DeeSpencer

He has been awful. It's a ridiculous compensation based on Collingwood's stupid offer. Swan and Cloke moving on opens up most of the room for Wells and Mayne and then they just don't have a lot of good players to earn big money.

I could see Bowes being bid on. He's very good and Gold Coast have pick 4 (and want pick 2). They would probably have to match the local boy at that pick. I don't think it will happen as it's a bit too risky but it's very low risk. Setterfield isn't as good and the Giants would just let him go and laugh at Essendon's bid. Both Essendon and us had the chance last year to put some serious heat on GWS with picks 4,5, 6 and 8 for Hopper and Kennedy but we didn't risk it.

It's a valid concern. But I think the worry with players who don't get much of the ball is that they don't have footy smarts. It's often the athletic guys who can't read the play. From what I've seen of Weideman he has a lot of footy smarts when he gets the ball and he comes from a footy family and grew up with the game, so I think the smarts are there. I'm hoping/expect his low possessions/involvement are from playing deep forward and the limited tank.

On an individual basis the late pick gems would surely give recruiters the most joy but adding talent consistently year after year is the point of their jobs so if I was a recruiter I'd be frustrated if I didn't have a pick in the first 2 rounds. I'd want to fully explore the option of trading a future 2nd round pick. We have a nice group of young talent but we are a long way from fully stocked. We need more guys who can run and kick and the 2nd round is often where you find them.

I think Jason Taylor would've been beating down Goodwin, Mahoney and Viney's door saying don't leave me out of the first 2 rounds of this draft. Gold Coast have pick 29. We could trade next years second rounder for that and on trade 29 or even 28 to Essendon if that's what it takes. I think GC will do it, they have too many picks in this draft. But they won't do it until they get deals for Prestia and O'Meara sorted as they need all options open to them whilst they are doing those big deals.

I have thought all along our 2nd rounder next year is a better deal. Not sure why Mahoney ever talked our pick this year unless it was to avoid focus on the issue. We lost Melksham for a year. The bombers can wait until next year for the Hibberd pick. Half a chance it ends up a better pick anyway. But for us we need to get in to this draft and there's every chance an even draft a kid we rated in the top 15 or so gets to 28. Too important to give that up.

Interesting. I hope he picks us. I know nothing about him but we certainly need to keep adding guys with pace and endurance and the Irish guys often have toughness which makes a nice combination. Of course there's the Jimmy story but we might also be able to sell him on the development of Jayden Hunt as a raw talent who's come on. We might go from no category B rookies to the limit of 3 within 12 months which would be a good sign of improving investment in the footy department.

New England Philly San Diego

I don't think that's too bad. He's had what, 1 year at Casey? If he's coming off a low base of professional training that can improve a fair bit

I'm a pessimist too and I think the season will be really even. Brisbane can improve quickly and Richmond can too. Essendon will be decent, GC improved, Freo the same. But in order to not be too pessimistic I'd say the following teams we will really struggle to beat: - GWS, Adel, Syd, Geel away - Dogs anywhere due to their ability and the match up - St Kilda anywhere because we never beat them The trade off means we can win any of the rest of the games which could be about 17 games. I think we can win travelling to WA, QLD, v Port or to Tassie. Mix up some good and bad performances, if we drop a couple early then bounce back to 2-2, then try to get to 5-5 and then to 10-10 like we were this year and see how we finish.

He was pretty bad the first year he came over from North but I reckon he's been in decent nick the last few years. Certainly he could improve his running to move with the modern game but I don't think he's far off. He's got a big frame and a plodding run, I don't think that's going to change much no matter what he does. I'd like to see him play full games in all the preseason games to make sure he's got match fitness for round 1. He often takes a while to build form as the weather gets a bit wetter and the fast starting players come back to the field.

Rumour of North being in to Harry Dear and whilst a little undersized at 197cm he's a big strong lad, played TAC at Sandy under Plappy. Could play the 2nd ruck/forward role. Kicked a bag of 6 and a few 3's and 4's in the SANFL and is stuck behind Walker, Jenkins and McGovern. Anyway seen or heard about him?

I bet we still get our home game there. Why would the AFL give money to the MCG when they can have our Etihad game and take money from us? Will be interesting to see what happens with Geel, Rich, Haw, Coll and us all not enjoying the occasional 1-2 home games there a year. Eddie will do his lid if the Pies still have to play there.

