BAMF

I really didnt want to offer him a fat three year contract, but I was salivating at the thought of a quick fix to our biggest hole for 2021. I hope we have something else lined up for the wing. I dont want to see vandenBerg plugging that position again.

I read it that we are offering the same money per year but have an extra year in the contract. Otherwise there is no way you would consider us an option at all. No one would sign a three year contract at his age when you can guarantee the same money in two thirds the time. Especially not to come to us.

No doubt you class him as a small because of his height, but he doesnt really play what i would call a traditional small forward crumbing role (which is why he is in and out if the team) like Pickett or Eddie Betts etc. Spargo can crumb but doesnt do it as well as most traditional 'small' forwards. He is actually a small inside midfielder who is forced to play forward because he is never ever going to get to play inside mid in our team (and likely any other team at afl level). He strengths are that he has good disposal over short distances, great awareness, hard at the ball and player, can read the play better than just about anyone on our list and usually makes the right decisions. His weaknesses are his lack of height, size and speed. Most of his good attributes are shared with Hannan, except Hannan is obviously better in the air with his height. You would never call Hannan a small, and I wont call Spargo a traditional small. Sparrow, Jones and Baker are all midfielders who play half forward flank and pitch in on other areas. Jones and Baker on the wing and Sparrow in the guts for his own development more than anything. Higgins is exactly the same. He was a pure mid at underage level who could push forward. At the tigers he started out as a pure forward as thats where he could get a game, but he spent a considerable amount more time in the midfield in his second year.

That was my experience listening last year. Just a lot of general footy talk combined with 'experts' naming all the possible things that could happen. Its basically the same as reading this site except you have adverts shoved down your ears at every opportunity. I thank everybody who listens and shares info.

Not sure if dr evil is full of it or not, but to be fair the reports are all saying that Geelongs offer came at the eleventh hour. Meaning that dr evil could have been correct at the time he made the call. Mitch Clarke was 100% going to Freo before Mark Neeld flew up to Brisbane at the last moment and made a pitch. It happens. If you are going to get so upset, maybe just wait until the official news breaks instead of reading these sites. Nothing is official until its official.

One of those players who looks like he is just about to breakout at any moment. Hits the scoreboard often enough to be considered as a delisted free agent but has never played more than 10 games per season. Pass from me. Maybe as a DFA.

He was a die-hard Saints supporter pre-draft apparently which is where a lot of this speculation is coming from. Was likely the first club he personally went looking for.

Big yes from me. Medium forward types we have : Fritsch, Melksham, Hannan , Spargo, ANB, AVB, Jones, Sparrow, Baker, Hunt I could easily get rid rid of 4 of them to add to Bennell, Dunkley and Corey Wagner. Basically, I'm trying to say that we have room for his type.

Almost too good to be true........

Taken with pick 10 in 2017. Pick 10 was our pick that we traded to Adelaide as part of the Lever deal. LOB was the player I wanted us to pick too. I think we ended up alright. He has a bit of James Strauss to him (elite kick at under age but never displayed at afl level)

He went best available. It didn't work in this case.

The 'good' and 'if' being the sticking points. I would be very happy with 40 -50 good games. I don't think he is likely to give us that many. I think we will get 15 -20 good games and about 5 - 10 below average to average games.

He will be 32 going into next season. 3 year contract is not a smart move. 2 years to get him across the line would be great.

I remember that night. I was working in a restaurant at the time and as I walked in everybody was talking about who would win. When asked, I said that Woewoden had played well all year and was a chance. I was laughed at by the whole group, but I used to watch a hell of a lot of footy back in those days and really did think he was a chance. He never played very well after that year so many people still think it was a fluke.

Very sad. I am so happy they had the courage to talk about it. I only heard this statistic a few months ago and was shocked in 2 ways. 1) that the rate was so high 2) that i didn't know this already. It must be a very hard thing to discuss personally but I am surprised that we as a community do not discuss it more openly. Is this something we just don't openly discuss or am I just living under a rock?

Personally I am hoping we get Xavier O'Halloran. Pick 22 in 2018 draft. Had good leadership in TAC. I remember on draft night a few of us were hoping he would be available for our pick at 27 (Sparrow), which is probably why I have always kept an eye on him. Played 2 games this year and didn't look amazing in those games but is only young and would slot into our next generation brigade well. Would play on our half forward flank and provide a bit of extra run in his first year playing anywhere between 8-15 games in his first year with us IMO. He is pretty much an above average foot soldier in most areas and would be plug and play after his first 2 years in development at GWS. I love the idea of slowly replacing Jones, VDB ANB and Hannan with some youthful running options who will push up the wings and this is what role i see for O'Halloran. I'm also hoping that Jordan did enough to get a contract extension and hope to see Sparrow, Jordan and O'Halloran get a good amount of games in 2021 as our next generation mids. .

I would think a future third round pick would probably be unders. Maybe try and offer Hannah and our third round pick for a future second round. Dogs could use the points this year and its a compromised draft. You would think next years draft will be deeper than normal with covid affecting this one.

We traded them the pick they used to pick up Broomehead i believe. Think it was part of the Chris Dawes trade?

I am with you here Sue. Another one that really gets to me is the 'Underground handball' Underground. Ffs. The ball has gone under the ground, created a tunnel and popped back up to a player.

I like him he would have been amazing as a free agent. He has produced highly and consistently for many years and his tackles regularly. It's not a problem at all. Moot point. He was never coming to us.

I dont think early second... But I don't think a third round pick gets it done, especially this year. You and I had this exact same discussion last year actually. I think in hindsight GWS should have gone after him last year and offered their 2020 second round pick.

A frustrating player. Goes missing frequently. Doesn't push into up the wing enough like Kent could. When he gets the ball he usually looks great but the problem is that he doesn't get it enough. Have watched him at live games working really hard to create chances for himself. He is sort of a combination of Fritsch, Spargo and Melksham and I can't see a spot for him in the best 22. Do we hold onto him for depth when we have so many other similar players? I would prefer to bring someone who can push into the midfield for extra run.

Is there speculation we are into Smith? I'm really not a fan of being the retirement home for old players unless we pick them up for virtually nothing. Smith would be a short term fix.

I've mentioned it before in this thread. I would love Xavier O'Halloran from GWS. We might need to throw in a small sweetener to get it over the line. Otherwise, I think the club should be looking at future picks and continue avoiding this draft.

I highly recommend everyone listens to this. The whole thing was great but if you are pressed for time the Demon content is from 33-53 mins. But you really should listen to the whole thing No amazing headlines to report that haven't already been reported in the past but a great insight into what happened during his tenure.