Slartibartfast

Disco, yeh, I'll have to get that right in future!

Just a couple of observations. Training was sharp, very few fumbles. They did a loose ball gather and tackle drill right in front of me and there wasn't one fumble of the ground ball. You'd expect that from the experienced players but Seston was also very clean. Langdon and Viney were the standouts for me. I know we all want the young guns to be the standouts but some of the older players were terrific. Grundy is such an improvement on Jackson ATM and we'll be the better in the short term at least. Others to impress me were Bowey who was clean and precise, Howes who did well in all the drills, JVR with his competitive ruck work against Grundy and his determination when the ball hits the ground. May was very good, Salem looks to be moving well and Rivers was involved. Of the young boys Woey was probably the most impressive to my eye but so much of this is where you stand. I also liked Howes who I think has very significant upside.

Seston: really impressed me in a tackling and hand off drill where he was pitted against Langdon and did very well. He's strong, has a low centre of gravity and didn't fumble once. He's a good size too. Everybody loves a good smokie and this kid could be one. He didn't participate in the match sim drills as far as I could see. Jefferson: Just running at this stage along with Burgoyne and Adams. Turner: Very good. His positioning is great, he's very clean and he reads the play very well. Schache: He impressed. He's in the conversation but it will be a long one as Tmac was very impressive, Brown looked to be moving well and was very competitive and JVR also impressive.

The counter argument of course is that if you put the JT interview at the end of the podcast perhaps people would listen right through, but I understand why you may not want to test this, and I don't understand the economics of the situation. AFLW was a hard watch in season 1 but now it's a very good standard, especially between the top teams. The GF was a ripper, those who didn't watch it because "it's women" just shortchanged themselves. It was a very exciting and emotional win. The women seem to have such a wonderful bond, it's pretty touching. Anyway, thanks for the explanation, the podcast is a credit to those who participate.

Congratulation on the podcast Andy, George and Bin. My only comment is that I think you should have led with the Women's GF win. It was epic, just the most inspiring effort and the determination and courage they showed was of the highest quality. That flag has been 7 years in the making and IMO deserved top billing. JT gets a go every year. And on the comment made by Bin (I think) who said we had to change our gameplan when we realized the ground was so soft we couldn't bounce the ball. I reckon Brisbane's gameplan is even more dependent on outside run and speed. IMO it probably helped us. I thought JT was interesting about JVR. He's 19, don't expect too much. With Grundy coming in and Max playing more minutes forward I think BBB, Tmac and JVR will share duties. Half a season for JVR at most I'd think (subject to form and injury of course). And it was interesting that we got new software that allowed us to view Seston's highlights for the last two years. I wonder how long that software has been available and we didn't have it. Anyway, thanks for your effort's lads, most entertaining.

Numbers? What numbers??

Did he play footy for Xavier? Or am I missing something?

Or those that read my training report, brief though it was, knew yesterday morning!😁

47. Grundy looked very good.

DSmith running laps, JSmith not there.

Grundy in 6, Hunter 12 and Schache 19. AMW and Smith running reps, Grundy, Fritta and TMac all doing drills with running interspersed. Tmac looked totally unhindered and was doing the warmup kicking drills. I didn't see Harmes, Lever, Brayshaw, Gawn, Oliver, Lingers, Melk, Tomlinson, Dunstan, ANB, Petty, Brown and Smith. I didn't see Taj either but he may have been there. Usual warmups, then ball movement drills on 3/4 ground. Had to leave earlier than expected unfortunately so that's about all I saw. Spoke to AMW very briefly and he said he'd added 8 kilos and was 182 but still growing. He's got an infectious smile and personality. Hoping for really big things from him.

What are the rules around draft tampering and what are the likely penalties? I think what you are suggesting is very dangerous ground and high risk for low reward given the uncertainty around drafting.

It’s a fair concern but if we can see the issue I’m thinking it’s odds on JT can!

