What was the dream? What IS the dream??

[mjp]

I have to admit, once the Wilkie discussions ended I've been pretty disinterested in Trade Week. I guess upon reflection our 'DREAMS' were:

#1 - Game changing mid (aka Butters)
#2 - "best of breed" key back (Wilkie)
#3 - Small defender (Budarick)
#4 - 'Extra' mid with a speed endurance type running capacity (Robertson, Knevitt).

Without trying to over analyse everything I've read and heard, that seems to have been the dream scenario. To that you then add:

Draft #1: 1st round pick (who I'm guessing will be a mid with attacking skills)
Draft #2: Darcy
Full-stop.

When you look at that top list with a 1/4 success rate, I kind of understand the angst around the whole "the club isn't doing enough" commentary I'm reading, but if you go through it:

1/. Game Changing Mid

Look at what's happening with in-contract Zac Merrett. If the club doesn't want to release him, well...they don't have too. I totally understand the "Get Butters Now" lobby but he just has never seemed to be the guy who would come out and say "I demand you trade me now". And if he wasn't gonna do that (which I guess is part of his personality people love) then Port weren't gonna trade him. He's their best player, they have a new coach and they need to sell memberships too.

2/. Key back.

This is hard. I think we had a good shake at Wilkie and Silvagni but missed out. With Silvagni it seemed financial, with Wilkie he seemed to want to stay with his mates at the Saints. What can you do? I get the whole "do it earlier" lobby - cool. But remember the last time you read about an in-contract player adding another 2-years to his deal in the middle of a season? Why do you think he did that? Cos another club went to his manager with an offer...the manager went to his current club and "Hey Presto - Here's a good news story social media"...I understand the whole "Get someone else" argument but if what we've already got is as good as 'someone else' - guys like Butts, Aleer, Young - I mean...how many tall backs do Footscray need to trot out there each week?

3/. Small defender.

Got Budarick. Cool. Probably paid overs for an un-contracted player but the deal is done so....cool.

4/. Speed Endurance Mid

I mean - we had a good crack at Robertson but he's just been sitting behind Neale, McCluggage et al and the thought of coming to the Dogs who have Bont, Richards, Libber was just too hard a sell. Knevitt I'm surprised at but again - if you cant get a game ahead of Jhye Clarke are you getting one over Matt Kennedy??

The key to me (obviously) is the development of Busslinger, JOD, Hynes and Dolan.

If that all goes 'to plan' - it's gonna be fine. If we hit a speed bump though,...

What do you guys think? Have we stuffed it up or just tried to play the odds?

[Aidan7557]

No key back is a killer for me. Hard to see JOD and Buss improving enough and I think both are 2nd or 3rd talls then a number one even at their peaks. I'm pretty flat right now although happy with Budarick who I think will start in 2026. Not too bothered about mids but still anxious about our small forwards. Hard to see 2026 being much different to 2025 unless those key backs dramatically improve and our fringe guys can be replaced with dolan, hynes, sellwood and we get big internal improvement. Sure we will be a scoring machine again and fun to watch for neutrals but we really haven't fired a shot against the best for a while now. Not sure we have improved enough in the trade period to change this.

[mjp]

Not sure we have improved enough in the trade period to change this.

With Wilkie gone, who did you want?

[Aidan7557]

With Wilkie gone, who did you want?

Butts. Just a believer in him and his upside at his age. I think we should have given a first or future first round pick for him. Hopefully I will look like an idiot for saying that in 2026 but that is just what I think right now. I still think we should at least get Sam Frost for depth at worst to support the key back room.

[chef]

Yeah not improving our key backs is a season killer.

Hopefully we can pinch a lower 8 spot and not embarrass ourselves in the finals, maybe win one.

[Vred]

Not sure we have improved enough in the trade period to change this.

It's not that we've improved, but one could argue with the (upcomming) loss of Buku, JUH and Jones delisting, we have gone backwards whilst those around us have somewhat moved forward.
Really curious to see how the club spin this...

[Bulldog Joe]

I think supporters are overly negative.

We were very close in the season gone despite not being able to got over 7 of the top 8.

Not much needed to change.

We did give up 2 games to Freo with dreadful second quarters and did the same at Geelong.

If we can improve our defensive system (not sure Bevo has this in his coaching manual) or simply reduce the turnovers we concede we are right in the mix.

WE should get improvement from a few players
Sam Darcy - will get stronger and have less bad days
JOD - work in progress but it is progress.
Croft - Could be something special with his size and speed.
Hynes - Has got something
Dolan - shows great promise
Davidson - surely is better from the experience gained

Then we have Sellwood and Walker from the mid-season as well as Jaques giving additional hope

I think there is lots to look forward to.

