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Unofficial Practice Matches Stocks up and Stocks Down! #PODPOD
3.8k Plays4 days ago
The tripods were out, legends were taking stats as Fantasy coaches dive into the unofficial practice matches to see which players they would like to select in their starting squads. Although we say every year that we need to be cautious with what data we extract from these games, it was good to just have footy back!
In this episode, the panel does stocks up and stocks down with every match that was played last week. Which players have increased their value and which ones have dropped off? Find out what the boys think and more!
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Transcript
Episode Introduction and AFL Return Discussion
00:00:18
Holmesy
G'day and welcome to the Pod Pod brought to by Moreira's Magic. I'm your host Holmesy, three-time top 10 finisher and twice with an asterisk, runner-up in AFL Fantasy Classic.
00:00:29
Holmesy
We have had live footy back for the first time in 2026 with AFL clubs actually taking on other AFL clubs. And we are here to do a little bit of stocks up, stocks down on particular players from those practice matches and to discuss all of the hot topics in footy.
Practice Matches: Quality and Player Analysis
00:00:47
Holmesy
With me, as always, we have two-time top 10 finisher and runner-up in 2019, John Harmy, fresh off the Bombers making a run for the flag after taking out 17th place last year, Richmond, in an unofficial practice match. Mate, g'day.
00:01:03
Jon Harmey
Hello, host Holmesy, and yes, if there was a ladder, I'm pretty sure we'd be on top of it right now. So it was good to see a few wide pan shots of players off in the distance, not really trying to um compete against each other. so But anyway, it is nice to have footy back.
00:01:22
Holmesy
Yeah, look it was definitely nice and we're not throwing any shade at the the production teams that put these together. They're not ah an easy thing to do, but we we do know that come this week with the official practice matches and moving into opening round, they're going to be far better quality and we'll be able to see exactly what's going on.
00:01:40
Holmesy
Lou, our perennial top 1K finisher back for another week, mate. How are you? Did you are did you enjoy some some Port Adelaide on the weekend?
00:01:47
Lew
Yeah, it was good to have a little bit of footy back. I caught about half of that Port game, actually. So that was that was nice to see. Yeah, they were very raw games of footy, obviously, seeing sort of the back end of some of these teams' lists and um The quality you know left a little bit to be desired, but I think it gave us a nice little thirst for it. And I'm really looking forward to this coming week where we've got something a little bit more official on Kea, a couple of stats involved, especially the TOG, which will be good to see. And I think then we can start sort of firming a few more of our opinions just before round zero.
00:02:27
Holmesy
I think Lou, some of the highlights from the weekend was Sam Flanders being Ned Flanders a few times. That was a good call on the commentary. And then na UDL, the the midfielder at North Melbourne. say very, very interesting. But yeah, really looking forward to this weekend.
00:02:44
Holmesy
Before we get stuck into the hot topics, just a quick reminder, Pod Pod Challenge is up and running again this year.
Injury Reports and Fantasy Implications
00:02:50
Holmesy
So make sure you go into the show descriptions of this podcast to get the lead code so that you can join up there.
00:02:56
Holmesy
We'll have our friends at supercoachchampion.com providing a custom AFL fantasy ring again. But who knows if we get more numbers in there this year, we might put on something special. But let's get into the hot topics for the week and just discussing A few of the injuries that have happened since the last time we recorded last week.
00:03:16
Holmesy
But before we touch touch on an injury, Lou, your boy you've been spruiking in the chat for a little while now, Elijah Hollands, officially back on the Blues list as of today.
00:03:29
Holmesy
Not as cheap as what you might have thought he was. I went back and had a look and... Did play five games last year, so I believe he's going to get a 15% discount on his 2024 mid-70s average, which would put him at about a 64 price tag, but should have the forward status. He was someone that piqued interest a little bit earlier in the preseason if he could get back on the list.
00:03:49
Lew
Yeah, I thought he might be a little bit cheaper, but was certainly interested, especially early on in this preseason when we were sort of scratching our heads in terms of forward options. But yeah, did see the news come through today that he's been given another list spot at the Blues and may just be a nice little option that we can can look at to start on our sides. Obviously plays that round zero, but a cheaper forward option would be very much welcomed in our teams, I think.
Player Roles and Media Influence
00:04:19
Holmesy
Yep, just another mid-price guy to to throw into the ring as someone to watch. He's got all the talent in the world. It's been well documented his off-field struggles and whatnot. But um I believe if you go back and look through that 2024 season, he was actually quite good post-buy with some numbers in the 80s. So definitely one to monitor there.
00:04:38
Holmesy
Harmi, Colby McKercher going in for hand surgery. We're unlikely to see him in any of the practice matches and doesn't play opening round. I'm not really that concerned, but at the same time, we don't like to see injuries to our players in the preseason. At least this one isn't a soft tissue, but does that do anything to your boy, Colby McEacher?
00:04:59
Jon Harmey
Oh, well, we would we'd prefer him to be kicking the ball anyway, wouldn't we, rather than handballing? So maybe it helps us a bit. um Yeah, i don't know. I guess Clarko would just be having him on the exercise bike, keeping an eye on him. But hopefully he's right to go round one. And yeah, that'll be the week when we'd be sweating, I suppose.
00:05:18
Holmesy
So we're ah are we all going back to the Caleb Daniel well from last year, Luke?
00:05:24
Lew
Yeah, wouldn't that be interesting, run it back with a bit of Caleb Daniel?
00:05:27
Jon Harmey
He was the only one in their back line on the weekend doing anything. Roddy Hardeman went down, actually, and so it only Caleb Daniel kicking the ball out their back line.
00:05:38
Holmesy
It looked like ah it's only a practice match, but fire out. It just looked like rinse and repeat for North Melbourne, doesn't it? the club that really needs to get their act together. Grian Myers has a thumb injury and is currently in doubt for opening round. Probably not one we were considering coming off a career high year with an early buy, but just something to monitor, especially in draft.
00:05:59
Holmesy
Louis, Isaac Rankin, Hammy. So we were hoping that we were going to get to see Isaac Rankin, at least in one of these practice matches to see what the Rochelle role was going to look like with him in the side, but that's not going to be the case anymore. And he might even miss round one, round two, depending on how bad this Hammy is. But you know what does that do to a Josh Rochelle confidence in picking him?
00:06:23
Lew
It's tough to put your finger on it, really. I think now that Archie's gone down as well, I've probably lost a little bit of confidence, just wondering how they've plugged that hole up forward.
00:06:33
Lew
I know they've got Peddler, who they've been spruiking a bit, who's that sort of high-half-forward type that can get it done. ah Still expecting Rochelle to get midfield time. I mean, he was getting lots and lots of hype a couple of weeks ago, and I think even Gary Lyon might have said that he's going to be launched into one of the better players in the competition. So look, I'm still
Rookie Prospects and Team Dynamics
00:06:55
Lew
hopeful. You do see that some some of these media types do talk to each other. So the hype is nice to see. But I do keep reminding myself, Holmesy, of your nice little stat a couple of weeks ago of the 30% CBAs for, what was it, about an 80 average um in the past?
00:07:13
Holmesy
Yeah, nine nine games oh seven games to start 2023, I think it was, for a 90 average at that 30%, 35% centre bounce marker. So, look, the if the role's there, there's a space for someone to score in that side alongside Jordan Dawson. Where that gets to, I'm not 100% sure, but, I mean, the role was a tick on the weekend. It wasn't huge centre bounce numbers, but he was around the ball. but We just need to see it again this week, Lou.
00:07:38
Lew
Yeah, well, I mean, I'm sitting here saying that maybe the depth up forward is getting tested, but you look at that Crows midfield and it's sort of very same-same to last year where they were really looking for some options that could run through there that weren't, you not calling Dawson one-dimensional, but he was probably a bit of a one-man show, certainly when Rankin wasn't fit or in there. So they're looking for something a little bit different. I think he'll get a good crack in there and a little bit worried, but still in my team at this stage.
00:08:08
Holmesy
Now, it wouldn't be a a pre-season harmony without Jordan Ridley doing another soft tissue injury. So a calf unconfirmed yet how long that's going to see him out of. But I don't think he's actually integrated into main training at all this pre-season. So, I mean, that's probably good for some of our bomber rookies off that halfback line.
