You know who is the most boring player on the planet, Lewis Hayes. I think he’s ok, but I’ve seen a lot of him even at under 18’s level, he’s so vanilla. All he does is punch and either kick long to a pack or do nothing chips sideways. I would have thought after a few years on the list now he’d start trying to intercept mark or take some risks occasionally.
I would like to see us try Edwards but we can’t ignore that he didn’t really create his opportunities, he was gifted them because a undermanned Footscray side didn’t think he was worth holding accountable. In that sense there’s just as much risk that he looks like Menzie does now in a year or two.
Get the 24 year old Swan Districts product in.
Can seriously play, seen him at local level
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In what world is how much depth in a position and physicial attributes not a valid reason to evaluate a player?
Both are very important in deciding wether or not we sign him. As are many other factors.
Saying he automatically gets a contract because he had one good half is just short sighted. Lets be honest here, Gardner had a couple howler moments in defence for the dogs.
Im sure the club will factor in many factors, including how he is training, his footy iq, his physical attributes, our forward line balance, our forward line depth, potential of growth, his defensive pressure, ability, speed…all valid factors.
Personally i would skip signing an SPP and pluck out the best performing small forward in the mid season draft.
We can do both given we will have a lti by the MSD.
Just on that in terms of positional needs, what area do we actually need bolstering in right now?
I can’t really think of one that stands out.
I mean if anything I’d say small forwards still cos I think most of them are sh¡t and two that we have are already injured but yeah aside from that I’m not sure that I can think of a glaring need. If Kako got injured now it looks grim.
The odds of getting a key forward via SSP who would be any good are so remote IMO that it’s not really worth looking at. The WA kid Jaiden Hunter looked half alright for a millisecond but that was about all she wrote.
So that being said, I’d be more than happy to just take this Edwards fella on talent and see what we’ve got.
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Wouldn’t that be more of a reason to sign edwards as we have next to no medium forward depth we have Langford then that’s about it where the backline we have Hayes cox Laverde that could all fill that role
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Only one of those is a medium defender though and you can make the argument that Wright, Jones, Cox etc could step up in lieu of Langford with the same logic.
Either way depth for our mediums is pretty poor so I’d be inclined to find a way to list both SSP trialists tbh.
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There’s just no way though that could be done unless parish’s back injury is worse than first thought but I doubt they list him lti, maybe cox with the concussion issues
I’m not saying they aren’t valid reasons to evaluate a player, I’m saying that by inviting him to training for our one remaining spot our recruitment team have already evaluated and approved both concerns
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Just sign him, we have a spot and we won’t really know how good he is until he is playing serious footy. No risk, if he is a spud he will be gone at years end.
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Despite being older Edwards has high upside too coz he hasn’t been a full time footballer and looks to have barely spent a day in the gym (much like Durham, hind and Martin when recruited).
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im actually warming to edwards but ive been a baldwin fan since his AFL game against richmond he showed a lot. edwards could be a genuine matchwinner and i think clever forwards are hard to find. hes definitely thrown a spanner into the works the list management team have a tough decision. its not a no brainer at all.
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It’s a no brainer you take the potential match winner over the average defender everyday of the week.
I get that people have an attachment to Baldwin because he is a great guy and at times shown glimpses but he presents a higher than normal risk.
If Baldwin gets through a half a season at vfl level without injury and playing ok footy then you consider taking him in the mid season draft.
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Where does Baldwin sit in (ok, lots needs to go right around injury) the pecking order with Hayes and Lav? I’d say he sits third, so he would only be considered as a last resort at AFL level.
Where would Edwards sit in that equivalent forward mix?
I think that’s how it needs to be approached.
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I geuss it also depends if they persist with cox as a backman that probably drops him another rung down the ladder
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He’s not a kid, but that’s the only part I disagree with. Good age for us going forward, has smarts, at the very least makes everyone else earn it and does wonders for our vfl team. Kaine will break down again, sadly.
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Guelfi will be a while, Cox is an unknown, Parish is a chance as you said. Can always retire Goldstein and have him as a playing coach in the VFL. We don’t need 5 ruckmen on the list.
Plenty of ways to massage it if they wanted to.
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He’s entering his 3rd season now, so still very early days for a key tall
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Hayes sounds like a defender. I think you need a couple of those. Manning up, spoiling, falling back etc. Lever and May would be nice but Rids and McKay should be alright if they click
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