DeeSpencer

Interesting article about Brown from 2018. - Tore his ACL in his under 18 year - Jason Taylor when he was at Collingwood met with him and offered him a rookie spot after a year of rehab in Melbourne - Has a big tank - Highlights some of the previous concerns about his game https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/why-ben-brown-is-the-afl-s-best-draft-pick-20180427-p4zc0e.html

He had numerous games under half a dozen or possessions. Disposals aren't everything but half back flank is the easiest spot on the ground to get the ball. I can tell his fitness isn't great because he plays low time on ground, I've seen him run in the offseason and he's often taped up and hobbling along. Against the Saints we bought back Rivers, which well was due. As well as Oscar for a taller back line and Josh Wagner as an experienced fit player who was going to run to receive the ball and to fill gaps in the zone. We played a very good team defending game and played kick to kick to keep the dangerous saints away from the ball. It was probably the best coached game of the season and a selection victory. If smart judges couldn't work that out after the game they weren't very smart judges. Lockhart's too small and doesn't have Nev's super human defensive capabilities. He can't be a pure shut down player. He has to find the ball and be an attacking option. He did that at Casey but has yet to make the step up in to that kind of role at AFL level.

Agree on Smith's kicking, but our defensive system held up for most of the year and Smith providing run to get back to support and options on the way out that should only get stronger. It will be up to Yze to get some class around the midfield and find targets going inside 50 more often. If Smith sticks to what he's good at - running 30 and bombing it 60 - he won't have to nail too many hit up kicks. I assume you mean Shaun Higgins? He'd be great and we should absolute be investigating him. What would it cost to get him when Geelong want him though?

Polec has the most upside but he''ll cost either a decent draft pick or a lot of cash, plus he might not fit the culture. Where if Smith is the right player for us he could enhance the culture - we need to assess his leadership credentials thoroughly and not just assume it of course. Phillips is another where draft pick and pay cheque come in to play. That might not matter if we're planning on getting 5 years out of him but I have a sneaky suspicion the AFL might've seen the best of Tom Phillips. There's also the matter of whether the Pies want to actually give him up. Phillips only has 1 more year on his expensive contract, if they push out Treloar they could look to keep him on a better deal after 2021. There's certainly pros and cons and I can talk myself in to any of them but the most important thing is getting someone that can do the role and does what they are bought in to do. If Smith is bought in to do the job for 2 years whilst we draft or develop a long term replacement then that's job done.

I’m a Lockhart fan but he’s at risk of becoming the backline version of Hannan. Not quite consistent enough, doubts over his fitness, often taped up and not looking 100%. I’d almost have a rule that if you need something taped you can’t play for guys like Lockhart. If we want to play a high tempo ballistic game he has the smarts but he needs to be much fitter to keep making an impact. Otherwise we should look to having more 188cm+ defenders who can all zone and intercept mark. Not many teams are playing smaller lock down defenders these days. You got to be up the ground and running unless you have size.

Depends what our overall game plan and list strategy is. As long as they have good tackle pressure and can read the play very well I’m ok with having some inside mids, talls and even the occasional flanker without top pace. They have to bring skills and ball winning to counter but if they do it’s ok to have a balance. Geelong are like that. Port and Brisbane are similar. The Richmond model of pretty much the entire team being super quick works for them but even they drafted a guy like Jack Ross who isn’t quick. But he’s a good tackler and ball winner and has played some very good football for them. I was fine with Sparrow, JJ and Dunkley as our midfield depth. It’s our lack of effective quick flankers that concerns me more and we had a whole lot of other picks to do better on them.

1 goal in 10 games this year. Hamstring injuries in a speed player. Makes me concerned about Aaron Davey like decline. He’d cost our future first which bans us from trading future 2nd and 3rds for Ben Brown et al But most of all I think we might have only 1 more big ticket recruit in our cap if we want to keep our core. If a players not perfect and will cost upwards of 700k that’s a lot of opportunity cost. I want a ticket in the Merrett and Kelly free agency sweep stakes

I don't think we officially confirmed Tomlinson until the start of free agency last year even though it was well known. That's the best way to do it. All these other free agents picking out clubs (some restricted) get a wave of publicity for the media but the club gets nothing. Wait until the official start on Friday, put him in a club polo on the club website and get all the clicks for us and our sponsors.

