DeeSpencer

Hopefully they expand restricted free agency down to 6 years, maybe even 5 and eventually 4. Then guys who have done 7, 8 or even 9 like Cameron become unrestricted. Yes it means we'll have a fight on our hands for guys like Petracca and possibly Clarry but we'll also be able to sign some experience and target the guys we do need and make a play at getting them for nothing. Having to trade for Ben Brown who's done 7 years service and isn't even wanted by his own club, it's a stupid and outdated system.

So are you offering him a 2 year deal on good enough money to relocate his family? Because I doubt he's coming for 1 year on minimum chips.

He was 22 and had played just on 50 games, then we didn't get to see him anywhere near back to form until he was 27. 170 marks, 60 goals in a season, there's a chance he could've gone to the Carey level of 200 marks, 80+ goals, just dominating the comp. But even if he didn't and '94 was his best it's such a shame we never got to see more of it.

Unless he sees his life in Melbourne after footy I wouldn't have Lewis Jetta for what is probably just 1 year. Mason Wood might be the worst footballer in the AFL. If another club picks him up they should fold.

The AFLPA probably deserve a good bashing every now and then but it's nice to see stuff like this where they are putting in the work to get things right. Billy was an incredibly hard worker and probably thought Physio was something he'd love as an athlete, I think it's great that he's reassessed his options and found something different. I reckon he'll make a great chippy.

Of course there's always been good and bad games, I'm arguing that it used to be a spectrum each round from the best to worst. Now you can go a whole much with about 4 good games and probably 1 or 2 of those were only good due to being close. Hawthorn and Richmond in the last decade have played the kind of footy that would be brilliant in any era. The best coaches have managed to produce great things. But the vast majority of coaches barely been able to recreate the defensive systems of top sides and with inferior players. The rules changes that we've have are only tinkering so far. But at some stage the tinkering has to be upped to do something more substantial.

I certainly wouldn't do 16 a side without more trials but I do see it as the logical solution. I'd be fine with at least 1 forward and 1 defender inside 50 for each stoppage no matter where it is on the ground. Goal umpire has nothing to do most of the time. It wouldn't have a huge impact but it's a start and assess from there. You could move to 1 pair in the square, 1 inside 50 too. That would certainly spread players out. I don't think we need to ban gang tackling, we just need the rules to go back to how they were in the old days that prevented gang tackling. 1. Holding - you just can't do it. No little grabs of the hips or anything. So many times the player about to pick up the ball has a man already grabbing him which then leads to ineffective or no disposal. Clayton Oliver is a great example. The guy gets sat on before he's picked up the ball so often and his disposals often have no value. Give him half a second more time and he'll do something with it. 2. Holding the ball - Once you've had prior if you're caught your caught. Straight away. No chance to dish out a shoddy half handball. Every time I watch old games I'm shocked at how harsh they are on holding the ball. You pick it up and as long as you've had a step if you get tackled that's it. The change they made this year was penalizing guys for not trying hard enough to break through tackles, that's completely wrong to me. Once you're tackled if the ball isn't spilt immediately it should be an automatic ball up or holding the ball. No more waiting an eternity for a player to force their arms free. We've changed the game to evolve tackling in to a key skill. Tackling techniques, techniques to hand ball the ball. And it's not footy. We've found rules to legislate the scrum in to a better and fairer scrum when the focus should be to stop the scrum immediately.

1. 16 a side. Congestion is the problem. Remove some of it. 2. Pay the current rules, in particular pay holding the man. There’s way too much of it and it kills ball players and encourages defensive footy. Slower and second to the ball players have never been more looked after

It is broken though. There’s not enough goals. There’s not enough running and bouncing. There’s not enough one on one inside 50 contests. The best games are still great but the average game now is completely forgettable.

Because there’s a genuine chance teams end up with 15 Alex Neal Bullens per side and that is not watchable football. Coaches aren’t going to stop asking players to perform defensive efforts no matter how fatigued they are. That’s the game now.

Collingwood won’t drop that far and Sydney will be a lot close to 8th than 18th. Their talls aren’t great but they’ve done an excellent job rebuilding their mids and flanker talent.

Geelong, Brisbane and Port all got big advantages for various reasons in 2020 but they all got better in the trade period. So did the Saints and Dogs. Richmond didn’t have to. West Coast probably only treaded water and the Pies shed at a minimum depth. I don’t think there’s a team that does a big drop, they should all win 10+ games. Port might dominate the home and away season but I see a very even top 8.

Rivers doesn't have a great tank. He's a good ball winner and smart around the contest. The wing wouldn't suit him. If he's to progress to half back it should be in to the on ball rotation.

