poita

Neal-Bullen's contribution in 2018 was magnified by getting on the end of some good play in big wins against crap sides. He has always had the tendency to go missing when the side is struggling. His biggest problem is that he doesn't win enough of his own football, so is reliant on players around him providing with him opportunities. His running ability and forward pressure can be important, but he also needs to work on his contested marking and his clearance work.

We traded our first and third round picks for Libby Birch. We lost our second round pick because we retained the player (Casey Sherriff) we picked up as compensation for losing Daisy Pearce last year - not really clear on the rationale behind that one. Given that we lost players to both Victorian expansion clubs and have come in so far down the draft list, I really don't see how we can hope to improve this year. Having Pearce back will be great, but she hasn't played for a while, whilst the pressure will be on Birch to perform.

It was good to see Jayden playing some decent football in patches, but it still feels as though he is capable of so much more. I'm not sure that he is best 22 in a full strength forward line playing his current role.

I'd go as far as saying we'll finish bottom 4 if he doesn't kick 50 goals next season. I'm a massive fan, but he had a poor year for the most part. It is no coincidence that his best run of form as a forward was when playing aside Hogan or Pedersen who could give him some protection. Tom needs to be able to use his endurance and athleticism to run defenders ragged, not playing from the goal square where defenders can body him.

They were all dumb risks. Taking a hugely talented delisted free agent for next to nothing with the last spot on the list is a smart risk.

This is 100% my expectation as well. Thankfully Oscar is a much better player when fit and in the right head space than he is given credit for around here. As an aside, Lever is not a genuine key defender, so I expect Oscar to play whether Lever is fit or not.

Billy's first season or so was encouraging, but he never took the next step. Jay a bit the same. Yet again it shows that, if you are small, you have got to have some serious tricks up your sleeves. Being small and just a vanilla player is never going to end well. I hope the club is all over this for the upcoming draft.

Doesn't work hard enough, isn't physical enough and drops too many simple marks. Similar criticisms to those that were made of Watts, but Watts' foot skills and decision making are miles ahead of Weideman's. It is pity that Nick Riewoldt has retired - following Nick around for two hours might give Sam an indication the level he needs to operate at on a consistent basis. I wonder if he mightn't be a better CHB, as has been the case with Liam Jones. Ultimately it was a poor selection, as much better key forwards were taken shortly after Weideman in the 2015 draft, so we have to make the best of what we have.

I got a lot of learnings from reading Matt Egan's review, but I'm still not convinced that Jordon will be a long term AFL player.

Exactly what I was going to write - Jake Spencer's slightly more solid and slightly less athletic brother from another mother. Even experienced ruckmen go for fourth round future picks in the trade period - we gave up a best 22 midfielder for ours.

He has been around 6 years and is still not in the best 30 players on the list. I don't know why we are giving him false hope by not officially delisting him a month ago.

A 27 year old fringe utility player with 7 games in three years. The decision to give him a three year contract on the back of a decent month of football was extraordinary and symptomatic of why we've played 1 final series in 13 years. If he is not in full training (including kicking 50 metres) in a month's time we should be looking to pay him out and free up a list space.

The best state league key position forward is the only way to go. Find a Podsiadly type that can come and play a role for a few years.

Good - Langdon is a decent player and the price was right. - I'm not sold on Tomlinson, but he didn't cost us a pick and is an upgrade on guys who were getting a game in 2019. Bad - The Frost deal was a shocker and assumes that May and Lever will play each week (highly unlikely). We'll likely live to regret this one. - Resigning the Wagners and others before the trade period left us unable to make a play for the likes of Cutler, Butler and Jones who could have played a role next year and cost little. Ugly - We had the 17th best forward line this year - not addressing our dire lack of key forward depth was a massive failure, particularly given that Bruce, Jenkins and Patton went relatively cheap. Unknown - The pick swap with North has the potential to be a disaster if we don't improve next year. It also assumes that we nail pick 8 - and that won't happen if we pick anyone under 6ft. Rating = C

He is in real trouble - his 2019 was a shocker (albeit impacted by injuries) and we have a lot of mid sized forwards on the list. I wouldn't want to be starting next season in the VFL as a 26 year old without a contract for 2021.

