Nascent

The more time passes the more concerned I am about Jackson leaving. We clearly planned a future around Jackson being the heir to Gawn and have no other recognised ruckman on our list outside of Daw who is a year to year back up proposition. If Jackson leaves, we'll either need to recruit one in the draft (goodluck finding another Jackson quality ruck here) or trade for an average second stringer in on the annual 2nd/3rd round pick merry-go-round. In theory would get a bounty for Jackson but I'm no longer sure that's realistic. West Coast can't trade their first round pick as they need to use it this year to satisfy AFLs rules. In theory they can seek approval from the AFL but I wouldn't count on it, so at this stage I'm not factoring pick 1-3 as a possibility. A future first plus change may be on the cards but don't think we would he happy with that. Freo will have a pick in the high teens (most likely next year as well) and will not be trading any of their young talent like Serong, Brayshaw or Young. Hard to see how we will come away from a Jackson trade in anything but a worse position, particularly considering the talent and game changing ability that Jackson has.

I loved the look of Petty up forward in his brief stint there and wouldn't be unhappy to see that trialed again at some stage. Can't see it happening this year though.

That car parking space looks about right.

I may have this wrong but it was rumoured that he was considering coming across however it fell through largely because he wanted to be an inside mid rather than a winger.

Considering we had something like 7 x 50 metres penalties in one pre-season game we've adjusted well to the 'dissent' rule.

On track for his 4th bnf and 3rd All Australian jacket. Seems to be well regarded in the media these days but certainly is deserving of more adulation. I think he won't get that until he hits the scoreboard regularly, which is a stupid metric. He runs harder defensively which speaks volumes to his maturity and buy-in to a team first mentality.

Haven't seen any of the game yet because of work but the afl app lists McDonald as 'out' implying a game ending injury. Is that correct and if so anyone know what injury?

Ok, who's going to tell WCW about the mistake in the banner? Hopefully she's just written the wrong word on demonland 😅

Laurie replaces Dunstan on the emergency list.

Andrew Brayshaw comes out of contract in 2025 as a restricted free agent. Viney will be 31 and out of contract while Gawn and Levers deal will have expired creating even more salary space. No reason we can't flip the narrative on this story in the coming years and have a Brayshaw reunion at the dees.

Not to mention the ability to front-end or back-end contracts of individual players. Lots of moving parts and as we've seen with Collingwood it can come unstuck if you're not careful. Not a job I would envy.

Think I read on here that Dunstan had ice on his quad at the end of the game?

My money is on anatidaephobia.

Agreed. Shows promising signs but definitely a development year.

Fair call, regardless Van Rooyen looks a serious prospect and might supersede both Weid and McDonald in the near future.

Fair about last year's form but 2019 and 2020 were below average and back third of last year and start of this year he's been treading water. I'm not intending this to be a pot at McDonald because he's been a wonderful servant of the club and still has a role to play, more just highlighting my view that Weid hasn't been given the same opportunities to thrive in the system. Without Jackson going out with H&S I reckon weid still be in the team and with games against West Coast and kangaroos, he could have had a real opportunity to cement himself in the team. It's on him now to win a spot back and I hope he can.

I'd like him to have more than 4-5 games in a row to make a proper evaluation. McDonald has had 2 seasons of sub par performances and is on the decline. Personally I felt Weid has been in better form this year and deserves his chance before the situation I described above saw him out of the team. Not saying he will make it necessarily, but I feel his scope is much higher than McDonalds currently. Now watch McDonald dominate the season and kick 50 goals again

JVR attacks the contest with intensity and seems to have a good athletic profile. I recall our interest in Georgiades who stands at 191cm and has similar qualities. Seems our recruiting team certainly don't think his height will be a limiting factor.

I agree with most of what you said but can't help but feel for the Weid. He kicked 8 goals in 4 games and was outperforming McDonald in my view before Jackson goes out with H&S protocols. He's then sent into the ruck and does a serviceable job while McDonald gets his spot back forward. I would have liked to have seen the club put Weid forward and McDonald to the 2s on Jacksons return to the team. Perhaps there are internal metrics the club has that puts McDonald in front of Weid. Just feel he has never had a clear run at a good chunk of games to gain confidence and in that aspect he's been set up for failure to a degree.

If Laurie gets a game I hope it's not as the sub. Imagine having all your friends and family come to your debut game where you might sit on the pine all day. Or get in the ground for 5 minutes for 1 handball. Don't like it.

Brayshaw is a RFA meaning we can match terms and force a trade. If Cerra is going for pick 6 I think we can easily demand something in that range as well. At least in the 8 - 12 range as he is a little older. I agree it's hard seeing two top 10 picks for Jackson, particularly since West Coast will need special approval to trade their first round pick since they are required to use it this year. But we can demand a high price for him regardless and I have faith we will get a good deal if Jackson does request a trade, it may have to involve other clubs. If it's freo they will have to get creative as well with their picks in the teens not being anywhere near adequate. I hope both players stay and render this discussion moot though.

Don't get me wrong, I never doubted we would win and was relaxed in that sense. Just thought we were off from our normal defensive intensity.

I was guilty of being a bit antsy but I was getting more annoyed about the broken tackles and the perceived intent of the Eagles being harder at the ball. As always emotions are heightened watching live and probably not nearly as bad as I perceived it to be.

Remember when we would play 1 bad quarter and lose the game? Now we play 1 good quarter and win easily. Good times.