DeeSpencer

Nope. Adelaide

A few things with the Hawks: 1. They aren’t that young. They’ve got real experience in their midfield and backline especially. Watson’s ready made, Weddle is a beast. Dear is the one super young player and turns out he might be a freak? 2. They’re super fit. You can see they’re rarely tired and go up and down the ground. Richmond’s fitness coach was an incredible hire. They are in their defensive grid right away. Dogs haven’t got started with their ball movement. 3. They aren’t afraid to kick to a contest from a stoppage, inside 50 or out of their backline under pressure. That’s good finals footy and they win their share of contests. 4. They have a number of highly skilled players and a solid baseline of skills, but the main basis for their ball movement is coordinated run. They run in waves but they also run in well organised ways. Forwards come at the kicker and the big thing is that every one of their handballs goes a good distance because the runner is spaced a good distance.

Bevo’s made it abundantly clear what he thinks of Macrae

Of course he’s not picking purely runners in the midfield. Its the game style. Over reliance on uncontested possession from half back and flicking it around in the middle. And then they bomb inside 50 anyway. Chris Scott broke it down. https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/geelong-cats/afl-2024-chris-scott-says-port-adelaide-can-be-vulnerable-behind-the-ball-geelong-win-over-power-in-qualifying-final-reactions-response-latest-news/news-story/beed90a6af210e35be714789607b2221

Yes. Because the longer you stay up the harder it is to keep filling holes. The big problem with Kenny is he’s always overvalued skills over toughness. Can take the boy out off the half back flank but can’t take the half back flanker out of the ball

Ken is Richo with a better list. Chris Davies does a fantastic job with Port’s list. Not withstanding the occasional misstep like going hard for Esava. Port take risks, rejuvenate, evolve the playing group. Maybe he has a understudy who could come in to our footy admin team.

Core business: Do we have a head of football and list manager making proactive decisions to improve the playing list, coaching and otherwise pursuing excellence? Other business: The tigers just promoted to the head of their leisure businesses to CEO. Having sold out pokies do the Dees even have any other business interests? Is our money just sitting in the bank? Brand: We’ve been kicked non stop in the media and are massively behind other clubs in connecting with fans and members.

Turns out she has to go because of term limits once she lost the presidency. Just please please go quietly Kate, your reputation will be enhanced if you do!

Farewell I guess. Seems I got it wrong about being able to stay once she lost the job. I have no real idea what a board review will achieve, apart from highlighting they’ve not achieved much. The real question is who is stepping in. Only once that’s done will someone actually start to make some changes.

None of those players were actually any good. Prime Hanners obviously but he was shot by the time he made it to St Kilda. Brad Hill I guess but he was never going to make a difference. This current St Kilda side has some more potential with some really nice drafting in recent years but I can’t help you’re right that they’re still stuck in the middle. Lose Battle, trade for Houston, get stuck in the same spot. But it’s an ever comp. Draft a gun midfielder with their other first and they’ll be about as talented as a Port side that just finished second.

No he didn’t, he’s just no good

He’s barely played in 4 years so you’d be mad to sign him up but I’d be open to have him down for a few weeks of preseason training just to check if there’s anything left. Not sure he ever had the skills or smarts to make it but the hip injury ruined any chance of him reaching his potential. Really nasty one.

Whilst I agree getting in a quality midfielder would be a great fit I don't think JT and his team will be so needs focused and repeatedly they've shown they aren't afraid to have their own rankings that go away from consensus. If Langford, O'Sullivan or Draper are on the board I'd go mid, but I'm not as sold on Reid (I'm close just can't get there yet), Jagga or Smillie. Whilst you could tell me Lalor is in pick 1 contention but also that he doesn't go until outside pick 15. I think our options will include at least one of the talls in Harry Armstrong or Luke Trainor. Tobie Travaglia does some special stuff too and he should progress towards the midfield. I wouldn't rule out Lindsay or Dattoli as midfielders who offer something a bit different to the standard ball winners. And the other one I'd study very closely is Alix Tauru.

=5th. GWS, Dogs =7th. Brisbane, Port =8th. Carlton, Geelong, Sydney, Hawthorn

Nope I like Chappy. Has some room to improve with her disposal but she attacks the game the right way, really honest footballer. it's Bannan from Paxy so far.

