Lucifers Hero

Good to see Harmes, Viney and Hunt back early. Good moral support for the younger players. Wouldn't be surprised to see most of the team back next week, before their expected date, which iirc is in about 10-14 days.

I think the AFL closed the loophole exposed by Sydney and WCE last year. I think it was called 'parking' their picks. But the first part of the hypothetical Freo/GWS trade you describe can still happen. This article describes a hypothetical where Carlton bid for Henry at 9. Draft Night Pick Swaps "The AFL has confirmed that under its rules, a club in Fremantle's situation would be able to use its five minutes on the clock to trade picks with another club, move down the order, and then match the Academy bid with a later selection/s". ie hypothetically trade out pick 10 to GCS for 15 and 20 then use 15 and part of 20 (it slips to 22) for Henry. So they get Henry and another pick at 22. This is different to 'parking' picks. Lots of back room wheeling and dealing is happening! Lots to play out. As an aside the article says we are also interested in Henry.

A significant signing given that they would have expected a much better 2019 from us. Fortunately, we have ANZAC Eve and QB blockbuster games this year which may have helped them re-sign for 2020. Great that Jaguar are keeping the faith.

Correct. WADA is changing the penalty for recreational drugs in system on game day and it will become 1-3 months. " Under the proposed change, athletes with drugs such as cocaine in their system would serve a flat three-month ban, without the need for an expensive hearing, but could cut that back to one month if they submitted to a drug rehabilitation program".WADA Penalty Change The punishment will now better fit the crime, imv. The WADA change is too late for Murray. Deserves another chance.

Well done to Jamie. He pays credit to Nev Jetta for his support during and post his career. Both are from the Noongar country. I wonder if Jamie is related to Harley and a fellow Noongar man? If so Nev could have played a big role in getting Harley to the Dees.

Really rapt about this appointment. There is so much players can learn from him. He went to Casey with good grace and worked hard to help them with their game and their development. So he will be a terrific boost to our development staff and in some respects replaces Macca in that role. Mahoney: “What he brought to us in his three years as a player, we now look to add to in a coaching and mentoring role." He has a really good footy brain and I'm sure that will be really valuable for game plans and at coaching meetings. Huge that we could convince him to join the coaching panel. Our player development wasn't great this year so Lewis will help re-balance that. And he will continue his media commitments: “We were able to work out a role that would work for both the club and myself, in terms of not conflicting with my media commitments, but also ensuring I will be available at the club..."

I take that was with Wells from Geelong? I reckon that deal is wishful thinking on their part. Why would we trade out pick 26, 50 (which will come back in to the low 40's) and 2020 first round pick (possibly 8 to 10 if we miss finals or pick 10-14 by making finals) for North's pick 8, to then trade it out for 14 and 17 (likely to be 16 and 20 after F/S and Academy picks), to Geelong? Rolling the dice and hoping that Weightman (or whoever) is there at 16 is sheer folly. A few clubs want to trade up into the top 10. GCS is one. Competition means if a club wants pick 8 they need to pay up for it. People might make a case for a Geelong deal based on draft points but if a pick is in demand the market sets the price. Two late 1st round picks just doesn't cut it.

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Agreed, jog 25, walk 25 and sprint 25 is not new and hard to understand why it hasn't been part of our basic training as that is exactly how a game is played. imv being the fast 2km or 3km runner doesn't count for much during games. Its the stop start stuff that becomes important. Lets hope it pays off with player endurance and two-way running.

I was amused at the little smiles when they realised the camera was there and by the various ways used to dodge 'eye contact' with it: Look away. Head down. Eyes straight ahead.

Bradtke

The video was quite quick but many recent recruits were there. Tom Mac was there and I'm pretty sure I saw KK.

