DeeSpencer

I have a sneaking suspicion Hewett might’ve been our best case result at pick 15 and the player we’d have traded up for to picks 11-13 to get ahead of the eagles. He’s such a Melbourne type player - aggressive, physical, great agility - and interest had cooled in him for a top 12 pick. Eagles were leaking interest in Jefferson, we were leaking interest in Allan. What if both sides were just trying to throw each other off the scent of their number 1 target in that range all along?

Had Sydney not done their nonsense Allan would’ve been available. Fairly safe to assume given Cal and others reporting that it would’ve come down to Allan or Barnett. I wonder if it would’ve been the Freo pick or our own to get the deal done. Guess we’ll have to wait 12 months to see where those picks end up and the talent available

We've secured multiple rounds of upgrades for Casey Fields. We secured the Gosch's Paddock oval upgrade. Personally I think we were close to getting the Olympic Park upgrade done, but the switch flipped really quickly from all out spending on Covid recovery to being far more careful with spending given the steep inflation. That impacted governments and it would've impacted our desire to borrow 10's of Millions of debt to pay for facilities too. Whilst it's disappointing it really has little impact on wins and losses. The one thing I think we should go for is ditching the idea of the women playing at Casey and making sure we have a ground that can host them either our heartland or a growth area that works for hosting our men. After seeing Brisbane's facility that has to be the aim.

20 Questions with Jason Taylor: Draft positioning: - how close was the trade up deal? - who was the target? - did they consider trading back, ie. taking the Hawks deal Jefferson: - How's his athleticism - 2km, agility, 20m sprint - Did the consistent scarcity of tall forwards play a role in his selection? - is he a late bloomer/underdeveloped as a junior? Adams - Prior to the draft on AFL media JT was very confident he'd get a good player in the 2nd round, was this the guy? - Where did he rank on his board - What injuries has he had and have they been corrected? - How's his athleticism - 2km, agility, 20m sprint Verrall - Do they like his forward game? - Did the sub rule and the ongoing likelihood of 2 rucks increase the importance of having 2 developing rucks Sestan - did they have athletic testing on him? - was this the most wild pick he's ever made? - how was his form at Xavier? - are the rumours he worked over George Wardlaw at the training session true? - why draft him rather than get him down to training for summer? Burgoyne/K. Turner - how long will they train for? - are the coaches far more involved in deciding a list spot once a player is training? General - Excluding JVR who we expect to see soon and the first year kids, who debuts first from Howes, Laurie, D Smith, Taj, AMW, McVee?

I’d argue none of Peter Wright, Harry McKay, Todd Marshall or Mabior Chol demonstrated more that rarest occasion of aggression or physicality until they were 22-23 years old. Now they are some of the best key forwards in the game. Jefferson reads the flight and attacks the ball in the air strongly, once he gets stronger that can be developed to attacking those in the way too. It would be nice if he did have a natural inclination for crunching bodies but if he works hard and is resilient there’s no reason he can’t develop that to a decent level. I’m actually more concerned he doesn’t have the athleticism, skills or height to become a really potent weapon. Given many talls are now closing in on 2m and have agility and/or pace like midfielders it’s harder going if you don’t have a weapon like that.

Trent Burgoyne: 2019 (draft year): no games due to hammy issues, rookied 2020: covid year, port didn’t play in the sanfl 2021: 5 games, averaged 6.8 disposals. Delisted 2022: played 10 matches, averaged 10.6 disposals, 2.8 tackles and kicked 2 goals He’d be a pretty bold selection based on that. Started to go in the right direction this last season but before that had 3 years of nothing

Way too early reaction: Adams - big forearms, he’ll end up a solid lad Sestan - 5 days and 1 training session in and he’s already looking leaner and more like an afl player Jefferson - not quite big buckets but he gets a lot of purchase with his fingers around that footy, good size mits Verrall - decent shoulders, probably the most developed of the young talls

As for draft rankings, it’s not exactly clear who we should’ve taken to achieve a better result. The consensus clear cut prospects were gone by our pick We probably had only a couple of options that I would’ve preferred. 1. Take the hawks trade back. Pro: draft Ryan, Burgiel or Cowan, bank an early second next year Con: the bonus 2nd rounder next year would give us such an overload of picks we’d be competing against ourselves to draft players 2. Ed Allan or Weddle Pro: athletic freaks who could provide wing or defensive mid and take the physical load off Tracc and Clarry as they age Con: both developmental prospects with limited sample size to suggest they are future afl mids I can see why they went Jefferson. Key forwards outside the top 5 picks are rarely perfect prospects and trading for them in their prime is at best incredibly expensive, at worst just not possible for small clubs.

