DeeSpencer

Do people think Burgess only trained Petracca last season and didn’t bother with the other 44 on the list? The penny dropped with Tracc and he got fitter, all Burgo did was provide the same program he did to the rest of the club (individually tailored of course). No matter who’s running our fitness department it’s up to Gus to do the work and earn the coaches trust that his speed, intensity and endurance demands centre square time. Unfortunate a crook foot is not the ideal starting point

I’m not suggesting he is on the market, I’m saying we need to draft guys like that given Saad and Williams are off the table. The only trades I’d be making this year would be for cheap fringe improvement players. Save up for a run at Josh Kelly or Merrett next year

Port, Geel, Richmond all have one focal point key forward in Dixon, Hawkins and Lynch. The secondary talls - Marshall, Stanley and Riewoldt - rarely touch the ball. Weid and Brown just won’t work. Let’s stick with Weid, use our cap space and draft capital finding guys who can run, kick and pressure to create scoring chances. Zak Butters, Mitch Duncan, Shai Bolton - that’s what we need.

Weid puts together a great stretch of football before the crazy fixturing tires him out and we go replace him with Broken Ben Brown. Weid will end up at Casey before finding success at another club in 2022.

Might've been on Oscar but the stats show Riewoldt kicked 4 and Hawkins kicked 5 the 2 weeks before Gawn went down. I remember Tom being Tom, lots of intercept marks, getting a heap of the ball, but turnovers and getting caught out for mobility and smarts. There's no doubt the ruck and forward role rejuvenated him. Even late in 2016 Roos would swing him forward - because the forward line needed him but also to give him some freedom. Tom was the main man in 2018. The idea that he needed Hogan was a myth. He did just as well with Weid in the side late in the year. His mobility is poor as a forward. I don't see how it gets better down back unless we use him as a Harry Taylor type player and make sure our pressure is consistently great and that our wingers are always back to provide get out kicks like the Cats wingers are. Personally I don't think we'll ever want to play like that so we don't want a big immobile CHB. We want hard charging Tom at CHF. Who might not be able to change directions but can always be a threat on the lead and can crash a pack. His marking has been shot for 2 years, that's another reason not to risk him down back.

Dawson was like a slightly smarter, better positioned and touch slower version of Frosty. Could make plenty of blunders but he'd make you earn your kick one on one. When left to try to defend a man and the ball at the same time Oscar wilts and fails to get to the contest. Just can't read the play physically or mentally quick enough. I've often thought if we could send him to the Germans back in the day and load him up with meth he'd be a chance to show a bit of intensity. Unfortunately ASADA wouldn't approve.

Zac Dawson was a good athlete who built strength and became a very good defensive player even with limited skills. Oscar's never shown any kind of athleticism and hasn't improved his defensive ability. The camera work likely obscures some of stuff Oscar does well but too many times he'll be in good position with his opponent and just led to the ball. If you can't compete you aren't even going to make it.

Not sure why the two compare. With a lack of better options I think Smith is worth one last shot as a developmental defender. Tom was once a developmental defender who became a good one, then trailed off. He reinvigorated himself as a key forward and for his sake I can hope he can find that form again. I think he's a slim chance to find his form again as a forward, I think he's very unlikely to do so down back.

Exactly right. Apart from killing us with turnovers he was struggling for mobility when the ball hit the deck and his confidence to hold position was poor too. The ruck/forward role when Gawn went down and then the key forward role in 2018 really rejuvenated him. But I’m very concerned his issues are mental and physical.

Billy Frampton - future 4th Darcy Cameron + 62 = 56 Zac Smith - 58 Pittonet + 61 = 54 + 63 Andrew Phillips + 61 + 72 = 57 + 70 Thats last years ruck bingo. How you’ve go from that to a former pick 11 in a super draft is beyond me. Not to mention Caldwell has to be interested in us and we have to be interested in him and there’s no evidence of that.

I didn't listen to the full thing but the club posted a clip which was just Gawn and Wattsy having a laugh over Watts getting absolutely blitzed at Max's wedding. Whilst Gus watches on thinking wow what a great time.