00:08:27
Holmesy
Can Archie Roberts go to another level? I don't know yet. But, you know, Ridley is a scorer when he plays there. So that's one to monitor. But... Harmi, Bailey Dale. So came off early in the game on the weekend. It was reported as knee soreness early on, but it's come out today that he's got a bit of an MCL strain and is in doubt for opening round and and the early parts of the season. So, you know, ah Jakes is a rookie that's really come on to our radar and and looked quite composed on the weekend, had a few kickouts and did look to control some of the ball in that game.
00:09:00
Holmesy
we need ah We need to do this for Geordie, Harmy. Does this elevate Connor Buteric in your mind if Dale's going to be missing the start of the year?
00:09:10
Jon Harmey
Well, he went all right on the weekend, didn't he? He he wasn't up wasn't the lockdown that I predicted him to be, but I don't know. I just feel like Buterick and Bailey Dale are very different players. So I'm not sure at the moment what it means, but the good thing is we'll get two looks to make our mind up on that, one with the pre-season game and then with round zero, obviously. So tell Your point about Lockheed Jakes was really interesting. ju He's fired up the yeah rookie leaderboard um over the course of this pre-season, so he's one that we're certainly looking at, isn't he?
00:09:51
Lew
I'm starting to worry we might not have anybody to field in round three at this stage.
00:09:51
Holmesy
Yeah, back.
00:09:55
Lew
It seems like everybody popping up is on that unfortunate round at the moment.
00:09:56
Holmesy
Yeah.
00:09:58
Holmesy
Round three, by flower. Yeah, I still think come come round zero, round one, Buderich's going to be far more locked down than what we saw in it in an open pre-season game.
Evaluating Practice Matches for Fantasy
00:10:09
Holmesy
But definitely one to monitor. Jordy's going to be over in London dancing, singing as he's hearing us talking about Connor Buderich. But definitely one to monitor. Treloar sounds like he's going to play some managed minutes this week in the practice match. So at least we might get to see something before opening round from him.
00:10:28
Holmesy
Not saying we're picking him, but it does sound like the the calf injury that's been reported might have been overblown in the media. Adam Chera, comy Louis, so we'll go to you for this one. Adam Chera. So Hammy on the weekend.
00:10:43
Holmesy
reported that he could be missing up to eight weeks. So there's there's differentiating reports here, but it sounds like this is on the the more serious end. Clearly, this is going to be good for a Jagger Smith. He was a lock anyway.
00:10:56
Holmesy
But, you know, there's been talk of Sam Walsh and people not wanting to go there because of his opening round and then having that buy-in round too. But if Cher is not there, Walsh has to be getting significant CBA minutes, right? Like, I can't see it not.
00:11:12
Lew
ah You'd have to think so. I know there were some rumours that Walsh would spend a little bit more time outside, but what we saw last year was Chera spent pretty significant time on the inside starting at centre bounces, and I think Walsh was probably going to be there anyway, but this can't hurt his chances whatsoever. There's a few more points up for grabs, so yeah certainly expecting Patrick Cripps, Jagger Smith, and um him to be lining up Sammy Walsh in that first centre bounce of the season, I think.
00:11:41
Jon Harmey
Did they say why he didn't play at the game the other day, Walsh? Like I assume it's just a management thing, but don't know. It's pretty early on in the season to be managing his minutes.
00:11:53
Holmesy
Yeah, nothing's come out, Harmi. But, you know, sometimes they do this, right? Like you play, I can't remember exactly. Did he you definitely play the first half? Did he play the third quarter? So it's only a play to half.
00:12:04
Jon Harmey
Don't think so.
00:12:04
Holmesy
So ma maybe it's management here.
00:12:05
Jon Harmey
Yeah.
00:12:07
Holmesy
Maybe he pushes up towards that three-quarter mark for this one and then opening round, he's cherry right, ready to go. So I'm not i'm not concerned with the Sam Walsh. The fact that we've got him throughout the whole preseason so far without any sort of talk of a niggle or a soft tissue injury, he's playing this first game.
00:12:23
Holmesy
I think that's all we needed to see to this point in the preseason. But... Let's get to what we're here to talk about in this podcast. It's these unofficial practice matches. Shout out to the DT Talk boys. We're going do a bit of stocks up, stocks down. We know Roy has his article there, but it's pretty hard to ah get an original name when they ah they've been around for as long as they have. So stocks up, stocks down. But before we do that, Harmi, I just want you to talk to the listeners a little bit about what you are looking at in these unofficial and official practice matches because there's not a lot of stats at least in the ones before we had hef shout out the legend giving statistics but it's it's more it's more than that so what are you looking specifically at for your players
00:13:06
Jon Harmey
ah We're looking at the players that are playing, like looking at the players we're interested in. I think I've got a list of about 40 to 50 players that I'm keen on. Looking at where they are playing um and if they have the role that you think that they are going to have, but also within their team, looking at who is not there.
00:13:26
Jon Harmey
So I'll give you an example. Spoiler alert,
Team Performances and Player Insights
00:13:30
Jon Harmey
Holmesy. I watched the Bombers game and I was pretty impressed with Jacob Farrow. But you sort of got to also bear in mind that Redmond wasn't there. So, you know, guess that's part of it, isn't it? Like you've got to consider the complete picture. so But that's the thing. Really, it was role. And, yeah, as we talk through, i guess I'll explain a bit more about that, who was keen on, who it wasn't.
00:13:53
Holmesy
Yeah, and that the the the point you made, sorry, about noticing who's not there is so relevant. Like you just look at Collingwood who didn't have either of the Dacos boys. They didn't have Darcy Cameron. They didn't have Harry Perryman. They didn't have half their back line.
00:14:08
Holmesy
And then you go through and they're missing sort of 11 of their best 22. So what can you really take out of that game in terms of role? Probably not a hell of a lot. You look at ah a Bulldogs that didn't have Richards and didn't have Bont.
00:14:21
Holmesy
Bailey Dale goes down early. You've got to try and pick the sides where you believe they've got close to a full complement and what they're actually going to line up as, like a St Kilda, for example.
00:14:31
Holmesy
I look at that St Kilda midfield of Flanders, Philippeau, Nassai, Wanganin, Millerer. And I look at that and I go, okay, maybe a Windhager is going to be in there a little bit more if they need a tag. But outside of that, McRae is going to be in there like he was.
00:14:46
Holmesy
That seems to me the plan that they're going to look to to roll out in opening round, whereas other teams you can kind of pick holes with players that aren't there or or being managed. loop
00:14:54
Lew
Yeah, and also remembering that the best players play better when there's better players around them as well, I think. Like I said, the back end of the list are really getting exposed. or Certainly in this batch of practice games, it'll be a little bit different next week.
00:15:08
Lew
um So for that reason, sometimes systems don't work. Game styles break down a little bit as they expose these guys and For that reason, you do see maybe some of the points that were scored on the weekend a little bit unders.
00:15:21
Lew
Certainly in terms of team total points, it was really, really low. I don't think that's something we're going to be seeing in the season proper whatsoever.
00:15:31
Jon Harmey
Probably something else from the weekend as well. I mean, I caught a few of the games um and something that was very evident to me was like the scorelines don't matter. Some of the teams are actually not even trying to um score more points than the opposition. If you think of it like that, like sure, the guys that are out on the field are trying to you know beat their opponent, I suppose. But the scorelines didn't mean anything, I guess. I'll probably put it that way. And one prime example was Melbourne versus North Melbourne.
00:16:01
Jon Harmey
Melbourne looked like they were having a dip trying to win the game. North Melbourne looked like they couldn't really care about the scoreline.
00:16:08
Holmesy
Yeah, that's it. A lot of it's just making sure they get the run into the legs. They start to you know test their game plan and their systems a little bit. But the state of origin was the week before and all the state of origin players outside of a few weren't playing. And there as Lou mentioned, they're the best players. So...
00:16:24
Holmesy
ah just I really like to look at the rookies and and see, firstly, if they just look like they're up to the AFL level. um you know You can tell pretty quickly if they're off the pace. And if they're off the pace in a game like that, it's it's probably likely that they're either not going to be there in round one or they're going to struggle when the intensity is up to...
