binman

A touch of the oxymorons here but i like the cut of his jib. If indeed he is the best player at 3 then it is serendipitous as above all we need an elite kick and Young appears to be one and it removes all discussion about best pick of over filling needs. Love that he is a lefty too as i'm positive they have a slight advantage with opposition instinctively looking to cover the right side. Did your mate indicate if he could move play as a mid? And any discussion about his ability to play AFL next season?

And also has to be factor in any deliberations about drafting Martin. Let's say we pay Martin 650k and he is just an average year. And harmes another top 5 in the bluey. And asks for 650 k.

I'm on record as saying Martin is player i would like to see at the club. But whilst we can no doubt afford him i don't think it is entirely true that money is not an issue. If say we agree to pay him 700k a season it will immediately put him in say the top 5 players for salary. And that may create some issues if his teammates believe he is not worth that sort of coin, or they think they are worth more. Which might be an issue for morale but more pertinently might become an issue at the end of next season when a number of key players will be renegotiating contracts. The players will have advanced notice of the plans to get Lever and may and so the logic for their high salaries would have been more evident. Both are likely future AA players (may might have been already?). It is a bit harder to argue the case for martin. All that said i would be thrilled if we get him.

Not a shock, but a shame for those two boys. I reckon both a chance of getting picked up by another club, with Stretch being more likely i guess. I hope GC grabs them both. Stretch could play as an inside mid up there which according to hi dad on his DL podcast interview is his best position (and one he hardly ever had a crack at at the dees).

The running power of Langdon and Tomlinson will be huge for us and are exactly why we targeted them. One of the reasons we lost so much with Hogan going is he played that role. Only ANB (and tmac perhaps) has the capacity to run the sort of distances at a fair clip those two boys can. Which is why he kept getting selected and why he got recontracted. KK is probably the other one who can cover the ground, so let's hope he can get back. Of course all players will have to get fitter, and will if they can avoid interupptions. But even at peak fitness some players are burst players and simply can't cover 300 metres at the required speed. Gus, Jones and trac are three that come to mind. I reckon Oliver might get there though.

As they say rode him like he was the best horse in the race. Kept him out of trouble and trusted his ability to run over the top of him. Our middle distance and up hoses are hopeless when compared to the best European and Japanese horses. Ans the Japanese horses are brilliantly suited to our racing because unlike most European horses they can run slow then accelerate and the end of distance races

I like mer de glace in the cup. Well like is probably a bit strong. A raffle really. And I really like Acadia queen. I think it is the next star of the turf.

I don't back futures as a rule, but thought about backing it for the derby before this race. But clean forgot today. Win made more impressive by humma humma's win as that showed there is no leader's bias

I was on board. That donald win was brilliant and this was a carbon don't, stack them up a bit then pur tge foot down and clear away. I was hoping it would be a bit better price but ill take the win.

I have been struggling to land on my best. Vasilating between arcadia queen, royal meeting and brutal. But have landed on royal meeting. Caulfield race 8 no 2. Group one winner at its second start in Europe and is up against an average lot in a small field. $3.40 fixed odd atm so good value.

On the small forwards they targeted Elliot but couldn't land him. I am assuming they will target one in the draft now. At least I hope they will!

Totally agree in all points. I'm constantly amazed how lazy almost all footy commentators are in particular ex footy players, in terms of research and analysis. Plough's evident work he puts into the work should embarass 95% of his colleagues

Disagree. Sure sign the club is in crisis and is a basket case.

My understanding is that they can do exactly that (pick him up in the pre season draft). From memory there is a process where a player can essentially appeal getting picked up buy a club they don't feel they can play at, but i could be wrong. But really they would only want him if he was fully committed. At this sage they can't afford a player negatively impacting the culture. They essentially said they have so many draft picks they can do without the the blues were offering.

I've heard it all now.

Can we do that? By the by 'grown some balls' and other [censored] related metaphors seems to this years's trade period bent over.

I have no clue about draftees. But I really like the insight of a handful of posters who know their juniors and have actually seen them play live. I fully get the argument you make it simple and select the best available. But that is by definition a subjective decision. What we need though is two elite kicks and at least one player with good outside endurance and run and a quality small forward with natural goal kicking instincts.

Wallace rated team's as winners, break evens and losers. He only had four winners. We were one.

Totally agree. Getting him without giving up a draft pick would be massive. My only hesitation is his salary ask. If rumours are true he seemingly was guaranteed a big salary at the blues, upwards of 6-700k a year. Normally I wouldn't care but I reckon that is overs and leaving aside cap issues might cause some rumblings

Why?

Agree on both points. Very healthy. Unless of course you are trying to prosecute a club in crisis narrative.

I think there is something in that. In part a function of not enough opportunity preseason to practice and embed structures, set ups, synergy and systems because of all the rehabbing and injury. And of course the injuries in season, particularly in the back halft meant that the same 22 never played together which just exacerbated the issues of the lack of synergy, not everyone playing their role and lack of predictability.

Similar to weed he is a player who struggles when his confidence is down. Most players do but players need to find a way to work through that. Strength will improve as he nears 25. But what he really needs to improve is his speed from a standing start. Hopefully burgess can work some magic with that.

Hence is use of the word think, not know. He might think that based on weeks of speculation about his asking price and guesstimates of our salary cap position. As an example I think hills price is too high for our cap

Bloody happy clappers