Yeah I don't think 2 rucks are in our best 21, but they played both of them to ease the workload on Pearce through the early rounds of the season given how vital she is. Ideally Tayla would be the second ruck which always got her involved in games and opened the forward line up. I'd probably play Campbell if she's fit because she's a pretty special talent if they can get her to the level. But full well knowing that one of Campbell or Watt has to come out by the end of the year. I'd like another crumber but that relies on them being any good. The best line is up probably Purcell in asap allowing Hore to play forward more as well as Hanks and Goldy rotating forward more too. I'm also yet to get a full grasp on just what kind of player Wotherspoon is. Didn't do much against the Cats but there's a good footballer in there. Seems to have size to compete in the air but also ability on the ground and a good tackler.

Unfortunate for Tayla and if the team did make it through to a top 4 finish you’d love to have her out there. But in what is shaping as a bit of a rebuild year it might not be so bad to get games in to some of the young talls or even go a little smaller and more mobile. The output often hasn’t matched the reputation with Tay tay

Jagga gets it 30+ a week so it’s easy to make compilation videos of his best pieces of play. Isolate the individual games and you’ll see he’s a backwards sideways handball merchant with an up and under kick. Obviously super windy but watch how many times he snaps for goal don’t go anywhere or his kicks from congestion just hang in the air. Not tall. Very slight build with no hips or shoulders. To me he’s closer to Kynan Brown than a top pick. He’ll carve out a career no doubt but I wouldn’t be interested with a pick anywhere in the top 10 yet alone 5 or 6. Obviously it’s been a big year for small outside in mids like Daicos, Butters, Serong, Merrett but they all have combinations of elite skills, pace and (aside from Daicos) they’re very physical. Jagga probably has to study someone like Lachie Neale and really build his body up and work on his clearance craft, otherwise he’s what? Darcy Parish?

Skills look a bit messy and decision making is haphazard at times. But genuine forward/mid versatility and can win the ball in a lot of ways. I’m thinking more early second than late first at this stage.

Port are second on the ladder and hosting a home final. Geelong are 3rd with no quality midfielders. One of them will host a home prelim and be favourites to make the grand final. This is an unusually even season and maybe the Hawks, Freo and the Dogs just dominate next year, but who knows? We add pick 6 and a few quality trade ins and we're a chance to improve greatly.

It's a nightmare trying to find actual rules to see if Riak is even still in our academy. One set of rules I found said you can include an overage player in your academy but nothing conclusive about whether that allows you to match bids or preselect as a rookie. Forget about whether White will come, first we got to see if he's actually any good. JT never promotes the guys in younger years for a good reason. Got to dare to dream but we're a long way off knowing if he's even someone we want yet.

I’ve always thought Cumming, Perryman and Lukosius were the keys to Port lowering their asking price. If Port land 2 out of 3 (or more) of those targets their cap will be overflowing. At which time you make a pragmatic decision to sell now on Houston. Especially when you’re bringing in free agents or discounted price key forward. An early second and a future first is the kind of price I’d pay for Houston.

He’s mostly a possible because I’d be trading him. But I’d also be playing Tracc as a permanent forward for the start of next year so the pressure is on medium forwards who don’t defend. Even more so if McAdam can get fit. We just can’t be carrying such a one dimensional player especially if the aim is to play a more open and faster paced style.

The Morris report said Melbourne denied it and listed St Kilda and Essendon as the clubs with the cap space. St Kilda probably the one, after losing Battle they’ve got a huge hole at CHB and not much big spending anywhere really (maybe Max King and Marshall). Has all the hallmarks of Gubby Allen. I haven’t seen enough from Mac as a forward to say he’s worth that money. We’ve got Petty for a couple of years at least as well as Lever. That’s a lot of cash for key backs even if they would be dominant. Not sure the timing really adds up for us. But I love that the Suns will be kept honest for him and they’ll need to punt Lukosius to free cap space.

Andy Brayshaw’s about the safest bet in the league, Freo won’t have any issues giving him 6 years. The question will be money and whether he’s happy over there. The sticking point is whether Serong will leap him for the captaincy and whether Young, Serong, Bolton all leap him as mids and he has to play forward or wing more. In the real world you sign Brayshaw. In a fantasy world building a perfect side I’d want a big bodied mid and more forward class to play next to Young, Serong, Bolton more than I’d want Brayshaw. But I suspect he’ll be signed by March.