DeeSpencer

Certainly has been underwhelming but he did miss 2 years of footy before the draft, showed a bit last year and then this year might've been second year blues. Sometimes you have to take a chance on upside. What would I pay for that chance? No more than a 3rd rounder, that's for sure, but by pick 40+ what are you getting? He has size, a burst of speed around the contest and good tackling. I wouldn't be too upset if we got him for a cheap price and treated him like a 3rd year developing player rather than a pick 11 meant to improve the best 22. Would it help the list balance - no. But could it be a very smart pick up - maybe.

Old news but this is the first time without Todd and this clip from Graham Wright caught my ears when he said 'as has Tim Lamb at Melbourne'. https://mde.whooshkaa.com/show/9121/episode/442864.mp3 Have we signed him up to Harvard Business School. Is he reading 'the Art of the Deal'. At a minimum I hope we've got him a copy of Footballistics and an AFL Prospectus. I'd also buy him a ticket to the Sloan Sports Conference and make sure he comes back with a couple of nerds to work with.

Brad Hill - cash (and the draft picks to make the trade work) Paddy Ryder - came down to them on Essendon, better path to playing regular games at St Kilda, not a big pick up Zak Jones - interesting one, not sure too many clubs were keen, I'd imagine it's midfield playing time that's the drawcard Howard - probably their biggest get in terms of beating away competition, imagine they'll have to trade a player as well as Bruce (Acres?) to get him. I think he's a really smart pick up. They've got Gubby Allen for the old school know how plus hired James Gallagher who sounds like a very smart pick up. Add in a good coach keen to get experienced talent in and you'll land some names.

So from reports this is our new List Manager following Todd Viney moving in to other roles then vacating. We know about his police background as a detective as well as his footy background, having joined as a recruiter in 2012. Have we skilled him in useful tools for the position: 1. Contracts 2. Negotiation 3. Analytics Clubs are hiring former player managers (see Collingwood with Ned Guy) as they understand the contract and negotiation. St Kilda hired a former Investment banker because he knows contracts, knows how to negotiate outcomes and knows how to interpret data. https://www.saints.com.au/news/2018-08-02/saints-appoint-list-manager Josh Mahoney gets a lot of credit/blame at this time of the year because he's the public face of the club during the trade period but he's not necessarily the main decision maker. Anyone else got any information or opinions?

It's what I was told but if you want to read my original post as groin overload injury then that's fine too and probably more accurate these days. Same for Joel Smith. Or Joey Daniher.

10 weeks requiring a significant deloading and reloading period is. Doesn't really matter what the terminology or pathology was but it was an overload injury not just a one off strain. Hence in the article above May is talking about strengthening his core.

Turned up a little fat, ran his backside off - was easily beating Frost and others in the repeat 200’s - in a desire to get him to play as a CHB and ran himself in to OP. Hoping both May and the club are smarter this year. We need him as a 2 way player covering ground but we shouldn’t try to make him in to something he isn’t.

I'm more of an NFL man and I think the NFL maintains good parity by (so far) discouraging tanking. The top teams mostly retain their own players and tinker around the edges, the middle of the road teams often spend up and either improve or don't and the bottom teams can rebuild relatively quickly with a short period of stacking draft picks if need be. Greater free agency will help the wealthy clubs but if they spend recklessly there will be bargains to be had. And there's plenty of ways to protect star players so if they leave it still requires a trade. Really all we want is a system where the draft and salary cap keeps the league tight whilst also stopping gun kids or top line players walking out for nothing. Players 15-45 on a list could be open to a completely free market and no one would get too upset.

The trade period needs to go from mid October until March, maybe even until later in the season. It's ridiculous to restrict the ability to trade players down to a period of 2 weeks yet alone 1 week. That said, an expanded free agency should start at this time - ideally mid October rather than just after the Grand Final - and the vast majority of off season moves should be with free agents. Kick off the exchange period with a big free agency bonanza then let teams work on actual trades at whatever pace they want.

Worse kicks out of the backline than Murray: - Frost - ANB - Jake Spencer - Tom McDonald - Helen Keller He can run and win the ball and is a nice size for a flanker but there's nothing appealing about his kicking.

More importantly? Leadership and some experience is nice, if he can deliver it and others can follow. But winning the press conferences don't matter if you can't deliver on field.

Would I include pick 3 as part of a deal for Papley - sure. Would I pay Papley some crazy amount like 900k and therefore limit any future salary cap flexibility we have left with this core of players - nope.

