Dee-licious

Not to make it a Spargo thread but agree with the last 2 posters - at the game and Spargo showed a lot. Some great kicking, chasing and carelling. Was in the top 11 on the ground for us. Sparrow had a really solid debut. He’ll be back next week and hopefully will have a run of games. Got better as the game went on.

I swear every year the new recruits are getting bigger and bigger. Dream of the good old days when Toump and Morton got drafted and they made me feel like I could have been a footballer.

Thanks for the insight @Satyriconhome. Anything stand out about Walker or Bradke thus far or just mainly running and basic skill drills? Thanks.

What I love about this draft is we have 3 superstars, and 3 others who could easily play 200 games each. For all their flaws, they have great signs for young players. ANB over the last 2 years has been in the top 5 forward pressure players in the comp. and he wants to work hard and thinks about his game. We know Oscar has been tracking at a high level for a key defender due to his age. Although prone to bad decision making and we lament when he gets beaten one on one, he is getting bigger every year and we are putting better users of the football around him. Also, there is not a player in our team who knows his role better than Oscar. You can see it in his face “opposition has ball so I have to run back and stand on this blade of grass”. They are components of a winning team - rather than superstars The other thing about this draft Taylor nailed is that they are all mates and want to do this together.

If we could nab one (or both) of the Xav’s, I’d be very happy. They aren’t the bollocking bulls of the first round but they have great kicking and speed and have played outside inside role. What we need - and hopefully they can provide it.

I'm a big fan of O'Halloran. It takes a lot to be a captain of a rep side and he did it well. Has speed and great kicking skills. He should be around the early 20's mark so here is hoping.

So we have 7 senior spots and 1 rookie spot (or 5 senior and 3 rookies). 4 or 5 drafting (23, 28, 54, 62, 70) and then possibly we need to look at someone who has been delisted. Or, I believe we heard a rumour that Dec and T Smith were being upgraded? (Could ve wrong). I still am a fan of giving a freeman or hartung a lifeline, but there is a reason I’m not a list manager.

I am so happy right now. And I love that Damo and Terry are going nuts on Freo!

Everyone is gobsmacked on trade radio. Everyone cannot believe they did that too us.

https://www.facebook.com/AFL-Trade-Parade-Updates-and-News-1607159189583643/ A rumour site going with Zac Jones looking at the Dees.

Reports are that he wants to go to Hawthorn.

The other two that we have used this year are Salem and Brayshaw. Both are not slow and both can deliver the ball inside 50. Obviously Salem is the best kick, but I think both of them will be used more on the wing next year. Also remember that James Harmes has played wing for us and he is quick and quite a nice kick. If he is tagging on a wing (Sidebottom, Gaff, etc) then he'd also be there. I agree we do need more depth in this area though and personally I think Billy and Fritsch are the other two I'd run on the wing.

@Drunkn167 so on Jesse watch tonight?

In terms of the money, it has been reported a few times that GC are having to pay overs for players to stay which is why (hilariously) they are dealing with salary cap issues even with loosing Lynch. I dont have the article on hand, but I think it was in about July, August when they were talking about the move to Collingwood it would be on less dollars than what he'd make on the Gold Coast in order to fit in with the contracts of the club. I would hope that this would be the same case for us. I cannot imagine that our dollar and year offer is that different than Collingwood's. It will be a lot less than the GC's year and dollar offer though which I'm sure is one of the things May has to weight up.

Do yourselves a favour. Have a look on YouTube at his work this year. Then look at Footywire and compare to Salem. The boy has serious talent which has been shadowed because of the concussion injuries. Us of all supporters should know what happens to quality players when this happens. Exactly what has happened to Kade. It might cost us a second rounder, but it is a great way to spend a second rounder. Allows us to move Salem further up the ground and use Kade's kicking skills in the back half. 2 x 22 under 22 team of the year 5th in his NAB rising star (behind Taylor and the Bont) 2015 he was the runner up in the GC Best and Fairest We are not talking about a player who has no runs on the board. This is a player who hasn't wanted to be at the GC this year, who is dealing with concussion issues, and just wants to get back to playing his best football. An absolute no brainer to me.

