Welcome back to another jam packed episode of the Ball Babble Podcast!
This week the boys have plenty in store for you as they cover the NBA and the AFL!
In NBA news, the boys go over the teams and players who are lighting up the league at the moment, such as Cleveland, Tyrese Maxey and the LA Clippers. They don't forget about the struggling teams either though, covering off the struggling Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks.
The big news of the week has been the injury to Joel Embiid and the boys cover this and what the impact will be on the 76ers.
Next, it's a big dose of the AFL as we close in on round 1.
The boys give their top 5 things they are looking out for in the pre season matches, which includes some new coaching styles and the debut of the #1 draft pick!
A fun segment to finish off, who is each teams "Swiss Army Knife", someone that can play multiple positions and help the team out when they need a spark!
Sit back, relax and enjoy the episode!
Podcast Proudly sponsored by https://tiptitans.com/ - Use Code BALLBA6435 for $20 off!
Podcast hosted and produced by Benny Holzbauer & Tom Pysing
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ballbabblepodcast/?hl=en
Follow us on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@ballbabblepodcast?lang=en
Email questions to us @ ballbabblepodcast@gmail.com
Welcome back to another jam packed episode of the Ball Babble Podcast!
This week the boys have plenty in store for you as they cover the NBA and the AFL!
In NBA news, the boys go over the teams and players who are lighting up the league at the moment, such as Cleveland, Tyrese Maxey and the LA Clippers. They don't forget about the struggling teams either though, covering off the struggling Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks.
The big news of the week has been the injury to Joel Embiid and the boys cover this and what the impact will be on the 76ers.
Next, it's a big dose of the AFL as we close in on round 1.
The boys give their top 5 things they are looking out for in the pre season matches, which includes some new coaching styles and the debut of the #1 draft pick!
A fun segment to finish off, who is each teams "Swiss Army Knife", someone that can play multiple positions and help the team out when they need a spark!
Sit back, relax and enjoy the episode!
Podcast Proudly sponsored by https://tiptitans.com/ - Use Code BALLBA6435 for $20 off!
Podcast hosted and produced by Benny Holzbauer & Tom Pysing
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ballbabblepodcast/?hl=en
Follow us on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@ballbabblepodcast?lang=en
Email questions to us @ ballbabblepodcast@gmail.com
Welcome back to another episode of the Bull Babble Podcast. Brought to you proudly by Tip Titans. How's your week been, Benny?
Benny:It's been pretty good. It's, like we said just before, the NBA's kinda just in a little bit of a lull, slowing down a little bit before the All Star break. But, I mean, there's still plenty happening. There's still guys that are putting up some really big numbers in the last week. We've 50 point games. And a couple of teams. Try the All Star announcements. Yeah, All Star announcements, so the reserves got announced. Which was good, a little, a couple of snubs, and a couple of guys that, you know, love being in the All Star game, they're gonna be pretty fun to watch, and then you've got guys like Rudy Gobert out there complaining that, you know, he's owed a bit of money or some, some time, cause he's. He's never in them, so no one wants to watch you Rudy. He came out
Tom:today I think, and he was like, when I'm doing my speech for my Hall of Fame entry, I'll be able to talk about how I snubbed for the All Star game.
Benny:Yeah, how I got extra holidays and all of this, it's like, okay, sure thing. But yeah, I mean, NBA, it's starting to heat up with, I guess, in terms of playoffs and things are having a lot more of an impact. It's probably the biggest one over the last week has been the Joel and Bede injury. Having surgery now as well, I saw today. Yeah, so he's going to miss quite a bit of time. So, good for the, the Maxi lovers out there. And if you've got Maxi, most improved player, you can basically cash that bet. Somebody's got a pretty
Tom:good futures bet, haven't they? Rolling at the moment.
Benny:Yeah, it's rolling pretty well. The cash out value is pretty high now. So, touch wood. They all stay healthy. I guess on the Lebron on the Jokic injury, I put this in here. So we've got Lebron James came out and tweeted, quote, Where where are all the media outlets, TV media personalities, hot takes that talk so much shit about Joel Embiid missing those games when he knew what he was dealing with, end quote. So basically, he's saying that they forced him to play, which is just ridiculous. Actual fuck off, LeBron. Like, are you kidding me? Like, if you have a sore knee, sit out. Like, you're not playing out there for individual awards. You're out there to win championships. Which MB
Tom:was doing that last year, was out there for the award. He
Benny:has come out on record previously saying he cares about individual awards, and he cares about his legacy and MVPs and all, all NBAs and all of that at the end of the, when he's done. Like, well, bad luck if you injure yourself.
Tom:I think this year he said like he was more team focused and was happy to miss games and wasn't going for the MVP again. It was,
Benny:when LeBron said that.
Tom:It's a, it's a freak injury. Like, you've seen how games, this is like a, it's a freak accident that happens with these like. Yeah. Weird knees. Well he was
Benny:sore going in. That's the thing. He was sore. He shouldn't have been playing in that Warriors game in the first place. Yeah. And then, like, he went up for a layup, and basically But the
Tom:way to do so, it was a loose ball on the ground. Jumped on, it was Kuminga, I think, landed on his knee. Like I
Benny:think there was two or three instances in that one game, like, Draymond had an collision with him as well. Yeah. And he had the one where he went to jump and just like, Actually that game was
Tom:brought back so I saw a fair bit of that game. Yep. Draymond put the fucking clamps on
Benny:Embiid. Well that's, I was talking to some of the boys at the time and he was 4 for 17, 8 turnovers, like mate just sit, and then he gets injured. Draymond was It's like, you're getting destroyed.
Tom:Torching him. He was fronting him on every play. It was like so, it was Pete Draymond. I was actually excited watching it, like his defense
Benny:was back. That's when Draymond is really good, when he's like, alright, this is like a personal thing for him. He wants to show the league that, nah, this guy's not as, I'm able to defend at a higher level still. Yeah. Yeah, huge hit for Philly and I think they're probably going to slide down. Yeah, it'll be interesting to
Tom:see. They haven't got much depth at center. They've got Paul Reid and Mo Bumba.
