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James Hirds favourite biochemist just got fined $63k for claiming to be able to cure COVID-19.

Charters, snake oil salesman extraordinarie
just makes sense to have him start injecting your players with an unknown substance, an unknown amount of times in an unknown place - it's win win for mine
 

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BigFrizz36

Norm Smith Medallist
Mar 20, 2017
9,140
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Players 25 years or younger that I really do not mind as far as good average prospects or better in their position:
Guelfi: As a midfielder/forward, he's essentially as good as Gibbons, even if he's more a true forward flanker rather than Gibbons' midfield chops.
Fantasia: Hasn't quite lived up to his profile, but it isn't his fault that BT likes saying his name.
Francis: Is extremely talented, but in terms of size is a tweener; not tall enough to play much more than undersized as a KPD, but plays too tall to be a general defender.
Langford: I genuinely rate Langford as both a leadup forward - which he's done to terrific effect, and is a wonderful set shot - and a midfield rotation in the absence of a quality inside midfielder.
McGrath: I wouldn't have drafted him with pick 1, and is a straight line player (which will undermine all attempts to turn him into a midfielder, IMO) but will still be captain of that club at some point.
Merrett: He'd walk into our team, and consign Murphy to retirement or seconds footy.
Parish: He's truly vanilla, but again in the absence of a true inside mid he's a good supply of clearances and contested ball to pass out onto the wings, where they've got plenty of runners.
Redman: He's flown under the radar a lot, but maybe because I was a back pocket I tend towards paying them a bit more attention than some might. He's not slow, is very good at intercepting a high ball for his height; he looks like WC's Brad Sheppard. He's also quite a nice accurate long kick of the ball.
Zerk-Thatcher: Extremely early days, and looks as raw as Cottrell does, but he's got a bit of presence and isn't afraid of contact.

There are more young players there who could have been on this list, but they're unproven as far as I'm concerned. In the very post I quoted, I stated why I didn't like Draper; because they aren't big on ballwinning, they of all sides need a dominant tap ruckman, akin to Sandilands. Draper to this point is easily distracted, doesn't possess a great leap, and doesn't play smart.

Now, there's a reason the comparison to Richmond could be apt; they - Richmond in 2016 - didn't stack up against the teams above them, either. They were mentally weak in each of the three years they made finals, and they struggled when sides brought pressure to them, so they changed their game from a time in possession game to a pressure game. It took astute coaching and a bit of innovation, but they created one of the cleverest gameplay innovations in AFL history; a means by which to exhaust an opposition through their own game.

Essendon are doing something different, and for all intents and purposes it looks as though they could be f’ed. After all, Richmond's key movers were in their prime in 2016, they weren't going to get more from Riewoldt or Cotchin and they traded Deledio; how were they going to respond without him to get them going when the game got hot, and who would make it work? We now know the answer to that; Dusty, and they built their games around him using his power as a weapon against tired players.

I hope you're right, and you're welcome to bookmark this and these posts to have a giggle at me in future. But I think there's more going on here, and they're at least 2-3 years before the good players truly start to taper off; they sort themselves out in that time, there's plenty of time to add layers or correct the coaching. They have enough there for me to be wary of their prospects.
Would have thought that ridley was their best young player. Clearly mcgrath and Merritt are good b graders who kight push to A - but the likes of Redman, guelfi, laverde etc are just genuine list cloggers.

I can't see any way that their current list goes anywhere without a completeblist overhaul. I say again that without joe tgat there potential key forwards are Townsend, Stewart and mckernan. That is literally below the bottom of the barrel.
 

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hoddo22

Club Legend
Jan 22, 2011
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C'mon guys it's time to give * a bit of a break and get around them. Really encourage them for their last match of the season so they can go into summer with a bit of a smile on their face.

(We really need them to beat Melbourne next week for us to be any chance of making the finals).

On SM-A530F using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
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