spirit of norm smith

Good clear summary. 👏👏

Dees might just land up with Campbell & Parfitt as delisted free agents plus potentialDerksen with trade for pick 50ish. If ANB trade gets us “25”, then we’d have 5,25,37, 45 & 61. Useful for pick swaps and allowing JT to weave his magic to try to add 3-4 quality youngsters.

Listening over lunch break earlier and diagnosis is that Peatling likely to stay at Giants. 4 year deal is a solid win for him and his manager. Definitely improved this year and his “hard at it “ style warranted others trying to get him.

Seems like 12 months ago, Clarry had let his standards slip and let people down with his off field commitment and other non advised issues. Club working with him to fulfill commitments and get his mind and body right for AFL football. Despite his hand injury this season , he was getting back from stability and hopefully moving back to his commitments needed within the club and as an elite footballer. But obviously issues don’t resolve overnight and ongoing requirements. Media alluding to: - teammates not fully convinced with Clarry and still querying his commitment and keeping on track - Contract is out to 2030 on at least $1million per year for the next 6 years so heavy weight on the salary cap - Goodwin and coaches support keeping Clarry and working with him to get back to his top form - Pert has reached out to see who’s possibly an interested club to buy Clarry - seemingly limited response from other clubs given Clarry has ongoing issues and his salary is in the top echelon - Cats are interested party and manager/Clarry speaking to them - Dees will want an appropriate level of compensation like at least a low sub-10 draft pick or 2x 1st round picks (clubs don’t either have the trade capital or concerned he’s on the downward cycle and not worth the risk) - likely to stay but it’s all very unsettling for all parties

Jimmy Bartel would add strong culture and leadership. Definitely like to see us pursue him. Dees looking for quality people to bring in. Also heard we are speaking to Rory Sloane. Genuine guy. Genuine leader.

Keep it to yourself and not your continuing snide personal attacks. I have an opinion and can post my opinion. If you want to be a troll, go elsewhere.

Owies for a future 4th rounder. Seriously !!! He is BELOW AVERAGE except for goals per game at 1.2.

If Pert is shopping Clarry, then he can SHUT THE DOOR BEHIND HIM ON THE WAY OUT Obviously Geelong trying to seduce Clarry with their country lifestyle

MFC need to get a very large suitcase and ensure its fully loaded with cash for Andrew Brayshaw. It’s coming with a 6- year contract offer. Freo will need to match the $$ and term to keep him. Dees need to land a free agent to get back into the game.

Sam Edmund 💩really thinks that Kozzzy is thinking about going west. “He’s good mates with Shai Bolton and they socialise together outside of footy. Shai says hey mate, I’m going back home, why not join me. So Kozzy loves the Melbourne Football Club but not Melbourne the city”. FFS. So they’ve all got Trac on 12-month waitlist to depart and for each year now there’s going to be three weeks at least of Kozzzy and Clarry rumours.

Yes plenty of others could play the exact role and be younger, fitter, stronger. This “33yo” Campbell move is 12 months at best. Just for the record. Much rather try to grab Liam Reidy from Dockers (204cms, 24yo) or give a shot to Cooper Keogh from Coburg VFL (200cms, 25yo, averaged 21 possessions, 45 hitouts and 5 tackles in VFL).

Tom Campbell. Let me think. 33 year old. 4 games in the last 3 years 😭😭😭. There’s desperate. And there’s desperation. This is beyond extreme desperation.

It is semantics. He said “don’t rule out Kozzy Pickett moving clubs”. Agree he’s not a dirt bag like Morris or McClure.

“Make no mistake, the Dees are happy for him to have a look (around)." @tommorris32 💩💩💩💩💩provides the latest info surrounding Clayton Oliver and a potential move to Geelong.

Sloane was a much better youngster than Blease and Strauss. It was obvious in the draft year. It was sadly obvious from year 1. It should have been Sloane. It was bizarre to miss on him. One of Prendergast’s many many many mistakes.

If Dees had to choose between Langford, Lalor or O’Sullivan. That’s tough. Very tough. Would have to be extra interviews and discussion. Do they love footy. How would they fit in. What makes them tick. Lots of the extra JT magic required.

He’s the full package. Best player in the draft alongside Ashcroft. Cannot believe he could be rated at 9. Crows will grab him at pick “4”. (If the Eagles don’t jump at 3). Pace. Skill. Smarts. Runs and runs for second efforts. Goalkicker. Dees would ❤️💙him in red and blue.

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/power-rankings/afl-draft-power-rankings-september-2024/ thanks @manny100 Overall ratings are excellent however quite a few are “interesting”… Murphy Reid 3, Bo Allan 5, Kako at 13. Wow. That’s well above my thoughts. Reid especially. I saw him live only twice but wasn’t super impressed. Yes had a good Vic metro performance and deserves 9-10 rating. I’m happy if Eagles grab him 🤣🤣 Finn O’Sullivan drops to 7 (shades on the Joel Selwood year where he dropped after injuries impacted his last underage year … the rest is history). Really. He is class and so versatile. Would play round 1 2025 with solid injury free pre season Sid Draper drops to 9. Staggering. He has class and pace and smarts and goalkicking. Equal to Levi Ashcroft in my view. If Crows pass on him, then Dees have to strongly consider. Xavier Lindsay at 15. Winner of Morrish Medal. Best on ground in Vic country v metro. Elite skills. Left footer who plays in or out midfield. Absolutely a steal. No “Ben Camporeale”. He’s rating should be 13-15. Is he being forgotten? SA MVP. Gun midfielder. wtf. Blues will be laughing. Finally , again Sam Marshall at 22. Lions will be doing high fives. Equal BOG in Coates league GF (I actually thought he was BOG ahead of Ashcroft). WTF. He’s the 12-15 rating.

