DeeSpencer

I know it didn't work out too well in 2014 round 1 but I like this match up. The Saints will be a good side. And win, lose or draw I'd rather play a good side in round 1 than get fake form against a bad team. We'll have all offseason to build our game plan to work on all grounds but also plenty of time to adapt it for Etihad and pick the right side. Speed and size of the ground have often been mentioned as the reasons for our downfall at Etihad but I think work rate and skills have contributed just as much if not more. The hard dry ground makes the ball bounce and move up and down the ground quickly so you have to keep working all over the ground whilst the ball is in motion. So often the Dees players will do a few efforts then fatigue and the other side will score. Then skills have been just as big a concern. It's a ground where you have to attack the corridor and we just haven't been able to do that. The Saints are a high work rate pressure side. We'll have to be fit and much better at dealing with pressure. The game will sort out who is and isn't improved.

We'll probably start favourites and I'll make a nice tidy sum backing the Saints!

Seems we didn't hide him enough. You were meant to distract all the scouts with bacon and egg rolls KC!!!

Port couldn't afford him, they are tight against the cap how it is. Now he could've taken a big pay cut but he wanted to move to do the right thing by his family and being the main breadwinner drastically lowering your wage isn't doing the right thing either. I'm all for Carlton holding firm, but at the same time I don't think Gibbs did anything wrong asking the question.

No surprise it was those teams, especially the round 23 GWS team that had a heap of injuries. His skill was great, but his work rate wasn't AFL standard. Shame he got injured over preseason but it didn't seem to improve at Casey as the year went on. Wish there was some way to insert a tank in his body because his kicking was certainly better than most of our players.

Hibberd has to get fit and return to his peak form but if he does I think he could easily be our best defender and certainly our best and most prolific rebounding backman, therefore helping fix a big weakness. By champion data (and I don't know the exact stats) his intercept possessions and metres gained are both ahead of any defender on our list. If he can keep that up then he'd be in the top 10, probably ahead of Jetta (who's excellent at what he does but shouldn't have to do so much), Garlett (similar to Jetta but not as excellent) and Vince (who can just float between positions) but maybe behind Petracca and Oliver. The confidence in having another defender who will attack and win contests and then be composed with the ball could be really important in maintaining the way we play when under pressure and not giving up those runs of goals as we are so prone to doing. Lewis in the midfield should also help with that, but I'm hoping we are strong in that area anyway and therefore as a single player he's less important.

Maybe. But we gave up 6, (this years) 8, 29 For: 3, 10 and 43. There's no points system win there and it relied upon us drafting well. Unless there's a gun available at pick 10 this year that the Saints were going to grab they'll come out ahead with good solid drafting at 23 and 36 and an exciting and well timed opportunity next year to make a big move.

If we got a pick 16 for free I'd be jumping for joy. Purely on pick for pick isn't that as good as you'll ever see?

Probably not but our inside midfield is very strong - if the kids come on - but we are weaker in other spots. The saints needed a good big bodied midfield prospect and they got one. As long as the Hawks miss the top 4 it's a fantastic result and even if they do it's not a bad result.

Disagree on Steele, think he will hold his own in any side with a bit more improvement, just needs to be in the midfield more when he had to play forward at GWS. Once he gets midfield time in a lesser side he can improve and hold that spot in a top side. For the value I'd give him a big tick. Agree on Stevens and Brown, depth players to fill a need, handy ones though, so a slight tick for them. Disagree on the pick deal. Remember they got 23 and 36 as well as the future first. That means they replace one top pick with 2 solid ones this year and then next year they can chase the star. Drafting your own stars is the best way but there's no guarantee of a star with pick 10. Now they can draft 2 quality players this year and go hard for a trade next year. If the trade for a senior player doesn't work then they can combine the 2 first picks for a higher one.

3 senior list vacancies. Dawes, Newton, Terlich, Grimes, M Jones, Dunn out. Lewis, Hibberd, McKenna traded in. 2 rookie list vacancies. Michie and Max King out. 1 cat B rookie list vacancy

Their willingness to palm us rejects - sometimes at great cost - won't really make much of an impact if we try and poach one of their best 3 to 5 young stars!

Really contributing to the discussion here....Can you see him ahead of Hibberd, Jetta, Hunt, Salem, Vince, Melksham? Hard to fit them all in.

With the additions of Lewis and Hibberd and the return of Melksham I would be. But I wouldn't be surprised if he had made his debut within the first 10 weeks. A lot will depend on his body holding up to a bigger preseason.

