2018 pre season

[Dalions]

As bad as it would be for the Suns to lose him, I wouldn't think any lesser of Lynch if he left the suns. Fingers crossed the suns get their sh*t together though and he sees enough light to stay. Would be great if we both climbed up the ladder at the same time.

Couldn't think of anything better for the Academies in Qld than if both Qld teams were strong. And just general participation in the Sport up here.

 

[pulpdriver]

I don’t think we’ll need to tank to finish in the bottom 3. We still don’t have great depth especially through the middle.

I feel this is around where we'll end up but a good run with injuries and some speedy growth in our second year players and third year midfielders, which has been happening more and more frequently across the league, I think we could go easily go two or three spots higher. I'd disagree with that article that us winning more games could be a long term loss though. Our list is in a really good stage from a development perspective. Two or three draft positions really means **** all in the grand scheme for us, especially with a strong and deep draft looming.

 

[POBT]

I also think it is way too early to be making assertions about how strong the top end of the draft will be. There’s an entire season of footy to be played, ffs.

 

[luthor]

I also think it is way too early to be making assertions about how strong the top end of the draft will be. There’s an entire season of footy to be played, ffs.

Granted, talk is cheap .....but there is a consistency of opinion that this year's draft is a very strong and deep one.

 

[Saucery]

Lynch will be leaving the extra $1million outside of the salary cap that the AFL will throw at him as an "ambassador" to the game. So he stays but is contracted to the AFL directly. 2021 he is captain of the new side out of Hobart.

Really? Lynch is going over to the A League?

 

[POBT]

Granted, talk is cheap .....but there is a consistency of opinion that this year's draft is a very strong and deep one.

If it is strong and deep (which seems the consensus), then why does it really matter if we finish outside the bottom 3?

It really is a ridiculous suggestion this far out to be wondering/worrying whether we might win too many games, because of the draft impact.

 

[luthor]

If it is strong and deep (which seems the consensus), then why does it really matter if we finish outside the bottom 3?

It really is a ridiculous suggestion this far out to be wondering/worrying whether we might win too many games, because of the draft impact.

Yeah, that I agreee with that.

The day we start fretting about winning too many games is the day I give up.

As anecdotal example, I remember this huge fallout from when we beat the Dogs in the last Round in 2015 which "cost" us Pick 1.

There was all this wailing and gnashing of teeth about us "throwing away" our Saviour Josh Schache to the Blues followed by this huge collective sigh of relief when they took Weitering with Pick 1 and we ended up "getting our man" anyway with Pick 2

Oh the ironing

It really is delicious

 

[bungalow_bill]

Can imagine Dees fans in 2008 hoping they lose so they can draft the all powerful Jack Watts. Got them nowhere.

 

[Dalions]

Oh the ironing

I'm so tough, I let my Mum iron my shirts, while I'm wearing them! "George Smilovici"

 

[Tassie4ever]

I'm so tough, I let my Mum iron my shirts, while I'm wearing them! "George Smilovici"

I had a mate, now a Qantas honcho, who used to sprinkle washing powder on his shirt while wearing it in the shower.

An early water saver.

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

 

[Ironmonger]

Can imagine Dees fans in 2008 hoping they lose so they can draft the all powerful Jack Watts. Got them nowhere.

Remember the Kreuzer cup in 2007? 'Winning' that prize has not yet translated into a sustained period of success for the Blues.

The 'losing' team had to settle for future premiership captain Trent Cotchin.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Not to mention Cam Rayner. Lolllll what a spud!

 

[Lace Out]

Might pay to get on Rayner @ $15 Rising Star before he plays a game.

Witho fav but oppo will be putting the clamps on him this season

 

[Skoob]

If it is strong and deep (which seems the consensus), then why does it really matter if we finish outside the bottom 3?

It really is a ridiculous suggestion this far out to be wondering/worrying whether we might win too many games, because of the draft impact.

I reckon this is born from the age of Super Coach/Fantasy football fetishism. That's a world that revolves purely around numbers. Buying, selling, drafting, all based on a perceived value of individuals, combining to make a team score. It ignores the real life values of winning games, and the impact that has on culture, memberships and a desire of players to stay. It may work on paper or in a spreadsheet, but not real life.

 

[a mayes ing]

Might pay to get on Rayner @ $15 Rising Star before he plays a game.

Witho fav but oppo will be putting the clamps on him this season

Can't see him playing enough games to get the award. Doubt his endurance will let him play more than 15/16

 

[Hollow Knight]

Not sure his endurance will affect the number of games he plays unless he simply cant run out an AFL game yet. Number of games would be more about about form, resilience and the ability to front up every week.

Endurance (which we are probably making too much out of) will be more apparent in how much time on ground he gets.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if he plays 18-20 games. That would be more than enough time to press a rising star claim if he's good enough. He's the sort of burst player that can play attention-grabbing patches of footy. He's not the sort of player who gets noticed by playing 90 percent gametime and accumulating high disposal totals.

