DeeSpencer

Purcell injury such a downer. We don’t have anyone else who can do what she does. Lily Johnson late in and 11% game time. Didn’t play the first half. Just 35% in the third. That’s interesting.

I understand not disrupting Casey but I had one ask for selection which was please don’t pick Sharp. Then I thought, well he’s fit and he’s made a good impact as sub, how much damage can he do? Turns out it was a lot. His entire recruitment is a perfect reflection on how bad our recruiting has been. Buying 2 lemons from Brisbane in a row is really staggering. Especially when there wasn’t anything special about either of their games at Brisbane.

That was a horrendous 50, Melk’s often prone to them although it’s more of a tunnel vision/lack of awareness thing than straight poor discipline. As it stands we have a heap of list spots so I’m ok with him going on but we’re in trouble if he’s a walk up start still. Should be more for a playing coach type role. We have to pick some young athletic forwards with a future rather than extracting the most out of the current patch work set up.

The base wage for a rookie is 105k in 2026. The base wage for an experienced player in 150k. But aside from 4k match payments any rookie that plays gets a 3k bonus and more bonuses for 6 and 11 games. Players also stay on the rookie list but get paid as experienced players. Culley and AMW would almost certainly be signing for amounts of experienced players not second year 19 year old rookiee. The list exists just so clubs can draft guys for 1 year deals if they’re fringe talents and to spread talent around so clubs can’t keep all 44 on a main list. It should be called a supplemental list but it’s not a big deal that it still exists with a silly name.

Token farewell games as for club legends, not AFL journeymen. St Kilda can honour him for 10 years on their list should they wish. We've actually got something better to offer Billings which is a crack at a proper finals campaign all be it VFL. He certainly never had that at AFL level with the Saints and I doubt he did at VFL level either. I don't think any of the VFL guys who are finishing up at the end of the year would even want to have a farewell game, especially if it was as sub and put their finals prep at risk.

Wade Derksen Keep Lever McGovern Probably some other options between 2 and 3 too.

It's not really fair to compare Melk to Tracc straight up because most of Melk's would be set shots where as a number of Tracc's would be snaps in congestion under a heap of pressure. That said, the set shot head to head wouldn't be all that much prettier. Aside from set shot kicking not being willing and capable to go on to his left for snaps around goal is another factor that hurts Tracc. Most of the best players have a handy left foot snap in traffic that doesn't always look pretty but generally goes in.

There’s 3 kind of leaks: important stuff that shouldn’t leak information disseminated via preferred media channels for positive coverage and/or damage control information that involves other people who don’t owe you any confidentiality The last 2 aren’t worth worrying about. You can’t sack Choco without telling the bloke, who is then free to tell anyone he wants. It’s actually better that he gets a farewell game (plus hopefully some farewell vfl final wins) than going quietly in October.

I think he was an important contributor in terms of getting some premiership winning mindset in to our players, but as far as skill development goes our current side especially are a long way off. Kicking is one issue, although it's very hard to change techniques under pressure at AFL level. But we really struggle with handballing and some players even with just picking the footy up! Which isn't to say it's all on Choco but I'm not surprised with 1M dead cap on the books next year and the need to bring in some quality assistants that Choco is the odd man out. Premierships at Port and Melb and did a lot for Richmond's development, he's got a strong coaching legacy

Jeffo is still very high ceiling but also low floor. There’s still a chance he’s a 50 goal forward at afl level, but also possible he never makes it. His combination of mobility, leap and skills are rare, just a matter of getting it out of him.

3rd or later, possibly a rookie. There’s some talent but he hasn’t really come on much. Best projects as a a key defender, at least initially

Worth a look but he was patchy in his draft year including a couple of ordinary VFL games for Casey (his brother put in much better Casey efforts). And Clarko’s moving him around trying to make something out of him.

There’s no way Harley is going to the Saints and where has that Ryan figure come from? I haven’t seen any reporting on his price, there’s no way it would be 1M per season, be lucky to be half that

23 and under: A grade (future stars): Langford B+ (quality players):Bowie, Turner, Windsor, McVee, Lindsay B (could be difference makers): Kolt, Kentfield C+ (could contribute): JVR, Mentha C (role players or possible contributors) Howes, Jeffo, AMW, Adams, Culley Ungraded: the rest It’s a reasonable list of young players, we’ll know a lot more in 12 months time about where the key forwards are at.

I wouldn’t bet my life on Jeffo making it but I’ll gladly buy shares in him at a cheap price. His development from nothing at VFL to now being an excellent player at that level suggests he can step up again. Especially with how raw he was physically. Hopefully this toe injury doesn’t interrupt his summer.

Bedford has been phased out of their midfield. He hasn’t been effective in any way but hard tagging. XOH is getting more of a run through but isn’t a full time mid. You’d rather use him to cover multiple roles. Leake and Rowston aren’t looking like genuine mids, at least not any time soon, they have a need and can probably straight swap him for Leek Aleer.