Benny:Yeah, I guess. It's not inspiring. The good thing for them right now is they're, they're still three and a half games ahead of Indiana. Yeah. So they've got a little bit of a buffer there. But they're gonna have to figure out a rotation. Obviously, there's gonna be a lot more Tobias Harris. Hopefully, Kelly Oubre for them can step up. But yeah, it's gonna, it's gonna be a lot on Maxi's shoulders. So, big step up for him. And, I mean, first time All Star and, you know, let's see what he can do.
Tom:While you brought up LeBron, let's stay on him for a second. Yep. His name was in
Benny:Yeah, by some rumours. Some no name person some bloke tweeted out something,
Tom:and I think Palinga came out and said something like, Nah, we're not gonna do anything about it.
Benny:No, he came out and said he's not on the trade bloc, and like, he's not going anywhere, and, and all of this, so His name was David Pingelore, so And, I mean, when you start your tweet, like, Hearing from NBA peeps.
Tom:Yeah, well, that's, isn't that what
Benny:Shams does? I don't know, but you know Shams, but Yeah, so It was, I think it was just a lot of smoke, no fire.
Tom:But he came out, he had a real weird press conference where he like, blasted the team. And then they came out and beat the Celtics with the RAD and
Benny:LeBron. Yeah, and then they beat the Knicks in Madison Square as well, so. I don't know if you saw, it was Jalen Brunson faced 30 double teams in the last quarter alone. So they might have figured out a way to slow him down.
Tom:Dante Di Vincenzo is balling on the Villanova Knicks at the moment.
Benny:Yeah, they've got so many of them. In Brunson's heart. Yeah. So, he's looked really good. He's, I think he's third or fourth, or he was third or fourth in three point percentage. And he's just shooting them at a high clip and just doesn't look scared at the moment. Obviously, he's played on some big teams and he's loving the extra responsibility, you know, alongside Brunson. So, I mean, if you've got those two guys shooting the three, it's pretty dangerous.
Tom:AlL Star was as renounced. Yep. Who was your biggest snub?
Benny:Biggest snub was definitely Sabonis. I think I would have had Sabonis in over Kat for sure. He's going at 19, oh he's going at 20 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists, and he's shooting like 65 percent from the field. And he's had the second most triple doubles this year, and he's just like, I don't know how he didn't make it.
Tom:I think either him or Fox had to make it. One
Benny:of them had to be, and if I had, Fox missed a little bit of time, that's why I would have gone with Sabonis. And then on the East, I thought Trae Young was pretty stiff. 27 and 10 again, and he misses out. Like, if that's anyone else, like any other name, they're in. So It's a
Tom:no brainer. You're having him over
Benny:Uh, probably, probably Paolo. Yeah, that's
Tom:who I was
Benny:looking at as well. There's so many Fords that put up similar Randall
Tom:Yeah. He's playing pretty
Benny:good, though. Well, the interesting thing is, like, Randall's not gonna play. So, does Trae Young come in for Randall, or does it have to be a big guy? No, I think
Tom:that's one of the
Benny:utility spots. Okay, so you'd think Trae Young has to come in for him?
Tom:Yeah, when somebody will come in for him beat as well.
Benny:Yep, so I mean there's Scotty Barnes potentially. Yeah. There's a couple of guys around that, you know, that just missed out. But what about you? Who's your biggest snub?
Tom:Yeah, I think either Sponus or Fox. Not your big boy Alpy? Nah, he's gone a little bit quiet the last couple of weeks. Still playing alright, but he's not dominating like he was.
Benny:Yep. Speaking of the all star game, so, Doc Rivers.
Tom:I only, so there's a rule, you can't coach the all star year back to back. Yep. If you, like, so Mazzola was the coach last year. Yep. Second row Joe. Can't go again. Can't go again this year, so. Adrian Griffin was the fullback. Yep. And Doc Rivers has come out and said that he's giving up his all star ring bonus. Oh, his all star ring and bonus to Griffin. Yeah. If that's not a kick in the dick.
Benny:Ah, well, take the money. It's already
out.
Tom:It's already out. It's so ridiculous. Not to worry. He gets fired, but he is the second best coach, according to
Benny:Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty crazy, so Interesting that that is what they've gone with. I think they just take it off the record, so Yeah, it is. So, speaking of teams that are starting to get rolling, the Cavs are still rolling. Yeah, we spoke about them last time. 13 1 in their last 14 now. Yeah. And some pretty big wins. So, we said that they kind of had some empty wins at the start, but now they're starting to beat some good teams. Beaten Milwaukee. anD a couple other just strong wins where they've been close games and they've managed to come in the clutch and they're healthy again now. So we'll see a bit more of Darius Garland, he's still kind of on a minutes restriction ever mobily as well. But it's scary if they do figure it out because what we saw last year is like that was such a well rounded team. And Donovan Mitchell looks like he's gone to another level at the moment as well. So they are definitely one of the teams on the rise. Now the third seed and they're only half a game behind Milwaukee. Yep. So who lost today to Utah? Yeah
Tom:I think Looking biased as well. I think the clips are fucking flying. They
Benny:are definitely on
Tom:a seven game road street road trip Yes, five and one so far with Atlanta to come later
Benny:in the week. Yeah, I think like yeah I didn't realize how close it was It's the top three. They're only a game behind, okay, say, Mini. Well, same losing record.
Tom:Yeah. They've both got 15 losses. Clips have played two less
Benny:games. Yep. So, it's going to be very close come, come the end of that road trip, if they are equal one seed. But, kind of, I mean, Denver's only half a game behind as well. So, it's, it's all to play for at the top of the West. So, the top four, I mean, you look at the, the top ten in the West. Are all on a winning streak of some kind. Yep. Whether that's one win or more. Yeah. Whereas you look at the East, and it's, it's a bit all over the shop at the moment. So, half the teams are on a winning streak, half have lost their last game. So. Yeah. If we look at the East, the team I'm, I'm starting to get really concerned about them, is Miami. I know they just made a move. But their net rating over the last 10 games is minus 11. So they're, they're getting outscored by 11 points a game at the moment.
