DeeSpencer

J Smith slow? About as quick as anyone on the list. He'd come in and Hibberd and Fritsch would be pushed in to more attacking roles. But praying Salem is ok. He's had some tightness in what looked like a groin to me over the last few weeks.

Oscar - Vardy/Lycett Frost - Josh Kennedy Smith/Hibberd/Jetta - Darling, Ryan, Rioli Salem/Lewis - Le Cras, Cripps Oscar and Frost will take the talls. Salem and Lewis will play up the ground. Jetta and Hibberd take the match ups in between, with Jetta staying closer to goal. Fritsch has been doing a little bit of everything in between but they've tried to keep him up the ground so he's not tested one on one deep. Smith would give the backline more flexibility and free Hibberd up. The question is what price is that worth when Smith won't give rebound or skill and will probably turn it over at some stage? Fritsch wasn't perfect with the ball either on Friday. And if he plays wing he's got more pace and skill than Tyson but isn't as strong at the contest. But he can also go forward instead of Vanders who can stay wing. It's all very hard to compute. Just as I did last week I think Smith is the logical man in to a 23 man squad and there's no one else really in contention. Tyson, possibly Vanders (but I think his defensive work rate was strong) and Fritsch the only 3 to consider if they miss out.

The game was awfully over umpired early. Jetta free was yuck. Picking free kicks off the ball for slight holds or contact after the ball was gone but then Clarry is getting belted in the chest and hung on to and gets nothing for the best part of 3/4's. Slide rules are mostly there, although the Brayshaw one was silly. The Lewis one was his fault. Crap rule. Messy umpiring didn't help a messy game.

Career numbers are pretty similar. I just think he's a heavier, stronger and more reliable.

I think he's faster than Hannan and a better tackler, that's why I'd want him to be a supersized version of Jeffy. Hannan's a better mark and a craftier forward. I like Mitch, but I'm also always concerned he follows a good game with a down game with minimal impact, his Eagles game was a return to the promise he showed last year and at times this year, if he can produce similar more often he'll go right up in my evaluations.

I'm in the minority here but I actually think he'd be an upgrade on Hannan, plus he can play down back as well. But I'm probably not interested because we don't need more players who are 20th best on the list, we need to spend resources trying to find more quality. We do have quite a number out of contract so maybe we replace 1 or 2 of them with a flyer on someone like Rohan but if it's going to cost anything in terms of trade or salary it's not worth it. Keep guys like JKH or Kent instead.

I doubt we make it that far but if we do the sight of Jordan Lewis attempting to chase Richmond forwards will make plenty on here very keen on Hunt. Didn’t look fit at the start of the year. Got injured, came back and was far from terrible and then got injured again. Hopefully plays well in the VFL finals and carries some confidence in to preseason. Get him fully fit and he’s very much a required player

Linc McCarthy anyone? Not a pressure small forward but a super talent who would give us the crumber we need if we got his body right. I'd be keen for a 1 year deal and a token late pick trade.

Richmond weren't at their best that's for sure. Should've dominated in the midfield and on transition but couldn't get anything going. Essendon did have a number of really good players though particularly the talls. Aaron Francis - far too good for VFL, will intercept all day if not negated. James Stewart - more than handy key forward at this level and surely the match up for Dec Scotty Draper - very good young ruck Nick Hind - speed machine Jordan Ridley - classy half back with an AFL future, needs to be tagged Michael Hartley - very solid full back at VFL level Will be interesting to see if Casey gives King another chance in the ruck so Pedersen and Smith can stay forward.

AFC East: New England AFC North: Baltimore AFC South: Houston AFC West: Chargers WC: Jacksonville WC: Denver NFC East: Philly NFC North: GB NFC: South: New Orleans NFC West: San Francisco WC: La Rams WC: Minnesota Saints over Texans in the SB.

Rams SeaHawks Steelers If it's not too late

He's 23. I think we say to him come to us for 2-3 years when we really need a solid back up as we develop 18 year olds. You'll play at Casey but even if Max is healthy we'll at least give you a couple of games when we rest Max and maybe a couple of games together if we have key forward injuries. Plus you'll get taught by Max and Greg Stafford. By the end of the 2-3 years you'll know everything Max does. And we'll let you go to whatever club you want if you're playing like an AFL level starting ruck and have offers on the table. I don't think there's a big money contract on the table for him from any club. He's not quite good enough to get the Nankervis/Jolly/Mumford back up ruck to starting deal straight up from a team. NFL fans will be familiar with Jimmy Garoppolo who spent 3.5 years behind Tom Brady as his back up and played in all of about 2 games. He was traded to the 49ers, looked like a star and got the biggest contract extension of all time from them after 7 starts. Things are different over there but Jimmy G learnt from great coaches as the back up to the goat. Not saying Gawn is Tom Brady but he'd still be pretty handy to train against every day.

I can make it appear faster than that!

Part 2 was released at the same time as Part 1 (or close enough to), it's just over on Sal's Against All Odds Podcast and not on BS'.

