Slartibartfast

Warning: I've been a consistent track watcher for over 15 years and two of the most impressive PS trainers I've ever seen were Sam Blease and James Strauss. I wish Rosman all the very best and will be thrilled if he is what we all want but like most I've not seen him play and I have no expectations - neither optimistic or pessimistic.

Sage words Ding, I suspect falling on barren ground. But then what would a preseason be without some excitement!

Many thanks, what an effort in that weather! Did Petty play?

A bit like this posts.

Gawn a bit stiff to miss!

Did Jordon play with the Blue team or White team? Thanks for making the effort BBP and for the detailed report.

Fantastic, thanks to all. Really appreciate it.

The record needs to be set straight. JJ's "lack of grit" is a myth. I've watched him at Casey on numerous occasions and haven't once seen him "lack grit", in fact I've seen the opposite on many occasions. The claim by Dr. D is just silly.

Thanks.

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned James McDonald. Captain, All Australian and a much underrated midfielder, Junior deserves to be in this discussion. Yze and Johnstone as well but they were perhaps not the pure midfielders for consideration. I think there is always a tendency to remember players as they were at the end of their careers and hence current players are favoured but McDonald was top shelf. Having said that I think Oliver wins but Petracca will challenge.

Just a quick note of thanks to those who have put together phantom drafts, Goodoil and Gawndog. There is often not much discussion following these but that in just an indication that not many have knowledge of the draft and can't really comment. Hence this thankyou, you are giving us an insight we value. The player descriptions are fantastic because come draft night we will have an instant reference to the type of player we get and what we can look forward to. I'm sure I speak for many when I say we are very appreciative.

Like many here I thought Oscar was better than many rated him but in a sense it's a relief to see him go because I hated the spiteful and unnecessary comment that followed him on here. I met Oscar once at training last year and couldn't have been more impressed. Articulate, thoughtful and intelligent he is in the process of finishing a science degree at Melbourne University. If he wants to be picked up then I hope he is but I suspect he might focus on his career after footy. Good luck Oscar in whatever you do, I wish you every success. You can be very proud of what you achieved, very few play over 50 AFL games. My avatar isn't changing for a while yet.

I know. Thanks.

There's a thousand page thread on Goody (which I haven't read) so I don't want to derail this one. But I'm "big picture". Goody has shot two Bambi's - Watts and Hogan. Both were excellent calls and both took a lot of guts from a young coach. And we've attracted so many good people - Burgess, Richardson, May, Lever, Langdon and others who all had opportunities to go elsewhere. They woundn't have come if they didn't have faith in Goodwin and the rest of the Club. And apart from 2019 our performances have reflected or exceeded our ability. 2019 was understandable if you take the view that players are humans who when injured or unfit or lack match practice won't perform at their peak. Some don't accept this. And this year, while disappointing, was understandable when our draw and travel was compared to others. His performance in 2018 was exceptional and coaches don't get worse with age. And I've met him briefly and he's impressive.

