Don't assume Houston is being targeted specifically to play half back. He's played some excellent games in the midfield for Port. I've heard Hinkley say the line coaches fight over where he plays during the off season. At the moment he plays half back because he's elite there (dual AA) but also they have a top shelf midfield with JHF, Butters, Wines, Rozee, Drew etc. He's the one they can leave out and get great value from him elsewhere.

He finds the footy, tackles well but most importantly, he delivers the footy exceptionally well under pressure. Imagine Cripps getting the footy out to him and the delivery going inside 50. The forwards would be licking their lips. Class around the footy is a huge deficiency for us.

I'm not saying we should sell the farm for him but don't necessarily pigeon hole him as a back.

voss is the loudest at the club in his desire for houston, fwiw.


i think you're living in the past a bit, BB ... doc is miles off AA and probably closer to retirement. newman gets so much ball bcos the oppo sag off him and rather curtail gov and saad bcos they know newman won't hurt you. newman had the most turnovers by foot in our back six.

i have doubts boyd will make it.
williams is the worst defender we've had back there since matthew watson.
cowan will be excellent - a peter dean type that you need. Him and weiters are untouchable.
saad lost his man in multiple games, multiple times at stoppage and conceded goals. he's definitely lost a step of speed too. if he's in decline, we're in a world of trouble unless we get another half back who can damage the opposition.

hell, there's logic there that says saad and houston could run riot together. what a nightmare to match up on, that woul be, huh?

a season is a long time in footy. and, you can't deny stats. worst in the league for D50 to F50 movement. 3rd most points allowed, worst defensive stoppage team from D50 in the league. 4th most turnovers exiting our D50.


i'm on the record of going all out in '25 for a flag.

if we're willing to give up harry and cerra, there's no reason why we can't bring in:

Houston
a gun mid with run and overlap
an a-grade small forward
keep #11 and draft someone like joe berry (a connor rozee comaprison)
campo twins.

effectively we're freeing up more cap than we're spending under that scenario, we're still getting draft picks, but we are losing players that people are attached to.

i'm only attached to the club and to winning ... so if we get houston or not, i don't care. if we trade cerra or H, i really don't give a rats.

just do something, don't reload with the same list (like last summer) and think better health is our only deficiency and alls we need is a few draft picks in the bank for the future.

i want to go on a run in september '25 and bring home a flag, and we're going to have to spice the list up for that, imo. and maybe replace hansen with a quality assistant too

well, perhaps he is being targeted as a mid or player that can play multiple positions. always good to have.

however, as you say, we shouldn't being selling the farm

(for a guy that is 28 years of age).

ineresting, he didn't spend any time attending a centre bounce in 2024 on his way to being an AA HB.

https://aflratings.com.au/afl-centre-bounces/

Newman is not a shit kick.

There's good reason why he's our preferred kick from defense.

Always was and is a great kick.

Houston doesn't hit his targets every single kick. no one does.
Because Newman is a Carlton player he is judged more harshly imo.

Pretty hard hitting statues when then the game plan is obvious enough for the opposition to jump into the statue.

27. he's 27. same age as weiters, charlie and harry.

he played plenty of wing at times for port. that 60m goal on the siren to win them that game (was it against the pies?), he was on the wing.

I like him.....iits what we give up for him that matters....at reported levels its too much

what makes you think newman's a good kick? he led us in turnovers coming out of D50.

newman is our preferred kick bcos in a team of shit kicks, he's the least shit.

Owies is the heart & Soul of our Club. No other player celebrates a Goal the way he does- with heart & Passion.

He is also our best small forward by far. He is an elite kick for goal and was very consistent the last few years.

How on earth does the club treat him this way? He Deserves better!

yeah, i'm the same. he's a gun, but depending on the asking price, will he be our gun.

Pretty hard hitting statues when then the game plan is obvious enough for the opposition to jump into the statue.

Lets stick to the backline here. Who are the shit kicks in the back line?

You think he's a shit kick, I don't.

I'm not going to argue the point, and I didn't say good kick, I said "Great" kick.

What percentage of his kicks were turnovers?
What percentage was Houston's kicks turnovers?

I hope youre not denigrating a Carlton player again to make your point stronger braithy, coz it looks that way.
I seen this before. I prefer to BS you and say I agree than give you an opportunity to nit pick.

I don't get it either.
Unless there is something going on that we are not aware of this makes no sense.
Why would they re-sign Corey Durdin mid season and not Owies?