DeeSpencer

Cerra didn’t get big money from Carlton according to reports. And we might’ve had to trade out a player to get draft picks to up our offer. Not convinced Cerra alone means we have a 600k or more lying around unless players go out. But at the same time I agree with your overall assertion that we can’t be sure we don’t have cash. Especially if the cap rises. Who can actually know? We also went extra years over dollars to sign Oliver and Tracc long term. Brayshaw too. Guys like Langdon and May should’ve been front loaded before we had a full cap. Gawn, Lever, Salem, Viney have all done extensions to spread them over multiple years. And if we work on a balanced list where no one position group gets overloaded with money then even worse case we really should be budgeting for key forwards from 2025. We might even be able to dip in to that key forward budget ahead of time.

His burst speed for a strong inside mid is incredible, and whilst his kicking isn’t perfect he gets it to where it needs to go a lot. One of my favourite players to watch

For a correct decision?

Finn’s a terrible person who makes jokes about Jake Melksham’s child and is a difficult team mate. (None if that is true but we need to keep spreading information to make sure he doesn’t go top 40)

Sounds great, where can we get a Blicavs? A capable back up ruck who predominantly plays as an on baller due to his elite fitness and mobility. Oh crap, that’s Jackson, who were losing and sure isn’t Grundy.

Twice we had Wilmot done cold holding the ball in the back 50 last week and twice it wasn’t paid. Of course it gets paid against Geelong

So Pickett’s no different to about 100 players out of contract next year that teams have interest in. Glad we cleared that up.

The ruck playing forward goes to where the long bomb is needed. Coming from the back half that should at chf. If play stalls or on repeat entries that will be deep. There will be plenty of times Gawn gets long bombed at chf to allow Fritsch to lead back in to space which is something he’s very good at. We’ve seen Max ruck against second rucks a fair bit this year. It can be good, it can result in Max doing too much Max (attempting hero mode).

Jackson’s an incredible runner capable of high minutes. He was playing big minutes at the start of 2021 when we just played the one tall. He’s battled some niggles this year but I also think the coaches didn’t trust him forward and didn’t get enough out of him in the ruck to keep Max forward either. Plus Ben Brown and Gawn in the same forward line was a non starter. Grundy should be more trusted in the ruck, but they’ll still have to keep Max forward when he wants to ruck to get good minutes out of them. Tommy Mc getting two way run out of those beating up feet and ankles and JVR being a good two way player will be vital to making a 2 ruck system work.

Off field supporter cash. The Dees coteries and networks aren’t nearly on the same level as Richmond, Collingwood, Carlton, Geelong. The salary cap and footy department cap have levelled things up a bit. Lever and May in back to back years as we were a side on the rise was as good we’ve done in decades. But once you have a premiership quality lair that gets paid like it there’s not a lot of room if you’re very much constrained by the cap. It’s got to be a player go out to get a player in. Sounds like we’re replacing Jackson with Grundy. If no one else of any note goes out then very possibly we won’t have room to bring anyone in.

Lobb stayed last year, has a great year. Bobby Hill stayed, had a Bobby hill year before unfortunate illness. Dunkley stayed multiple years. My guess is Pickett won’t even try to leave because he knows what the answer will be. And port won’t even try to get him because they know what it will be too - for one they’d have to pay double what the draft capital price could be in a years time. They’ll all look foolish. This is really a story just for clicks.

It’s really not that hard. You simply stop players meeting with clubs or clubs talking about other players. Of course they will be sniffing around with agents but the whole process is delayed if they can’t get busted meeting with or discussing rivals.

The NBA has nonsense of star players demanding trades and breaking contracts, plus teams so happy to tank. But the one thing it does do is lock top draft picks in for 4 years and realistically 2-4 more before they talk about breaking extensions. I’m ok with more player movement as long as it isn’t designed for tanking and super teams, but the one thing that’s way out of line at the moment is how little leverage clubs have on younger players. If they need to go home that’s ok, no issue losing Jacko for that reason, but there shouldn’t be contract incentives that favour moving for young players.

