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1
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Pick our team in parts - Part 3 - 6x Starting forwards- CHOOSE 6!
Last post by shawny -
Quote from: kruddler – on
OK, we've got our 6, i'll lock the votes

Williams - McKay - Hayward
Ainsworth - Kemp - Moir

when you look at that group of 6 players capable of kicking a winning score its hardly going to send shivers down the spines of the heavy weights is it.


one of the weaker forward lines in the comp sadly based on current levels. they may surprise sure but im talking about what those 6 have done in recent years is average at best.
2
Ladies Lounge / Re: AFLW Season 2026
Last post by DJC -
Skepper had a terrible season and is way off the pace now; too small, too slow, no penetration in her kicks, and no tricks.

The benchmark now is taking a spot in North’s 21 and Keeley would be lucky to be in their best 31.


3
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: List Building - More than one way to skin a cat
Last post by DJC -
Quote from: kruddler – on
Quote from: Lods – on


I'm guessing that was Emmett

https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/1932520/2025-telstra-afl-draft-pick-27-louis-emmett

There was talk on some forums earlier in the night that our targets were Dean, Ison, Byrne and Emmett
Three out of four ain't bad...but he would probably have been a good pick-up.

Some might remember me saying before night 2 that we should trade up with the kangas to get the 1st pick of the night to....
a) Guarantee us a pick before Ison was bid on.
b) Get whichever player we wanted from what was left without having to worry about another team taking him

Lucky for us Ison wasn't bid on anyway.
Unlucky (or poor planning??) that 'our guy' was taken right before we had the chance to take him.

All these things are easy in hindsight, sure, but let the record show i called it at the time. I just was unaware that we were targetting Emmett over my preference of Ludowycke,

Do you really think that Austin and co hadn’t considered that scenario and rejected it in favour of better options?

All list managers, ours included, are formulating their strategies and making decisions based on a hell of lot more information than the most well-informed supporter has access to.

Yes, it would have been good to have been able to draft another Harry McKay, but all that were available were more Harry Lemmeys … and we scored the best KPP by a considerable margin.

4
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: List Building - More than one way to skin a cat
Last post by kruddler -
Quote from: Lods – on
Quote from: Thryleon – on
I guarantee there was a list of players they were interested in.  At one point on the video they said someone was off the board before they made the decision to trade with Brisbane.

I'm guessing that was Emmett

https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/1932520/2025-telstra-afl-draft-pick-27-louis-emmett

There was talk on some forums earlier in the night that our targets were Dean, Ison, Byrne and Emmett
Three out of four ain't bad...but he would probably have been a good pick-up.

Some might remember me saying before night 2 that we should trade up with the kangas to get the 1st pick of the night to....
a) Guarantee us a pick before Ison was bid on.
b) Get whichever player we wanted from what was left without having to worry about another team taking him

Lucky for us Ison wasn't bid on anyway.
Unlucky (or poor planning??) that 'our guy' was taken right before we had the chance to take him.

All these things are easy in hindsight, sure, but let the record show i called it at the time. I just was unaware that we were targetting Emmett over my preference of Ludowycke,
5
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: List Building - More than one way to skin a cat
Last post by Lods -
Quote from: Thryleon – on
I guarantee there was a list of players they were interested in.  At one point on the video they said someone was off the board before they made the decision to trade with Brisbane.

I'm guessing that was Emmett

https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/1932520/2025-telstra-afl-draft-pick-27-louis-emmett

There was talk on some forums earlier in the night that our targets were Dean, Ison, Byrne and Emmett
Three out of four ain't bad...but he would probably have been a good pick-up.
6
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: List Building - More than one way to skin a cat
Last post by madbluboy -
Quote from: Baggers – on
Quote from: madbluboy – on
Praise for what Lods? We selected a father son and our acedmy pick.

It's not that we got Harry and Jack, we were always going to get them as you pointed out, but it was the way we did it - swapping picks and going further back into the draft yet keeping necessary points, then being able to secure a future 2nd and 3rd in the process of getting our targets + Taylor Byrne.

It was a no brainer. I said we would be trading the picks as soon as we got them.
7
Ladies Lounge / Re: AFLW Season 2026
Last post by kruddler -
Quote
WEST Coast has emerged as a potential suitor for contracted Carlton forward Keeley Skepper.

Skepper, a former first-round pick, has been told to explore her options away from the Blues after a frustrating campaign where she played just nine games.

West Coast holds an interest in Skepper, who is contracted at Carlton through until 2027, though talks around a potential trade are yet to progress.

This I still don't understand.
Not sure if there is more to the story, but i rate her above ahandful of players that were in our finals side and she plays the way you need to play to win finals as well.

Quote
Experienced Blues ruck Jess Good and young forward Mia Austin have also had interest from rival clubs across the last month.
Doubt Good is going anywhere. Mates with Kez who got her across to the club.
Austin....i'd be open to a trade for the right price.

Also....
Quote
JUST a few days after North Melbourne secured its second premiership in two years, the Roos have secured another boost in Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner nominating the club as her preferred trade destination.

Former pick 1 wants to go to the powerhouse club who doesn't lose games.  ::)
8
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: List Building - More than one way to skin a cat
Last post by kruddler -
@Thry.....

I get that, but at the end of the day, all we needed was points. You can get that a million ways....as we saw.

Had we done literally nothing, we could've ended up with the same exact players....just without maybe some future picks.

Yes, i'm aware of the benefit of future picks, but similar to this year, those picks are as much about points as it is about the actual picks. With future less important for points than this year (and any other year previous). So how important they will be is yet to be determined.

I'm much more impressed with someone like Essendon preying on someone desperate for points and bringing in top end talent at the expense of later picks. Something we fail to take advantage of. In fact i suggested we do exactly that with Gold Coast prior to draft night after i highlighted that they screwed up by not giving themselves enough picks. They did multiple trades on draft night to counteract that, i think we got a future 3rd out of it which we probably won't use as is anyway.


For teams, like us, and gold coast who know what talent they are getting, its simply a numbers game. Get as many points as possible and try and sell off any excess later and take whatever is left later in the draft.

I would've liked to have worked our way into using a pick 20-ish on some more a-grade talent, than a pick 47 on a small forward and some future picks.