DeeSpencer

Don’t get too worried about who’s on the rookie or main list. We can shuffle them after the drafts. Leaving cat B aside for now we can have 42 total players. 36 on the main list and 6 rookies is the way to go to save salary cap space. We have 37 signed up. 5 spots. 3 in limbo. 3 worthwhile draft picks. And if history is a guide we like to keep 1 likely train on spot, but that’s never a guarantee.

I doubt we make a decision on Hore or Declase until close to or even after the draft. I doubt we make a call on Hibbo until he finishes his partying! Or more accurately, until he’s had time to reflect on the season. I wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to go out on a high.

Sinclair has signed on to a new deal and Naismith is always injured. Ceglar is to replace Fort, Geelong won’t give anyone else up We’ll go in with the 3 rucks we had last year and attempt to find a good young ruck in the draft, spp or even next years mid-season draft. We didn’t even have Majak on the list at this time last year. The entire history of the Goodwin/Taylor list we’ve always gone lighter than heavier on rucks

Eventually free agency will expand with players eligible after 6 or even 4 years. Then the league can have a free agency window that opens in about mid or late October and kicks off with 72 hours of madness. Teams will be making trades then to facilitate signing other players. Then the actual trade deadline can be moved to February and lower level trades will occur on time lines that suit both parties up until the deadline. It will give the grand final some much deserved space, be fairer on players and will still be a big media event. With the benefit of some action rather than 2 weeks of covering the ruck roundabout

12 contested possessions, 15 uncontested. 70% efficiency. 6 clearances. 335m gained. He has a good balance to his game but I wouldn’t exactly call him outside polish and real class. The Hawks player to chase if we wanted to really go all in would be Wingard. He can go between forward and the midfield and offers a bigger point of difference to what we currently have. But without all the details I think sticking to who we have, taking care of our current players and keeping our future options open is probably the way to go.

They clearly liked Majak’s work at Casey and he should be a lot fitter doing a preseason this summer. Plenty of rucks out there but it’s hard to attract someone to be our 3rd ruck I’d imagine, most of the guys moving are to be the 2nd or 3rd string option in better circumstances for them. It would be even harder convince someone to be our 4th choice option.

A Majak Daw type perhaps?

I'm not saying they straight up tell him. He's a journalist, he uses his contacts of recruiters, parents, players, player managers, club staff to get an outline of who is interested in who. Plus he's attending a lot of the same games and can see which clubs are watching players closely. Take the example of Mac and the link to GWS. He might see a GWS recruiter at one of Mac's games. Then he might interview Mac and ask him which clubs have spoken to him the most. Then he might speak to Mac's manager who tells him the Giants have been asking a lot about him. If that happens enough times for teams with the top picks then you can get a sense of which players have the most interest. Then the final piece is the horse trading that goes on closer to the draft. Someone from the Giants might ring Twomey and see if he's got any info on who Sydney will take with pick 12, and in return might give up a bit about their players with pick 13. I doubt it's that specific but there's certain a lot of using the media around draft time to get information and spread disinformation.

If we thought Mac would fall outside 20 I reckon we would’ve kept more list spots open to allow us to do a bit more shuffling. Nothings ever a lock but Twomey’s late September form guide had him at 8. Quick looks at his 2018, 19 and 20 October updates show his top 10 guys go pretty much to plan with about the latest a guy falls out to being 15 or so. He also had Luke Jackson at 14 but was hearing rumours of top 10. Maybe he’s overreacting now with Mac but I sense he’s not. The draft picture becomes even clearer after the trade period but if Mac stays in the top 10 range at that stage then Twomey probably has serious mail.

There’s a case that Dusty was probably somewhere in the 40’s as he had 3-4 dominant Dusty games from his 16 or so, but there were a lot of games where he looked underdone and did very little defensively. 2.2 tackles, 66% efficiency, 5.3 turnovers from 23 touches, there’s some stats to point out he wasn’t anywhere near his best

He was the best clearance player in the league once he went in to the midfield full time and a semi regular goal kicker. He’s not a great kick but has excellent quick hands. And when it comes to kicking from the high volume inside mids it’s Bont and Merrett, daylight, Petracca’s risk/reward kicks, more daylight then everyone else. 12 might even be a bit low!

