DeeSpencer

Yarra Park is still the dream. Otherwise I remain convinced a partnership with one of the leading Private schools is worth exploring. High quality ovals - tick Inner/middle suburban or even ‘heartland’ location - tick Either existing or a desire for gym/pool/indoor facilities This press release from Xavier shows you how serious they are about strengthening and promoting their footy program. It’s obviously very important to the schools PR efforts. Surely one of the schools out there would welcome a partnership with an AFL club, giving them credibility and access to the elite environment. Id be calling Melbourne Grammar immediately and asking if they want to build a facility with us at their Port Melbourne training fields. Leverage Steve May and Toby Bedford for an Indigenous angle, that will get the AFL and Goverments involved. Tie it in with Fisherman’s Bend residential development. Easy!

Obviously depends on what and where but ownership is surely the best result. The club needs assets to secure its future. According to the annual report we had 49 million revenue last year. Sold the Leighoak for 7 million to give us cash assets of 10 million and non current assets of 12 million. Reads to me like we need to get that 20+ million (hopefully more with government grants and fundraising) invested in to making money for us. A facility that saves the money we currently spend leasing AAMI Park and mcg office space and makes money leasing the associated spaces has to be the plan.

Certainly adjusted for height

You need to access via the club app and signing in. They’ve made it that way to try to make it exclusive and probably to get everyone to refresh their details. Not missing much so far, but it might get more interesting as the series goes on

Petracca, Melksham, Hannan, Fritsch can all play as the go to guys. Worse case scenario we only need big competitive bodies. We have 2 options in Preuss and T Smith, both would offer more than Pedersen in 2019. I like Frost and Joel Smith as alternatives if we have 3+ injuries to talls. We still have a March rookie spot and can potentially create another one for mid season. I’m a little unsure of those rules. If we need a back up we can get a back up then.

Was rehab-ing. Good size, has Melk and Crossy by a couple of cms. Strong enough build although more of a running type than bulky type. Very tanned, must be sunny up on the farm

Jetta, Stretch, Tracc running laps Melk Hore running timed 150’s with Crossy Harmes jogging Bull jogging. Oscar hanging around New boys: Bedford has cut his rat tail, shame. Chandler is short but compact. Sparrow stronger, clearly has done more weights than the rest of them, he’s more of a young man than a kid. Has the AFL approved short back and sides haircut. Nieta is a nice flanker size, not too thin, not quite rangy but an all round nice shape. Jordon looks a little less developed but he does have some quads, not a complete baby. Walker has the long hair and a natural looking left foot, slotted some nice goals on the run, could be something there. Bradtke bounces along with his hair bobbing like a young tall, does have a nice kick for his size. Early returning players: Gawn, Hib, Jones, Frost Running time: Gawn, Hib, Frost, Preuss did 300’s in that order, big fella wasn’t too far behind. Rest did 200’s Young guys did interval running. Sparrow looked the most taxed at the end but he’s got 5kg on these guys and is apparently a fast twitch guy. Didn’t get to see much of their kicking, the two I saw were Chandler and Neit/Aaron and they looked fine. Rough order: J Smith, anb, Wagner, Fritsch, kk, Gus, Jones, Maynard, Walker, Spargo, Petty, Weed, Keilty, May May not terrible but I think he’s got a big preseason ahead of him. He was keeping pace at the back with Keilty but he did look pretty puffed after every run. Still vocal and getting around the boys. I wouldn’t say he’s in bad shape but he’s a bit chonk. They went off in pairs and they didn’t separate too much. Later they broke in to 3 groups for some longer running. Smith, ANB, Jones, Wagner, Gus, Maynard, KK in the top group who decided to head off around the rugby ovals, then a middle group of Fritsch, Weed, Petty, Spargo followed by the big boys.

