Game Day 2024 Trade Period - Lian Yu - that liminal space between trade and draft.

[Dockeroo]

Ras needs another position on the ground in addition to inside mid.

Cannot stress how much this is holding him back.
Modern coaches are always talking about the value of multi positional players.

 

[CapitalA]

His skills have not improved a tonne.

He was beyond horrendous at AFL level in this year.

Some people need to understand that slow inside midst with poor skills quite often dominate the lower leagues but struggle to crack it at AFL.

I really hope Erasmus makes it. But the idea that he is some key to us improving is just being silly imo. He's sooooo far behind Johnson, and Johnson isn't even a key to us improving.

We have 3 key forwards who are all under 22.
We have rising star Draper.
Potential of Bolton coming in, a top 5 small forward in our biggest position of need.
Like the list goes on of things that will be massive to our improvement.

Erasmus reaching Toranto or even Hopper level is unlikely. And those two would hardly be a key to us improving.

I can tell you don't watch the wafl.

 

[freo1997]

There’s always some big trade news broken Grand Final morning. Hopefully not any about “want away” Docker players.

 

[DragoDelph]

There’s always some big trade news broken Grand Final morning. Hopefully not any about “want away” Docker players.

Last time we sent a player to the GF sprint, they requested a trade to the premiers...

 

[Wee Jessies]

Thought I'd get some early trade radio content going.

Trade:
10 - Norths F1st
9, our F1st, (+points this year or next) - GC 6,12
6 - Bolton
12, 16 - Pickett
Have Norths F1st for Warner next year

Gold Coast can trade 9 for Rioli and Don't waste 12 on some ridiculous Collingwood Noble trade

Put the cheque in the mail wallsy

I think you would need to attach 27 and our F2 to the Bolton and GC trades but otherwise looks good.

Net result is we completely trade out of this years draft and in theory upgrade our F1 but add two very significant pieces. That’s if the Kozzie trade happens.

 

[Joao]

Last time we sent a player to the GF sprint, they requested a trade to the premiers...

He's contracted, straight swap for Chad.

 

[arsesmart]

Ras needs another position on the ground in addition to inside mid.

Cannot stress how much this is holding him back.
Modern coaches are always talking about the value of multi positional players.

He was drafted as a mid-fwd. I'm not sure if he's getting the optimal chance to develop as that. But really, it'd be gold for us to have someone ready to go in that category.

The thing is it's a fair understatement to say it's just not that easy to be an AFL-level mid-fwd. It took even someone at Dusty's talent level years to make it as that. So a long development path isn't a failure.

 

[freo1997]

Last time we sent a player to the GF sprint, they requested a trade to the premiers...

Reckon he’s a good chance to win today if he takes it seriously.

 

[Superkoops]

But also that from Ralph makes no sense. We won’t give 9,10 for Bolton because we want to save 10 for Baker? So Richmond will get 9,10,16 for them both. But we can use 9,10 for Bolton and then give 16 for Baker and it’s the exact same return lol tf

I’m still convinced that
Bolton alone is 9+16
Bolton with Baker is 9+10

There will be swaps of later picks in the 2nd/3rd round to appease both parties.

At least the media have seen the sensibility to stop this crap about 9+10 for Bolton.

The longer this Baker saga goes the more likely I feel it is he goes to WC. Clear he is waiting on the coach and wants to chat with the new coach before confirming.

 

[blue shark]

Let’s face it if Ras is being slotted into Fyfes role then the bar is pretty low as far as kicking goes. And as much as I hate saying it Fyfe is no threat aerially anymore either.

It’s the vision & decision making he needs. Plus a strong body. We know he can find the ball.

All the talk about fast midfields what like Ports?
You need one mid with express pace, its more important you have
a great offensive winger.
Our first 3 mids are elite with Young, Serong and Brayshaw.
I’d be disappointed if Bolton doesn’t play some midfield minutes.
Team should look completely different if they move on Fyfe, JOM and Aish.
Banfield definitely didn’t finish the year well and is another depth player.
Jlo not playing a genuine ruck is almost sackable, and is another reason why the
mids look slow or don’t get first use.
The use of Jackson was wasted, it’s not a talent issue, and I reckon the preseason
will tell us where we are as a club.
Sure Bolton is the cream on top, let’s see if the coaches can build a strong
foundation.
Jlo relied on experience and couldn’t cover injury losses. Great coaches find
a way and show faith in players to do a role.

 

[Superkoops]

Ras's pressure skills are diabolical. The fact he's been hitting some targets recently, particularly short, is a sign his confidence is definitely up (more confident = feel less pressure). His actual mechanics are pretty good so with confidence and experience his skills should be okay mostly at the next level up. He'll still shank a few though and have some tearing their hair out.

