Lucifers Hero

Tom Morris is reporting he could be at Hawthorn by COB today. Not a surprise as Mahoney sound like we were out of the running. Looking more likely we will go down the 'home-grown' path for our other wingman.

Not gloomy. While our case load has been minuscule in comparison, here in Melbourne we understand some of what you describe with the lockdown conditions. Best wishes to you and yours, bing.

So you want to hang him for poor disposal in a practice match on a windy day when he was just 23 y.o in a team that couldn't defend, contest or attack...ok... I'm not saying his disposal skills were good but they weren't as bad as people make out. And I'm not saying he is a walk up starting 22. But if he is with us he deserves the right and the respect to fight for a spot.

iirc the main reason we moved him fwd was because Hogan and Watts were injured and we had no tall fwds. About the same time Max was injured and Pederson, our back up fwd, was in the ruck. The back half turnovers in 2018/2019 don't rest with Tom as he didn't play in defence. If he stays we will need to make the best of the situation. imv the 3rd tall position is between Smith, TMc Donald and Petty. If Tom earns his spot back I have no problem him playing in defence. Our back 6 is much much stronger now than in 2017 - 2019.

Very sloppy if that is the case.

Richo is shown as 'Director of Coaching' as part of Goodwin's staff. Yet the job description says General Manager of AFL Football Performance in which case Goodwin reports to Richardson who in turn reports to Pert. Confusing...

His past as a defender isn't a good reference point. From 2012 to 2015 our defensive was a sieve and Tom had little support. And he really didn't have much chance to 'learn his craft'. Frawley was there but he lost interest at some point and then left. 2016 our defence tightened a bit. 2017 we experimented with a high zone and the ball sailed over everyone's head. He was then needed on the fwd line where he stayed. Our defence personnel and strategy is vastly different now. So imv we could only judge how Tom would fare their if he had the chance to do so. Let me say though that I prefer Tom goes because it will be best for all. But some perspective is useful rather than righting him off. Nor should we expect him to restructure his package. It isn't his fault the club offered the contract they did or if they didn't structure it to manage the risks at the back end.

The pressure will be on. The Age is reporting it is a one year deal with triggers for a second. Not an ideal situation in which to turn around form and reputation. Hope he can do it, not just for his career but for him and his well being.

It seems a decision has been made: "The AFL is also cutting back its next generation academy concessions. From 2021, NGA picks can only be matched from picks 21 onwards, while from 2022 NGA picks can only be matched from picks 41 onwards". This protects round 1 next year and round 2 in 2022. A great move by the AFL as the NGA matching has made this years draft a farce. Espcially as many clubs don't actually do anything to develop them, they just happen to live in a club's designated zone and would have gone into the draft anyway.

Is that who it was! I also found his style very irritating. I thought Barrett was much better. At least he gave people time to answer the questions.

Mahoney interview: Ben Brown: Started trade conversation with North and deal will get done in next 10 days. Had some discussions around picks/players. It won't be a first round pick. Tom McDonald: Ben Brown changes role for Tom. Came back a bit heavy after covid. Club has had no discussions with other clubs yet. Asked Tom and his manager to look around and will see how that goes. Oscar McDonald: Conversation was side tracked before Mahoney answered it... Preuss: Only one conversation so far (with GWS). Looking for a ruck back up either in the trade period or off-season (which I assume means the rookie draft or the Preseason Selections). Recap on trading out this year's first round pick to North, last year. His new GM role - not much new to what we know. Treloar would be handy but unlikely to be able to get him. Sounded very unlikely. Phillips would be handy and we may look at him on the wing but happy to look at internal candidates. Jones didn't want 2021 to be a token year. 300 not the driver for the contract. Is doing some coaching. Whoever was interviewing seemed more interested in getting through his list of questions than exploring any of the above. Very frustrating. I really wanted to hear the update on Oscar.

I would do it! The good thing about including next years 2nd is it gives them some points for Daicos who is touted to be top 5 so they will need a lot of points to get him. I'm guessing a few club's will have their eye on the pies 2021 1st.

When we played 3 tall defenders Smith was there in his own right not as cover for Lever. I see no reason why TMac can't compete for that spot. Of course he would be competing with Petty as well but nothing wrong with competition for spots.

If he can get fit again their is no reason he can't earn the Joel Smith role and return to the backline.

It is their 2021 first round pick (so that the points aren't used for their F/S (Daicos) next year). It may be a good bet for a club to take. I expect them to slide down the ladder and probably out of the 8. Also, 2021 is said to be a very good draft without so many compromised picks as this year.

