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September 16, 2025 • 72 mins

It's preliminary finals week, but before we preview two of the most enticing matchups of the season, we take a deep dive into what won and lost the semi-finals, Behm has all the latest on the Zach Merrett saga and the rest of the trade news, we react to the news of State of Origin footy's return, Rhys has a big scalp for his Donkey of the Week, plus we debate and break down the pre-finals bye and how the AFL should restructure the post-season!

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Everyone welcome back to 0 Access Footy episode #30 I am
here once again joined with Bam Gaddy, otherwise known as the
Premiership Quarter. How you doing my friend?
I'm doing pretty good, pretty good, pretty good.
That's nice little nice little ring to you to your step at the
moment. Nice little ring to your.
Step at the moment. You've you've been enjoying,
enjoying the week of footy so far and what we've got coming up

(00:23):
a little bit. Yeah, yeah.
I'm a bit indifferent to it, butof course we're going to have a
look as to how last week went before we get talking about what
we are looking at in terms of our prelim final match ups.
We are two weeks away from finding out who is the best team
in 2025, but we've got to go through the semis first.
So with the semi finals of course round #1 pause.

(00:46):
Come on now. Come on now.
You said it, not me. With game one, we had ourselves
Adelaide versus Hawthorne. This was a one versus 8 match up
with eight coming home the winner.
And yet again, another one of Bem's bold predictions.
Hey. Include yourself in that.
I did get a little bit of prediction in that, but yours is
much more spot on. I said whoever lost that would

(01:08):
go out in straight sets. You specifically said Adelaide.
I did and look, look what's happened.
They have gone out in straight sets to a Hawk side that I also
said are guaranteed lock top four.
I guess they've technically donethat now.
Spot on mate. Yeah, they're made.
Of freelance, so they're top, top four locked technically, but
just there's a lot of questions that this game now brings up in

(01:29):
terms of Adelaide and their future.
You don't feel like it's over now, like their chances go on,
but this is another opportunity that they hadn't had since 2017
that they've now let go by the wayside.
Hopefully it doesn't all go to go to hell like I did last time.
But this is a very, very interesting scenario now because

(01:53):
all the praise that we were giving them heading into the
final series, it's completely wiped.
It's it's very unfortunate and it comes off some pretty
ordinary performances. And I want to quickly mention
the two probably worst performances in the side, Mark
Kane and Nick Murray. Yeah, Mark Kane.
Deplorable. Well.
We can talk about it though I think with.

(02:14):
Mark Kane and I've seen, I've actually seen some combative
responses in terms of the peoplewho have criticised Mark Kane's
play because by no means was it good, but his team around him
did not really help him at all. And that's probably emphasised
the most with Nick Murray. To me, Murray was probably the
worst player out there on that night, despite how obvious

(02:36):
Kane's mistakes were. You know, kicking to kicking to
awful contests. Yeah, not much thinking in what
he does. But The thing is, Kane's getting
away with that stuff. Kane usually gets away with
that. And also the talent within the
side has allowed him to do what he does regularly.
He's obviously bitten off more than he can chew a lot more
often than he hasn't in this game.

(02:58):
And it's looked really bad. But Nick Murray had I think
finished with four or six disposals as a Bachman who look,
his role isn't to rack up disposals, but at the same time
his job is to lock down his immediate opponent.
And Jack Gunston kicked 5 on himwith a pretty ordinary
performance from Lewis as well. I'd consider that Kane was on

(03:18):
Gunston for most of. It you think so?
Yeah. From everything that I watched,
at least, it seems more Mark Kane's role.
And I thought it was a really interesting match up going into
it because it felt that it couldhave been Worrell and he was the
one who was on him in the earliest earlier match up, just
a few weeks ago actually. And I thought he was all right,
made a few mistakes, but after the first quarter sort of was

(03:40):
able to get back into it. And I think positionally it
works better for Worrell, but also play style.
You know, when you consider Gunston, he's not that one on
one body. He's going to push you out and
taking a contestant Mark, he's going to hit up on the lead,
he's going to get you around theground and he's going to make
you move. Mark Kane isn't going to be able
to go with that, whereas Joshua will.

(04:01):
And I thought that was poor coaching for Matthew Nicks to
continue with that. I think obviously Nick Murray
was bad but in the last two weeks, obviously against
Adelaide, I'm sorry, against Collingwood and now against
Hawthorne, it's the key backs that have really failed them,
really failed when you consider last.
Week. I can't emphasise that enough.
Yeah, When you consider last week that they brought in Mason
Cox and he helped the huge pot, it's a bit difficult to sort of

(04:23):
see how and they, I mentioned itlast week how they went for two
V twos instead of 1 V ones. Even in A1V1 this week they
weren't good enough. And I think when that was their
key pillar for a lot of their success.
And when that fails, obviously you're not going to be able to
do what you did all year. It's super unfortunate because I
was really, really on a lot of high prize for Matthew Nicks,
but it's clear to say that he was, I mean, outclassed from we

(04:47):
had talked about last week, a really, really impressive coach
in Sam Mitchell, not just on thefield, but now we know off the
field he's been ridiculously good coach, but.
I I just want to touch quickly on on Matthew Nicks because I
was listening to Isaac Cummings post game interview with three
IW and he was saying that he thequote that it was, is a bit

(05:08):
insular with the way we moved our mag and then said the ball.
And I felt like he was trying tosay with the way we moved our
magnets, which leads into coaching performance.
Whereas with the way we tried tomove the ball, which is more of
a. Game plan.
Game plan, which obviously comesfrom the coach, but also how the
players enforced it. I thought that was really
interesting and that he almost had a slip up and I feel that

(05:29):
was almost directed towards the coach.
So very interesting stuff there if that is true.
Yeah, I mean that is, look, I can see where you're coming
from, but it's very much diggingat using straws to dig that
makes. Sense having zero access.
It's what you call. Yeah, that is a very, very good
point. But what also surprised me about
Adelaide's response to this lossin particular is how quick they

(05:50):
were able to be brutally honest with themselves about Isaac
Rankin's situation. Now that they're out in the
straight sets. They laid it pretty bare to
everyone that they relied very heavily on Rankin and he very
much opens up how they like to play.
And while that's definitely not something we can disagree with,
I think we all can agree Rankin plays a very valuable role
within that side. You waited until now to bring

(06:12):
that up. I get that you don't want to let
distractions get in the way, butit's been a pretty outward
distraction. You could have been very, very
honest with that distraction much earlier on, and especially
with the fact that there'd been,you know, news about how Rankin
didn't address the team before he left on his international
trip. I can't remember where exactly,
but that's Rome. Yeah.

(06:33):
It's not important either way. He didn't address the group
anyway until he got back to address the group.
It's like something he could have nipped in the butt straight
away and they didn't. And it's like they've been
pushing it on and on and on, andit's like, as soon as this
season was over, like, yeah, no,it's a problem.
You could have told that a long time ago, but you guys are only
now just being brutally honest with yourself.
Something something internally. Again, it's internally must.

(06:56):
Have been the. Switch yeah, it's it's something
internally that this club alwaysseems to get themselves caught
up on. And yeah, 2017 is the best
example. I can give up where it all
happened internally, but it's happened again in a way that so
easily avoidable, so easily avoidable, and it's like they
made a wrong turn in every single situation.
Yeah. So lots of negatives we could go

(07:16):
into. I just before we get to praising
Hawthorne because they were sublime, I do sort of click
quickly want to talk about that late forwards because there's
been a lot of talk about potentially Tex Walker not being
there next year. The 2 finals showed Phil
Thorpe's going to be a gun. We know that.
But Darcy Foggery, there are a lot of question marks.
Foggery is a big question mark, yeah.
There are a lot of questions if he and Walker Phil Thorpe can

(07:37):
play together as a two man partnership.
My thinking with Foggery is he'sbeen very injury prone this year
at times. I'm thinking he's been carrying
an injury into these finals thatthey haven't.
If to me, if you're playing, you're fine, I get.
That I get the idea You're fine enough to play, so surely you
can't use that as an excuse. But we've seen players play with
broken hands and. Yeah.
But we've, we've known that likewe haven't really known anything

(08:00):
Fogarty. So I think, I don't think
there's too much of an excuse there.
I just know that he's had a little bit of injury niggles in
the lead up to the the game. Oh sorry to the final series.
So I'm thinking maybe he's just trying to fight something off
like that. But I now want to move to the
Hawks because something quite incredible is starting to be
noticed within this Hawk side. The mid season draught pickups,

(08:23):
the mid season poster boy at this point, but he's creating
quite the finals legacy. I even call it Jamal Muriesque
where he absolutely steps it up when it comes to playoffs and
finals time because he isn't themost important player on the
team. My God, is he important.
But like you think of how good this thing could be with Will
Day doing this without Will day.There were times we've been

(08:45):
saying that no, no will Day, no Hawks.
They're in the prelim final without Will Day.
That is seriously impressive. And I don't always say it's
nearly entirely because of John Newcomb's massive step up in the
midfield. Because now, agreed.
Hawthorne have been able to pushso much more ball action into
the forward 50. Gunston ends up with five.

