DeeSpencer

It’s all academic now but if a key forward prospect is rock solid and a fit then I reckon you go get them. 3 firsts is too many but the Jackson package - 2 firsts and a 2nd, I think we would’ve done it if we rated Cadman. Cadman looks like Roughead to me. I wouldn’t hang out waiting for someone better if you can get a legit number 1 key forward. GWS have gone and pulled the trigger. I think it’s a good move.

I hope we draft nothing by West Aussies. A shame to lose Jacko but Freo’s cash came at the exact right time, plus covid and other factors. Losing Hogan won us a flag. Plenty of other West Aussies stay on the east coast. When’s Buddy going home?

Jackson’s marking needs to improve but you’re kidding if you don’t think he’s aggressive or competitive

Won’t be much pressure on Weid lobbing to Essendon to for a nothing pick. I liked Weid’s 2020. I started this thread because I thought Ben Brown coming in would just get in Sam’s way. But those games were shorter quarters and the Weid got the prime full forward gig. Fritsch had that locked up by about round 2 2021. Sam’s always looked promising when given a clean run and jump at the ball. Still drops too many but he can get his hands on them. Once it becomes about contesting from behind, stuck under a high ball or having to sprint clear to provide an option the Weid just doesn’t pick the drop of the ball or use his body efficiently. Our game plan and honestly most of afl footy is about contributing when it’s not just presented on a platter. Often we take that to extremes and ask our forwards to be superhuman but the reality is we want consistent contests and if that happens everyone will get their share of easier goals too. Essendon are all about the platter. So he fits.

I think the point is they can have 13 for 16, or 27. Not both. At a minimum we’d get 41 back with 27, but given our value on 41 I don’t think that’s likely. Maybe a pies future 2nd if we include 27?

Daw and Brown were delisted players who never played. We can replace them with delisted players who never play! I agree we need to replace Weid with someone who we feel confident that they can at least contribute but that’s not a high bar. Options aren’t great so far but they’ll be someone. I think we’d be best off replacing the 3 depth talls with 1 decent 3rd ruck and 1 decent 4th string forward and saving a list spot as well. Maybe save it for the preseason or mid season draft

Couldn’t get a game in 19, 20 or 21 either. Pick 44 is fair. Spinning that value in to part of a future 2nd that could produce a very good player is even better.

So if the Eagles/Port/North/GWS mega trade doesn’t get up (and I think it will) do we go: West Coast’s Pick 2 for pick 13, Freo’s future 1, Melb’s future 1? Maybe with a late pick back. 3 firsts is serious business. I reckon we’ll dangle it out there. The biggest issue is North aren’t locked in to pick 1 and could still trade it so we couldn’t do it until the draft (unless we go all the way to 1)

This is the deal to hold our ground on. Collingwood don’t want him. There’s no way Grundy wants back in. The contracts are surely sorted. And we’re 2 picks in the 20’s apart. Sliding 3 spots higher up to climb 2 spots late is illogical. Collingwood are only going to send the pick on to Hawthorn anyway. They can cope

So in the future do you want Lamb to ask for less and get less? Because that seems unwise. We got more than the Lever trade which was always going to be the benchmark for Jackson.

The reporting was very quickly 1 top 10 pick and a future first and our options closed as soon as the JHF deal came about. Bedford has been traded for 44 but we’ve used that to get a future 2nd outright. We weren’t ever getting a better pick straight up for Toby. Nor do we care for any junk later picks thrown in.

You can if you get one in. Freo got North’s for Logue

Bedford’s value was only ever to increase a second rounder up the order or a 3rd rounder. We got 2 firsts for Luke. We got half a 2nd for Luke, half for Toby. We gave up nothing else. Would’ve liked the full bonus 2nd rounder for Luke but Freo weren’t going to budge without something back.

