If Martin goes on to play 22 games for Freo next year I will EAT MY OWN SHIT

We’re running a crèche…

The four new additions so far:

Matt Duffy (20yo) - 194cm Irish.
Natural forward on the rectangle pitch, but that could convey as an attacking half back. Runs like the flower wind in his highlights package. Fingers crossed his rebuilt ACL doesn’t hamper him from doing that in navy blue.

Cooper Lord (19) - 184cm inside mid.
Wins plenty of footy. Quicker between the ears than below the waist, but there’s lots to like so far.

Ben Camporeale (18) - 186cm general mid.
Ball magnet. Really looking forward to seeing him in the navy blue.

Lucas Camporeale (18) - 185cm wing.
Left footer. Lovely kick of the footy. He might surprise a few in year one.


Add to those, the current zero gamers:

Harry Lemmey (21 in Jan) - 201cm key forward.
Looks to have turned a corner, but he might never be the pack-busting, high ball-clunking CHF that I’d hoped. Great athlete though. Just needs something to get a fire going. Maybe could be shadowing Pitto more than Harry.

Rob Monahan (20) - 194cm forward… so says the club website.
Every now and then, he looks like a footballer. I just wonder if the club could do with a Podsiadly-type to coach him up in-game. McMahon is flat out trying to put himself on display - as he should be. The soft cap has really [REDACTED] the pathway for assistant coaches.

Jaxon Binns (20 in Oct) - 183cm wing.
Wins a shitload of footy… the VFL team’s 13/33. Too bad he’s not a goal kicker. A crumbing forward with that type of athleticism would be a point of difference. Still plenty to like.

Hudson O’Keeffe (20 in Dec) - 202cm ruck.
Hamstring dramas aside, he’s developing nicely as a ruck & the club moved pretty quick to lock him away for the full rookie allowance. Good size, powerful base, up for the fight. Still a fair bit to work on up forward, but he’s strong on a lead & a decent kick of the footy, which is as good a start as any.

Billy Wilson (19) - 183cm defender.
Had hoped that he could make an early transition into the midfield group, but he’s got a bit of work to do if he’s going to find the tempo. Certainly looks the business though. If he can be comfortable enough within himself to enjoy footy more than he worries about work, we might have a player.

Ashton Moir (19) - 188cm forward.
Similar to Wilson, high hopes for an early 2yo campaign, but he’s an autumn 3yo if ever there was one. He’s not short of talent.

Matt Carroll (19 in Nov) - 188cm defender.
Seems a bit up in the air whether he is retained for next season. Genuine utility who showed a good aptitude for the bespoke roles. The best abilities are availability and adaptability, but you can’t have one without the other.


That’s a LOT of untried youth - 25% of the list next year (assuming Mirkov & Akuei are shown the door).

We’re running a crèche…

The son of 202-game former Blues star Andrew — himself a No. 2 draft pick in 2003 — Walker was the talk of AFL recruiters on the Gold Coast last week as he glittered during the under-16 national championships.

Playing for Vic Country, Walker finished as the fourth-highest rated player at the tournament, averaging 28 disposals, 7 clearances, 6.7 score involvements and 140 ranking points.

He won Vic Country’s MVP award and helped propel his side to the title in Pool A.

I can't help but believe and keep reiterating we need a ready made CHB whilst our window is open with Cripps as captain.
Our spine says we have CHB missing for this year, let alone next year: marchbank and young can't be relied upon.

I shared this with a couple other posters in the past:

I heard talk that we were looking around for a Fwd/Ruck when TDK's contract was up for renewal last year.
Have to add, TDK wasn't holding marks his marks as a forward target, missing set shots and not proven as a No 1 ruck at the time.
Furthermore, SOS had not cemented his spot as a Fwd/Ruck. His heart was not questionable, but his kicking for goal wasn't reliable.

I've asked around if that's still the case, but all i hear, is the obvious. TDK's contract is up for renewal end of next year again.
What's also obvious is that with another preseason under his belt, TDK will have a big show in the ruck next year.
So, I'm guessing a Mobile Fwd ruck is still on the radar, given Pittonet is not a Fwd/Ruck, or the current 2 ruck debate continues.

No doubt in my mind we have the picks and cap space to land a ready made CHB, and hope this is a priority for Austin.
We hold 2 first round picks in 2024 and 2025. Coby Walker may cost us 2 x 2nd round picks if we dont have a first round pick next year.
Who knows what the FS rules will be in 2025?

Might have to look at the guys in their early 30s who are unrestricted free agents. Adam Tomlinson, Trent McKenzie and Nick Haynes come to mind. They wouldn't be on much, they'd be there to try and win a flag. If Carlton decide to stick with the status quo and not give Weitering and the team the help they desperately need, then I know what I would do if I was Jacob Weitering. "Show me the money!"

SIGNIFICANT changes to the Academy and father-son bidding points system will be introduced in 2025, after the AFL decided against bringing it in for this year.

But clubs will be able to match bids on Next Generation Academy players from pick No.1 again this year after the AFL Commission this week approved the rule change.

