DeeSpencer

If you needed a 20k stadium for a show you'd probably have one by now. Sounds to me like they'll dismantle the temporary components and otherwise struggle to fill it. The sports really should just be using Metricon, but I understand the transport issues make it so unpalatable. If we weren't so lazy/cheap/stupid for most of the last 100 years we'd have express rail between Brisbane and the Gold Coast and you could zip down in half and hour and it wouldn't be an issue. Same issue for the Gabba. Expanding it to such a size that was never suited to its location then being surprised it doesn't work out. Then building a new train station so they don't want to move it. Now they're locking in building it right up in its current spot so it cost an absolute fortune. They better hope they get it done right and with some of future proofing given the cost. Just maybe if they do get it right it will be great. But I'd be tempted to start from scratch somewhere with more room and margin for error.

Great reports guys. If he’s in the team we really need to use Tomlinson’s big tank more, particularly to get rebound out of him. He can be a good field kick - good distance and penetration. Can cough it up a bit under pressure because he’s heavy footed. But he has to be instructed to take off and run and for the other defenders to find him with switches and link play. Makes no sense to have a player who can blow up the tanks of the big forwards chasing him and restrain him to simply sitting in the back pocket. Hopefully McQualter can get some of that Richmond rebound game going

I don’t think it has to be plus points, purely removing the discount and restructuring the points system so early picks are worth their true value would go a long way. And some kind of rule that says early picks require at least a pick inside 9 of the bid to start the matching, or the 2 picks max to match a bid rule. A design that makes it harder for teams at the top of the ladder to grab early picks is vital too. The Lions will have performed a heist with the Ashcrofts. A lot of ways to fix a flawed system that remained flawed for far too long. There’s so many smart data analyst people working in the afl system. To design something that allowed a pick 9 to be matched with some late 40’s picks doesn’t stand up to basic scrutiny.

Theory; If they’re still using last years jumpers Fullarton will be more comfortable in Hibbo’s fuller jumper than Billings.

The big problem with the Gabba is that the location is really too tight for a modern stadium. Thats why they have to knock the whole thing down and rebuild over the course of 4 years. I know we love inner city stadiums and they are great but if you actually had transport and hospitality options in a more suburban location you could easily have a great stadium there. The smarter and cheaper option would be to start again with a new stadium in a location with more room rather than a 4 year shut down.

Honestly I don't think it's unreasonable. It's clearly not the strength of our list and there's a lot of bad teams that have dominated the drafts with the pointy end of high talent. I do think it undervalues our spread of young talent in various parts of the ground. It's fair to say we don't have that lock top 5 pick that looks a sure thing at being a superstar. Although I wouldn't then say JVR and Pickett are a chance yet rule out Rivers and McVee. For every one of the games best players who's a super high pick like a Petracca there's another player like a Gawn who can make huge leaps as they improve.

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Reminds me a lot of Dyson Heppell, who (not withstanding a few faults) has been a very well respected captain despite a terrible haircut when he came in to the system. Chop the mop and he’s actually a bright and well spoken country lad. And given he’s a footballer he may as well have a mop of hair if he wants to!

Tom needs to string some games together playing free from expectation. Take some marks. Rack up some touches. I doubt anyone is expecting him to play CHB in the AFL side any more than they are expecting him to play CHF any time soon. Much better to give him a physical and mental change up than to do nothing and hope he suddenly discovers form again.

JT said on the podcast the other day Sestan still has work to do on his running (and that’s hardly a surprise) but who knows where he’ll be at by the end of summer. I thought he should play half back at Casey given our lack of defensive depth and to build his run and game. But if he’s impacting forward you’d just leave him there and see how good he can be

You trying to turn him in to Mick Nolan? He needs a few more kgs but not that many in this day and age. He was listed at 92kg last year, I’d be surprised if he’s not 100kg by now with an eventual aim to be around 110kg max.

No applause?

She has the bulk and the handball skills when she’s on. She was Jack Viney last year, beating a stronger Lions midfield than this year. Just had a crappy season. I’d hate to lose her unless we got Parker

FB: McVee May xxxxx HB: Rivers Lever Salem C; xxxxx Petracca xxxx HF: ANB Petty Pickett FF: Fritsch JVR McAdam Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Bowey Sparrow Brayshaw xxxx S: xxxxx If McAdam has a big preseason fitness block I think he slots in to the best side. His combination of goal kicker and pressure player is something we don’t have in a medium or tall forward. After that: Backline: Hore v Turner v Tommo Wings: Langdon v Hunter v Windsor v Billings v Woey Small forward: Spargo v Chandler Med forward: Fullarton v J Smith v Tholstrup v Billings So many moving parts depending on game plan, match ups and if they move guys around. For instance if Rivers moves in to the midfield then suddenly you’ve got a competition between Hore and Howes for a back flank. And you have to decide between Tracc as a nearly full time forward, Viney as a forward or Gus on the wing. I just hope they genuinely train guys up in multiple roles this summer and experiment with a heap of different line ups.

Hawks trying to punch multiple of our players. Their coach ‘shock’ retirement. West Coast chasing Daisy. Can I bet on Daisy coaching the Hawks next year?

