DeeSpencer

Clubs and managers would’ve been surveying the delistings and uncontracted players for weeks now, with the ability to trade a token pick for anyone we really wanted in the trade period. Anyone actually in demand will get picked up soon, but the most likely situation is doing what we did with Brown and Corey Wagner, having them pull out of the drafts and signing them after. Yes we could create list spots other ways but Lockhart was the most obvious. The promotion on a one year deal is just a token gesture.

Don’t think so. Any Cox or other DFA pursuit would’ve been before we locked in the last 5 guys including promoting Lockhart. Cox is probably rare as a delisted free agent worth a gamble on 2 years. Most other names available look like supplemental list types. If we had secured Cox we could’ve just kept Lockhart on the rookie list.

Phil Merriman. Bummer. I was thinking they could work out a succession plan with him and Burgo.

‘From next season’. Sounds to me like there’s every possibility Burgo goes either next October or possibly in March once he’s got us through the preseason. If it’s a compassionate release for family reasons and we’ve had time to find a replacement I’m completely fine with that.

In all seriousness they asked for 1 priority pick last year. The AFL said year, and gave them a package that included: - Pick 2 (2019) - Pick 20 (2019) - Pick 11 (2020) - traded for Matt Sharp - Pick 19 (2021) - possibly stripped at a later date Free listing of academy players Budarick (2019) - 2nd or 3rd rounder Rosas (2019) - 2nd or 3rd rounder Alex Davies - likely first round pick Joel Jeffery - likely pick 10-30 Brodie Lake - late round pick It's the most ridiculous and massive draft haul that all but guarantees success. And yes, the AFL has gifted them 49 list spots because they've given them all these extra players for free, they have to have the list spots to keep them. It's disgusting.

I don't think it's correct to assume Lockhart is one of the 3 draftees. In fact, I'd assume the opposite. When reporting on draftees I think that clearly means how many fresh faces we'll take in the draft. We'll certainly be looking at pick swaps and will likely make some, but my guess is it will end up in 3 picks. I doubt we'd only want 2 new kids. This list needs fresh new talent, any less than 3 solid national draft picks would be crazy.

You can't change what you owe him but you can totally delist and redraft a player in order to pay them out. Sydney did it with Tippett. Hawthorn did it with Langford. It makes a difference to the senior spots. Which at the moment we don't think we'll need but that's not a certainty. Personally I'd always want 1 spare senior spot before the draft is done. We just don't know who will be available towards the back end of the draft and having to sit back and wait for that player to fall to pick 10 of the rookie draft seems potentially risky.

Without knowing the details I'd think about moving KK on to the rookie list too so we can use pick 50 or sign a delisted free agent if we need to. I'd always want the flexibility to bring in a player you want if you can rather than be forced to wait until the rookie draft.

So Richmond had 19 under 184cm on their list and by my count 11 in the Premiership side and you're upset because we have 12 on the list in total? Viney and Langdon are midfielders. Sparrow and Baker are their back ups. 2 inside, 2 outside. That's fine. Salem will have competition from Jetta, Lockhart and Chandler (played as a defender) for what could easily be 2 spots down back. It might only be 1 of them in the team as we go with a taller backline but 4 guys for 2 spots is reasonable. Same thing up forward, 2 spots, 4 guys. Kozzie, Spargo, Bedford, ANB. I'm more worried if they are good enough than if they are tall enough.

From what I can recall he’s a midfielder/forward with a bit of theoretical burst speed but never did much of anything in games. Not sure he’s a true outside runner and would only add to the crowded group looking for games in the half forward role

Players in that kind of draft range don't make it all the time. Even the best recruiters get them wrong a fair bit. Sparrow has athletic upside as a standout trait that gives him a chance to be a useful player. Jordon doesn't appear to have that same upside and his skills are solid but not special. We had character and work ethic as a big focus going in to that draft, the powers that be thought we needed some good kids to straighten the place up a bit. And Jordon was only just eligible for the draft and boarding students are often underdeveloped physically. There's a distinct chance we put a bet on him making big strides physically and in his game being young and raw and whilst his tank and application are both strong points if he doesn't have any special abilities he might just be useful depth. One thing that concerned me was how quickly they moved him from half back to an on baller, it's like they were super quick to decide he didn't have the defensive skills, pace or elite kicking to play half back. If he stayed at half back he might've played the games Rivers' did this year but he was out of there so quickly. He can have a great preseason and be stuck behind all our mids too. It's hard to make too many judgements not seeing him play all season but his draft pick doesn't really fill me with confidence when there's little else to go on.

