DeeSpencer

Has all the hallmarks of a future whipping boy but can do enough as a half back or half forward to fill a role and does his best as a tagger. And all signs point to us having at least 1 if not 2 or 3 midfield/defensive half forward players.

I think Nibbler and a future second is wildly optimistic for Houston. Nibbler and a 2025 first sounds spot on. Even if they allow trading 2026 picks I can’t see us getting back in to the first round with picks alone. It’s too far off for teams to want that pick, unless they’re a deep rebuild side somehow ending up with 15-20 and gambling that we’ll be awful. I suspect it will take another player to get in to the first round again, which may well happen. But wait and see on that. I’m pretty confident that barring any off field concerns or injuries that Langford goes top 5. Lalor has a wide draft range that generally will be influenced by interviews and 2km time I think given the production just hasn’t been there for a variety of reasons. O’Sullivan’s such a strange one. About as well rounded as a medium sized midfielder gets - run, speed, sharp skills, overhead marking, balance, kicks goals. Everything you’d want in a 182cm midfielder. Exactly the kind of midfielder we need to balance our midfield. Comes in to the year the presumptive number 1 pick then just hasn’t had the year due to injury. But he reminds me a lot of a young Trent Cotchin and I wonder if the Tigers will ultimately think the same. If he just has 2 or 3 dominant Coates league games he’ll go back to pick 1, but if can’t put anything on tape he’s suddenly a bit theoretical.

1. Langford - I think the athleticism doubts are overblown and he's so good around stoppages and with a marking outside game and penetrating boot 2. O'Sullivan - pure class 3. Ashcroft 4. Lalor - I'd go this high on him, just so explosive 5. Draper -good speed, hands and vision 6. Jagga - he's rock solid but a bit meh Not a huge fan of Smillie and not sure where the talls fit in just yet.

I hope so, and I’d trust Port to be reasonable. Adelaide certainly aren’t.

I’m fine with letting him go and even acknowledging the trade request before the final round. But you got to play the trade week games and get the best deal. That’s the business. Why are we acting like he’s a free agent? Tim Lamb gets offered peanuts from the South Australian clubs, how is he meant to hold out for a real offer now?

Seems to have done very well in football and schooling giving you have to assume his parents couldn't read or write.

Not sure Jack will be the Macrae we want. His brother makes more sense to me.

Swans got 33 for Adams last year. Was a rubbish draft but Nibbler's healthier, better. If anyone wants him it has to be a 2nd. Otherwise, sorry Alex, you signed the contract.

Can kick a nice little 15m dart inside 50, but around the ground it's 30m up and unders, generally after folding out the back of a stoppage and ruining any decisive attacking momentum. We've got worse but he's high efficiency, low impact.

That was a mistake off the back of Laurie putting in a great preseason (he looked excellent over summer) then resuming being bog ordinary come games. I wonder if it explains the Kolt draft pick. Kolt has Nibbler attributes.

The good news is we can get our second round pick back from the Crows, or lower the cost of the Houston deal

Not many can do it as well especially in their prime and good teams need them. GWS took years to find Bedford and steal him from us for example.

Serong, Brayshaw, Hayden Young haven't missed a game. Fyfe has missed 1, I believed they used that to give Neil Erasmus a go who's a top 10 pick who dominates the WAFL and has barely played. How many midfielders in top 6 teams / top 4ish quality midfields like Freo's fit the description of one paced, average skills and poor running? He's pretty much an identical player to Dunstan who we gave a bit of a look at in his first year then never got another go because we knew what we had. If we can't field 4 better mids next year then sure, bring him over, otherwise don't waste the spot.

Crazy that he racked up 11 Brownlow votes. He’s one paced, poor ball user and not a great runner. There’s no politics there

Unless we’ve seen enough to make a call there’s no player I want to see more than Marty Hore the next 2 weeks. He’s the only out of contract player we have who’s not a young developmental player nor an older veteran. Given there’s not much on the line I’d like to give him the chance to push his case for another year.

A luxury addition at a time we’re trying to restock our meat and potatoes players and culture.

Marginally better inside ball winner but without the 2 way running and explosive burst Sparrow has. More of a pure inside mid. But we’d be in trouble if he was more than depth and I hope we don’t need to burn list spots on one dimensional depth players.