We need a guy with his kind of pace in the middle but ideally with better kicking. Although that combination is hard to find. Even at a big discount I don't see him as a likely target. Someone might grab a bargain from the Pies tho.

It's silly to call Oliver a B grader but there's no doubt he's not seen as the force he once was. Teams Oliver wouldn't be the number 1 mid for: West Coast (Shuey/Yeo or Kelly), Freo (Fyfe), Port (Boak), Bris (Neale), Coll (Pendles, Adams), Carl (Cripps), Geel (Danger), Melb (Tracc), Rich (Dusty), St Kilda (Steele), WB (Bont) Teams he would: Ess (McGrath is close though), GWS (Kelly 2 down years), North, Haw, GC (until Rowell), Adel, Syd Oliver has to take a step back up next year to show his ball use can be far more damaging. Or at least that he's playing the right way and doing his best to maximise his ball winning. A lot of his disposals were harming the side and Bucky might've caught wind of that (or might just be an [censored]). Langdon gets to a B grade for super consistent high effort footy but he's a C grade talent doing his absolute best. Top 5 BnF's are coming in sides that can't make finals.

A grade (excels week to week): Petracca, May A- (high quality but showing flaws): Gawn, Oliver B (does a solid job most weeks) : Salem, Viney, Langdon B- (has the talent but too inconsistent): Weid, Lever, Brayshaw, Harmes C+ (mixes talent and flaws): Jackson, Rivers, Pickett C (has some good and bad but can do a job): Hibberd, Melksham, Sparrow C- (not regularly up to the job): Spargo, Tomlinson, J. Smith, Vanders, Lockhart, T Mc and plenty of others Unranked: Hore, Petty and the other kids I'm judging Max harshly for the end of his season and lack of coordination with his mids. Oliver the same, too many games where he didn't impact to be a true A grader right now. We're too light on for good solid B graders. In 2018 Hibberd, Melksham, Gus, Harmes, Jetta were all solid or better (T Mc) B graders, now they aren't. Same goes for C graders, there's a whole lot of the list that can't hold their spot in the side. Tomlinson is the only one who does and that's because our defensive depth is rubbish.

He signed on in mid 2018 but wasn't allowed to start official training in November like any other draft pick from that year. Hence what you were seeing was his first games of senior footy and some of his first games in over 3 years. I said the club wouldn't be negative if he stayed on the list. You can be as negative as you like, just be aware of what you were watching.

The Weid's going learn so much he might even write a paper on the prevailing breeze at Casey fields.

You saw his first few games of senior footy after 1 preseason having not played the game for years. How far off the standard he was doesn’t really matter, it’s the rate of improvement that does. I hope the club can provide some years in review stuff once they finalise the list. Clearly it won’t be negative on players we end up keeping but some vision and reflections would be appreciated.

Freo's the one that's been mentioned. I think Essendon will look to get younger talls in. Collingwood probably have to keep both Mihocek and DeGoey (and Daicos, Moore etc). If Sydney lose Aliir then all of a sudden McCartin is looking far more likely down back, Blakey looks more like a mid/forward and they are going in to a season when they've done a lot of heavy lifting rebuilding with only Reid and the ghost of Buddy.

Did a few nice things against North in that scratch match at Arden St. That was up against Xerri who played a few games as a back up for North this year and is physical and not the worst. Who knows what he did after that. Not a name that got any publicity for scratch match performances.

He played as a forward for the first game and a half this season and looked completely lost and didn't provide much pressure, he then went to the wing after half time against the Tigers where his pressure and tackling at stoppages became an important part of our midfield. He's as good a tackler as there is when he's on a wing and can hunt in on a victim, the forward pressure has the ball pinging around and needs lots of quick changes of direction and he doesn't have that agility or reading of the play.