[mjp]

Butts. Just a believer in him and his upside at his age. I think we should have given a first or future first round pick for him. Hopefully I will look like an idiot for saying that in 2026 but that is just what I think right now. I still think we should at least get Sam Frost for depth at worst to support the key back room.

I don't see it with Butts but that's OK. We're all different!

I can get the disappointment if you believe he is an option - I'm just relieved we didn't pick him up FULL STOP let alone trading a first rounder...

[Mantis]

Yeah not improving our key backs is a season killer.

Hopefully we can pinch a lower 8 spot and not embarrass ourselves in the finals, maybe win one.

Or maybe we implement a more rounded game style, and we don't leave our defensive group exposed like they were this year.

We have enough tools to make the jump from 9th to a top 4 team.... another KD would be nice, but I don't see it being a limiting factor to success.

[Bornadog]

Butts. Just a believer in him and his upside at his age. I think we should have given a first or future first round pick for him. Hopefully I will look like an idiot for saying that in 2026 but that is just what I think right now. I still think we should at least get Sam Frost for depth at worst to support the key back room.

Big no to Sam Frost, would have preferred Jai Serong

[mjp]

Or maybe we implement more rounded game style, and we don't leave our defensive group exposed like they were this year.

We have enough tools to make the jump from 9th to a top 4 team.... another KD would be nice, but I don't see it being a limiting factor to success.

A gun key defender would be nice. Like you though, I don't think the list is lacking. Lobb,. JOD and Buss are more than competent enough. Further, all 3 are new to the role and should be improving.

[Mofra]

Big no to Sam Frost, would have preferred Jai Serong

Jai Serong can play - but he's no KPD.

I'd be happy to add Sam Frost for one year because as much as I believe in Busslinger, I'm just not convinced the kid is ready for 22 games next year. We lose Khamis & likely Coffield, Gardner is our only mature depth, and Walker/Will darcy will be too raw to realistically try back there. I think Frost would release JoD to a more 'suitable' opponent/role.

I do understand the club were looking at versatile mids too - but isn't that what we got Harmes for? Sonny over his injuries, another pre-season into Sanders - I actually think it's less of a need. Especially if by some miracle Grlj falls to us on draft day.

[Bornadog]

Jai Serong can play - but he's no KPD.

I'd be happy to add Sam Frost for one year because as much as I believe in Busslinger, I'm just not convinced the kid is ready for 22 games next year. We lose Khamis & likely Coffield, Gardner is our only mature depth, and Walker/Will darcy will be too raw to realistically try back there. I think Frost would release JoD to a more 'suitable' opponent/role.

I do understand the club were looking at versatile mids too - but isn't that what we got Harmes for? Sonny over his injuries, another pre-season into Sanders - I actually think it's less of a need. Especially if by some miracle Grlj falls to us on draft day.

If we were thinking of Frost, should have gone for May or kept Jones

[josie]

I think supporters are overly negative.

We were very close in the season gone despite not being able to got over 7 of the top 8.

Not much needed to change.

We did give up 2 games to Freo with dreadful second quarters and did the same at Geelong.

If we can improve our defensive system (not sure Bevo has this in his coaching manual) or simply reduce the turnovers we concede we are right in the mix.

WE should get improvement from a few players
Sam Darcy - will get stronger and have less bad days
JOD - work in progress but it is progress.
Croft - Could be something special with his size and speed.
Hynes - Has got something
Dolan - shows great promise
Davidson - surely is better from the experience gained

Then we have Sellwood and Walker from the mid-season as well as Jaques giving additional hope

I think there is lots to look forward to.

Agree BJ.

I think Jacques is super talented and quick too. These young ones need to fill out a bit of size without compromising speed & evasive skills too much. The future looks bright, break out the spandex jackets, one for everyone. What a beautiful world this will be…

Would still like to grab a tall defender as backup though, if there’s one that is good enough.

[MrMahatma]

The list boss said on the Danny Boyd poddy that Buss has never done a full preseason.

He’s not done yet and outside of bringing in a fully formed, better player, I’m happy to not have a fully formed plodder just getting in the way of his development.

I’ve wondered about the need to bringing too much in. Small defender was a need, and if we could jag an A-grader KPD or mid, then would’ve been happy, but… next year we get Cody Weightman back, and hopefully Treloar plays more. And we all expect genuine improvement in Freja, Darcy, Croft et al.

Im glad we kept our picks.

I think teams are finding their list build groove. Pies and Cats don’t draft. We almost exclusively do. Hawks do free agents, Saints over pay….

I reckon we’ll be ok.