Random Task

Rumours of unprofessionalism and attitude problems, can't speak to the veracity of those claims but raising red flags for me.

Do it in real life.

Rory Atkins officially a Suns player after accepting a 5 year deal worth approximately $400,000 per year. Adelaide have been compensated with an end of 2nd round pick, currently pick 36. They've done well out of the compensation in my view.

With Geelong forming a dad's army with Higgins and Smith, maybe we can pry a quality young player out that may be starved of opportunity either this year or next. Maybe Clark? Would love for them to fall off a cliff with an ageing list and then lose their young talent in the process.

So we can confirm that at least one Tigers player has a brain then.

Does seem a bit ludicrous on its own, particularly when T-Mac is being talked about being a "salary dump" situation. However if you throw in a future 2nd from us, then GWS may deem it worthwhile. Could end up looking like T-Mac, Preuss and a pick between 19-36 for pick 13? - which will probably slide back to 15-16. Probably wishful thinking on my part but not outside the realms of possibility.

This is a strange one. Seemingly good player who played a lot of footy early and a former 1st round pick with another year to go on his contract. So why are Richmond happy to show him the door? Something seems a bit off about this.

We have a bit of a history of keeping tabs and recruiting players they were keen on in there draft year with the likes of Lever and Langdon as recent examples. I wonder/hope we have kept the lines open with the management of Butters and Georgiades for future years. Hard to see them leaving anytime soon though.

We can cross Xavier O'Halloran off the list with the AFL website reporting he has re-signed with the Giants for another 2 seasons.

Is he under contract?

I really hope this burns Collingwood. What young player would trust them to honour their contract commitments given how this is playing out?

Thanks Dr Evil, love what you're bringing to this off-season. Seems we're aggressively targeting mature age players to have a genuine tilt at a premiership. I am absolutely on board with this as I believe our core "elite" talent is there and acquiring experienced role players will make us a far more consistent side. Also love the fact that it seems we've kept one eye to the future by bringing in 3 quality players in Jackson, Kozzie and Rivers last year and allegedly targeting a quality ball user in McRae this year. Hopefully we can pull this off. Looking forward to finding out who our 2nd target is and hopefully it comes to fruition.

I agree that his disposal has let him down at times this year, but his in close contested work and handball skills over the last 3-4 years has largely gone unnoticed/under-appreciated. On his 2020 statistics - a step back in your words - he is ranked #1 in contested possession #1 in clearances and #9 in total disposal across the entire competition. From your list I would say that Neale, Boak, Bont and Dusty are the only ones he wouldn't displace as number 1 mid. I'd argue that he is at least on par with Cripps if not ahead based on this year. Dangerfield and Fyfe spend more time split between the forward 50 to be counted as genuine midfielders. Pendles has slowed with age and is not as damaging as he used to be, and I'd take Oliver easily over Adams, Steele, Shuey, Yeo, Kelly as well as the rest of the teams you named. All semantics really, but fact is Oliver is a star and not widely appreciated as such in the media.

Does he have any hamstrings left?

Not sure how Oliver can be anything but A. Would be a walk up start as number 1 mid in pretty much every AFL team bar a couple. It's actually ridiculous how underrated he is in the media and part of me is sceptical that it's because he plays for Melbourne. Put him in an Essendon or a Collingwood jumper and I bet people would be raving about him. The fact that Petracca and May aren't listed as A-grade also suggests that his opinion is not worth much. p.s. Langdon as C?? really? As deanox has pointed out he has been top 5 in BnF's three years running. Not sure how that puts him in the 18-30 group.

McCluggage please and thank you :)

Most clubs have their own paper bags it would seem. Farms and livestock?

With GWS losing a large amount of players this offseason, we may be able to use this to our advantage to trade up in the draft. GWS will look to receive Pick 9 for Williams (1st round compensation) Possibly pick 11 and 13 for Cameron (forced trade with Geelong with 2 X first rounders likely) Pick 28 for Corr (2nd round compensation) Caldwell and Hately are both former first round draft picks and would likely command at least a 2nd round pick each. Langdon won't be a throw away pick either. Some of these trades may involve players or future picks which makes things interesting. Given how this draft is shaping as one of the most compromised in history, and with GWS perhaps feeling burnt by young kids leaving so soon into their careers, it may make sense for them to invest these picks into a mix of established best 22 players and draftees. With some mooted interest in McDonald and established intention to recruit Preuss, this could present as a significant chance to move up into the first round rather than accumulate token picks in the 30's/40's.

Reports on afl.com of both players requesting a trade to Port and West Coast respectively as widely speculated.

Caldwell has nominated Essendon as his club of choice to be traded to. St Kilda were allegedly front runners but the commitment of crouch as a rfa probably impacted this. Gws bleeding players at the moment. Hard to see us acquiring any other Gws youngsters after the exits they've had.

Forgot about Corr. North must have made a really nice financial offer for him to go there. With Cameron, Williams and Hately leaving GWS are going to have a slew of early picks again. Feel they've lost too much quality for it to matter now and they should be occupying the bottom half of the ladder for the next few years. Wonder if the likes of Kelly, Whitfield and Taranto will be gettable once the ship starts to sink.

Feel free to discuss them but I haven't included them in the initial list because as far as I'm aware they haven't been linked to a specific club. Have heard they want to move to SA and WA respectively though.

Pending fitness, I now think Brown is a must. With our list I genuinely think our window for a premiership is now, however our forward line with Weideman and Jackson in my opinion is too immature and would rely on some drastic improvement from both players. This is both unrealistic and unfair on both in my opinion. We may have seen the best of McDonald and Petty is promising but unproven. We can't afford to wait 5 years for Jackson to be an established KPF, particularly as he may play more midfield anyway, while Weideman needs help from a mature Key forward. Brown instantly makes our forward line more potent and gives Weideman the second defender with Jackson having the ability to play as a mobile third tall and have flexibility around the ground. Brown, outside of Cameron, is the best key forward available on the market; I hope like hell we're doing our best to get him.

Would love for Adelaide or North to pick him up in the PSD so both Carlton and Essendon lose out. Ultimately though I think Carlton will split their first pick and Essendon will reluctantly accept a late first rounder for him with perhaps later pick swaps to save face.