P-man

The problem is that commodity has been woeful for the past two years. Mahoney and co are the experts, but it seems overs. Melksham is a punt in a lot of ways. Here's hoping it's one that pays off.

Bingo.

There's that sinking feeling in the chest. A second rounder. [censored] I hope Goody knows what he's doing.

I'm a little gun shy on his first idea. Luring a player when they are halfway home to WA has ultimately not panned out too well for us recently. I don't think I've ever seen someone on here who thinks they are more on top of the F/S options available than the club. That is some next level stupid right there.

Late this week? He's kidding isn't he? Make the call and let's get on with it. This is getting silly.

So, 10 minutes til we have all the boys in the yard?

I agree it's a red flag if Bolton is so willing to move him on. I suppose it depends on what they think his currency is. Their midfield is in major need of repair.

I don't disagree that Carlton's willingness to wave him in front of other clubs speaks to his quality, although i wouldn't be placing a huge amount of faith in their list management. Parking that, I posted in the trade thread that when looking at the facts, the glaring weakness of Casboult's, namely his goalkicking, definitely improved from the moment he took on Rocca as his coach in mid April. He kicked 2:4 in the first 3 weeks of the season. In the other 13 games, he kicked 22:8 in a team that had major deficiencies with forward structure and quality of forward 50 entries. How he fits into the forward structure needs to be considered, but if his goalkicking truly is getting sorted then he is an upgrade on Dawes as a foil for Hogan. He's clearly a far better contested mark. I'm not a Casboult fan per se, but the improvement in his conversion in the latter half of this season can't be denied. It wouldn't surprise me if a few clubs are interested.

I don't want to hate Howe once he leaves, but if he goes to North, I'll be left with little alternative.

Joke never gets old. Unlike North.

So I've noticed that the A League look to have adopted Hells Bells as the song for the players to walk out to in every game this season. Smells like a rip off to me. Get your own ideas Gallop ya [censored].

O'Meara without question. It's like the kid was engineered in a science lab. But Prestia is still a gun. You'd be thrilled with either.

My recent memories of him on field are very...meh.

How long does he want to wait before having a chance to play finals? If he wants to wait an extra two years, he should go to Carlton.

If that's a disease, I don't wanna know the cure. Seriously though, this is top notch

Sorry I was referring there to field kicking - disposal efficiency. Fixed.

We may be focussing too much on the stigma attached to Casboult's poor kicking. Looking a bit deeper, the facts show he has improved quite a bit since taking on Sav Rocca as a coach in mid April. Kicked 2:4 in the first 3 weeks of the season. In the other 13 games, he kicked 22:8 in a team that had major deficiencies with forward structure and quality of forward 50 entries. Supposedly 2014 had a lot more OOTF than 2015. Field kicking has also improved. Disposal efficiency since 2012: 2012 - 57.4% 2013 - 61% 2014 - 70% 2015 - 76.7% How he fits into the forward structure needs to be considered, but if his goalkicking truly is getting sorted then he is potentially a major upgrade on Dawes as a foil for Hogan. He's clearly a far better contested mark. I'm not quite as closed off to the idea as I was. He's an improved player.

That would be my concern is exactly how he and Hogan would compliment one another. Re his accuracy, as Monde mentioned that doesn't include out on the fulls. He'd have quite a few of them.

Casboult's kicking from set shots did seem to improve towards the end of the year. Introduced a more consistent routine with a lower ball drop. Still pretty ordinary though, especially once the ball hits the ground, and at 26 next year he's older than I thought.

If anyone is going to be a club killer at Freo it's Ross Lyon, not Harley Bennell.

This "lack of footskills" is getting a bit over the top and I'm wondering what sample size it's based upon. I've watched him live on numerous occasions over his career and his footskills are fine. Stagnated a little the last couple of years but his tagging role hasn't really allowed him to show his wares. Ignition summed it up well. He's not top end but for late 2nd or 3rd round he'll be a good pick up. Definitely ticks the competitor box.

Sylvia was an almost unrivalled disaster. Bennell won't be that. He's 23 with much of his career still ahead of him, and he is about to hit the peak of his powers as an A grade player. The only similarity with Col is the off field issues, which I don't believe are quite as drastic as what gets portrayed. Bennell is a risk and clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed, but at the very least Freo should get a few good years out of him while they remain a legitimate chance at a flag. They have been sitting on their hands as the likes of Hawthorn have gone out and recruited senior players to fill the holes in their list. It's probably cost them a premiership, but at least they are giving it one last roll of the dice.

Was really hoping this would happen. Fantastic news.

Could almost change the title based on that Mahoney interview. He'll be here next year.

Reading between the lines (my own interpretation): Melksham will be a Demon in 2016 Kennedy and Bugg quite likely to be at the club also Watts is staying Howe is likely to go Toumpas no certainty to go, looking elsewhere but club hasn't lost faith Garland is staying (announcement soon)