P-man

Here we go again lads and ladettes. Time to place your predictions for season 2019, i.e. how easily will we win the flag next year? Just kidding. There’s a chance we’ll be runner up I guess. Any success. Any failing. Any accolade. Any controversy. Be as optimistic or pessimistic as you like. This is a safe space for sad sacks. Closest to the pin with their quality and quantity of predictions will win the much coveted, much desired, much craved......okay maybe not craved....Demonland Crystal Ball. PREVIOUS BALL HANDLERS 2018: Skuit 2017: ding 2016: wretched.sylph

Back off you lot. I saw her first ?

“With his run and endurance Sparrow will be of great value to the Demons who already have a star midfield with Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca and Nathan Jones in the middle” Unrelated but these kinds of statements intrigue me. In naming our top three midfielders they’ve managed to leave out two of the top three in Brayshaw and Viney.

One of the strangest press conferences I’ve seen. Three minutes of questions about life on the farm with a football related question thrown in at the end. You’d swear they’d never met someone from the country before.

I’m a bit disappointed he was having tea and scones with Fyfe and Lyon while the season was still alive, but I won’t boo him. That being said, I don’t see the big deal about booing ex players as a general rule. It’s all a bit of pantomime fun regardless of who it is.

Top four and prelim. I’ll begrudingly be happy with a 5-8 finish if we go on to win the flag ?

It’s a difficult draw but I legitimately fear no other side. It’s a weird feeling.

I think the aim was to have enough Irishmen to field a Gaelic football side in case the AFL thing didn’t work out.

Frost deserves more credit for tidying up his disposal by foot this season. How temporary it will be remains to be seen but there was a marked improvement. Assuming we have a few games to wait before Lever returns then hopefully we get an early indication as to who is more deserving to keep their spot out of Frosty and Oscar. I’d wager the coaches will favour Oscar.

Far too young. RIP.

At pick 13. A great pick up yes but Cripps and Docherty aside, check out the rest of their haul: Luke Reynolds, Cameron Wood, Blaine Johnson, Heath Scotland, Ciaran Sheehan, Ciaran Byrne, Cameron Giles, Nick Holman, Dale Thomas, Andrejs Everitt. Yikes.

I also can’t help but think that if Carlton absolutely nailed the draft in 2013 they wouldn’t be a total basketcase on the field in 2018. But maybe that’s an oversimplification ?

I take your point but the reality is we were going to take Billings. So in the real world, we wouldn’t have Kelly instead. We’d have Billings. Of course that in and of itself would have been a blunder so it’s fair to downgrade as a result. But at least acknowledge it to be the case. Saying it is “essentially Tyson and Salem for Kelly” is misleading and incomplete analysis. i think 7 is a fair rating when looking at the other club ratings, although there is a lot of creaming in pants over Sicily as the “steal of the draft”, whereas Harmes is almost mentioned in passing. That too doesn’t quite add up.

You’d expect a professional AFL writer to be aware that the club intended on picking Billings, not Kelly, which turns the debate on its head. It’s not as though it’s a well kept secret. That information is in the public domain and has been for years now. Again, maybe my expectations of people who get paid to research this stuff is too high. Or maybe they are being deliberately obtuse. Either way, it’s poor journalism.

Fritta must play. We need decent kicks and whether it’s wing or half forward, he brings that to the team. I don’t mind so long as he’s in the forward half of the ground. Hannan to make way and that would be my best side provided KK can impress in pre-season. Stretch will also be one to keep an eye on. Was looking like things had clicked before his injury.

He’s a big May fan from memory. Unsurprisingly. May has a healthy dose of mongrel in him.

He wasn’t given much of a chance. Feel for him after working so hard to get back imto the system. Still, he played 10 more AFL games than you or I.

From the pocket profiles on the club website. Fritsch: Fritta, Bayls Petracca: Trac Gawn: Dougy T-Mac: ....T-Mac Spargo: Spargs, Chuck Brayshaw: Stallion, Ticker, Rooster (not sure if this is Gus taking the [censored] on his profile) Some other well known ones: Hibberd: Pig Oliver: Clarry Neal-Bullen: Nibbler Kennedy-Harris: Jay Kay

Knowing he was in discussions with Fyfe and Lyon last year places a full stop on this for me. He has had one foot in Freo for some time. That was always suspected but it’s beyond a shadow of a doubt now. He’s a Fremantle player who once played for Melbourne. Good luck to him. Time to move on.

Fair call.

I’m content with the trade but some of the other trades are annoying me. Two first rounders for Beams. Burton (2nd in RS), pick 15 and second rounder for Wingard. Hogan is worth more than either of them. Grass is always greener etc.

Super pumped we’ve got him. We all know what he brings on the field but seems a really down to earth guy off it as well. Obviously as an ex captain he also brings strong leadership qualities and he more than paid his dues at the rabble that is the Gold Coast so he knows how to knuckle down. Another 6 or 7 years of Lever and May marshalling the backline sounds pretty tasty to me.

If it gets us May, KK and an additional useful player then that's a decent outcome. Not amazing. Not disastrous. Decent. I'm partly just glad it's done tbh.

Good god.