Why. These are the regular best 22 players not in the QF team: JJ, Tmac, Bowey These players are best 22: Grundy, Hunter These are the players with likely "best 22" quality: Chandler, Turner, JVR These are good quality backup: Dunstan, Tomlinson, JSmith These are players with potential and 12 months MFC development: Howes, Laurie (24 months), AMW Now you may disagree with some of the classification but it's highly unlikely that someone at P13 is going to make an impact early. These are the 11 - 20 players picked last year. How many would have played and made an impact for us last year? (Sorry for the formatiing). In my view we've got 2 free hits this year and can go for high reward options. We really don't need a "nice player". 11 Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera St Kilda Glenelg 2021 12 Josh Sinn Port Adelaide Sandringham Dragons 2021 13 Ben Hobbs Essendon GWV Rebels 2021 14 Campbell Chesser West Coast Sandringham Dragons 2021 15 Leek Aleer Greater Western Sydney Central District 2021 16 Darcy Wilmot Brisbane Lions Northern Knights 2021 17 Tom Brown Richmond Murray Bushrangers 2021 18 Angus Sheldrick Sydney Claremont 2021 19 Jacob van Rooyen Melbourne Claremont 2021 20 Kai Lohmann

Then trade 13 for a future first rounder.

It's a footy myth that Charlie kicked 5 on Smith last year. Smith was on the bench for one of the goals and another was when Rivers had the ball and Smith ran of Charlie to receive a handball. Rivers handballed it to Charlie instead and he ran into an open goal. Technically Smith was on Charlie for that goal but it wasn't through his bad play that Charlie goaled. It was in our first final in Adelaide.

It's an opinion business Dazzle and that's my opinion. He did well under Bailey and was highly rated by the footy department at that time. I think he would have flourished in a more inclusive environment. By the time he got to NM he'd completely lost interest in footy. Two rising star awards speaks to his ability to play competitive AFL footy and he averaged just under 20 disposals a game. That's pretty impressive for a bloke at the beginning of his career and suggested a good career was in the offering.

Under Goodwin he would have flourished. Neeld sucked his love of footy from him. Boy, could he play.

I’ve just read The Age summary of the game. They didn’t have Libby Birch in the best. Can you believe it? She was outstanding.

What is your objective Dazzle? Is there a player you are particularly targeting or is it just "let's get an earlier pick and hope there is someone there we like"? I don't understand the desire to get earlier picks. Post the finals I read post after post lamenting that we didn't give many of the players at Casey a go in the seniors. These players didn't play in the final game against Brisbane - Bowey, JJ, JVR, TMac, Laurie, Howes, Turner and Chandler. All would have expectations of making a genuine claim for regular senior footy next year. This doesn't include JSmith, Tomlinson and Dunstan nor Hunter (Grundy for Jackson is like for like) or Schache. We have good senior depth and some good young players coming through who need a career path and we need to find out who can and who can't play. My view is we don't need anymore "fair average quality" talent (a pick in the 20's) and if we are going to be successful in the long term we need elite talent to come up under Oliver, Petracca etc. I take the opposite view to those wanting to trade up the board. If there is someone we really like at 13 then use it but if not, then we should trade it out for a future 1st. That would leave us with 3 firsts next year (and our future first) and two seconds. That is an astoundingly good position to be in and would allow you to 1) trade up for earlier picks in a very good draft, 2) attract and be able to satisfy a club for an elite talent , 3) just take 5 picks in the top 35 of a very good draft. We don't need to trade up for the sake of trading up. If there is a specific target then fine, if not we should play the long game.

I don't understand Dazzle, why do you feel sorry for blokes if you understand they have not been disadvantaged?

Dazzle doesn’t seem to get this. Most do.

Perhaps that’s the case Dazzle but it doesn’t cost anyone in the system a spot on a list and offers a chance for clubs to give an opportunity to those outside the system. I don’t see a problem.

He’s a category B rookie Dazzle. Someone who goes through the system cant be a category B so he’s not taking anyones spot. So your concerns are pretty baseless I reckon.

I used to be Baghdad Bob and before that Deefan. I changed my name to Baghdad Bob when we were shocking, mainly under Neeld. Many misinterpreted why I chose the name Baghdad Bob aka Muḥammad Saʿīd Al-Ṣaḥḥāf (comical ali, not chemical ali). He was the information minister for Iraq during the invasion by the US led coalition and despite the terrible situation of Iraq at the time Baghdad was waveringly positive. I felt that we also needed to remain positive and hence the name. I kept it for a long time but when we won the GF last year the need for BB was past. Slartibartfast, as has been pointed out, is probably my favourite character from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and he's famous for saying "I'd much rather be happy than right, any day". It seems a good philosophy to me.