DeeSpencer

He’s an oversized flanker. Not an aerial defensive bone in his body. Has to improve that but more than anything needs to show the run and skills that saw him drafted.

I know it’s local footy but this was his debut as a 17 year old. Looks natural as a forward. There’s something about the way he reads the footy in the air that just feels really special to me.

The interview and background with coaches will be critical to Smillie, why, when pencilled in to the number 1 spot did he not attack the champs to sure up that spot? The lack of movement around stoppages is what concerns me. Dominating stoppages has to be his great strength and he didn’t do that in the back half of the year. He probably has enough strengths and weaknesses that counter each other out in the rest of his game if he’s consistently strong at the stoppages.

Bengals, Jets, Chargers

I know he might not ever be back but did 2021 Salem not exist?

Sorry I meant Richmond would make a token offer for 2 of 6 and 24. Unless they love their top 2 picks on the board they aren’t all that incentivised to help North out.

I just wonder how much Richmond will care to pay up if North have telegraphed their pick. Richmond might well say, go ahead, take your guy at 2 and we’ll have someone fall out. They’d probably make an offer of something like 2 and 24 but there’s less incentive for Richmond to really push hard.

I’ve seen him linked, along with Lalor and FOS. I reckon they’re a clear top 3 and only North’s need for a tall will see Tauru slot in with them. Carlton moving up the obvious link is they think FOS is there at 3, but they’d probably be just as happy for Lalor or perhaps even Langford At this stage I’d probably predict it goes: Rich - Lalor North - Tauru Carl - FOS Adel - Langford Melb - ??? OR Rich - Langford North - Tauru Carl/Adel - FOS/Lalor Melb - ???? I’m actually ready for a Jase Taylor special at 5. One of the on ballers will make it to 9

Billings and Laurie shouldn’t be on AFL lists, or at least not ours. But given they are we probably have to lean on them as depth rather than add in more depth players. Obviously we hope young guys come through ahead of them if they don’t improve. I still have some small hope for Laurie if he adds a more physical edge now he’s starting to become a man not a boy. Small hope. I’d actually return AMW to the forwards this season because we need someone else with some speed and spark. Either way he needs a big preseason to get an afl level tank, if that happens he might be something.

Skinny, not overly tall, doesn’t win the ball in the air, doesn’t use it well. He looked great as an underage draft prospect but stalled in his draft year and just hasn’t improved.

And? We target a type of tall forwards and Sam was one of those types when we drafted him. Others disagree but I thought Weid never had many issues with attacking the ball or man. He just couldn’t do a lot of the rest of the game for the reasons I outlined.

Everything from our trade period suggests we aren’t that keen on free depth. Tom Campbell was important to cover Max. Otherwise I expect to see Laurie, Billings, Woey, AMW and even Kynan Brown, Sestan getting chances rather than Narkle level guys. We might have 1 spot for a ready made mid if we go for 2 raw players in the draft, otherwise I expect see 5 and 9 added to the depth list too.

Everyone always focusses on the mongrel like it’s 1985 but to me big Sam had 3 issues: 1. Confidence, you could see it drain from his body. Even with a fresh start at Essendon he looked so much better until the year went on and he struggled again 2. Mobility. This was hurt by the repeated injuries he suffered, even before he was drafted. You have to be able to turn, jump, explode on the lead to beat key defenders these days. Young Weid had a bit of burst but it never developed. 3. Reading of the play. Was never easy in the Melbourne forward line but Sam always seemed a step behind the play to lead up at the ball or to pick the flight of the footy in the air. He wasn’t overtly physical but he was brave in the air and could crash a pack, but so often defenders had done him in before the contest was even occuring.

Mac’s deal apparently has language for retirement due to concussion. And yeah it’s 5 years until he’s a free agent with another 4 as an option post that. If free agency came at 24 he’d sign until he was 24 then do 5+ years from there. And I’d be happy to restrict that to 5. Actually refining the system what I’d suggest is free agents can only be offered 5 years. But teams can resign their own players the year before they hit free agency. So a 23 year old can sign with their current team for what is effectively 6. But once they’re 24 it’s 5 years. Really what I want to see is clubs encouraged to have their best players signed from 24-29 and massive deals for young players <23 who haven’t earned them or super long deals for 26 year olds that go until guys are well over 30 are discouraged.