Tom:I think it'll take them a minute to get their mojo going again. Just because it's such a difference, like for Rosie to come in, it's such a different way Miami play, they play as their own defense. Yep. So I think that'll take some time to adjust. But also, I just think they just don't care about the regular season.
Benny:I know, you just don't want to slip too far, I know,
Tom:but that was the guy's last field. Yeah. Yeah, I'm
Benny:like, I agree, they're not looking great. There's no one from behind, there's no one down, like, Brooklyn in the 11th seed, just, they're not a threat to take over. Yeah, there's no scary teams down there. But, yeah, it's just something they'd probably want to get sorted, and I'm sure Coach Spohr would get them sorted. Who else has caught your eye over the last, I guess, week or week and a half?
Tom:There's a player that plays for the Houston Rockets. He's a rookie. Yep,
Benny:Thompson. No.
Tom:Whitmore. And, he has got, I don't know if he's been given it by EMA, he must have. He's got the biggest green light I've ever seen.
Benny:I think The bloke does not pass. That's how he plays, how he played in college and I think why he's slipped so far in the draft because It could rub some people up the wrong way. I've seen a little bit of
it.
Tom:He literally doesn't pass the ball. He's a ball stopper.
Benny:Yeah. But he's scoring the ball. So props to him going up 19 and 5 over his, uh, 19 and 5 in his past 5 games. And I guess giving them a pretty strong spark off the bench. If you're getting 20 points off a rookie off the bench playing 20 minutes. Yeah, and
Tom:Brennan Miller's the one, like, with Rozier, now, out of Charlotte. Ball was injured as
Benny:well. Passed two games, had 35 today against Indiana. And he had 7 at halftime as well, around that. Yeah, he was a big cook, like. And then 28 against OKC on the weekend. And, yeah, he's averaging 25 in his last five games. He's just got such
Tom:a, like, there's more ball to go around now, with LaMelo out and Rozier not there. No Gordon Haywood either at the moment. Yeah, him and Bridges are just sort of
Benny:doing what they want. Yep. Scooty Henderson had 30 the other day against Denver. So, starting to find it just not on a regular basis.
Tom:Yeah, it's weird. I think it's a move that Portland have done going into the deadline. But like, so Brogdon's starting at the moment. Yep. And I think that's just a
Benny:little He's been starting for a
Tom:while. Shop. Window shopping. Putting me out
Benny:there. Yeah, because he missed a little bit of time, didn't he, and obviously Yeah,
Tom:but then we went back to the
Benny:bench, and now it's just more consistent. Yeah, I think because Shaden Sharpe's out, again, like, there's always, always seems to be one of Shaden Sharpe or Anthony Simons out. You just can't get them both on the park.
Tom:So, I think he'll be gone anyway. Yeah.
Benny:Come deadline. And the other rookie I've seen a little bit of, he's Grady Dick. They seem to be trying to give him more minutes, so 21 minutes a game over his last five. Yep. But still just not really doing much. It's like four or five points a game And he just kind of looks like he's just running around like he's not really doing a whole lot not shooting the ball Well, not much confidence yet. So I think they're really just trying to give him as much time to learn on this That's a hard like the JJ ready girl. Really? Yeah The one
Tom:who's playing that role really well at the moment score gives birth
Benny:Yeah, what's he third year now? Yeah, but
Tom:That he's a white three point shooter. Yeah. like that is
Benny:the role. The thing with Grady Dick is he can actually put the ball on the floor. Yeah. So whether or not they try and give him the keys a little bit if they move Schroder, I don't know. So yeah, just it's a learning curve for him and it's obviously a lot quicker and he gets closed out a lot more in the MBA than he did. At the college level. But yeah, we'll see how he goes after the all star break.
Tom:We had the nicest guy in the NBA get traded.
Benny:Yeah, my boy. Steve Adams. Steve Adams on the move to Houston. So, he misses the rest of the year. Okay, and I think
Tom:Oladipo has no
Benny:return date. Yeah, so, the trade was Memphis received, Victor Oladipo in three second round picks. All the depots got a player option so unrestricted free agent next year and then Houston received Steven Adams who's got 12. 6 mil left on his deal like next year, one more year so. Oh and he'll be, if he's
Tom:healthy like,
Benny:Oh he's a pretty handy guy, like just a bruiser
Tom:the league.
Benny:Yeah, and just a genuine nice guy. Yeah. He
Tom:had a weird, Good locker room guy. He came out and said like, it was like a letter to Memphis sort of thing saying thank you. But he was saying how he was going to see Memphis in the finals now. That's not going to happen.
Benny:Yeah. That ain't happen. Nah, definitely not. Did you see today they had eight healthy players? Their roster looks Had to play Boston
Tom:too. Their roster almost looks better than the Wizards still though.
Benny:It's like a G League roster. Yeah, it's gross.
Tom:Yep. Kennard was like the only, well he's not even, he shouldn't be a starter. But he was like the only guy that's been in the league for
Benny:a minute. Yep. Yep, definitely. So have you heard any trade rumors recently? Obviously we've got the deadline coming up on Friday. So we'll drop a pod on the Saturday or the Sunday after that to dissect hopefully a host of big deals.
Tom:The one that caught my eye was that Houston put an offer. Three firsts and some bits for Mikhail
Benny:Bridges. Yep. Send him back to the West. Which,
Tom:I think, yeah, if I'm a team around the mark, perfect two way player. And now he's, because he's been given the freedom on offense, like he can bring so much more on that end of the court
Benny:now. I think we saw Last year, the back in the last year didn't we, we saw him, we probably didn't think he had that game in him, and he just kind of took over and it was like, I just don't think he
Tom:gets traded though, because I think the Nets should blow it up, but he's probably the one piece that you probably want
Benny:to keep. I mean, guys like that don't grow on trees. Lockdown D, offensive weapon, like, just does it all really, so he's probably one that, and like, fair enough, they knock back three first. Yeah, I just
Tom:thought it was a reasonable offer. Yeah. Probably shoot
Benny:first round pick so as well. Yeah, probably. Did you see Benny Simmons came back with a bang?