00:16:42
Holmesy
up to full speed and and then it's just roll. like score Scoring for me is irrelevant in these type of games. Yes, a good score is is helpful to look at and sometimes look just looking at the order of the scores, if that makes sense. So like you look at Gold Coast, for example, they had some pretty horrendous scores, but Aliyah Lombard was up close to the top and actually performed quite well. So...
00:17:04
Holmesy
and That's what I kind of look for, knowing full well that it's going to be more important to look at these next games coming up this week. And then obviously opening round is the big test. But let's get into our stocks up, stocks down for these practice matches. So going all the way back to Monday last week, we had Hawthorne playing Geelong.
Player Role Concerns and Highlights
00:17:24
Holmesy
Harmi, I've got to start with you because this guy's all over X and is the talk of the fantasy community. Stocks up, Connor Mack, were you impressed?
00:17:32
Jon Harmey
Yeah, no, he probably just did what thought he would. So nice to see him getting some consistent minutes in the midfield.
00:17:41
Holmesy
Lou, was there anything you needed to say more from Economac?
00:17:45
Lew
No, think yeah if you were keen on him, he showed enough. I will definitely be keeping a close eye on him next week, that's for sure. I think where my main worry with the Connick and MacDonald lies is just within that Hawthorne system. I think, you know, over the years we've seen some really good players, you know, John Newcomb, Will Day.
00:18:04
Lew
Warple, Nash, Ward, even ah I'll throw in Dylan Moore. These guys all feel like their ceiling is so kind of capped at a 90 average and there's some pretty good players in there. So I do just question whether or not Connor McDonald can make that big enough jump to really sort of nail down that pick. I know that we're sort of A little bit light on for forward options, but I'm still a little bit spooked over what Sam Mitchell said a couple of weeks ago now that he's still going to be predominantly a forward. I think that's a role that can be quite tricky to to score well in.
00:18:39
Lew
um and And just knowing that the guys that are actually in that midfield aren't really shooting the lights out from a fantasy perspective either. is just enough for me to have a little bit of caution there. So he's definitely still well and truly up my watch list, but maybe a little bit cooler than some other coaches at the moment.
00:18:59
Holmesy
Yeah, now it's not exactly stocks down here, although I've got it on the run sheet, but it was very clear that they were running a bit of a three-way rotation with Connor Mack, Dylan Moore and McKenzie all kind of floating through there. So we need to see that this week in a more proper game with regular minutes and regular squad sizes to see exactly how that's going to line up. But I like what I saw from Dylan Moore. He's not enough to be a starting option for me, but...
00:19:24
Holmesy
I do think that there's every chance that we're we're trying to find the Connor Mack or the McKenzie and Dylan Moore's the one that just goes and gets that 30% centre bounces and is around the ball.
00:19:35
Holmesy
Moore, stocks down. The only one I really have, i don't think we take too much out of this Geelong side considering how many guys we're missing, but Tanner Bruin obviously stocks down as we didn't get to see him and his role. So i want to see that this week, but with some other options starting to come through, I think, Tanner Bruin might be one that we throw to the side unless he has a plum roll. Lou shaking his head, so keeping that one for himself.
00:20:01
Holmesy
On to the next game, Brisbane and Carlton, which was on Wednesday. Stocks up, Jagger Smith. All we needed to see was him playing for one. He was around the ball in the midfield, kicked a nice goal, did some nice things at basement price. He is firming as a rookie who we're going to be able to field. So we won't go into him too much more. We spoke about the Sam Walsh role.
00:20:23
Holmesy
I was just happy to see him in the center bounces, looking fit, running over the ground. That's all I needed to see from that game. Harmi. The Lions midfield, now keep in mind, there was no Hugh McCluggage, but Will Ashcroft looked like he was just at another level. Him, Neil and Dunkley really didn't get out of first gear, but Ashcroft looked great.
00:20:46
Holmesy
Is there a world where you might go against the comp a little bit here and if they go to a Sam Walsh, someone can go to a Will Ashcroft instead?
00:20:54
Jon Harmey
You could do. I mean, it's been there's been quite a bit of hype around Ashcroft um over the pre-season and i can I can see why. He's a really good player, had a great final series, obviously.
00:21:05
Jon Harmey
ah guess the thing with that is, though, the people that are talking about a bump for Ashcroft are saying he's going to go from a 50% CBA player to a 70% CBA player and there's still some good mids there, isn't there?
00:21:19
Jon Harmey
So, I mean... Are they going to take McCluggage out of the midfield and put him on the wing again like he did when he was coming through? I probably find that unlikely. So guess we'll see.
00:21:29
Holmesy
All Australian, wasn't he? All Australian in a premiership year.
00:21:32
Jon Harmey
Exactly.
00:21:32
Holmesy
can't Can't imagine they're going to shift him out of that role. So that that has always been my flag on Ashcroft.
00:21:35
Jon Harmey
Yeah.
00:21:37
Holmesy
If he was at another club where those midfielders weren't around him, he would be probably a top four mid. Like he has the tools to do it. It's just if you're projecting Will Ashcroft to go 104 and be a top eight mid, you really need to project either a McCluggage or a Dunkley or a Neal significantly dropping so that those points come back because they're they're not all going to average over 100.
00:22:00
Jon Harmey
Yeah, and and I mean, your point's spot on, Holmesy. And people are saying, oh, well, lucky Neil, he's getting old now. He should be looking at retiring or going back to WA or whatever. wasn't it was he who was best on ground, wasn't he?
00:22:12
Jon Harmey
like So, that can't see that happening.
00:22:15
Holmesy
He's rested.
00:22:16
Jon Harmey
Yeah.
00:22:16
Holmesy
He's rested. He's got time. All right, stocks down. Stocks down. so Louis, I know you you're still considering picking him because of how cheap he is, but when we talk about philosophy and wanting to pick players in particular roles with upside, the Kitty Coleman forward role must scare you a little bit. Now, he looked fit and he's playing at Brisbane. We know they're going to be a good side more than likely, so the opportunity will be there.
00:22:43
Holmesy
But that forward role must concern you just a little bit.
00:22:47
Lew
Yeah, definitely got concerns over it. In terms of a forward role, I think it's going to be that high half forward delivering inside 50 and not more of that small forward type of role, which would be immediate red flags.
00:22:59
Lew
ah You know, what I'm sort of reading into that game on the weekend is they do want to get the ball in his hands. He's obviously got one of the best kicks in the game. And anytime he's got the ball, something is going to be created. yeah.
00:23:12
Lew
I think he'll split his time between half-backs still. He'll be a connector on that half-forward flank. If he was priced a little bit higher, maybe 63, I think I would be quite worried about it.
Fantasy Trends and Player Strategies
00:23:24
Lew
At 53, I think he's going to knock that out the park.
00:23:29
Lew
But that being said, with that round two buy, if he is legitimate, I ah can sort of see him being possibly a trade target as well, maybe post-round two buy potentially if he's showing his chops.
00:23:41
Lew
um But yeah, there's there's definitely a couple of alarm bells going off there, especially as some mid prices are popping up.
00:23:47
Holmesy
Ami, just pad for a second here while I try and bring up the stats to see who was actually playing. But did you see a Jasper Fletcher playing on the weekend? no,
00:23:56
Jon Harmey
Jeez, I can't remember if he did or he didn't, to be honest, mate. But, you know, just on the Coleman forward line, if Louie's right, priced at 54, I think you said Lou, and he goes, I mean, he's going to go over 70, isn't he, even if he was in the forward line. So, i mean, he's he's not going flop. He's not going to bomb and lose money for you. It's just he won't be the smash pick that you thought he might be if he if he had a solid backflank role.
00:24:25
Lew
He's the one at the moment where if I need to find 100K or a couple hundred K to make something else work, he goes down to a rookie and I go up somewhere else, especially with some of this defensive depth, certainly from a rookie perspective that we've got going on.