The free kick might’ve been paid first but he took an absolutely gorgeous pack hang in that game and another on the flank. He’s not a pack crasher but he is a good overhead plucker particularly when he’s floating across a pack. The one thing that stands out from the highlights to me is just how raw and skinny he was. Armstrong’s got a more solid frame and well rounded game. He does seem to hit the contest more reliably and was kicking goals somewhat regularly at the back end of the year. But Im struggling with how many low disposal, low marks games he produced in a dominant Sandy side. Even account for the disruptions of school footy, champs and injuries/soreness that all young talls struggle with.

He’s contracted for next year and wasn’t traded so he’d have to be delisted with a year to run to get to Melbourne. He looked like the worst player in the league in 2024. Made Shane look good by comparison. Lazy, uninterested, devoid of confidence. If he didn’t have a contract I don’t think he’d be on an afl list in 2025.

I'm all for a 5 year cap because the AFL have created these mega deals with free agency. When you have to trade for a player you have to give up valuable picks, so offering 7, 8, 9 year deals on top of that is a mammoth cost. Free agency meant clubs got players for free which is why they felt they could risk the mega deals. Then of course to stave off players leaving clubs started to give those deals to their own players too. I think a simple solution is your draft deal goes for 3 years (with the last year or two team options for later picks), after which you can negotiate an extension for up to another 3 years. Free agency comes in at 24. You can sign for max 5 years and after each season you can tack on an additional year if you and the club agree. At 30 you can sign for max 4 years again. At 31 you can sign for 3 years max. The AFLPA (and especially managers) won't like it but the trade off is you're giving players free agency at 24. The prime aged players will make the most money which is what the league should want

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1153880/clubs-to-get-cap-relief-for-medically-retired-players They have. But for 3 years after retirement. So the AFL are sending the message be careful with guys on longer than 4 year deals. The AFL are also struggling to find income insurance for concussed players. Which is linked to the above. They don't want players trying to claim huge sums of money in lost earnings.

I like Langford, Lalor and FOS and hope one of them gets to 5, I like Draper and Lindsay for 9 provided there’s confidence in his speed and endurance. Intrigued by Bo Allen too.

I like the kicking and he looks a solid ball winner to give him that outside in balance. I’m worried that his speed is only good not great, aerial isn’t good, that’s a couple of things that make defending as a half back or finding the ball as a mid or half forward harder. Rookie me says his endurance is a concern. ESPN says ‘A late-season PCL injury meant Lindsay didn't test at the combine but recruiters believe he would've gone well, especially in the 2km with his endurance highlighted all year’. I think he needs that one athletic weapon to be in the frame from 9 (or higher). He looks a good in game runner, hopefully they have testing and GPS data to back that up.

I’m seeing it the same way, and whilst I’d be more than happy with Tauru if North didn’t want to deal I wonder if we split pick 5 if he’s the best available there. See if Richmond will do 10 and 18. Or someone else can get a similar level of picks with the first one between 8 and 12. JT isn’t afraid to go his own way at the top of the draft but I’m underwhelmed by the small mids and Smillie.

I’d be open to have him do a preseason with us, he has better than average talent if he was ever able to string games together. No way you could sign him in November though.

Nathan Kreuger we can fix you?

Parker some reports are saying got a 3 year deal. He's slowing down as a midfielder and we have a medium forward in Fritsch. He can play as a defacto key forward but at 183cm he's not exactly a great aerial threat. Darling got a 2 year deal and has looked cooked for at least 2 years. The best possible option of that sort of player was Membrey but even he is undersized and limited. We have our version of that guy in Melksham. We've junked up our list with enough top up players the last few years - Hunter, Billings, Fullarton, McAdam etc. Any low cost addition had to be a guy with upside like Derksen rather than desperate attempts at guys with no improvement in them. Taking a step back and seeing what a forwards coach can do with the guys we have in the right option until we can find a proper solution.

Didn’t kick many goals but post bye Harry Petty was clunking marks and he now gets a preseason. JVR is solid. If he builds his tank and improved his marking and decision making he should start to own the CHF role as Petty goes back and a ruck/forward comes in. Disco and Jeffo are the big question marks for sure, but both have shown enough to suggest with time they’ll likely be AFL players. Disco with a preseason could be sooner than later. I’d rather have 3 of those 4 plus Melk for depth than Darling, Membrey level players. The biggest change is a new forwards coach and hopefully a fit midfield and half back line playing up tempo open footy.