Pates

Welcome to the Dees Kozzie! Can’t wait to see him light up the G, an injection of excitement and x-factor is exactly what we need. We can argue the merits of picking him at 10 until the cows come home but ultimately we wanted him and I’m glad he’s pulling on the Red and Blue!

I'm not expecting much in 2020, this isn't because I have any intimate knowledge of his situation it's just going on his past recurrence of injuries. The issue that many forget is that when a body gets serious injuries it creates other issues, his calves may get back to full fitness but who knows he might get back related soreness through overcompensation, or his hammy might be a bit susceptible to injury because it hasn't experienced regular full training for a long time. I don't think this is being negative but I think there will be setbacks, all he (and we) can hope for is that he puts the hours into the rehab to minimise setbacks, and he continues to have the attitude that he is currently displaying. If those things happen then we might see what he can do on the field.

If we get him I think the coaching staff should be making his instructions for his first year pretty simple: chase hard, get to the front of packs, and back yourself. I don't know that pick 10 is necessarily where he's rated as to the quality of the draft but remember we picked up a certain ginger draft bolter that surprised a few in the media, and so far he's looked pretty damn good! If nothing else it'll be good to have some x-factor making defenders sweat.

Tom needs to focus on getting back to kicking goals, not captaincy. I’d have him in the leadership group but nothing else.

Sensationalist headline writing, he was taken to hospital only as a precaution and has been given the day off from the club. I hope he’s all good and that there’s nothing more to this, it’d be nice if we could see him get a crack at fulfilling his potential.

I feel like Pickett could be the beneficiary (or victim depending on how you look at it) of media hype. I think he’s worth a spot on an AFL list but doesn’t strike me as a top 15-20 pick. I know stats aren’t everything but his numbers aren’t exactly mind blowing. Would seem like an overpay at pick 10.

I think we’ve had a (thus far) good off-season; we’ve addressed deficiencies, we’ve re-structured the FD, we’ve managed to get some very highly regarded health/fitness people, and most of the players we chased ended up at the club. That said 2019 was an atrocious year in so many ways, it revealed some issues we had tactically, and exposed a real lack of depth. As always when it rains it pours and we had a number of other issues throughout the year that brought back the veil of negativity that Roos used to speak about. I can understand people’s hesitation to be positive, certain players have to regain some serious form for us to be back in the 8 and beyond. It took us so long to get back to the finals and we crashed and burned big time, I think it’s easier for some to expect to fail.

Meh it's likely I'll still be living in the UK at the time so I trip over the Ireland to see this could be good for a laugh and some fun, particularly as I won't be getting to any H&A matches next season.

That's definitely true, social media posts are somehow becoming newsworthy stories even if it's about a parent being outraged over the misspelling on packaging. But certainly in this instance they literally feed off the hate and negativity that is born from it, they're looking for reactions and the media gives it to them. But that said does that mean people shouldn't call it out as Ryan did? On my point of getting the person fired, maybe it's not the answer but I can tell you right now if I found out I was working side by side with someone like that I wouldn't be comfortable with it.

So it sounds like we're going to be bringing him in in the same way as Bennell (what's the limit on how much players you can take on in this way?). Ultimately it's a low risk situation, and if selected to the main list he'll be there as depth in case we are stretched for forward options. I felt like the last few years we had been comfortable with moving tall forwards on but didn't recruit coverage for the ones we kept, Brown might be a remedy for that.

Will definitely be interesting to see what they have him doing his first day of training with the club. Good to hear he's got a positive attitude, one step at a time.

I’m really liking seeing Pruess returning trimmed down. Whether or not he makes it is another question but there’s little doubt he’s trying to emulate Gawn’s example and why wouldn’t he!? He said when he came to the club he wanted to learn off Max and to progress into a better player, he’s got a long way to go but these are good signs.

Like many we can’t excuse his sub par season (when he was available) with injuries however we can recognise the impact it would’ve had. With him being able to set up a full pre-season it gives him every opportunity to get back to the form that made him our linchpin. Also goes to show we shouldn’t panic about seeing players in the rehab group at this early stage, particularly if they’re senior players that weren’t even required to rock up. This is them getting ahead of their rehab to give them the best chance for 2020.