I think this is a classic case of confirmation bias. Here is what I think: we are short of small backs. Jetts is cooked (sadly), Hibbo is very close to the end and beyond that we have Salem and Rivers who are AFL quality small backs and I suspect Rivers may well finish elsewhere. Lockhart is a WIP and I'm struggling to think of other small backs. we have an abundance of mids. Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw, Petracca are all ahead of Harmes for inside mid stuff so the FD decided that they should see how Harmes goes in the HB role. That's not mismanagement. He trained there all PS and appeared to do well. We played him there for most of this season but most would agree it didn't work. If the info from LN is true the FD have recognized this and will move Harmes back to the role he plays best and they will no doubt look to fill the HB role with someone else. I've read this forum for a long time and couldn't count the number of times I've seen posters suggest players play in different position. The FD tried to utilize Harmes more effectively off a HBF and it didn't work. So they change it back. That's damning, not. So where is this Goody's "mismanagement and people skills". I accept that Harmes would probably prefer to play elsewhere but like the vast majority of players he'll willingly go where he's most valuable to the team. So he didn't complain. Goody recognized the experiment didn't work so he's changed it. Good management in my book. LF where have you heard "different rules for different players"? My reading is Goody is pretty ruthless. Hogan and Watts will testify to that. Goodwin's job security relies on success so he is hardly going to play favourites at the expense of team success. How often have I seen on DL "he needs to have five or six weeks to show what he's got" and yet when someone doesn't perform and continues to get a game it's "Goody's favourites". I think the concept of "Goody's favourites" is rot, but it's just a view. I like Goody and so I'll support him here. I can't see he's done much wrong. Mahoney too. 2021 is clearly critical to their futures as a disappointing year will probably mean the end for both but I'm fairly accepting of last year. We just aren't as good as the top teams and we were consistent in our performances against the rest except for Swans and Freo where we were cooked and were dealt a terrible hand by the AFL. And finally on Dr Evil. I've got close contacts at the Club and hear things from time to time. I heard Smith was 100% ours. I think he was until Chris Scott clearly gave him a better offer and Smith changed his mind. It happens. BTW, if I hear something I'm not sharing it on a footy forum. If I do the information I get will dry up and my view is we all find out in the end. I mean really, what does a week matter? We'll know by next Friday what's happened. Having said that I enjoy the rumours and treat all of them as rumours regardless of the "certainty" of the poster. Edit: much of what I've said has been posted as I typed. Apologies for not referencing those before me.

Well we really don't know if there are any suitors and "not being worth a cracker" is not where the competition sees him. His contract in relation to what he provides is what is out of kilter. Are you suggesting that if he was a delisted FA he'd not find a home somewhere? We all know his history and his poor output is a disappointment but your tone seemed a bit disrespectful to a someone who, in your own words "has been a great servant and a credit to himself". And while you think it's necessary to correct those who think he has value I think it's important to stand up for someone who has served us well.

We get where you stand on TMac.

I think many of you are underestimating the value of Preuss to GWS who are desperate for a ruck. He's a starting 22 quality ruck who has been competitive against the best (Grundy this year) and he's contracted which means we've got the whip hand. Why would we trade him to GWS and not look to get something substantial. They are not going to get better. And as has been discussed, we are weakening our own ruck situation and having to find a mature back up for Gawn. Why would we do that for a nothing pick? I'm hopeful of a good draft pick for him, but having said that, I'm often very wrong with these things.

Does it matter??

I have no intel at all. I was just debating this with a friend.

What if Oliver leaves next year?

No, just a debate with a mate who thinks it's a likely outcome.

Surely not.

I understand the attraction of this philosophy but I think for us it's flawed. We have some very good players. Petracca, Gawn, May and Oliver are very top shelf, they have few equals in the AFL system. We have some good support players - Langdon, Lever, Viney, Salem and Fritsch would walk into any AFL team. Harmes, Brayshaw, Weideman and Tomlinson are good players. We have some very promising youth - Jackson, Pickett, Rivers and Petty will all be long term and good players. But from here we fall off the cliff. Our last 6 or 7 players just don't contribute enough. Players like Hannan, Melksham, Hunt, Hibberd, ANB, AVB and other fringe players just don't contribute enough often enough and leave it to too few to do too much. You can debate where I've put players but you get the drift. We could put all our eggs into another "star" but I think we'd be much better to try and spread that money amongst 3 or 4 solid consistent role players who support the very solid base we have. Brown will cost half of Cameron and provide much more than half the value. Smith and Phillips won't cost a lot but are significant improvements on what we have. There will be others opportunities as well. This addresses the weaknesses of our team where adding another "big" just doesn't because we'd still have too many who are non contributors.

You've got no idea what was offered, when it was offered and what the final contract offer is. If you believe media on this you're silly. Players, managers and clubs will fill this space with misinformation. Time to get smarter.