What lesson? We’ll end up giving up the same pick to get Pickett as the pick we used on Pickett. A similar situation occurred when we traded up a year for Weid. Trading Hogan for May worked beautifully. If it was pick 10 not pick 6 it would’ve been seen as a huge win. The only time we’ve truly given up first rounders was for Lever and they weren’t the true high picks. We covered that off with getting plenty of 2nd rounders. We should aim to have a nice 2nd rounder and other useful picks this year. If you aren’t excited for Sparrow, JJ, Spargo, Fritsch and Petty then we just haven’t recruited well enough. I’m thinking there’s a bit of talent there we might see shine next year

Only took a week for this loser to pop up on the captains official podcast. Having a laugh about how much of a party boy he was. Is this club every going to have some professional standards?

Gosh, I hope we walk straight away from this big sideshow bob fella. Would be a costly mistake

I agree, was making the case for it rather than what I think will happen. But he does have to play out the year unhappy in a poor side and run the risk of getting hurt. A lot of the talk recently is that Daniher doesn't get first round compo on his Brisbane contract. It's looking more like Essendon are happy to roll the dice and keep Merrett but they'll surely have to consider any serious offers that come for him.

A skilled pressure mid/forward is probably as big a need as any of those other positions. We lose a lot of games because we don't have midfield rotations to keep the work rate high, we don't have guys to take the handball receives from Oliver and co and we don't have anyone who can kick inside 50. We need the yin to Petracca's yang. It doesn't stand out as a need because we've never used someone in that role, but to me it's a clear need and why we got Bennell.

Andy Maher spitballing to the former Bulldogs captain. A little irresponsible for the SEN to misquote their own hosts. No way Hunter goes anywhere unless the Dogs get at least 1 elite player back. He's probably their 2nd most important player behind Bont. He was perhaps unhappy earlier in the season. A serious drink driving charge and suspension followed by person leave will do that to you.

Daisy can’t captain the women’s side, work as a commentator and be on the board. But she can be asked her opinion. Lingy’s a good second? What does that mean? If Ling has made any sense for more than a second I’d be surprised

Certainly good to have some footy knowledge on the board and Greeny is a good bloke. It’s just a really tough time to be joining the board, not a lot of upside involved Id imagine. We almost have to make it clear that Green won’t have the weight of coaching and footy department decisions on his plate. Let him learn rather than take the heat for big decisions. I love the Giants getting Jimmy Bartel. Dunstall would be the dream but he’d never do it. In terms of former Demons I’d love to get Al Nicholson. Maybe Green’s the right guy for the job. It was so nice to see the past players energized in 2018, hopefully we can build on that

A captain for one year with a disaster of a team. His assistant coaching career could be the best endorsement but he was under Malthouse and Brad Scott.

This might be unpopular but having followed Brad on Twitter I don’t observe a smart analytical mind at work. Apart from the time he put Saty in his place. Then again, the Hawks seemed to do just fine with Kennett in charge.

Good question. I have no idea. Obviously swimming is quite a young sport and gymnastics an ultra young sport. Where as tennis you often seen teenagers fighting it out with Serena who's a veteran and a mum. The semi professional nature of AFLW I think lends itself to veterans going on for a number of years at a high level, especially the likes of Pearce and Paxy who are super diligent in their preparations. And given how late they were to start I guess they should have fresh legs. The question for all the older women is how quickly does the new talent zoom by them. Daisy was a cut above with skills but many have caught up, though she adapted well to half back. Paxy will probably always have a fitness edge and keep accumulating the ball but she has a unique style that might be challenge if the pressure keeps mounting.

Given the average man is about 14cm taller than the average woman it's a very rough guess to say at 186cm she compares to about a 200cm bloke and looks like she moves like a wingman. That's taller than say Bont. Or about Blicavs style athlete (minus the freak endurance I'd guess). Pretty exciting prospect if she's up to it.

The problem is if you take Phillips off their hands you free up space for Mihocek. If you get Mihocek they probably have the space to keep Phillips or at least demand a big price for him. I don't think Moore's the type to demand top dollar and JDG's price has most likely decreased. Last year they got away with just moving on Aish. I don't think they'd be keen on Mihocek going and still giving away other players

Talented but being a touch underwhelming for mine and it's a harder sell to crack our midfield than the teams chasing him. I think we'd have to trade someone out to show him a path to games (and to free up the cash and picks). Probably cost our earliest pick this year and more, I'd probably rather give JT a chance in the draft