DeeSpencer

Don't like it. Roos has said the successor is best in place early to guarantee players of a smooth transition and plan. With Roos possibly only on for 2 years that makes it vital. I also presumed the successor would be midfield line coach, take control of the most important line in the team and develop those guys up so he knows what he's dealing with as senior coach. If we don't have Dew this year then someone else takes the midfield and then what happens to them when Dew gets parachuted in to the senior assistant. It's also likely to cause more disharmony People say we should wait for cultural reasons. I'd say the right way to build a culture is to keep making smart and upfront decisions and sticking to a plan. That's how you keep the organisation moving forward. I'll trust Roos, but I will be very disappointed if we don't have a senior assistant in place for next season and then the senior assistant is only here for 1 year under Roos.

My concern is not that it makes strong clubs stronger but that it makes the weaker clubs weaker. Rivers leaving us did nothing for Geelong. But it hurt us. Under the old system they would've given up a 2nd or 3rd (more likely) round pick for Rivers. Now we still could've got that in compensation but they still get their pick. So they haven't lost it. The old system saw clubs like the saints take a fall after drafting too many mature duds - Peake, Jesse Smith, Andrew Lovett. Which then meant they lost precious draft picks to develop. Now they get those guys for free and still get their draft picks. They double dip and stay at the top. We stay at the bottom and have no priority pick for a jump start up the ladder. Now in time a free agency market develops. A lot of players are still in contracts that had them avoiding Gold Coast and GWS. That will change soon and more names will become available. But that's not a good thing for the game necessarily.

They don't need to. Adelaide wouldn't do that in a million years and Crouch is a good country boy, you'll find they don't often go home. City kids are the ones who go home.

Is Polkinghorne a midfielder? Only ever seen him play forward and with limited results. Not very big, not very skilled, doesn't get much footy. Suits the right age to come make an impact but to me he's very limited. I'd be wary. Also with the Brisbane exodus even if they don't rate him they'll be keen to keep him, they wont need draft picks when they get all the ones from Longer, Karnezis, Yeo, Docherty etc.

Of the 3 - Scott Selwood, Gaff and Shuey he is the best ball user. In a midfield with Wellingham, Priddis and Masten ball use becomes very important which is why I think West Coast would be keen to prioritize him. And Shuey also had some issues with injury and personal stuff in his career and West Coast managed him brilliantly. He might feel like repaying them.

Have heard that one as well. But I still see Carlton as favourite. Also Hawthorn are the presumed favourites for Billy Longer with their first round pick they can grab their ruckman for the future. They might have to get by with Bailey (or if he retires as rumoured) some B graders for a year or two whilst Longer gets up to scratch full time but he'd be a great get.

Born 1989 or later and Victorian midfielder at interstate team: Adelaide: Sloane, Sam Kerridge, David McKay, No first round picks to trade back to us! Brisbane: Rockliff, Claye Beams (Brissy boy but brother in Vic), Ryan Lester, Patrick Karnezis Freo: Suban, Sheridan, Mitchie GC: Prestia, Swallow (WA boy but brother in Vic) GWS: Taylor Adams, plenty others but no others have expressed any interest Port: Andrew Moore, Jasper Pittard, Aaron Young Syd: Hannebery, Lamb, Rohan, Parker WC: Gaff, Selwood, Shuey, Ash Smith (def) Sloane, Scott Selwood, Gaff, Hannebery, D. Swallow are the class of the lot. Would be happy with them for pick 2 with something additional for most of those thrown in. A lot of the others on the list are quality players but we'd need something significant to come with them ie first round pick coming the other way.

Mahoney- "if a player has been in the system for 20-30 games and his 24-25 yeas of age that would be pick 2 worthy. That must be a misquote. If we want a 24-25 year old mid we want one with 60-100 games ready to go not one that barely played.

That would be a huge win for us. Keep a high first round pick and give a second rounder for Gaff. Can't see West Coast going for that. I certainly think it will have to be a trade back into the first round for us like your one above. There just isn't any out of contract top liners out there.

Roos is going to trade pick 2 for some B grader and win a total of 10 games over his 2 years. Walk away and leave is with a middle of the road list and without a great prospect that we could've got with pick 2. That's my worry. Viney and Jason Taylor better exert their will on these decisions and Mahoney better stick to administrating and leave the decisions to the big boys.

