Logical.

Thanks for going to all the trouble abns

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

If Gibbo is promoted, we still need another 2 dropped to make way for 2 more new players on our primary list...assuming the min changes law isn't changed.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I was expecting Stocker to break into the 22 this year after all the glowing reports on his form and fitness on return to start preseason training in November last year...plus he showed a bit as a backman in the 4 games he played before injuring his ankle.

I wonder how he's travelling, and why he went back home.

Word was that he might join the boys in Perth.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I evluated the Profile of StKilda's Jack Steele.

He is he 'in' player up for discussion with all the votes he's receiving.
He had 20 odd posessions,11 contested in a tagging role.

he was recruited at pick 24 by GWS where he stayed for 2 years before Saints got him end of 2016 as a 20yo.
In 2014 we Traded pick 7 for Jaksch, then Boekhurst and Riojo with our first 2 picks.

Steele only started coming good last year as a Tagger: role player.

He turns 25 this year.

Just goes to show how long it takes to get a foothold in this comp unless you're a freak like Walsh etc

Pick 4, Dow, turns 21 this year
Pick 10, OBrien, turns 21 this year
Pick 22, Fisher, turns 22 this year
Rnd 1 swap, Stocker turns 29 this year
Pick 22, Cuningham, turns 23 this year

ditto Setterfield, SPS, Williamson, Kennedy....we forget how young our new rebuid players are.

It takes years to become strong enough to compete week in week out with the bigger bodies.

We are doing fine, and have a lot to look forward to with kemp, Honey, Philp to add to that list.
Not all will make it, but geez they are pedigree players the young ones we have got.

Don't write them off, don't rush them in.....develop them.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Stocker doing a Benjamin Button?

Yes, two more changes to the list. But, I wouldn't imagine the cuts going any deeper than the seven I've listed.

We can be a player at the trade table, plus there are some retirements on the horizon from within the best 22.

Worth remembering that we're not the only club reducing their list. There will be some serviceable players looking for new clubs this summer.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

When I say 'cut bait', I mean in the colloquial sense - i.e. 'this isn't working, let's try something else'.

If there is any currency for the 4th string ruck and smalls outside the top 28 on the list, then it might be worth cashing in.

If there were 46 spots on the list, Ben's long-term promise might save him (if not a willingness to accept the absolute minimum contract). But, he's going to be weighed & measured against the seasoned 3rd & 4th stringers around the league.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

I believe I saw that Stocker was training solo at PP the day after he returned. Everyone has assumed mental health, the club claimed family reasons. May not be him directly impacted?

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"I had to eat"

Plowman 3 yr deal today and Murphy 1 year, the latter locked away but unofficial according to Mark Stevens

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"I had to eat"

I don't understand the need to sign up Murphy for an extra year beyond 2021.

Maybe its because we are bereft of senior leaders ... can argue Doch and Cripps will continue to be senior leaders in 2022, along with Plowman, Marchbank, Martin, Gov and Weiters.

At his age, the normal protocol is to review at the end of each contract for a possible one year extension.
He's not going anywhere, but I understand the need for $ to fuel his desire to become a property developer.

Like any player beyond 30yo Murphy would need to perform at a high level for him to warrant another contract taking him into his 35th year.
He hasn't been as resilient as Simmo through his career, and carries a lot of old injuries, so I don't expect Murph to be performing at the level we expect seniors to play at post 2021.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Ollie Wines played like a bull last night.

32 possessions.

Adnitedly, I didn' notice him all that much, but for 16 min quarters he accumulated some good numbers.

Between Wines, Rockliff and Boak, they demolished the inside mids touted to be the AFL's best last night.
3 inside Bulls, with a lot of younger outside players. Good combo.

He would be a handy addition at this stage, improvement on inside help for Cripps, Kennedy, Dow, Kemp) but doesn't warrant huge contract imo...unless there's no better players wanting to come to Blues in 2021.

Would the inclusion of Wines, improvement of Setterfield reduce our need for Ed Curnow in 2021?

There will be a day when Walsh has to be in the guts with Cripps full time again (Batman & Robin)

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I like Ollie and he is a good player but I'm not sure he is the player we need. He doesn't have another position for starters.
I feel Setters and Kennedy play the similar role with much, much more upside and are more well rounded.

Ollie is on every opposition whiteboard as a genuine threat for 35 possies and a couple of goals a game. Setterfield and Kennedy may well play a similar role, but it's at 30% of Wines' output.

Sure, he's been in the system for 3-4 years longer than those two blokes, but the upside between him and, let's be honest, everyone on our list not named Cripps, might as well be an ocean.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

You think there’s an ocean between Wines and the max potential of everyone on our list besides Cripps......

Whatever you’re smokin, I want some!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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You're in here trying to sell 'max potential' and i'm the one smoking something?

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Wines will be hard to get.
If we could land him, it would be a real coup.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

The player I would like to get would be Darcy Moore just as good as any back line
player in the comp
Jones is handy but just makes to many mistakes

Simple, midfielders must be our focus and or Papley.

Our midfield group would rate close to last in the AFL.

Our backs and forwards would rate just as good as the Hawks however their midfield group was the difference last night.

midfielders who get a lot of the ball

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Bingo.

Need to find a quality ball winner in the middle.

At the moment, we’ve got Cripps, Ed, Setters and Kennedy rotating through the centre bounces. Cripps is A-grade (but down on his lofty standards this year). Ed is a solid defensive player but shouldn’t be our second mid picked (also on the wrong side of 30). Setters is developing but not there yet. Jury is out on Kennedy (2 good games, 2 poor games since returning).

Compare this centre bounce group to West Coast (Kelly, Yeo, Shuey, Sheed, Redden), Collingwood (Pendlebury, Sidebottom, Treloar, Adams, De Goey) and Richmond (Martin, Cotchin, Prestia, Lambert). These are the elite teams and that’s why we’re a mile off them. Even look at the Hawks (Mitchell, O’Meara, Worpel, Shiels) and North (Cunnington, Ziebell, Simpkin) who aren’t close to finals sides, they’ve still probably got us covered.

Our backline and forward line are good enough. We go as our midfield go at the moment. If they can just break even, we can win. They found a way to do this in all our 4 wins. In all our 4 losses we’ve been belted in the middle. The flow on effects being that our defence is put under the pump, the opposition can lock the ball in their half and set up behind the ball, and then our forwards have little chance because all they get is pressured long bombs coming out of a congested back half with opposition numbers behind the ball to intercept.

Must bolster the midfield this offseason.