Personally I would go Hoare over Baldwin he was good in the vfl this year but happy to wait and see how this new bloke goes
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They’ll just deny they ever suggested it.
Other clubs seem to have players or senior coaches speak to the media about how their pre season is going we havent heard boo from Brad.
Yeah atm I’m tempted to keep the spot free entirely for the MSD, will wait and see how Hoare & Baldwin (& Edwards) go in the praccy games first.
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Every chance we’ll have a LTI by then so why wait?
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That’s true, I just want someone to bang the door down for that last spot.
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Absolutely but that’s a luxury. We still need to ensure we have adequate cover especially down back with all our best 23 key defenders under injury clouds.
There are interviews with Ben Jacobs and Nate Caddy on the club site from January.
Peter Wright in December and the memberfest QA panel as well.
It is Essendon. we will have at least 1 long term injury by the MSD
I don’t think Hayes is too far behind Baldwin/Hoare tbh and there’s still Laverde but yeah, some extra cover for our key defenders does make sense.
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Each year, late in the SSP period…a club gets desperate for a role player, and signs them up almost sight-unseen.
I’m thinking of St Kilda right now. Traded Battle. Dougal Howard just dislocated a shoulder…They might be looking on their spreadsheets and decide they need to grab a Baldwin/Hoare as an insurance policy.
Do Richmond need more KPD’s? Balta out for a little bit…Is Gibcus fit?
Do Bulldogs need KPF’s, if JUH is unavailable? And I think English has some injury, so maybe Sam Darcy will be rucking?
I’m just musing over the competition-wide developments…
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Whelan the Wrecker has retired.
Most clubs will by mid-season
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That’s all true, but if a player has all of those attributes its unlikely they’re still playing state leagues at 25.
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Is this just a general concern, or have they injured themselves again in the last few weeks?
Ignoring his first year, when we knew he’d be unavailable at drafting, Baldwin has been available for most games in 2 of the 3 seasons he’s played. So, where does this ‘always injured’ meme come from?
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Did he miss extended time last year with Foot Issues?
Then re injure it later in the year?
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That would be the 1 year in 3 that he was pretty much unavailable.
When we drafted him, we knew he wouldn’t be available for most of 2021 (partly due to us holding him back). He did play I think some VFL at the end of 2021.
2022 and 2023 he was available most of the time. I think he missed 2-3 games due to 1-2 concussions, and I think did one hamstring.
2024 he injured his foot and was unavailable all year.
So, from the point we knew he’d been available (end of 2021) he’s had one year written off, and very few injuries otherwise.
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So over a 4 year span, injured 50% of the time and not good enough the other 50% of the time.
That’s not opinion, that’s fact.
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He was absolutely flying last preseason (marking everything in sight) and you could see how devastated Brad Scott was when Baldwin got injured. It’s no surprise we have brought him back for another chance because they do rate him.
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