I'd be delisting all 4 of those guys. Taking 3 picks in the national draft, or 2 and a rookie upgrade, and then assessing the quality of the rookie draft against the quality of those 4 and the list needs to see if there was a reason to bring any of them back. Also you get to assess their fitness in preseason before the rookie draft. Anyway, the list seems pretty balanced between forwards/backs and mids. Need to add a couple of talls and otherwise just find the best quality players we can get.

Reminds me of Jayden Hunt who was overlooked by the TAC cup and didn't do much for 2 years before bursting out in year 3. Hopefully McKenna can do the same. I'd certainly try him forward first though. Goal kickers are so hard to find these days.

I expect we'd be looking at a developing tall defender in the draft, or maybe someone like Xavier Richards. Regardless, I'd be trying Hulett as a key defender.

Defenders: 12 Key defenders: T Mc, Oscar, Frost, Garland Medium defenders: Hibberd, Wagner*, Lumumba, Smith*, White* Small defenders: Jetta, Salem, Hunt Mids: 18 Ruck: Gawn, Spencer, Mitch King Inside mids: Jones, Viney, Tyson, Oliver, Vince, Brayshaw, ANB, Michie* Outside mids: Lewis, Stretch, Melksham, Bugg, Harmes, Trengove, Newton Forwards: 13 Tall forwards: Hogan, Watts, Pedersen, Weideman, Hulett, Max King* Medium forwards: Petracca, Vanders, McKenna, Maynard* Small forwards: Kent, Garlett, Kennedy, JKH Delisted: Grimes, Terlich, M Jones, Dawes Traded out: Dunn Players In: Lewis, Hibberd, McKenna 2 list spots available currently. Need to take at least 3 picks in the draft, even if they are rookie upgrades. Nervous times for Michie, Newton, Mitch White and Max King.

Yep not a bad way of thinking about it over the 2 year period: 1st rounders: Oliver and Weed 2nd rounders: Melksham and Hibberd 3rd rounders: Mitch King, Hulett. Pick 47 4th+ rounders including rookies: Wagner, J Smith, this years remaining picks Players Out: Howe, Toumpas, Dunn Players In: Kennedy, Bugg, Lewis, McKenna We gave up consecutive 2nd round picks and also gave away our 2nd rounder from the Howe deal last year to get the 2 top 10 first round picks in and then drafted talls in the 3rd round. So the pressure is on to add some quality this year in the draft. We don't need superstars but we need at least 1 talented running player and to add some more depth to the developing tall stocks.

They also get 30 for 49. It's an even and quality top 30 this year. So they get 3 really nice bites of the cherry for the price of 4 spots in the first 13. Fair deal.

Marchbank should've been pick 15. Instead he was pick 7 for needs. If he was pick 15 clubs would be rapt to have him. Compared to Hugh Goddard who was the other tall defender they were interested in I think they made the right choice. Of course Jake Lever is better than both. The other thing to remember is that the other 4 guys all would've stayed at most other clubs but GWS have to push them out due to list space and opportunity. They sell them for cheap because they have to. Other clubs would keep them until they got healthy and a chance to play. Ahern would've played 15 games in his first year at the Dees, instead he doesn't get a chance and then does 2 knees.

Marchbank is a quality young tall. Steele a very solid midfield prospect, he could play the next 150 games at a solid level. I'd give both of them ticks. Ahern's done 2 knees in the same year. But no issue with where he was taken. Just bad luck. Pickett's had his own injury issues as well. The thing about all of these guys besides Steele they were probably all drafted ahead of expectations because GWS were going for needs (Marchbank) and the cream (Pickett, Ahern, McKenna). When you've drafted a bunch of gun talls and a midfield of Shiel, Coniglio, Kelly, Whitfield, Scully, Greene etc you can afford to make a few riskier picks. Overall I think SOS does a good job. Not a great job, but good enough. He was always going to miss on a few when he had that many picks. Now GWS have the advantage of the academy which means they can develop their own players and pick the ones they want which can make it easier to avoid busts and even avoid injuries.

Apparently Carlton wanted him. Seems we beat them to him. Can probably thank Bryce Gibbs for Carlton being a bit busy.

How hard will Bernie be going to get him to join his cricket team?

Yep. So in effect we gave up McKenna for 3 guys and now have McKenna. The problem with that line of thinking is GWS drafted McKenna very early looking for speculative talent instead of taking safer picks in positions they already had covered. So even if we liked McKenna we probably didn't like him as much as pick 23. Still we've turned pick 23 in to 4 players I'm happy we have on the list. 2 valuable young key defenders, a midfielder and a utility. I'm not sure any will be stars but quantity is important as well to keep pressure for games and list spots.