(09:07):
Ginnivan is more and more. I think in this game he wasn't
as involved, but Nick Watson stepped it up a little bit.
But Newcomb's play is not just impressing people, it's
comparing him to some of the best who's ever played in
finals. Well on that champion data and
came out during the week that hewas the second player ever in
his first to have 3 finals in a row where he was the number one

(09:29):
hired rated player in the game. You know who else that number,
that number one was? Probably Dusty, isn't it?
Yeah. Dusty so he his was the 2020
semi final prelim grand final. John Newcomb's had four in a row
now. He got it this week as well.
Four in a row. Yeah, so he'd be standing alone,
right? Yeah, that is seriously
impressive. And like I said, he's creating

(09:51):
himself a legacy. If the Hawks can manage to make
it happen where they win the Grand Final, Nukem will become a
cult hero. He really probably is.
Nukem will go so far up in rankings in everyone's eyes if
he can play at this level at least.
Just expect him to do it in a prelim and a grand final if that
were to happen. Is already massive expectations

(10:12):
but you really can't blame the bloke if they do go down with
the way he's playing. No problem with that, no fault
at all. Yeah, the problem is he's a very
up and down player. Yeah, he has those in that
comparison to Jamal Murray. He has that quiet regular season
and then just when he needs to, does what he's meant to so it.
Makes you think could is, is this going to be just a small

(10:35):
glimpse of what's to come or is this an A genuine on and off
where he's on at times, hopefully when it matters and
off at other times. I hope that this is a genuine
show of consistency considering 4 finals in a row #1 on the
ground. It's just hard to know just yet.
And obviously we're going to have the answers very, very

(10:56):
soon. But on top of that, they've come
from 8th, which I think is selling it short of where they
actually it was a fifth day one season exactly, a 15th A-15 win,
eighth season. Yeah, like you just said that no
one really sees them as an eighth at the moment.

(11:17):
I mean, when you consider if youwant to do a comparison, this
is, I really don't want Hawthorne twin, but the 2016
Bulldogs, they finished 7th, butthey also had fifteen wins.
Yeah, big difference in a, in a 13 win time compared to A-15 win
time. But I think the difference.
Between the sides is that the dogs never made a never made any
noise before their magical run. Hawks have been making noise for

(11:38):
a few years now, for a couple ofyears.
Last year they were good, but itwas a bit of a.
Lucky run. Yeah, but then the year before
they had the the prelim, did they not?
No. What they have?
The Hawks The Hawks missed finals since 2018.
But did they only make finals last year?
Yes. Oh my God, I thought they'd been
better for much much longer. OK, so they could have their
magical run, but at the same time 8th, it doesn't feel right

(12:02):
for them and that's why I was saying top 4 lock earlier on in
the season. But you've got to give it credit
to them. They've taken the hard road to
get here and if they can manage to make it, which I think a lot
of people believe they're capable in, they could
absolutely shock the world. The other semi final was the Q
clash between Gold Coast and Brisbane and you tipped a 40

(12:22):
point win here, so good on you because I was pretty, pretty
good. I the more the week went on, I
the more confident I was in Brisbane smacking Gold Coast,
the more I just felt that, yeah,gold goes.
It was just a miracle run to getthat win over Fremantle and
they're just too inexperienced, too young.
Great season. Not questioning that at all.

(12:43):
But yeah, I just think that there's a lot of questions still
on their game plan and I think we saw that come to fruition on
Saturday night. I was actually quite the
opposite because Lucky Neil being out, Eric Hipwood, who
look, I wasn't thinking, Oh no, Hipwood's not playing.
This season's done. But Lucky Neil was one of the
ones. And it's like, that's a very

(13:05):
dominant ball hardball getter that they're now missing out on
with a very rough and tumble type of Matt Rao is one that you
have to point out. But they just keep they, they've
got so much depth in that midfield, not just like feel a
death right to get to, to at least get some ball pressure.
They've got genuine stars in their backup.

(13:26):
So will Ashcroft steps up his role, Josh Dunkley, he broke the
finals record for a single game tackle count with 18.
To give you an idea, the AFL record is 20.
So he's very close. He, yeah, he stepped it up in a
big way. Hugh Mccluggage is incapable of
having two bad games in a row. He had a bad one last week and

(13:48):
here he is coming out smashing it once again.
There's just too many players that when they rock up and and
know they haven't played well, they know how to step it back
up. And it shows the heart of a
Premiership side, First off, Butit shows just how much they just
how talented these players are. Because I think it's very, very

(14:09):
easy to get caught up in, you know, the waves of of good
stories. And I guess that's kind of what
Gold Coast and everyone who believed in Gold Coast got
caught up in. They're like they could have a
chance. They're missing out and these
these really important players here.
But you're forgetting the fact that Mccluggage is such a gun,
forgetting the fact that Dunkleyputs his heart in his sleeve
every single game. Matt, you'd think against
someone like Matt Riley maybe would struggle a bit more with

(14:32):
something like that to, to keep him enclosed.
And well, I wouldn't say Matt Rowe was held back per SE.
I'd say that he was definitely, he was definitely beaten by
Dunkley on the night. And then just all around the
field, Harris Andrews and Dane Zorko, Oh my God, they, they are
so significant to what Brisbane do Harris Andrews especially.
And that's not taking anything away from Zorko, because Zorko

(14:54):
is such a good ball we use. He can make things happen.
Even what he did last week, again, Shannon Neal for those
first recorder, he kept Brisbanein that game.
Harris Andrews, yeah, just a phenomenal player.
Yeah, and he's he's going to be forever underrated, I reckon.
Yeah, especially when we're talking about Brisbane in the
future. He's their captain.
But you'll be like, oh, but theyhad Joe Brownlow medallist,

(15:14):
Lucky Neal. They had future Will Ashcroft,
they had humans, the norm Smith,Benson.
Yeah, Yeah, but Harris Andrews leads from the back and he's
done so well to get this team looking as good as they have
been over not just last year or this year, but over what, the
last coming up six or seven years now that they've been in
their premiership. Oh, shut up.

(15:35):
You can't believe I. Said that you did that you know
I didn't done that. I didn't do it on purpose.
You had to have done that. I hate that.
There's no way you didn't do that.
I. Hate that thing and.
No, no, no, no, no. You did that on purpose.
I didn't do it on purpose, I didit I.
Promise you, you had to have done that on purpose.
No, I'm just stupid, is what I am.
Well, on Brisbane I thought GoldCoast, well specifically Damien

(15:57):
Hardwick and the coaching staff given what we saw last week with
Geelong tagging both Rayner and Mccluggage.
How do you not say that and be like if we're going to win,
those are our two avenues to success, especially without
Lucky. Neil didn't even bother trying
it. He tried to put Miller to Zorko,
sort of worked at times when I thought Wilmot and Fletcher were

(16:17):
just absolutely fantastic and provide that sort of dash and
physicality that Zorko might have missed.
Q Mccluggage. Will Ashcroft stepped up, which
he didn't do last week, but evenstill, Mccluggage was one of the
best on ground. How do you not put someone to
him? We we saw what Dunkley did to to
real. It is the most obvious match up

(16:40):
to potentially make and you're still not willing to do it.
You have to. I'm so confused.
You have to put the idea out there.
Mccluggage would be a team's best player on like ten other
teams. Minimum.
Yeah, minimum. He's.
So good. He's like, he's sneaky good too.
It's just because this Brisbane team has.
So much talent and I understand that the the sons are young, you

(17:01):
know, like Ethan Reid dropping an open mark inside 50 with five
metres of space. And there were just moments like
that where you're like, OK, that's easy to improve.
That's going to in in a year's time, that's going to be fixed
and they're going to be in the game more.
But they had the chance and how they've actually coached
properly. Feel like they could have been
in a better situation. But aside from Harris Andrews

(17:23):
from moving to Ben King after the 1st 10 minutes, there was
nothing else really that could have won in the game.
I thought because Brisbane were just a much better team.
Pretty simply. Yeah, and I would have to agree,
but yeah, give your props to theSuns.
I'll keep it short because I'd like to move on to the next
parts of the podcast. But yeah, give your credits to
Gold Coast finally making finals, taking off 2 boxes in

(17:46):
one in one finals run, winning their first final and making
their first finals. So thank God I don't have to
have another year of going. Will they finally do it?
They've done it. They're they're over that
hurdle. So I think from now on they're
making finals is a lot more realistic.
I think next year they'll have to make another push.
Obviously they're going to bringin so much more talent too.