 

[spotthedog1]

I reckon this is born from the age of Super Coach/Fantasy football fetishism. That's a world that revolves purely around numbers. Buying, selling, drafting, all based on a perceived value of individuals, combining to make a team score. It ignores the real life values of winning games, and the impact that has on culture, memberships and a desire of players to stay. It may work on paper or in a spreadsheet, but not real life.

I tend to think the NBA would have a bigger effect. Over there tanking is just what you do if you can't make the finals... May as well improve your team for next year instead of pointless wins this year.

 

[spotthedog1]

Surprised to see so many on here favouring us over the Blues.

I can understand the Roos, the Suns, and possibly the Saints depending on how far they slip... Can't see the Blues getting worse than us. They've got all of the GWS offcuts hitting maturity. Sure, a bunch of them have busted, but a lot of them haven't. Basically, we've been rebuilding at the same time as then, but they've had about triple the opportunities for improvement.

Still predicting us to get up to about 7th in the next 3 years, then heading back down for another rebuild after Beams and Zorko retire.

 

[LongLion]

Surprised to see so many on here favouring us over the Blues.

I can understand the Roos, the Suns, and possibly the Saints depending on how far they slip... Can't see the Blues getting worse than us. They've got all of the GWS offcuts hitting maturity. Sure, a bunch of them have busted, but a lot of them haven't. Basically, we've been rebuilding at the same time as then, but they've had about triple the opportunities for improvement.

Still predicting us to get up to about 7th in the next 3 years, then heading back down for another rebuild after Beams and Zorko retire.

Carlton are our bunnies

 

[bungalow_bill]

I tend to think the NBA would have a bigger effect. Over there tanking is just what you do if you can't make the finals... May as well improve your team for next year instead of pointless wins this year.

Is it openly accepted or pretend it isn't happening?

 

[Fatcat08]

I tend to think the NBA would have a bigger effect. Over there tanking is just what you do if you can't make the finals... May as well improve your team for next year instead of pointless wins this year.

Trying to relate the two in any real way is pretty much pointless though. When you've got 5 guys playing at any one time, even a marginal drop in talent has a big impact. Less so with the number in AFL

 

[spotthedog1]

Is it openly accepted or pretend it isn't happening?

Trying to relate the two in any real way is pretty much pointless though. When you've got 5 guys playing at any one time, even a marginal drop in talent has a big impact. Less so with the number in AFL

I don't believe players tank in the NBA - sorry, should've clarified. However clubs will trade out their best players, or bench certain players. Rotations are changed to reduce the stars' playtimes. Definitely easier to do in a 5-a-side comp, and definitely easier to do with mid-season trading. Clubs on the fringes want stars, clubs not going to make it sacrifice the now to improve the later.

Of course, mid-season trades would see effectively the same thing happening here. Someone like Zorko, who's far too old for our list makeup, but genuinely a star, could be targetted by finals bound clubs to give them a push heading into the finals. In compensation, we might get a couple of valuable picks, or possibly a first year player. It'd force us to take more risks on draft picks, and bolster your big Vic clubs by giving them more opportunity to poach stars from losing clubs. Also increases the ease for the best players in the comp to congregate at the huge clubs via more opportunity to request a trade. [before anyone starts, I expect Zorko to be a one-club player. I know he's from GC, so not likely to high-tail to Vic. Just an example.]

 

[briztoon]

I wish I had time to join in more often in such discussions this season.

As most know, I've followed the draft for the past 4 seasons now. This years draft class was pretty mush spoken about from as early as this time last year, and was spoken about just as much as through out the season as last years draft crop. I haven't seen this in the previous 3 years draft discussions.

Interesting where some of the discussion is heading on the draft page. There are a lot of NGA, Northern Academy and F/S kids this year. Some teams (especially North) might be looking to trade up the draft to accumulate the points needed just to match their NGA and F/S kids.

For the Lions, the projected midfield depth in this years draft runs deep, whether it be inside or on the wing. Our first two picks should really land two quality midfielders, HBF/HFF.

 

[a mayes ing]

I wish I had time to join in more often in such discussions this season.

As most know, I've followed the draft for the past 4 seasons now. This years draft class was pretty mush spoken about from as early as this time last year, and was spoken about just as much as through out the season as last years draft crop. I haven't seen this in the previous 3 years draft discussions.

Interesting where some of the discussion is heading on the draft page. There are a lot of NGA, Northern Academy and F/S kids this year. Some teams (especially North) might be looking to trade up the draft to accumulate the points needed just to match their NGA and F/S kids.

For the Lions, the projected midfield depth in this years draft runs deep, whether it be inside or on the wing. Our first two picks should really land two quality midfielders, HBF/HFF.

What picks would we have like pick 1-5 and 19-23? Do we have any others where we traded from last season. Wish we did what GC did, get WCE 1st pick.

Don't know too much about the players in this draft yet but hoping we get Walsh, heard he might be a bit of a Lions fan.

 

[briztoon]

Lucky the draft and trade page has some one who keeps an up to date spread sheet.

Based on last years ladder.