Macca

Aggressive and competitive beasts get to more contests and get more possessions And then do something constructive with those possessions. In A grade style (we are getting 2 x 1st rounders & 1 x 2nd rounder ... that exchange is normally reserved for a proven gun player) He gets outmanoeuvred too easily in ruck contests as well ... taps to advantage? Negligible Marking skills - bog average That wasn't and was LJ this season Unless he was playing possum. Over the next 2-3 years, we will find out how good he's going to be And if we can turn those 2 first rounders into good players as against 1 'maybe' good, we win the deal. I can't see great (LJ) And then there's the 2nd rounder which could turn a profit as well ... we've done very well previously using 2nd rounders on experienced talent Do your best work, Jason Taylor! Time will reveal who has won this deal but it could end up in a win/win as well How did you see things, DS? Footnote; How about this trade? (compo, actually) Hawks got pick 19 for Buddy then won the next 2 flags without him

Picks are overvalued so we possibly won't be getting enough if Jackson turns out to be a stellar player But, what are the chances of that happening? Who knows? I have my doubts A lot of self improvement is needed by Jackson ... especially with regards to his marking and getting to enough contests ... related to possession numbers. He disappeared a lot in games this year and that's hard to do when rucking He (LJ) regressed this season and was often quite a disappointment with his output. Weighing it all up we might still do quite well when considering that we've got a recruiter with the midas touch with regards to the use of 1st and 2nd round picks Drafted Oliver, Salem, Petracca, Brayshaw, Kossie as well as the use of 1st rounders on Lever & May And we've done extra well using 2nd round picks on established talent or through the draft ... Langdon, Hibberd, Melksham, Sparrow, Bowie, Jordon, Ben Brown etc etc (JVR & Lawrie are showing promise as well) And our recruiting has to be judged over a number of seasons (at least 4 or 5 years) Not just one off season ... but it has to be said we don't often miss these days anyway As an example compare our recruiting from 2005 - 2011 as opposed to 2012 - 2018. It's like chalk and cheese and the latter time period led to a flag The former time period led to nothing but misery. Bust after bust after bust So there's no point sweating the small stuff (one 2nd round pick here or there)

49ers, Eagles, Miami

Golden Mile wins the Guineas ... another masterful ride by J-Mac. James Cummings again! Too good! I hope we get to see it past it's 3yo season. Anamoe has raced on so why not! Btw, Gator has tipped 6 of the 8 winners at Caulfield today ... freely available on racing.com, Sportsbet and Best Bets

They're going to get any number of sign-ups with that offer. And if Rupert wants to give money away for a tenner, I'm in. Even if it's just the one bet and then turnover the winnings Then cash out and say goodbye! Thanks Rupert!! I got that double as well, DZ Paulele just barged it's way through like a gun horse should. Worth following on that run. The Everest next? Or maybe the $2Million Manikato where the owners don't have to worry about a $600k cost to get a slot. About $1.2Million for the winner of the Manikato (22nd Oct)

And the Randwick meeting has been called off Had a few live multi's going too! Can't complain though as I'm way in front today They've pencilled in Monday for the remaining 3 stakes races but where? They'd be lucky to find a track that isn't heavy

Anamoe!! What a horse! Ridden a treat by J-Mac. I'm Thunderstruck & Zaaki very brave Skinny odds was Anamoe but perfect for the multi's Hot favourite for the Cox Plate now you'd imagine

Freo will be acutely aware that if we don't accept their offer, they won't be getting Jackson. Probably ever. The mooted big contract will be null & void He'd end up back with us or at West Coast or the long shot, North From our point of view, we might be prepared to accept a similar or lesser offer from West Coast bearing in mind that Jackson being at Freo strengthens a current rival (think a future PF at Freo with Jackson in their side as opposed to not being in their side) Losing a small amount of currency is not worth sweating over from an overall point of view. The only way we completely lose out is if he ends up in the pre-season draft (unlikely) Caving sets a precedent but not caving sets a precedent as well

Re the Colts @ Broncos. Glad I didn't do the tune out, record and watch later ... even the short-version highlights were ordinary! So it's Cranbourne races and the A league Derby for the night's entertainment!