The League wrote to clubs on Friday detailing a range of new draft, trade and free agency changes which were rubberstamped this week and will come into effect across the next three seasons after the AFL's thorough competitive balance review.

The most significant outcome of the Commission meeting was that the League will wait until next year before implementing its new points system.

It means clubs such as Brisbane (who have Levi Ashcroft and Sam Marshall coming through this year), Carlton (for the Camporeale twins) and Richmond (who traded in extra picks to move up the draft board), which had all rallied against changing it in 2024, will be able to use the draft picks they collected during last year's trade and draft period in preparation for this year, under the same system.

The League has also chosen to wait until 2025 before it allows clubs to trade picks two years into the future. It will remain at one year into the future this off-season.

For 2024, the main changes will be:
* Clubs having access from pick No.1 onwards for NGA prospects in a return to previous rules to align with northern Academy and the father-son bidding system. The AFL has prioritised this change, revealed by AFL.com.au last month, because it does not want to further see a decline in diverse and Indigenous talent.
* The AFL will also continue to run its review on changing the NGA zones ahead of Tasmania's entrance into the game and the required eligibility and sign-up process for NGA draftees.
* Free agency compensation picks will from now take into account contract length as a determining factor, however contracts less than two years, or more than five, will not be given any weight. The League will be more transparent with its free agency compensation formula using the year lengths of deals.
* Clubs will be able to retain rookies for up to a maximum of five years, up from the current three years. This is to help give clubs more time to develop key position and taller talents as well as players from different backgrounds. Stipulations will mean the player cannot have played more than 10 games at the end of his fourth or fifth season to retain rookie status.
* More flexibility in the drafting of father-son prospects as primary-listed players or rookie-listed players. Current rules mean clubs have to nominate before the national draft if a player will be a national or rookie father-son, with the tweak giving more scope to make decisions during the live draft.

For 2025, the main changes will be:
* The revised draft value index and bidding system will be introduced. The new DVI will make it harder for clubs to stockpile draft selections to match multiple bids on Academy and father-son selections.
*As part of this, the 20 per cent points discount applied to matched bids will be reduced to 10 per cent. However, the AFL will continue to review this and assess whether it should apply to all or some of father-son, NGA and northern Academy players.
* The new DVI will see points attached to only the first 54 picks (down from the current system of the first 73 picks). There will be more than 10,000 points shaved off the value of the next DVI.
* Future trading of picks will be extended to two years in advance.

For 2026, the main change will be:
* Live trading will be introduced for the 2026 mid-season rookie draft, allowing clubs to move up and down in the order or trade into the draft using end of year selections.

The League considered bringing the expanded future trading of picks in for this year's trade period, as well as mid-season draft pick trading for 2025, but decided against it so that all moves were made with the new system at once from the start of the 2025 trade period onwards.

After Jamarra Ugle-Hagan was the No.1 pick as a Western Bulldogs NGA player in 2020, the AFL changed the rules so that clubs couldn't match NGA bids in the top-20 (in 2021) and then the top-40 picks (2022, 2023).

However the change means that the immediate beneficiaries will be Essendon*, who will now have first access to talented draft prospect Isaac Kako this year who shapes as a potential top-15 pick.

I didn't know they were planning to extend rookie eligibility. That sounds like good news for us, more time to work with Lemmey and ROK.

what makes you think we can? all i hear is we're hard against the cap, weiters contract this off season is a priority, and we have nothing in the way of trade capital.

unless we want to part with a big piece, taking a big slice of cap, we can't bring much of anything in?

be great if all that is wrong.

I didn't know they were planning to extend rookie eligibility. That sounds like good news for us, more time to work with Lemmey and ROK.

Where did you hear our cap space is tight? That will explain things.
Similar place to where you heard the origin of the rumour of a conflict between Weitering and Young.

Ive explained both the above before. Its amazing how shit sticks.

As I said to Sydney Blue, re the Weitering Young rumour, it statred on BF by someone Weitering pointing out stuff to Young was a bit abnormal. See Lever and May. Weiters denied any riff within the team.

Re Cap. We have to spend the cap every year, even if it means paying in advance to fulfill that requirement.

How do you think we can offer Hayward 5 years at $700+ pa if we are tight?

How much cap relief will the delisting of Marchbank, Martin and Cuningham give us to spend on new player(s)?

In 2021 Cook said it was tight at the time, but he put measure in there to change that. We are OK now.

If we are set on a CHB who will help us with our ultimate goal, players can make adjustments to existing pay structures to make room.

We need primarily a dependable ready made CHB, and a Fwd Ruck (bigger than SOS), if TDK is to be our No 1 ruck.I doubt Mirkov has a future with Carlton.

football media are always saying how top heavy our cap is, and how we're right against it?

heard the weitering and young thing from an ex-blues player. out of his mouth. but it's cute how you believe what players say when fronted by the media. Reminds me of me, when i used to believe in santa clause and all his merry little elves working away in the north pole.


imo, we need a dynamic small more than we need a ruck/ froward, imo. and a CHB is an absolute minimum this summer.