binman

All feels like a Ross Lyon vanity play- I want my flag and I want it now!

Excellent comparison. Another that comes to mind is James McDonald - a solid citizen who does the basics consistently well and works super hard. Like Steele, a leader. There's an interesting parallel in the shameful, not to mention plain stupid, way we treated Junior Heart and soul players, leaders that positively contribute to their club's culture, and both captains. We essentially forced Junior to retire and the Saints basically forced Steele to leave. Crazy stuff. King is doing the complete opposite - instead of moving on leaders and culture builders he's getting rid of two senior players who, in recent seasons, have not been great for the culture and bringing in a senior player who will be. Steele is a dual All-Australian and has won two best and fairest awards. He served as St Kilda co-captain in 2021, and as the sole captain from 2022 to 2025. Exactly the sort of player we need as we look to rebuild our culture.

Twenty of which were last year, in a season where the hawks made the prelim. Given he essentially replaces mcvee the comparison between the two makes for interesting reading. Jiath is on the left

He's somewhere between hit and miss and a turnover merchant. My thoughts are we only had to pay pick 42 and a future fourth-round selection for him, peanuts in the scheme of things (which by the by makes the pick 23 we got for mcvee look like a first class deal), and so, well worth the punt. I don't love the fact he's not an elite kick but do love his leg speed and creativity and preparedness to take the game on. On kicking skills, every team has its share of below average kicks, the key is not having too many. We do have too many but funnily enough tracc and claz going helps on that front and hopefully we can turn the tracc picks into a couple of players with elite kicking skills. I think XL is a really important piece of the puzzle - if he has an uninterrupted preseason he'll get a lot more of the ball next season. He is a beautiful kick, weights it well and has great vision. Miochek is an excellent shot for goal and Steele is a decent kick. Sineama looks to be a beautiful kick and i think Adams is likely to be best 22 next season and he's a good kick. So it's not all doom and gloom on the kicking front.

Yep, Langdon has got good wheels. Langford not so much - Bisons are slow off the mark but once they get up to speed can go fast and hard. The other player with decent wheels, one i think we really missed last year (which is strange to say given he's barely played an AFL footy) is AMW. It has become super important in footy to have a lot of players who can sustain high speed running but as importantly have really good acceleration from a standing start. Such speed is important on offence of course, but i think it's even more important on defence (all team defence and the back 7) as with al teams now playing a variation of the aggressive back half transition game getting back quickly in numbers when the ball is turned over has become super critical. Without wanting to disparage Clazz and Tracc, one benefit of both leaving is that is two less players in our best 22 who are slow both from a standing start and at striding pace (though Steele, who i think is terrific addition and will be a lock in our best 22, offsets that a bit as he's not super quick).

Langford?

Top post. Agree on what CJ brings. I'd add that he's pretty quick, and we're a slow team so that's a big plus. The role he is most suited to is the attacking high half back role Windsor was playing for the first half of the season. Windsir was worth a try because he's quick and can run and carry. But he never looked natural down back, runs in straight lines and his kicking is a bit hit and miss (which is disappointing as when drafted I hoped we were getting an elite kick). Jiath's kicking worries me, particularly in that role as turnovers are in bad spots. And being compared to Frost in style is some sort of backhanded compliment But King had said he wants players to play more on instinct and with a bit more freedom As you suggest AoB CJ brings a bit of chaos, and is certainly less straight line and predictable than say Windsor. So in terms of adding a player who can support King to implement his desired method CJ will be a good addition. Over the last few years many posters have been screaming out for less structure and more dare and risk. Looks like that's what we'll get. Hopefully those same posters won't crack it when we see the inevitable spike in turnovers (which was already a massive issue under Goody). That's funny. I texted a mate who is a huge hawks fan and asked him his views on Jiath. Perhaps you work with my mate as this was his reply: different views on cj: 👍young,athletic, fast, outside run. 👎🏼runs in circles, makes poor decisions and can over use it. my view: please take him

To be clear, it would have been perfectly fine if you were.