00:24:25
Holmesy
Yeah. so
00:24:40
Holmesy
Yeah. So just looking at, I watched the first half and I didn't really see Jasper Fletcher, but Heff's got him scoring 57 points, having 13 touches. So maybe he came on in the second half. I was going to say with Fletcher not playing, Coleman still playing forward. That's probably a bit more of a flag, but he must've been there in some capacity.
00:24:58
Lew
They had Link McCarthy playing halfback, which I don't think we're going to see come round zero or one either.
00:25:05
Holmesy
Yeah, that that can't be real. Lou. Liam Reedy, your boy who had it at art at utility sorry to to fund your madness of McAndrew didn't have the role behind Pito. Looked okay at times around the ball, but just that big brute of a ruck that's not really going to get involved around the ground. And I don't think he's going to score as a forward, which that's going to be his role if he's in the side. So are we just putting a line through him unless a pit net goes down?
00:25:33
Lew
Yeah, unless Pitnett goes down, I think you probably have to put a line through. And we know that it's only a small sample size, but the games that we saw when he was at Frio and shared the ruck and he spent time forward were pretty grim. well I'm not sure he even went much north of a 30 average there. So that's going to repeat itself at Carlton. There's a chance that potentially he even loses money, I think.
00:25:57
Lew
Yeah, at this rate, Reedy's just got to be put on the back burner. And if Pitnett does go down with an injury or maybe Reedy wrestles him out for the number one ruck spot, that's when we can look at him potentially as ah as a nice little early downgrade.
00:26:13
Holmesy
Yep.
00:26:14
Jon Harmey
Well, that's...
00:26:14
Holmesy
Just one thing on before Harmi, before you go, stocks down.
00:26:14
Jon Harmey
let's
00:26:18
Holmesy
So Harry Dean, now he's going to be there round one or round zero for their ah because of their injury woes, but he's very raw. So don't get don't get tricked into picking him just because he's a green dot if we don't get the rookies because he's not going score.
00:26:32
Holmesy
Harmi, you go.
00:26:33
Jon Harmey
We're not going to need him anyway, are we, Holmes? Because we've got so many backline rookies. Now, all i was going to say was, Lou, if there's no Liam Reedy, that puts a bit of a flaw in your four rookie ruck line that you were going to go last week.
00:26:50
Lew
Yeah, well, I'm down to three, aren't It's starting to look shaky already.
00:26:51
Jon Harmey
Hmm.
00:26:53
Lew
And if this if this keeps trending in this direction, then I'm going to be in trouble in the early couple rounds of the the season proper and using a trade to get out of it.
00:26:53
Jon Harmey
Yep.
Rookie Readiness and Match Analysis
00:27:03
Lew
um Yeah, it's you know it's a nice little reminder that these things can start to go south quite quickly, isn't it? I think I'm certainly not locked into the McAndrew situation.
00:27:15
Lew
R2 is definitely going to be a little bit safer at R3 at the price. But, yeah, still got Cooper Duff Titler, sorry, hanging in there.
00:27:26
Holmesy
doing that ah Doing that on purpose. Now, Lou, the last one before we go on for Stocks Down. Dan Annable. So all we've heard all preseason is that he's the he's good to go. He could have played senior footy last year if he was on the list.
00:27:39
Holmesy
Been playing in all the A's during the match sims and stuff. But he, to me and to the eye, didn't look up to AFL level just yet in that practice game. According to Heff, he had nine touches.
00:27:50
Holmesy
But it was what he did with those touches in that first half that I was concerned with. He got caught holding the ball. He was turning the ball over, just looked a bit slow. So is he someone that you just might fade, even if he's there opening round? i know you're going to see the score, but he didn't yeah didn't shoot the lights out, that's for sure.
00:28:06
Lew
Yeah, i think so. And what we've sort of heard all pre-season is that he's been in that A midfield group, which has been really encouraging from the outside looking in. But as we mentioned, some of those line mids before, you've got Lockie Neal, McCluggage, Will Ashcroft.
00:28:23
Lew
uh josh dunkley zach bailey's going to be through there levi ashcroft is presumably ahead of him there's some really nice names here and if he's not been training as sort of that high half forward either he might find himself as a man without a role and and spending a bit of time in the twos just to to fast track that development it's something we've seen from the lions in the last couple of years as well i know sam marshall is probably one that's That's fallen victim to that who's highly rated. So, yeah, I would be probably putting him on the back burner and maybe hoping even that he plays a bit of VFL and that he can come in as a nice rookie downgrade later on.
00:29:02
Holmesy
Yep, agree with that. Dogs versus Sydney, as we mentioned. So this was on Thursday and it's hard to take into account the dogs with who they had missing and whatnot. So we've already spoken about the defenders, but I want to go to Sydney Harmy.
00:29:17
Holmesy
Goulden as an inside midfielder. Do you like this for his scoring? What do you think with Goulden?
00:29:23
Jon Harmey
Yeah, that's not going to hurt his scoring. He's priced at 102, so it's about how many points you think you can get on top of that. I know that you're super keen on him, Holmesy.
00:29:34
Holmesy
Yeah, well, the listeners do know that, Harmi. So ae go behind the curtains a little bit here. Is he someone that's either in your side at the moment or someone that's been in and out over the preseason or is he someone that you're just not willing to to go near?
00:29:48
Jon Harmey
Not in at the moment. um I am a little bit concerned about those top end premiums with the buy. So, yeah, that's probably just that's probably the real reason. I mean, if everybody's starting round one like a bloody should be, I'd be more keen. But that early buy does put me off.
00:30:09
Lew
In an ideal scenario, because what we sort of say with starting a buy-around player is you have to make up those points as quickly as possible to to make up for when you're losing them on the buy. Say, look, round one, 110, so that's plus eight.
00:30:26
Lew
Round two, 110, plus eight. Misses round three, so let's say that you you know maybe you get a 60 off the bench, so we're at, what, 76 points.
00:30:37
Lew
Round four, Optus Stadium, West Coast Eagles goes 170.
00:30:42
Holmesy
Chichin.
00:30:45
Jon Harmey
Okay.
00:30:46
Lew
you're You're approaching areas where you've almost caught up on what you're losing. Now, I know that's a very optimistic way to look at things, but this is a guy that's got massive ceiling and I think...
00:30:57
Lew
um You know, some pretty good coaches will tell you that there's potentially, you know, I think six, eight, maybe even 10 points upside there. So we can make it up quickly and him as a captain option too could be invaluable.
00:31:09
Lew
um If you're not starting him, he's going to be a very, very tricky player to jump on, probably pre-buy.
00:31:16
Holmesy
Yeah, and that's the other thing, Lou, the the game theory side of things. i know a lot of coaches would would start Errol if he didn't have an early buy, but if they go against him, and like you mentioned, he goes 110, 110, and then let's not go 170, but let's say he has a ah ceiling score against the Eagles.
00:31:33
Holmesy
he's going to be priced at that 110 mark and everyone's going to be wanting to get him because they're going to have the FOMO of missing out what they knew was a good pick. And then all of a sudden they're using upgrade money at that time of year to get a 110 midfielder in when they should be looking for value. So...
00:31:48
Holmesy
I, yeah, I'm, Harmi knows I've got him projected very highly as a midfielder. The early buy is definitely a concern, but if you think he can go above 110 from where he's priced at, I'm not going to talk anyone out of doing that.
00:32:03
Holmesy
Let's go into stocks down in this game. Jai Sarong was a mature age rookie coming across from Hawthorne that we'd hoped Could lock down a spot. He's not going to be a huge scorer, but we thought maybe ah he could do those sort of 60s. He's got good VFL numbers, but he looked off the pace and looks like they're going to just be rinse and repeat with your Rampies and your Melicans. I think it's Melican, but the same sort of McCartan defense that they've been rolling with. Mills back there as well. But Harmi, Joel Frazier is a name that has been floated in the fantasy community as ah as a breakout potential priced around 71, think it is.
00:32:39
Holmesy
We're going to need to see a significant midfield role, which was clearly hard to see on the weekend with Bont and Richards missing. But as is it stocks down? Am I being harsh on that? What do you think with Fraser?
00:32:50
Jon Harmey
Well, the the attractive thing about Fraser is he's also available as a forward, isn't he? So, you know, that's another reason why people would be looking at him. Look, he played through the midfield, um...