Wishful thinking. 2017 turnarounds rarely happen for a reason. May's never played more than 17 games in a season. Brown needs to not only bounce back after a dreadful year but go to another level to get anything near what Riewoldt did that year. Petracca's the closest thing to Dusty but still a mile off him. But the biggest difference is the Tigers were recruiting for speed for the best part of a decade and after coaching against their personnel they finally got a game plan going. We've recruited for contested ball winners which is a failed strategy given how good the pressure is these days. Slow and unskilled players will turn the ball over under pressure and then it takes a whole lot of ball winning to keep getting it back enough times. I see more similarities with Port last year in the way they've turned around a middling side with a ball winning midfield in to something far more exciting. I don't think we have the backline and outside midfield class or enough grunt and aggression in the forward line to really scare teams. Of course the most vital thing for us to improve on to match contenders is our midfield playing selfless, skilled, super hard running footy

Weid's my favourite handballer on the list, has great timing and technique on both sides. Just doesn't get enough of the ball and is terrible defensively. I suspect we'll start with Brown and Weid together, I just don't think it will work. I'd love for Weid to genuinely grab hold of his spot and not let it go.

He’s sharper at ground level with better agility. He’ll find more of the ball on the lead or in general play and be better defensively. Teams only need 1 go to tall target. Particularly with Gawn, Jackson, Fritsch and Petracca in the side we don’t need Weid’s big clunk marking or contesting.

FB: Hibberd May Hore HB: Rivers Lever Salem Int: Lockhart/Tomlinson C: Langdon Petracca Jackson R: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Harmes, Sparrow HF: Spargo Petty Hunt FF: Pickett Brown Fritsch Int: ANB/draft picks Got to give Jackson a chance at the Blicavs wing/ruck role, with the occasional rest forward. Brown and Weid won’t work, especially with Fritsch. Petty is a better support man. Sparrow offers more versatility than Gus. Heavy midfield rotations and vital. The 6th and 7th defenders (Hore, Lockhart, Tomlinson) and especially the 6/7th forwards (Hunt, ANB) might all need upgrading. A draft pick in to that forward/mid rotation is a must

Are you talking about back when he got injured? Covid and list sizes might’ve changed that. And there was nothing mentioned back then about it being a Kia in list spot. He’s the perfect player to put back through the rookie list.

I'm going to assume Nietschke hasn't officially been contracted and say that at this stage we've got 32 on the list signed up and 0 cat A rookies. The aim is to get to 38 and 4, plus until I know better Bradtke as a B. 10 total list spots. 6 main, 4 rookies. I'd say good bye to Mitch Brown and Oscar. Then we've got 5 more out of contract: Bedford, Jordon, Chandler (r), Nietschke, Lockhart (r). We can keep all 5 and have 5 draft picks. As it stands it would be 3 main list and 2 rookies. But we can move a main list player (Nietschke) down to the rookie list and go 4-1.

Quick skilled players - ideally versatile. Get 3 if we can but I'd settle for 2. Key defender. We need a May replacement developing ASAP.

I feel like I need to plaster it everywhere 'points are only useful comparisons for like for like picks or teams that need points'. Collingwood gave away Treloar for free to get pick 14 today. Last year our trade up with North was apparently so out of whack we had to win the flag just to draw even (then we did the Freo deal, add in free agent compo and we've probably won the deal). For pick 2, you'd want to win the deal by 500 or so points. North are guided by Glen Luff formerly from Champion Data who has more at state with the points system than most but I don't think he'd blindly trust it.

Neither of those deals are anything close to the value of pick 2 if big Loges is half as talented as many predict. Ideally I'd want two top 10 picks, like 7 and 8 from Essendon maybe with something minor back the other way. If the Pies got up to 5 using a future first and combined that with 16 then maybe, or they could do 14 and 16 for 9 and change and then add their future first with 9. Trading down is a smart move when you stay in the same draft range, but elite key forwards are their own draft range and not one you trade out of.

Witherden crumbles under pressure. We have too many similar players already. Phillips would've been handy but I expect we couldn't move on Tommy and that ruled us out. If we wanted his contract to come down we would've had to pay up a decent pick. Personally I like the longer term solution to our lack of run and skills by going to the draft. That's where you find guys who can run, kick and do it under pressure. Most of the guys up for trade are up for trade for a reason. I'm not that keen on either of those players but delisted free agency is absolutely a market we should look closely at. They'll be value out there this year.

Can trade them. I think up until a week before the draft and then again on the night. Look for us to move up if/when we identify a talent somewhere in the 7-12 range I'd imagine.

Think he only had 1 vfl game where he had over 20 touches. https://websites.sportstg.com/team_info.cgi?action=PSTATS&pID=205069080&client=1-118-10449-518179-26138799 Hard worker, willing tackler, but I don't think he has great upside as a ball winner if he can't use his run to find it on the outside. And his kicking is neat enough but doesn't stand out. If it comes down prioritising Jordon, Nietschke, Bedford and Chandler I don't think he's clearly at the front of that list just on draft order alone. I'd have all 4 back if we've got the list spots but it might be via the rookie draft or the supplemental list period or even via Casey.