This is why the league needs anti tampering rules. There’s no reason for Pickett to cop this speculation now and for an entire year. Its all so Craig the Labrador Hutchinson can make money from his pitiful media empire one click at a time. Who on earth is Michaelangelo Leonardo Roccaceli anyway? One of the leftover ninja turtles? For all we know he’s about as well connected to the trade market as Melksham’s baby.

Oscar Allen’s the only good young player on their list. Pick 5 is great, but pick 2 is even better. Trading back makes sense a lot of the time but not at the pointy end of the draft I’m still a huge Jacko fan but I think he’s a luxury a really bad side can’t afford. He’s great for Melbourne and for Freo who have building blocks in place. If I’m the eagles I’m going midfielder, gun forward or backline general rather than a ruck/utility.

I’d imagine the Pies and the Dees would firstly agree to a figure, the rumour floated was 300k per year. So 1.5 total. Then it’s a matter of moving the money to years that suit. If the Pies want the majority of it off the books quickly then they could go 600, 600, 100 x 3. Otherwise they may go a flat 300k per year. Either way we could then front load Grundy’s new deal to factor that in and pay him approx 600 x 5 of our own money The dogs reportedly signed Treloar for 5 years 3 million and got the Pies to pay the 1.5 of the rest of his deal with a lot of haggling over who pays what in which year.

West Coast would be mad to split their pick and give up next years. You need premium high quality talent in a rebuild, that means keeping the highest picks. I don’t think they’re actually keen on Jackson at all. I think they’re just playing the game to make sure Freo cough up a fair price.

Lobb’s a tease. He doesn’t like to ruck even though he could be special in that position. He wants to be the man up forward and hasn’t ever shown he is the man. He’d be a great fit if he committed to the fit. I have high hopes for Jacob being a solid performer but he projects a lot more like Brody Mihocek than a superstar to me. But I also think superstar key forwards are overrated. 2 key forwards who crash packs, lead hard, chase hard, tap the ball on and contribute at ground level can get the job done.

Poor man’s Membrey is exactly what Corbett is. He’s undersized and predominantly hits up at CHF. The right type of tall if you’re playing a ruck and another tall deep as the Saints usually do.

Footballers really should be measured in height to the top of their shoulders plus arm length. Corbett could have a short neck and small head, he could be a big as a 195cm player in the way that matters!

I liked Himmelberg from the Crows, not quite ruck size but close enough but the crows have kept him. Frampton is more of a key defender/ruck but seems Pies bound. Sydney would part with one of Amartey or McLean if you made them a big overs offer for fringe players. The cats would probably part with Esava. Shannon Neale they’d like to keep but maybe if you went hard for him and could persuade him to fight out of a contract. It’s absolutely a limited market. It’s probably easier to solve with playing 2 rucks (as seems to be the plan). Or getting a good back to use as needed through the season and going with 1 ruck and 3 tall forwards come September (which would be my plan).

In 2021 Sidebottom finished 5th and was barely trying. Roughead finished 8th and never played again. Grundy’s results came from turning up to most games and not being a terrible with a few good games mixed in. He was a perfectly fine starting ruck, in the range between 3rd best and 10th best ruck of the season. 2 years of that plus a year out means the expectations should be for more of that level than his ‘star’ level previous to that.

Petty needs to get 5 more disposals a game at the AFL level and Turner needs to get 5 more at VFL. Both are talented talls with the ball. Turner has midfielders instincts with his ground ball and handballing and can run the ball. I’m sure he’s been coached up defensive first and the ball has often been at the other end. Doesn’t mean he’s not ready for a role in the afl side but in general for guys to stick at afl level they should dominate VFL. Maybe it all happens in one summer for him but I expect Turner to go up another level of performance at Casey during next season before breaking in to the side.

20 and 21 were injury hampered though. To go injury hampered x 2 then injured for pretty much an entire season with 2 different injuries (one contact, one overuse) is at least a worry. I’d say a 3 year sample is probably a decent guide for the type of player you are. It’s not 100% guaranteed that he can’t reproduce his 2019 form but it’s not just the one year of missing games.