DeeSpencer

When he’s at his best he is super zippy and a good pressure player too. Unfortunately when he drops away he loses the defensive part of his game as well as the attack

Probably had the best month of his career when he came back in to the side this year but soon faded. Could he have one great summer and fix his body for good and find consistent form - maybe. But if the bulldogs are keener to find out than we are then we probably have to let him go.

If Hawkins, Lynch or Dixon were 24 I think those teams would be pretty happy going with them as the number 1 guy. And the Lions surely hope Daniher rediscovers the form he was in when he was 24! If we don’t bring in another tall forward I think plan A could easily be going small with just Jackson and Weid and hoping Melksham finds his form again. Plan B would be Petty, likely in Melksham’s spot, and I think there is a defensive upgrade there over Brown/Weid. Petty has very good agility, even without great pace he can make the quick changes of direction to cover an outlet. One of Brown or Weid up the ground just won’t cover off or make that crucial tackle

Some draft picks take a long time, others don't. That's all in the past, the question is the future. Ben Brown kicked 32 goals from 22 games when he was 22, then 41 goals the next year at 23. After that he was in his prime and reeled off three 60 goal seasons. The Weid turned 23 this season and kicked 19 goals from 13 shortened games, which works out to be 40 goals over 22 full length games. Who's to say he's not just about to enter his physical prime and start producing 50 goal seasons? His buildup has been slow and hardly linear, but there were a lot of good signs this year that his body is nearly ready and his confidence in his marking and goal kicking has progressed. I'd rather take a chance on Weid's prime years than Brown's twilight years.

The overall deal doesn't matter in terms of getting pick 9 from the Giants. We can't say to them we plan on further trading this pick so please give it to us for less now. Here's another one, in 2015 the Dogs and Blues traded Pick 11 and a future 3rd FOR Picks 20 and 21. Slice it and dice it any way you want I just don't see how pick 9 goes to pick 23 without something very juicy included. And I'm not counting big juicy Preussy.

You’re talking about the Freo deal that’s irrelevant. Im talking about the North deal that got pick 8 to begin with. To get that pick from North we had to offer a future first that easily could’ve been top 5 if things went badly and throw in a second and third. Now you’re saying GWS would part with 9 for pick 23 and a journeyman ruck. It doesn’t add up.

Last year: Pick 8 —— Future first, 26, 50 This year: Pick 9 —— 23, Preuss. You’re valuing Preuss as the same value as a future first, or at least an early second. That’s far too high.

Ahhhh the old load up a bunch of nothing and come out with a top 10 pick trade. Not going to happen in a million years.

NFL teams do sneaky things like change the ownership of parking and food and beverages at the stadiums to different companies. It’s useful to set a benchmark but big Nicho would have to be clever to make sure he put protections in. Not easy to do given the mess cricket fine themselves in.

Apart from the ‘wheel’ error is there any chance they could revise where Egan says ‘VFL’ to say scratch matches. There was no VFL and might never be again

Do mids get the ball to wingers much these days? Rarely at centre bounces. Maybe less so at around the ground stoppages where the winger often covers the back. Backlines that win the ball get it to wingers folding back. May had an instant connection with Langdon. And forwards that create pressure so hack kicks go to the waiting wingmen too. The biggest appeal to Smith could be that second scenario. Langdon either marked or had the ball running inside 50 enough times to kick 10+ goals this year. He finished with 2 goals 8.

Freo had very little bargaining power and they knew it. He wasn't going back. Apart from maybe a cursory meeting with the bombers Langdon only ever had interest in joining us and it was pretty clear why, we backed the truck up to get him. Still 200k cheaper than Brad Hill.

Langdon and Tomlinson rumoured to be 700k and 500k, that's your big fish. We shouldn't be pushed up against the cap but we should be planning to try to move salary out to allow us the freedom to make good early offers to our players before their contracts run out. Otherwise if we bring too many expensive players in we end up under the pump to sign our own guys who then become more expensive.

It is a serious problem though. We've never been able to play 2 rucks and even in a number of games gone in with just 1 key forward because the coaches have been so keep to get defensive pressure on. No other team plays 2 big non tackling forwards with any success, why would we be any different? There's a good chance the solution would see one of them dropped to the 2's. The other question is whether Brown is in his prime any more. It's hard to be entirely confident one way or another. He's been close to 3 goals a game in his career at Docklands, but average 2 a game at the MCG.

Because the vast majority of player movements are organised well ahead of time and then haggled over during the trade period. 14 teams are done for the year and there's already 40+ names lined up https://www.afl.com.au/news/515946/trade-period-state-of-play-who-s-going-who-s-undecided

Anything inside 40 would be huge, an upgrade from a pick 60 in to the 45-50 range seems more likely to me. If we were to get a player out of GWS we probably would've heard about it by now.

His game sense/craft certainly needs work, he gets a little lost and isn't the best at the contest, but you'd take those flaws for someone with natural ability to run the ball and a penetrating kick. The biggest flaw in his game is he's an outside runner without a good tank. It's a fundamental problem. It seems he was working hard at it last summer but ended up with groin issues. So a step backwards rather than a step forward. This is the summer to show he can take a big step forward. If he's not running at least with the experienced midfield types by the end of summer he won't make it.

Will be interesting to see what comes of the revenue sharing model. If 7 are successful at pulling out of the broadcast agreement then the players could lose a huge chunk of shared revenue if they are guaranteed a percentage not a set amount. My guess is big Nicho heads to the safer waters of steady business rather than sport

For a stretch of 9 games until we started playing every 4th day in tropical cyclones he did. And when he had a capable player complimenting him in Jackson or even Tommy in a few games he looked very good. When Preuss - who can’t move, or Mitch Brown - who leads up beautifully but is gutless under a high ball - paired with him he struggled to find his role. If Brown takes Weid’s position and forces him in to a different spot he’ll struggle.

I thought Langlands showed a bit as an outside runner last year. So hard to know with no VFL this year.

Cardinals, Rams, Colts

Firmly in the belief that he's a far better fit with what we've got than Brown. He's the Jack Darling to Weid's Josh Kennedy. (Jackson gets to be Oscar Allen and Fritsch a poor mans Liam Ryan too. Chuck in some pressure smalls and rotate the mids and you've got a really balanced forward line.) Weid made plenty of good key defenders look silly for a large stretch of the season when the ball was delivered quickly and to advantage and the best way to do that is to have hard working forwards who create turnovers in dangerous spots and allow for quick entries. And a reliable lead up player who can split a pack at half forward or on the wing so Weid doesn't have to do it all. Mihocek would lead up at CHF to contest and also does a nice job leading back in with the ball as well.

I'm not saying don't play a second tall, I'm saying don't have 2 big men who aren't all that mobile and will end up competing for 1 role in the side. Darling and Oscar Allen are great athletes who complement Kennedy. The Saints can play King alongside a 2nd ruck because he's a great mover and Membrey is the same height as Fritsch, just a beefer version of a medium marking player. Riewoldt's losing his mobility and struggling to impact most games now but for a long time he was one of the best movers and great defensively. If we get Brown I hope I'm wrong but I'd be backing in Weid and focusing on younger tall forwards who have more versatility in their game.

I’m sure Gus does what is needed to be good, but maybe it’s a few too many of his special onions on some snags after the 100’s. Needs to be rock hard fit and a running machine like his brother or Trav Boak to be his bes

Weid’s thing and Brown’s thing are the same thing! Come up to a flank to crash a pack when needed, otherwise be a big target inside 50. We don’t need 2 guys doing the same thing