I'm not aware of any stats. Some recent examples are B Hill, Kelly, Hogan and McCarthy when he was thought to be a top liner. While it may not be a draftees intention, these days clubs seem to lobby hard to get top players back to their 'home state' if not in the early part of their career as per those above, then as their Free Agency date arrives and they get them for free. Lynch to Tigers but one example.

A typo - I meant Hurn and edited the post a minute or two after it went up.

Jason Taylor mentioned him as a candidate for pick 8 but I couldn't find a thread for him. He has very strong connections to WCE. He barracked for them in his youth, his uncle Darren Glass captained them and is now at the Eagles as their List Manager. Robertson and WCE Very highly regarded in this draft but WCE don't have a high pick to get him nor did they try to get one. Maybe they are happy to bide their time, let him do his early development elsewhere and 'bring him home' when ready to replace Hurn. WA has good draft representation this year with 3 likely top 10 prospects: Jackson, Henry and Robertson. If recruited interstate I wonder how many will be back in WA in a few years...

On re-reading the article I think it is poor phrasing by the writer as Burgess is quoted as saying: “It was the vision that was really sold by Goody (Simon Goodwin) and Josh Mahoney [that appealed to me]...“I was really excited about where the list was at, the potential for growth within the list [and] obviously the location of the club is fantastic". That sounds more long term than one year. ??

I hadn't realised it was only 1 year. Terrible mistake if so. Poor for stability and continuity. I just can't imagine Pert would allow just a one year contract for such a critical position given the year we have just had. It had to be at least 2 or 3 years to get the ongoing benefits for processes, player fitness and time for succession planning of a replacement.

Listening to JT a pick split is on the cards as he indicated we would take 3-4 players in the draft. We have 3, 8, and 97 which will come in to around the mid 70's. The swaps I mentioned were hypotheticals on how to get an extra high draft pick. Freo have players they want and GCS are ready to deal so if we want an extra high pick they are our best candidates. They have more currency than GWS for picks 3 and 8. And who knows if GCS want a top 10 pick badly enough they may deal 15 and their 2020 mid first round pick #11 for our pick 8. But there are lots of hypotheticals for us and clearly we would only split 3 and/or 8 if we thought the player(s) we preferred were gettable with the new picks. Of course, if Freo were happy to deal 7 and 10 for 3 then we can take 7, 8, 10 to the draft but I doubt Freo would settle for that without something back, hence my hypothetical of trading 8 to GCS for 15 and 20 but it could be 10 to GCS for 15 and one of their 2020 1st round picks. I'm not fussed about dropping spots or draft points. The end game is to get the players we want and build the best list. If we can do that with 3, 8 and 97 great. If we can do that with 7, 10 and 15 or with some other combo, great. I would be very happy with two top 10 and another first round draftee. If we make good choices it would set us up with youth for some years to come as we haven't taken a top 20 player for 3 years and don't have a first round pick in 2020. That is a long time without drafting high end talent. So I see this year as one we can restock our youth. We really have to nail our picks.

They may want him to back up O'Brien and replace Jenkins and Tex who is way past is best. As might we for Gawn/TomMc/Weideman. As an aside, Adelaide have pick 4 and if Freo want Jackson it is more incentive for them to trade 7 and 10 for our 3 and maybe something back. We can get that 'something' by splitting pick 8. GCS are wanting to trade (pick 15 and 20) for a top 10 pick so we could give one of those back to Freo. We get 7,10 and 15 or 20. Freo get Jackson and 15 or 20 which they can use on Henry. Pick 20 is actually very valuable as it is the 1st pick after round 1 and clubs will be going for it if their preferred player isn't picked in the first round. It is what Carlton did last year to get Stocker. Edit: I haven't tried to match the draft points of the pick trade Freo/MFC/GCS as I think the picks (esp 3 and 20) have intrinsic value over and above the theoretical points.

If that is referring to Reilly O'Brien it is legit - he filled in when Jacobs was injured early this season. He became their no 1 ruckman playing 18 games and Jacobs 5. It is the reason the traded Jacobs out.