I think what would've happened is we waited to do the Tomlinson signing before we knew we were out on Elliott so we could front load Tomlinson. Probably front load Langdon as well. That way we end up not only saving what we would've paid Elliott but having more flexibility to make a move on bigger names as well as signing all our out of contract guys like Fritsch and Petracca up. Somewhat disappointed to lose him but if we were going to bounce back to a good side next year we were going to do it with or without Elliott. Long term we need goal kicking options but I'd still be looking for forwards who provide more up the ground and midfield threats and great defensive pressure. Elliott would've been nice, but De Goey and Stephenson are far better players and we need a guy like that and/or a guy like Will Hoskin-Elliott who can get up the ground too.

Disposals: 356 v 351 Marks: 82 v 84 Tackles 77 v 83 Inside 50's: 55 v 45 Scoring shots: 17 v 20 Clearances: 37 v 38 We didn't play a tall forward at all to bring the ball to ground and left Melksham and Fritsch outmanned and up the other end Sam Reid got hold of Frost. Ugly lapses in defensive systems led to easy Swans goals at times but otherwise it wasn't a case of giving up. The St Kilda game annoyed me most from the run home because they were dreadful and did all they could to throw it away for 3/4's but we were worse and limped out of there in the last quarter. That and throwing away the North game for no good reason out of sheer laziness.

I'm not sure it was all that nasty, just more likely something that could become a story or could be used against him by other players. Suddenly I'm regretting bringing this up.

16. And I don't believe this is in anyway an issue for all those asking. Tomlinson good mates with Dom Tyson and would be well known to a lot of the other demons. Just banter from Tracc. Put Tomlinson in number 6 and have him buy coffees for Tracc, he'd be a good leader and team mate for him I think.

Give us an over and under 50 games! I wonder if the Dogs get Bruce if they give up on Schache. Or if the Pies look to shift Mihocek now knowing they can't pay him next year. That's my 2 guesses.

He runs hard and to the right spots but he doesn't have speed and agility. The comparison is getting a player with good leadership and who gets to the right spots but might not have the speed and upside to keep delivering as the contract goes on. Most players don't make it to 30+ to decline, the game moves passed a lot of guys before that. Hopefully Tomlinson can be more than just a guy who gets a game each week without doing much. There's always guys available for cheap picks and on far lesser deals who can do that.

https://www.triplem.com.au/story/christian-petracca-deletes-tweets-following-bizarre-conversation-with-giants-player-2506

Can't help but feel like we've recruited another Jordan Lewis rather than finding a proper solution but if the cost is minimal then it's probably worth a shot. Certainly costs something though - game time for a limited player and a decent whack of salary I'm sure.

Could be awkward

Before the ink dries on the contract we can rip it up and save ourselves a whole lot of cash! If there are I'd like to know who they are! I can't help thinking how good Ricky Henderson would've been for us these last couple of years, if there's someone like him available for nothing then I want them. Really it was 28 disposals/16 kicks at 84% that jumped out at me, I don't care if it's in the EFL Div 4 that's using the ball well.

Former Swan/Crow. 28 years old, 194cm, 93kg. Moved to the wing the last couple of years in the SANFL. Averaged: 28.2 disposals at an impressive 84% efficiency 18 kicks 6.9 marks 3.6 clearances SANFL watchers am I crazy or if we want a big body on the wing who can get the ball out in space and use it well should we look at Johnston? I remember in his AFL career he seemed to have the talent but was just missing something as a key forward, maybe he just needed a go on the wing?

He finds the ball for fun at VFL/SANFL level and average 20 touches his first 2 years, then it was Neeld ball - defensive as possible. I was disappointed he wasn't stronger at the clearances given his draft pedigree but I think he could've found plenty of it if it wasn't for his lack of speed. He didn't have a ruck like Gawn or team mate like Oliver either. Anyway, I'm hoping Brayshaw isn't another Trengove but I think it's telling there's no interest in him. Freo have lost Neale and Hill and are wasting Fyfe's prime by not having good experienced mids alongside him. If they aren't even interested in making a token offer for Gus then I doubt anyone is.

If he can't keep up then I'm not sure he is. Trengove could at least kick, although wasn't just slow but super slow. My most concerning players of the season: Brayshaw (speed), T Mc (agility/confidence in marking), Hibberd (fitness/speed), Jetta (age/injury). A lot of the rest are down on form or just not as good in a poor side, but they are what they are and will either be boosted by talent around them or replaced. By far and away the one player who I'm coming out of this season most worried about is Brayshaw. Everything about him this year - decision making with and without the ball, kicking, tackling/defensive pressure, even looping over the shoulder handballs to no one - was a mess.