Agree that a one player messiah again isn't going to work, but if recruiting a single player enables and unlocks a certain style of play for the team then I'm all in.

Aggressive field kicking with the talent to execute is precisely what we need to unlock a transition game plan I reckon.

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Congratulations CK95

Who is the most gettable 25ish, 198cm athletic defender (capable of playing CHB) running around?
Whatever the club is prepared to give up for Houston should go to the Unnamed Soldier.

I know Cornes was just throwing names around, but Sam DeKoning had me at 'Hello'. Sign up both Sam and Tom for 6 years.

Is there anyone else crying out for us to make an offer? WAFL, SANFL, VFL, VAFA????????

Regards Cazzesman

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Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

another brutally slow tall with poor disposal doesn't help this team, imo. not to the point of taking us to the promised land. having two massive, immobile bookends like weiters and sam is a disaster in my eyes

... lions proved big time, that sharing the goal scoring without relying on one or two big marking targets is how you break down a team. we're too reliant on 1 or 2 and lazy with F50 entry. also; SDK and weiters aren't stopping the small brigade of the lions, hawks, pies, cats etc


transitional game, moving the footy with efficiency %, footspeed and some electricity at the feet of charlie is what will take us there.

Agree

Houston helps but is not enough. I think he will cost too much anyway and will either stay at Port or end up at another Vic team.

If we end up with picks 11 & 12, then in a supposed strong draft will be a good opportunity to commence rebalancing our list.

For me, the keys to an immediate turn around next year are players like Walsh and Cerra. Get them firing and it will hopefully transform our slow ball movement.

Jackson Payne 197cm, Harris Andrews 202cm, Ryan Lester 192cm.
It wasn't just the Lions forwards that did the job. Sydney had 49 Inside 50's for 15 scoring shots. Andrews, Lester and Payne took 29 marks between them. I'm a big fan of Houston but our list needs another decent tall defender far more than we need anything else. Look at how many teams exposed us later in the year by playing Kemp as the second defender. Not only does Kemp get flogged but it disrupts our defence by Weitering playing merry go round. His opponent automatically drags him up the ground when he goes to them.
I read some people saying Weitering should just drop off his opponent and fall back inside 50. How did that work against Adelaide earlier in the year? We lost to the Crows in Melbourne and Taylor Walker took 10 marks and kicked 4. Add that to the games we lost by Kemp being soundly beaten and that's the difference between top 4 or an also ran.

You can't allow yourself to be so easily manipulated by the opposition. You can't have your defensive structure so reliant on one player. Our biggest structural deficiency by a significant margin is a quality second defensive tall. Yes we need speed. Yes we need ball users but IMHO, structurally we are most desperate for a tall defender.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

No question - a key tall defender should be the priority - throw the kitchen sink at SDK rather than a Dan Houston type

100% agree.

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I'm shocked to be sitting here

...with reference to braithy's comment re immobile bookends, Payne and Andrews are not blessed with speed. They always stay close to their opponent to spoil. With their height, and defensive mindset they have the weapons to succeed.

We need a reliable KPD who will confidently swap opponents with Weitering when needed, similarly to the chemistry Weiters and Jones had.

For the first half of the year posters singing Kempy's praises for his mobility from defence. That's great, but his number one role was to stop his opponent which he failed to do on a regular basis. His inability to defend taller opponents proved costly after 24 rounds.

I suspect the speed we need is within the midfield group mix. I wish our smalls were a bit quicker than they've shown thus far. An interesting fact I heard last night was that our ball movement from turnover in defense to forward line was the quickest in the comp: 2 seconds quicker than the next best.

I'm not sure why we ended up moving away from that quick running game style, for the kick down the line, and slow ball movement. At least we know we can move the ball when we plan to do so, or did the opposition close us down?

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Surely Adelaide could live without one of theirs, they’ve got 5

A lot of fans like me suspect something went wrong within the playing group after the Geelong game.

And, I don't think it was as simple as blaming Weiters and Young for the friction.

Its just a hunch.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I have similar thoughts Humpers.

