Macca

Well Kolt is certainly not a natural forward and our depth is no longer strong enough that he won't be picked in the team when applicable In fact, we're down to 2 x A grade players and the rest are either on their way up or have regressed 2 examples are Petty & Lever. Neither impact games and both are on very good coin. Fritsch is another and Rivers just wastes his disposals King will have his work cut out trying to put a winning combination together Could be a long season ahead and we'll need to be very patient

You sound like you've chucked it in Get over your wonder boy, Petracca. He's not going to be captain and he'll almost certainly be playing elsewhere Have a good cry about it, if it helps

Playing at the back of the midfield (holding midfielder) is not that far removed from the HBF where Rivers started off. It wouldn't be that foreign for the lad Rivers disposal from half back seemed to be much better than when he disposes of the ball as a mid It's as if he freezes trying to look for targets ... and of course, long bombs were such a part of our game plan for so long that many of our mids were just programmed into hoofing it forward

Losing McVee creates a re-shuffle and Windsor was played at half back before sanity prevailed and he was moved to the wing/midfield And if we assume that Oliver & Petracca find new clubs, how will we use Viney? It only seems like yesterday that we were trying Jack in other roles (forward?) but we're probably going to need his experience and attack on the ball at the stoppages. Go again, Jack (given the circumstances) As much as Oliver was an issue, he did accumulate 264 contested possessions & 121 clearances for the 2025 season Langford, Lindsay, Windsor & Kolt* still need to be nurtured along as mids Sparrow needs to double his output and step up to the plate And Rivers could be asked to take on a Gus type role across the back of the midfield (needs to get more physical for that role though) Kozzie is the mid/forward and we might draft or recruit another mid And Harry, if we can get him *Give Kolt midfield minutes to see if he can cut it

Yep, that's the thing. It almost certainly won't be with the MFC But I'll be disappointed if we don't get much back in return

Well I reckon Oliver will put his head down and return to his best. What has happened to him is a monumental wake up call He'll bounce back but it almost certainly won't be for the MFC* I see his best as extracting the ball 30 times, hitting 20 targets by hand and learning how to hit 10 targets by foot (which is what he did in the last game against the Pies) He's just got to get his head right and get physically fit. At a new club, that's entirely possible and he is only a 28yo ... in theory, he's got 6 or 7 years left By the way, it won't annoy me if he plays well elsewhere, that's pro sports It's what we get in return that interests me. And despite what we've been told, we need to push hard for a decent trade *unless it is for the MFC, if a deal can't be reached

Hasn't Lindsay been earmarked to take on the HBF role? Salem? And even though Rivers wins his fair share of midfield possessions, in my view, he's better suited off a HBF where he can use his dash & daring (and hit up targets?🤞) But someone here (might have been DS) mentioned that some teams are going with 3 rebounders out of defence these days So yeah, Harry Oliver, picked at #19 in last year's draft, might fit the bill, AF (plus pick 34, thank you)

Ok, but we'll have their pick #34 as the clincher I'd like to see JT weave his magic with a few 2nd rounders No more fringe NQR's ... let's see if we can develop a few more 18yo's

All along I reckon us paying a big proportion of his salary buys us a decent draft pick $3.5Million for pick #13 I still believe he can play some great football and if GWS believe that as well, they might pay up

GWS have picks 13, 34 & 36 Might we prise out pick 13? Of course that's his guernsey number as well That's my tip but we'll have to pay a sizeable amount of his salary (?) Reckon that's more than a fair trade considering it could cost the club $3.5Million n.b. Pies first pick is #38 (no thanks)

I've felt all along that we'll be busy on draft day (unless we were able to land some genuinely talented players instead of picks) And to me, it's exciting times with Taylor at the helm And if we just go to the draft (along with the acquisition of Mihocek) then it's a genuine rebuild (of sorts) If they go, we should get a decent return for Trac* but fingers crossed re Clarrie (might be related to how much of his salary that we subsidise) *6 & 7 (or 17?) For Oliver, I'd jump at a first round pick, all things considered Plus, any 2nd rounders that we can get hold of (again, let Taylor have a go in that area of the draft)

Righto, fair enough My evaluation is that in terms of expectations (and that varies) close on 40% of all 1st round picks are busts (on average, over a number of different drafts) e.g. Pick 4 should an A Grader but as it turned out, he's just a solid player ... in some ways, that's a bust. Worse still if the pick 4 is a below average footballer (Morton, Toumpas) And then there are all the players outside of the top 30 picks that can turn out to be good, very good or even gun players Off the top of my head ... Gawn 36, Fritsch 31, Rivers 32, T-Mac 50, ANB 52 Harmes Rookie etc etc ... all premiership players I'm a sceptic but totally recognise that the top 5 are better than the next 5 and so on and so forth And then there's Jason Taylor who's strike rate rivals Scott Clayton, Stephen Wells and whoever were the head recruiters of the Hawks & Tiges In general terms, Taylor doesn't draft players who turn out to be busts... I reckon his hit rate is about 85% (again, in terms of expectations) In Taylor we trust And despite the doom & gloom surrounding this years draft, who's to say that Taylor won't strike gold again if we load him up with 5 or 6 picks As it stands, we're likely to need up to a dozen new players to replace the rookies and primary list players who are vacating

I just caught up with the match and that finish was bizarre! Heart-in-mouth stuff! The other weird moment was when 4 players attempted to catch an interception! Crazy stuff!

Clint will be a happy chappy! Puts the Jags right in amongst it

Were these years 'predicted' or the results from evaluation, years later?

Depth players, rookies and draftees don't take up a lot of a club's salary cap And a club might have up to 15-18 of those types of players Salary cap above $18Million means there's plenty of cash for the long term players

Just keeping it real, old boy 😁 Isn't the median salary at least $550k these days So $2Miilion over 3 years would be close to the mark And to prise a player from another club often requires extra dosh

By the way, I reckon McVee will be getting about $2Million for 3 years at Freo What were we going to pay him?

That's right, all the signs were there despite the heresay that went on A good example is Scully. Didn't re-sign for reasons we found out later on Gets a $2Million signing on fee plus another $4Million in a 6 year deal The people who gave him the money would have told him to STFU and don't say a word to anyone ... otherwise, the deal is off! That's how it works I know what I'd be doing!

I call BS It's rare for a decent player to not re-sign all the way through to being out-of-contract I reckon Lamb is just posturing (again) Either that, or he's clueless and can't read the (obvious) signs And I see that May can't find a new club There were a few here thinking he could get a 2 year deal elsewhere? 😁😁🙄 Welcome back Steven?

Freo could find a pick in the 20's to satisfy us

I highly doubt that pick 12 will come into the equation. Happy to be wrong

So McVee doesn't sign the contract and then ends up out of contract and wants a move Yet Lamb is surprised and blindsided? Wtf did he expect? And if Lamb caves in and we accept unders for Petracca & Oliver are we going to call Lamb a liar? Will he also accept unders for McVee?

Do people here honestly think that McVee is going to tell the truth to a member of the public? And the club would have had a fair inkling that he might have been on the move

They all lie .... footy is full of lies More like tell them what they want to hear