Very good first game. Needs to work on his repeat speed, tackling and the classic left footers issue on what to do when he gets hemmed in.

It’s one afl player per side going to Tassie, in fact if GWS and GC are a guide they’ll probably sign about 10 legit afl players at most and few delisting, semi retired guys. That won’t impact the value of list cloggers. If anything now is the time to take on a bunch of fresh kids so we aren’t reliant on draft picks when the list concessions bump them all out

Having watched the replay: Midfield stoppage dominance was the reason for the victory. Not a lot of quality outside ball movement but some good work not just winning clearances but running the ball out of stoppage. Kolt was the main driver of it. Probably the best game I’ve seen him play particularly in tight. Laurie solid, Billings good around the ball but excellent work rate in space. Any time he had to nail a kick it wasn’t pretty. Down back: Adams had a stinker of a first quarter. He was tepid at the contest, lost in space and turned it over. But after quarter time he was excellent, defending, interception and rebounding. Fullarton played well but it was mostly uncontested footy, any hopes of a Lobb like resurgence don’t seem likely. Lual - he does a lot of nice things and moves exceptionally for his size, don’t think he’s on an afl trajectory at 26 apparently, if he was 21 you’d sign him up. Forwards: Metha flashed early and had more chances, he just needs to be consistent with his defensive attention to detail, he has good pressure when he’s switched on. Spargo very solid and consistently made great space. The key forwards had a tough day against AFL level defenders in Frost and Blank and with poor entries. I’m excited to see where big AJ can get to with a full preseason, he’s much more mobile than people think. Luker had a stinker of a first half followed by a clinical second half. The Jeffo hate is a bit misplaced, he really played as a flanker with the other 2 taking most of the contested marking chances. He actually took 2 marks but one was a free against after a Cross unrealistic attempt, the other got paid down field. He went off after 12 minutes of the 3Q. Hopefully just minor. But in <2.5 quarters he kicked 1.1, had 10 touches and would’ve been involved in 3 or 4 other scores. Ground ball gets inside 50 are super valuable. I think he lost 1 contest with the ball kicked over his head then barely had another genuine marking contest. Maybe could’ve found more space on the lead but against a really good backline Casey weren’t exactly kicking it to leads.

Midfield really dominated the longer the game went. And even then I thought Liv was fairly scratchy, Hore barely played midfield and no Goldy. Mackin deep back too. Pearce clearly managed in the ruck too, Campbell with plenty of game time. Forward line was very good even without Harris and missing Gall. So reinforcements to come there. Wotherspoon not picked? Mahoney added some grunt, she'll be a good midfielder in time but does a nice job as that contested half forward. Meatball Pisano looks much more confident in her attack on the footy and could've had 2, didn't miss by much. That left boot will find it's aim if he she keeps finding the ball. Backline probably got lucky with a couple of Dogs posters but they looked very good considering they were missing I think 3 first choice players in Gillard, Goldy and Denby Taylor. Possibly Colvin too. Was a patchwork backline really around Chappy. Mackin offered something different down back. Lampard not perfect but provided some stability. Then 3 new (or close enough to) as part of the back 6. Saraid Taylor - interesting, not perfect but a good athlete and has a dip. O'Hehir - very interesting. Raw, is going to need a lot of development but her running and long kicking for her height is appealing. I can see what they're going for. But the biggest shock of the night was Laela Ebert, she looked like one of the classiest players on the field and did enough defensively too. 19 years old and an injury replacement pick up? That's a steal.

6 - hanks 5 - Purcell 4 - Heath 3 - Chaplin 2- Fitzsimon 1 - Hore

Pearce too injury prone for the top 50 these days. Gillard very close, probably injuries and a dip of form last year costing her. Liv Purcell absolutely top 50 and Chappy too. Chappy not being mentioned by now in this thread shows how underrated she is! I wouldn't have Shell Heath as I'd go with more skilled players but you probably couldn't pick 50 players before her to field a side either.

Just in case any other AFL teams do their recruiting via fishing comments from fan forums. Not a good VFL debut. 4 touches, 3 turnovers, was afraid to go near the ball and was overhead making multiple slurs before drink driving one the way home. Rookie at best.

Especially when Gawn taking the ball out of the ruck removes the midfielders from the equation and the times Max chooses to win the hit outs there's no reasoning behind when and where he's going to hit the ball. You'd have more luck predicting a roll of dice than predicting a Max Gawn hit out.

I think it's a genuine 50:50 and we'll find out during the week. But if he decides its time to spend more time with his family I wouldn't be surprised at all. Go out on a high. Could just be that we rested him as it's been a long year and the last thing he needs is a hammy that delays preseason, but I just have a feeling (no mail) that he might be ready to go out in good form