(18:08):
We know we, I think we've talkedin the past about their NGA
Academy and all the young players that they could
potentially bring into this sideon top of what they have
already. This team's going to have such
crazy depth that honestly, Brisbane may be their best
comparison very, very soon. Yeah, 100%.
I could very easily say that. Wouldn't be surprised.
So congratulations to both sideson successful seasons so far.

(18:30):
The premiership defence is stillon in the second last week of
the AFL season for 2025. We'll just have to wait and see.
Will will we get ourselves a premiership rematch?
I believe with the preliminary final we do.
They're playing Collingwood, right?
They are playing Collingwood. So we get that grand final

(18:52):
rematch from 2023 and on the other side it's Collingwood
Hawks. Now that's a classic match up
and a half. Collingwood Hawks, sorry, not
Collingwood, Geelong Hawks. That is a classic match up and
1/2. Can the can it curse come back?
Oh. Surely not.
Surely not. Oh.
Mate, but that is for later to discuss.
We can now go into Macca's Man of the Week and so obviously two

(19:16):
games to go through makes my joba little bit easier figuring out
who's who. But we're going to start with
one vote for Best on Ground for the Brisbane Gold Coast game.
I gave it to Will Ashcroft. I think he was just really,
really solid all throughout. I was tempted to give Dunkley
for his efforts on shutting downthe midfield, but Ashcroft

(19:36):
effective on the scoreboard, good hands around the ground.
And honestly, I wanted to maybe think maybe give it to to Harris
for his shutdown of Ben King andand for how well they play.
Yeah. But honestly, so many players
within that side that could havegotten it humour, Clark just,
well, just lots of lots of candidates in that game.
But I gave it to Will Ashcroft. I actually gave the next two

(19:59):
votes, the next two versions of votes to the Hawthorne side or
two players in the Hawthorne side because of how monumental
that kind of win is. 8 verse one.
Don't be Josh Battle. It's not Josh Battle, but
unfortunately he did play well for your sake.
No, I didn't. No I didn't.
He never did. But two votes I gave to Jack
Gunston had to give it considering his five goal hole

(20:22):
against an All Australian squad member like that is seriously
impressive. I can't believe he is doing as
well as he's doing at this point.
This is his I think. I don't know if I mentioned it's
first season or he's in the top five now for oldest players to
kick their first 70 plus goal season.
Impressive. So he gets better with age agent

(20:43):
like a fine one, that man. And John Newcomb is the three
votes it has to be. He's on a he's on a run.
He's on a legendary run at the moment.
He he's doing incredibly well. We already explained why he's so
good, but I feel like if you're paying attention, Newcomb is
just, he is the one at the moment, taking a bit of Dusty's
magic. Maybe, maybe a bit much to say.

(21:03):
I don't know. We'll find out.
It's a bit crazy. It is a bit crazy.
But now we go to Donkey of the Week.
I had seen this last week, I'd seen this last week because this
is a, this is a almost a double up of last week's Donkey of the
Week. I don't think I said it before
them last week. Yeah, but I'm going to mention
it this week because God, it wasfunny.
I don't know why they did it again.
I'm giving it to the city of Adelaide.

(21:25):
They Jack. Again.
At the at the Adelaide Airport. Have you seen the photos of the
messages and the signs that the Crows had organised in the?
City I haven't seen. The only thing from the Adelaide
airport I saw was Jack Gunnifer getting surrounded.
Yes, so obviously there was thatand they were trying to wind him
up and good on him. He actually held himself back.
He's. 100% he's such a. Funny on a bit of an off, No,

(21:45):
he's sneakily matured really quickly.
He's been, you know, he obviously likes to get up to
mischief. He'll keep doing it, but like he
is more and more becoming not just a Spark player but a fully
smart player. A little bit of Toby Green and a
man. But I want to quickly search up
Adelaide airport banners becauseI can read some of them out to

(22:06):
you. Oh my God.
I want to say. This, They were very OK.
Yeah, Here we go. So one here for Hawthorne when
they rocked up in the airport, it says welcome, Hawks beware.
Crows defend this nest. And so kind of like a branding
to advertise. Yeah, kind of advertising to let

(22:28):
them know. Welcome to Adelaide.
Crows saw hawk squawk. Interesting ways of getting in
their head. Very.
We chirped. You conquered.
Enjoy the skies for now. Hawthorne was the last billboard
they put up. So they successfully.
They can see them in the Billboard game.

(22:49):
Why wouldn't you just ignore it?I don't.
Maybe this isn't. Just ruining.
They're ruining themselves. They, they really are.
You can be cocky, but I've seen way too many times where the
it's messed up and you, you unfortunately, you only remember
the ones that mess up. Like we remember the Geelong
white out game because they got absolutely pumped.
But they did the same thing against Collingwood.

(23:10):
I can't find the Collingwood ones, but they decided to go
with it again for this one. And yeah, it it backfired once
again. Yeah, it's pretty self
explanatory why they're donkeys over the week because they're
asking for it at that point they're asking to be donkeys.
And I well and truly owned it. Well done boys.
The. Adelaide donkeys.

(23:30):
The Adelaide donkeys. Yeah, that's a good way of
putting it. Yep, I like that.
Very, very good. Let's go.
And now some big news. I'm I am hopeful that we'll get
more than just this one in the near future, but it has been
announced that Victorian players, I guess the best
Victorian players in the league,will be travelling to WA in

(23:51):
Perth to play the Western Australian Swans.
The Western Australian All StarsIt's the WA team versus the
victim. Yeah, basically I was trying to
figure out if that's their mascot or something, but we're
just, we're just the big sure they're the WAS.
The Swans versus the Big VI think.
Normie Victorian here, I don't know what to call Western

(24:12):
Australian is. Todd Goldstein shout.
Let's go, baby. Todd Goldstein mentioned I can't
believe it so. My question is, is this a follow
up to the Indigenous All Stars versus Fremantle game and are
they both going to be played or is this replacing that game?
Replacing OK, thank you. Producer so replacing that game
makes sense because I'd imagine some players you played in that

(24:36):
Indigenous versus Fremantle gamewill also be playing in this VIX
versus WA game. It's and so it'd kind of cross
between the two and that's maybethis is a test start before
bringing back a proper state of origin competition.
But this is more of a showcase. Looks like it says the 14th of
February next year. So this will be obviously just
before the pre season truly kicks in.

(24:57):
Yes, interesting because we've now got obviously you guys sold
your games to to WA and we've got this there.
We've got Gather round and Adelaide and we've got opening
round in Queensland and NSW. So aside from, you know, time
wise. Oh, also according to producer,
SA will host a game in 2027 either against Vic or

(25:18):
Washington. So Round 2.
They'll do VIX because VIX just have a bigger market.
You would. Think so, but at the same time
WA is secretly underrated. No, they absolutely are.
They're very passionate. I mean, you just have to look at
West Coast membership records this year to realise, yeah, and
they're still very passionate. Still got like 80K on the
waiting list as well. Yeah, my.
God you guys don't even have 80Kmembers either the way, but we

(25:38):
will. Yeah, what's your mouth, mate?
We will bigger than Nas. Yeah, Nas is going to be your
saviour forever. Isn't it we're going to have
like 90 K members next year and then it'll go back down to like
60? Once Nas leaves the port, no one
bigger cost. Once the $7.00 Nas memberships
no longer survive. Yeah, that is true.
But with the state of Origin, I guess last little thing before

(25:58):
we move to the next segment. Any Smokies, any players you
you'd expect to see on either side?
Because I'll be honest, I don't know much about where each
player is from. I really don't.
I think some interesting ones would be if Harley Reid played
because he would be playing for the VIX at his home ground.
Yes, that is a fair. That would be an interesting
one. Harley Reid versus Patty Cripps

(26:20):
because Crypts is from Western. Australia, yeah, that'll be
pretty interesting as well. Let's get Trent Culture back out
of retirement, please, Trent. Culture just recreate.
This picture just recreate the picture.
True. No, but Todd may be done now.
Nah because what I want to say is do they have all the oldies
like Gorn, like Danger, like Pendlebury or do they go with
the actual best players? That is true.