I don't think Cerra and Walsh haven't got the speed we need in the middle. Their bodies were hindered by injury, and never got 100% fit at the business end of the season, and we fell away.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

i do agree with you here, mate. we need another tall, 100%.

i will say one thing tho ... harris andrews does both. he plays big and small. he found himself on papely when papely sat as the deepest forward, and the swans got over the back a few times and andrews shut it down.

not as fast, but taking an exceptional angle to the ball, and then getting those big long chopsticks into the contest to spoil the mark.

a level of mobility and athleticism weiters or sdk (for that matter) do not have?


speed and spread and hitting targets, a viable structure and system are all things we greatly need too.


anyhow ... it looks like we pissed off port with an "arrogant" offer for houston, and now they won't talk to us. so that ship mighta sailed.

we're staring down another year of backline turnovers, mcgovern's timidness, saad's regression and boyd is depth on a finals team, not first choice halfback material.

i'm still in hope we trade harry or move him and his million a year to CHB and really give ourselves a new layer or two next year. bcos if we pump out the same players with the same plan, we're in for a steady diet of pain in 2025.

yeah they are slow and much of the same. i'm not sure what we were thinking drafting and buying in players who are all the same endurance athlete type, and no one with burst or gears or run and bounce to break lines. it's baffling.

walsh was the the worst mid in the comp at F50 entries (kennedy was 5th, which imo is why the club said he find another club if he wants time in the middle) even if Sammy finds form, he'll still butcher it.

It's funny how perceptions differ. I thought one of the key lessons from the grand final - and I called it out in the live games thread - was that Sydney suffered badly for having undersized KPDs. Even though Hipwood looks like a giraffe on ice skates most of the time, he is obviously considered a structural asset because he plays every week, and he combines well with Daniher. With those two blokes towering over their opponents and Logan Morris as a strong third marking option, the Swans were overwhelmed in the air. Yes, Brisbane's ball movement through the middle was elite, but you can't just look at one aspect of the game and claim it as the whole. Their tall dominance at both ends of the ground completed the picture. Much to think about.

can't argue with ya.

logan morris tore the gf apart with his marking and instincts to be where the footy was going. danniher played one hell of a game, and when hipwood is putting in a cameo like that, lions are the complete package. number 1 defense and midfield going into that forwardline is tough to beat for 4 qtrs.

I don't think Walsh and Kennedy are bad kicks.

I can't help but believe the territory game is a Voss instruction: Win the ball in the middle and bomb it long to gain territory. Where have we heard that before?

We didn't bomb blindly when Harry and Charlie were out injured and we lowered our eyes as instructed.

A bit harsh imo to assume Walsh and Kennedy are the worst in the comp, and to predict Walshy will always be a butcher is so harsh. He's last years best Finals player...easily forgotten by disgruntled carlton fans. Oppo fans don't forget so easily.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

The point Great Ex makes is that you need to have taller KPDs to defend Hipwood and Weitering: Weitering and Young did well on them in the Final.

ie we have to players to counter the height advantage Lions had over the short Swans.

Now, if we get rid of Young, there must be a KPD Austin has his eyes on, because Gov, Kemp and Haines are not KPD's to man up Daniher or Hipwood.

I can see Haines countering Logan Morris (who looked to play like Jonathon Brown at times in the GF), but Gov and Kemp, I have no faith to nullify because they don't body their opponent.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/player/sam-de-koning/

Braithy since when is Sam brutally slow and have poor disposal?

Regards Cazzesman

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Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

I worked out long ago that sometimes braithy likes to not let the truth get in the way of his POV.

Repeat a furphy over and over again and it becomes fact...for some.

IF we could save ourselves 2 first rounders to offer Cats next year please make it happen. As long as SDK doesnt sign an extension before the end of the year, we may have a chance.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

bondi ... there's an actual stat out there in afl land. and it reads walsh at #1 and kennedy at #5 for worst F50 entry efficiency among midfielders in the AFL season 2024.

it's not harsh, it's factual.