deelusions from afar

Yes - was chatting with an Adelaide supporting mate over the weekend. He said McAdam is definitely a best 22 player for them but said he didn't play a lot of games due to injury and suspension. Yes he's 28 (and I'm not saying I don't think our offer is reasonable) - but he's a bit better than some on here are giving him credit for.

If Petty played at another club and entered the national draft at his age with his level of experience, we would take him with our first pick - he's a young physically mature key position forward AND back that has proven ability to play at a high level in the AFL. There are likely KPP in the draft that could have better careers than him - but they are less bankable than he is at this point in time and they are not ready to hold down a key position post like he is. The idea of getting pick 10 for him is ludicrous.

Apologies if others think this belongs in one of the various trade / drafting threads - merge with them if you think that's where this belongs - just didn't want to put their a derail those threads. With the discussion regard trading up for Reid v 2-3 kids v targeting an established player it has made me ponder this question. Is it your stars that get you over the line in September? Or is it the so called bottom 6 - i.e. if they are stronger than your opponent, that will come to the fore in finals. You regularly hear the argument for both by different people at different stages. Obviously it's unlikely to be a straight forward answer - arguably our top 6 in recent years (for the first time in my lifetime) are as good as any other team's top 6... but none of them are key forwards and most currently start in the centre square. Equally some players might be seen by most as being a bottom 6 player in a team - but internally they may be rated much higher because their unheralded work and sacrifices enables the stars to be at their best. As much as he frustrates me at times, arguably ANB is such a player for us. It's hard to know what the right price to place on a player such as Reid. It's rare for the number pick to go on to be the best player in their draft - but on average they tend to have longest careers which indicates they're more bankable than anyone else. I look at the other contenders and they all have a 18-20yo gun midfielder that we don't have - Pies (Daicos), Lions (Ashcroft), Port (JHF). Reid seems to be able to do it all and has the swagger that the best players have - so part of me wants us to give up what it takes (eg 3 first rounders +) to get him. On the other hand, even if there is no more trading, we are currently in position to get one of Sanders / Curtin / O'Sullivan - who arguably could bring more of a point of difference to our midfield/team - and potentially a player like Windsor who would add the outside run and carry that we so desire. We would then still have our picks for next year too. How is it possible to rate Reid so highly that we would prefer him over 3 likely best 22 players for the next 5-10years (and some could become top 5 players). But it's also possible that Sanders wants to head home to Tassie in future or he becomes serviceable rather than a star and similar could be said for Curtin. Interested in others thoughts

Is this us next year??

Are we wanting to draft 2 players plus brown or 2 players including brown? Or could it be 2 players and try and rookie brown?

or Casey medical room

North are ahead of West Coast in their rebuild so will probably start rising up the ladder earlier. If North truly believe Curtin is the best prospect at their next pick (which they prob don't) they should back their system in. They have so many midfielders already... if they get the best midfielder at 2, surely it makes sense to look at Curtin / O'Sullivan / Caddy at 3 for team balance? (which is why we'd be a chance to trade up to 3 with 6 and 11 or whatever others are proposing).

But surely if North want Reid (which they do) they can make it known that they will draft Curtin with pick 3. On the one hand that could be overs... but given they already have a lot of talented midfielders and would be getting another at pick 2, a utility like Curtin would be a good fit for them. If WCE believe North might take Curtin at 2/3, then surely its curtins on your proposal above?

Port's approach to their defence is interesting. Ratugolea showed promising signs in defence as an individual this year... but Geelong's defence looked much better once he was no longer in the team. To me they need a lockdown defender to allow Allir to go third man up. Instead they're chasing two defenders that haven't been able to play the lock down role in Ratugolea and BZT. Odd

Could mean that he plans to leave at the end of 2025. But it could also mean he's backing himself in to have a big year in 2024 (eg playing forward every week and hopefully injury free) to command a bigger contract.

Maybe wrong thread for this but I don't think Sullivan will get to 11 will he?

It's a good point. I'm hoping it's because they wanted to know they had the $650k freed up for something in the next few days

Improvement in teams often comes from players already on the list. One of the upsides for us is that we have a handful of kids who have shown glimpses of talent but been unable to crack in permanently because other than the key forwards, our side has been so set. By this I mean: Woewodin, Turner, Laurie, Howes, Andy Moniz-Wakefield (There's a handful of others who have got a bit of developing to go). They're unlikely to all make it, but I suspect there's a few there that will become long term players in the senior side. Next year they will get their chance after 2-3 years building their bodies, fitness and learning the game style at Casey.