00:33:03
Jon Harmey
Yeah, um he just didn't accumulate the score. Look, he's going to be competing with Bont Richards. Well, Liber averaged about 100 here last year. Treloar, if he gets a run.
00:33:15
Jon Harmey
It's not as if there's a real weakness there that you've got guys that can't score. So, yeah, I'm not sure if he's really going to get a big price increase that you would be hoping for.
00:33:28
Holmesy
Yeah, I mean, the one thing about Frazier is I kind of have to walk the walk here is that I can't say that, you know, I want to pick an Adam Treloar if he's M4 because we know that, you know, pretty much all Dogs midfielders that are M1 4, even score above can't.
00:33:45
Holmesy
say that Frazier doesn't have the potential to, but it is hard to hard to predict when we haven't seen it before. He does have good supercoach numbers, which I know is different to fantasy, but sometimes he'll have a low fantasy game, but a very high supercoach game showing that he's that more impact player in the stoppage, bit more damaging at this part of his career. So I'm at the moment not considering a Joel Frazier. However, i would be bumping him up in draft as I think he does have scope to improve further this season.
00:34:14
Holmesy
Moving on to Gold Coast versus St Kilda. I think this was on Thursday as well. Sam Flanders, we don't need to speak about anymore. Had the role that we all hoped you would have.
00:34:25
Holmesy
Yes, it was revenge game against the Gold Coast, but I don't think that matters. He's going to be inside mid. He'd like to float back in defense to help out as well. So he's a big lock. But Lou, Harmi and i already spoke pre-pod, so I want your thoughts on this one. Mateus Philippou.
00:34:41
Holmesy
Had the role, so he was getting decent centre-bounce minutes. As I mentioned earlier, I can't see too many other players coming in to take those minutes off him. Did some very nice things of it around the stoppage, and we know that he can get out in transition and take some big big marks as well.
00:34:57
Holmesy
Is it stocks up for Philippou after the weekend?
00:35:00
Lew
Absolutely. As you've always known, I've been massive on Philippou the whole preseason. he's He's one that just about hasn't left my side at all. I know for a fact that Ross absolutely loves this kid. He's going to give him the opportunity through the midfield, and I think he provides a little bit of flair in there as well. So I'm expecting him, honestly, to maybe give 50% CBAs a bit of a crack. And if that's the case, then then he is so underpriced.
00:35:28
Lew
Yeah, ah I'm extremely bullish here. i think at the end of the day, it just is going to come down to his fitness and whether or not his body can hold up because that's probably been the main gripe with him so far.
00:35:39
Holmesy
Yep, no, I agree with that. Once again, we're going to see it this week in opening round, but you're right. If he's got that 50% centre bounce role, he's going to go north of that 58 price tag, which is what we need in our starting squads. Harmi, Christian Petrarca, no Matt Rau for what seems to be potentially the first three weeks of the year after having surgery on his hand.
00:36:01
Holmesy
looked good on the weekend, was a real focal point in that Gold Coast midfield. you know We thought he was going up there to be that mid forward and that may still eventuate. But in terms of getting off to a hot start with that run, ah know yeah we've kind of spoken about maybe where where does the upside come from? What does he actually average? But is Petrarca someone in your eyes that stocks up and someone we need to consider a bit more if we weren't before?
00:36:26
Jon Harmey
Yeah, look, um when he first got you know traded there, I wasn't that keen on him for this season. But that Matt Rowell injury really changes my opinion. That combined with the early run, i think that he will end up being a good pick for those that go that way.
00:36:47
Holmesy
Yeah, no, I agree with that. I've been on record as well saying I'm not sure exactly what that upside is. I still think it's probably all things said and done at the end of the year, probably closer to 95 than it is to 100.
00:36:58
Holmesy
um But in saying that, if we pick him at 90 in the forward line, five points of upside and he's still a top six forward, um that's still that's an okay pick in my eyes. Not every every pick needs to shoot the lights out. That's where the risky ones come in.
00:37:12
Holmesy
There's a few rookies that we'll just touch on quickly, but we're going to see next week an opening round. But Leo Lombard, as I mentioned, had that high half forward role, looked really good, did kind of scream, you know, a rookie that's right on the edge and is kind of trying to outplay everyone else in ah in a game like this to to really put his name up in lights. But he hasn't done himself any harm, especially with the lack of forward rookies that we we potentially have this year.
00:37:37
Holmesy
Jack Carroll had the halfback role for St Kilda. Now there was no Jack Sinclair. We're still unsure about whether Nassai will still play a little bit of halfback combined with his midfield time. But he had that role. Did some okay things at times. Was a little bit shaky with his possession at other times. But it was on the Gold Coast in a very dewy game. So once again...
00:37:56
Holmesy
I think 330K around that price tag as a mature age guy. Definitely someone we will look at. And Zeke Uland didn't impact as much, but no one really did in that Gold Coast side. Had the wing role and he will be better for the run.
00:38:08
Holmesy
But Louis, stocks down, RIP, our boy, Jamari Yugo-Hagan. Didn't look up to it. And I also got a bit of ah a rude awakening and a reminder that playing as a forward on the Gold Coast in those dewy conditions isn't exactly the best thing for fantasy footy. But Jamara, talk to me.
00:38:28
Lew
Yeah, look, it's a good point. I don't think any of us were thinking that he was going to sort of average, you know, 70s or anything like that. I think the appeal there was with that run, if he was able to get off the leash, pop a nice score early, that cash generated would head in the right direction pretty quickly. I mean, he does have West Coast round one, so maybe look out there still.
00:38:52
Lew
ah But, yeah, I'll throw it back to you, Holmesy. What would he have to score in round zero for him to come back onto your board?
00:39:03
Holmesy
ah Yeah, look. ah
00:39:06
Lew
Single digit break even would probably make it move for me.
00:39:10
Holmesy
Yeah, no it is interesting. ah it's Once again, it's going to depend on how many of these other round three guys that we're starting in that in our forward line. So Conor Mack, Petrarca, Buderich, if we go that way. So there's definitely more to it. But don't get me wrong, if he came out against Geelong and had ah an 80 or a 90 even, like you'd have to look at it knowing what he's got in the two rounds coming up plus Melbourne the game after.
00:39:34
Holmesy
He could make 200K real quick. But, yeah, it's I was hoping he'd be a little bit more of that high half forward where he'd get up the ground a little bit.
00:39:37
Jon Harmey
Thank
00:39:42
Holmesy
But it did seem like he was playing a bit more deep forward at times. No max king ah no no Ben King sorry from the origin game. So maybe when Ben King's back, that does give him a license to roam a little bit more.
00:39:54
Holmesy
But, yeah, just wasn't as impressed in that game. Harmi, let's move on to your boys. Stocks up. So Essendon versus Richmond. Bombers flag is on. We've spoken about Farrow looking composed at halfback.
00:40:08
Holmesy
Darcy Parrish, talk to me. Mid-roll was there. Admittedly, no Zach Merritt, and they were throwing a few guys around, but were you impressed with Darcy Parrish?
00:40:16
Jon Harmey
Yeah, well, that's right, Holmesy. We got it done by 10 goals with our best player, not even playing. So that was, you know, a boost of confidence for me.
00:40:25
Holmesy
Dylan Shields not coming back, Harmi. He's not coming back.
00:40:28
Jon Harmey
Thankfully. um Look, yeah, Parrish was very, very good. um Kicked goals, looked fit, ran hard through the midfield, did everything that you would want.
00:40:41
Holmesy
Yeah, role was there. same as Same as Caldwell, the role was there. Once again, we just know that Zach Merritt's getting added into that midfield mix. So we don't know exactly how that's going to affect everyone, but I would think you do.
00:40:52
Jon Harmey
Well, I do. I mean, yeah, Archie made archie Roberts, he ain't playing in the midfield. I mean, it was nice for him to get a bit of experience, but they need him on the backflank. He played brilliantly as a backflank last year. Why would we chuck him in there for 70% CBAs? I can't see that happening. So I think that's the exact merit space in the midfield there.
