DeeSpencer

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

The Crows interest probably got Chandler a 2nd year but I’m not convinced it turned him from a 200k player to a 400k player. If they wanted him that much he would’ve left. Bobby Hill is a big talent, I don’t think the Giants give him up for anything less than pick 30. Ideally more like pick 20. They traded up to get him. And he’s contracted with 3+ clubs wanting him so he’s not signing for peanuts either. Could we combine our 2nd (37) and 3rd or 4th picks to get Bobby and convince him to sign a deal less than what he would at other clubs - maybe, probably not. Would I put pick 17 on the table or split it down the order for him - no.

I think it's fair to question the Cats age demographic and game plan but the most impressive thing they do to me is that they keep producing a top team out of a lot of players who get results without actually being that talented. Therefore they should be able to keep producing results as they get younger without having the best young talent either. Obviously we have some super talented young players and nailed some draft picks with high end potential guys like Jackson and Pickett, but we also saw this year what Goody and a bunch of fresh assistants did with guys like JJ, Spargo, ANB, Sparrow and not overly high picks like Rivers and Bowey. It's been nearly a decade since the 2011 flag side started retiring and they've kept winning for a decade. If they can replace all those absolute superstars then they can replace Tuohy and Henderson as well. They might just keep rolling with Tom Stewart and Jezza Cameron for the next 5 years too. Although they desperately need the next Dangerfield. They'll be searching through AFL lists looking for anyone who's ever set foot in Geelong to try to get them home.

Unless your club has serious retention issues I don’t think you can worry about a player leaving due to the role they play requiring more development time. I also think you’re underrating how long a lot of small and medium players take. Yes they’re faster than talls, but for every Serong or Pickett there’s a Dyl Stephens or Sam Flanders. They might even play a lot of games early but not actually be contributing to winning. There’s mids who play early for the sake of it more than because they’re strong contributors. English is a handy ruck/forward, decent value for the pick, but just isn’t tough enough to be a full time ruck. The dogs issue is shockingly not investing in a proper number 1. If Stef Martin wasn’t 45 he’d have been right back in the centre square at any sign of English faltering. Sean Darcy and Sam Draper are far more promising number 1 rucks.

Spot on. And even before we did it this year the way the Saints are twice the team with Ryder and Marshall than without would’ve opened a lot of eyes. They get a full game of ruck quality but also get most of a game of a 200cm athletic long kick contest player who draws defenders away from Max King. Coaches have been saying for years ‘we just need a contest and the ball bought to ground’ when talking about key forwards. Instead of drafting someone like Schache or Weid and hoping they’re tall, athletic and tough enough to give you those contests I think recruiters have switched priorities. Instead of a ruck in your forward line being a liability it’s now a priority to deal with intercept defenders

Fraser was a spent force by the time he was 27/28. Matt Kreuzer the same. All those years taking punishment before they were physically ready came at a big cost at the back end of their careers. Despite being two of the most mobile rucks when they stated they couldn’t move in nearly the same way by the end. They traded 50 games in their prime for 50 games as babies. I’ve compared Jacko to Goodes before and clearly some form of Goodes like career without the need to give up a ruck role would be the dream. The point I was making is that rucks not only rarely hold down the number 1 job before 22-24 but even if they can they probably shouldn’t. Any smart team drafting Mac in the top 15 believes they can get value out of him in the first 4-5 years without him being the first choice ruck.

The amazing thing about that game is that 2011 was a good year compared with 07-09 and 12-14. If you lined up all the win loss records and asked which year did we get belted by 31 goals you wouldn’t pick 2011. 2010 had genuine optimism. 2011 quickly snuffed that out as it was clear we were rebuilding on the shakiest foundations you’ll ever see. 2011 really was the end result of probably a decade of under-resourcing the footy department, both financially but also culturally with no support from plenty of different boards and CEO’s. Neale Daniher held the place together, Dean Bailey admirably tried to do the same. Hard to know what we can do as members except hope we never get caught in the same situation.

I would not recruit a ruckman with a top 10 pick, I agree waiting 5+ years for them to hold down the job is a huge expense. But Luke Jackson isn't really a ruckman (or isn't only a ruckman), and I'd still have some worries about Jacko holding up a full time ruck job until he's 22+, fortunately we haven't asked him to do that. Josh Fraser didn't last doing it. Grundy's not tracking on the same level after a lot of getting belted early in his career too. Even though he'll almost certainly end up a ruckman and came in to AFL footy most confident as a ruckman there's a reason Simon Goodwin played Jackson for a rotation or two as a centre square midfielder (as well as a ruck) in his first AFL preseason game. And a reason Jackson gets asked to play as a key forward a lot too (apart from because that's where the ruck spells). He's a super athletic competitive footballer who can provide huge value in so many ways. His hit outs rarely matter, but his follow up is amazing, his ability to clunk marks or force contests across half forward is huge. With an obstructed run at the ball Jackson isn't getting beat by key defenders and is starting to beat them back. His ability to chase, tackle and pressure is vital to us playing 4 tall rucks/forwards and Fritsch. If Mac goes top 20 and especially top 10 it's because he's not a ruckman but a super athletic footballer who can ruck and do other things. GWS have Matt Flynn (solid and improving), Preuss (solid if healthy), Briggs (promising) and might get Lobb (hates rucking but can do it) back. They aren't chasing a primary ruckman any time soon. What they're looking for is a guy in the mold of Jackson, but also in the mold of Nik Cox and Zach Reid at Essendon, Aliir Aliir, Harris Andrews, even the King twins. Sure there's a risk that means they become Rhys Stanley or Rory Lobb, but 200cm + can seriously move + wins the ball + can use it. Doesn't matter what position you play in juniors if you can do those things you're a rare talent, which means an early pick and let the coaches work out the rest.

Aliir Aliir was born in Kenya, raised in Brisbane, then moved to Perth after not getting drafted as his family had previously moved there. Then he was drafted by the Sydney Swans, before getting traded - not to his childhood home in Brisbane or later family home in Perth but to Adelaide. I don't think it's fair to make generalizations about someone unless you really know what motivates them and what they value or need for support. Everyone needs friends and some form of community no matter where they live. For a lot of AFL players those friends and community are the players drafted with them and other team mates. GWS have 2 players of African heritage. 1 is Irish. 1 was born in London but grew up in Geelong. Yes that's different to being Sudanese but for all their faults the Giants seem to run a pretty good club. Players leave there for a lot of reasons but they've also had a strong core stay together for a fair while now.

Looked very similar to Petty's first year from what I saw, maybe minus a couple of cm's and with a bit more ability to find the ball. I think he'll be trained up as cover for Lever and Petty (and therefore also Tommo) across half back much more than a lockdown defender. He's an interceptor who moves well for a tall rather than a shut down player. But he's never had an AFL preseason so who knows how quickly he can come on and what a big summer can do.