John Crow Batty

No such thing as 100% for top 4 picks. Too many disappointments there as well. We should know from past experience. Playing the numbers game is still high risk.

I would grade it a B+. A pressure valve has been released with the departure of two highly talented but turbulent disruptors who were never going to lead our revival. McVee no great loss as he showed he checked out early in the season. Spargo was happy to return to his spiritual home after a poor return season coming off a long injury. Mihocek and Steele are great pick ups for their true grit and character and still solid performers. Jiath has been playing somewhat callow at Hawthorn but at his age he IMO has more to offer and not peaked. Heath is the type of player who could be anything. Picks 7 and 8 plus another first round give us draft opportunities that will be unavailable when Tassie is activated.

It looks like these picks will be pushed back to 10 and above. But there are enough duds in the top 10 and enough gems in the 10-20 range to make it almost a 50/50 chance we will get some decent talent even though there is no identifiable junior superstars in this draft.

Some of the usual suspects haven’t been hanging around the club for a while.

Looking at past drafts the chances of picking up a very good to excellent player in the back half of the first round are only slightly worse than the front half especially if there are no standouts. Thats what we are looking at after academy and compo picks.

Petracca as with Oliver are stranded assets which are worthless to the club and bleed money for many years. Like owning once prime land that is poisoned and unusable but costs more than it’s worth to clean up. No amount of chest thumping by fans will realise their former true value. These double mill stones are sucking the life out of the club and any half reasonable offer is worth it to move them on. Unfortunately we are at the stage where losses must be cut in order to move on. If Petracca was a golfer or tennis player I would consider him a consummate pro but in a team sport and not buying into the team ethos diminishes his standing.

Tend to agree. Lots of big names as well.

Geelong have form for being caught for player payment irregularities. They were fined $40,000 in 2020. See this article. https://archive.sen.com.au/news/2020/03/05/geelong-hit-with-hefty-fine-by-afl/index.html

Stafford was made the scapegoat for years of midfield ostrichism . No forward coach could consider himself successful with the superstar clearance types of Petracca, Oliver, Viney and Gawn constantly bombing the ball forward with no rhyme, reason or care.

TAKE THAT GEELONG!

I thought we got him a few seasons too late in his career but I hope he is serviceable and delivers. Aside from Melksham we haven’t had a forward with fair dinkum attack on the ball for a long time. We will get that from Mihocek I am sure.

Darcy Jones ruptured an ACL for the second time in their recent finals elimination loss. Will likely miss most or all of next season.

Too many top players screwing the club for long contracts and hinting or threatening to leave if they don’t get their way. Brayshaw, Petracca, Oliver, Viney and Picket fit the bill. Risky way to find out a gun players true character or heightening the chance of bad luck to have an impact.

Viney given his courage has been playing banged up for many seasons despite not missing many games. Now he has to carry the heavy inside mid load mostly by himself next season. Will his aging body hang tough?

I just hope some of our players who have had arrested development blossom under the new coach. It kind of feels that way for most of our recruits since 2021. Fingers crossed and hope we are not grasping at straws. I believe it’s kind of official that Tracc and Clarry are now officially lost causes. Such a waste. Far Kew to them.

Reported in The Age that Clarry flew off to Sydney after the meeting.

Quite understandable that a new coach would want to put a turbulent, highly talented, highly paid but underperforming player like Clarry under the microscope. A question of him being salvageable or needs recycling.

Gallop had a quiet game in the GF but his attack on the ball was superb. He won a tough contested ball which ended up the first of the last three goals of the 3rd quarter which busted the game open for Brisbane. Ditto Morris who was quiet but always presenting and contesting.

I heard media have spotters at strategic locations like airports. Usually airport staff pass on tips. Not sure if true or not but persons of interest are all too often found by media at airports.

Because he’s only played 6 games in the past two seasons and no finals.

Some Freo fans here in Perth suggest a straight swap for Jye Amiss.

Cornes made a righteous [censored] of himself at the wrong time in the GF. He was talking up Geelong 5 minutes before 3/4 time and basically saying Brisbane were cooked and barely before he takes his next breath Brisbane bust the game open. He sounds smooth but on air but no one can smell the [censored] he talks. Only hear it.

B Smith- No more influencer. Dangerfield-Came week early. J Cameron-Now cack handed.

That Catman looks like a sicko creep.

Despite appearances, he’s an anti Trump Democrat. Just one side of the same coin.