(26:40):
That's what I because, you know,I know Anderson, Matt Real.
That'll be there. Ben King would be down there.
There'll be some really interesting players for the VIX
that you just would not expect coming.
It is, it is just a really, really exciting little aspect
and I guess a piece of history that's making it's way back.
So welcome back State of Origin.We now move to a talking point
that I've seen on local radio shows at the moment ever since

(27:04):
the Adelaide straight sets exit and it's not to do necessarily
with the idea that straight set exits are happening.
I think if done in a way that didn't have an obvious point,
then we would be saying, oh, straight set, straight set
exits. How crazy unpredictable is this
postseason? But this is more in discussion

(27:27):
of the pre finals by it was introduced for the 2016 season.
And you can see with that that line right between Sydney and
Hawthorne represents that pre finals by being introduced.
And you can see since 2000 only five teams had gone out in
straight sets. And then since 2016 we have had
now nine teams go out in straight sets.

(27:50):
And I would quickly point out the fact that they had been
happening in short success since2014.
So maybe the pre final bike isn't to completely blame, but
the the point is to be made thatan extra week of risk for
everybody is quite an insane situation When you're

(28:11):
considering the fact that you work so hard to get yourself
that that top spot and the fact that everyone now gets that
advantage is can you really calla double chance that much of an
advantage when everyone else hasrested up?
My argument is would you rather have two fully healthy teams or
would you rather have 8 fully healthy teams?

(28:35):
It's a good point. I just honestly my hope is 2
fully healthy teams at the end of the season at the grand final
so. Are you considering everything
up until the prelim final week one season and then the grand
final another season? Or is it the home and away
season and then the final series?
Because if it's a final series then you have the cut off 8

(28:57):
teams get prepared. It's like in the regular season
if someone gets injured in round3 and does their knee, it's not
going to change anything. If they get injured in round 22
and injured and break their knee, they still break their
knee. So we've still not yet to see
concussion which is the big argument in the prelim finals
and then misses out. Maximus was the big one in 2022.

(29:17):
They still have the chance to bring him back and he just
didn't and he's arguably been only better that since he didn't
play in that grand final. I simply don't understand,
especially with the argument of potentially bringing in a play
into playing game where it's 7V108V9 which has been floated
which is complete bullshit. Where is that going to go?

(29:38):
Does that go in the pre finals? By which then four teams, the
four teams don't have it, six teams do, and then you add it
another week before the grand final.
So those potentially 7-8 or 910 wouldn't have to play 28
straight weeks of games. My thinking behind it is that it
then it makes actually fighting for a top four spot more

(30:00):
important, right? Because then you're fighting for
that chance for a week off if your aim is just to make the top
8 right? Obviously making the top 8IN
itself is enough of an incentive.
But we've seen so many dead rubber games throughout this
part that maybe the idea of the the wild card situation, which I

(30:21):
agree with you, I think it's toogimmicky for it to really hold
any ground. It just doesn't work like it
would in the NBA or something like that, Wild cards and stuff.
But in terms of the AFL, it still feels like once you hit
the A, there's no real reason tofight.
So we saw a team like Adelaide who hit first and and teams like
Geelong as well who were able topretty easily.

(30:43):
Maybe that's not to do with the latter per SE, maybe it was to
do with their scheduling and their and their teams.
But it makes you consider putting your player, your best
players in for longer into the season so you can actually fight
for those top spots. So top four has more importance
because at the moment I think the differential between a top
four spot and a top eight spot isn't valuable enough.
There isn't much too much of a gap.

(31:04):
But why should it be? Why should finishing fourth,
having sixteen wins and 127% being so much much so much of a
difference compared to finishingfifth having sixteen wins and
126.8%? Why should there be such a big
difference where you get an extra chance favouring .2% of a
difference over a 23 week season?
Why should that happen? I think it's well you could also

(31:28):
then argue how can they not get such an advantage on the
opposite end, right? If somehow in a season a team is
actually one or two games above 5 and 10% above them, right?
That argument goes both ways. How could they not get an
advantage? So I just want to play a thing.
If teams really believed in not having the the top 4 being such

(31:49):
a difference anymore due to the pre finals by they wouldn't
fight so hard together. 2021, I think it was where Brisbane was
it 20 must have been 2021 where Brisbane had to beat West Coast
who were ninth, who were 10th and no, sorry, 9th trying to
find their way into the 8th had they have won.
But it was up together. So obviously Brisbane, they had

(32:11):
to try and make percentage over 4th at that stage, which was the
Western Bulldogs to make top four.
If there was no difference they wouldn't have had to win by so
much, but they did because the top 4 still has a huge
implication regardless of the pre finals.
Buy we would never have had that2016 season which is remembered
as one of the greatest seasons in AFL history because of what

(32:32):
happened in the pre finals. Buy if that doesn't happen and
Ling Jong doesn't come back and so many other Bulldogs players
don't get that rest, You don't have 8 teams fighting for their
lives and you just have four teams and that's an extra
advantage rather than just having two home finals.
I think a big argument should beif you're a top four team and
you lose in week 1, why should you then have another week of

(32:54):
home games the other team won? If it was fifth V fourth, fifth
one, they should be having the home ground advantage rather
than having to fight again. I think that second week of home
ground advantage gives you enough to be able to have that
advantage of making the prelim finals week, not the fact that
you get 2 weeks extra. OK.
I'm thinking more in terms of the advantage of having healthy

(33:18):
players for so I'm much more of a proponent and someone who
wants that pre finals by to go in between the week between the
grand final and the prelim finals so that we have healthy
players and no outs, no concussion outs before the grand
final. And so my thinking is both, both
ends of the spectrum. So pre grand final by and pre

(33:39):
finals by can't work. That's too many breaks, yeah.
That's too many breaks. Way too long.
Yeah, all that type of stuff. So one of them has to go, one of
the ideas have to go and I'd much rather it be the pre grand
final, right, because I think you have to treat the rest of
the finals up until the grand final as that season so that

(34:00):
everything is everything is legitimate.
Everything comes in all in one flow.
Everyone deals with the injuriesin the same way.
It's not like a team that has the eighth position now gets an
extra week to play 5th, or in this case, first with those
healthier players who they may not have had coming into this
game that made them so dominant,right?

(34:22):
And then when you get to the grand final point, after
everybody has had their had their teams up until that point,
play hard, they can then get their extra rest so that their
best possible players on grand final day can come out fit and
firing. I'm going to this is the final
thing I want to say with now having the opening round and
having those teams, having a buy, a team that's not in

(34:44):
opening round, Let's say it's Adelaide for this year.
They then have a buy in the round 12, so they don't have an
early round buy. And then they have their buy in
the first week of finals of buy rounds and they then have to
play losing a pre, losing a qualifying final, win a pre, win
a semi final and win a prelim. Do you know how many weeks that

(35:05):
is consecutive? That's 15 straight weeks of of
playing football with three finals before you get a chance
at a break compared to having that finals, right?
It breaks away the home and awayseason and the final series.
I think that's more important than breaking away the prelim to
the grand final. OK, I think it'll whilst it must

(35:26):
allow more time to set up the grand final, we saw the final
series. It felt like it was dragging on
to set it up, whereas having it before the grand final would
feel like you're just dragging it on with the grand final
rather than setting up the finals as a four week
blockbuster. I feel like that's not a
negative. I feel like if you drag on the
grand final, that's a good thing, is it not?

(35:46):
You've already got a week to do it and I think having a set if
we're complaining that the week drags on before the pre finals
by so I'm only going to do the same thing for the grand final
and we just want to get it there.
People are impatient. People won the grand final
already, why would we then breakit so that they're going to want
it and have a week extra to wait?