I wonder if they (Freo) have got the Hogan trade & Langdon trade in the back of their minds right now. Or front & centre of their thoughts They lost out both times so they might view offering pick 13 & F1 as being fair trade for Jackson

Freo also gave us pick 26 in the Langdon deal (which we bundled up with our future (2020) first round pick to North - pick 13 in the end) In exchange we got pick 8 from North which we used on Kossie n.b. pick 8 eventually became pick 12 after academic & F/S picks Effectively we got Langdon cheap ... one pick in the low 20's

There's nothing like catching up with people for real ... with the odd exception, anything ever said in person is taken with a grain of salt. Agreeing to disagree is instantaneous!

Good point but your opening line made it look like we'd made an error in trading out of the top 10 (and first round) ... I just thought I'd fill in the details, DS And I'm not sure about our club's attitude to next season's draft. You may be right Conventional thinking often gets followed but it has to be said that Taylor has definitely got the midas touch with 1st and 2nd round picks (either with their use in the draft, or trading) As for 3rd & 4th rounders ... meh. Why waste time and money betting on 20-1 shots? Because that's what it is - a bet 10 years ago Malthouse said that each new draftee costs a club at least $200k per season (minimum 2 years) ... that figure would be closer to $275k these days That's a lot of money for a below average 18yo Spending that amount of money on a 3rd or 4th rounder is just not a good percentage play

His manager will be doing all the correspondence. LJ just has to sit back and wait ... it's out of his hands It's club vs club and LJ is the meat in the sandwich. If you lay down your tools just a fraction, the equation changes Put another way, if LJ had progressed further from his GF exploits, Freo may well have satisfied our needs by now with a better offer

We used pick 6 (which we acquired for Hogan) in the 2018 draft for Steven May Also, we traded our first round pick of that season (2018) for Jake Lever in a trade with Adelaide in 2017 Without both players - no flag

And Sydney has already set a record for the amount of rain they've had in a year (with 3 months to go!) Us punters should know as when we bet on the Sydney races, the tracks are nearly always heavy ... been that way for at least 2-3 years Good luck with your water tanks, Gorg!

Yep, footy fans have short memories "The umpiring has never been this bad" gets said every year too Pies supporters ... "We will the flag this year' They say it every year, without fail Next year's draft consists of year 10 & year 11 school age youth viewed months and months ago How could anyone possibly know? It's just crystal ball gazing said with a voice of authority

Well here in palatial Kew we've got plenty of run-off for all the water deluging down! The council are controlled by the old money and the high end legal fraternity! haha

What hasn't helped matters is the year that LJ had this season. Apart from 2 or 3 standout games he's been non influential ... and that has to lower his value in a trade They (Freo) might be paying Jackson some really good future coin but do they want to pay lots again just to acquire the player? It's a double investment Doesn't look like we're going to get much more than what was originally offered so if they've gone a bit luke-warm, it's understandable Reverse the trade and many here may not want to pay that much to get him or even want him at all (aside from the large salary and long term deal) The potential acquirement of Grundy is a good example. A number here (myself included) are trusting the club's judgement ... despite a few doubts (that's reading between the lines) There is a truckload of 'potential' attached to the Jackdon deal and I'm beginning to side with those who would take the deal and run

Colts win a game with 7 only field goals & zero TD's! (12-9) Will watch the highlights later to see whether the game was weather effected

Forums like these aren't for everyone and not long term either (for many) All the Demon friends and acquaintances I have don't involve themselves in social media ... maybe a bit of facebook but most have gone cold on that as well

Not sure with Dappa, ... IIRC, he's previously spent a fair bit of time in the USA (working?) ... if not, I hope he is ok as well as 'Cowboy from Hell' As for the honour board, over a 2 year stretch it's quite possible to get 4 podium finishes as well as a couple of Gold's! So it pays to always fight it out to the finish (a good adage in life too)

At this rate we could easily be on a H8+ tomorrow at Caulfield

Yep, he can say what he likes but he is just a pawn We control his destiny as does Freo ... I don't believe the Eagles are a player and the pre-season draft is not really an option unless LJ wants to play for North (or we wipe our hands of him - unlikely) The other factors are that we need draft picks (at least 2) so as we can participate in the draft (early-ish) ... so we have to do some sort of deal otherwise we'll be scrambling for workable draft picks And there's the Grundy deal in waiting

Re-sale value In theory they could get something like picks 13 & 15 next year (or the year after) all for paying top dollar for a 1 year contract (or 2 years) And if LJ wanted to earn top dollar after that he'd need to perform for that 1 year (or 2) But we'll do a deal with Freo anyway Here's how I see the market 1-3 Freo 5-1 Demons 33-1 West Coast 100-1 North (Pirates of Penzance anyone?)