Tom:Yeah, and then in his second game?
Benny:Scored zero points, but got the win. Didn't actually shoot the ball, but he had nine rebounds, five assists. Got the win in Philly. Apparently, he
Tom:It's all in on the Olympics.
Benny:But, the boomers
Tom:haven't said if they're
Benny:going to take him back yet. I think he should definitely, they should, he should try and be around the camp. Which is probably what he wants to do. Like, be around those guys which, you know, you know the Aussie boys are going to humble him. And be like, they're not going to take
Tom:his bullshit. So it's okay for him to come back now? He's shit. But when he thought he was too good for the boobers, that's f
Benny:Ah, f If anyone wants to pull on the green code Fuck it.
Tom:Done.
Benny:Done. Yep. I mean, you can say it about so many people with the Olympics,
Tom:but I saw an elite Ben Simmons meme the other day. It was like the f the Cause we always get the pre season. Like, Simmons learning to shoot. Yep. And he was with his shooting coach. And it was like, one person in this photo knows how to shoot. And it's not the NBA
Benny:player. Well, I'd beg to differ that the coach knows how to shoot if he's not teaching him. That's a bad
Tom:job. That's the most If you're being paid to be Ben Simmons shooting coach, that's money for jam. Oh, yeah. It's like Because you're not going to know if it's working or not, because you won't fucking shoot in a
Benny:game. You're just going to work and getting paid millions. Exactly, right. Not a bad way to do things.
Tom:But, I think, like you said, trade deadline coming up. There'll be a lot to talk about, hopefully. But apart from that, it's been a bit of a lot, like it's this quiet time, like we said before. Yeah. Before All Star.
Benny:It's a, it's a low, but it's also a time where I think some teams like the clips, you can make a move and it's probably goes under the radar a bit. Yeah. Under the
Tom:radar was the word I
Benny:was about. As well, just. Cause if you go, let's say 10 and three into the break and then, you know, six and one out of it, you're like, hang on a second, they're
Tom:right there. That's what I was going to say. These guys, if you can win these games, like stacks and wins now, it does go under the radar. Yeah. And then you come back and it's like, right, there's 30
games
Benny:left. Yeah, and like there's a couple of teams that are doing the opposite to what you'd actually want to be doing like they've coming in To the all star break in bad form and like you look at Dallas for instance They are just sliding further and further and further. They're getting massive games from Luka, but they're just not winning So yeah, they're definitely They're pretty
Tom:ravaged at the moment injury
Benny:wise. Yeah, I think it's just one of the one of those teams It just always seems to have injury issues
Tom:That's enough, but I got excited. I saw the note and you've put, we've got some AFL to talk about and it's got me a little bit excited.
Benny:Yeah, well, let's get into it. I looked at it and we're only like three weeks away or four weeks away from round one. That's, fuck, that's,
Tom:fuck, that's flown
Benny:by. Yeah, so I think match sim games Two weeks? Two weeks away, and then you get a proper pre season game. But, yeah, it's, it's coming really quickly, and I guess we're seeing, obviously we leave In Australia, so we see a lot more on our socials about AFL. It's popping up everywhere, so I was like, you know what? It's time to get into it. Oh, I like it. We love the AFL, so we've got a few little fun segments here. But, I guess the main thing in match sim games is, for me, is Yeah. So if it's your team, you don't want injuries. Yep. You just want your stars to get through, you want like, you know, you want your Dusty to come out and play a quarter and be like, yep, looks good, put him away.
Tom:And you want to get overexcited about your
Benny:youngsters. Yeah, which you do anyway, even if they, all it takes is one possession. Yeah. So, you can even have a John O'Brown run around there and not touch the footy all day. But he looked good though. Good tank. Yeah. And, and probably the other one is like, player positional changes. So, coaches changing something up over the off season, or like a player being reinvented. I don't know if you saw Alex Sexton from Gold Coast. Has been training at halfback all year. Interesting. Pre season. So they want to use his penetrating kick across halfback it always comes unstuck with those guys because they don't know how to defend, but we'll see how he goes. So I think they're looking to flip him there and move, I think Darcy McPherson back to a pressure forward, but he failed as a pressure forward last time and so they moved him back. So, but yeah. Two pretty uninspiring names. That's just the last article I read, so. What are the five things you're looking forward to or looking for in this preseason? Are we going to go one for one here? Yeah, we'll go one for one. Start us off. Uh,
Tom:main one for me, for me, is how do Aaliyah and Radigalea look playing together? Are they going to fly at the same time? Are they going to figure out one stay down and pin and the other go up? I think it could be really, really good. Or a tiny part of me is a little bit worried about it.