I mean 13 for taking on Bowes. Gold Coast thought Bowes was so bad and expensive he required pick 7. Geelong are spreading his contract over 4 years and talking him up big time. Pick 13 should probably get Bowes off, except GC have no concept of negotiation.

If Gold Coast didn’t have the brains of gold fish they’d trade us 7 for 13 and Freo’s 2nd and stiff Geelong with 13 for Bowes. But it’s Gold Coast, so what can you expect?

If they get the coaching right and he develops his midfield craft as quickly as I think he can Jackson should take a lot of Mundy’s midfield minutes. Mundy was still getting the ball but he was a defensive liability, Jackson can be a defensive force and an even bigger body. That will allow Brayshaw and Serong to play more attacking roles. They will need one of their young mids to step up though to give cover for when Jackson rucks or is on the bench. I expect Freo to be excellent defensively again and no worse in attack. There’s a chance it goes either way but they seem rock solid 4-10th on the ladder.

Chargers, Niners, Eagles

Essendon have been behind the 8 ball this entire trade period (and insert other jokes here). They seem to have gone down a laundry list of midfield options from Bowes to Harmes to Setterfield later in the week. When they eventually settled on the cheapest midfield option they probably decided they could have a go at a tall. If Weid goes for a useful draft pick then that's clear incentive to move him on when there wasn't any incentive last week.

Keeping Weid as a 3rd ruck doesn't quite cut it to me. The obvious thing is the kid deserves a fresh start. But apart from that: Ok, he could come in and play as the 2nd ruck. But in that scenario Grundy/Gawn is rucking 80% of game time, which means Weid is playing 60% forward and we haven't seen that work since 2018. We also have JVR and Tom McDonald who can pinch hit in the ruck. If he's the first choice ruck then he's going to get beaten up by good AFL rucks just based on size alone, and whilst I like his follow up on the deck and against certain opponent he'll compete ok in the air he's not winning that match up against most first choice rucks. We saw him as the number 1 ruck v Adelaide this year and ROB had a field day. And that's ROB, who probably doesn't rate in the top 10 rucks. So if we're getting smashed in the ruck with Weid we may as well get smashed in the ruck with an actual ruckman who has the developmental scope to become a good player in the future. There will be someone out there who fits the bill. I'm not a huge Jack Bell fan but he came on a heap at Casey late in the season before making way for finals, wouldn't shock me entirely if they picked him up. Plenty of other state league big guys out there too.

Think you'll find he's too expensive - in draft picks and contract.

Is he still our pro-scout? And if so, why hasn't he found us a good state league player in nearly a decade? Rosman was a risk/reward shot that flamed out. But so far Carroll looks fairly underwhelming. If Carlton had any belief he could hold down a wing they probably wouldn't be bringing in Blake Acres. We need to keep taking chances with later picks on guys with some serious upside and also be prepared to move on quickly if it's not working.

Which they’re converting to a 4 x 600, a decent salary but maybe 250-300 per year extra. The dodgy part of the deal to me is Geelong having inside knowledge of every teams cap as their CEO was at the league office a year ago. And of course the Suns continued incompetence. They could’ve split their pick 7 with us or another side and sent Bowes to market with pick 15 or so. Plenty of clubs would’ve still taken him. Yet they don’t seem to have any idea how to negotiate

Bruhn saw out his contract, played 30 games and gave it a crack. He’s also a pick 12 who fetched the giants a pick 18, not a huge amount of damage done. JHF quick about face is not good for anyone. Though I hardly blame him

Dunstan, Baker, Mitch Brown, Munro, White…Casey was loaded with experienced footballers who contribute to winning. There’s a big difference between that and playing AFL level footy. Tomlinson’s positioning, work rate, skills were all really good in helping Casey win. When it came to other aspects of his game he was a mile off and at no stage did it really look anything like it was improving. I don’t know what he’ll be like next year, hopefully much better, but he was the key defensive version of Oskar Baker this year. Did a lot right but didn’t look like an afl player

3-4 months wasn’t it