Agree with your concerns. I'm guessing the split is to pad out the GM Admin role. If 'List Management' is the administration (ie contracts, systems, research, parity etc) of the sal cap but the decisions rests with Football it will work. But if Admin is doing the drafting, trading, recruiting etc and who gets what contract/conditions it would be a concern especially if they have a different view to the Football department. Also concerned if football analytics is in the GM Admin remit. The split just sets up potential for 'demarcation' issues with football priorities and if decision makers are not on the same page. It was interesting that Pert said Mahoney will be located at the MCG so he will be physically distant from the Football department. Should Mahoney leave, I would hope all the AFL football functions go back to GM Football. It would then be a lesser role needing a different incumbent.

They must be poorly paid at the bulldogs if that is a substantial increase on his current contract as has been reported. Edit: Browne's info suspect again! Sam Edmond seems to have a better grapevine: “The reason he is considering leaving - he’s been sold the massive midfield dream. The lure of that, plus a big contract that conservatively speaking is worth $700,000 a season and playing with his brother Kyle is unbelievable". From Fox news.

I'm not as worried as some if we don't trade in a wingman. We have tried that (KK, Tomlinson, chased I.Smith) but for a variety of reasons it hasn't worked out. But we haven't taken the 'home-grown' path. I don't mean we haven't tried players, we have but without much success probably because they were not developed as wingmen. I mean we haven't invested serious development into specific players for that role. My read is that we will now take the 'home-grown' path. Mahoney mentioned a few names and we have yet to see what Jordon (if re-contracted) or Nietschke can do. So quite a few to select from. If Brisbane can re-make Mitch Robinson (who is not fast) into an excellent wingman there is no reason why we can't develop an existing player to be the same. I wonder if Yze has looked at the list and identified a player or two he can develop for the wing. If anyone can he can.

I would. Not sure why he fell out of favour this year or what caused his fitness to drop. Hard to know whether the weight gain was a sports science initiative or Tom's standards dropped. He has a few good years left and has value if a team want a 'swing man'. In that respect he gives a coach versatility. As a defender a different coach may use him differently to we did and try and neutralise his weaknesses. Not sure the pure zone defence we used in 2017 suited him.

While it is tempting to think we can use lowly picks in (for Preuss, OMac, ANB, TMac if they all happen) to go up the draft order; it is easier said than done this year. There is a clear top 5/6 draftees (recruiters believe there is now a clear group of five players – Logan McDonald, Riley Thilthorpe, Elijah Hollands, Denver Grainger-Barras and Will Phillips draft-s-fantastic-five-shaping-trade-calls) who are unattached to any club. So clubs with those top 5/6 picks are very reluctant to let them go. After that picks are a lottery and picks slide dramatically due to all the compromised picks. Note: Jamarra Ugle-Hagan tipped to go #1 is tied to bulldgos. tbh I think there is more chance of us re-contracting Bedord, Jordan and Lockhart as there is using trade in picks to get new players. So I expect the trade period to be around the fringes than 'big' or 'medium' fish. And we may not have many list spots available come the end of trade period. So the club could be keeping its powder dry until draft night and if someone they like slides make draft night pick swaps to get him.

I'm wondering if this means we have no serious takers for TMac or if we do it doesn't get us enough currency in Sal cap space or picks to do much with. I'm guessing if we have a taker for him we will take the deal to reset our list and sal cap balance going fwd (to next year). It also suggests we will keep our 2021 pics which is great as it is touted to be an excellent draft, unencumbered by too many Academy and F/S picks.

I'm tending to accept him at face value. In part because he usually plays with a straight bat and in part all the recent re-signings of players (that many on here would happily delist) suggests not many existing players will be exited, unless it is contracted players ala Preuss, TMac. Even then that only leaves a few list spots to add draftees or promote rookies eg Lockhart.

mahoney-outlines-trade-period-plan Don't expect too many more changes to the list: “Apart from Isaac, we are not targeting outside run specifically during this period...We’ll back in a number of players we have on our list currently, and give more opportunities to the likes of Oskar Baker, James Harmes, Jayden Hunt and Adam Tomlinson who can all play a similar type of role.” “We see our greatest improvement coming from our current list of players, as they continue to develop their own games and roles by playing and training together.” Josh may be joshing but he sounds fair dinkum. But, who knows what will come out of the woodwork but I'm not betting on any more 'big' or even 'medium' fish.

This is still high risk for us. We will be paying out about $200-$300k more for the first two years. And we will be paying Treloar about $700k p.a for years 3-5 when he will be in his early 30's and past his best.

LOL! I suggested earlier in this thread that Eddie talks to his lawyers. Legal issues with how they have handled this could be seen a mile away. Hope Adam sues them. There are various fronts on which he could lay claim.