If we were able to do a salary dump deal with GWS to net pick 7, would 6 and 7 get Harley done? Surely 6,7,11 is too much?

Might be onto something - North need Key Position Players... but obviously you have to take best available at the point end of the draft. The top 3 are midfielders and there's a couple of Key Position Players in the 6-12 window?

This is interesting. On its face it's not a fantastic deal for us. But does it do the following (someone else can correct where I get it wrong): Frees up approx $650k (in addition to Harmes, Hibbo, Jordon etc) - so we are preparing a war chest for the GWS salary dump or a highly paid player (maybe even next year); It gives us an extra pick next year - which gives us more flexibility in terms of trading future picks this year; and It gives us a pick which we might use on McAdam or Fullarton?

If it's current can we infer the able to train i.e. not still injured?

Both look great prospects - but if we were looking at them and Osullivan (if we have the picks, is that going to address our need for run and foot skills?

At the end of the day, despite what Lamby says day 1 of the trade period, we're not going to hold on to Grundy. Even though we can, it's just not going to happen. I reckon Sydney will call our bluff and we'll get him for a later pick than last year.

YES!! I have been posting about him being a good target in a number of threads. He clearly has ability (as a forward and ruck) but given Brisbane's stocks in that area (Big O, Daniher, Hipwood etc) he's got limited opportunities. 24yo - mature body, 200cm - can mark and kick! He is EXACTLY what we need IMO - more so than a key forward. And shouldn't cost too much given his limited opportunities.

There's NO WAY Crows let this guy go with Walker in the twilight of his career

While I rate Naughton and it would be incredible to bring in someone of that quality... I think we're kidding ourselves if we think we are just a quality key forward away from fixing our scoring woes. (though admittedly having someone of that quality could have made the difference against Collingwood and surely would have made the difference against Carlton given how close we were - so maybe the rest of it doesn't matter)

Watching GWS / Pies / Lions etc I too wish we played with a bit more dare. However, I think your comment here is a bit of a stretch and unfair to say they're bored of Goodwin. Firstly because this is all hearsay coming from Tom Morris. Secondly because the comments were about the assistant coaches moreso than Goody.

Some really good comments in this thread - at least we've mostly got past people assuming what ex-players are known for as players is all they can coach. I've got no idea if Stafford can coach - but those potting him because he was a ruckman is completely unfair imo. I think our forwardline is very difficult to coach - partly because we are a defensively minded team and partly because that area of the ground we have had less talent / stars than the other parts of the ground. The forward line can function a lot better with the key personnel on the park and better ball movement from the team as a whole. So - I would love to see someone come in that can help with our ball movement - ideally without it costing us too much on turnover - but that's a balance we're going to need to find. Do we have the kicking skills that the pies and GWS have in their midfields to do it? Probably not - but if our prime movers are not predominantly kicking from congestion then maybe our skills are better than what it seems (I suspect this is the case). Would love to get someone like Don Pyke for this - as he has a proven record with Adelaide and Sydney at turning this around. But if he's going to be the WCE CEO then we'll have to look elsewhere. In terms of freshening up the coaching team, would be good to get someone experienced - Pyke / McQualter / Dew etc and potentially someone who's recently out of the game - this should freshen things up for the players. Think of Geelong post 2021 - replacing all the assistants and looking like they were over the hill.. a flag the next year! I've loved the insights from Phil Davis on Whatley in recent weeks but suspect he's going down more the administration side of things.

C'mon the pies pay unders because they're a big club, always have. If we were trying to get McStay we would have to pay more (and it's harder for us compared to pies / tiges / blues etc to entice the big fish in the first place). Maybe McStay isn't the best example - but that's not the point. Who are the "options out there" that you mention? I used McStay because he was "the best" key forward that moved last year and is hardly A grade. I agree that JVR is still a way off - but if he has Petty there, ideally a resting ruck/forward from time to time then it's less of an issue and allows him to develop quicker. Against the pies, it was him and TMac (who looks done) and Fritsch was coming back from injury. He looked great when Petty was in the same forward line. Not saying in an ideal world we wouldn't get another ready made key forward. Just saying to get one that is better than what we have will cost (a lot) and may reduce our ability to address what i think are greater needs - backup ruck or ruck/forward and some pace and class in the middle. So who are the options?