BigMacjnr

Good thinking but the club would want to do a lot better than 12 & 18 if they trade down. Would want something additional from GWS for this to be done. Papley would be a great addition to the dees if we can pull it off.

Paddy Mccartin. Is our medical team better with concussions than others?

We miss out, wonder what plan B is. Jack Newnes would be a good free agent fall back.

You are spot on, high half forward rotating through the wing. Very underrated player with great speed, decision making, goal sense and crumbs with the best of then.

Deal with freo picks 6 & 7 for picks 3 & 20. I would look at that.

While ordinarily I would agree with you. He is a quick and skillful midfielder/wing that we are playing off half back. Either play him in his best position or trade him out and upgrade talent of the list. We don't need Ollie Wines but I rate him higher than an underutilised Salem. Big club mentality is not to overrate your own players and take advantage of unexpected opportunities when they arise. My preferred option would be to trade back what would be 3+37 to possible Geelong picks: 6 + 16. Would also look at Hunt + Salem for Wines and then trade back pick 3 for 6 + 16. Need to give something to get something. If the coaching staff surprise me and allow Salem to have a bigger role as a mid who rests in the backline then I wouldn't trade him.

Different trade scenario: In/Out Ollie Wines, Pick 9, Pick 27/Salem, Pick 3, pick 57 Langdon/pick 20 pick 28 (32 after PP/Academy)/Frost Pick 38 F3rd/Stretch Free Agency: Adam Tomlinson, Jack Newnes and Ryan Lester (utility) Retire/Delist: Lewis, Garlett, JKH, Wagner If we are splitting pick 3 I want a really solid talent coming in...or be interested in what Geelong has after Tim Kelly leaves and see who has the most enticing offer for trading down. Shouldn't be trading down just for the sake of it. We don't need another inside mid, but he can play switch with Harmes/Petracca/Oliver resting forward so we have the right balance in the middle. Port are crazy to be looking at trading him out, or there is something there that isn't public knowledge. Don't think we will win Elliott, think Hawks or Bulldogs etc will win his signature.

Really good feedback. For the Gold Coast trade I valued: Oliver (1,15)...he is 22 and his statistics are off the charts (pick 22 value more than what GWS got for Treloar). Put him in the trade value class of Cripps and Bontempelli...he is a preseason and goal increase away from being truly dominant. Salem is played out of position, I see him as a Wing/Midfielder. In this position I rate him as worth ~pick 19. Possibly unders. Maybe take pick 11 and 16 from GWS plus a player and trade 16 and 37 to Gold Coast which would be 6610 points vs. 6912. Would this be too much for just King, 1 and 2? I wanted King as well because I don't want to give up a player of Oliver's quality without having one player who has shown their potential against AFL competition. 25 for Frost and pick 57 equals pick 33...fair call. This means pick 20 for Langdon. Would have too many ins and not enough outs and so maybe future 2nd rounder for Hunt. Freo is losing two wing players in the same offseason...I thought they might want a cheaper replacement there but if they are still in line for T.Kelly they would prefer the pick. Wines and future pick for 11 and Hannan? Need someone worth a late 2nd rounder in value. You are right, losing a young captain you need something to sell to the fans, AND not worth enough to get it done. Wines not coming straight back into the team as a fit captain and being shopped currently lowers his value...this is the time to buy him while his value is lowered. Newnes is being played out of position. He is a Half forward flanker/midfielder. Peaked in 2016-17 when they played him in these positions and dropped his outputs since shifting out of position in the backline. Saints have too many small forward on their roster and due to his quality he shifted to be their quality ball user even if it isn't his best role. RFA, second round pick compensation would be about right in his value.