I think his positioning is far better than Frost's, like most basketballers he knows how to guard space and watch the ball at the same time. Frosty was a volleyballer IIRC. Endurance makes him an even better athlete as well, in fact there's a case to argue he's the best athlete on the list - rare combination of endurance, speed and power. Decision making has to improve but he can get out of trouble with his movement. Kicking is the big one that might stop him progressing but the hope there is he's had a few injuries so hasn't been able to do the big blocks of training. Frost largely fixed his kicking this year after years of being hand in mouth bad, so it can happen once players get older and more experienced. The real shame with Joel Smith is unless he really gets it together in a huge way there's always going to be a bit of regret to me. That's because I'm certain if the club was in a stronger position 5 or 10 years ago they would've got Smith in a father son academy and playing TAC footy and developing his game as a teenager. He's such a freak athlete I really think if he had played footy the whole way through as a kid he'd certainly be a very good player. Now it's a matter of if he can catch up.

Kennedy, Fisher and SPS have exposed form to make pretty nice 2nd or 3rd rotation type mids capable of playing forward and outside as well. If 2 out of 3 of Dow, Walsh and Stocker form any kind of decent combination around Cripps they'll climb up the ladder pretty well, especially from about 2020 on. Their trade of a potential top 5 pick that could be very high for 2 first rounders - 19 and who knows what next years will be - is actually very similar to when we decided taking on another messiah top 5 pick was no longer useful and traded pick 2 (and 20 for some reason) for Tyson, Salem and Hunt. We all look back now and say that was a bad trade given the Josh Kelly factor (even if we wouldn't have picked him) and the picks involved but most of us would live with it because it was a signal that we needed to start improving and winning some games and Tyson helped with that. Overpaying for Stocker might well be Carlton's version. Even if they give up a pick that becomes a Josh Kelly the idea that they aren't going to sit around and wait for draft picks to save them might be a good move.

We still have 1 spare spot don't we? 39 senior list and A 4 rookies? Can we not add an extra rookie spot via this rule at some stage between Dec and March or is it one per side only?

22: 48 drops to his knees to win a ground ball handball, then follows up and bangs the ball forward in traffic 24: 58 - quick centre clearance handball to a free team mate 26:05 - bangs a torp up the line 33:15 - fumbles, then dishes a quick handball, gets around the back to get the handball back and gets his kick smothered, regathers to rush another kick 30m or so forward 33: 58 - reads the play well and quickly gets on to a wayward kick, gathers cleanly and fires a nice handball back to a team mate 34:50 - no possessions here but makes good position to receive a handball and also quickly covers back on a turnover 35:28 - handball gets smothered on the boundary line 35:50 gets beat easily for the clearance by his opponent, no body contact 36:35 - again positions on the back of the play to receive a handball, spears a kick 20m to hit an open forward The last play was his best for the quarter. Looked to me like a guy who probably was still adjusting to the pace of the game and given Dandy were a fierce pressure side and it was a Grand Final that probably makes sense. Clearly not as physically developed as most kids, you can see he doesn't have the upper body definition or run in the legs. But there's some speed and he reads the play to receive the ball. If his last kick of the quarter was deliberate and indicative of what he can do instead of just more of a fluke then I can see why we liked that.

FB: Hibberd May Jetta HB: Lever ????? Salem C; Fritsch Brayshaw KadeKolo HF: ANB T Mc Melksham FF: Spargo Weid Petracca Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: ?Lewis- hbf, ?Jones -wing/fwd, Harmes, Vanders CHB - Frost v Oscar v J Smith v Petty Lots of options now to run through wings and flanks which I expect to take some time to resolve. Likewise how they plan to use the tall defensive talent. Depth: Frost, Oscar, Hannan, Stretch, Baker, Maynard, J Wagner, Hunt, J Smith, T Smith, Keilty, Hore, JKH, C. Wagner, ?Garlett Development: Petty, Sparrow, Jordon, Neitschke, Bedford, Chandler, Bradkte, Walker Depth Chart Backline: (15) Key defenders: May, Oscar, Frost, Petty, Keilty Intercepting tall: Lever, J Smith, Hore Back pockets: Jetta Flankers: Hibberd, Salem, (KK), Hunt, Lewis, J. Wagner, ?Jordon Midfield: (16) Inside mids: Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw, Harmes, Maynard, ?Sparrow Outside mids: Kade Kolo, Fritsch, Jones, Stretch, Baker, C.Wagner, ?Neitschke Ruck: Gawn, Preuss Mid/forward: Vanders, (Petracca) Forwards: (14) Key forwards: T Mc, Weideman, T. Smith, Bradtke 3rd tall: Melksham, Petracca Flankers: Spargo, ANB, Hannan, JKH, ?Walker Crumbers: Garlett, Bedford, Chandler I'd say pure crumbing forward might be the greatest weakness but we did bring in a couple of late pick options there. Not sure how they'll break up the new players but I'd expect they spread them to different line groups, maybe even move the versatile guys around. Keen to see what they do with the wing but there's plenty of variety now.