If Bevo was coaching the Dees our spine in a few years would probably be: FF: Adams CHF: Petty CHB: Jefferson FB: JVR Theres even a chance that will be our spine with Goody coaching!

Packers, Browns, SeaHawks

I’m not saying it’s not a talented crop but it looks more on par with a regular group at the very top (if Cal’s rankings are solid) than a special crop. Compared to the super draft with the King twins, gun bigger mids in Walsh, Smith and Rozee, and some rare talent in guys like Rankine, Luko, Blakey and Thomas I don’t think it stacks up at all. We’ll have a really good hand and most likely be willing to try to get up the order. And of course more names will announce themselves as the year goes on. But this list of names looks to me like good reason that JT and co were willing to have a very strong go at getting Essendon’s pick this year.

Harley Reid GC academy tall forward ————————————— - Tassie mid who looks 25 - WA ruck with a BMI of near death - WA key defender (there’s 6 of these each year) - tiny small forward - 3 precocious medium forwards who’ll need to grow or show midfield ability to be elite prospects - 1 skinny balanced vic metro mid To quote JT ‘next year is next year’. Unless I had pick 1 or were the GC suns I wouldn’t be all that excited by this crop

Whilst there’s room for it - fixture announcements, contract extensions etc - I like that our socials haven’t descended in to a mess of bad memes and attempted edgy content. Our media content reflects our brand and the interviews with players reflect a level of trust and respect. Kudos to Ben. There was a new person taking photos out on the field at training and their outfit alone made me a little nervous. But I don’t want to judge prematurely. Teams give so little to traditional media these days (and I don’t blame them), which means the in house media are really important for how we connect with the team.

Time to start again with WERRIDEE Best 46.

I think they should be really flexible with where they use him. Wing, forward, back. And he’d be a good sub, now that it will be used every week. One role I’d really like to see him used in is playing on ball, starting forward then swapping with Viney or Tracc after centre bounces. He’d give us uncontested possessions and hit up short kicks from the midfield. His ability to find space stood out today.

Out: Marchbank, Owies, Martin In: Boyd, Hollands, De Koning

You’ll know what I mean when you see it, he’s slinky and his arms present nicely to the footy. I was hoping to get a closer up look at his hands. They didn’t look like big buckets from what I could see but it wasn’t up close!

The one drill I saw Sestan join in was where they split in to pairs and just did some very token pressure one-on-one marking and one-on-one ground balls with a coach just gently lobbing a ball out in front. Sestan was joined up with Hunter and no one was providing any real pressure, but he just looked very comfortable in how to use his hips to hold off an opponent and gathered cleanly then could handball on either hand and seemed to be favouring using his left. Doesn't mean much, but it's a sign he's not super raw. Would've loved to have seen it done with real pressure and Viney or Petracca but hey, it's early days!

Things that caught the eye JVR was the main target of the other match sim team and he was prominent. Had some solid marking contests with Petty and he definitely has a good crack at it. A couple of two grab marks and drops, hopefully that's just early season stuff. But he looks really fit and strong and doesn't lack for energy. McVee - paired up with Salo and drills and they linked up on the same team a bit. Looks stronger but also to be playing quicker Rivers - had a stack of it, not as efficient with his use but a few kicks that missed by inches Woey - looked sharp and used it well Sparrow - had the hair flowing and moves like some kind of new age armoured vehicle. JJ - the match sim was all focused on fast ball movement and JJ was playing to instruction and getting it on nicely. Used the left at one stage, had a nice run and penetrating accurate kick at another, willing at the contest Petty - cleaned himself up nicely spoiling Fritsch at one stage, but got back out there for a nice battle with JVR. Had some spoils, marks, tackles and just generally did Petty stuff. Looks good Gawn, Petracca, Viney, Lever were all doing their things. Was good to see them all healthy