I'm sure he's a nice guy and reaching the highest level (in this country at least) in two sports is a fair achievement, but there is absolutely no way he should have been on our list this year. All he was doing was taking up a list spot that could have been handed to a younger player.

i can't believe he has a 3 year contract. Did we do any due diligence, or did we just stick a contract under his nose? Surely the fact that GC17 basically threw him at us should have been a massive red flag. I would love nothing more than to see him fit and well and playing good football next year, but I can't see it happening. A settlement prior to the draft would be a good result for all parties.

He is finished, and has been arguably since late 2018. Unfortunately we have zero cover in that position, so he will continue to get games in 2020.

Can someone please tell me where I am misreading this situation: 1. We made a preliminary final in 2018 with Frost & McDonald in the key defensive posts, both of whom (according to Demonland experts) are apparently so useless they are not worthy of being on an AFL list. 2. Despite paying roughly $1.5M to Lever & May in 2019, neither played a full game before round 12 and both were either injured or incompetent for most of the remainder of the season. Lever, in addition to his woeful B&F result, played in a grand total of zero wins for the year. 3. Frost played every game for the year, finishing top 10 in the B&F, in a career best season. He was our best defender by the length of the Bathurst straight. 4. We keep May & Lever and their big fat contracts, and resign such luminaries as Josh Wagner, but can't find the money and list space to keep Frost. You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.

I'm completely convinced that the number one reason for Brayshaw's (relative) struggles this year was Goodwin messing around with things that weren't broken. Put Brayshaw back in the middle, let him hunt the football and let's see how he is going half way through next year.

Joel Smith is a player who has benefited from always being injured. A couple of goals in a practice match one year, a few VFL games the next year and half the supporter base sees him as the second coming of Ablett snr. The reality is that he has been around for five years without actually doing anything of significance. He is an awkward size and I don't think he has the football nous or skills to compensate for that - he is certainly not a better prospect than Fritsch, Melksham or Petracca in the forward line and he is not taking one of the key forward posts.

Most players on AFL lists, particularly those drafted in the first 2 rounds, you can look at and see some faint reason why they are playing at the highest level, even if they don't ultimately make it as a long term player. There is nothing about Spargo that suggests he belongs - too small, too slow, doesn't kick goals, mediocre disposal and decision making, doesn't win his own ball, doesn't tackle well, constantly in the wrong position. I assume he is a nice guy and works hard on the training track, hence we extended his initial contract. I can't imagine he will get another contract without ticking off most of the items listed by CB in the previous post.

This is exactly my view on Lever. Aside from the multiple first round draft picks we used in the trade, we now have an oversized HBF on a massive long term contract who can't play man-on-man defence, has poor foot skills and whose most notable contribution to the side this year was his elite finger pointing. When you hear about rifts in the playing group, you have to think that overpaid, under-performing big-name recruits are a major reason for that.

The last thing we need is another small / medium forward. Get rid of Spargo, Bedford, Chandler, Neal-Bullen, Lockhart, C.Wagner, Dunkley, Hannan and co, and I might be interested.

464 – Max Gawn, Clayton Oliver 323 – Jack Viney 319 – James Harmes 293 – Christian Petracca 230 – Bayley Fritsch 213 – Christian Salem 210 – Angus Brayshaw 204 – Sam Frost 199 – Jayden Hunt 192 – Nathan Jones 167 – Jake Melksham 154 – Steven May 151 – Tom McDonald 142 – Marty Hore 126 – Jordan Lewis 107 – Michael Hibberd 104 – Jay Lockhart 97 – Josh Wagner 87 – Harry Petty 82 – Tim Smith 65 – Sam Weideman The above list is from the MFC website. Is it accurate to that point? If so, I find it interesting, but not at all surprising, that Lever finished below Petty & Smith despite playing more games. Also missing is Neal-Bullen, and I'm not clear why he was given a 2 year deal on that basis.