He’s a top 50 talent for sure, he could eventually get right up with Petracca but I sense more 50/50 forward mid than Tracc who’s best probably 70/30 mid forward. But he’s been hampered by so many injuries. The Swans wisely just let him settle as a flanker this year without much midfield or designated inside 50 target time. When Robbo does his preseason 50 in March or whenever it is he should definitely be included.

Packers, Pats, Titans

Fritsch is too high. He wasn’t better than the other 6 Dees this year. More like 40th, maybe the 5-6th best goal kicking forward Lever was better than May this year. Gawn not top 5 either. Somewhere between 10-20. He’s had better seasons. Paced himself this year.

Was good without being great this year, definitely not top 50

As a player. Absolutely. Was easily one of the best forwards this year

Captain of his colts team and school, strong form at colts level, solid performer at state level and added to the combine. He wouldn’t have a thread on demonland but I reckon he’s played well enough that every team has at least had a good look. I like the idea that worst case scenario is he gets to come over for a train on period. Wouldn’t be surprised if he was drafted even if he’s not a standout tho, teams like to take father sons with great work ethic.

If the commentator says 'through the agency of' one more time I might have to put my laptop in the washing machine.

Started watching the 2nd quarter and haven't heard him called, what number is he?

They being JT or the club? The club, no doubt heavily based up JT's recommendation but not in a vacuum - clearly made the decision for Brayshaw, who Paul Roos loved. The pressing need was to beef up the midfield quickly rather than draft a young tall and Lever's ACL probably sealed the decision too. But having seen JT since use pick 3's on Oliver and Jackson I'd like to know if it wasn't for the clubs situation who he would've taken.

Still not convinced that if JT got his way they wouldn't have taken Lever at pick 3 anyway. They also nearly got him by trading Trengove to the Tigers but he failed the medical. Sliding doors moment right there.

The only confusing part of all that is why weren't they in a market for a key defender! A year later and we were giving up Hogan/pick 6 for Steve May!

Spargo had single figure disposals 8 times this year and only averaged 2 more touches per game than Hill. Pickett had single figures 7 times, including 4 in the grand final and averaged 3 more touches than Hill. Given our superior team, midfield dominance and key forwards crashing packs I don’t think our little fellas would’ve averaged any more touches playing for the Giants than Hill did. Small forward has quiet patches and doesn’t play well in a final doesn’t mean they deliver little or are letting you down. That’s the nature of the position. Hill isn’t on Pickett’s level but he’s tracking similarly to Spargo and could very well establish himself as an AFL player in year 4 as Spargo did. It’s also important to note he wasn’t dropped this year, he simply left the hub to be with his partner

This game against Vic Metro wasn't best on ground because Daicos had 40, but this is the kind of game that Gawn and Jackson have at AFL level that we rave about. And it's at state level. Assuming he backed it up with a number of nab league games - which he did, that's how you go top 10. 30 disposals stands out, but 4 contested marks and clean ball use is often just as good. Everyone gets excited by the 20 midfielders who are between 180cm and 185cm who all average 25 touches. Some of them are future stars, a lot of them are just players destined to be somewhere between role players and state league talents. Right now I'm looking at a picture of Luke Dunstan just to the right of screen. State captain, MVP of the South Aussie team, not much of an AFL career so far to be honest, joining us as depth. The recruiters know how to sort them pretty well to find who has the speed, skills, fitness, decision making etc. Once they've done that it becomes clearer where they all fit and how even without a lot of dominant games you'll take a 200cm freak athlete who can take contested marks at either end.

Hill might be on more than 300 after 4 clubs compete for him. The draft pick we’ll use instead if we didn’t pick up Chandler was going to cost 100k, not like Chandler has made a huge difference. There’s a spot on the list and money to get Hill if we really wanted to. Im just not convinced one way or another we’d get in a bidding war for Hill. It’s taking money and draft resources from bigger needs. Money to sign our own players. Picks for mids, tall forwards, medium forwards. A developmental full back and ruck. Surprise late delistings are much more of a watch for me. Won’t be any great players but could be slightly better options with no added cost. Have to believe our list management team have checked out every out of contract player in the league and not being impressed by any of them apart from Dunstan