DeeSpencer

We’re in a competition with Brisbane, Gold Coast, the other clubs that get early academy or father son picks. So when they get picks before us it absolutely matters. It pushes us down the line of talent. Even if our pick stayed at 7 and 8 unfortunately it’s not a great group. There’s not a quality crop of mids and talls. It’s mostly flankers.

10 out. 6 in: Culley, Henderson, Mihocek, Heath, CJ, Steele 4 spots open and Woey. 3 picks: 7, 8, 37 2 rookies: White and Sinnema?

He's just a baby. Viney got 4 at that age. Why even stop at 3. Let's give him the Tim Lamb special cutlet

Apparently yes

Helped that he only had 1 year left on the deal. Whatever he's lost for 2026 he has a chance to make up and more over the next decade.

Cool story, but that's not how a contract works. We signed it, he has every right to that money unless we found a way to sack him

Of course, but you can't terminate someone's contract for stuff that doesn't even get out in the public. Plenty of questionable stuff going on in 2023, but same thing applies. For all the talk on here about how much we leak, seems we didn't leak enough!

Good news - 3 firsts. Bad news, it’s a bit like Jezza Cameron for Conor Stone, Ryan Angwin and Brayden Cook. JT has to work some magic!!

Good news - 3 firsts. Bad news, it’s a bit like Jezza Cameron for Conor Stone, Ryan Angwin and Brayden Cook. JT - please work some magic!

Clarry’s major crime was going to the pokies and putting someone’s wind screen wipers up. Some other stuff too but since the start of the ‘24 season he hasn’t made a single public error. Jamarra, well….google it I guess. At the end of the day there’s nothing in contracts about not being at your best. The Hawks had Chad Wingard unfit and playing Playstation all the time once he got his big contract. Even at GwS - Kelly, Coniglio, Haynes all played about half a good game between them in 4 years.

Aside from anything cultural the 5 years is the big factor with Oliver and the reason we aren’t getting anything for him even more than the money factor. The dees brains trust don’t like the risk of having him fully stinking up our cap for 28, 29, 30. Steele should be 2 years on less than moderate money, no ongoing downside after that. I do agree tho on taking our chances with a train on player. Probably won’t find a good mid but can find a wing or flanker and shuffle guys around.

Saints fans keep spruiking that all their senior players were heaving front loaded. Who knows if it’s true but could be. Either way we’d surely only pick up the amount that reflects his value as a guy who only got a game as he was captain last year.

Steele has a 2 year deal so we don’t get that flexibility for one year. Campbell, Melk, Laurie, May, McDonald, McAdam some of AMW, AJ, one of the young key forwards. Can already do next years delistings so list spaces aren’t a problem. Picks 7 and 8 are usually ready for the afl system. Not guys who need a lot of handholding to adapt to the basics. And our plan for the late list spots might be White and Sinnema who have spent time at the club and in academies. Mentha is the only real baby on the list as it is. He and Luker the only guys who haven’t played a game. I don’t think we should be worried about having too many developmental players on the list.

Even that’s too much. It’s fringe player wages and pick 100. St Kilda have told Steele to pack up his locker. Every dollar we save them on his contract is doing them a big favour.

We needed Cross because we were completely bereft of senior fit bodies and leaders in the Neeld years, it was Jones and nothing else. We have Max, Viney, Pickett, Rivers, Sparrow, Culley as well as the 4 young guys ready to play. Maybe we even give Bill Laurie a run and see what happens. Plenty of experience down back especially with CJ added. Mihocek to help Melk, Fritsch, Chandler forward. I’d rather roll the dice on a Fin Macrae, Henry Hustwaite, Tomson Dow if we want a mature body to shield the kids. Steele’s never captained a side to any kind of success and the Saints haven’t exactly been a great culture.

At some stage we should stop Alan Richardson collecting every one of his St Kilda rejects by simply firing him. Hopefully he can go to a new club and start collecting Melbourne rejects for us.

We’ll get smacked off the park regardless, why bother junking up the team with a plodder

They can have both if we get value out of the swaps. They have 29, 36, 37, Essendon’s future 3rd and all their future 2026 and 2027 picks. Swapping 28 for 29 is just a few free points for them given that pick will be consumed by bid matches, so that’s an easy option. Otherwise target Suns F2 or Essendon F3 which might be worth more than 28 (or even 24) in this draft. Both of those would be ideal.

2 great players? It’s 1 good player in Hayward and 1 guy who battled away in the vfl in Florent. Overall I’d take the Swans deal but the picks are worse than the ones we are offered so of course Hayward has to make up for it. And Curnow is more valuable than Tracc. I like the guys Carlton have brought in. Especially Chesser for a cheap price. But they’re topping up a team that’s still going nowhere unless Walsh and Jagga Smith become stars. I’d rather pick a direction with a new coach.

I like the sound of more draft capital. Future first would be nice. But if we give us 42 for a F2 that works too. Chuck in Essendon’s F3 as well.

Most super fast guys are poor decision makers, it’s up to coaches and team mates to get in the right spots so the decisions are clearer and to live with the fact their will be errors but they’ll be 70m down the line. Geelong just made a grand final with Bailey Smith doing exactly that.

This deal was only mentioned by Clarry’s journo of choice - Morris - this year. Last year Cats said we pay a pick or we pay cash and not both. No chance a club as tight as Geelong were actually going to pay up a pick and take on a big bulk of the cash.

The time to sack Clarry was 2023, but the hope then was surely to fix him and get years of good footy out of him. Plus I'm sure his side/the AFLPA would've asked for a period of mental health leave rather than a violation of his contract. Not sure he's done anything significantly wrong all through the 24 season until now to breach his contract. I'd rather the league just step in a create a max contract value and years similar to the NBA, but otherwise clubs might have to work together to formular some standard conditions and incentives in long term deals to protect clubs. Of course every club is so desperate for talent that they probably wouldn't agree to a standard conditions that project clubs and just roll the dice on guys.

Unlike Hibbo the moment CJ loses a step of pace he probably won't have much of a future, but 3-5 years seems about right. Frosty left us at 26 and gave the Hawks 5 years of decent footy, 4 of which they were rubbish and 1 they were good, after which he barely played this year then got chopped. If CJ can help absorb some of the loses and we can rebuild in 4 or less down years that will be a great result.

Wouldn’t say no, with an extra player on the bench next year we have another spot to fill in a team that’s losing 4 best 25 guys and adding only 1 so far. He’ll use the ball better if he gets continuity off half back compared with being in and out of the side on the wing. This might be a reach but I wonder if there’s any added benefits to getting CJ given our NGA zone has a big Sudanese community in the Casey-Cardinia area. I really liked Waddell Lual’s late season Casey form, let’s get him down for a preseason too. You can’t rely on the draft these days, you need to find every recruiting advantage you can get. We were prevented form getting Mac Andrew, maybe we need some representation in our side to encourage the Sudanese kids in Casey to play footy and join our academy.