DeeSpencer

=5th. GWS, Dogs =7th. Brisbane, Port =8th. Carlton, Geelong, Sydney, Hawthorn

Nope I like Chappy. Has some room to improve with her disposal but she attacks the game the right way, really honest footballer. it's Bannan from Paxy so far.

Yeah I don't think 2 rucks are in our best 21, but they played both of them to ease the workload on Pearce through the early rounds of the season given how vital she is. Ideally Tayla would be the second ruck which always got her involved in games and opened the forward line up. I'd probably play Campbell if she's fit because she's a pretty special talent if they can get her to the level. But full well knowing that one of Campbell or Watt has to come out by the end of the year. I'd like another crumber but that relies on them being any good. The best line is up probably Purcell in asap allowing Hore to play forward more as well as Hanks and Goldy rotating forward more too. I'm also yet to get a full grasp on just what kind of player Wotherspoon is. Didn't do much against the Cats but there's a good footballer in there. Seems to have size to compete in the air but also ability on the ground and a good tackler.

Unfortunate for Tayla and if the team did make it through to a top 4 finish you’d love to have her out there. But in what is shaping as a bit of a rebuild year it might not be so bad to get games in to some of the young talls or even go a little smaller and more mobile. The output often hasn’t matched the reputation with Tay tay

Jagga gets it 30+ a week so it’s easy to make compilation videos of his best pieces of play. Isolate the individual games and you’ll see he’s a backwards sideways handball merchant with an up and under kick. Obviously super windy but watch how many times he snaps for goal don’t go anywhere or his kicks from congestion just hang in the air. Not tall. Very slight build with no hips or shoulders. To me he’s closer to Kynan Brown than a top pick. He’ll carve out a career no doubt but I wouldn’t be interested with a pick anywhere in the top 10 yet alone 5 or 6. Obviously it’s been a big year for small outside in mids like Daicos, Butters, Serong, Merrett but they all have combinations of elite skills, pace and (aside from Daicos) they’re very physical. Jagga probably has to study someone like Lachie Neale and really build his body up and work on his clearance craft, otherwise he’s what? Darcy Parish?

Skills look a bit messy and decision making is haphazard at times. But genuine forward/mid versatility and can win the ball in a lot of ways. I’m thinking more early second than late first at this stage.

Port are second on the ladder and hosting a home final. Geelong are 3rd with no quality midfielders. One of them will host a home prelim and be favourites to make the grand final. This is an unusually even season and maybe the Hawks, Freo and the Dogs just dominate next year, but who knows? We add pick 6 and a few quality trade ins and we're a chance to improve greatly.

It's a nightmare trying to find actual rules to see if Riak is even still in our academy. One set of rules I found said you can include an overage player in your academy but nothing conclusive about whether that allows you to match bids or preselect as a rookie. Forget about whether White will come, first we got to see if he's actually any good. JT never promotes the guys in younger years for a good reason. Got to dare to dream but we're a long way off knowing if he's even someone we want yet.

I’ve always thought Cumming, Perryman and Lukosius were the keys to Port lowering their asking price. If Port land 2 out of 3 (or more) of those targets their cap will be overflowing. At which time you make a pragmatic decision to sell now on Houston. Especially when you’re bringing in free agents or discounted price key forward. An early second and a future first is the kind of price I’d pay for Houston.

He’s mostly a possible because I’d be trading him. But I’d also be playing Tracc as a permanent forward for the start of next year so the pressure is on medium forwards who don’t defend. Even more so if McAdam can get fit. We just can’t be carrying such a one dimensional player especially if the aim is to play a more open and faster paced style.

The Morris report said Melbourne denied it and listed St Kilda and Essendon as the clubs with the cap space. St Kilda probably the one, after losing Battle they’ve got a huge hole at CHB and not much big spending anywhere really (maybe Max King and Marshall). Has all the hallmarks of Gubby Allen. I haven’t seen enough from Mac as a forward to say he’s worth that money. We’ve got Petty for a couple of years at least as well as Lever. That’s a lot of cash for key backs even if they would be dominant. Not sure the timing really adds up for us. But I love that the Suns will be kept honest for him and they’ll need to punt Lukosius to free cap space.

