Who would you have JMac target this year?

[The Bulldogs Bite]

He's no sure thing but my biggest knock on him is that he can't quite time his contested marks attempts. Just seems to lose things when the ball is in the air. I don't quite see the attraction.

I also hope we keep both Crameri and Cloke

Agreed - he occasionally plucks some strong marks but he's probably similar to Stringer and Crameri in that regard.

I think he's more of a leading forward who plays closer to goal.

The reality is we wouldn't be getting him with an intention of getting 40 goals out of him. We have a severe lack of depth, particularly in the forward half and it's been proven you need role players. We forget he is a Premiership player, meaning that he was able to fulfil a role for one of the best sides of the modern era.

He does have some flexibility in that he can go down back - not the greatest defender, but he would have got plenty of games with us this season given our injuries.

IIRC he's a free agent so we wouldn't need to cough up anything. He's 26 with good skills, there's definitely merit in entertaining the idea.

As for Cloke, I think he should retire. Played well v Port but not in the way a key forward should/typically does and he's not going to have many games where he's roving packs to kick goals. He's barely taken a mark all year.

Crameri is an interesting one. Originally I was surprised at the talk of letting him go, but 2 years out of the game is a long time and there have been questions over his application.

[Ozza]

If Bevo wants him then its good enough for me. Even if Bevo thought it was a good idea to dig up EJ and get him on the field Weekend At Bernie's style, i'd still back bevo in. Been a tough year no doubt but i haven't lost faith in our genius coach.

Who said anything about losing faith in the coach?

[Happy Days]

Nathan Brown would have been a perfect fit in 2017 and most scoffed at his name in the off season. We need KPP depth, we'll have list spots available. Why not?

Nathan Brown would not have been a perfect fit in 2017, unless we were actually planning on coming 9-12th. He's one of the least versatile talls in the game today; look at his "defence" on Stringer in the game we shredded them in.

Schoenmakers is terrible and has been terrible for nearly a decade. WHY ARE WE STILL DOING THIS TO OURSELVES.

[Remi Moses]

Dylan Roberton out of contract at St comedy club , any interest?

[G-Mo77]

Nathan Brown would not have been a perfect fit in 2017, unless we were actually planning on coming 9-12th. He's one of the least versatile talls in the game today; look at his "defence" on Stringer in the game we shredded them in.

Schoenmakers is terrible and has been terrible for nearly a decade. WHY ARE WE STILL DOING THIS TO OURSELVES.

Why play him on Stringer in the first place? That's on their coach if that happened.

9th or 12th? We're there now so I don't get your point.

I would have loved to have a big bodied defender on Patton and Dixon in the last couple of weeks. Brown would have fit in nicely because of our injuries and probably played more than Cloke did for us.

Schoenmakers is not going to bullet us back into the top 8 but he'll add some much needed depth. We drafted far to raw last season instead of bolstering what we already had. We lost our depth in the process and lost our way. He'll come for free and is cheap, at the expense of who? If it doesn't work out then we throw him back in the pond.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Let's remember Brown is only 195cm tall. He wouldn't be able to go with the big key forwards such as Daniher and Dixon for height anyway.

[Happy Days]

Why play him on Stringer in the first place? That's on their coach if that happened.

9th or 12th? We're there now so I don't get your point.

I would have loved to have a big bodied defender on Patton and Dixon in the last couple of weeks. Brown would have fit in nicely because of our injuries and probably played more than Cloke did for us.

Schoenmakers is not going to bullet us back into the top 8 but he'll add some much needed depth. We drafted far to raw last season instead of bolstering what we already had. We lost our depth in the process and lost our way. He'll come for free and is cheap, at the expense of who? If it doesn't work out then we throw him back in the pond.

My point is I don't rate these guys and we shouldn't pick them up, because it's just stocking the list with guys who at best can get us to where we finish when we perform far below expectations. It's pretty much our list management strategy from 1955-2014 and it has long proven to get you nowhere.

Is Schoenmakers any different to Roberts? Is Brown? It's a waste of time, and if this is what we've allegedly abandoned pursuit of Lever for then it's bitterly disappointing.

[G-Mo77]

C'mon. You seriously think we're saying no to Lever because Scoenmakers is available?

[G-Mo77]

Let's remember Brown is only 195cm tall. He wouldn't be able to go with the big key forwards such as Daniher and Dixon for height anyway.

Strong as a bull though.

[Happy Days]

C'mon. You seriously think we're saying no to Lever because Scoenmakers is available?

No; we've said that we've pulled our offer to Lever because it was delaying our list management strategy. If this is the list management strategy then it's dumbfounding.

[jeemak]

No; we've said that we've pulled our offer to Lever because it was delaying our list management strategy. If this is the list management strategy then it's dumbfounding.

Did we confirm we've pulled out of the Lever race?

[bulldogtragic]

Did we confirm we've pulled out of the Lever race?

Media said so, that we pulled our offer. Later that day, Brian Taylor (known family for a long time) said he didn't believe that the dogs were out of it. .???.?.

[bornadog]

Did we confirm we've pulled out of the Lever race?

The media did, so it must be right.

[G-Mo77]

No; we've said that we've pulled our offer to Lever because it was delaying our list management strategy. If this is the list management strategy then it's dumbfounding.

OK so we wait for Lever until the 11th hr and watch him go somewhere else leaving us with tally whacker in hand. That worked out great for us last year.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Why play him on Stringer in the first place? That's on their coach if that happened.

9th or 12th? We're there now so I don't get your point.

I would have loved to have a big bodied defender on Patton and Dixon in the last couple of weeks. Brown would have fit in nicely because of our injuries and probably played more than Cloke did for us.

Schoenmakers is not going to bullet us back into the top 8 but he'll add some much needed depth. We drafted far to raw last season instead of bolstering what we already had. We lost our depth in the process and lost our way. He'll come for free and is cheap, at the expense of who? If it doesn't work out then we throw him back in the pond.

It's a supporters myth that you can only trade for high end talent.

As you pointed out, we need depth - we lost much of it last season.

Was Minson, Hamling, Hrovat or Stevens the difference between a flag and missing finals? Obviously not - but all fulfilled crucial roles at different times due to form of others and injuries around them. When we were battered in the last quarter of the season, Hrovat had a decent contribution.

This year - those four are gone and they've been replaced with kids (English, Lipinski now) or more out of form players (How many times has Smith been in and out this year? Sadly we haven't had many other options).

We are desperate for some more depth and Shoenmakers would provide that whilst costing us nothing in terms of a trade. These are exactly the types of list changes we need to look at.