(36:06):
I don't think it works in the favour.
I guess I just have to agree to disagree because I think it
does. The excitement for the grand
final for two weeks would be exciting.
I understand. I understand the idea of, you
know, people are impatient and want their footy, but at the
same time when you can celebratethe game instead of for one
week, for two weeks, all the stuff that you can do with that,
right? That I think not only creates

(36:28):
that extra time to see our best players playing at their best
possible level in two weeks time.
We then get to make the most, whether it's through festivals,
whether it's through advertising, whether it's
through any of that type of stuff to make the most of our
sport. And I think that's not only
beneficial to the players, but beneficial to the sport as a
whole. Yeah, listen, it's just how we

(36:49):
we said there's not any. Factual, I think.
Factual difference between. I do understand, yeah.
No, you are right. I think honestly if because what
you said before the long block of time between that by in the
mid season to at the end of the finals, I think you said 15
weeks, it was it's. Probably more my last, Probably.
Could be more. Would you be OK if we moved that

(37:12):
by further into the season? So then we evened it out, say
like instead of nine weeks, 15 weeks, it was 12/12.
I don't. I mean, well, then you're just
creating. It's a different, different
story. I think we should move on.
Fair enough. But like look, either way the
restructuring of finals is something that I've seen pop up

(37:32):
anyways. And I think as shown just then
comes in with a good discussion because we want to see our best
teams perform as best I can. And I'm happy with teams being
rewarded for playing themselves into a top four position.
And I think there is a somewhat decent trend to say that the pre
finals Thai has given a little bit of an advantage to the teams
who are just scraping in. And sure, from a narrative

(37:55):
perspective that's exciting, butat the same time, it feels a bit
manufactured. I guess so, yeah.
Because yeah, I mean, you're looking at the teams there,
you're looking at how many have gone out in straight sets,
right? It's an interesting story for

(38:15):
sure. I think there's a lot we can
discuss further with that one, but we'll keep we could.
Probably make that a whole video.
Yeah absolutely. Following up on the video that
we made is something separate last week.
We are going to once again go through the two teams eliminated
from finals, which are Adelaide and Gold Coast, and detailing 3
players more so list needs, but then specifying 3 players that

(38:36):
we think would help benefit themfor a potential push at a flag
in 2026. Start with Adelaide, given
they're the more obvious team, Ithink their biggest need is good
kickers, specifically off of halfback.
Nice little reference there. Shut up.
That is an awful. That is an awful shout.

(38:56):
That is an awful shout. It doesn't even exist.
Yet, halfback kickers, who are you expecting to see?
There's not a lot. There's not as many as you.
It is asking for a fair bit to be fair.
Yeah, and obviously when you've got the missing out on Nas, we
arguably want to play more midfield and halfback minutes
anyway. Unlucky.
Yeah, yeah, suck shit I like. Saints passion comes out there.

(39:20):
Saints pulse. Always Saints pulse.
Saints Nation. Saints nation dead.
So. I hope that's in the pocket.
I hope that makes the final cut that'll.
Be so someone that I've got potentially is Jason Johanneson
potentially on the other at the Bulldogs unless they trade up in
this year's draught to someone like Josh Lindsay, which I could
actually very much say happeningwho's an absolute gun and looks

(39:42):
like a trying to think of a comparison.
It's like a Dane Sorko or BaileyDale in that genuine half back.
Probably not into midfield like a Hayden Young type or Ed
Richards type. He would be perfect for that for
that spot to fit in and replace Miller and Brody Smith and Roy
Laird. I think also with what we saw in
their midfield, going after someone like Christian Petrarcha

(40:05):
is a really good idea. Just came out recently that
we'll talk about shortly that hecould potentially be on the
outer and I think. With obviously Rankin and
Rochelle wanting to start playing more midfield minutes,
Adelaide's forward line functionbetter with ranking in the
forward line. Also the connection with Neil
Bullen. Yes, and that would be another
thing where Neil Bullen wasn't playing as much midfield
minutes. You bring in Petrarcha, he works

(40:26):
well alongside Seligo and Barry and Dawson.
Whereas having someone like PeteLing and Nell coming going and
that doesn't really work alongside them, it's something
different. And also, I think Sid Draper has
a huge offseason ahead. It's a lot of pressure to put on
a young kid, but he's really high talent.
And then I've gone for another talk with the likes of Foggy
potentially struggling, struggling and Taylor Walker

(40:48):
potentially not being there going for someone called Isaac
Killer, Saints player. So obviously I know him a lot
more than I do others, but I think he can have that
versatility of playing Ford or back if you need him.
Is he an SA boy? He is an SA boy, I believe he
was in their Academy, yeah, but there was no rules at the time
so they weren't able to bid on him.

(41:09):
And I think he'd fit a well alongside Phil Thorpe and
Fogarty together, where he's notas big as Walker, but he's
really athletic and I feel like he'd compliment those two pretty
well. The Gold Coast now, this is the
really interesting one, because they've got three top 25 players
in the draught this year. Yeah, Yeah.
Jesus, shout out to the Hill and.

(41:31):
Yeah, yeah, Yep. I've gone for more experienced
plays rather than young, mid, old.
So I'm going for two small forwards because that's a clear
list need and they're not going to get other than Beau
Andensall, who's kind of a smallfold, kind of 1/2 forward mid.
I've gone for Beau Mccurry and Jamie Elliott from Collingwood.

(41:52):
Punch it, producer. Just get them both.
Just get them both. I don't know how realistic that
idea is, especially considering didn't Jamie Elliott win
Collingwood's goal kicking? He did.
He did. Still could lose it, but I don't
think anyone was kicking twenty goals in two games.
I don't know. They're not just Brody.
My I was. Going to say Brody.
My check history historic run here.

(42:14):
Hold on. But I just think that they've
shown interest in him and with potentially Malcolm Roses being
on the outer, Ben Ainsworth hasn't really done much.
Bailey Humphrey looking to play more midfield minutes.
Sam Flanders also more than likely going to leave.
I think that opens up a couple of spots.
Get that speed in McCreary and get that experience and aerial

(42:36):
craft in Elliot. Now the last player I didn't
really know where to go here. I thought maybe a midfielder if
they're losing Flanders, David Swallow of the also in the
outer. But because they have so many
Academy players that aren't evenin the same already, I've gone
for a medium defender by the name of Nick Vossen.

(42:57):
Another Richmond boy heading up there for Damian Hardwick.
OK, Nick Vossen is a massive shout.
Would they give? I mean, I guess Richmond, I
could say, well, would Richmond let him go because of the fact
that they want to let their young guns come in, But I feel
like he'd be really good at Richmond for for building their
youth up. I don't know if they'd let him

(43:17):
go. I this isn't the thing.
It's an out there shout because I think a backline of Collins
Andrew. Shit, I even forgot about
Charlie Ballard, who's had who'sdone his name could potentially
be in there. They've got Joel, Jeffrey,
Willpower, Bodie, Ulund back there and then you've got Noble
and and Ryolu off half back. Stop it.

(43:39):
Stop. Dude, your eyebrows were
twitching like crazy there. That scared the hell out of me.
Oh my God, I hate you. I hate you with a burning
passion. Just say you stupid, stupid bit
on Gold Coast, alright? Just say it.
Oh, what? You're sad now, are you?
Yeah. Yeah, your bitch sucks, thanks.

(43:59):
Fuck you too man, go die in a hole.
Your little So keep telling us about how Nick Lawson's going to
Gold Coast. He's not, he's just an out there
shout. I don't even know who else they
should go for because they just get everyone that they want in
the draught. Yeah, I was going to say the
draught is definitely going to be where most of their next
talent comes in, but people willbe screaming at you.

(44:20):
What about Charlie Kuno maybe coming in?
I don't see him going to gold. Coast at this point, I think if
he were to leave it'd probably be Sydney, but that's even if he
leaves. So I yeah, don't say it.
A bit of a trade general update though.
Oh. Got I think 10 players here,
maybe more, maybe less. I don't know.
I'm a bit confused at times. You can't count.

(44:41):
I can't count. And to skip a few.
No, no. OK.
Anyway, Jesse Motlockle, your word?
Oh yes. Jesse Motlock was rumoured to
potentially be interested in going to Port Adelaide.
Turned on it, signed A2 year deal at Carlton.
A lot of my current friends don't like him.
So they feel great, do they? Yeah, no, they almost felt great
and then they didn't when he resigned.

(45:03):
Why I feel like? Different potential, but yeah, I
was going to say I. Feel like he's one of the
upsides, yeah, which maybe says something about cotton.
But Speaking of cotton. Another one, Campbell Chesa.
They're a destination club. Who would have thought they're?
Going to make it. They're going to make.
It like favourites for the BFL next year.