Very happy with that Mack trade. Getting back a 2nd round pick makes it not much more than giving up a 1st round pick. Done. Bears D just went from solid but unspectacular to very exciting and capable of really shutting down other teams. Week 1 in GB might be too early for that but should be able to cause some trouble as the season goes on. The NFC is loaded.

Surely has the skills to play regular games. Which usually means it's a question of work rate. Liked him as a forward when he first started but he looked good down back as well but couldn't consistently perform. He's certainly worth asking the question. Right age where he could get it together quickly if you sorted him out.

Gawn coached Flip in juniors and liked him which is a natural reaction to coaching any kid with a bit of talent. But I think that's different to actually having come up against a guy at AFL level and seen his talent. Preuss has a lot of talent, but I'm not sure why he'd leave being stuck behind Goldy to be stuck behind Gawn. We could play both but not if Weeds is playing like he is now. We certainly aren't in a position to promise games.

2 open list spots now with Bernie retiring. High quality free agent signings looking unlikely, but at the same time trade outs of guys like Frost and Tyson don't seem so popular all of a sudden. Not sure what Garlett will do, probably a chance that he stays on the list for salary reasons even if he doesn't play on. 12 more to decide on. Oscar - stays unless we do a Steve May trade Vanders - stays JKH - leaning towards stays, he surely has more faith he can play at the level now than 10 weeks ago Bugg - goes Filipovic - probably goes Kent - leaves if someone else wants him, otherwise could stay Pedersen, Keilty, T Smith, King - got to keep some combination of at least 2 of these guys for tall depth. If we delist them we'll need state league or delisted player back up replacements in the ruck, key defender and forward. McKenna and Johnstone - wait and see based on other list changes

He looked ok, but not all that fit and not impressively big, skilled or quick. Add in the likelihood he does a hammy at any time and it's probably a risk we don't bother with. Taylor has shown an interest in getting in guys they liked in their draft years though. He's clearly a guy you'd try to get to train with the ground in October/Nov and see how he's going if you were at all interested.

His ability to pick it up off the deck and handball accurately on either side might be his best skill. It's top draw. Combined with a nice leap it's made him an effective ruck option. Playing him in the ruck at Casey has really improved him. I can really see him being used in the ruck a lot next year with Max playing forward. Leap for the ball is good and can clunk them, should only get better there. Goal kicking looked good at Casey, bad at AFL level, so that means confidence. Technique is solid. Watching the post game interview his arms look well defined but you can see there's really not all that much of them and he doesn't really fill out the jumper. Got to get him training with Tommy Mc over preseason because if he had Tom's strength and anything like his endurance he'd be a force!

Rioli and Ryan are good players close to goal and Cripps is a very decent defensive forward, but they do need some upgrades through half forward - replacing LeCras - depending on how confident they are with the likes of Waterman and Venables. More than anything I would've thought they need Gaff's outside run to compliment Shuey, Redden and Yeo. Sheed and Masten as the outside ball winners is no better than us using Jones and Tyson in those roles. I've always thought Kent's best footy is played as an attacking link player, not close to goal, so maybe the Eagles have belief he can do that for them. Either way, he'd only be a very small trade, he has little value as is. It's hard to see a player we'd give up who has enough trade value to really entice the Eagles in to keeping the compensation and not matching the deal. Our best chance there is that the Eagles are fearful that we'd call their bluff if they matched the deal and to be honest I think that's not unreasonable. Their salary cap probably can't afford a huge Gaff contract and they know we have limited draft capital to trade.

Pretty much. He's always been able to get the ball and to run with it. But in years prior those kicks have gone blazing towards goal. It's very nice to see a player develop on the flanks, work on their weaknesses, maximise their strengths and then perform when required.

Held his marks and nailed his goal early, then started dropping them and missing chances. If it's just fatigue he can get better and better. That said, they did move McGovern forward for a fair bit so he was on a flanker. Easier to get the ball but even more chasing required. Would like to see Sam build for next week especially when he's not playing in the Perth heat. The more he can ruck the more we can rest Max effectively.

Fingers crossed but he's done enough at Casey and is worth another go. His only game this season as 1 of 2 tall forwards was against Richmond where he did a lot of really nice things. He has to ruck well to give Max a decent chop out and he has to dig his knees in to McGovern's back as often as possible. Tom McDonald now gets relieved of the rucking duties and the title of the main man up forward (if he wasn't already). Tom has to kick the goals. Sam just has to compete.

If we had: - A realistic chance to get Tom Lynch as a free agent - Enough confidence that Sammy Weideman will make at least a solid back up ruck and contest/drop the ball down forward option - If we can get and rate Brennan Cox from Freo as part of a larger package Then yep I'll drive Jesse to the airport myself. In his defence he might be injured and playing week in week out through the trademark Melbourne Medical Mismanagement but he looks fine sprinting after the ball when he's going to get an easy goal. He's been such a flat track bully this year. Disgusting football. And for weeks many on here have wondered why he isn't rested or dropped. Today's performance was coming.