They use it for A league games quite often. The turf is much better now, the real issues come when they hold concerts or events right before the start of footy season.

They probably send Shifter round to every club to preview their first pick. I don't think we can ignore 26 until the deal is done. There's a disclaimer that it might not be our first pick.

It's not like they haven't lost players before, but overall I'd say the upgrades we got on Frawley and Sylvia were worth the same as the pick 19 Brisbane are getting.

I'm talking back up rucks. Most are 200cm+ these days. Spencer and Gawn worked together once and they haven't tried it again because Spencer up forward is about as useful as picking someone out of the crowd.

Frawley for pick 3. Sylvia for pick 23. We were looked after. But the Lions didn't have to wait for a year under their new coach to get the freebie like we did with Frawley. Didn't have to give up a player either. There list is certainly better placed than ours when Roos took over. That said, we have to aim to beat the clubs at the top not worry about what the ones at the bottom are doing.

So teams with either a 200cm or similar player in the forward/ruck spot: Do: The entire top 8 - Sydney, Bulldogs, GWS, Geel, Adel (Jenkins 199), Haw (multiple options), WCE, North (Daw 195cm + leap) Outside the 8: GC (2m Peter), Freo (Clarke or Apeness 201cm), Carlton (Kreuzer 200cm) Could: Brisbane (often use Walker but have Hipwood 200cm), Ess (use a variety of players but could use Daniher 200cm), Coll (use Jesse White but can use Cox or Moore) Don't: St Kilda (Bruce 197cm), Port (Westhoff 198cm or Trengove 197cm), Richmond (Griffiths 198cm) I really think we are dead last in terms of options. I'd trade Pedersen for any of the above best choice options.

Not sure it's unders for a guy who's nearly 27, had a year out of the game, has only played 80 games and has had a few injuries. I think it's more than fair given 100 solid games is really the maximum we can get from Hibberd. That's higher than the return on most pick 26'ers who have to develop and could easily flop but it's also a risk of giving up the 1 in 10 or so shot of getting an A grader around that mark.

It's much easier for a ruck to roll forward and take a grab on their fellow ruckman than it is starting forward on a gun full back, but yes I think Gawn has value as a forward. He was drafted after playing forward in the TAC. Similarly Boyd's contested marks were often around the ground which is easier than as a forward leading up. What I like about Gawn forward is he would be predictable and would rarely get beaten, so the ball would come to ground and make it easier for crumbers. Watts and Hogan deep can get beaten but Gawn's extra size makes it hard and also easier for him to draw free kicks. You can't spoil the ball if Gawn gets a clear run at it, so he'll get chopping of the arms or holds/push frees. 40 goals is too high, but from 30-35% time forward as well as drifting forward from the ruck I think he could get up towards 30 goals. Just a matter of finding a ruck good enough to play 30-40% in the middle without us losing momentum in there and who can fit in the forward structure with or without Hogan, Watts and Weid.

Boyd - 200cm Tippett - 203cm Stanley - 200cm Lobb - 205cm Ceglar/McEvoy/Fitz/Vickery - all 200cm+ Jenkins 199cm Lycett - 203cm Daw - 195cm with a huge leap So the majority of the top sides have 200cm players and there's various levels of talent/output there but I can't see Hulett doing it. For 5 minutes a quarter it isn't an important position but for the long term durability and versatility of Gawn it would be better to have a guy who can hold his own in the ruck so Gawn can go forward more often. Teams with 2 guys who can perform in the ruck continue to win the flag with Collingwood the only exception I can think of.

Playing the Weid on a wet day against Carlton was a massive error. Then round 23 was a dead rubber so he stayed in. Weid's fitness gains in the off season will determine the pecking order in to round 1 I think. Not that Pedersen is great in that regard but he can lay the odd tackle, Weid was pretty much a witches hat once the other team got the ball. Given Hogan and Watts has an aversion to tackling as well it's a major concern.

Good point, but they know they are losing Vickery and still need 3 options I guess. They don't have a 3rd guy ready to go. I expect Maric is there partly as a steadying presence in a team that could potentially self destruct pretty quickly if things go badly next year.

Well we wouldn't be looking if we didn't need one? Pedersen's done the job before but he can't win hit outs, doesn't follow up all that well around the ground and fatigues easily. Watts is decent at it but he's wasted there given we need the ball in his hands around the ground. Hulett looks like a man child, I'm not sure he's going to have a growth spurt and at 194cm he'll have a hard time taking on 200cm back up rucks.