G'day Suns recruitment team - a PSA. The post above is what's called in the trading biz as a false flag. Classic disinformation. The dees are actually desperate to keep Christian.

So, you're telling me there's a chance?

Hah - not even close!

Sure, if we keep him. But that wasn't my point. My question was what would it say if they are offered a poor deal and choose to take it rather than keeping tracc?

For the sake of argument let's say that's a poor deal for tracc yet the club is willing to take it. What does that say about what our new coach and Football Department thinks about tracc in terms of what he brings to the club in totality - ie on field performance and off field contribution (eg leadership, role modelling, culture building etc)?

Fair points But we got XL at 11 and i think he will be prove to he one of the best in his draft year. No reason to think we can't turn picks 11 and 12 into two guns.

I guess that's what I'm really saying - is tracc still a superstar? Not on his 2025 form. And it's worth noting that whilst it's reasonable to fact the his injury into an assessment of his 2025 season he did in fact have an uninterrupted preseason (not to mention his red bull fitness camp) so it's not like he wasn't pretty close to his optimal condition. It's no sure thing he will ever again be a superstar that regularly wins game off his own boot.

Nah. Tracc was flying before Moore pole-axed him. And all things considered he had a pretty good 2025 season. As I post every off season I don't mind skimming all the trade and draft speculation, and think it's great the thought many put into all the variables. I particularly like reading Informed views about possible draft options But personally I don't really care, particularly about the trading palaver. And I don't really have an informed view about value of trades etc However I'm curious the consensus seems to be picks 7 and 8 is a bad deal. I get that the context is its Humphrey or picks 7 or 8 and everyone is super keen on Humphrey so perhaps 7 and 8 seems bad in comparison. But to be honest, assuming the Suns pay all of his salary, picks 7 and 8 for tracc ain't that bad. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe he is still a gun. But the reality is he is 30 next year, his kicking, which has never been elite, got worse last season and if I was brutally honest I'd say post injury he's still, 100% understandably, a little cautious in the heat of the battle. Added together he's a ways off his AA best. He may well get back to that level - and I sincerely hope he does whether that's at the dees or another club. But as a punter I'd give no better than even money he will get back to his AA best. In that context picks 7 and 8 is ok I reckon. And if we take those picks to the draft (Ie as opposed to on trading for a player) that's pretty exciting.

Really - who cares? I mean, other than you.

Bite your head off? Not on your life - this is exactly the sort of post this thread is missing!

Ta AoB Kicking skills?

I'll confess to not watching a hell of a lot of suns games in the last few years. Humphrey seems to be a player, but can someone who is a fan give me a summary of why we should trade him in.

Don't knock it until you've tried it.

More Laurel Canyon alt rock, alt country vibes for mine.

Not necessarily as your calculation assumes the draft is an accurate gauge of future relative performance. I'd argue that's only true for the top 5 picks, and even then, there are plenty of top 5 picks that become decent AFL players but are well and truly shaded by players in the same draft who were picked later in the draft. The handwringing about draft picks and purported salary offers does my head in.

Yes, well perhaps not as clever a way to make my point as I hoped. My point being i can't believe some posters think pick 23 is unders. Nibbla has barely missed a game through injury, his last three seasons have been elite, is widely respected for his training standards and leadership, is an aerobic beast who plays a critical role and is a premiership player. I thought pick 28 was unders for Nibbla, but nonetheless it gives us some sense of market value. Mcvee has plenty of upside, is talented and has more footy left but he'll do very well to be the player nibbla has become. So, if anything, pick 23 isovers for mcvee But you touch on an important point luci., one I wasn't making. Outside of say a top 10 or 15 pick the actual number is somewhat meaningless once filtered thru factors like how a club uses that pick (eg packaging it up, on trading it, using it on a player no other club is likely to take at that pick, points etc etc).