00:41:12
Holmesy
So then, Harmi, if we talk about Will Setterfield, who they've loved in the past as being that bigger body midfielder in there because whether you like it or not, Parrish, Caldwell and Merritt are all smaller players.
00:41:17
Lew
you
00:41:23
Holmesy
They're not that big body guy. Do you think the other StocksUp guy, Lockie Blackiston, who is an athletic ruckman, he's not huge, but he jumps well and and actually gets around the ground and competes quite well,
00:41:35
Holmesy
Do you think they could roll with the merit parish Caldwell trio knowing that they've got Blackiston who can provide a bit of a bigger body around the contest with his follow up work?
00:41:45
Jon Harmey
Well, Holmesy, the past is the past for a reason and we'll set a few about being the senior team. So I'll put that up there straight up.
00:41:52
Holmesy
Yeah, I know that. I'm just wondering who the big bodied midfielder is, right?
00:41:55
Jon Harmey
It's Caldwell.
00:41:55
Holmesy
Because it's Caldwell.
00:41:56
Jon Harmey
For us, it's Caldwell. he's i think he's 190. But I really did like what I saw from Blackiston as well. Yes, I'm biased, but a ruckman who was drafted to the Bombers mid-season last year as a ruck ended up playing key back, nice versatility, but um he's now going to get the role that he wanted when he came to the club. So he's going be doing everything he can to hold his spot, isn't he? I think he's going to start well.
00:42:25
Holmesy
Louis, Harmy's bomber biased. Caldwell,
00:42:30
Lew
Yeah, I wasn't buying that for a second.
00:42:30
Jon Harmey
Oh no he's not!
00:42:32
Lew
but I did a cheeky Google too.
00:42:34
Jon Harmey
Did ya? I'm checking that.
00:42:36
Holmesy
No, but oh yeah I was super impressed with...
00:42:37
Lew
He's grown six centimeters.
00:42:38
Holmesy
um I was super impressed with Lockie Blackiston. Priced at 38. Hardcore coaches have had him in their side for a long time. Clearly, we needed to see the role eventuate, but there's no way that he's not there round one as the main ruck.
00:42:53
Holmesy
He jumped well in the centre bounces, got a lot of hit outs. They did use him around the ground a little bit, which was good. I mean, he butchered it a few times as ruckmen do, but no doubt he'll he'll build into that. And if we can get four or five weeks out of him,
00:43:06
Holmesy
I think he's going to be a very, very good cash generator for us. Louis, Sam Grill, he looked electric off halfback. I spoke earlier about just wanting to look at a rookie and know that they're up to AFL level, and he just he looked like that guy. He just looked up to the pace.
00:43:23
Holmesy
He got used. He got to the right spots. Is he an on-field starter for you in terms of option at the moment? Yeah.
00:43:30
Lew
Sam, he looked really good. Locked into my defense on field at the moment. Yeah, couldn't have asked for more.
00:43:40
Holmesy
Does it make you nervous knowing you're going to have to that in on in field on field on the Thursday night, first game of fantasy?
00:43:46
Lew
Not particularly. It's going to be a bit of a roulette as it is every single season. I'll let you know if I do so you can do the opposite because I think back to those bomber boys last season, I reckon whichever one I put on field, I'd have about a 90 sitting on the bench. so I'm sure that'll ah continue on this season too.
00:44:08
Holmesy
Beautiful. We'll start to fly through these because we are starting to get up there. But stocks down. I'm going to put Layla Harmi, knowing full well we get to see him again. But he was just that impact guy. He did have a few sort of midfield minutes, but we need to see more from him. So stocks down on that game, knowing that he's definitely got still got potential. But let's move into the Collingwood GWS game. And really quickly...
00:44:32
Holmesy
Collingwood had a lot of their best 22 out, as I mentioned. So we're not taking too much into this game outside of, I thought Jordan Dugowie looked quite good, looked really fit for this time of year. Full-time midfield role, we were worried maybe that with their forwards, he might have to play a little bit more forward, but I still don't think we go there in classic.
00:44:50
Holmesy
But Harry Rosten, stocks up. So we were looking to see who would be the beneficiary of Tom Green being out with the knee and then obviously Finn Callaghan missing the early parts of the year. Yes, we didn't have Stephen Canelio from the origin game, but I couldn't have been more impressed with Harry Rosten's role around the ball and how he carried himself.
00:45:11
Jon Harmey
Yeah, na he was he was excellent. like He was in the midfield pretty much the entire game. he was just he was the stopper like over the back, so the ball just kept getting knocked back to him, and he'd just do these dumpy high kicks into the forward line. That seems to be his role. Clary's a bit more forward forward of the tap, as in there he's the... Tap two, so high draft pick, averaged pretty well in the VFL last season when he wasn't in the senior team and was a sub a lot last year. I think there's a lot of things in favour of him being in the team.
00:45:44
Lew
Yeah, this is a guy I looked into quite a bit last season when he came in pretty much rookie priced and listened to a good interview with him. And he sounds like a really good kid. But Tom tom Green is really favorable of what he's able to do and and has been a little bit of a mentor to him. So...
00:46:03
Lew
With Tom Green's absence, I'm sure that he's in his ear asking, you know, what can I do to become a better footballer? And I think high praise from a player like Green, who's obviously a leader in that side, is is almost enough for me. So if he can provide something...
00:46:17
Lew
substantial in the practice game. And then, you know, fingers crossed round zero is something that's quite nice in terms of a break even. But even then, if the role is there, I think he's one that has skyrocketed right into contention from a starting pick selection.
00:46:34
Holmesy
The other stocks up I have here, and this might be contentious because I know a lot of other content creators have actually gone stocks down on him, but Kieran Briggs, I just wanted to see him out there fit and healthy.
00:46:42
Jon Harmey
Yes!
00:46:45
Holmesy
um I don't believe for a second that Riccardi is going to be the the main ruck to start the year. They just wanted to get Briggs through. I thought he looked good moving around the ground. He's not going to be that big jumper, but I know what he will do, and he's just going to run straight into the other ruckman, hit him as hard as he can, and and just try to make contact with the ball on the way down. So have a look and see how that lines up this week in opening round, Harmi, but I'm not ruling Briggsie out just yet as an option.
00:47:10
Jon Harmey
No, welcome to the Briggs fan club, Holmesy.
00:47:14
Holmesy
Oh, there we go.
00:47:14
Lew
In saying all pre-season, roads lead to Briggs.
00:47:15
Holmesy
Yeah.
00:47:18
Lew
So we'll see where that lands.
00:47:20
Holmesy
We'll see how we go. We've got plenty of footy still to watch, but I'm happy with him at this time of the year. Stock's down. Not too much to report here, but Brent Daniels injured again. i was thinking maybe with the midfielders out, they do like having him as that midfielder and then rotating forward.
00:47:36
Holmesy
He may still play that role, but it's been 18 months now close to it of him being injured. So that's clearly a concern. Harmi going on to Melbourne versus North Melbourne.
00:47:49
Holmesy
Stocks up, not really stocks up. Harry Sheasel looked much the same as last year, looked comfortable, looked in first gear. We're going to do a more deep dive on Harry Sheasel as we get closer to the season as he's still a hot topic in my mind, but we'll leave him for now.
00:48:03
Holmesy
Cozzy, we saw in that forward role, he was electric, kicked four or five goals. I can't remember exactly how much it was. I have no doubt that that's not really probably what his proper role is going to be come the start of the season. He was probably just being managed after origin. is not really many of them played, but definitely one to monitor still. But Xavier Lindsay is getting a bit of hype off half back.
00:48:25
Holmesy
Looked okay, like got enough of the ball and clearly there's a spot back there for him. When I was watching it, it kind of just looked like a player that was happy to play his role and get the ball when he needed to, but didn't exactly have the observable thirst that our boy Dossie loves to talk about. But has Xavier Lindsay shot up into consideration for you?
00:48:44
Jon Harmey
I've actually been considering him the whole time. I think that he he played a good game. he got into good spaces. He got burnt a bit from his own team. i think that what happened was Melbourne played CJ for the first half and then he went off and then Salem came on for the second half.
00:49:02
Jon Harmey
And I think it just sort of their backbone lacked a bit of continuity and game plan really. So i think he was good.