(45:24):
Yeah. Campbell Chesa, former first
round pick from WA, has requested a trade back.
I don't blame him. Leaving West Coast to you to go
to Carlton? Yeah why not?
Why not come to the Saints mate?Why not go to Essendon?
Who would want to go to Essendon?
He's going to have a role from what it sounds like.
Would he? I'd imagine so.

(45:45):
Who would take his place? Hydra, Tardis, Ben Hobbs, Top
End Draught Picks, Archie Perkins.
Stuff there. Next up, we've got a New Port
Adelaide signing. It's not quite Nas, but who is?
It Jacob where close enough wearand tear.
Yeah, a bit of wear and tear in that one.
He's going to play a bit of wing, bit of off half back.

(46:08):
Sorry, I'm sorry. Glad you finally apologised.
Yeah, listen, Port also somehow Destination Club, they're
getting almost got Jesse, they got Jacob Ware.
They're also getting Will Brody.Yeah.
He's just so you got early wines, you got Will of Drew, you
got Will Brody. They're just getting three of
the exact same player. Yeah.

(46:29):
I don't. I really don't understand it.
Porter in a very interesting. State destination club.
Yeah, that. 10 I like the next. I like the next.
Couple I will just touch on Portthough.
Their issues are key, key position players.
They're targeting shitty little just like nothing players.

(46:50):
Yeah. Also find out funny that all the
Port Adelaide X small forwards go to Carlton now a card small
forward trying to go to Port thought that was very funny.
Yeah, it is Fantasia. Frank Evans the GOAT.
Frank Evans the Goat. Yeah, North, Erwin, a couple of
players. Interestingly, Brody Mycheck
reportedly offered a three year deal, which is very interesting,

(47:13):
which sort of replaces Jack Darling in a sense.
Yeah, you are right. Yeah, it's.
A bit of A and then also Jordan bots has been offered a three
year deal apparently which. I don't know how to feel about.
It's a need I. Think it is a need 100% I'd be
happy if he was there. I like bots.
I just don't know. You are on A Absolutely you're
not. You're not having a stinker
episode is all I can say. Absolutely stinker.

(47:36):
Bots what? What a better bet that's feral.
Barrel butts, yeah. Offered three years, rumoured to
be off 3 years I think. He farewell alongside Chomp
Common. Yeah, again, I'm not mad at it.
He's definitely one that we needto pick up.
I think in terms of fit, fit in the role, it's just like, is he

(47:58):
going to fix the problems? I don't think so.
I think it's going to be a lot more than one player.
Yeah, Yeah, it's going. To be a lot more than one
player. That's why the other player that
we've got who is confirmed just about all but on paper, Charlie
Spargo, I don't know what he's going to do.
Zack bench replacement. No, nothing can replace Zack
Bench. Did you know he's been nominated

(48:19):
for Mark of the Year? Yeah.
Against the same we were at thatgame, we recorded that show.
I did. Not see that being mark of the
year contender. What a if that.
Wins we've got. We've got our reaction from that
live. We do, but it was a stinker.
Stinky year for marks. If that's mark of the year for
being honest. Naz against Melbourne should
win. Yeah, no, that one is definitely

(48:39):
just the moment itself, but that's outside of what we need
to talk about. Charlie Spargo has said he wants
to go to North Melbourne. I believe his dad played at.
North he did. He played like. 81 games I
believe was what it was. So I guess a bit of North
heritage in there. It's just nice to have a little
bit more depth, I guess. Just hopefully remains healthy
because he's coming off an Achilles not long ago, I believe

(49:01):
in 2023. Can't remember exactly.
But I can't remember the year either, but you know, is a
little injury prone. Hopefully he stays healthy.
Tyler Young reportedly has interest from the dogs.
K back. Really.
Dogs should do this everyone. Yeah, go for Jacob Blight as
well. Go for.
Well, they went for. They went for until he wasn't
there. And Wilkie?
Yeah. It's the biggest like if imagine

(49:24):
if you're the dogs, your biggestNate is a K back.
You're about to get someone and then the bloke's dad comes in
and says, Nah, bugger off. Not for, not for they, Sir, not
for they. What would you?
And then you go after the blokes, the best player on the
team that that bloke's going through, you're offering like
1.3 million a year, which is what really importantly.
Did what? The good thing is you cannot say

(49:46):
that the dogs aren't trying. To improve 100%.
You cannot say they aren't trying to improve, so credit to
them for that, but the fact theyhaven't gotten anyone just yet
is a little concerning. It is, but they should just be
targeting any key position defender to be honest.
Yeah, go for Noah Bolter, he'd fit alongside Jamar.
You like? No, no, this is the worst

(50:08):
episode you've ever had, man. You can't help yourself, you
can't help it. I really can't.
Neil Erasmus was a man you had mentioned not long ago as having
potential interest from other teams.
Bulldogs were actually that teamso interesting and he resigned
amid interest from them. Would have paired nicely, I
thought, alongside Richard Sanders for the future.
But you know, aside from him, another Fremantle player, Liam

(50:31):
Reedy Rachman requested of trade.
I thought it was like 2223 that is 25.
Oh wow. So you know, entering the prime
of his career, he gets played like 4 games.
They have a football. I said Ned Reyes should go to
Carlton. He was also another rockman that
I thought about and that we had mentioned as an option I think
for Essendon in that separate video.
If you'll do want to go check itout, should be might put a link

(50:52):
in the description for it if producer does a good.
Job Put an information card in the top right.
Please the producer exactly. Thank you mate.
Yeah, they just thought I'd needthat Rockman position with no
TDK. But the final three players,
three big names. I like all these the the notes
you've written for. Yeah, no, get going.
Sam Flanders, first one from Gold Coast, they're probably
going to have to trade him, not as not necessarily to get picks

(51:15):
in this year's draught, but morethan likely to get picks in this
year's draught. I am very much of the opinion
that he's going to Saint Kilda and I've got good mail that is
going to be for a future first round pick.
I'd assume they'd then flip thatto maybe a team like Essendon
who would then use those that pick and their two early second
round picks to Gold Coast to getpicks to match their bids.

(51:35):
Or even a team like you guys, because you also have two early
2nd Olympics, either 1. You guys might want it, ESN
might want it, who knows. I think there's a lot of
interest there. Esnen obviously will have
interest in him. Melbourne should have interest
because Stephen King, then you coach that we might want to talk
about, maybe because we haven't talked about that and we
completely forgot about it. Yeah, to be fair, that is a bit

(51:57):
of a surprise considering box was like.
Yeah, clear. To be able to talk about it now.
Yeah, Finish, finish. Finish off Finish off what we're
doing here. OK, there is another open player
on here, interestingly. But yeah, Stephen King, his best
football at the end of 2023 was probably under Stephen King.
That's when he really broke out and then that sort of playing in
the midfield. And then obviously 2024 happened

(52:17):
where it was pretty good. But a lot on the out of this
year, which is why the interest coming there could potentially
leave Zach Merritt. The big one.
Hawthorne, Holy shit, how did this happen?
This. Yeah, this is.
Within a week. Nightmare scenarios now for
Essendon. Within a week it's all it's all
just gone downhill. I remember, like do you remember

(52:38):
when we were copying flak for getting that Melbourne Essendon
trade wrong and how Essendon we eventually came to the
conclusion Essendon's future looks great?
Yeah, we were right. I We were right the whole time.
I I continuously said Essendon just need to fucking rebuild.
You know what they're doing right now.
They're fucking rebuilding. They.
Could have like 8 first round picks in this year's they're.

(53:01):
Getting the Brad Scott treatment.
Like they're getting the Brad Scott, he's fucking up their
list exactly like he did to North Melbourne.
It's actually ridiculous. I shouldn't be happy.
I should be happy, but he stole Todd from us, so I'm not happy.
We feel bad fast, and no, we don't don't.
Don't lie to the people, all right?
Don't lie to the people. The only reason I mentioned Brad
Scott was because he had being rumoured to start losing the

(53:23):
players already. There's already players that are
like again rumoured that he's losing a few of them.
Zach Merritt I believe is havinga meeting or has had a meeting
with vice captain Andrew McGrathto discuss how they move forward
with this one. Because the words that have come
out from the Essendon players inEssendon camp are being
frustrated, angry even. Those are some of the words that

(53:44):
are being used with Zach Merritt.
Even their president or someone has come out and said that
they're disappointed in what's happened and it's almost to the
point of no return. What a trade would look like,
though, is the really interesting thing here.
Both Ken McKenzie and Henry Hustwaite, two young midfielders
potentially on the out of this year if you know Butters and
Merritt and all those links are there.
Warble also is another one. It would probably have to be

(54:07):
minimum two first round picks. So Hawthorne have cartoons this
year obviously trading away there's to get that deal done
and then they have their two first round picks that they can
trade in 26 and 27. I'd assume that they would then
trade those two picks and maybe Henry Hausdwaite, who's probably
more on the outer than Cam McKenzie.