Unsure. I’m not that confident with the NGA eligibility. I’d like to see them take him as a Cat B rookie. His last game v Harry Armstrong was very good. He played very smart defensive game even though he would probably likely run off more.

More immediate for him is the combine on Sunday, October 6. Mac is telling him to prepare well and go for it. Riak is taking inspiration from his brother – “To try to get to his level is obviously going to be hard, but if he can do it, why can’t I? … it gives me a lot of motivation’’ – just as he does from his parents. They had fled from South Sudan to Egypt and arrived in Australia with their first three sons in 2005. Riak, their middle child, was born later that year. “They left a heap of family to give us a better life, which was a huge sacrifice for them to make,’’ he says. The way the family has turned out … we’re all pretty close and super-grateful for what they’ve done for us. We don’t take anything for granted. Everyone in the family looks up to mum and dad as their biggest heroes. Without them we wouldn’t have the lives we have right now.’’

Jedwab says most references to Riak note that he’s the brother of Mac. He believes he’s making his own name. “He’s got a lot of good traits. He’s athletic, runs well, marks it well,’’ Jedwab says. “I definitely think there’s enough there for the next level to take a punt on him. He has a lot of upside. You see how well Mac’s going, if he can become something like that, he’ll be OK player, you’d imagine. But he’s good enough in his own right.’’ As for that bounce-filled goal at Sandringham, Riak remembers it well. “Every kid wants to take four or five bounces and kick a running goal and when you do it, it sorts of sticks with you. Playing with a few Berwick boys, that creates a good memory as well. It’s something you might tell your kids about, you know, ‘Oh, I did this back in my day’.’’ More Andrews will come through at Berwick – Ajak and Anyeir start playing juniors at the club next year. Their older brothers are playing senior football with the Wicks. “We could see them 10 years down the track, you never know,’’ Riak says.

Riak played one game for Vic Country at the national Under 18 championships, against the Allies, and also in Two Young Guns matches. His only disappointment was head knocks that kept him out with mild concussion, the first in a practice match, the second against the Brisbane Academy in Round 8. “Once I got going, my last six to eight weeks were fairly solid,’’ he says. “Same as the team. I think we won the last 10 out of 11. We had a real chemistry in the backline. We’re all good mates. Some of us went to school together, some of us played local footy together. Having that chemistry helped me as well.’’ An AFL recruiter saw a “nice little improvement arc’’ in Riak’s season, enough to tempt to Melbourne to take him as an NGA selection. He’s done fortnightly sessions with the Dees, working with AFLW star Tyla Hanks.

The 193cm key defender played as an over-ager with the Stingrays this year and has been invited to the AFL state combine. In between a full-time job with former Berwick coach Clint Evans, he’s putting in three sessions per week to prepare for the testing. The ’Rays saw Mac come out of Covid and emerge quickly in 2021 as a tall who could play in almost any position. Two years ago, they got thinking Riak was similarly talented. Whenever Stingrays talent manager Toby Jedwab relates the rise of Riak, he starts at a practice match at Trevor Barker Beach Oval in 2022. It was an Under 16s game between the Stingrays and the Sandringham Dragons, with Riak, as a developing tall, playing as a 17-year-old. “It stands out in my mind, this day,’’ Jedwab says. “He takes these four bounces down the wing and kicks the goal. On the Beach Rd side of the ground. We got smashed, but that was the highlight. Everyone was sort of, ‘Wow, that was something, that was pretty special’. And then he played for Berwick a few weeks later and did his medial ligament and missed the year. So he’s been playing a bit of catch-up.’’ The Stingrays think he’s caught up. Last season he played in a few positions, even in the ruck, but this year he came on as a key defender. Riak was pleased with his season, believing he developed his defensive skills and found a balance between locking down and running free. “I thought I played with more confidence. I backed myself aerially more often than last year, whether to try and mark it or spoil and kill the contest,’’ he says. “As the year went on I got better at that. Same with my one-on-one stuff.’’

Of course Riak Andrew was quick to put it to his big brother Mac after he signed a long-term, multimillion dollar deal with the Gold Coast Suns. “I told him to buy me a car and buy me a house,’’ Riak, 18, says with a laugh. “He told me get stuffed. That was a bit harsh!’’ The brothers’ banter over big bucks reflects their closeness. Riak says it’s sometimes hard to believe how far Mac has come in his three seasons as a Sun. Forty-one games into his career, Gold Coast has locked him in until the end of 2030 in what is reportedly one of the most lucrative deals in AFL history. Riak remembers how often they kicked the football together as teenagers near their home in Cranbourne, in Melbourne’s south east, especially during Covid. Now he watches him take his kicks in the AFL. “I see most of his games on TV and it’s sort of surreal, like, ‘That’s my brother’,’’ he says. “It’s so good.’’ The whole family – Riak’s parents Lual and Mary and siblings Makeui, Deng, Grace, Ajak and Anyeir – is thrilled at big Mac’s ascension since being taken at No. 5 in the 2021 AFL national draft. The South Sudanese community is too, Riak says. “Everyone looks up to him now like an idol, basically, because of what he’s done. Little kids will probably be want to be like him and play AFL footy.’’ Hopefully for Riak, he will follow Mac’s path in football: from the Berwick juniors, to the Dandenong Stingrays and the Melbourne Next Generation Academy, and on to the AFL.

Gabelich is throwing up so many kites. He hopes one flies but so many will just float away into nothing. He’s still under Morris and McClure who are 5 💩💩💩💩💩rated dirt bags