DeeSpencer

Mass D’Ambrosio was stiff not to be AA. Jez Sharp was best 22 for Freo all year. Oleg Markov played in a flag last year. Frankie Evans is settled in Port’s side right now. Mason Wood excellent for St Kilda. Stocker not half bad either. Levi Casboult had a good run at the Suns. Not many get chances but those who do have a reasonable success rate I think. Kaine Baldwin might be the standout from a bunch of bad names so far but teams generally wait until trade week for their better quality delistings.

Mannagh clearly had afl level talent the issue was whether he was going to play a team game and do the defensive stuff. The cats left him in the vfl for a long time this year just to get that buy in. Brew seems to be the absolute vfl midfielder. Clubs rarely go for those guys. That said, Geelong have one who when in form this year and in 2022 he makes a huge impact and that’s Tom Atkins. Brew bosses around afl listed players in the vfl. It’s a huge step up trying to do that to Lachie Neale rather than Jarryd Lyons but who knows, if he has the tank then maybe.

Scared is putting it mildly. He looks like he's been dropped in the middle of a Vietnam jungle every time he's taking a set shot. I don't mean to trivialize it but he genuinely looks like he has sporting PTSD. I'm just not sure moving to Melbourne can cure you of a St Kilda disease.

Peatling says he’s staying. Davies signed on. How’s the young midfielders list going: Riley Garcia Ted Closehy Jack Carroll (WA bound)? Ben Hobbs (contracted) Finn Macrae (contracted) Thomson Dow Jai Culley Feels like we’ve got to get one of them unless we’re getting a quality name or have some secret state league gems.

Yes. Fun first half in Brisbane but after that it was clear he’s a mile off

Huge news for Casey! Verrall’s worth more time. Sestan and AMW have talent but I’d have been in no rush to sign them, if they can’t improve their running they won’t make it.

I’m hoping he goes top 5 so we can get someone better. I don’t see it at all.

I’d give it one bad year and Bucks will get as much if not more heat. The media turn on everyone and love a tall poppy

Blue is Allies not just academies. Shanahan for instance isn’t an academy eligible player. And Tassie guys. Bold is Vic Country. Dandy players can play for country and FOS is from the bush just plays for Oakleigh.

The ‘we need to play a different style’ people need to understand we optimised game style based on the strengths of our playing group and you can’t simply adapt it without changing players. That’s why the list management has been such a big let down. A fresh preseason at least gives us some options but if you want to play something even remotely resembling Hawthorn then we need (at a minimum): - highly skilled half backs at full fitness Ie. Bowey and Salem, plus tall backs willing to get in on the counter attack - 4+ on ballers that can really run - multiple half forwards that go up and back - athletic tall forwards that lead and jump at the footy and no passengers in the forward line At no stage this year did we have the midfield, backline or forward lines capable of high tempo footy.

Why? He’s just a lesser version of Goodwin in every way except he gives long drawn out quotes with big words in the media. If we sack Goody the worst thing we could do was get another Collingwood has been at the club.

They couldn’t match a bid for Gulden if it came early first round after matching Campbell and drafting McDonald. Replace him with Rowbottom if you like. Or McInerney. Those 2 are the supplemental high quality midfielders we really need. The academy has been a huge leg up, their drafts run hot and cold and the bonus early picks have helped the hot. The point is they develop players really well, but so do we! Not amazing? A top 10-15 player of the comp at 38???

15.8 Qualified NGA Players (a) For the purposes of this Rule 15, a Qualified NGA Player means a NGA Player who: (i) was born in Africa or Asia; or (ii) has a biological parent who was born in Africa or Asia; or (iii) is an Indigenous Person; or (iv) is a CALD NGA Player Seems they changed or narrowed the rules from parent born overseas to parent born in Africa or Asia. Very much a missed opportunity by the AFL to not include Polynesia given the quality of athletes and the fact most of them play rugby codes rather than footy despite many being well suited. They're giving up the chance of several Dusty Martin type players (in style more than quality of course). I assume the club has checked that his parents weren't both born in Samoa and have tried to argue that if they speak Samoan and have strong culture that he should fit as a CALD player.

Aside from poor old Sammy Weideman every first and second rounder we had for years played in the 2021 flag. And since then we developed Bedford from a guy who barely touched it at Under 18’s in to a good player for GWS. He just needed one more summer and regular games. Got Chandler, McVee, JVR up to the level. Made Disco in to something interesting. Windsor had a great start. Kolt got better as the year progressed. Howes has been a bit slow but he’s had a few injuries and is built like a rake. Jeffo couldn’t touch it in the vfl last year, was one of the better forwards in the vfl this year. Aside from Bill Laurie most of our kids are at least on track with their draft positions. We’ve had a shortage of good picks and a shortage of picks full stop. The Swans have an insane knack of Gulden and Warner type wins, but they also burn a bunch of early picks. Geelong keep doing their thing and find hidden gems everywhere, sadly including Max Holmes who along with Dempsey are by far their best young players. Especially from those they actually drafted themselves. But finding freakish talent late in the draft isn’t really a fair measurement. Overall development of young players is the least of our worries.