00:49:10
Holmesy
Yep. No, don't mind that. We'll we'll watch it. Mid only status makes it a little bit harder, but definitely one to monitor there. Louis, I'll give you three players quickly and then we'll talk about this other player. so Harvey Langford didn't have significant mid clock in that game. You would think if that was going to be his role that they probably would have trialed that. So more of an outside player, probably not going to have the bump we need.
00:49:34
Holmesy
Caleb Windsor did have the role but struggled to impact. And that lines up with my thoughts on him at the moment that I believe he's more of an impact player and probably not the accumulator that we need for fantasy. And then Trent Rivers, still generally not, but no idea. Genuinely, um I'm not willing to put my eggs in any basket there with Rivers, whether it's halfback or midfield. I just don't think he's someone that we go near. But Tristan Cherry,
00:49:59
Holmesy
So he was in interested. He was getting jumped all over at the center bounces. I have no doubt that come round one, it's going to be completely different, full intensity. He'll be having a crack. He did play origin, but it is a concern when you've got Max Heath, who is a VFL level ruckman at this stage of his career, jumping all over him in the center bounces and really giving Melbourne the edge there. So Cherry, talk to me.
00:50:24
Lew
Well, firstly on those Melbourne boys, I think where I'm most comfortable is trading into one of these guys that pops after seeing it early in the first couple of rounds. They all present a little bit of value. So that's where I sit on them. Tristan Sherry, yeah, there would have to be a little bit of concern here. I think he may even be just representing a fair price.
00:50:44
Lew
I've been pretty keen on him having a little bit of upside, but... We are seeing a lot of teams, they're starting to shift towards those more athletic ruckmen. Realistically, we don't know where that's going to land. It might just be a bit of a fat in the preseason and and it's back to to regular programming in in round one or round zero. But Checkers, obviously a fantastic ruckman himself, did put out some content this week on on Twitter and mentioned that Tristan Sherry, he just didn't look...
00:51:13
Lew
confident and he was actually looking a little bit frustrated just that Max Heath was able to get up over the top of him and and really dominate some of that. Certainly the center bounces in the rucks. So yeah, there's a slight little flag there hoping that he can do a little bit of homework and figure out how he can best attack that center bounce. He's still going to dominate around stoppage as we know, um as we know he does. That's sort of where he makes his bread and butter, but yeah,
00:51:39
Lew
Yeah, I wouldn't have him as stocks down. I would just have him high up the watch list for next week.
00:51:45
Holmesy
Yeah, no, don't mind that at all. I'm still monitoring. You can't not with that run that they have to start the year from a Ruck perspective. Maybe it's a good thing that others are jumping off in a bit of game theory here that is going to be less highly owned if you do decide to go that way. But it definitely is a flag and we need to monitor that over the next week. Moving on to Adelaide and Port Adelaide.
00:52:05
Holmesy
We'll start with the Ruck battle. McAndrew versus Vicentini. To my eye, it looked like McAndrew well and truly had Vicentini covered at least for the first half. He was getting around the ground, winning the winning the taps, taking some good contested marks.
00:52:20
Holmesy
Lou, I suppose we we don't have too much time, but is he still your r two
00:52:25
Lew
No, he's not. He's slid back to r three It's interesting you did say that Briggsie was sort of stocked down for a few people. He was actually straight back into my team once I saw he was fit. I was a bit worried about some management stuff a couple of weeks ago and he made his way out, but um a little bit more comfortable comfortable with him at R3. And I think it's a good sign as well that Both the um Crows Rucks and Port Rucks, the the main guys, Rob and Sweet from last year, were playing in the twos. We'll see if that's the case next week. But maybe a sign of confidence, perhaps maybe just more of an audition to see how they float whether they float or swim.
00:53:08
Holmesy
Yeah, I wasn't very impressed with Vicentini and clearly we're going to see it again this week. He has shown, albeit from a small sample size, that he can score at AFL level. So not willing to write him off just yet, but wasn't super impressed with his impact.
00:53:23
Holmesy
Myles Bergman had the CBA role, looked to be staying in first gear. So that's a tick for me. I did like at times when even when he was in the midfield, he tended to float back a bit to be that extra guy in defense to help out behind the ball, which can lead to some more uncontested marks around the ground. So happy, happy there. Lou, you liked Will Brodie. I wasn't as impressed, but...
00:53:45
Holmesy
where We'll quickly jump ahead to stocks down with Jason Horne-Francis going off in that second quarter with that foot injury. Can't be a good sign. It is leading to Will Brodie being there in round one, hopefully as a ah midfielder priced at 44. But yeah, did you like the game from him? Because I wasn't as impressed.
00:54:04
Lew
I wasn't sure on him, really. It was a very ah sort of open game, which isn't going to favour Brodie. We know that he can score when he's given the opportunity, but I was a little bit surprised that his waffle numbers maybe weren't as as high as what I was expecting, so Hopefully he can replicate something a little bit nicer at AFL level, but he's another one who's very, very high up the watch list because if he's given that first crack in the midfield, he's one that can really capitalize. And from a 467K price point, he can you know he can go 75, 80 and really make us some quick money, even regardless of that round three wines return.
00:54:46
Holmesy
Yep. The other one I just want to put on the on the radar, and apologies to some of the listeners who have actually been spruiking this guy's name in some of the questions. We just haven't got around to speaking about him. But Braden Cook now has been a forward at AFL level before, and but sounds like he has moved back in defense and and has been training there. And to the eye, it looked like he was in that halfback role, maybe a little bit of wing. The reason that I like him, Harmi, you're shaking your head, is that he's a mid-forward.
00:55:14
Holmesy
priced at 344. So priced around that 34 mark. We don't have a lot of mid-forward guys, rookies that we can swing around. So being mature age, if he can lock down that role, you know, it seems like there's a spot there at the moment with Keane going down, Hinge being a bit sore. If they decide to restructure a bit and and play a more of a running halfback, i know Chase Jones was back there and he actually looked quite good as well, but just wanted to put that on the radar for the listeners. But,
00:55:41
Holmesy
Quickly before we move on, Harmy, stocks down. Another one of Louis' boys, Todd Marshall, didn't come on until the second half. Barely touched it. We're getting the big thumbs down from Harmy on the on the podcast. So, Louis, unfortunately, you're have to remove Marshall from your side. Last game, Freo versus Eagles on Saturday.
00:56:01
Holmesy
Stocks up. ummiard He's not really stocks up, but at the same time, he is stocks up until we see Sean Darcy return from this calf injury. And who knows when that will be. So as long as Darcy's not training, it is stocks up. But Luke Jackson, did you like what you saw?
00:56:15
Jon Harmey
Did you already write these notes?
00:56:18
Holmesy
Yeah.
00:56:19
Jon Harmey
Yeah. Ah, look, I don't know. It's predictable, isn't it? he When he is the R1, he scores really well. So we just don't see that consistently throughout the season.
00:56:31
Lew
Reading the tea leaves, all these clubs, they're putting in the athletic ruckman. Fremantle have the goat of athletic ruckman over over the last sort of year or two. i think they're just missing a trick not to play this guy as as the main ruck and as that extra midfielder.
00:56:43
Jon Harmey
It's stupid. stupid, isn't it?
00:56:48
Lew
you know Conversely, if if the big rucks are getting sort of eaten alive a little bit by the athletic ones, or Sean Darcy is just you know the poster boy of that.
00:56:59
Lew
Yeah, and look, to be honest, these new ruck rules, he might not even make it past halftime of round one with with athletic rucks jumping into him. I think I'd be worried for those PCLs.
00:57:09
Holmesy
I think that the the big or the good thing sorry is that if Freya were really going down this path of Jackson being the full-time midfielder and and not really rucking too much, surely Mason Cox would have played as the main ruck and then Luke Jackson would have been the backup on the weekend, but that didn't happen.
00:57:26
Holmesy
So I think that's that's ah that's a good thing, but we'll see how it lines up this week. It is claim claimed that Darcy is going to be back this week for for some minutes in the practice match. Lou, you've got your hand up, so...
