Young Blood

Yep agree with all of the above. Also seems a super tough competitor. Definitely reminds me of Hibberd. He's got the aggression and attack on the ball with a bit of dash and confidence when he wins it. Would be another great signing. Langdon, Tomlinson, Murray, Bennell and picks 3 and 8. Gave up very little in return for quality and potential. Starting to look like more then a solid off season of recruiting.

Gee I don't know about Lever and May as our only talls to take on their two bigs. Is everyone convinced Petty will play predominantly forward? I think unless Weid is injured it will be Petty playing back to fill in the Frost role. Lever is just too damaging as an intercept defender to have him play on a tall all game.

LOVE THIS STUFF! Any cheap media hits like this from guys who get headlines is good for us. Especially targeted at particular players. AFL players shouldn't need any further motivation but its nice to have little things like this to stir a little bit. Harmes is arguably our most competitive player (along with Jetta and Viney probably) and anything that will fuel the fire is welcome. Thanks Chad.

Back him in

Sounds like unless he suddenly swings and decides he would be happy at Melbourne he will end up at the Blues. Pretty rare after a player nominates a club that he doesn't end up there. Sounds like he will ensure we can't afford him so he ends up where he nominated.

Other then being a bit of a draft bolter due to late season form and good combine results I don't know much about him. Looks to have a more mature body then most guys his age. Have you seen much of him WB? Good speed and skills?

I don't know about others but I feel so much more comfortable seeing this sort of press as apposed to last year. The overhype of this team and supposed 'Best List' leading up to season 2019 was way overboard. We had a decent season and were able to knock of two weaker top 8 sides at the G before crumbling out west to a legitimate premiership team. The jump from young developing list with nice pieces that can make the 8 and challenge top 4 sides to then being considered to have best list in the AFL and a premiership favourite was such a reach IMO. It made me super anxious as it set us up for disappointment. Not that I thought we would fall this far. Bring on more articles like this I say. Give the good old Melbourne faithful something to whinge about and continue to doubt a team so they can prove muppets like Ralph wrong.

Definitely. His upside based on his already consistent start is really exciting. He joins a long list of players of similar same age who still have so much upside: all 23/24: Langdon, Harmes, Salem, Trac, Brayshaw, Lever, Fritsch.

I'd be interested to know Freo supporters thoughts on Ed. Clearly his career trajectory is pretty impressive for his age. Has genuine speed and endurance, numbers are good as a wing with marks and inside 50's. Certainly accumulates a lot of the ball. His ability to run and spread is what we're desperate for. I know his disposal is still the biggest question mark. He has a similar kicking style to Hunt and Frost which lacks a controlled ball drop. He was obviously a steal at pick 54 in 2014 due to not playing much footy with injuries. Freo would be gutted to lose him.

He had his best year and maybe was our best backman (behind Salem) but it wasn't like he had much competition with May, Lever, Hibberd and Jetta in and out of the side all year with injuries. Petty was swung up forward towards the back half of the year too so didn't get to see him much in his proper position. From the 10 or so games I watched of Petty at Casey and by reports he had a very consistent year and is building nicely. I think he was effective and most definitely improved this year but I think people are over rating him also. Sure he takes the game on and his speed and intensity help him in one on one situations but he absolutely kills you with his turnovers. 1/5 times when he does something exciting with the ball does it actually come off. He's not a natural kick and his decision making hasn't improved. I don't think this will change at Hawthorn. Now I was an advocate for holding onto him for depth even if it meant playing behind Petty. But clearly doesn't fit into our long term plans and there's a reason.

Yeah its possible but we've been after Tomlinson for a few years I still think we would have looked at Hill regardless. I agree re cost for him I imagine that would have been a deal breaker. Regardless he will either stay at a stubborn Freo or most likely end up at St Kilda who will probably end up having to pay overs for him. I've said it many times on here but how many times has a player not ended up at their nominated club?

Meh. If I had played the best season of my career and hadn't been offered a contract (or decent one) and knew I was leaving I'd probably be pretty [censored] off with the club.

I would honestly pull the trigger on Hill for pick 3 easy. How many players are there available with his talent that fill a desperate need for us? How many players of his level have we signed or traded for in recent times? I just think after the first two picks and Green outside of that is a bit of a gamble this year. We've got some young players developing and hopefully if we can hold onto it we will have first round pick to use next year. It's highly unlikely but if we could steal Hill away from St Kilda I would be ecstatic. He's 26 in the prime of his career and exactly what we need. He literally is a game changer, he can win games for you.

You rotate more then two players on a wing during a game. It's not like Hill and Langdon will sit on the wings permanently. All three of said players can play in the midfield at times. Tomlinson was recruited as a wing but he's a utility player with his size that can go back forward and pinch hit in the ruck reasonably.

Failure because the coaching department couldn't fix his greatest liability being his disposal and decision making? Or just for letting him go? I assume both maybe.

Yeah you probably didn't make it clear enough but thats cool. Was just pointing out that its frustrating how little we've been linked to players when there's clearly positions we need to fill. Talking about players that are contracted for 2 more years at their club with no word that neither player nor club have shown any interested in parting ways just seems a bit of a reach. But maybe your dees supporting mate who played with him has inside info?

He certainly has a little crush on Frost.

So there's some kind of chance he's gettable because another team inquired about him and Carlton shut it down? I keep opening threads thinking we've actually been linked to a player but its all just hypothetical, none of which have come to fruition. It's bumming me out! If it's Melbourne keeping tight lips on who they're interested in that's good I guess but its driving the demonland faithful a bit mad.

That's some promising feedback for a young player who was drafted based on potential to develop as a small forward. I only saw a few Casey games towards the end of the year but he had some good moments. Definitely needs to develop his body as he gets pushed off the ball too easily but is a competitive little bugger and loves the pressure, tackling part of the game.

I don't think he's worth signing at his age. I've watched him really slow down the last few years. He used to have decent 20-50m pace with leads and obviously has the strength in one on one contests but I don't think he's going to come back to the form he showed a few years back. However it is interesting to see if Melbourne will look to sign another tall forward for depth now that Smith and Keilty are gone. With Frost leaving Petty will move back as a defender. We have some depth with medium sized marking options in Fritsch, Trac, Melk and Hannan. But in terms of tall forwards it's pretty much McDonald and Weid.... The forward line was our weakest position last year and is looking worse pre trades this year. Tomlinson can float forward in bursts but hasn't shown any consistency there nor is that the position we signed him for. Hopefully we can make at least one move and Joel Smith + Vanders can get healthy to add to that list.

Second year blues. Kids still 19 and showed potential in his first year. Seems a lot of us really forget that we have teenagers or early 20 yr olds who need time to develop. We're still a young side. Its just a fact.

have we been linked with Jenkins? Did I miss something?

?

So some of you are writing off a guy who was drafted as a Category B rookie previously playing semi pro basketball. He was always a development project. Add that to the fact that he missed a large chunk of his first year with a groin injury, dislocated his shoulder the next year in his first game in the seniors wiping out his 2017 season. He was able to play as a third tall backman (alonside Oscar and Frost... yep) through the back end of 2018. Then gets ruled out for 2019 with the groin issues. Talk about having an awful run at it. But feel free to write the 23 yr old off. Each to their own.

Yeah sorry I was actually in agreeance with you re gus only leaving if he wanted out and was highlighting to others that this clearly isn't the case.