Benny:Yeah, I actually saw Illiraleigh on the weekend at the beach. Is Illiraleigh good? Oh, he's huge. And I think, cause it was two years ago he had a really good year. Yep. All Australian. Yep. And then last year I don't know if teams, obviously teams did their homework on him and forced him to defend a bit
Tom:more. I think last year it was hard because you want, you don't want him to be
Benny:You lost a few key
Tom:backs. You don't want a leader to be, you want him to be your third, play on the third
Benny:tool. Yeah, or at least your second so he can still Third's
Tom:his best where he can just play on the shit one. Yep. And roam. Which I think, uh, radically, yeah, and I hope they brought him in because we didn't have anybody to play on. The big monster forwards. Yeah. Is, he plays that lockdown role. If he intercepts, great. If not, we don't need him for that. We need him to be a lockdown defender and let Aaliyah do what he does
Benny:best. Well, I think it gives you two intercept guys. Yeah. So, if one Matchup dependent as well. If Radicalia is getting, you know, torched by someone, then you switch it up. Aaliyah goes on and you're like, Here, Radicalia, have some freedom. Get some confidence back again. Jump at the footy. Take some marks. Get us going. So Yeah, that'll definitely be something to watch for the Port Back 6 and probably determines how your season goes, how those two go. Uh, for me, I've got Harley Reid. So the number one draft pick for the West Coast Eagles, I mean, there's been so much hype for this kid for two years. So I mean, I don't need to see him tear a game apart in, you know, these two games. I just need to see. Some of those things that we've heard about, the power, the explosiveness, they've said, you know, that he's a bit like Dusty in the way he plays. It's like He'd want to look
Tom:like an AFL
Benny:player. Because he's been touted for so long and he knows
Tom:Played VFL last year as well. Yeah. Like, I just want to see him just look like he belongs out
Benny:there. You don't, if he goes out there and it looks too fast for him, you'd just be like Have you just kind of been resting on your laurels you think you know happy to play
Tom:mind you it might be hard to see that with 17 other players that it looks too fast for
Benny:True, but I mean, I think it'd just be good to see him. Yeah, I felt level. I agree Yeah,
Tom:I've got our West Coast gonna be
Benny:competitive Yeah, I mean
Tom:kind of got some night. So you got right there. Yeah, I like J Cullen? Cully? Yep.
Benny:Jai Cully.
Tom:Jai Cully. Yep. Like what he's got. And then they've got the other big mid, young mid.
Benny:yoU can tell it's obviously Help me out here. I'm not going to be able to get his name. I know who you're talking about, but yeah, the big That's got some
Tom:upside. Like, so they've got some younger pieces but are they going to be competitive? That's the big
Benny:question. I mean, I think for me, like Is it Reuben Ginby Yep. So, a lot for them rests on Oscar Allen and him being healthy and kicking a bag of goals. And then, I did just see that Liam Ryan is going in for more surgery. So that hurts, cause he's just one of those X Factor guys that, you know, gets in 2 3 goals a game. Yeah, just make something out of nothing. This brings a bit of fear to the
Tom:opposition as well. Yeah. Physically
Benny:and skillfully. Yeah. So, I mean, they've got to turn the corner. Otherwise, yeah, it's been pretty grim for them. But I don't feel terrible for West Coast people. Nah, I'm fine with them. Next one's probably, yeah, close home for me. So, Kane McAuliffe from the Tigers. So, our first pick with like pick 40. But all reports look really good in Match sim so far.
Tom:Playing on, I read an article today. He said he looked good when he was out at training. Yeah.
Benny:On playing on the footy and just a big body left foot just kind of moves well and looks like he fits in, I guess. Looks like it's not too quick for him. So if he's someone that can come in and have an impact straight away.'cause we've had a couple of young mids that we've drafted that just. Tyler Sonsi came in, just showed patches, but just not enough and, you know, he's, I think he misses the first two or three weeks of the season through suspension from the VFL as well. And then, like, Jack Ross actually took a step last year, but I think, yeah, having a left footer in your midfield is something that's very underrated. Just gives you a little bit of a, a different look. They're just always so good at selling candy. Have you seen
Tom:Richmond's win total for the year? Ten
Benny:and a half. Nine and a half.
Tom:Nine and a half. What do you, where are you at with
Benny:that? It's honestly impossible to answer until I see our game style. True.
Tom:That's true. It's
Benny:gonna look a lot different. New coach, Adam Uze, apparently it looked like we kicked a lot longer. Didn't really muck around with the footy. They got, tried to get it moving fast and long. Which is similar to what we did in 2017. But, it was either handball or kick long to one on ones. Yeah, Jaden Scholl would
Tom:be happy about that. Yeah. He's just gonna bang the footy every
Benny:time he gets it. Yeah, he's good at that. But, yeah, I don't know. I, I saw a few people, you know, a few, a lot of people taking the under and stuff. But Yeah, I mean, I think take it's this time of year like
Tom:I saw just before so King He did like the match where he's going around to all the preseason. Yeah games And he did like the teak swan and he was talking about McAuliffe and stuff. Yeah And Kane commented on it like so teak's bottom four And he just replied, I've missed you.
Benny:Yeah, well Kane also thought Richmond was going to be bottom four in 2017, so. Well, uh, look how that panned out. He just hates Richmond, so.
Tom:wEll I have, this one I, it hurts me to say, I think the Crows could be the real deal.
Benny:You're putting that on them so that when they crush them they're
Tom:Give me more of those posters that Keys kick last year that uh, robbed him. But yeah, I think their list is at a really good spot in terms of they've got a lot of youth that's now played like 20, 30 games.
Benny:Yeah, they're all, they're all in like their third to fourth year.
Tom:Rankin I think will play more on ball this year. Yep. I think Sloan's probably going to be a little bit like Boak and I think he won't play a whole year. Or he got injured
Benny:the other day. Yeah, but I
Tom:just think he will miss.
Benny:Yeah, I also just don't think he's in their best 24. But
Tom:that's the thing, the problem with these guys is they're just now a little bit slower. Yep. They've lost a little bit of hardness because they're not in there first. Yep.
Benny:And he's never been like Like, Bogdan's a gut runner. Yeah. Like, a really good runner. Sloane's more of a Sloane was tough. in and under. Yeah. So Yeah, it takes a big toll on your body. He's had so many injuries as
Tom:well. But guys like, like, it'll be a huge year for Tilthor. Yeah. Fogarty I really like McElhaney.
Benny:Yeah, McElhaney looked really good. And they actually struck gold.
Tom:And Jordan Dawson is, we've said he's so good. He's
Benny:classy, yeah. And, and they struck gold at the draft as well. Yeah, with Curtin. Yeah, so they managed to get him at like pick eight. So that was a massive win for them. So he kind of shores up their defensive stock. So like a big 197, 94 kilo defender. Yeah, he can go forward as well. Yeah, so, I mean. It would just be for them figuring it out and guys getting better again. If guys get better. I hope they don't. Yeah, I hope they don't as well. But
Tom:I think they'll be around them. I think they'll make finals.