Skills under pressure might have been a better way to word it. I agree with you though. I also think at WAFL level this has improved. I thought on the whole he went ok in that most recent game against Essendon. Still for the life of me can’t understand why he was subbed off instead of Emmett or Freddy who have literally nothing.

I think his speed of decision making needs to improve. It isn’t too bad at WAFL level but still holds the ball too long when marking at half back for example. I think the only way this improve is game time at AFL level. Most of his career to date has been used as a sub. Thrown in at the end of the game when it is hot trying hard not to make mistakes.

Our midfield didn’t suffer many injuries this year. Therefore Erasmus didn’t he too many opportunities. You could argue that Fyfe should have been managed more as he struggled at the end. Johnson seemed to have some injury issues towards the end as well.

 

[Alfonz]

I’m still convinced that
Bolton alone is 9+16
Bolton with Baker is 9+10

There will be swaps of later picks in the 2nd/3rd round to appease both parties.

At least the media have seen the sensibility to stop this crap about 9+10 for Bolton.

The longer this Baker saga goes the more likely I feel it is he goes to WC. Clear he is waiting on the coach and wants to chat with the new coach before confirming.

9+10 for Bolton is not crap. He's easily worth 9 (that's unders actually), and then buying 1.5-2 million in salary cap space spread over four years is worth pick 10.

 

[Ge3ks]

No, I meant it was inexcusable to miss this year.

But you named Bolton. He didn't play for us this year.

 

[Cobbler]

But you named Bolton. He didn't play for us this year.

I said he will add to our mix.

The mix is/was already very good.

I listed all of the players. There was one line about Bolton which is future looking. The whole rest of the post is about what we already have and that it was inexcusable to miss this year.

 

[Cobbler]

It WAS inexcusable to miss finals this year.

Just clearing up.

Thought it was obvious I was talking about this year because I wrote ‘this year’.

 

[Wee Jessies]

9+10 for Bolton is not crap. He's easily worth 9 (that's unders actually), and then buying 1.5-2 million in salary cap space spread over four years is worth pick 10.

If the $1.2M is correct as an annual salary then that shouldn't be our problem though. Bolton should be $800-$900K per year, which in theory we should be able to manage. Therefore there shouldn't be a large value applied to Richmond bringing the salary back to something sensible and still clearing a large net salary off their books while getting two firsts in the process (9 and 16).

 

[Bender571]

Wow this is crazy to me. When Erasmus played I genuinely felt sorry for him he was so bad.

I was so passionate about dropping Fyfe for Erasmus. Than Erasmus played and I was horrified for the kid. Certainly wasn't ready.

He's an inside bull who needs time to get used to the speed of AFL footy. Unfortunately he's far from good enough to crack our inside mid brigade ATM, and we are now hitting a window where we can't gift game time.

He's also in an unfortunate position where he has proven to be an absolute liability as sub.

The comment you replied to said AFL late in the season, which can only mean the Essendon game. His disposal in that game was good. He only had one bad kick, the rest of his disposals were ok to very good, including some very nice kicks that lead to shots on goal.

 

[CaseySibosadoHOF]

If the $1.2M is correct as an annual salary then that shouldn't be our problem though. Bolton should be $800-$900K per year, which in theory we should be able to manage. Therefore there shouldn't be a large value applied to Richmond bringing the salary back to something sensible and still clearing a large net salary off their books while getting two firsts in the process (9 and 16).

The problem is this is more measured by what the teams can afford salary wise than whether that salary is a true reflection of the player. Richmond can very easily absorb Shai's contract if he did stay, Shai isn't taking a pay cut, and Freo probably won't want to take on the entire contract. So Richmond can demand more picks for more contract absorption.

The Jack Macrae situation is another example of this. Macrae is overpaid for his current output, no questions asked. But Bulldogs apparently are in a position where they aren't desperate to get him off the books, St Kilda want what he offers and you'd think can take on the contract. Macrae might be desperate enough to leave for the contract to be slightly rejigged, but it won't be crazy. So even though we've seen past cases where overpaid players leave and contract shenanigans go on, that won't really happen here because the selling team isn't in a desperate situation. St Kilda won't really be "rewarded" for taking on Macrae's contract.

In these cases, team situation is way more important than objective valuation.

 

[Dockeroo]

The comment you replied to said AFL late in the season, which can only mean the Essendon game. His disposal in that game was good. He only had one bad kick, the rest of his disposals were ok to very good, including some very nice kicks that lead to shots on goal.

The clanger where he ran too far in the Essendon game was probably THE single moment our entire season turned. Incredibly fine margins but it just showed brain fades like that are so incredibly costly at this level.

I thought he actually had a decent game that day but those kind of big moments… unfortunately for a developing fringe player those kind of things are so heavily scrutinised.