There is an interesting article on AFL.com.au that talks about WCE and Collingwood list builds for the GF. I wanted to see how our 22 on the past weekend matches up. In terms of top end talent, they are actually very similar. All 3 clubs have drafted 5-7 top end and then added a heap of top end through trades. This is going to be something moving forward that I'm interested in where we go. You can add Lever and Hogan to the list of first rounders and Stretch to the second rounders on top of 3 guys in Lewis, Melksham, and Tyson who are top 10 picks in their own right. There is a lot of top end talent in here moving forward, even though we like to talk about our steals with Gawn, McDonalds, Vanders etc. First Round Picks (WCE 7; Coll 5; Melb 6) Petracca (Pick 2) Brayshaw (3) Oliver (4) Salem (9) Weideman (9) Jones (12) Second Round Picks (WCE 3; Coll 2; Melb 3) Viney (26 but first round bid) Spago (29) Neal-Bullen (40) Third Round Picks (WCE 5; Coll 0; Melb 4) Gawn (34) Hannan (46) T. McDonald (53) O. McDonald (53) Fourth Round / rookie (WCE 1; Coll 6; Melb 4) Jetta (51) Harmes (2 in rookie draft) Vandenberg (2 in rookie draft) Smith (Category B) Trade / Free Agency (WCE 6; Coll 9; Melb 5) Tyson (originally pick 3) Lewis (originally pick 7) Melksham (originally pick 10) Frost (53) Hibberd (pick 4 rookie draft)

This has made me feel a lot better than where I was when I was posting. I was lamenting the fact that we are again loosing players from our list. You are right that the 2019 OOC are really best 22 either at the MFC or other top 8 clubs. Baker, Wagner, Maynard are the only ones there that I'd question might not break Geelong's starting 22, but I'm looking forward to seeing what Baker can do. My worry is experienced depth, which is why I dont want to loose guys like Tyson and JKH. They are good players who will offer more next year than pick 45. Building on this, last year we lost Garland and Watts who were in our best 22. The others were Hulett (0 games), Kennedy (bust trade), Lumumba (well Clark didnt do anything either), Spencer (great back up), Trengove (sad but glad he got a go with Port), and White (didn't loose anything here as he came to Casey anyway). This year we have lost Vince to retirement which is odd for us as we haven't had many who have lasted to retirement lately, Balic which was sad for the boy but we never had him in MFC colours and most thought depth anyway. King and Flip were basically out due to their in and out from Casey by mid way through this year and our preference not to play them in the ruck. McKenna was a speculative pick that none of us really put hope in, Bugg was good for us during transition and I hope he gets a gig somewhere else, but no one had him best 22 at the start of the year, and Pederson has again been a great servant during transition but he would just be back up again next year. Now it comes down to players we don't really want to loose. I know things happen during the year, but I dont know where I am de-listing three from next year's OOC.

Thanks @Lucifer's Hero - love your work. To put this all in perspective: 2019 - 7 changes (thus far, not including Kent) 2018 - 8 changes 2017 - 8 changes 2016 - 9 changes 2015 - 11 changes 2014 - 11 changes It seems like a lot of changes considering that we made a prelim (Collingwood had 8 changes this year). We could legitimately be looking at 10 changes to our list which if you told me that at the start of the year (or 8 weeks ago) I would have laughed.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_ITx-GCsaLg" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> Izak Rankine is exactly what we've been saying we want all year. Footskills, outside, speed, x-factor.

My issue is I don't see a scenario that we'd be happy with as a club that Freo would be willing to pay. 1. It has to be a godfather off because it would have to cross his mind he is giving up a premiership and a coleman to go to Freo. Hogan would know it would cost Freo big in terms of picks - picks of which they wont be able to use on midfielders to deliver him the ball. 2. Freo know that you need more than 1 player down forward. They are aware of their holes and would not want to loose Neale, plus potential top end talent to get one player, even if it is a generational talent. 3. Where do we open the negotiations? They come to us with this year's first, next year's first (which they will hope will not be in the top 10), and we say well you have to pay overs because he is in contract. We need 2 x 1st (2019 & 2020) + a player (Langdon/Apness/Tucker). I'm sure we will ask about Brayshaw and Cera but assume we will be told where to go. 4. Peter Bell has just been installed as GM. This could go either way - he might want to make a splash and instruct the FD to go after Hogan no matter the cost, or he might not want his first move he make to tie the future of the football club to one player. A lot to play out in this space, but cannot see it being done this year.

Agree - I look at north and go - yep that’s what we are missing. Jack Martin should be top of that list if he wants to move to Vic. We won’t match Polec money, Hall isn’t good enough, Gaff would be a dream.

Dominant. He and Petty looked fantastic together and in the second half probably a little less so. I’d want him signed up by the end of the week. Dont know why the hatred for Hunt here. He broke lines, he put his head over the ball and created contests. He also hit tagets which has been one of his big problems. Also Box Hill tightened up on JKH after a rampant first quarter. Didn’t give him any space so not surprising he wasn’t as influential. Garlett was poor, Bugg tried but he’s not the same anymore. McKenna seems some.

Brown: umpires done a good job today....come on.

Your shout!