Benny:Yeah, well they should have made it last year. So if they don't make finals, it's a fail for me. They have to make finals to get a pass mark. Yeah, I think they're at that point now. Yeah. I've got Brody Grundy in Sydney. And I'm just assuming we're gonna see his best again. Or
Tom:close to it. I think he's gonna roll around having 35 hit outs and 20 plus touches. Yeah,
Benny:whether, how much impact he has on the game. Correct, but small deck there, it suits him. Yeah, so I think he is going to be a massive, he will probably be recruited a year, in terms of numbers. Impact, yeah. So I think he's going to be massive for them, so. I'm, I'm looking forward to seeing him and, cause like, it just, it looked really shit with him and Gorn, like you just knew it was never gonna work. I don't know who at Melbourne thought that was ever a good idea, like, didn't need to be a rocket scientist or a police manager to know that wasn't gonna work. So, I mean it could be huge for Sydney as well, they, they're definitely in their window as well. They've got plenty of guys. The problem
Tom:is in the front half and in their key defence stocks.
Benny:Yeah, with, obviously you've got McCartan that's pretty solid. Yep. But, I guess apart from that, Logan McDonald took a big step last year. Yeah, and he's
Tom:the one, like, he's going to, because they've got nobody now. Yeah. He needs to be the sort of face of that forward line.
Benny:Yeah, so, I mean, they've got a lot of exciting players. I mean, Hayden McLean had a huge finish to the year. Yeah. But, I mean, you look at some of the guys they've got, they've got a lot of talent. Chad Warner, Isaac Heaney, our boy, obviously our boy E Roll, guys like, The Wiz, yeah The Wiz, The Lizard, yep, you've got him, Brayden Campbell, Couple of those guys that, you know, he's still got Luke Parker and Callum Mills, so they've still got a really solid list. Yeah, and I like,
Tom:I want to say it's not fair any, who's the one that kicked a short against Paul after the siren? Or Florent. I like Florent. And Will Haywood as well. They've got some X Factor type guys. Jack Lloyd. They just don't have the key position. That's where they're going to
Benny:struggle, I think. Yeah, so I guess we'll see how they go. But they're definitely a team to watch. Yeah, a
Tom:team that I've always had a soft spot for. Geelong. That's weird. I, I picked this up today. I don't know why I didn't say it earlier. I'm fa so they picked a guy by the name of Sean Manor from Werribee with their first selection in the draft. It was like pick 30 something.
Benny:Yeah, the Werribee footy factory.
Tom:26 years old. Yep. Now, Geelong have, I think, off the top of my head, probably, I'm gonna say the oldest list. Probably be wrong there, but they've still got a lot of old guys on that team and Yeah. I was shocked that they didn't bring in a young, like, your first pick, surely you're taking a flyer on a young kid there.
Benny:They have a history of doing this though. Oh, as, as
Tom:a Tom Stewart mould, like, they just hoped for that. Yeah. Mature eight, pick up pods like Adlee was your first
Benny:one I think. Yeah, so, I mean, they did Tim Kelly as well there's a couple others I reckon,
Tom:so. I suppose they're still gonna have a crack with Dangefield and Hawkins. Yeah. Oh yeah, it was just an interesting one, so I'm interested to see where they are. At the end of last year they looked a bit old and slow.
Benny:Yeah, they're a team that just loves to stay relevant, right? Yeah, I think, yeah. So, I mean, they, I'm just looking here, they drafted Tom Atkins when he was 23, Brad Close was 21, yeah, Kelly was 23. But yeah, it's, he, he finished the season with a bang and he just kind of said to the AFL guys that if he can come in and basically be a real good footballer. He'll be an AFL player. Cause he kicked 6 goals in a 28 touches in a losing, losing grand final. And he kicked 51 goals last year. Yeah. So massive. He's just a gun. So I'm excited to see what he looks like. Yep. So he's gonna, definitely gonna be one of those guys, all the fantasy guys are gonna want to have on their team. Yep. So, I'm really interested to see the sun's game style under dimmer. So, obviously Stewie Jewie being moved on, dimmer comes in. Are we gonna see Surge
Tom:Footy up there?
Benny:Well, I think it probably works. I was gonna,
Tom:I think it's perfect for the conditions, 100 percent like, bulk pressure. If you
Benny:can be reasonably clean when 50, like, then you just, like, you just need to get it there, Surge it on, and you'll probably be able to kick. Six or seven goals out the back. And then, like you said, if you're able to pressure the opposition, make them handball in slippery conditions. Yeah, because it's a hard place to play. It's, it's gonna be really tough, so I mean that's just the default that we think Tim is going to go with, but you know, it has been, it did get found out, you know, the last couple of years, Richmond haven't played in a final in three years. I
Tom:think that, does that, hey, yeah, true, they at least got older as well, obviously.
Benny:It did get a little bit older, but I think he didn't
Tom:adapt. It's like an extra element of Serge football.
Benny:Yeah, yeah, I mean and it they've got a pretty I guess small list like they've got a lot of guys that are like Medium sized medium sized. Yeah, like they're like good center of gravity Tough to tackle the ground. Yeah, like those like Matty Rowers. Obviously my man took you know So I mean, I mean Sam Flanders had a huge finish to last year So and they said he's been playing on ball again this preseason Yeah, you've got like, Lockie Weller can break the line, so They've got a lot of guys that are tough in and under footballers, so if you can get it in and And just surge it forward, because they're a pretty good clearance team It's definitely, I mean I expect them to play surge footy Yeah, I think they have to, really Yeah and a lot rests on King, if he can kick goals as well, so Yeah What's your last one?
Tom:Uh, a player that's probably forgotten about a little bit. Zach Williams from
Benny:Kelton. Was it Achilles? No, ACL last year. Yeah,
Tom:Elite user of the footy. Yep. Loves the cheap
Benny:football. Yep, good seagull.
