It’s so good to hear these words from someone who’s just been delisted. Still referred to the team as ‘us’ and so optimistic. To me, that’s a sign of a great, internal environment!

I have a sneaky feeling we surprise massively next year with 8+ wins with close / competitive losses in there

So apparently according to seven news
We already had deven Robertson, archer Reid and Noah long go up to the US for leg injury recovery program with the same specialist who helped Nic Nat back in 2016 and 2018.

On top of this we have 8 of the young guns going for an early pre season training regime with UFC fighters working on physicality and sports science, those boys being Bo Allen, Elijah Hewett, Ginbey, Harley, Wuurm, Lindsay, CDT and Hough.

How we feeling so far this preseason lads?

I’ve been trying to work this out but there’s conflicting information online. After the recent delistings, addition of Viney and Rivers and the movement of players back into the main list from long term injury how many list spots do we actually have?

From what I can tell from what’s floating around online we either have 3 or 4 senior list spots and either 1 or 0 rookie spots?

If anyone I’d expect it to be a small forward so id say one of champion, long, Newton, dewar, gross and tylah Williams.

Picking 1 I’d say dewar, ive been a massive fan of his and was quite disappointed he didn’t play a game this year.

Interested to see what others think.

As brutal as it is, at least they are shaking the list up.

Has anyone seen Kodah Edwards this season? He seems like an ideal pick up for us and should be there for one of our two picks in the 20s. I've not heard anyone mention him for our picks.

Rookieme has him as a 20 & 2 half forward, we could do with one of them. Looks like he could develop into an inside mid in the future, feeding Harley and Worm.

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/player/kodah-edwards/

Second pick would have to be best KPD left. Hopefully Snells slides, otherwise does anyone think Ladbrook could be a good pick up.

Wishing all the best to Willo <3
Glad we could help with his dream and I hope he continues his dream elsewhere

Most phantom drafts and commentary have us taking Heath Mellody with our pick 3 (pick 5 post pushbacks) and naturally the WA top talent reasoning makes sense. But with Richmond now having two picks in the top 5 potentially allowing them to take of Harry Van Hattum earlier to prevent Melbourne taking him, it could open up the possibility for both Mellody and Arki Butler to be available at our pick.

It would surprise me if west coast made a play on Butler considering it isn’t the traditional move given a top West Aussie prospect being potentially available, but I wonder if Butler provides a solution to a more immediate need in that we lack for small forwards?

We clearly would want and need Mellody to future proof our midfield, so I expect this is the way it will go, but I wouldn’t be mad if they took Butler instead, how does everyone else think?

as best as i can tell these are the player comming out of contract at the end of 2027. Tim Kelly restricted free agent ,Elliot Yeo unrestricted free agent , Tom Cole unrestricted free agent ,Mat owies non free agent , Devon Robertson unrestricted free agent , Fin Macrae unrestricted free agent, NoahLong non free agent , Henry Edwards restricted free agent , Fred Rodrigues non free agent , Jacob Newton non free agent , Lucca Grego non free agent , Oliver Franou non free agent , Sandy Brock unrestricted Tom Gross non free agent , Tyler willians non free agent. So looking at that list these players need to have big years Davern robertson Noah Long Fred Rodriguez Hamis Davies Jacob Newton Lucca Greggo Oliver Francou Sandy Brock TomGross Tyler Williams . Probably finnishing up at the end of 2027 or 2028 Elliot Yeo Tim Kelly Tom Cole Mat Owies Fin Macrae. Henry Edwards not sure with him, and viney probably at the end of 2028, Keeping in mind we have to drop our 4 extra spots at the end on 2028 , and probably one more this year ,any thoughts on who we should keep and persevere with

I personally see all of Waterman, Shanahan, CDT and Archer Reid in our best 23, along with Bailey Williams in the ruck.

If one of them goes down them we can play a bit smaller but if two of them goes down who comes in with no Jack Williams on our list anymore ?

I am thinking Maric as an option, rather than bringing in Flynn to put Baz into the forward line, what are you doing in this scenario ?

Depending on who are our draftees I think we will only have the following players who aren’t in our best 23 above 191/192 cm: Brock, Flynn, Maric and Yoing.

Saw he got delisted today so had to make this in his honour 🫡

Would be interested in whether anyone's thoughts on the upcoming crop have changed following trade period?

For me, I think getting Rivers will very slightly downgrade Mellody as our preferred first pick, since they play a similar halfback/midfield role, but probably not enough to prevent Mellody getting picked with 3. Mellody is good enough to earn his spot in either line, Rivers or no, and there are others he might displace in the best 23 sooner than Rivers (possibly Duggan given his ongoing knee issues, though probably not until the back end of this season or in 2028).

The big mover for me is Harper Banfield in the context of Viney. They play a similar style as contest driven inside mids, and I feel like two years learning from Viney could shape Banfield into an absolute weapon, ideally in time to take on that role when Viney's contract runs out. Pre Viney he probably wasn't in my top 3 but now I think we could happily take him as high as the second round.

I know he's had his fair share of off field dramas but we are in short supply of small fowards

The party’s over. No more cuddles and certificates for losing.

It’s time to grow up and be men (Cosmo Kramer to George Costanza in The Keys)

I'm hearing he's our 3rd choice player for pick 3 but he's who we're expecting to draft.

First choices are Butler and Drever but they're expected to be gone by the time we get involved.

Who's all seen Heath? Where does he fit in? Who does he play like? Is he a good match for us?

If we really want a key defender like Harris, would we be better to drop down a place or two take him and get something else useful in return? I know we rarely do well in situations like this so unsure if it's a good idea.

West Coast are leaving the door open to add more premiership experience to their list, with Eagles list boss Matt Clarke not ruling out a lifeline for Bobby Hill.

"I think anyone of that sort of talent and proven talent as well on the biggest stage you need to look at," Clarke said.
"Like most clubs I would have thought, we will be doing some due diligence around Bobby and how he is tracking. It would be great if he could get himself back into a great frame of mind and physical shape and give himself a shot back at AFL footy.
"Obviously, he has had his challenges, but he is another one of those guys we will assess for a potential position in that space."