It was symptomatic of his biggest weakness in my opinion - paralysis in making a quick and decisive decision when in possession. He has lot of tools besides

 

[Ge3ks]

It WAS inexcusable to miss finals this year.

Just clearing up.

Thought it was obvious I was talking about this year because I wrote ‘this year’.

Disagree. This year was such a unusually tight race for the top 8. And we, unluckily, had late season injuries to our spine that our current list could not adequately cover. Pearce, Darcy and Treacy. I think that is a legit excuse. You need lots of things to go right to make finals, and luck is one of them.

We still need to improve our list and hopefully this trade period and draft does just that.

 

[Cobbler]

Disagree. This year was such a unusually tight race for the top 8. And we, unluckily, had late season injuries to our spine that our current list could not adequately cover. Pearce, Darcy and Treacy. I think that is a legit excuse. You need lots of things to go right to make finals, and luck is one of them.

What about our other losses? Eagles loss? Bombers loss?

One of Carlton, Port or Hawks?

The last 3 matches I understand, but we also had chances in those 3 games.

Inexcusable to miss finals. Reality is we could’ve been top 2.

We’re still a supporter group that provides excuses and believe me, we can find an excuse for literally every loss.

Swans - McCarthy death
Dogs - off the bye

We have the group to go deep. We failed miserably.

 

[blue shark]

Disagree. This year was such an unusually tight race for the top 8. And we, unluckily, had late season injuries to our spine that our current list could not adequately cover. Pearce, Darcy and Treacy. I think that is a legit excuse. You need lots of things to go right to make finals, and luck is one of them.

Brisbane had season injuries and still ended the season with form.
Jlo got what he sowed, went with experience every time and didn’t build
depth.
Could have rested or rotated players, Reidy when finally played showed something.
Jackson went backwards. Midfield was severely compromised.
If he doesn’t learn from this he is Gone.
Even the loss of Treacy he could of played Jackson at FB and played Draper
forward.
We have one of the best spines in the AFL, but you’d never know.

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Jackson at FB and played Draper
forward.

 

[Dockeroo]

Disagree. This year was such an unusually tight race for the top 8. And we, unluckily, had late season injuries to our spine that our current list could not adequately cover. Pearce, Darcy and Treacy. I think that is a legit excuse. You need lots of things to go right to make finals, and luck is one of them.

I can accept Pearce and Treacy being cited as huge losses for us late this year.

But Darcy - he was barely there all year. I’d say we saw two games maybe, out of 23 where he was something resembling peak Sean Darcy. Many games he was just plodding or half fit at best.
We had ample opportunity all season to set ourselves up and readjust without him. We didn’t. Reidy played what - 2 games?

Brisbane are plugging in Darcy Fort this avo for the biggest game of the year instead of Big O - who was miles ahead of 2024 Sean Darcy. A huge loss on paper for the lions.
Sydney are without their captain and multiple AA pick 2 in the prime of his career in Callum mills. It would be like us having to drop Brayshaw the week of the grand final due to injury.

One of them will be premiers this evening in spite of this.
If Fremantle are citing Sean Darcy in 2024 as a key reason we didn’t play finals then Brisbane could point to Kiddie Coleman and Lincoln McCarthys unavailability as a nice convenient excuse for them too.
Haven’t even mentioned the guys on both sides getting injected each week to play though pain.

The same rate of injuries will happen freo next year and the year after that too. Same as every other club.
You need a good enough team, list and coach to get though that. It just cant be avoided or used as an excuse every year. I felt on balance we had a better than average run with injuries in 2024 to be honest.

 

[blue shark]

I can accept Pearce and Treacy being cited as huge losses for us late this year.

But Darcy - he was barely there all year. I’d say we saw two games maybe, out of 23 where he was something resembling peak Sean Darcy. Many games he was just plodding or half fit at best.
We had ample opportunity all season to set ourselves up and readjust without him. We didn’t. Reidy played what - 2 games?

Brisbane are plugging in Darcy Fort this avo for the biggest game of the year instead of Big O - who was miles ahead of 2024 Sean Darcy. A huge loss on paper for the lions.
Sydney are without their captain and multiple AA pick 2 in the prime of his career in Callum mills. It would be like us having to drop Brayshaw the week of the grand final due to injury.

One of them will be premiers this evening in spite of this.
If Fremantle are citing Sean Darcy in 2024 as a key reason we didn’t play finals then Brisbane could point to Kiddie Coleman and Lincoln McCarthys unavailability as a nice convenient excuse for them too.
Haven’t even mentioned the guys on both sides getting injected each week to play though pain.

The same rate of injuries will happen freo next year and the year after that too. Same as every other club.
You need a good enough team, list and coach to get though that. It just cant be avoided or used as an excuse every year. I felt on balance we had a better than average run with injuries in 2024 to be honest.

Yet we brought back Tabs, then delisted him as soon as the season ended.