Tom:Playing off half back. When he's played When he's played well, over the last couple of years, Colton has looked really good, and he's been really frustrating because when he's bad, he's horrendous. Yeah, yep, for sure. But him coming back this year, like, could he be the type of piece that just tips Colton over the edge? Just a little bit of extra
Benny:class. Yeah, well, played zero games last year and He, I guess you'd put him with like Doherty across the half back line. Yeah, you've got Bowie and Newman. Yeah, Newman, Adam Saad. You've got a pretty potent line there and obviously you can move one of them or two of them to the wing. But yeah, he's, he's gonna be someone, it's like a brand new recruit for Vossi and another weapon that he can use just to score. Yeah, it'll be
Tom:interesting to see how he
Benny:goes. Yeah, yeah, I mean there's a couple of guys that are coming back this year, so there'll be a few that will take a little while to get going but are super important to their teams, like Cam Guthrie as well for Geelong, he only played six games. Last year, so he's probably someone similar to Zach Williams, where he can, they, Geelong really miss someone that can kind of break the game open. Yep. My last one is, I'm interested to see how, so we have opening round this year. Which is, I get the premise but it's, it's a bit weird. So we've got opening round where 8 teams play and then we've got round 1 where the rest, where every, yeah, the rest play. Yep. Now everyone plays in round 1 and then from round 2 There's a few buys. Onwards everyone has a, there's 2 teams that have a buy. Yep. So, I'm interested to see how the teams that are playing in opening round approach the pre season games. Yeah, you'd
Tom:think they'd probably play more of their mature age players.
Benny:Well, I'm thinking it goes one of two ways. Do you want your guys to be, like, coming to opening round with a game straight under the belt? Or do you want to play, have a week off, and then play the real stuff? So, I think it's gonna, we might get a mixture of, of the two. So, like, young, I'd say young teams probably gonna play. It's gonna be so scrappy. It's gonna be, it's gonna be messy. But I think we're gonna get some really good match sim games. Yeah. Because of this. So, I think, if you've got KO, then definitely chuck on a couple of these match sim games. Because, like, in the past, they've been a bit average. But I think they'll be pretty good, especially the first half of each game. It'll be pretty good. If you haven't got KO, here's a little tip for ya. So If you go on and become like a digital member of a team, you get Koko for like 130 bucks cheaper than if you sign up to Koko directly. There you go. The cheapest one is, how much is the digital membership? 240 bucks I think. What does that get you? Gets you ko, like KO 4K. So KO's gonna be in 4K for the AFL this year. Yeah. Righto. So it just gets you a membership to. To the KO and then I think GWS gets you a couple other things some of them are a little bit more expensive because they get your one game
Tom:You signing up as a GWS member.
Benny:I will be Digital one so it's 250 bucks for the year for The digital member. So the good thing about GWS is that, so it gives you priority access to purchase finals tickets in weeks one to three and priority three, access to the grand final. Okay. And like that's cheaper than your ko. So that's a little hack. Bloody OI don't mind that by you. Yeah. I'll be signing up in a hot minute.
Tom:You also, you've had a, an idea Swiss Army Knife players. Yep. You've what? So we've come up with.
Benny:So it's your Mr. Fixer. Yeah, important players. Yeah, important players that you trust. If, like, something's gone wrong, or like, you know, someone goes down early, like, I've got to swing the magnets, or you need to try and win the game, this is the guy. You can kind of move him around anywhere, and he'll probably get something done for you.
Tom:So we've done a shotgun start on
Benny:the teams. Yep, so I've given you the crows.
Tom:This was one, so it's so easy for the swingman to be like a key position. Yep. I went the other way here and I've got it as Ben Keyes. So you can play as a half forward, like hard working high half forward. Did he beat that? And he hit the scoreboard as well last year. He did, for sure. But I can also just lock down. Yep. Put him on the ball. Yep. Give him a tag and roll. So for the crows, for me, Ben Keyes.
Benny:Yeah, I think he, yeah, did it a few times last year, did it to Adam Saad at Adelaide Oval, kicked three or four of him. He had a heap of games where he kicked three. Yeah, he had a really good year and He probably get like 20. He hit the post
Tom:when it was most important for a big goal. But apart from
Benny:that, he had, he was having like 20 touches and two or three goals, a game for a while there in a shit
Tom:spot on the ground,
Benny:playing that high half forward and yeah.'cause he's such a good runner. He can work the other way. Yeah. So yeah, he's one that made, Nicks is definitely reinvented and someone he can use anywhere. You had the lines. So I went with the veteran Dan Zuko, fucking hate this bloke. you might hate him, but. He is just good wherever he goes, and I think we've seen over his career, like he's played as a mid, done really well, played as a forward, half forward really well, and then as a defender also really well, like last year. Do
Tom:you think he'll play down back this year to replace the fat fish?
Benny:Well he played a fair bit there last year and I think he'll play more this year. Yeah, like he'll play Richard's role? Yeah, so basically the halfback that doesn't defend. Yeah. So, four inside fifties, two rebounds fifties and five score involvements last year. So, it's just really good numbers. So he played mainly half forward, but then moved a bit half back when Rich went down. So, yeah, he's just someone, if you're Chris Fagan, you know, like you might not be everyone's cup of tea, but he brings leadership. So if he does go somewhere where they're struggling, he's gonna get things going, he's gonna be vocal, so.
Tom:That's enough Zorko chat, I fucking
Benny:hate that bloke so much. From the, uh, the Kelton Blues.
Tom:This one was a bit tricky.
Benny:Tricky, but this is, this is like an obvious answer. I know, and that's
Tom:why I've gone that easy option, Mitch McGovern. If he can stay on the park. Yeah. He does some really good stuff. Yeah. He also makes some horrendous howlers. But if he can play that intercept role, and you know, you can throw him forward, like, five 50, he's as likely as anyone to pluck
Benny:one. Yeah, yeah, exactly. He's someone that just He's always a threat to take a massive mark, or a huge grab, and he can kick a goal, kicks bombs, so. And someone that breaks a game open from half back as well, so. Super important to them.
