deelusions from afar

Would you try him as a ruck rover in the centre square. It might sound crazy / be a terrible idea... but that was the talk when he was drafted.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you - because how can anyone possibly know other than Roos / Taylor etc. Not meaning to short sell Roos - he's obviously played a central role to getting our club to where it is now. In my view it was he and Jackson that turned our club around when it was at its darkest days. At the same time he does have a bit of an ego and (I think) does have a history of spinning things to ensure he gets maximum credit. Oh course he's not alone in doing that - but I think he is a master at it. Why am I making a point of this? Because I think Roos talking about the influence he had on choosing Oliver undersells Jason Taylor and the whole scouting / list management team. Roosy no doubt has an eye for it - but for Taylor and co, it is their full time job. In terms of the articles from 2017 - I think anyone who watched Oliver in his first game get numerous centre clearances in the last quarter to get us over the line against GWS at the G would have known he was a special talent. Those at the club would have noticed the same thing much earlier. But you are right - I or we have taken this thread on a tangent. Whether it was Roos or Taylor or whoever - I don't really care - I'm just bloody glad we got Oliver when we did. And let's hope JT and co can turn pick 17 into gold in similar fashion.

I might be wrong, but these versions on Oliver are a bit different from what I'd heard previously. I've heard these comments from Roos and seen the quotes... but at the same time feel like Roos is re-writing a bit of history to give himself slightly more credit. My understanding was that Jason Taylor was VERY keen on Oliver and had been tracking him closely. He gave his tapes of the best options to look at and Roos watched Oliver's first and said he didn't need to see any others. Roos is making it sound like he picked Oliver out of nowhere - when what I'd heard previously was Oliver was very much in the frame prior to Roos gave his comments.

Obviously not a question that could ever be answered... but you wonder what could have been for a player with all the natural attributes that Sylvia had he arrived at the club now. Surely with the current culture and standards (and lack of messiah expectations), we might have seen a very different player / career from Sylvia that would have done his draft year comparisons to Voss / Ricchiuto justice.

Clearly I haven't seen enough of him... but whenever I've watched a game with Bobby Hill in it, he's done very little.

I think a key point is that we get a year of development into them - and this means so much more now that we are a successful team, with excellent development coaches and culture - arguably the best in the league. E.g. Bailey Laurie who hasn't played senior footy - but is in the system, has had work through rehab and has seen up close what it takes to make it into a successful side and for that side to win a premiership. Although its been an interrupted season due to covid and injuries, he is a long way ahead of the player that Brisbane will pick from this year's draft.

I wonder whether our decision to keep Majak is an indication that there's a reasonable chance that won't happen this year? I guess even if we did draft one, we wouldn't want them smashed in the VFL every week in any case.

I think this makes sense. With Tomlinson back it should give some flexibility too - Petty has also shown the ability to play forward as well as back. Whoever we draft should at least get a year in the system at Casey learning the game plan, developing the right habits so that they are ready to go if called upon. Exciting stuff!

If they don't take Mac Andrew at 3 they won't consider it - I've heard a few ppl say they are very keen on him.

That's true eg trade 37 and 49 to collingwood for 27? They would win slightly on points. But even if they wanted to do this... could they? I thought there was a rule about needing to have the same number of list spots available as picks you use for points to prevent teams from stockpiling like this? Assuming it was doable, what would 17 and 27 packaged up net you? On points it's equivalent to pick 7. But no team would do that. The only teams that I think might consider it would be Freo at 8 and GWS at 13 as they both have earlier picks.

I think Andrew will be gone long before our pick... but I'm intrigued as to how the system works. As in, we can only nominate him after the first 20 players are picked? Or after what was pick 20 has been used? What if a team with multiple picks between 1-20 use them on matching a bid (not sure if any club is in that situation)?

Yeah I don't think there will be gentlemen's agreements for the reigning premiers. Maybe not what we need but wouldn't say no if we could get him - he'd be coming into the best system with Gawn and Jackson and having Majak on our list would surely help as well.

I agree - surely he's one that would be on our radar. I reckon Jye Amiss could also be in contention. He's come from the clouds this year as a late bloomer but dominated WAFL Colts comp kicking 50+ goals. Given Jason Taylor spent some time in WA, could he be the one on our radar? Was also wondering if Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera could be another in contention - would add to the outside polish / class that (prior to this year) seemed to be our biggest weakness. We could become the Kysaiah / Nasiah show!

I think he re-signed during the finals?

Stoked! Big fan of Chandler!

Interesting comment on the theage real footy podcast - for a number of years we have sacrificed our future first to get into the first round of the current year (or to satisfy a trade in the case of Lever). The year we didn't is after 2018 where we fell to 17th and our first pick netted us Jackson. Lucky we didn't do it in 2018 - was this just luck? Or did our list management team know we were likely to slide (due to injuries, over achieving in 2018 etc)?

Like this pickup - but he will be forced to improve his two way running before he can break into the side. Remember when average players left a side and joined a successful side and looked 10x the player - now is our turn to do that.

People seem to forget that we were very lucky with injuries this year. Chandler impressed in the pre-season (kicking 2-3 goals against the reigning premiers the tigers) and was unlucky not to be in the side round 1. The team's forward pressure was consistent all year and after winning so many on the trot, you couldn't drop any of Spargo, Kozzie or ANB. Probably better for his development to leave, but I feel if he does, he will be one of those players that people will say "Gee hasn't he come on - if we knew he could do that we would have kept him". When in reality, the signs are there - lack of consistent VFL competition, our form and lack of injuries has disguised it.

I rate Chandler - more than any of the other players listed above. I really hope we keep him

Sorry if this has already been covered - but will this be released in digital form... Don't really use a DVD player these days

Given we've finished on top (and the players out of the side haven't been able to show their wares at VFL level much the past two years, isn't it reasonable to think that our depth players are as good as anybody else's?

I loved the comparison between BBB last year with Jeremy Cameron where they showed Brown had kicked more goals 2017-2019 (I know its not the only measurement) and the fraction of the price we paid compared to the cats. Well now we can add another point of difference in the comparison between these two - BBB (premiership player). Cameron (no premiership and at a club that is about to fall off a cliff)

I'm intrigued as to how this works. My understanding is that teams have to pay most of the salary cap. So if we prepare a warchest for Cerra and miss out on him, do we say to other players "are you interested in being paid $X early to help us bring in a big fish / keep the list together in future years?" Does that happen?

I like the look of Chandler - if Kozzie and Spargo had not kept their form and health over the year, he would almost certainly be a premiership player. From what I have seen, Chandler is quick - maybe not as quick as Bedford - but seems to lower his eyes a bit more and use the ball well. As we saw in his debut in 2019 he can be a tackling machine too. Plenty to work with - despite him being small in stature.

But things change very quickly. For example, if the tigers were looking at their draw after their 2020 win, they'd be pretty happy to play us twice as we finished 9th and they've had our measure. But we're a different team this year to last. There will be teams that did not trouble us this year that may do so next year... especially with a shorter pre-season (relative to our competitors)