This will be a controversial one. I am basing my ins and outs based on AFL recruiter intel I have heard that Rowell and Anderson are uniquely talented and could become stars of the competition within two years. No knowledge of this myself. Other thought is that we are heading towards a GWS problem where we will have a lot of quality players in the older bracket that will all have their hands out for larger contracts, and so we need to balance the list with more quality youth who are on smaller contracts. Trades: In: 1, 2, B.King Out: Oliver, Salem, 20 In: Pick 11, B.Daniels, X Halloran Out: Pick 3 In: Langdon Out: Hunt, 37 In: Wines F3rd Out: 11, ANB In: 25 Out Frost In: F4th, F5th Out J.Smith (heard he wants out due to injury mismanagement...not sure truth of this) Free Agents: Elliott, Tomlinson, Ellis Yolman, Newnes Retired/Delistings (senior list): Lewis, Garlett, JKH, Wagner, Stretch Total: Ins: 1, 2, B.King, B.Daniels, X O'Halloran, Langdon, Wines, 25, Elliott, Tomlinson, Ellis-Yolman, Newes, F3rd, F4th, F5th Outs: Oliver, Salem, Hunt, Frost, J.Smith, Lewis, Garlett, JKH, Wagner, Stretch, ANB (We had 39 senior players this year so we can increase that to the maximum of 40).

Not saying we would pick him up to trade him after a year. My point was about asset accumulation. Don’t refuse a sure thing now for a speculative asset in the future. Especially when the AFL alters the CBA to allow this. AFLPA and AFL are looking at renewing the CBA with possible inclusions of: reducing the free agency age, increasing initial contract length to 3 years draftees (possibly only earlier rounds) and enabling trading of players who are earning more than ~500k without their consent. Don’t have the link to the article I saw on this but remember seeing it earlier this year.

This type of thinking shows how the AFL is lagging behind other codes. In the NBA for example team management is about talent acquisition and building assets which can be later traded for improving the roster (list). Why not pick up Tomlinson, at worst he can be traded next year for another asset and if we have a top tier free agent want to join us next year. The old buy low and sell high.

Basil > Fawlty Towers > Monty Python > Newt scene from Holy Grail > Newnes

The guys of Fox Footy are saying that everything is being held up by the Neale trade. Freo wanting an extra 1st rounder in the teens as well as pick 5 from Brisbane. Lobbe for that teens pick then pick up Jesse with the two lower picks.

I think you are right that the losing Watts reduces our tall forwards as next off this list are T.Smith and Keilty. In saying that, some of our best wins this year were with a primarily short forward line which was used successfully for Richmond to win the premiership so I don't envisage too much doom and gloom. With Lever confirmed, coaches have T.Mac earmarked for a role in the forward line and he has shown good form in the ruck. My hope is that Weids has a great offseason and Pederson is insurance next year.

Unfortunately Hawks traded out their second rounder last year and got back GWS's which is pick 32 before compensation picks. Doubt that will get it done. Their own pick is 29. I see JW's value as end of first round. So will need to offer both, bring in a 3rd club or add a player to get it done.

Now that Gaff is out of the picture. Talk is Hall would be available for a 2nd round pick territory due to his inconsistency. He has been in a terrible environment but with someone like Lewis in his ear he could come good. Will be 27 at the end the year. Could be the icing on top to our midfield.

@@Judd's Granny Is your sense that the Dees are in poll position to get Lever?

That's interesting...From a source or gut feel? Sounds like they are both hard bargaining and it will end up somewhere in between. Might end up 1st round this year and second round next year with some other late picks going our way.

I think we need to put the trade in context. Below I have two recent trades that should put the Lever deal in perspective. 2 years ago Paddy Dangerfield was on his way to a Brownlow Medal, B&F and was out of contract. That 2015 trade was: Adelaide: Dean Gore (2014 3rd rounder), 1st rounder, 2nd Rounder Geelong: Paddy Dangerfield, 3rd rounder That should give people a read. Treloar 2015 trade 22, coming off multiple top 5 finishes in B&F and valued at $750k per year (prior to salary rise): GWS: 2015 1st rounder, 2016 1st rounder, 2015 4th rounder Collingwood: Adam Treloar, 2015 2nd rounder