The Lord of the Manor has arisen from his reverie! Or enforced holiday? Your somewhat weird humour is needed. Welcome back!

While a 5 year contract until 2024 seems high to some, remember that he will be a Restricted Free Agent at the end of 2022 when he can walk to any club and we get a compensation draft pick which would most likely be in round 2: #25 to 40 range!. At least this way we can avoid the FA angst and keep him for 2 years beyond. Our young talent is getting increasingly closer to the UFA date. Salem and Hunt are UFA's at the end of 2021. Petracca and Brayshaw at the end of 2022. Oliver and Weideman in 2023. The challenge for our list management is not only to manage the salary cap for all but to also ensure that our best players do not walk away as FA's right when we need them to contended for finals and premierships. And 2021-2024 is that window! If we need to give them an extra year or two contract terms to achieve that and to lock them in, hey I'm all for it. Especially if we can't give them top dollar.

No worries but I didn't type it all! I 'copy' and 'paste' that section from the website to DL. Happy to help.

If he joins us I'm not at all concerned that he won't be ready to play until well into the season. Hopefully we make finals and that is when we will need him the most. AvB in 2018 is the blue print for patience. He hadn't played for 2 years with an extensive injury history. iirc he played a month at Casey, an AFL game or two at the end of the season and had an excellent finals series. If we get only 8 games like that from Bennell at seasons end it will be fantastic. (Not relevant to this thread but might just say it is so sad that Aaron's injuries have kept him out this year and really hope he gets back soon). Glad to read the reports on the caution (ie due diligence) the club is taking before recruiting Bennell. I would say that as soon as the club and Bennell agree that he will join us, Burgess will have a training program ready for him. They won't wait for him to actually join the club on Dec 3 to get him rehabbing.

Some other sources: The AFL website with updates as games are played: Demons Fixture Demons extract from full fixture: 2020 Fixture: MELBOURNE Round 1: West Coast at Optus Stadium, Sunday March 22 at 6.20pm (Away) Round 2: GWS at MCG, Saturday March 28 at 1.45pm (Home) Round 3: Fremantle at MCG, Sunday April 5 at 1.10pm (Home) Round 4: St Kilda at Marvel Stadium, Sunday April 12 at 4.40pm (Away) Round 5: Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium, Saturday April 18 at 1.10pm (Away) Round 6: Richmond at MCG, Friday April 24 at 7.50pm (Home) Round 7: Essendon at MCG, Sunday May 3 at 3.20pm (Away) Round 8: Port Adelaide at MCG, Sunday May 10 at 3.20pm Round 9: Adelaide at TIO Traeger Park, Sunday May 17 at 3.20pm (Home) Round 10: Western Bulldogs at MCG, Sunday May 24 at 1.10pm (Home) Round 11: Hawthorn at MCG, Friday May 29 at 7.50pm (Away) Round 12: Collingwood at MCG, Monday June 8 at 3.20pm (Home) Round 13: BYE Round 14: Brisbane at The Gabba, Friday June 19 at 7.50pm (Away) Round 15: Gold Coast at MCG, Saturday June 27 at 1.45pm (Home) Round 16: Fremantle at Optus Stadium, Sunday July 5 at 5.20pm (Away) Round 17: St Kilda at MCG, Saturday July 11 at 1.45pm (Home) Round 18: Adelaide at Adelaide Oval, Sunday July 19 at 4.40pm (Away) Round 19: Geelong at GMHBA Stadium, Saturday July 25 at 4.35pm (Away) Round 20: Sydney at MCG, Sunday August 2 at 3.20pm (Home) Round 21: Collingwood at MCG, Saturday August 8 at 1.45pm (Away) Round 22: Carlton at MCG, Saturday August 15 at 1.45pm (Home) Round 23: North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena, Date and Time TBC (Away) Just copy and paste it into a Word or Excel document if you want a paper copy.