Meyer and Casserly gone (Is that it?)

[Tigers of Old]

Not soo sure ToO.

They take Cousins late. I think it is a good punt for them. The risk/reward is huge on Cousins but I can see why the Saints would take the punt.

They trimmed a lot of older dead wood. I think it is a smart move, get some more quality mids in and the list looks so much better long term. Allen and McEvoy as talls, the saints will go for midfielders and ruckman through the early draft. Long term good move.

I think picking up Cousins and Ray suggests that they still think that their premiership window is open when the reality is it's well shut.
Cutting players is the right move(they had little choice) but picking up more offcuts & patchups is sending mixed messages.

davidrodan makes some good points.
Their ruck and key defensive stocks are particularly poor and they have to bite the bullet and rebuild now before the likes of Riewoldt(their only key forward) get too much older.
That mean taking their medicine & taking kids, kids & more kids.

PS: Fiora still appears to be on their list so that says plenty about their (lack of)depth of quality players.

I think that they were the big over achievers in '08 & can see it going more pear shaped in '09.

 

[craig]

No word on Pettifer - however I can shed some light on Jake King's recent re-signing

Had dinner with a close friend of Jakes on Friday. Confirmed that Jake had signed a two year contract for 2009 & 2010. Interestingly he made a point of how genuinly dedicated to his footy Jake is... He has barely had a drink since the end of the season proper and is currently training incredibly hard away from the club prior to resumming pre-season over the coming weeks.

I found this quiet heartening as Jake isn't always backed strongly here on PRE for his skills and execution on field...

On thing I would say is that you can't fault his endeavour. If only Cleve & Co. could follow his lead...

Dont think too many on here have questioned Jakes, attitude, heart or competitiveness, in fact many including myself have highlighted his efforts and energy in this area.

However Jake does have deficiencies which at his age are hard to rectify and last season he was exposed as a bit one dimensional and then targeted by opposition sides as a weakness to exploit in attack.

Pettifer on the other hand is a, selfish, lazy, grandstanding, pea hearted sook that lacks serious endeavour unless it gets him clear for an easy kick out wide or at the back of a pack. His disgraceful lack of intencity , attitude,and output at COburg should have been enough for this space waster to get flicked alone, and i'd give King a list spot ahead of him any day of the week as Kingy is team oriented.

That said id have them both gone this year as for differing reasons they both are not the type to take the RFC to a flag imo., but they are most certainly not alone. Theres plenty of others also that arent keepers in my book for various reasons be it, they are duds, lack skill, lack footy smarts, dont fit structure or are simply not good enough and the club can do much better and imo needs to do much better.

Tigers list really needs a fair dinkum clean up and still its not getting it.

Pettifer shouldve been the first to go.

Tivvers showed great attitude back at Coburg and took his fate like a man and still stepped out and put in. Same certainly cant be said for Kameo.

 

[Disco08]

Their ruck and key defensive stocks are particularly poor

I'm not so sure about that. Fisher is one of the best defenders in the game. Maguire is also very good and can play on the bigger types. Gilbert played well this year and will only get better as well. Goddard, while he doesn't usually play on the bigger blokes can do at 191 if the need arises. Depth comes from Allen (20) and Dempster (24). So while they might need to draft and/or rookie a KP defender prospect this year they look in decent shape there to me.

Ruck they're also going OK. Much better than Richmond but that's saying nothing at all. King and Gardiner can hold the fort until they get a look at the promising McEvoy or Van Rheenen. Rix gives depth and Koschitzke can give them all a spell from time to time.

The area they're suspect is ball winners. Much like Richmond they rely too heavily on too few to do the job. Hayes and Ball are excellent at getting it but when they're held the tank empties out very quickly.

 

[Dyer Disciple]

I'm not so sure about that. Fisher is one of the best defenders in the game. Maguire is also very good and can play on the bigger types. Gilbert played well this year and will only get better as well. Goddard, while he doesn't usually play on the bigger blokes can do at 191 if the need arises. Depth comes from Allen (20) and Dempster (24). So while they might need to draft and/or rookie a KP defender prospect this year they look in decent shape there to me.