The thing of social media is that it gives these wankers a platform to spew their garbage from the comfort of their keyboard/phone. It gives them the voice to say these things they’ve been thinking with little risk of repercussions, I can only hope investigations into this idiot uncover who they are and they’re able to be named, shamed, and fired from wherever they work.

If he’s played forward we can get 35+ goals out of him there. I think for us to be successful next year we don’t necessarily need to have one key target that is a guarantee to kick 50, we need a wider spread with Petracca, Hannan, and Weids kicking around 30+, and TMac and Fritch tipping 40. All are capable of those numbers. From there we need some midfields getting amongst it as well as suddenly we can get back to being one of the most attacking teams in the comp.

I’d like to see him move back again, with Frost gone we’re looking slow back there and he can be valuable in breaking the lines. It’s about getting his decision making right when he does that. But truthfully I don’t know if he’s in the 22, I see him in the best 25 for sure and he might be one that is a bit in and out of the side. And it could come down to not being sure where he fits, if we’re able to get there likes of AvB, Hannan, and Fritch regularly in the team then I’m not sure there’s space for Hunt.

I agree mate, who have we got rid of in recent years who have truly come back to bite us. Howe is the only one that springs to mind, but one of the reasons he left was because he wanted to play forward along with large $$$ and longer contract. He went to the pies, failed as a forward and the Buckley “reinvented him” as an intercept defender. Hogan might well reach his potential if his foot gets right. Watts has done little to have me worried at Port (apart from him playing his best game against us). Dunn we delisted and he did well at the Pies for a period. Going quite a way back we lost Frawley but were well compensated. I can’t recall anyone else really.

I hope their front loading of Martin’s contract screws them over from any chance of getting anyone else over the next couple of years. Blue bagger wankers.

Sounds like he’s accepted responsibility for his poor year with coming back in not good shape, this pre-season you can’t knock his attitude. He’s doing everything he can to make sure he plays an important role for us next year, good stuff!

True, though I kinda understand them wanting to draw a bit of a line in the sand sort of thing with Martin. They've been pillaged a lot and they wanted to play a bit of hardball for once. It's a bit moot though if they've got so much concessions that it doesn't mean they're losing out. I would love the Dees to come out and play some funny buggers with Carlton by saying we have the cap space for Martin, hold onto a space on the list into the PSD as well. Apart from Martin would there be any PSD potentials for us?

I don’t like using the surgeries and injuries as an excuse, Richmond, Sydney, Geelong, WC etc have been backing up multiple years of finals. What I will say is it’s folly to dismiss it completely as a strong contributing factor. My worry has been that the club will look to the injuries and just say “oh well we’ll be back next year with better player fitness”. 2020 shapes as a massively important year for the club, a good time to get someone with Burgess’s credentials on board.

I totally agree, I think the media is always looking for the feel good story to come to fruition, where he plays the best footy ever in tribute to his father and looks up at the sky when he kicks the match winning goal. Obviously people are masters of their own destiny but it's hard to argue that his personal development from the age of 17 was disruptive, unusual, and emotionally difficult. As for the money side of things my understanding is that he's on slightly less that what he potentially stood to earn at Melbourne. When we traded him out I think the club saw the writing on the walls that his injury troubles were going to continue and that what was best for both club and player was to get him home. He's now Freo's problem but I still wish him well.

Whatever way you look at it it's sad. I hope he's able to get his body right and play some good footy in the future. Right now I'd say the trade is sitting at a 0-0 draw given May's injury troubles.

Oh I'm not at all unhappy about the try before you buy scenario, I think we've actually got ourselves into a no lose situation with this to be honest. What I was referring to was that the rules of the off-season prohibit him from training with a club prior to a certain date even if the club and player have already agreed to the terms of the rookie category he'll be on.

That seems really silly, I mean if club and player have agreed on a course of action then why not cut to the chase? That said I’m sure he will meet with our medicos who will monitor the program I’m sure he’s been given. For me I think the club has handled this really well, it’s a mixture of risk and prudence. We’ve taken a punt on him, given him another chance but we’ve done our due diligence and haven’t rushed into anything. Welcome to wearing Red and Blue Harley!