deejammin'

Hi I really liked the interview too, seems very confident, I loved it when he said "get this club back to where it belongs", it sounded like he meant it. Also I think the emphasis on respect for the coaching group seems to me to imply he may have had a few problems with old FIGJAM.

Sad for it to end this way for Bartram, a true Demon. Thanks for the memories and good luck with future endeavours.

Thanks for the info BH, how is Trengove's kicking going? Is it back to his first two years or is he still struggling to get depth?

I would like to see Dawes in 5 with the Ox handing him his jumper. It would signal the first time since Neitz/Schwartz we have two seriously good bullocking forwards. Exciting!

Yup, but many tend to forget these things when they become very good famous players. Goddard is just one example, Dane Swan is another. Anyway, thanks to all those who have provided details on training, I can't wait to hear some more reports.

Which Goddard wasn't, and this seems to be the role Watts will be playing. Goddard was lamented by Saints supporters for at least 4 seasons before all of a sudden they all loved him and he was a superstar.... Hopefully we see this happen for Jack

I don't think we could have had the same amount of success as those teams for the reason you mention, our older players weren't as good as the members of those teams. However, Hawthorn for example hung onto Richie Vandenberg even when it was clear he wouldn't take them to a premiership, as he was a great leader and a hard trainer, had we hung onto guys like Junior rather than moving them on it may have helped our younger players with good examples and I think we would be further ahead of where we are now. That was my only point, not that we would be winning premierships.

Beat me to it Binman, I would think after trying to bulk him up to KPF standards over the last couple of years the focus will have shifted back to getting the most out of his aerobic capacity so that he can play the role you describe, 3rd up defender with stints on a wing.

The tone in the review of our club's offseason is not very complementary, I'm not sure exactly which part of our trading they dislike, but someone certainly doesn't like our strategy. Wines and Viney would be good.

That sounds great! If he can run the lines from half back and is a decent kick he may well find himself getting a chance off HBF this year.

I think we both think the same, that it is a chance, but unlikely. Thats all, sorry you didn't like my wording. back to the thread. If GWS get Tippett do they still take Grundy? Who do they take as their top 3?

Is it possible that we are thinking of using Gillies more as a mid sized back rather than KPD, hows his kicking? Is he fast?

My understanding of Peter Pan drafting was that you gut the majority of the list and replace with extremely young players for a number of years, so that your average age stays extremely young, like Melbourne, Carlton, RIchmond all did recently, and in all of those cases I don't think it has worked nearly as well as approaches like Sydney, West Coast and Hawthorn's where you try to maintain a balance in the age and experience of your list. But I could have that wrong.

Edited OP to include upgraded Rookies and Gillies.

In EQ's interview on morning SEN the day I wrote that comment Emma said that Menzel was top three talent, that Grundy could slip to 7 and in her mind it was unlikely GWS would take Grundy, that with as many picks in the top 10 as GWS has they may take the punt on Menzel's knees and take him with pick three as he is a "game breaker" and "potentially the best player in the draft". I added the qualifier "implied" because obviously nothing is set in stone and there are plenty of reasons GWS may not do this, as she also expounded in the same interview. However, I don't see what is wrong with what I have said, I never said "definately" I never said Menzel wasn't a punt, but that is what I think EQ was saying in that interview, or at least siting as a possibility. Also for the record, saying someone is a "chance to go 3-12" does imply that they may go 3, and in order for that to happen GWS would have to take him.

Actually I think it is far more pragmatic than this, Magner had another year on his rookie spot, as does Couch, there is no rush to upgrade them. Meanwhile Nicho and Evans were out of time and would need to be re-rookied, which could be risky, upgraded or let go. Also I think Magners burnout probably had alot to do with it being his first season of AFL football, I suspect he will last the distance better this year, and would have been upgraded if this were the last year of his rookie contract.

Agree totally WJ, at least the club won't take any of this lying down. At this stage we have heard no concrete evidence, we have evidence of coercion in attaining the hearsay that is currently being bandied around as damning evidence, we won't lose any draft picks this year, our no. 1 attacker appears to be backpeddling and the club is on the frontfoot legally. Looking good for a bad situation.

Sigh, yet again the training thread gets derailed, thanks Maldonboy for your insights and keeping this thread on topic.

No worries. I don't read bigfooty, for one, two, this was the conclusion I reached hearing her on SEN myself in the car. Anywhere from 3-12 still means 3 is possible, and she said it was a "chance", and she said a club with as many high picks as GWS might take that chance. Not to sound contrary, but thats pretty much exactly what I said and what you have unnecessarily corrected.

Cheers BH, not worried, just trying to temper my excitement so I don't let my expectations get too out of control.

Thanks mate, its dissappointing if he can't get back to it, he would be so useful to our team if he could reignite some better form. How did Jamar look in the ruck drills? How was Viney in general, did his kicking stand out as below par generally or was it just certain distances?

If I remember correctly this time last year Aaron was out injured, came back and was running laps on his own or with a coach and looking terribly unfit. Then when he joined the main group he was well out of his depth and fell well behind. I haven't been to training yet, but from what I have heard this year Aaron has done his own mini-preseason post-op to get himself right to do as close to 100% of this pre-season as possible. Add to that the fact that our group is far fitter than last year (running behind last year meant you were behind a group the coaches marked as generally unfit and unprepared) which means even though Aaron is behind he may well be making significant improvement on last year. Also bear in mind that Aaron would know that this is his make or break pre-season and will most definately be giving his all. Also while Neeld wouldn't be banking on it the fact is an in form, fit Davey is exactly what our team needs rotating through HBF, Wing and Forward and if he can get himself into the team he could do something special this year. I'm certainly not writing him off, just in being in the main group at this stage he has made improvement on last year.

Dane Swan maybe?

Please post your report Satyr... The more insight into each session the more we all enjoy the off-season, I would love to see what you had down.

So if Hogan is #1 does that make Dawes #5? That would be exciting.