Andy Brayshaw’s about the safest bet in the league, Freo won’t have any issues giving him 6 years. The question will be money and whether he’s happy over there. The sticking point is whether Serong will leap him for the captaincy and whether Young, Serong, Bolton all leap him as mids and he has to play forward or wing more. In the real world you sign Brayshaw. In a fantasy world building a perfect side I’d want a big bodied mid and more forward class to play next to Young, Serong, Bolton more than I’d want Brayshaw. But I suspect he’ll be signed by March.

Personally I think it’s great we honoured Nibbler although I do wish the messaging was a little firmer on the trade - if it needs to be. But I will recognise we don’t know how much work has been done on a trade already and I suspect most of trade week is theatre. And ultimately he’s contracted to us so we do have the final leverage if Adelaide got really stupid. He can FIFO for games! That said, getting lessons in the art of the deal from Hutchy who bought and sold a bunch of New Zealand radio stations at a massive loss, yeah nah. I bet you could find Hutchy praising teams for ‘mature’ list management decisions in other years.

Well if we don’t draft him that might well be Duff Tytties

We need to offload a skinny one way running lazy forward not add in a fat one

It’s Adelaide. Somehow they’ll ask for Petty, a first round pick, send us another McAdam and have Tex’s racism added to our cultural issues by the end of trade week whilst they offer us a future 4th.

The crows coaching staff and footy department need ANB or other senior players or they’ll be out of their jobs come next September. The issue is we’ve given up a lot of leverage if a deal isn’t already done.

FB: ????? May Lever HB: McVee Petty Bowey C; Langdon Rivers Windsor HF: Chandler ????? Viney FF: Pickett Turner Petracca Foll: Gawn Oliver ????? Int: Salem JVR Tholstrup ????? Probables: Fritsch, Sparrow, T Mc, Howes Possibles: Pick 6, Melksham, Jefferson, Billings, Spargo, McAdam, Fullarton Just need a genuine CHF, a quality midfielder, a back pocket and some quality speed in the forward line and we'll be sweet.

Not his best game, looks like he was physically targeted early and had trouble dealing with the breeze, but did show just how strong a ball winner he is when he crashes in to contest and there was some nice handballs and kicks at times. By the way, plenty of glimpses of big Ah Mu in 65. He's a massive kid for 17.

What’s the opportunity tho? Pies future first and we have to take De Goey? A Carlton mid first rounder and Cerra or Zac Williams or someone else over paid? The places Tracc wanted to go weren’t willing to off anything realistic. Im sure Carlton thought about Harry McKay but I’m also sure Harry thought about Melbourne for 1 second before saying ‘get stuffed’. If there was anything remotely worth accepting on the table I think Tracc’s camp would still be pushing it.

After getting dropped his form was very solid in a bad VFL side. Consistent goals and tackles. The talent is very much still there. If he gets and stays fit he has the tools to contribute. We’ll know by November if he’s down the back in the running or in the rehab group

I’d have hoped we made a genuine offer but the idea he’d replicate 2021 is unlikely when you look at the rest of his career. And if the footy department cap is a legit thing paying a fortune for Burgo would mean skimping on coaching and recruiting. Burgo made sure we had a good replacement and good processes in place. If he wants silly money then let Carlton pay it and make sure we’re spending on fresh coaching and list management staff.

He did, but that was during covid times. Now the kids are 3 years old and Carlton are prepared to offer him half of Lygon St. Money can’t buy happiness but it can buy return flights to Adelaide, boarding school and trust funds.

Langford has size and aggression at the contest Lalor has that pure explosive power Finn O’Sullivan is a classic swooper with balance and the ability to hit the ball at pace Murphy Reid is just incredible class and creativity. And that’s without several other options. It reminds me of 2017: Rayner, Brayshaw, Dow, LDU, Cerra, (Stephenson), Hunter Clark. But I think these guys are better than most of those.

Same goes for Jai Serong, thought he was best on for the Hawks yesterday. Good package of size, skills, athleticism, ball winning off half back. Going to be very hard to break in to the Hawks backline once they add Battle and Barrass, and possibly Perryman on the wing. They might be willing to move one of those depth pieces a year early given they won’t be able to keep them once they sit in the vfl for another year.