Carlton did 20, 21 for 11 and a future 3rd with the Dogs in 2015. Dunkley and Kieran Collins for Charlie Curnow. That was a win win for both, apart from Curnow’s injuries 18, 19, 50 for 11, 32 stacks up to me

Brown is a rookie, we can replace him with a player on a 1 year deal Valid point. Taylor has spoken in year previous about the depths of various drafts. But he was at the Pies when they nailed some rookie picks. The Tigers recent run has come from some great rookie finds. At this stage he went 3 from 3 on top picks last year and at this stage he’s looking at taking 3 of 4 solid picks in this draft. Ben Brown nearly got on the Pies list before he played in the VFL. Fritsch and Lockhart were bought to Casey for a reason. Same with big Oscar McInerny. JT would have a deep list of high upside prospects, I want to see more dice rolls

A nice pick up with a mid 2nd round pick. Why hasn’t Jason Taylor been given a serious chance with the rookie draft and a good deep haul of picks for years now? He can find more Harmes’ and Vanders but we won’t give him the picks. Instead it’s Mitch Brown’s #LetJTcook

That was about the peak of Green’s career. Should’ve gone on to become a Star mid/forward with multiple All Australians. Somehow became captain of the club in charge of the players having a strike at Geelong. Took a lot of big chest marks. Unfulfilled talent. Lacked killer instinct. Bruce, much the same. Not soft, but could’ve lifted a few more weights at some stage. And a professional footballer who couldn’t kick a drop punt is always a good one. The interesting thing about Bruce is he was a mature age pick up. That’s the kind of player we could find, even if it’s one in a thousand. If we turned over the list and backed our recruiting staff

So if the list is turning over so much next year then why not get a head start on looking for players to fill those spots now? The list didn’t turn over last year and now hasn’t this year. So for 2 years we’ve been kicking it down the road. If we didn’t keep the Wagnii we could’ve had a better replacement for them in hand. Free agents. More Tomlinson and Byrnes? Great! No first round pick either. I’m hardly a Hunt and I’m surprised we gave him 2 years, who else wanted him? But at least he has raw speed and age still on his side. If he did put it together he’d be a player. I’d rather gamble on upside that keep a player who won’t perform against good opposition and is a long way down the order.

I don't think that's a great opinion. The best teams are always defensively sound first and score on the back of the defensive system. Bonus points are drastically unfair and will favour teams who play in certain conditions - namely Docklands and multiple games against bad sides. The best thing coaches can do is develop talent. A very talented side will be good to watch no matter the score or style of the game. The AFL are suffering for putting profit ahead of quality by introducing 2 new teams. Add in the mockery they've made of the draft and how free agency benefits the few over a better more expansive system that could help all teams get the players they need and you've got a lot of sides with really ordinary talent levels. Our side is a good example. We have maybe a dozen proven quality players. When that number was close to 20+ we played some brilliant attacking footy.

SO WHY WAS HE DROPPED TWICE IN 3 GAMES!!!! Because he absolutely does not play to his role. Not at all. Why was he delisted from Essendon who have no fit quality key forwards? This is his 2019 for Essendon. 3 goals in 8 losses. The disposals, marks and goals all dry right up. Why? Because he doesn't do his job as a key forward and start his game with the basis of winning and halving contests and bringing his team mates in to the game. Instead he chases kicks up on the wing which he can find against bad teams, then goes completely missing against the good sides. He's everything we don't need as a Melbourne player. Yet he's the type of player we've seemed happy to keep around for 50 years probably. A non winner. The more non winners you keep around the club the more you become a non winner and we just live for that. We love it. Flat track Brad Green back on the board, I'm sure he loves Mitch Brown too. There's another forward who loved a chest mark rather than opening their body up for contact and loved dining out on bad teams.

He went back for a chest mark after 3/4’s of not getting his hands up to contest high kicks. If he won’t play a game then he is a waste. If he’s needed that means we’ve got 2 of B Brown, Weid and Jackson injured and cant cover with Petty who offers more and don’t want to cover with T Mc. We aren’t turning the list over and it’s just killing our 15-25 depth by not finding more guys. Instead we have these guys who are 30-35 battlers just wasting space.

Well you missed the 2 games he was dropped after for being non competitive in the air.

Dunn’s career best season was 2014 under Roos, he was fringe AA. 2015 he was good as well. He struggled when Goodwin changed the game plan to zone based in 2016 but that was a rough year for him personally and he was out of shape. Goodwin thought Oscar played the zone far better than Dunn. He was excellent for a year and half at Collingwood and if he got fit and got on board with Goody he would’ve absolutely helped us win games in 17/18. Ultimately he was injured from mid 2018 so it doesn’t really matter. It’s all hypothetical but would Oscar be better having to develop in the VFL behind Dunn in 17/18? I don’t think it would’ve changed but we’ll never know.

The most obviously link isn’t charitable at all but we should partner with Melbourne Girls Grammar to give them a proper sports facility.

Look at the floor plan and description on the Saints website. It’s a gym, lap pool, hydro pool and a few token consulting rooms that will probably be used by the clubs doctor and psychologist. Theyll bring some school groups through to tell them about mental health but it’s overwhelmingly a football facility. That’s not to discredit Spud in any way, he’s worth of a facility on football ability alone plus his mental health advocacy. But the Saints have built a footy facility then found a community angle for it

Disagree. He had an awful season due to personal issues and being out of shape. Bounced back and played really well for the Pies. We should’ve stuck with him, Oscar wasn’t ready and has shown to never be ready. Hardly a huge issue because Dunn ended up perennially injured and we needed a May type anyway but we discarded Dunn too early.

The saints have found a great angle naming their pool and gym after Spud and pretending it’s about mental health. What’s our angle? Jim Stynes centre for sun smart education? The Ox’s gamblers help. Norm Smith Institute for curses. Ronald D B building and it changes it colours multiple times?