Vanders isn't a forward and certainly not a forward pressure player. He can't change direction after all his foot problems. Almost all his tackling in the midfield comes when he can line someone up and nail them. Depth midfielder who can play inside/outside is his best role. If we go with 3 talls and then I assume a couple of smalls it does leave us searching for that mid sized guy who can pressure and also make aerial contests when requires. Kosi does play taller than his height but he's starting on a big disadvantage. Bolton and Castagna for the Tigers can always fly and force a contest when needed. We need athletic and competitive small-mid sizers, we certainly can't play both Fritsch and Melk with their lack of pressure.

The best midfielder and the best player in the game who just won his 3rd Norm Smith spends a whole lot of time out of the midfield. Why - because Dusty doesn't have a great tank (same as Tracc) and his best value is creating or kicking goals as well as playing high game time. Tracc should play the same role. Start in the midfield for a high number of centre clearances then rotate forward calling his own changes with a half forward - Harmes, Sparrow, Viney whoever. If he gets a good match up he can go deeper and exploit the one on one, if he doesn't he can rest around half forward when the ball is down back then rotate back in. If he's just going to play as a pure mid he'll play 75% game time and spend a lot of it at backline stoppages. If he plays the Dusty role he can play 90% game time and hit the scoreboard far more often.

Buffalo, KC, Green Bay

Saad's better that Hibbo and not coming off a missed year. His value is around 14-20. Carlton should split the pick 7 and eventually Essendon will have to accept a later pick. But for now the silly stuff continues. Dodoro isn't actually as bad as people think. The only time he really dug his heels in was for Paddy Ryder and history will show Ryder was probably worth digging his heels in for. He turned down a deal on Daniher but it would've been brave to accept losing him before trying everything to keep him.

I didn't really like the to Hell part of it either, the club decided 2019 was pretty much a write off year, should've been left in the past. 2020 Vision (as cliche as it is) probably would've been better. Anything that was focusing on the present rather than what was in the past or to come. Anyway, the club might not go down the route of a similar documentary but I hope they keep providing us with some quality content, that was certainly the main take away.

Pickett had a broken finger that was likely to rule him out for most of last year, he's still likely to move back home to be with his family, he's probably the worst spoken player I've ever heard and the Tigers have had to make special applications to get him paid enough to support his family. Not to mention his criminal past. That might not be a nice thing to say but Richmond with their government funding to build an Indigenous centre (in Richmond for all the middle class white Richmond residents), huge supporter base with networks and in premiership contention could take a risk on bringing him over for what turned out to be a 1 game contract last year. He's stayed for year 2 but that might be the end of his time in Melbourne. If we drafted him he could easily have come and gone without playing a senior game. John Noble was a good find for the Pies. I like Will Snelling at the bombers. But the reality is the mid season draft was a roll of the dice and Dunkley was well regarded. He's an inside mid and only an inside mid but I saw enough at Casey to suggest he's a better player than James Jordon in my eyes and could easily stay on a list. He knows how to move in traffic, is a willing tackler and he hit the scoreboard from the midfield at Casey. I don't think Essendon are being foolish at all taking a look at him. We've had the Wanger's and McDonald's for years. Kyle's worth a shot on his own, but more than worth a shot if you can get Josh.

These are good questions so I’ll answer them. Brown isn’t lightly built but I don’t think he’s agile or powerful, he seems to have a high center of gravity. Long legs that are good for long striding but not for quick changes of direction. Lynch moves like a smaller player, he was a small until a growth spurt. Talls who can really move are the most valuable players in the game. Stewart had a great first half as the drop off defender. But the Tigers pressure, contested ball winning and speed of movement stopped him getting free after half time. That’s how you beat drop off defenders. If anyone knows that it’s watching Jake Lever when we do or don’t have good pressure up the ground. Plus we sent Fritsch to Haynes and Ridley in the last two rounds, we can use a medium player like him to man intercept markers and keep them honest. I just see it as Brown or Weid playing the Lynch role whilst Jackson does a bit of back up ruck and is great as a mobile second tall. He can chase, tackle and win the ball on the ground like a small and that’s more important

Yet only Hawkins averaged more than 2 goals a game. When you consider the top teams score a lot more than bottoms teams I think it’s the other 17 that contribute more than the 1 main goal kicker. And again my issue isn’t that Brown wouldn’t be good and a short term upgrade on Weideman. I just would rather stick with the guy we have than add Brown, cost Weid his spot in the side and not make a big improvement.