Essendon are on more than peptides if they are giving him a 3 year deal. Hamstrings are screwed. He should've taken the 10 game contract. He might just have been playing well enough to get more games and you couldn't leave him out of a final.

I think he'll be great next year. The weight of expectation with this contract and knowing he was off to Sydney would've tolled on him heavily this year. Next year he'll be relaxed in a new city, his new home boys to chill out with, be tapping Jesinta Campbell and be partying it up all without the mass hysteria that happens when he goes out in Melbourne. My concern is how they renegotiate his contract because I have severe doubts he'll make it to 33 yet alone 35. They either hope they get their 10 mil worth in the next 5 years or they renegotiate which will in turn make a mockery of the free agency and particularly the restricted free agency process.

I thought there was a rule against trading a guy in the first year after signing a new contract. If someone knows if this is correct or not please advise. Either way I don't think we will trade anyone of value. Instead this will be a rather unremarkable trade period aimed at bringing in a couple of midfielders through trades otherwise we will hit the draft. Roos will go for the old Sydney way of trying to find value with 2nd and third round picks. As for DL7's post about Boyd it's interesting. But I wouldn't believe the young kid as an expert. If he played for the Dandy Stingrays I bet that the coaches all tried to tell them Boyd could be defeated and wasn't that great in order to psych them up for the grand final. No doubt a lot of gun forwards carry attributes that give them an advantage at under 18 that they lose at AFL. Tom Hawkins was the best example of a man child who then started to do what he did in under 18 at AFL level it just took 5 years. Jesse Hogan will struggle next year I'm pretty sure to kick more than a goal a game average.

If Hawthorn get Mumford out of this they'll probably see it as a win win. They get the ruckman they desperately need and Tippett goes into second ruck duty at the swans. Tippett is the most dangerous forward to Hawthorn as he can get right on top of Lake. Franklin will be an upgrade but I bet Josh Gibson is confident he can still do a job on him, impressive games on Franklin is what got him to the hawks in the first place.

Mumford and White already leaving because the Tippett and Franklin money took it all off the table for them So now Sydney will be: Ruck: Pyke FF/ruck: Tippett CHF: Reid or Franklin +/- Goodes Compared to before: Ruck: Mumford FF/ruck: Pyke CHF: Tippett +/- Reid, White, Goodes So Sydney will have lost a lot of depth (who's their back up ruck if Pyke goes down) and placed pressure on the rest of the list financially.

What a joke. Obviously the cost of living had zero impact on Buddies decision because he's happily going to move into a Bondi pad. They should scrap the COLA immediately or change the rule to give rookies and draftees and extra 5,000 over the first year to help with rent differences. Every other player on an AFL list besides first and second season rookies and draftees makes over 80,000 if not more at which point cost of living is a load of crap. They aren't scraping by on 30,000 a year. The AFL have out cheated themselves on this one.

I'm keeping some of mine from the last few years because i plan on doing the same thing one day. Just need the wife and kids eventually! But good luck I hope you get them and would love to see the finished produce. Boys will love it (once the team gives them some reason to love them).

So half our team would stand up on grand final day yet we won 2 games this year! My list: Nathan Jones - but not if he's tagged by Crowley Viney - in a couple of years when he's matured Frawley Garland Putting Hogan on that list is ridiculous. As is Howe for different reasons. And the others haven't consistently played well in regular home and away matches. Not sure what makes you think they would in a grand final

Love his on field character and competitiveness. Not convinced about his off field, not that I've heard anything bad but the fun ones make you nervous

You might mean under 18 champs. Hard to remember him in a competition he didn't play in. He's been asking for more midfield time for years at the bombers and can find the footy. Has a big heavy build and waddles around a bit but sure can roost the footy. I wonder if he has the quickness in close to win clearances though. But Jobe Watson used to move like a boulder but now glides through stoppages using his bulk, strength and quick first step.

