DeeSpencer

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.

Yep but barring a great deal I’m not trading Salem if we’re bringing in Brodie/Parfitt types or kids. It’s got to be Peatling level guys. Possibly you can make a case for the guy we take at pick 5 to be a likely best 22 inclusion but it depends who it is.

Tried to trade up for Watson. Probably didn’t have the cash for Chol. Rather lose every week than have Ginnivan.

3 talls who offer nothing in attack is a worry. It’s why Tommy Mc was vital this year and partly why Petty stayed forward. May has lost his confidence to run but can still do more. Petty has the skills, just a matter if he has the mindset. Lever tried more this year, he was a great linking handballer when we got him but has always been prone to a shank by foot. I’d change Chaplin’s line role because I just don’t trust him to change. He was a slow ball user when he played. I’m the patron saint for trading Fritsch for similar reasons at the other end of the ground so I can’t be against trading Salo. But it comes down to return and options. And mostly whether they believe Salo can get fit and get his burst back. If Rivers can stay back then Riv, Judd, Bowey, Howes and if he gets fit AMW can be backed in to transform the backline. But we need at least 2 ready to play mids (or half backs) to make that viable. So I doubt it will. Whether we are aggressive with trades out or not we have to at least take some swings on hard running players. Billings, Fullarton and McAdam doesn’t look good right now they were all moves to attempt to fix certain deficiencies. Multi year deals and draft picks for McAdam both not ideal but we’ll have the list spots to try again.

Scache 🤣🤣🤣🤣 the problem was having him on the list, not not playing him

Yep that’s crazy. We have tweaks to make. Our wingers often just guard too much non dangerous grass and the handovers between wings, half forwards and half backs has been really poor at times. But the biggest factor is our mids and half back aren’t spreading to get in position quick enough. Our half forwards don’t drop outside 5 enough either. Plus a lack of energy and movement in the zone in general. Overall tho the Hawks are rolling out a very similar zone to us and doing it very well.

When the Hawks were up they messed around with Scully, Patton type guys. But they also got highly rated players for cheap in Impey and Scrimshaw and stashed them away until they were good again. What hurts is we went hard for Karl Amon and Lloyd Meek. I think we got really close to getting both of them. Chol got paid a fortune, I hope we wanted him but I understand if we couldn’t do the price. I hope we had a go at D’Ambrosio too, Essendon, what on earth!

That Wothers shot was worth a go, she’s got a goal in her today with a bit of luck

She operates under the wind

Taking the Pisano!

That’s a huge chase from Zanks

The Lions just have a better calibre of athletes than we do. As well as more midfield depth. We’ve defended fiercely but you need high impact forwards in these conditions.

Holding the ball became holding the woman!

That deal saved his bacon and I reckon he was lucky there was a crazy millionaire in Perth who decided he had to have them. Although basketball was a smart growth market to identify and he could use SEN to cross promote.

I posted some my thoughts on them in the finals thread which is mostly that they’re super fit, super organised and crack in hard. Skilled but not afraid to play contested footy. Especially with Day out their midfield has a big defensive tilt with Worpel, Nash and Ward all defensively focussed. Because they aren’t afraid to spread the ground they can use wings and flankers to do most of their ball movement. They have good kicks but they’re so rarely trying any high risk stuff, the speed of ball movement and running creates easy options and they take them. Aside from getting fit and training up ball movement patterns I think our list focus has to be on finding guys who run to receive and are confident kicking on the run. You could see the impact Langdon has on our side and hopefully Windsor (and Judd, Nibbler, others) and how we need that by in from 22.

I’m not sure CJ is a star, fun player when you’re rebuilding but be butchers it. To do this without Day is impressive, but he’s another mid who’s done his apprenticeship. I wonder if there’s something to having experience down back (although with Amon and Impey having more legs than our boys), a midfield that’s coming in to prime age/games played and mostly a young forward line. Chol plays like he’s 21, Dear plays like he’s 24 (crazy find), the smalls have the pace and exuberance of youth whilst also having big tanks. Moore gets his praise but MacDonald is so underrated, like a younger better ANB

I did. That’s list age. It’s a very young list with mostly kids at Box Hill. Their actual team tonight: Average age is 25 6 months. Average games is 100. 6 players under 50. Port last night. 25.10, 107, 6 under 50. No one was getting excited for the young Power (even before the result). For most of this year we had very similar numbers and often more guys under 50 games.