DeeSpencer

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.

Second rounder? Not likely. Cal says top 10 and I think he's right, who knows, could go as high as 6! He's raw, but there's very kids who have his combination of reading of the ball in flight, athleticism and physicality. r

Not his best game, didn't have his using power in his kicking. Obviously Melbourne's non stop wind didn't help things but might be starting to run the tank on low after a huge season. But he still attacks every contest with a heap of vigour and wins the ball in so many different ways. Plenty of clips of Ah-Mu in this too. Love his soft hands on his hit outs and there's some mobility. Part of me says if he has a huge preseason he could be a top 5 pick which would be fantastic. But I'd also be happy if he coasts on through to us as a rookie then has a big summer after the draft! Stupid academy system!

He plays on ball at Gippsland, was a winger in the champs. We're also wasting Windsor if we pigeon hole him as a winger long term. He should be spending plenty of his training time with the inside mids and half backs over summer no matter who we pick. Even if I think he's a few years away from a permanent on ball role, if at all. But back on Lindsay. He has similar attributes to Josh Kelly, who we passed over twice because of doubts about his toughness under the highest of pressure but is undoubtedly a good player. And whilst I like my midfielders big and beefy there's no doubt the league has shifted to valuing quick and skilled mids. Naicos, Gulden (playes overwhelmingly on ball), Butters, Serong were all Aus. Merrett should've been. We've just lost the one player we have who can run with those guys in ANB. Lindsay's also 183cm and has at least some size on his frame, he's not totally skinny. Who's to say he doesn't end up a better inside ball winner and stronger than Jagga Smith, Finn O'Sullivan, Draper and Murphy Reid who are all in contention for top 5 picks. He had 11 disposals and 5 clearances in just over a quarter in this clip and looked comfortable in traffic.

Please don’t be a disposal efficiency truther. A 40m hacked kick to a one on one scores the same as a Tracc 65m bullet that clears half a backline. We all know what happened with Clarry but by the end of the year he looked fitter than Parfitt, even if he didn’t run like it. Parfitt’s also fitter than Stewie Dew and John Daly, doesn’t mean he’s fit.

Maybe, but he’s only 26 and rucks are special people. Most of them are a bit odd

Ladhams is a peanut (literally his nickname) but his VFL form is strong and there’s not 36 better mature body rucks in the country. He’s got a job until he’s 30. The issue is does Sydney just keep him for depth given he’s contracted. Might depend what they think of their big bean pole McAndrew who is uncontracted. But you got to have at least 2 rucks you think you can play whilst in a flag window. And does Ladhams go from sitting behind Grundy to sitting behind Gawn? The way Grundy has finished the year I’m not sure he isn’t better off trying to win that Swans job. Membrey would be a good bit of short term improvement because he can lead at the ball which is our forwards major weakness. But he’s not starting a top 4 side. I feel like a good forwards coach has to look at JVR, Disco, Jeffo even Petty depending on what we do with T Mc and think I can get these guys leading at the footy - with up the ground run and skills.

I’d feel pretty confident about our ability to win the 2018 grand final if we bought in those guys.

Parfitt? He’s a shocking kid. At his best he’s a lesser version of Viney, but he hasn’t been at his best for a while. Frankly I think he’s had injuries because he’s a bit tubby. He’d have to ditch the spare tyre before I’d sign him.

Houston, Pittsburgh, Dallas. Wasn’t going to do tips this year but you’ve sucked me back in thanks Mac. Thoughts on the season. AFC North - Ravens, Bengals East - Jets, Dolphins South- Texans West - Chiefs, Chargers NFC North - Packers, Lions East - Cowboys South - Falcons West - Niners, SeaHawks, Rams I’d probably switch it up now but I have to hold true to my preseason prediction of Packers-Jets in the Super Bowl.

The Demons’ favourite term…. Like the media didn’t kick this all off and hammer it for years. Begging for just one football journo to not be the smuggest [censored] alive.

Brad announced a review in to the board. This reads as a review in to the club and particularly the footy department. Neither things are a top to bottom club review that someone else wants. An idea which could be nice but was always going to be very difficult to implement quickly and just as likely delay changes. I’m not against this at all, but the problem is we’ve wasted 2+ weeks (or really closer to 2 months). Roffey on SEN mentioned they had someone from the all blacks in at the footy department tho so maybe this is just an expansion or formal version of what was previously happening. I’m happy for action but worried that it’s coming late. The window for making list, coaching staff and footy department personnel changes is all closing rapidly.

I think it was a stinker of an extension at about the same time as the Laurie one, too much hype over preseason improvement that was untested in games. I’m not phased that he’s not playing afl, the issue is he’s a poor vfl player in year 2.

The way he judges the ball in the air and leaps is pretty rare for a young tall.