Give me a break Jumbo. Show me the big thighs on Gunston in either of these photos: http://www.google.com.au/imgres?sa=X&rlz=1C1NOOH_enAU484AU484&es_sm=93&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=wT2M8OnEngc7DM:&imgrefurl=http://www.afl.com.au/gallery/2013-05-04/afl-2013-rd-06-adelaide-v-hawthorn&docid=Pdi2XsiP0YSTjM&imgurl=http://www.afl.com.au/staticfile/AFL%252520Tenant/Media/Galleries/Matches/2013/AFL%2525202013%252520Rd%25252006%252520-%252520Adelaide%252520v%252520Hawthorn/286087_gp.jpg&w=438&h=620&ei=OAZJUr2LJsmslAWehYDYCw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:5,s:0,i:97&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=232&tbnw=183&start=0&ndsp=17&tx=107&ty=83 http://www.google.com.au/imgres?sa=X&rlz=1C1NOOH_enAU484AU484&es_sm=93&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=BijdqEqQJv-27M:&imgrefurl=http://www.fiveaa.com.au/audio_crows-2nd-round-draft-pick-jack-gunston_95325&docid=X4COrJ8lEw5cBM&imgurl=http://www.fiveaa.com.au/lib/images/audio/normal/crows-2nd-round-draft-pick-jack-gunston-99649.jpg&w=310&h=398&ei=OAZJUr2LJsmslAWehYDYCw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:9,s:0,i:109&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=232&tbnw=194&start=0&ndsp=17&tx=51&ty=34 Or Fyfe http://www.google.com.au/imgres?sa=X&rlz=1C1NOOH_enAU484AU484&es_sm=93&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=crLttJ6vkoOSKM:&imgrefurl=http://www.fremantlefc.com.au/news/2011-07-27/nat-fyfe-contract-extension&docid=BNayjNNj2-i_0M&imgurl=http://www.fremantlefc.com.au/staticfile/AFL%252520Tenant/Invisible%252520Archive/Images/Static%252520Files/fremantle_images/2009_Promotion_Pics/fyfe-resigns246a.jpg&w=246&h=316&ei=LAdJUsWJFsfMkwXp2YCICw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:56,s:0,i:254&iact=rc&page=3&tbnh=186&tbnw=143&start=42&ndsp=24&tx=32&ty=80 Look at this imposing build http://www.google.com.au/imgres?sa=X&rlz=1C1NOOH_enAU484AU484&es_sm=93&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=6JDXstJoD6_j5M:&imgrefurl=http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/nathan-fyfe-pick-20-2009-nd.656368/&docid=hAg3k9aaFnZydM&imgurl=http://mm.afl.com.au/Portals/0/images/AFL/AFL%252520K-O/FYFE%252520Nat_draft_246_meeta.jpg&w=246&h=316&ei=LAdJUsWJFsfMkwXp2YCICw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:0,s:0,i:78&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=188&tbnw=143&start=0&ndsp=19&tx=82&ty=111 You are right it's about attitude, development, work ethic and footballing skills. It's not at all about how many kg's of muscle they carry when they are 18, just finished most of their growing, not even finished puberty and really shouldn't be doing any heavy weights training. Port Adelaide fitness guru Darren Burgess doesn't even let his first year draftees do weights. He builds up their fitness and core strength first and that seemed to go ok for Oli Wines, Jake Neade and Sam Colquhoun.

Stop overrating him. He's good at ground level for a behemoth, but still has a heap of work to do there. He's not as good as Sandilands is at ground level. He uses the ball well by hand. His foot skills are ok for what you expect from a guy of 208cm but he needs to work on his goal kicking a lot. His marking is promising but not outstanding. He has to make sure that his current European holiday that he's on doesn't take away from him making big fitness and strength gains before next year. And he needs to stay healthy. He could be the next Sandilands or he could be the next Robbie Warnock.

Cale Morton entered the AFL with only slightly different build than Nat Fyfe who was top 5 on ground Saturday and is 22. Jack Gunston is only 21 and has a super skinny build but was second best on ground. Can't deal with the no skinny kids attitude

Because people like us listen. Because Hutchy has found enough advertisers to pay for a couple of B grade presenters to do some talk back that doesn't cost much And because clubs and managers are happy to provide content which they use to push their argument or distribute misinformation

Yeah Shaw plus pick 10 for pick 2 is yuck. We get a slightly better but much older half back flanker than Terlich, Clisby, Strauss and Grimes and lose our shot at a midfield star. Pick 2 should only be for elite/semi elite but perfect in other category types like Sloane, S.Selwood, D. Swallow.