Scharenberg, Langdon and Howe are a pretty good mid sized marking trio. It might’ve been they were preferred to Hore. Pies might also have been keen this year but waiting for a later pick or rookie pick. I wonder what his plans were if not drafted by this year. Continuing on with the Pies VFL for another year would’ve been a strong show of loyalty

Not blaming you! It appears to be an atypical surname that’s going to cause confusion. TrengRove like

Jordon on the club site, on his social media and on various draft profiles. Jordan on the AFL site. Confusing. Expect it’s -on

Most likely either just balancing the list profile and/or salary cap space and contracts. If you look at our existing rookies Tim Smith, Keilty and Corey Wagner could all easily be on the senior list. They are experienced VFL players who might well be handy enough depth on an AFL list. So it's not like we are short on experienced players in the 44. We've just added 4 kids and 1 mature age player in Hore, we've got 2 more picks. It's probably better to have both of those picks as rookie picks on 1 year deals so we can take chances on guys who might not work out. I think rookie base wages aren't counted in the salary cap either so it probably saves 80k you can use elsewhere.

We don't have to fill the main list. Can go 39 and 5. I assume we'll pass in the PSD and take 2 rookies. Have 39 main list. 5 A rookies. 2 B rookies.

I like his overhead ability, grabs a few big marks for a medium or even smaller sized player (whatever 184cm is these days). Looks to kick on both feet and releases team mates in to space with his hands. Might not have the tricks to be a star but doesn't seem to be much wrong with his game either.

Going to be a struggle for some to spell his name correctly! I love a country kid with a pure kick. From Jason Taylor's comments I'm not sure he's really targeted for any particular position, maybe more of a gamble on some skills and athleticism. 20th December, would have to be closest to youngest player in the draft.

Really like him, whenever I've seen Pies VFL he's been solid as a rock. For all the talk of 'how will he get a game in our backline' the reality is we had Fritsch, Lewis and a raw Joel Smith play half back in the finals. Not to mention the number of games Wagner and Vince played during the year! Now we don't have to rush Lever back in round 1, Fritsch can go to a half forward or wing spot that really suits his game. Joel Smith can be pushed for a spot. Lewis can get in the bin.

I thought we needed another kicker from half back to take the pressure off Salem and Hibberd. Particularly a guy with penetration and length with the new extended man on the mark and kick in rules. Nice intercept size as well. No issue with the pick from a needs based decision. Plenty of runners left to find the wingmen we need.

Teams giving up 2nd round picks to move up 4 or 5 spots. I’d happily trade down for a 2nd rounder

Jags, Pats, Steelers Great to wake up to the Bears stealing a win with a back up QB on a short break. Usually that's the Bears throwing a game away like that.

Jason Taylor and co will know right now how many of the top 20 of his draft board are gone. Obviously whether it matters will take years to find out. Inside Melbourne Podcast. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-11-20/midfield-depth-a-focus-for-the-draft

Think the clubs before us have picked up a lot of the versatile highly skilled mids in the 10-20 range. Now we're looking at guys who do a few things well but aren't as complete. McKenzie and Hamill would be nice, warming to Kennerley as well