Got any names? Because Geelong have the inside track on guys like Henry and Bruhn and are now getting Cotton on to pay Bailey Smith. Ginnivan and Gunston were unusual circumstances. D’Ambrosio was great use of Essendon being Essendon. But players of that calibre rarely fall out of clubs. Chol they paid a fortune too and presented opportunity, but half decent prime aged tall players are rarely available and he’s only half decent too. The best player who makes sense for us is Peatling and Collingwood and the Dogs are super keen on him too. There’s a dollar amount when you have to fold your offer and he might just prefer other clubs. We can squeeze Carlton’s cap and get Matt Owies maybe, but it’s Matt Owies. Ted Closehy, Caleb Mitchell, Nathan O’Driscoll, there’s a few interesting out of contract players available but it’s slim pickings.

The rules to be drafted under the NGA for non Indigenous boys are: participant born overseas or have at least one parent born overseas There’s also an age by which you have to be in an academy. You can’t just roll in last minute. So Ah-Mu either wasn’t in our academy early enough or he and his parents don’t match the criteria but they’ve let him train in the academy because he’s multicultural. The whole concept is fundamentally flawed if not entirely discriminatory but the idea Cam McKenzie, James Borlase and the Closehy brothers are eligible and this kid isn’t makes a mockery of the whole thing.

Brad Green took a meeting with him. What a stupid thing to do

Bit of a catch 22 tho. One of the reason we don’t move the ball faster is because we have Billings at half forward who can’t find space on the lead or defend a quick turnover. He did have some moments in the first half of the year when we moved the ball ok at times. He just flubbed most of them. Back half of the year, whatever was left of our midfield was pretty cooked. Not point flogging that dead horse.

Absolutely agree, the initial rankings (which is really just 3 people in the media) are very high on mids but I personally think the number of blue chip mids in this draft is closer to 3-4 than 6+ and that includes Ashcroft. And even then none of them truly blow me away.

Watching his VFL games his ability to read the play around the ground and at stoppages are both elite but almost exclusively he’s ducking out the back of contests or banging it on the boot. Most of his clearances come from setting up defensive side too. And in general play he has chances to put the foot down and he’ll often handball off or take safe kicks. I see the Daicos like shimmies and clean ball handling but not the same pace, he’ll often handball off rather than put the foot down. When Nick clicks in to top speed he’s super quick. Nick also kicks hard and low, Jagga just pops it. If anything he’s more like a young Josh Daicos than Nick. Draper and O’Sullivan both have more pace and damaging kicks. If you trust his physical development and his contested ball stuff then Murphy Reid has a far bigger kit bag. And yeah. We need a hard running midfield accumulator, but with pick 5 or 6 or whatever it is we need the best possible talent for 10-15 years ideally not current fit or to fill a need. There’s other ways to fill needs.

When he’s not injured he’s a bit slow and the skills aren’t quite silky enough to make up for it. He’d provide our midfield some much needed balance but there’s a pace problem. You’d be mad to give more than an early second. And unless Carlton heavily front loaded the contract he’ll be overpaid. That said, he’s only the second midfielder behind Peatling that makes any sense as a genuine target and not just a bargain depth buy.

If we do pick him up it might mean no more Melksham, I can't see the need for 2 veteran talls who's main strength is they can help set up a structure. I've always thought Membrey played a couple of decades too late. Not sure that's going to change as he gets older. We are in desperate need of someone who can lead up at the footy but in an ideal world it's a genuine tall with height and agility. But clearly it's very slim pickings on the tall(ish) forwards market.

I didn't rate him when he was good, I'm not going to be enthused about him now. It comes down to midfield spots, the contract etc. Right now our midfield is Viney, Oliver*, Tracc**, Rivers, Sparrow? and no one. Can make some case for Kolt, Laurie, Pickett, Kynan Brown I guess. That has to be at least 6 if not 7 names by the end of the trade/draft period. If it comes down to Macrae or no one then I'll choose Macrae, but he's far from my first choice.

JJ played 22 games in 2022 mostly on the wing, got injured in round 23 and actually missed finals to Harmes on the wing. Gus was already moved in different roles in 2022 - half back and midfield. JJ finished 12th in the best and fairest after a strong start. Hunter didn't crack the top 10 in the B+F in 2023. JJ was relegated to Casey, the sub and various other roles. Bad list management and bad coaching too, because Hunter never had to earn his spot. Plenty of times in 2023 when JJ should've been backed in to get his spot back and keep it.

Dev Smith is a little harsh! But yeah the downside is if he doesn't stack up as an inside player he might be more Scully ish. Although I think his kicking has far more balance and penetration that Scully's. I'd like to have him if we had a pick around 10ish, not sure he'll be in the frame at 5/6, but depends on athletic stuff. He looks like he has a nice turn of speed without being quick quick like Windsor, but does he run all day? If he's got freakish endurance that would raise him up the boards.