Romey

The best example of this is Steele Sidebottom who kicked 10 goals in the TAC Cup grand final as a forward / mid. He was picked up by Hind at pick #11 in the 2008 draft after Watts, Natanui, Hill, Hartlett, Hurley, Yarran, Rich, Vickery, Ziebell and Phil Davis. He has gone on to play 331+ games, 2 x premierships, 2 b&f’s, runner up in the Brownlow and has been a vice captain at Collingwood for the past 10 years. Let’s hope XL follows in his footsteps!

Kynan Brown was another who ran well yesterday, finishing second in the 2km time trial. He could be another replacement option for ANB… I don’t think he has been suggested in this thread yet.

Thanks to those who have contributed to the discussion. I’ve really enjoyed reading the wide variety of viewpoints on this topic. I think there have been up to 15 players suggested so it will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

This is fairly consistent with how Cal Twoomey personally ranked the top 10 one week before the draft. (Not to be confused with his mock draft based on recruiter feedback.) https://www.afl.com.au/news/1255008/cal-twomeys-phantom-form-guide-top-draft-prospects-november-ranking/amp?webview=true

I’m curious what people’s opinions are on who will replace ANB as our defensive gut-running forward? He played such an important role in our team. We have a number of options including Chandler, Tholstrup, Laurie, Sparrow, Langdon and Sharp. None are like-for-like, but all are great runners, strong defensively and can hit the scoreboard. For different reasons I think we should try Sparrow or Laurie there. Sparrow is strong overhead and has a penetrating kick. Laurie an effective crumber and deliverer inside 50. Obviously still room for a more traditional forward on the other flank. Thoughts?

I see that ex-Bulldogs captain Robert Murphy has left Fremantle and is talking to a couple of Melbourne clubs. I wonder if he could be an option for the Dees?

I don’t want to see Oliver go but if he is determined to leave then yes. Oliver for Geelong’s future first and SDK. We then use the surplus salary to bring in Jack McRae or Luke Parker to cover us while the young guns mature. Both are like-for-like replacements based on Oliver’s form this year. Any leftover salary then goes to paying out Brayshaw’s full term contract to free up salary space for next year. I think that would be a win for the Dees.

Thinking creatively, perhaps we use our surplus salary cap from missing out on Houston to pay the salary of a player to trade out in exchange for a higher pick. Maybe Collingwood would give up pick 36 instead of pick 52 for Tomlinson if we paid his salary? Perhaps there is another player we can trade out. For context, paying the salary is reported to be the difference between pick 27 and 47 for Macrae going to StKilda.

Wes Walley?

It’s a yes for me. A straight swap for Brayshaw.

Tonight he had the third most clearances on the ground for either team despite only playing 26% game time.

Ed Langdon ran 17.5km in last nights game according to the AFL app. This is the most distance ever covered by a Dees player in a game since they started reporting this data in 2017. It also moves him into the top 10 of any player in the AFL over this period. Well done Langers!

I was there when Warwick Capper took this mark on Chris Langford’s shoulders with his feet above his head! Probably the best mark I have ever seen live.

Good point. Ben Brown had five shots on goal that day (three goals, two behinds), so maybe 200 m of his 17.3 km can be attributed to run-ins based on his 30 step routine. This assumes all of his shots were set shots. Run-in’s were not a significant factor for his record - the guy clearly has endurance.

You’re probably right, but we need to remember that we are comparing him to Van Rooyen or Fullarton to provide ruck relief for four minutes a quarter. The rest of the time he will be playing forward where he could be a competent third tall. I honestly have no idea how he would go in the ruck as I can’t recall him taking a ruck contest in his time at the Dees. In general play he seems to do a decent job of tapping the ball to our advantage in contested packs, so it’s not out of the question he could hold his own.

Our game style has not allowed us to see the best of Ben Brown. As our key target, he has often been left to compete in two-on-one contests in a congested forward line. With Van Rooyen and Petty now the main targets it could free up Brown to play the third tall and support Gawn in the ruck. (At 200cm his height is exactly the same as Fullarton.) While I am excited about Fullarton’s potential, the thought of a fit and unshackled Brown playing this role excites me more. The guy can also run. He holds 15th place in the AFL’s all-time game distance record at 17.3km - only 6 players have ever run further in a game since records began. Against a third tall defender his long leads to the wing and doubling back to the goalsquare could play to his strengths and make him quite formidable. This to me makes more sense than converting Grundy to a forward. Does anyone else agree?

I think we should either buy Haynes& pick 15 off GWS or find a sweetener with Grundy for Swans pick 11. Then offer our first three picks (all first rounders) to West Coast for Harley Reid. If he really is a generational player who will slot straight into our midfield, it frees up Petracca to move forward.

Completely agree. There is no doubt we should be chasing a bonafide A-grade forward/ruck. But while we have him on our list, we should also be doing everything we can to help Schache reach his potential. He still has enormous upside and has shown glimpses at Casey of what he is capable of. I hope after a big preseason he surprises us next year.

Interesting insights goodwindees. Would Grundy and JJ for Swans pick 11 be on the table? Maybe a swap of later picks to even things up.

Why not just use Josh Schache. He is probably a better and more experience forward-ruck backup option than the other names suggested. According to his draft camp he also “has top-end endurance for a player of his size (he runs a 14.1 beep test) and he works over his opponents.” Maybe that’s why we extended his contract?

Interesting. A 20% discount brings Haynes salary down to $960k. Grundy is on $650k. One other senior / experienced player leaving would free up the remaining salary cap needed.

Not sure, but here is the statistical comparison of Haynes this year to Petty last year.

With GWS rumoured to be considering a salary dump with Nick Haynes, I wonder if we could accomodate taking him and their top draft pick off their hands? (Like the Cats did with Jack Bowes last year.) If we could find the $1.2m required for the final year of his contract, we’d get an 192cm All Australian defender to free up Petty to go forward, and pick 8 to package with pick 5 for pick 1 from West Coast to get Harley Reid. This allows Patracca to play forward more. Haynes is 31 and his existing contract back-ended so his ongoing salary probably more like $600k at a guess. Surely something worth looking at if Grundy leaves and others retire.

One curious statistic on the weekend was the 16km differential between the total team distance run (Data curtesy of the Telstra Tracker - Swans 287.5km v Dees 271.6km.) Despite the Dees having 3 of the top 4 runners on the night for every player on the field the Swans ran about 1km more than their opponent. This is usual and as there were only a handful of games in the AFL this year which had a greater differential although of these examples, the team that ran less did not always lose.