(54:28):
I think that probably gets it done if you're Essendon.
I'm interested to see how much leverage though some teams can
get out of this and then becauseof how untenable that situation
is now, because I've seen peoplefloat two players, one of them
being Ken McKenzie, maybe the other was Henry Hustwick, but
just one first round pick. Not not getting done for one
first round. Pick.
But that's what I'm saying. How much leverage do you think

(54:48):
they can get? I think Essendon, because he is
signed, he has shown that even though he's fielded offers
before, a willingness to stay, I, I still think Essendon have
the power. He will, it will be a trade.
I have no doubt in my mind that any player that requests a
trade, same as Jordan Ridley, they will leave.
Charlie Kerner probably does leave.
It probably will be to Sydney. It's just whether, what the

(55:09):
trade looks like and how they, how much they have to do to get
it done because yeah, it's a separate topic, how much power
players have. But the one final player that we
do want to talk about though is Christian Petrarca.
News broke just within the last two hours, according to Tom
Morris, that the both his his camp and the Melbourne camp both
have interest in moving on from him.

(55:31):
But neither side one of the first to say it or be the first
one to do it. So obviously there's a bit of an
issue there. There were talks last year of
him being moved to potentially Carlton.
I think it was, can't remember. In the end he gets moved.
I think this year he gets moved.There's links to they're.
Losing value on him. Year by year they're losing
value. I think if they're smart they

(55:52):
get rid of him as soon as possible and probably move cosy
into the midfield. Or maybe Harvey Langford stuck
in him. Harvey.
Rivers will be in there. Trent Rivers should get more
game time. You've got Caleb Windsor who's
been playing. I think it opens up more
opportunities if Petroff goes. And it's also another way for
them to get back into the draught this year given they
don't have any picks because they traded away in that as in

(56:13):
the trade last year. Yeah, no, Simon Goodwin too.
Probably means that the trucker would be OK with a fresh start
somewhere else. And we can probably talk about
that now a little bit. The Stephen King signing.
Good segue race, good job. Thank you very much.
It was very intentional, I promise.
So Stephen King. Stephen King, how are we doing?
Stephen King, so interesting call.

(56:36):
I think when we talked about this as a potential replacement
for him, I think it was one of the names fielded.
So there was obviously previous interest, but the story was that
Nathan Buckley was the major favourite.
It came out that he on the Tuesday said he needed to field
a call on Wednesday about the Tasmania job and that he had
more interest in that more than likely, or he had to know where

(56:58):
that was sitting at because obviously there's still no
licence for the team. Now with the government
changing, yada yada, yada, resulted in Melbourne saying,
OK, that's fine, we're going to look at other options and take
them seriously now. Stephen King rocks up, great
interview, good coach, knows thegame well.
Players think Kilder and Geelongcoaches of Geelong.

(57:18):
If you coach at Geelong, you're a pretty good chance of being a
coach. Yeah, I mean, off the top my
head, Ken Hinckley is one that comes to mind very, very
quickly. Yeah, other Geelong coaches,
previous Geelong like. Corey Enright was there, he's
one who's been very touted and then it's similar to like
Richmond Tower, Craig McRae, Adam Kingsley, all of them have
come up through that. Those rankings under Damian

(57:38):
Hardwick we probably similar to to people coming up under Brad
Scott, and I wouldn't be surprised if more people do end
up coming out from that that situation.
Yeah, I think it's a good hiringthough.
I do think though had they've gone for Buckley and been all
chips in, they would have wantedto contend with this new list
and now looks like they're more likely to rebuild, hence why a
lot of this interest in the chakra is coming back up.

(58:01):
Yeah, again, like I mentioned inthe previous segment, yeah,
starting fresh with a new coach means that change is probably
abound. And so with Petrarch going, I
honestly wouldn't be surprised to see the likes of Oliver maybe
going as well. Yeah, he'd be one.
At the moment the situation withhim is his contract is very much
holding up. But if Melbourne do want to go

(58:21):
for a rebuild, they have the ability to pay part of his
contract similar to what they did to Brody Grundy and what
Collingwood did with Brody Grundy.
I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happened if they
really want to move on from him,but I don't think they would do
that unless they can get a firstround pick.
That is true, yeah. No, you are right with that.
But New Times for Melbourne, hopefully some better times as

(58:42):
well because right after their premiership they have fallen off
a Cliff practically, which is sad to say because Melbourne
were a very, very nice story. But at least they got one.
Exactly all you can say. They got the one and they can
walk home happy with their premiership medallions at the
very least. So now we jump into the prelim
finals matchups. We've got First off Collingwood,

(59:03):
Brisbane, we've got the 2023 grand final rematch in the
closest form we can possibly getoutside of another grand final.
It's at MCG, it's at the MCGI. Think it's got to be close, it's
got to be a close game, right? It has to be because every time

(59:25):
these guys have matched up in a big moment, it feels like it has
been. I think earlier this year
Collingwood pumped him at the Gabba by 50.
Did they play again since then? The last match up was around 21.
I was at this game. The Lions won by 27 even first
half, and then they blew him outin the second.
So neither of them have actuallybeen closed, but in big moments

(59:46):
you feel like it's got to be right.
They're both in some pretty goodform.
I don't know how to look at thisform because Collingwood lost
like 5 out of 6 and then they beat the number one team at home
at their home ground. Then the lines have been like up
and down, up and down, up and down for ages and they haven't
found a consistent basis really such in the.

(01:00:06):
Last year almost feel somehow more proven.
I don't know. This is neither team feels
really proven and they could both be making these teams.
I feel like we should, we shouldgo like forward line versus back
line, midfield, back. Line versus forward line
probably. Just sort of go through the
match up the way you think because start with the Brisbane

(01:00:26):
Lions back line because I stood up pretty impressively.
And they, I think they have for the most part.
I mean you could say that the Geelong 1 wasn't bad but it
wasn't good, but you could at least say they had some good
individual performances. And then obviously last week
they played the back line so well as a team.
The Pies don't obviously have a Geelong type forward line, no,

(01:00:49):
but they've got a dangerous one.And who matches up best to Jamie
Elliott? During the Sassovich Stasvich
and he's a gun like Starsovich is a seriously underrated
lockdown defender, has had theseissues injury, injury wise over
the last couple of years. But I think he's now had a good
stretch of games and he's going to be seriously important
because Andrews, Lester and Gardner versus Cox more than

(01:01:15):
likely my check in memory. That's my fear.
I don't know how good Cox, like Cox is always a wild card.
Yeah, you don't know how he's going to play.
He'll keep three in a pre livingas Richmond.
Yeah, that is true. He steps up in finals.
So you got to give him that he could do it again.
But wouldn't Harris Andrews playon him?
I'd assume so And then that leaves Gardner and my check and
Lester on memory or other way itdoesn't really matter.

(01:01:37):
I think you go advantage of Brisbane in that situation.
I would too. I think Andrews despite Cox's
height right? Andrews is a smart enough player
to know and Cox isn't the smartest player or no?
That's not his strength. It's not, and fair enough, but
Andrews is smarter than the average AFL player.

(01:01:59):
Much smarter. So that is such an obvious
mismatch to me that I'm worried that he may himself stop
Collingwood from being as effective as I'd like to be
going inside 50. Yeah.
Oh great. I don't know if that's going to
cost them the game, but it's definitely not helping.
Them and then you look at the the Brisbane half backs, Zorkos,

(01:02:20):
Fletcher and Walmart. The pies have really good match
ups. You got McCreary, who could
potentially be back, which is a big.
Thing that is, yeah. And that could really, really
impact the Lions flankers. Sorry, we are both absolutely
losing our voices right now. And then you've also got who's
the other? He plays there at times like he
shoots as well. They can all do a defensive

(01:02:42):
role. And that's I think really,
really hard for the Lions to potentially counteract.
Then you look at the midfield. Lions now playing Fort is their
main ruckman. And Mcenany, he's a forward I
thought was interesting. I thought it'd be the other way
around. But Cameron is a seriously good
ruckman. The midfield battle, I still
think even without any of the Lions have the advantage, I
still do and I don't see A tag of being able to do a job on.