Grundy: looks healthy and moves well, got involved a bit as a forward in the match sim, later was doing some runs with Fritsch and not dropping too far off him Hunter: was heavily involved in the match sim. Partly because he had a good stint in the pink jersey that's the extra number that goes both ways. Had some nice kicks. Bobbed up in good areas. Looks fit but solid. He had to really motor to get a quick one-two which tested those legs but he got it done. I don't think he'll star and those little legs might need some rest at times, but I think he'll be revitalised. Schache: was the main target of one of the match sim teams and so got on the end of plenty. Didn't really have too many contests. Certainly looks fit and strong in the legs. Will always have more narrow shoulders but is solid up top too. If he never has an opponent he'll be good! Wait and see if he can do more.

Unsighted: Oliver, Pickett, Langdon, May, Harmes, Brayshaw, Melk, Tomlinson, Joel Smith, Verrall. No Dunstan, ANB either Rehab: Ben Brown, McDonald, Hibberd, AMW, Deakyn Smith Benny Brown doing pretty short jobs but joined in one drill and kicked the footy around. Hibbo and AWM doing solid work. T Mac not looking a mile off. New boys: Adams (Jed Adams): In runners and t shirt, did a good session on the watt bike. Good height, not big but solid frame, looks like he'll fill out once they do get him going though El Jefe (Matthew Jefferson): Joined in some drills and match sim, kicks a nice drop punt and seems to have loose easy arms that easily hold marks Kyah (Kyah Farris-White): joined in some drills, has a monster of work to do on his kicking, poor Choco wasn't marking many of his 15m stabs Sestan (Oliver Sestan): solid but not heavy, will need a preseason to change his frame a little but hardly a mile off, kicks accurately with punch when doing some kick to kick with Choco

Maybe just one big Werridees Non Melbourne's best 44 thread might be the way to go rather than 17 different ones? Brisbane are going to be a very tough side though. Surely the deepest list in the comp.

I skimmed through his VFL debut v Port. He played back pocket, took his share of rotations off and at this stage I’d say he’s a tall flanker more than a key position player. Lean and long arms and looks an easy mover who wasn’t troubled for leg speed at VFL level. Some observations: Q1: 12:10 1st, lovely easy run from deep back pocket to link up and nail an inside 50 kick Q2: 5:12 easy elevation for intercept mark and hits his target with a quick short kick 27:56 kickout to 65 28:40 drops a kickout to a lead at 50 Q3: 1:10 weights a kick to the corridor 3:50 reads it nicely for easy intercept 16:01 nice strong spoil deep down back 23:01 long kickout! Q4 30:26 nice spoil with the game 22 points the difference, follows up to receive a handball and kicks long and wide with a safe clearing kick 31:30 not as great some of his efforts to secure a loose ball Then the game ends on a shoddy too high free kick, with Frankston giving up a 61-16 lead Not a perfectly fluent kicking action but not terrible. Kicks around it like a soccer player and certainly has distance. Interesting they trusted him on debut with kick outs Looks a very natural runner. Solid overhead with a leap so there’s more to work with there. Seems to track an opponent and the ball fairly well. Probably found the pace of the game quick with the ball bouncing around the deck, but on debut that’s not a surprise.

Jefferson averaged 9.5 disposals at NAB league and 8.8 at Under 18's. He did hit the scoreboard, but got plenty of cheap ones mixed in that 7 goal effort especially. He will have to find more of the ball. He's not a home run pick at 15, although, there were hardly too many options jumping off the page. If you have to give it a grade I don't mind that it doesn't grade all that highly. I'm not entirely sure what we were meant to get graded for with the Adams pick. It was small flankers and speculative talls by our pick. And he played 9 Colts games, 2 National champs games and a seniors game this year. Not exactly like he didn't play.

Early report is I can't believe they played the B grade granny on that swamp of a ground. That's disgraceful.