DeeSpencer

Hard to read too much in to the highlights video but he looks pretty rangy and can do a bit overhead although it's not exactly packed with strong physical play. What I like, and what we desperately need is a 3rd tall defender with the ability to run with the ball and hit targets. Not sure he's the greatest kick of all time either but he does look like he enjoys running with the ball and taking it on and using his foot skills. Long term I think Frost and Oscar Mc should be fighting for 1 spot (or Tom's 2nd spot) and that we need a 3rd tall who can run and kick. These are reasonable comments: Brisbane have McStay (194), Cutler (190), Gardiner (191), Harris Andrews (200cm), Sam Skinner (193) and Hammelman (197) cm by way of taller defenders on their list and they have to bring in 1 or 2 older guys to give some cover to those young guys. In other spots if they were throwing out young players you'd probably think they are no good, but tall defenders might be different.

Some people say the 2nd ruck/forward is an important spot as you both ruck and play forward. I say it's not because you can't be in 2 spots at once so you don't have to be great at either. But if you are taking Fitzy in to a final it's pretty clear you don't have a lot of forwards or a lot of ruck depth. You could win a final with him, but you'd want to have some very good tall forwards and a good number 1 ruck. The Hawks don't have either right now.

Already a thread for Hogan crap, keep it there yeah?

Essendon being Essendon will probably ask for the world. No point in going overboard if you're Goodwin. Given he was talking about being appointed the senior coach I thought it was more important to get the headlines on the club and current players instead of talking too much about a recruit.

I like Egan. The guy was going to be a superstar before injury. Maybe it's nothing but I feel that's a recipe for a coach determined to get redemption. Neale Daniher worked out pretty well for us with a similar story. To get Essendon VFL in to and leading the 2nd week of finals given 10 of their best players were suspended and replaced by top ups and the list had little depth was a great effort. I'd give Egan the backline and shuffle Rawlings to the forwards or give Egan the forwards. New voices for our forwards and backs would be nice I think.

Yze was 23, Bruce was in his first year. No surprise that the young players in that team didn't learn from sub optimal leaders. That doesn't mean they haven't learnt now as coaches. Yze led the league in kicks one year, he wasn't all that lazy! Bruce could tag and beat the games best, play half back or half forward. Let's not rubbish them too much.

Oh please. They are best mates. Sando is there because he needed a job back at the elite level and Bucks needs well credentialed people to help the team win and/or help justify his spot if they lose. Gubby Allan has been parachuted in by Eddie to either sack Buckley if it doesn't pan our or more likely give him cover for another year or so if it doesn't pan out. Sando isn't on that level.

He was originally, then moved to QLD. Turns out post show he's been playing for North Ballarat. His 1 kick, 1 mark, 1 handball, 5 hit out game against Casey probably didn't leave us scrambling to get him. Some of his other games look better but he isn't exactly dominating. http://websites.sportstg.com/team_info.cgi?action=PSTATS&pID=201895974&client=1-118-10452-392693-6164200

Yep, he's one I'm keen on looking at a back up ruck with enough ability to be a reasonable forward option as well. Keen to see how he goes. Good, I'm still a fan.

In the last series they club recruiters voted to chose the winner. Then the clubs expressed interest in drafting that winner. GWS, GC and Port were the 3 clubs who did and the winner got to pick. Being a South Australian who had impressed Port's fitness coach it wasn't a surprise to see him pick Port. No idea who will want the winner of this series but if it's the QLD I'd expect both QLD clubs to bid and the AFL to help them out with the cash if needed.

The big fella seems to leap and move alright but who would know how he measures up to AFL talent. Plays local footy in QLD doesn't he?

I'm sure we heard last year that this years draft would be better than last years. It was a worry for me when we traded up but hasn't become reality. Seems like it happens most years. Unfortunately you can't trade during the draft because that would make it a lot easier. Wait until the pick you want is next in the draft order, make sure the kid you rate is still there and then do the swap.

Fair enough. I guess just being 195cm it's a fair effort to go against the 2nd rucks that are mostly 200cm plus these days. I'm sure he'd give it a go and probably be better than Pedda or Watts but I wouldn't recruit him for it unless he leaps like Nic Nat! Sounds like he's more of a power athlete so could be a full back a bit like Frost instead of a running CHB like one of the McDonald's. Might suit an Etihad team where he can camp back inside defensive 50 and then pick off contests. Could really suit North at FB whilst Tarrant does the running at CHB.

Yep I'd almost rather draft for need with 3 quick skillful kids in the late rounds/rookie draft than risk it going for one early. Seems very hard to get a measure on which of the kids taken for outside ability measure up to the AFL pressure.

No. I like both of them but Wagner and Vanders would be lucky to fetch mid 3rd round picks. Combining both of them would probably only add up to about an early 3rd, maybe a late 2nd if you found a club super desperate for depth which would be unusual. If we want a first round pick our best option might be to upgrade pick 26 this year combined with next years 2nd rounder to produce a pick around the 15 mark. I don't think we will do this due to the Hibberd trade. Or trade next years first rounder that I'd value at 7-13 for a pick around the 10 mark. I think we will consider this. GWS' pick 8 and Gold Coast (via us) pick 9 could be be swapped for our pick next year +/- a little extra on top. There's very few players on our list who I'd value at 2nd rounders and not any that I'd want to give up. We aren't giving up a guy worth a 1st rounder unless it's unexpected (Hogan, Salem etc). There's numerous players on our list worth 3rd or early 4th rounders who could be moved on to get late but usable picks in if we wanted to give up other picks but that doesn't help at the top end.