I'd hate to lose Sherriff, she's our best pressure forward. But if we can bring in a pressure forward who kicks goals more regularly that would be an upgrade. I'd really hate to lose West without an upgrade. Her and Purcell are our true ball winning mids. She had a bad season but showed in the Cats game how vital her contested ball can be to drive our game plan. Without an upgrade we'd be going backwards in the most important part of any side. I'm not going to shock anyone with my opinion on Birch. Would be fine with cashing out there. The other one we should look to deal is Bannan who hasn't made any progress with her contested game and is still an ordinary pressure player. I'd also be open to getting out of the Taylah Harris business.

Personally I'm glad they changed it and we picked JVR rather than Mac.

White seems a talent but there’s not really any evidence those guys will be really high picks. Or in White’s case even choose Melbourne. If they wait until every club has had a good run they’ll never close it. We got a great deal on Viney once upon a time. More than happy to pay a fairer price if we do get highly rated guys.

I don’t think Adelaide would’ve accepted the pick that became 40 for McAdam. They didn’t use any second rounders this year. I don’t think that’s a good second round pick either. I think we only get a future third for it. Might’ve accepted (25) 34 and on traded it for a second. You’re right we could’ve done that too. No one traded out a second straight up so there’s no direct guide. I think we get a future second for it but not from a bad club. Gold Coast were the only side trading down multiple spots at any stage of the first round, we took the chance to get it when we could. I don’t see the relevance for Reid. If they didn’t want 6, 14, the second rounders and a future first then combining it to 11 doesn’t really convince them. From the Eagles perspective I’d have wanted the combo of more picks as they have a lot of needs and more list spots. We have to trust JT when he says they got up a tier in the draft. With Sydney taking a ruckman (a good one but still), GWS trading up for about the same price for Leake, the Crows going for Charlie Edwards who’s raw as can be and North drafting project players if we didn’t want Wilson I can see it as a tier.

25 and 33 became 34 and 40 as the draft went on due to academies and father sons. As I said. 40 had almost no value to us. We spun 44 for a Saints future 3rd. Do we need another future 3rd on top of that? We used 34 to get up 3 spots to get Tholstrup. Essendon gave up 36 for 1 spot. GWS gave up a future 2nd in a deeper and less compromised draft to go 1 spot to get Leake. We would’ve had to pay to get up one spot to get Leake. We weren’t ever linked to Wilson. Clearly we thought getting above Sydney and St Kilda was important. There’s an argument to stay where we were at 18 and take Wilson, Edwards or DeMattia. The counters are; obviously JT has been good at this trade up business at times. We’ve committed the list spots to Billings, Hore, Melk, Ben Brown, T Mc and they all have value to try to win a flag now. We do have a solid crop of young talent now as is. And the second rounders in this draft weren’t worth more than mid year rookies, late picks, SSP additions etc in future years.

And achieve what exactly? Harmes - McAdam. I'm more than happy with that. We've had nothing for Harmes to do for 2 years and have been crying out for a guy like McAdam to provide a mix of what Fritsch and Kossie do. JJ - Billings. JJ might go on to be a player for the Swans but he was a free agent, we replaced him with a player who could be an immediate upgrade in a needs position. Grundy - Fullarton. Personally I'd have liked to get in on the Brandon Ryan deal but Fullarton has a fair bit of upside and I'd rather have him than an unhappy and expensive Grundy. 33 was worthless in this draft. Would've ended up pick 40 on the night of the draft. We ended up with a spare pick 42 (44 come draft night) which we dealt for a future 3rd. 25 became 34 on draft night. Ended up at Carlton for Billy Wilson. 18, 34 and a pick we'd never use for 13 to get Tholstrup. Doesn't look so bad when Essendon and GWS gave up 2nd rounders to move 1 spot on draft night. We've replenished our depth with better fits and drafted 2 talented kids. It's not flashy but the flashy moves often don't work out. Plus surely we're reloading with list spots and salary cap to be more aggressive next year.

Great interview Andrew. JT never gives too much away. But I think there are things you can deduce if you listen carefully. He somewhat gave away Windsor was at least a little needs related, and watching how slow we’ve been between the arcs the last 2 years it’s not a surprise. Why do I get the feeling they wanted Windsor at 11 but he kept rising? When JT does he due diligence on a player the word probably gets around and other sides start circling. I get the sense he’s excited by Tholstrup’s potential in a range of roles but also they really like the character and early indications are so do I! He was probably a little more excited for Kynan Brown than I expected. Aside from the 2 early picks I get the sense Jed Adams might be a favourite of JTs. Hope he gets through preseason healthy.

Within 10, no points discount and only one first rounder per year and we’re nearly there. Same for fathers sons. Time to restore some sanity to the draft.

The three that caught my eye today: 1. Woey. On a similar path to Sparrow as someone who for a couple of years (not so much now for Tom) has just come back noticeably thicker. We might have our answer for who can go on ball if we're shorter on depth after losing Harmes and JJ. 2. Rivers. He just looks cherry ripe. Leaner than before without losing strength. No idea how much they'll try him in the midfielder but if nothing else he'll be covering more ground. 3. The 2nd year talls. Jefferson is the obvious one because he was skinny to begin with and isn't now. But KFW is a unit. Jed Adams looks good. And Verrall for a 199cm ruck is looking strong without losing mobility.

Jefferson has added some bulk but he’s still a fair way off the size, speed or endurance of JVR last year from a limited look today. I’d have him more on par now with JVR in 2022. Of Chris from camby’s favourites it would be AMW - if nothing more than being healthy to start preseason - who could be in line to make a huge improvement next year