Whoops - McGovern was who I meant.
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I think weâll bank on one of tbc or Leuey being healthy every round, and then if not itâs a choice between Draper or Stewart lead ruck.
Considering the promise Draper showed off limited background and no pre-season, it wouldnât be surprising if theyâre backing him to be ahead of McKernanâs current level after a full pre-season. Hence no point keeping McKernan even for depth.
TBC, Leuney, Draper, Joe D, Lavender, then Stewart/Hooker if we really have to.
I think thatâs a pretty deep group.
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I agree. He is not tall enough for the role he is good at and not good enough at the role he is built for.
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So we need to delist/trade 2 more seniors out for the compulsory 3 draftees.
If we were to look position wise we have lose
Hocking - Mid
Watson - Mid
Kelly - HBFâer
Stanton - Mid
What position should we look to maybe trade/delist?
We have already delisted 4 players Watson, Kelly, Stanton and Bhudda. If we trade in 3 SSS then we have more than met the quota for mandatory list changes.
Having said that Bird must go and I suspect a combination of Jerrett, Howlett, Smack and Morgan will be looked at but we need to examine whether we can improve the list by dropping them and eplacing them with very late draft picks.
Players traded in donât count. You need to draft or promote 3 players.
But not at all useful if we want to win games next year.
Draper and Lavender are not ready to play AFL - Lavender hasnât even played VFL. We havenât seen Hooker in the ruck before, suspect it would be flat out embarrassing, almost at NatRat in a final level.
Stewart may be possible for short moments when the ruck is resting but hasnât really done that at all this year, so would hate to rely on him for long stints. Will get killed for centre clearances.
If we have injuries to both TBC and Luey, then weâll be forced to run with Joe full time in the ruck for a few games in a row. If we have LTIs to TBC and Luey (quite likely with them being a couple of the least durable rucks going round) we could be stuck for half a season with Joe full time ruck and missing from the forward line?
Not trying to put Smack on some kind of a pedestal and claim he would be brilliant, but at least he would be a decent chop out and would allow us to keep our forward structure intact. If he goes, we need to trade in a moderately suitable backup.
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Noticed EFC posted a photo of Howlett in the gym. Does this mean heâs not getting delisted?
How on earth can he be expected to get a game next year? Particularly if we get both Stringer and Smith. Even if we didnât, there is no need for him to be on the list.
I believe its 5, you forgot Eades, so we will need to delist at least one more player and bring in 3 through the draft.
Eades is a rookie. If we bring in SSS we need to delist two more senior list players.
An alternative course of action would be to delist SMack and then draft someone else.
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If we donât trade anyone out the two uncontracted senior list players who Stringer and Smith would replace would be:
Howlett and Jerrett.
I think Bird survives because we still havenât replaced Jobe in the established inside beast role and Bird is the closest we have. Hopefully by next year, Parish and Langford will be established extractors with this years crop of Pidge, Begley, Mutch and Clarke still developing as inside players.
Bags and Green are still in the mix for best 22, with Smack still important ruck and tall forward depth.
I think Morgan deserves another season to show what heâs got, now that he apparently has more confidence in his body and has shown some brief recent signs of progress.
As a current rookie, de-listing Long wouldnât free up a senior slot, but retaining him would mop one up if he canât be re-rookied after 3 years and he would need to be better than what is on offer around pick 50 ish.
Draper is definitely a keeper as a rookie, and McNiece is still a free hit as a second year category B rookie if his body is up to the game after suffering whiplash last year.
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And when we have used Smack as that backup ruck, heâs been walloped as often as not. I would rather see what Draper can do, I think he will be well past Smack after another pre-season. If we did have 2 LTIs to the main rucks, Iâd be upgrading him and shoving him in.
And Iâve been a big fan of the long necked one
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Wooshaâs comments on Joe D playing more forward time, and how how Richmond used Grigg in the ruck, lead me to believe that Smack is the one to go.
No qualms at all about throwing Draper in as main tap ruck if required - heâs already better than Smack at that role. What smack may offer as an emergency resting forward is superseded by the flexibility our forward structure gains from the 3 SSSâs - we should be able to run several variations on small mid-sized forward combos if injury requires it.
A bit sad to lose another character from the mix - you never knew just what and when Smack would McNernan but very hard to justify keeping him on.
Too much arrogance being currently expressed on Blitz re Stringer being âacross the lineâ. Make no such assumptions at this stage, in which case, getting Smith would be a FAIL Trade Period.
lol
There is always one who can see a trade as a fail.
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karmas been frothing about smith for a months
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Still is!