00:57:38
Lew
Look, all I'm saying is if Darcy and Jackson line up round one and Darcy's a bit average and Jackson kills it, I guarantee Kane Corns already has an article written right now that he's just going to press send on and it's going to be the first thing that's discussed 6am Monday morning.
00:57:45
Holmesy
you
00:57:49
Holmesy
ah
00:57:55
Lew
I'm telling you, he's got it in the gun.
00:57:56
Holmesy
Yeah, yeah. but I'm with you. I'm with you. Jordan Clark without Ryan, who played in the twos. I'm not seeing as much of the Jordan Clark love as maybe some of the others are in the community. think he's a great player, but the the evidence suggests for 18 months now that Freo have changed away from that chip game style.
00:58:15
Holmesy
And that's had Jordan Clark as that 90 defender and he gets tagged at times. So yes, there might be a kick in bump at some stage, but I still think, Lou, you hate it, but I would much rather Luke Ryan kicking out and trying to find Jordan Clark than Jordan Clark just kicking out from full back and and hitting a short little kick. So yeah, you like him though.
00:58:36
Lew
Yeah, I mean, like's a strong word. I just think that if Luke Ryan's not playing in in the first couple of rounds, there's a couple of kick-ins up for grabs and and there's some meat on the bone at that 90 price point. But um yeah, I'm not heaps bullish from a seasonal sort of aspect. I can agree with you that he might be closer to that 90.
00:58:58
Holmesy
So stocks up. Dev Rob, actually liked his game. Now, clearly Eagles had a few of their best 22 guys out as well. Didn't have huge center bounces. I think it was 40% for the game. But when he wasn't in the center bounce, he was playing on a wing.
00:59:12
Holmesy
And his role as the winger was to be around the stoppage, around the gap around the ground. so if he's there round one, don't even think about it. Just just select him. Whether it's F6 or F7 is a debate that we'll have later on. But I really liked Dev Rob's game.
00:59:26
Holmesy
Willem Dersmer, number one pick, had the wing role and looked very electric early. I think he got four or five stats very early in the game, which included a goal from outside 50 off two steps. But then we saw what it's probably going to be like for a winger at the Eagles where he went large portions of the game without really impacting or scoring. So at an elevated rookie price at 35, I'm not really sure I want to go there at the moment, but...
00:59:51
Holmesy
Roll was a tick and he will be there in round one, no doubt. Who won't be there in round one? Stocks down. Finn McRae didn't play, so I highly doubt he's going to be there.
01:00:01
Holmesy
And Harry Schoenberg, who only really snuck onto our radar with a match sim training session where the reporters started talking about him, didn't have any CBAs really, played that half-forward role, was un really unsighted, Harmey.
01:00:16
Holmesy
I can't really see us picking a Harry Schoenberg to start the year as much as we love the mature age guys.
01:00:22
Jon Harmey
Well, he'll get another go at it this weekend. We'll see what he does. But, yeah, I don't know. i think it would be a bit surprising if he was in our teams. But we'll see.
01:00:32
Lew
I thought that Jacob Newton, who's a 230k forward, actually looked okay. Did you did you read much into that, Holmesy?
01:00:40
Holmesy
Did some nice things. um I remember him he took ah a good mark and I think he got a goal, but I just had to look at to see who he actually was he was. Was he picked up in the mid-season draft last year?
01:00:50
Lew
Yeah, mid-season. So, he's I mean, he's 19, but call him a mature age. Noah Long, who I guess floated in and out of that team a little bit, went down with that pretty horrific injury.
01:01:00
Lew
So, perhaps there's ah there's a spot opening up for him there. But, look, ah I'm begging for a 230K forward at the moment just to to fill out on that bench because even the ones we're paying up for, you know, Doverston, 290, Harrison, 300.
01:01:08
Jon Harmey
Hmm.
01:01:15
Lew
These are guys playing a very similar role. So, if I can make... 70, 80K and use that elsewhere. I'm all for it.
01:01:24
Holmesy
Yeah, no, don't mind that calling. You're right. So Noah Long out for the year with that knee injury. Not an ACL, but bad enough to be out for the year. So potential spot up for grabs. Now, this one's probably a bit harsh.
01:01:35
Holmesy
I suppose it is probably stocks up because he did play and looked good at times. Did get a bit of distributing, few kickouts and looked okay. But... Josh Lindsay, Louis, there was no Brady Hoff. There was no Stasevich. There was no Liam Baker. You've got Jack Graham, Elijah Hewitt, who aren't defenders, but are going to come back into that side as being best 23.
01:01:59
Holmesy
It's a bit of a flag. We're going to see it this week again, hopefully. I'm still not convinced that Lindsay is going to be an option for us in defence.
01:02:06
Lew
No, I think I agree with you, Holmes, Ian. looks like Ryan Marich is going to make a bit of a return to that back line too, who, you know, when he's in form, he's really quite quite talented. He's got a super boot on him too. So, um yeah, I'm a little bit concerned on that one. I'm not as high as some others and, you know, being that part of that West Coast system, it's, you know, it's a tough one to score and it might go the way of ah what was his name last year, Alan.
01:02:34
Lew
where Eagles fans really wanted him in, but was just sort of biding his time in the twos.
01:02:41
Holmesy
Yeah. Stocks up. Forgot to mention Tom McCarthy, full-time midfielder. Looked good. He will tackle. He will he will get around in the ground. He's an aerobic beast. Nothing's changed for me. I still struggle to see him putting up top six defender numbers as a midfielder in that Eagle side.
01:02:56
Holmesy
But no doubt the role was a tick and we get to see it again this week. So I can understand why coaches are going there, Lou.
01:03:02
Lew
No, Elliot Yeo, love. I know you were some fleeting interest a couple of weeks ago.
01:03:08
Holmesy
yeah No, Elliot Yeo, love. He played forward and then he did go in the midfield at times. But for for listeners of the show, just a quick, quick story. So we we held a draft on the weekend and Sam is in my draft league and he's sitting behind me.
01:03:24
Holmesy
And all I hear is, oh, no, I'm going to do it, aren't I? Oh, I'm going to hate this. And then all of a sudden, Elliot Yeo picked 90 as his M4 when he'd taken Adam Chera as his M3.
01:03:36
Jon Harmey
90. Seems high.
01:03:40
Lew
Oh, geez, he's not going to have a midfield.
01:03:40
Jon Harmey
Yeah.
01:03:42
Lew
He's going to be like the Melbourne Demons.
01:03:45
Holmesy
Yeah. there are it
01:03:45
Lew
no no No, Tim Kelly mentioned, Harmi. What's going on? Had the mid-clock.
01:03:49
Jon Harmey
Oh, Holmesy was doing the rundown. Obviously, I would have mentioned him number one, most relevant, stocks up, because he had 50% CBA. So, Holmesy, what more do you want?
01:04:00
Holmesy
maybe for him to be a few years younger and and actually love playing football, but we'll, yeah, I mean, stocks up fine. Yeah. He's he in the, he's a forward for us price at 63 had good CBAs and and did look good at times, but ah yeah, we'll see how that lines up this week.
01:04:15
Holmesy
At least time, if we get a second week in a row, maybe you can, maybe convince can convince me, but
01:04:19
Jon Harmey
Yep.
01:04:20
Holmesy
That is going to wrap us up there. That's been a pretty comprehensive wrap of all of the unofficial practice matches. We are going to look at all of the practice matches this week. As we know, they're more official. There will be stats from Champion Data.
01:04:35
Holmesy
We'll get proper time on ground stats. The lists, I hope, will be cut a little bit more in line of the 23, which we're likely to see come opening round in round one. Lou, just quickly before you sign off, what's one thing you're really looking forward to watching this week?
01:04:49
Lew
Time on ground. I want to see how long players are actually on the ground. The points per minute is essentially what I'm looking for this week for sure.
01:05:00
Holmesy
Yep, 100%. All right, that's going to be it for us. Make sure you're following us on X at PodPod AFL. Make sure you subscribe to us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so that you get notified whenever we drop a new podcast.
01:05:15
Holmesy
As I mentioned, it's only two weeks now until opening round begins. We're right around the corner from the AFL fantasy season kicking off and it's starting to get real now. So we'll be back next week with another comprehensive review.
01:05:26
Holmesy
Bye.