DeeSpencer

There’s no major injuries here nor are there any indication any of them were at significant risk of worsening through playing out the game. Grinding out games and seasons is the life of an afl player, especially a combative inside midfielder. I think I’ve kept my criticism of Oliver relative mild this year and I spout off on a forum. A forum I’d suggest no one at the club reads. I’m not targeting the club or players directly. And I suggest the club have ways to protect players from a few critical forum posts. God knows they get a lot worse.

Subbing out one of the 4 mids we had in the team (2 of which aren’t even full time mids) for Melksham and overloading the forward line would’ve been just about giving up. And Melk was sub because we’ve got Gawn half injured and young key forwards. Plus no one better at Casey. No issue with asking Clarry to push through. He still won more contested possessions than the rest of our mids.

We get Burgo, we make Petty happy, keep Nibbler, play at our favourite ground, bonus home game with gather round. I mean, maybe we should just do it.

We had no need for Peatling in 22 or 23. Certainly did this year with JJ and Gus going out. Definitely agree that we should’ve aimed for younger and higher upside recruits the last few years. Although they would’ve been dice roll types like Oleg Markov types not sure things. We can now offer cash, picks and importantly best 22 opportunities.

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.

I said 'can't trade Oliver'. There's a world where there's no deal at all for Oliver, or at least no deal that's worth taking. I know trading Tracc would be the nuclear option but I feel like we have to do something pretty drastic to change the balance of the list and add some more midfield skill and run. It certainly wouldn't be my preferred option but I wouldn't entirely rule it out

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.

Devils advocate here: But if we can't trade Oliver, can't trade Fritsch for fair value, can't get enough picks or cap space to bring in players and hit the draft effectively is there not some value to trading Tracc if the price is absolutely the top of the market? By that I mean a proven young player and a very high pick. I just worry Tracc's lack of tank and dodgy kicking means he isn't the midfielder he once was and he's always going to be a bit iffy as a forward with his set shots. I think the preferred option is a retool and build around what we have and Tracc is the number 1 piece of that but if we can't make moves that improve both our draft and trade hands it is going to be very difficult to pull off. The club is right to say he's untradeable but with our list the way it is nothing should be truly off the table.