Ruck they're also going OK. Much better than Richmond but that's saying nothing at all. King and Gardiner can hold the fort until they get a look at the promising McEvoy or Van Rheenen. Rix gives depth and Koschitzke can give them all a spell from time to time.

The area they're suspect is ball winners. Much like Richmond they rely too heavily on too few to do the job. Hayes and Ball are excellent at getting it but when they're held the tank empties out very quickly.

Tend to agree with you Disco.

I believe Rix and Van Rheenen were delisted today not sure, caught the tail end of a radio report.

I think we have seen the best of Maguire though and I'm not sure he can get back to it.

(Just edited as confirmed Rix and Van Rheenen def gone)

 

[Col.E.Kurtz]

Dont think too many on here have questioned Jakes, attitude, heart or competitiveness, in fact many including myself have highlighted his efforts and energy in this area.

However Jake does have deficiencies which at his age are hard to rectify and last season he was exposed as a bit one dimensional and then targeted by opposition sides as a weakness to exploit in attack.

Pettifer on the other hand is a, selfish, lazy, grandstanding, pea hearted sook that lacks serious endeavour unless it gets him clear for an easy kick out wide or at the back of a pack. His disgraceful lack of intencity , attitude,and output at COburg should have been enough for this space waster to get flicked alone, and i'd give King a list spot ahead of him any day of the week as Kingy is team oriented.

That said id have them both gone this year as for differing reasons they both are not the type to take the RFC to a flag imo., but they are most certainly not alone. Theres plenty of others also that arent keepers in my book for various reasons be it, they are duds, lack skill, lack footy smarts, dont fit structure or are simply not good enough and the club can do much better and imo needs to do much better.

Tigers list really needs a fair dinkum clean up and still its not getting it.

Pettifer shouldve been the first to go.

Tivvers showed great attitude back at Coburg and took his fate like a man and still stepped out and put in. Same certainly cant be said for Kameo.

Something strange must be happening when I find myself agreeing with you Craig, but I agree with a lot of that.

Despite his limitation being painfully exposed at times this year I’d give King another chance because a) he a very hard worker and b) despite his advanced age he is still relatively inexperienced at a senior level, his work ethic may give him a chance to re-invent himself as a player and overcome some of his deficiencies c) we are extremely light on his that kind of player. I’d be force-feeding him on video work all summer to improve his defensive work, give him another chance against a Milne type and if he gets pants again pension him off.

Relative to Petts, who was looking comprehensively replaced by Morton even before he did his knee I know who I’d rather on the list.

I’m not convinced we’re not still going to de-list Petts though.

 

[craig]

Something strange must be happening when I find myself agreeing with you Craig, but I agree with a lot of that.

Nothing wrong with agreeing with me dear Colonel ;D

 

[frickenel]

They offered Tim Clarke and some other hacks (I don't rate Osborne). If you still want Tim Clarke the Hawks delisted him today.

We went within a bee's d!ck of making a trade for Travis Tuck with Meyer. I know that for a fact. It just fell through at the last moment for whatever reason. The actual reason, i don't know for a fact, but it was Travis Tuck we wanted and apparently it was a near thing!

 

[frickenel]

Quote on Thompson in the AFL PROSPECTUS, just to answer a few question raised earlier in this thread....

"despite an averzage of just 71 minutes game time he averaged 5 clearances per game, giving him the best rate of any player in 2007 at winning clearances given how much time he spent on the field."

I won't mention what was then said on his kicking, other than to say i hope he works on it during the pre-season!

 

[craig]

I won't mention what was then said on his kicking, other than to say i hope he works on it during the pre-season!

:theyareontome

 

[Col.E.Kurtz]

Nothing wrong with agreeing with me dear Colonel ;D

But you never know where it could lead