is on that list but he was drafted from Casey. Kyle Dunkley played for Gippsland as an overager after playing for Oakleigh in his draft year but I think it was his VFL footy got Footscray that got him drafted in the mid season draft.