spirit of norm smith

Great additions. What memories. Mark “Jacko” Jackson was sensational. Powell. Loved his 2000 prelim v North. Marcus Seecamp also to be remembered. I thought Craig Turley played a fantastic first 12-13 games. Would have been close to winning the B&F. Only played the one year and battled on in the last half of that 95 year. Ended up retiring through injury. Came to us when he was 30-31 so was over it by the time he arrived. Sad to see chopper Lovell swapped out. Chopper was a great servant through the late 80s/90s under Northey/Balme.

Agree. Many of our indigenous stars came and went too soon. Loved their excitement and cannot wait for Pickett and Bedford to show their amazing pace and skills.

Ed Langdon 77. Really. !!?!?! behind anb, hunt and kk. It’s ridiculous

Lovett played with Hawks under 19s and Reserves. But they had a strong team in 85 and he was cut. Certainly a good pickup and probably my #1 recycled player. I do like to addition of Ingo. Ingerson was a great bloke, reliable defender, good mark and spoil. Just the kicking was a bit awkward.

Agree Peter Vardy, and also another goal scorer Ricky Jackson, were handy imports. Farmer was traded to Dees for Phil Gilbert. We got the better of the deal but Freo grabbed him back of course. Would have loved The Wiz to have been a one club man.

With the recent additions of players like Langdon, Tomlinson, May, Hibberd & Melksham, I was thinking about our best (top 10) traded in or recycled players. Here’s a quick top 10 but in no order. Brett Lovett Jeff Farmer Brian Wilson Jeff White Peter Moore Laurie Fowler Garry Baker Peter Rohde Darren Bennett Carl Ditterich My apologies to Stephen Icke, Alan Jarrett, Clint Bizzell, Guy Rigoni, Bernie Vince & Brent Moloney. My eligibility was min 50 games and I can only cover from 1973 onwards.

Unbelievable. The virus has led us to desperation to kill 5 minutes with Angus’ onions segments. #killtheVirusNow

Unbelievable. Yes it still haunts me. We were keen on Tom Lynch (Suns/Tigers) but suns grabbed him at pick 11. Prendergast must have been rattled to pick Cook who was expected to be around 30-40 mark. I was keen to pick Jack Darling or Matthew Watson. Darling was the slider who somehow went around mid 20s by the Eagles. I recall the word was he wanted to stay in the west. Ridiculous.

Robert Walters. Played about 25 games for the Dees in the late 70s and early 80s. We had been belted by 190 points to the Lions in late season 1979 at VFL Park. It was as dark a day as I can remember. I sat through it and was gutted after the game for hours if not days. Then in round 2, we played the Lions again at VFL park. Walters has shown ability as a 6ft tall opportunist full forward. Walters kicked 7 goals as we upset the Lions by a few goals. I think they almost were going to carry him off the ground. I think he was injured shortly thereafter in the season and then always was injured again with a variety of problems.

I would delist about 15 others before Hunt. He has shown the ability. Someone needs to learn the art of coaching. There is huge potential.

Yes Les Bamblett (or Lelly Bamblett as he was named in the commentary ) was one of the exciting news additions in 1983. He was Fast. A Goalkicker. Strong build even as a 18yo. Barrassi had bought in Templeton and Moore in a recruiting juggernaut. Brian Wilson won the 1982 Brownlow. Flower was still supreme as one of the leagues very best player. Hopes were high. Very high. Round 1 was Pies at the G was huge. It was a very hot day. 30+. The match was electric and Dees lost in a nail biter. Bamblett has a great debut and could have been a star. Bamblett had a rough time and wanted out and left to go to the Tigers. I think he was only at the Dees originally due to the Goulburn Vslley zoning and wanted to be a Tiger. I can’t remember exactly why or how but yes he was swapped for Strawbs O’Dwyer from the Bulldogs zone. Ironic that Strawbs ended up a Tiger in the end.

An absolute A grade star who’s in the best 2-3 in the league. The “go to” star when you need to win!!

I could cut 10 off the list. Unfortunately it means a no risk policy. Here’s 14 off the current list meaning a squad of 31. kk bradtke bennell omcd spargo j. wagner c. wagner brown avberg anb Baker chandler dunkley neitscke

Yes I only had a top 10 from the players that I saw play. Agree on reading Eddie Jackson’s stats that he would probably be top 10 ranked. Colin Graham was a super talent. Played seniors at just 17 in the very tough days. He had to contend with racism and blokes trying to knock him out. His skills were amazing , a beautiful kick (Left footers also seem smoothe). I thought he was a relevation for the time. It was a shame that he was barely 20 when he left the vfl.

With Toby Bedford and Kozzzzzzy Pickett having an exciting round 1, I was thinking back at some of our past indigenous players. Some were super talents and super exciting but had their careers cut by injuries, home sickness or other personal reasons. Here is my top 10 1- Jeff Farmer 2- Aaron Davey 3- Nev Jetta 4- Andy Lovell 5- Liam Jurrah 5- Matthew Whelan 6- Colin Graham 7- Byron Pickett 8- Sean Charles 9- Jeff Garlett 10- Austin Wonamieri

VFL PARK. great memories on a cold Saturday afternoon.

It should be a nail biter. Maybe the Dees just ! (FFS ITS HARDLY THE SAME)

Highly unlikely x 100. Anyway Freo would ask for Luke Jackson and the answer would be NO FU&))&N WAY

Not quite now. Need to focus on other community vulnerabilities before AFL clubs and players.

Kozzzy Pickett I was super impressed in game number 1. Hope the coaches don’t overthink how he should play. Pressure. Tackle. Crumb. Attack. Kick goals. That’s it ! In 3 words... love the energy impressive debut game ignite the flame jeff farmer like favourite player already

Ditto

Agree. He was ok. That’s about as good as it gets.

Got jumped. Eagles relaxed. We had chances but bombed it in. Full stop. Love Kozzzy. Viney is a star. No more Spargo please.

Agreed. Ineffective kicks are a Spargo forte

Love Kozzzzzzzy !!!!