After bens done in the NBA, watch us sign him as a cat B rookie.
Think youāll find youāre in the minority
If I remember correctly according to our Blitz draft watchers Jones played ruck in juniors, heās also only 1cm shorter than Paddy Ryder. Anyway Iām not talking about playing full time ruck just chopping out now and then. I reckon heād go ok.
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Laverde is 10 times the player Baldwin ever was or will beā¦!!
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Iāll just say I think this was a mistake.
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What level of mistake?
Bachar type mistake where he finds himself on another team, is in their best 22 and wins premierships?
Massimo type mistake where he finds himself on another team, is in their best 22 and almost gets an All Australian?
Voss type mistake where he finds himself on another team, isnāt in their best 22 and shows small glimpses?
Snelling type mistake where he finds himself at lower levels and wins the competition B&F?
McDonagh type mistake where he finds himself at lower levels and fades into obscurity?
I donāt see him being anything more than lower level competition player. If heās lucky he might get a few handful of games because even Aaron Francis gets that many games.
If itās that level of a mistake, Iām fine with it being labelled a mistake and Iām fine to make that kind of a mistake.
Whilst I would have taken Edwards over Baldwin, I donāt think Edwards will succeed to the level we want him to be. Heās just as likely to live out his AFL career off one game where he looked promising than make it as the next Nic Martin.
Itās now up to Baldwin to work his nut off, get a full season of footy at lower levels and give himself the best chance to find his way back onto an AFL list.
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Another career ended due to the AFLās COVID list spot reduction.
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Nobody forced us to extend Goldsteinās contract.
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Heās also our dedicated ruck coach. We havenāt had Maric at the club since he came to us from North.
Heās just taking up a list spot and players salary cap instead of football department spend.
Given weāre front loading contracts, itās clear we have more players list salary cap than football department spend to use.
Goldstein can at least get himself on a park more often than not.
We could just as easily have gone in with 1 less draft pick, flipped whoever we were going to take into the SSP group and let them work for the list spot.
Baldwin has had plenty of time at the club for assessment. We even elevated him to the senior list during that time, so there is something there otherwise, we wouldnāt have bothered giving him a chance through SSP even though he was still working his way through his injury up to xmas. Itās clear he is highly rated internally, but heās just never been able to get the best out of himself for long enough.
I donāt think letting Baldwin go will end up biting us as much as people think he will. But I guess time will tell.
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Heās still young enough that if he can tear it apart for however many weeks at state level, a team may take a punt on him as cheap KPD depth.
But I think in terms of AFL aspirations, heās 100% done at Essendon now. We wonāt recruit him again.
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Its interesting over the last year or two, most would have preferred Baldwin over Laverde in the best 22, not Brad.
But in reality they are both limited.
And Reid was in our plans, we now have McKay to go with Ridley and can be confident that Hayes can perform a defensive job if required too.
Baldwin needed to be a distributor, use his foot as a weapon. Heās potentially too slow and immobile to play on third tall forwards, and not tall enough for the Joe Danihers.
We also have Cox and Jones that could likely fill a role down back if required in a pinch also.
I like Baldwin but Iām confident we made the right call. Still hope that Baldwin gets on a list, but would be surprised if he plays more than 50 games.
I rated Hartley too, was also great at VFL level, just couldnāt grab his AFL opportunities with us or Hawks.
If Baldwin was another 5-6cm taller he probably stays on a afl list a bit longer.
I rate Baldwin at VFL, level, but he never really showed his wares at AFL level, perhaps due top Brads lack of willingness to play him.
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Ivan Maric was at our club? When did this happen?
Unless you mean Mar(i)c Jamar?
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Yeah, letās forget about the pedantic issue I raised about the expression. I only did it because it annoys me.
But to address what you really mean, I donāt think itās a valid measure of someoneās marking ability to say they can mark the ball at āits highest pointā/the highest point of their leap.
Everyone can do that. Give any AFL player, or even suburban footballer, an unimpeded run at the ball and they will jump up and mark it with their arms fully extended and at the top of their jump. Itās the āunimpeded runā part that stops them doing it in contested situations.
I would rather Baldwin, or any KP player, be 194cm and be able to take a contested mark due to being able to hold his ground, than to be able to jump gracefully when he gets a run at it.
Think Harry Jones, or 2MP.
Cool, me and Galileo, happy to keep that comapany.
I think heās a mistake of position firstly. With Lav terrible and Reid & Ridleyās bodies made of paper I think we need him. I expect to play Draper, Langford, Caddy up forward so donāt see a position for Edwards (or Jones).
I think Baldwin is capable of being a player who regularly finishes in his clubās top 10 in the B&F, maybe more.
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I should point out my issue isnāt Edwards over Baldwin. It is Menzie over Baldwin.
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We do have a VFL team, so he could stay if he really wanted to.
Itās also February, the VFL list would be pretty well populated by now, and there wouldnāt be much left of the VFL salary cap. Iād like to see us VFL list him, but I donāt know if itās possible this late in the process.
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Donāt come to me with problems, only solutions!