(01:03:05):
Pandal. Breed Dacos pandals to go E Ned
Long and over Mitchell at the moment.
Jack Chris plays there occasionally, sort of.
Josh Dacos might go in there fora few.
Aside from that, you got Dunkley, Ashcroft, Ashcroft,
Mccluggage, Bailey, Rayner. I think the Lions have too much
depth. Agreed.

(01:03:26):
And you look at and Geelong, they had A tag and you look at
Gold Coast, they didn't utilise it.
Collingwood don't have it reallyand I think that that gives them
a big advantage there as well. And then you look at the lines
for lining against the Pies backline who plays on Logan Morris
because Darcy Moore tried to kick 7 on him or 6 on him.

(01:03:47):
Had his great week last against Adelaide.
And Cameron had a real had a decent game in the game against
Gold Coast. Cameron was getting up the
ground, which I thought was really important to get him
involved. And if they do that again, it
might isolate Logan Morris againon potentially A Darcy Moore,
which makes it even harder because that's not what Darcy
Moore wants to do. And is Billy Frampton good

(01:04:08):
enough? Because I think the match up
with Rayner, which is a huge one, probably becomes Maynard.
Physicality and physicality. Pretty good match up there.
You got Frampton, who probably goes to McInerney or for the
resting Rockman, and then you'vegot Will Parker to go on Ty
Gillop on Jalap. I don't know how to exactly

(01:04:28):
pronounce it. And then you got Darcy Moore on
Logan Morris. We saw how it went last time.
It's not giving me a lot of confidence.
I understand that, yeah. No, I'm, I'm going to I'm going
to tip Brisbane for this one, but I'm just always so wary of
these pies and they're kind of in the same category as the cat
for me in that they always seem to find a way.

(01:04:49):
Like Steel, Sidebottom kicking three against Adelaide was not
on anyone's bingo card, but he went ahead and did it and
provided such a spark from. Sidebottom, he almost did what
Bobby Hill does, which was Rove the pack.
And the fact that they get BobbyHill is another thing.
You almost think how are they going to match?
Not a guarantee, but there's rumours he could potentially be

(01:05:09):
back. Yeah, understood.
Oh, there's just so many question marks.
There's so many question marks because it, I, I still think
while what you're saying makes sense, there's going to be
something that throws A spanner into the works.
Someone is going to have an outrageous game.
I don't know who it's going to be.
I think my my bold prediction, I'll get it out of the way here.

(01:05:32):
Someone on the pies has 40 plus disposals.
I think someone opens the game up and I'm not going to say a
specific person only because one, that's how sports bet gets
you, but two, I think there's a reason it's bold.
I don't think this game can be won by an individual.

(01:05:53):
However, if it does happen, it'sgoing to be that along with
fantastic performances from all the usuals.
I think this 40 plus disposal person, if it happens, would be
someone completely out of the out of left field.
Josh Dacos, Yeah, Or Dan Houston, something like that.
I don't think Dan Houston, but Josh Dacos could be a good
shout. Who do you have winning though?
I do have the Lions winning. But again, all that and having

(01:06:17):
the close player it's. Close.
It's, I think it's four points. Oh, that.
'D be such a good game. I want it to be there.
That would be such a good game. It needs to be that close.
I think I'm going Lions. I think I just the way that I
analysed obviously got coaching as well and how they play.
I think the Lions now have shownthat they can do it without

(01:06:37):
locking Neil and I think that the back the pies back then,
even though they have been that good, I just think there are
still holes in it and I think the Lions can attack that.
And so I'm going lions by 13. But my bold prediction.
Oh. Yeah, it's so tough.
It's so tough to figure one out.Oh, did we talk about the Rock

(01:07:02):
match up as well? We did talk a little.
About yeah, because I feel like.Cameron, yeah.
I feel like that could be one that really swings Collingwood's
way. Man, it's so hard to get a
proper gauge on how this game's going to go bold.
Prediction I think Cameron and Loman combine for 6 plus goals.

(01:07:25):
Not bad, not a bad one at all. I think the small forwards are
able to get it. Done.
Bold Loman. I went.
I went for the tools in North. He thinks it's David Beckham.
Did you see that? He got paid himself to David
Beckham. He looked like Brendan
Starsovich. He.

(01:07:46):
Look like Brendan Starsovich. I think it's time to move on to
the. Other game I.
Think it's time to move on. Yeah, on a good note too.
But we now move to the Cats versus the Hawks, 2 versus 8.
This is somehow a bit less daunting than last week for the
Hawks, but with Giant Nukem withthe Giant Nukem backpack, will

(01:08:07):
we see another upset? No, I'm very confident in
Geelong on this one. And you know why?
They've got two options, 22 levers to be able to pull
against Nukem. They've got a Shane Mullen.
Oh, Shane Mullen, Yeah. Or Mark O'Connor is not able to
go with him physically. Yeah, and I think either one of
them will get him. And I think Geelong just know
what they need to do to get thisdone.

(01:08:29):
I feel like in the forward line,they're good enough to be able
to not let the ball get to ground to allow Hawthorne Smalls
get in. Defensively, they've been a lot
better than what I thought therewere.
And then I think Battle absolutely sucks against Jeremy
Cameron and I'm just going to leave it there.
Hey, hey, win by 29. All Australian Josh Battle.
Jeremy Cameron told I'm going todo my ball prediction right now.

(01:08:51):
Josh Battle himself concedes sixgoals.
By him, that's an ACL in the last 30 seconds.
Don't tempt me. Don't tempt.
Me. Look, I've said it since the
start of the year. The cats always find a way.
This is, for me. Blow out potential, Yeah, My

(01:09:15):
bold prediction is Cats 60 plus I'm going 65.
Cats win by 65 because of the fact they are so well coached.
They not only are well coached, have the tools to do it and also
the fact that, yeah, like you said, they've got their person
for John Newcomb and they'll have the ones around the ground

(01:09:36):
who can, who can step up. But when the Hawks get rattled,
they can really drop the ball. I've seen it plenty of times
when they lost to Collingwood earlier in the year.
It's the first. It's the first time I'd properly
seen a team lose all composure. You'll have those moments right
where teams will drop a little bit and they'll try and fight
their way back. That game against Collingwood,

(01:09:58):
they got hit and threw nothing back at them.
They almost threw the threw the toys out the crib part
situation. The only other time I remember
it was Gold Coast getting smacked by Adelaide.
That was when I'd seen somethingsimilar.
I also feel like the cats midfield is a lot better than
than the crows. Well, it's so well and they're
not going to get stopped right. So you can put Tom Atkins to to

(01:10:21):
Newcomb if you need to as well. But then you got Smith and
Holmes on the outside that I don't think Hawthorne are going
to be up to stop. And I just think that gives him
such an advantage even without like a race Stanley in the
midfield. I.
Think it needs to. Which I think, I think they need
to bring him back in, yeah, because I think physically make
could very well destroy decodingor Blitzvs.
But I just think that they're somuch more well rounded Geelong

(01:10:43):
at the moment, I just think they're in such good form.
Yeah, big step ups are needed from two players for me, James
Wilpel and Josh Weddle. He had a massive game, had a
massive game against Gold Coast,sorry Gold Coast, Adelaide and
it shows how impactful he is. He's such a scintillating

(01:11:03):
player, he's so exciting to watch.
So Weddle, if you're watching this mate play hard, make it
close. Prove me wrong, mate, prove me
wrong. But with that being said.
If I would have just give a genuine, real bold prediction,
yeah, I'm going to Smith and Holmes to combine for 72 plus
disposal. 72 plus you're going to put some money on that.
It sounds like that sounds like a sports.
Bet I actually might, yeah. That sounds like a sports bet

(01:11:26):
now if I reckon. Either way, gamble responsibly
but also I appreciate you guys tuning in to 0 access footy.
We appreciate you. We appreciate you guys tuning in
to 0 Access Footy episode #30 Weare getting closer and closer to
the grand finale of the season, but we've got one more week to

(01:11:49):
wait before we head into grand final episode episode #31 so I
appreciate you guys once again tuning in.
They should like subscribe, follow us on all platforms and
I'll see you all in the next one.
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