The majority of their quality young players have already come out of contract and been signed up. They might lose someone like Tom Campbell but more for opportunity than money. I'm sure the Boyd deal will test them,but I just don't think it will have any huge hurt on them. The cap space will rise and they have such depth of quality cheap young players up their sleeves that it will be mitigated. Don't pay Lin Jong 400k, trade him away, play Josh Dunkley who's still on his rookie deal. They can do that with several fringe players.

You want him to trade for an A grader or legend from another club? Good luck. Nathan Jones isn't Riewoldt or Hodge but he's not a scrub either. He's evolved in his leadership and has a crack every week. Vince did the same in the midfield. The half back line has been a bit of a challenge for him but he did well for half a year, not sure if it was injury or form that got him at the end. Daniel Cross did a role for us for 2 years and is still at the club. 1 of someone like a Barlow, Thompson or Dal Santo could be useful but it's unlikely we are going to get an on field general. More just a steady head and voice in the playing group. Viney and Gawn will take responsibility to lead this group like Ward and Davis have done at GWS. Jones, Vince, Trengove, Hibberd maybe if he got sorted out Lumumba, whomever else we have around will only be supporting Viney and Gawn once they take over more responsibility in due course ie. not too soon! Heath Shaw, Mumford, Patfull have done the same at GWS and none of them are super leaders, all have their own faults. Eventually Tyson, Brayshaw, Tommy Mc and so on can hopefully come through the ranks like Coniglio, Shiel whomever else the Giants have as emerging leaders.

Whom out of Jones, Tyson, Viney, Oliver and Brayshaw would you leave out for him? Not to mention Vince has to find a spot somewhere and is better on ball than on a wing or half back. I'd only see Barlow as depth and culture guy. Which is fine, we need some depth and leadership, but I'll be shocked and disappointed if he played 20 games, even more than an about 10 would have me concerned.

I'm assuming the punt is after a positive medical and that after evaluation our medical staff disagree with what Mach5 has attributed to Geelong's. Whilst he's got 2 arms, 2 legs and can still play at VFL level there's a chance that different experts give a different opinion. It's still going to be a punt even if he passes the medical based on his history. It would be a burning cash and list spot if he fails the medical.

Feel free to correct any/all of this as I go but from what I've seen and heard: He's not big enough or athletic enough to ruck at AFL level. Nor does he have the talent to play forward - very few do. So we are looking at a key defender. To be a key defender I think you need: - Endurance: ok for a young VFL player but not amazing from the running I saw in preseason where he was a fair way down the pack - Athleticism: think he's pretty good in that regard, moves nicely considering he'll fill out in to a pretty strong lad - Speed: pretty solid but not Frost level fast - Good mark: yep - Competitiveness: yep, is willing to spoil and use his body - Kicking skills: doesn't make many mistakes at VFL but probably isn't his strong suit at the next level I think with good AFL development he could play a few games but in the few times I've watched Casey I haven't seen anything that really blows me away like a big game of intercept marks or a game where he's rebounded, broke lines and kicked like an AFL flanker. If we move on one of Dunn or Garland we probably need to add another young key defender, I guess time will tell who that will be. I certainly wish him well. It will be a big tick for the Casey program and help both the Dees and Casey to have someone drafted. The more players drafted from your VFL club the more incentive for young players to go there and as that talent develops the stronger your VFL team and the more entrenched your AFL players get with winning and winning culture.

It's more like buying a former champion 3 year old that's broken down and missed 2 years for a few dollars and hoping you can get it right. We've added 2 basketballers to our cat B rookie list on the basis of good family pedigree, some under 16's footy ability and athleticism. The previous regime took Liam Jurrah. The Hawks wasted a pick on Dale Garlett. Freo took Shane Yarran. Even Jeff Garlett was a risk if some of the stories Carl fans say about him in his last year there are true. The way I see it there's only ever going to be so many talented players around and clubs will take risks to fill out their last few list spaces. I'd rather a Jayden Hunt type risk of a player with huge upside than adding a James Magner and I see Vardy as the type of risk that could work.

I'd take that statement as reasonably honest, but all it really means to me is that they won't be making 4 trades and signing 4 delisted players as free agents or rookies. Given the strength of our list is 18-23 year olds we aren't going to start topping up all over the place and not give our recruiters a crack at some fresh talent.

How has it hurt them? Ryan Griffen is just a player now, nothing special and the Dogs young mids stepped up without him. Sure they could've held on to a pick and taken a cheaper young key forward ie. Peter Wright but I think Boyd isn't any worse. Yeah the contract limits what else they can do but assuming he comes good as a decent key forward and the contract is front loaded then in 2-3 years he'll probably be on a fairer contract. 800k a year for a decent young key forward will be the going rate and he could be on that by then. Suckling has faults but he's around the mark as a bottom 6 guy in a top team and he was a free agent. If you have to pay a bit of extra cash to get him but can keep your draft picks then that's a win. I'd rather pay Suckling extra money and sign him for free than pay Hibberd good money and have to cough up a valuable pick. If we get a little more successful over the next year or two I'd love to sign a free agent of similar ability to Suckling to give us a bit more depth and keep draft picks. You can trade out players who aren't getting games and continue the cycle of getting in the draft or save a few picks to combine for a needs based trade.

Got through 17 games this year, but only 1 at AFL level. Missed 4 games this year with an ankle. Missed a season and a half with an ACL up until late 2015 but played well in a couple of games late that year. Not sure either of those injuries will be long term though. The long term one was his hip. If the hip is fine then there's still the chance that he keeps getting injured based on just being one of those guys/based on one injury leading in to another, but as long as his hip is fine then I'd have no problem giving him a shot.

I think whatever value there was to take from Hird and Thompson's time at Essendon we've got covered with Goodwin and McCartney. That said, the small group of banned bombers have been training with Sean Wellman who coached our backline better than anyone I can remember and it's been a select group featuring some pretty classy players in Watson, Hurley, Heppell and Hooker.