Yawn, there’s not much to be said right now, and particularly not in regards to unsubstantiated trade rumours. I’ll judge the boards handling of the footy department based on reviews and changes at the end of the year. The home base issue has been disappointing but we never had full control of our destiny there.

Saad El-Hawli looked legit in the Essendon VFL team and then wrecked his ankle, not the greatest proof of concept but had he stayed healthy he'd have been something. Logan Evans who Port took one pick behind us is fantastic, and just a kid. He'll be the player of this mid season draft. Unfortunately I'm not sure our budget even covers the SANFL, or if we can't find the streams. Brynn Teakle was the obvious choice to give Max some cover for the season as well as straighten us up in the forward line, has done pretty well at North. And Ned Long has been a useful contributor for the Pies who have had the same midfield struggles as us but have gone at got reinforcements. Kentfield was a 100-1 to go in the top 50 in this years draft, but we took him so we can get a look at him and have him settled before doing a preseason. That way he's ready to perform at Casey next year and you're not waiting until 2026 to even know if he'll be up to it at VFL level yet alone AFL level. Right now it's hard to see the positives in that investment.

10 am start for the VFL. The lads will be doing mad Monday by 1pm. What a way to go out for a few big names especially.

I’d be shocked if he went interstate but moving clubs in Melbourne is hardly that dramatic and Tommy seems to thrive on changes. And the key back market is crazy and limited for options. I reckon Tom would do wonders for Carlton, Essendon, North and they’d all be having a nibble. We free up salary and list spot, if we genuinely think Harry Edwards is an AFL player we need to offer him best 22 opportunity. No way he leaves West Coast especially if Barrass is gone to be our 4th or 5th string key back. And we spread out the May/McDonald age bracket. There’s potentially a win-win for both sides.

Out of contract rucks according to footywire: Kailin Lane - shown a bit in the lions ruck log jam but did his ACL Alex Mirkov - hasn't shown much development Aiden Begg - undersized and injured Liam Reidy - was more of a forward when drafted but dominating WAFL hit outs at least Braydon Preuss - I very much doubt it. Clay Tucker - only young, haven't seen a lot of him, seems to be play forward a fair bit Hamish Free - lots of concussions and not great VFL form Tom Campbell - hmmm, I doubt it. Lachlan McAndrew - huge height, athletic, developing from no idea how to play to something interesting Tim English - surely too expensive Reidy or McAndrew would both interest me. Although if we add a forward who can ruck a bit we might just see if Verrall can improve enough to own the spot.

That's simply not true, Petty took JVR's stint in the ruck in the middle of the last quarter. Gawn had an extended rest in the 3rd quarter in preparation for doing much of the last quarter. Melksham was expected to do more but that's the life of the sub some times, you can't always come in and pick up the pace of the game no matter that you're fresh. If we subbed Fritsch people would ask why we subbed our best goal kicker. If we subbed Disco people would ask why we subbed the young guy who was clunking a few marks and making an impact across half forward.

It's a full ground approach. Amon and Impey drive it a lot and they combine with their tall backs, especially Weddle to really power it from their backline. Their midfield gets called young but the reality is Day, Newcombe, Worpel and Nash are all pretty experienced and coming in to prime ages sooner than later. And then their half forwards all just run to great areas and have great flow, especially Dyl Moore but others like Connor MacDonald too. We have to start with making sure our core rotation of mids is rock hard fit, then get our backline to stop playing so scared and lazy to run, then hope we have enough half forwards with some smarts, work rate and class as well as tall forwards who don't just position down the line but are actually reacting to the ball movement and willing to make unrewarded leads.

If he has a good preseason (he missed time at various stages this summer and obviously still has a lot of muscle to add) I suspect he'll be ready for at least a string of games next year, but I wouldn't expect a full season and an automatic spot in the best 22. I think Tom McDonald's contract will likely depend on whether we get Harry Edwards, who may or may not become a best 22 CHB (not convinced by him but worth a look). Overall though: BBB 6 games Schache 1 game Tomlinson 5 games (and even T Mc and May 19 games) That's your pathway to get him 10 games pretty easily. Unless Disco takes a huge leap forward I expect Jeffo should compete and hopefully beat him for games next year so Disco can focus on the backline. But for now Disco is having a good crack and I don't want to see that interrupted.