I heard recently from a reliable source that we actually changed our defense from a zoning defense which we had practiced all pre-season and had used for the majority of the season to a man-on-man defense. The change happened from the Port Adelaide game. According to the source, a number of our backmen lost confidence and it showed with really poor positioning which led to easy goals. The problem with this strategy is it relied on our midfield to win the battle in the middle and put unbelievable pressure on sides, when they couldn't we leaked goals. To me this would explain why we leaked goals against Port when their mids got on top in small portions, and against GWS and the Kangaroos where our mids lost/broke even. Games in which we retained the man on man approach in defense after this inexplicable 3/4 season defensive change in system set up. Some players form really dropped as a result which made it really hard to pick back up for the tail part of the season. The source said that the midfield has picked up the new system set up, but it still very much a work in progress for our defenders and forwards, which tells me we are a pre-season away from fully 'getting' it, and why we still hear that the team hasn't fully bought into the system/hasn't been fully implemented. Also heard that a number of key players were playing injured to the point that in the last few games they were receiving injections just to get on the park...but the injuries were to the point that even with the injections they couldn't make much of a contribution. Would have preferred we play fully fit players than players who were not themselves because their body wasn't allowing them to have their normal impact (will let you deduce which players I refer to). Not very happy with our medical team for allowing those players to play and would have preferred some fully fit Casey players and play these players when they were fully healthy. All in all, positive that with another preseason the team should be: - fully across the system, and hopefully across both zone and man to man, which would be a boon strategically to be able to switch styles at a drop of a hat. - Surely have a healthier team (never had this for the whole season), and with less suspensions we will give ourselves a fighting chance. - Trade/draft/develop well so we have better depth so that coaches don't feel they need to play injured stars, who will lose form/confidence when played seriously injured (can't have their usual impact). - Not making the finals should give us a better draw than those making the finals...should give us some more marquee games as well.

Good summary Drunkn! Richmond who finished 5th in the VFL ladder is the only AFL/VFL team with unfettered access to their AFL list for VFL games (outside of usual eligibility. Be interesting to see how our Casey boys respond having the finals experience from last year. Casey would be one of the more in-form team in the VFL doing a Sydney, after a 1-4 start, finished their season and finishing on a 11-2 run. The Casey team has had less help from the Melbourne list this year due to a string of injuries and suspensions this year so I wouldn't count them out to make some noise in the VFL finals series this year.

I agree with you there Wiseblood, when our midfield is doing their job, they look to hit a free target and we spread really well in waves to move the ball fluidly into the forward line. Also agree that if any player doesn't bring the intensity required than they won't play, regardless if they are our most damaging ball users or not. Really hope they rip it a part in Casey this weekend. I think one of the issues our forward line has had the last few weeks is that the delivery has been awful, like Jones blasting bypassing good short options and kicking to a 3 on 1 (against) in the square against GWS. The second issue is that our forward line hasn't put enough pressure to keep the ball in the forward half once it is won. I think that is why Goodwin is going with a shorter forward mix this week to emulate a teams like Adelaide and Richmond, whose mosquito fleet make it very hard on opposition defenses - leading to scores.

He wasn't at training this morning. I was just hoping that he would still play, which Goody confirmed in his media conference today.

good to hear Jeffy is just visiting WA and not out of the side. Sad reason why (taking a guess off personal reasons), hopefully the team get around him and pump us up for a big win against the Saints to keep the dream alive.

Just came back from training. Good to see the boys work on ball movement from stoppages and coming out of the backline. I don't think I saw garlett...? Can anyone else confirm if he was there. I am hoping that was just an injury prevention thing as he is incredibly important to our forwardline mix. TMac trained as a backline player on Weids in the main session which tells me he will go back with Pederson playing forward. Pedo was doing some ruck drills with Gawn, which seems to confirm that. Doesn't say they won't mix that around depending on how we are going. Brayshaw was getting some pointers from Lewis on positioning in the backline, so see him playing half back with some time in the midfield. My guess would be that Wagner is the emergency at this stage. Also interested to see Melksham in the centre of he ground positioning himself in a tagging role on Oliver in some of the drills...could he be preparing for a Jack Stevens role this weekend. Fox Footy preview suggested we have a tagger on Jack Stevens who was well held for 3 quarters against WCE until he had 11 touches in the last and helped the saints get home. I will be interested to get some thoughts from the others who were there at training. I wasn't there the whole time so could have missed a bit.