Tom:So you had Collingwood with your next one. I like, I like this player, I think he's underrated.
Benny:Yeah, so I'd Will Hoskin Elliott. Mainly because he's just like, he's kind of got the triple threat. So intercept mark. He's an aerial threat, running machine, and kick goals. He needs to get more of the footy. Yeah, last year, probably one of his down years, didn't have a lot of the footy. But, I'd say if you asked Craig McRae, he'd probably say he's one of the most important players. Played his role.
Tom:He is so good above his
Benny:head. Yeah, and he doesn't get beaten up there and like, you can't, if you're playing someone on the wing against them, you have to play someone that can play tall against him. Because he can, like, take them to the goal square and You know, make him look like a fool. So yeah, yeah. He, he's someone that I get, he played a lot on the wing lately, but it can play anywhere. You gifted me Essendon. I did gift you the bombers.
Tom:I think this person is the best swing man in the AFL. Sheesh. Kyle Langford, I don't think he's actually that good of a defender, but he went forward last year, 51 goals, kicked a few bags of six like looked unreal as a leading forward. So I think, and he's got the experience, we're late in quarters, he can go back behind the footer, he knows the role, so I think he is now a forward, but will be handy if the Bombers are in close games, he can just chuck them behind the ball to settle things down. Yeah,
Benny:reinvented himself last year, and was probably not on the scrap heap, but looking for answers. Yeah, he was just like a so so defender. Well, he was getting goals kicked on him left, right, and center, so yeah, big one for the Bombers. Freo was a little bit tough, so I had a couple of options. So it was like, it was the small option like Frederick, because he just gives you pace, so forward, back, wing. But I went with Matt Tabiner because we have seen him go forward and back, and he does it a fair bit where he goes back late in quarters. I like him as a forward. Yeah, I think he was really, he missed a few games last year as well, but I think he's really good, they do it pretty well over in the west, like when they're going well, of starting quarters well, especially the first quarter, then they chuck him back late, and just kind of suffocate you at the end and get to, You know, the quarter time break with a three goal lead.
Tom:I think Tabner would be elite if he was a second forward. Yeah. I don't think you want him as your main man. Yeah, I agree. I don't think he's quite good enough or big enough. No. But if he was your second forward, like, he's awesome in that
Benny:role. Yeah, and like, he can take a contested mark, but I think he's better on the lead. Yeah.
Tom:Uh, Ocho Longneggs, this is my favourite
Benny:swingman. It's probably the, he's probably, the definition of a swiss army knife. He is someone that, he might not be the best forward back mid, but he is the best at doing I fucking
Tom:love him, I love watching him, it's Mike Blickebs. Yeah,
Benny:The steeplechaser.
Tom:I looked today, so he's listed as a ruckman.
Benny:Yeah. He's a ruckman
Tom:Yep, he's played on the footy. Yep. He can tag on the football like a tag genuine mids Yeah, he can play on the wing which is my favorite spot for him Mm hmm, and he can go down back and play as a key division. Yeah position defender The one
Benny:spot he doesn't really go is
Tom:for foot Which I'd like to see him on the wing push forward because you can't have a mismatch
Benny:wherever he goes He's just such a nightmare to match up with. He's so good. Cause like, if he's, like, he runs so well that you can't just put another big tall guy on him cause he'll just blow them up. So, ever since he's come into the AFL he's just Being someone that Geelong can use anywhere and like, is such a unique skill set as well. So, yeah, it's, it's crazy to see like, when they need something going in the middle and they're like, Oh, let's get our three best mids in. And Blitzkopf is on the footy. He's either on the footy or like, or Blitzkopf, you just ruck. Yeah. And then
Tom:another mid. Just find something out in the mid, yep. Yeah. You had Gold Coast pretty
Benny:easy, man. Yeah, I thought Jack LaCoscia. So, average 2 0 was the game last year, but we've seen him play down back. I like him as a forward. He was drafted as a forward. Yeah, I thought he was really good as a forward. I think that should settle him there. But like, he's obviously an aerial threat and like, he's penetrating kick. Probably good for him to
Tom:learn the game a little bit at halfback. Yeah. We all know it's a lot easier to play down back than it is forward, so ease
Benny:him in. Yeah, and with his penetrating kick, like, he could just break games open. I'm surprised you let that one
Tom:through to the keeper. I
Benny:mean, forwards, they all think
Tom:the same. GWS Harry Himmelberg, another easy one. Yep. Prefer him down back, I'm not a big fan of him as a forward. Yep. But he's shown that he can go down, he's kicked 161 goals in
Benny:151 games. Yep. So I think, I think he's the best because I think he, like, when he is forward or back, he is like, he's a genuine six goal a game guy. Like, can kick you six and when he's down back. Can just take intercept mark after intercept mark. I think he's probably I'm not as high on as you Over time, like 161 in 151 games And he's only probably playing half of the time forward So he's probably, yeah, one that I think is just a gun I would have loved him at Richmond the Hawthorne, so this guy, when I look through his stats There's a big rap on this guy I was very, uh, so surprised So Connor Nash at Hawthorne So, he averaged 24 touches a game last year. Yeah, apparently Mitchell froths him. Yeah, so five score involvements, he's a tackle machine. Started as like a key defender almost. Yeah. And they're just like, oh, this guy runs pretty well, hunts the footy, moved him on ball. Yeah. And so he can also ruck. They've used him in the ruck every now and again. I'm not sure how well he goes forward, but, yeah, I think he's just someone that is I think he's a big year. Yeah, I mean 20 like a lot of handballs in those 24 touches, but that's clearances. Yeah, so he he's a gun now
Tom:Uh, I had melbourne harrison petty. Yeah, kicked 12 goals last year, but played majorally
Benny:Five or six in one game. Yeah against richmond. Was it you
Tom:remember that one? Yep. Replays going forward it's going to be interesting because I think If the crows picked him up, they would have played him as a forward. Yep I think he's Yeah, I think you're probably damned back from Melbourne. But his name is going to be brought up again at the end of the year. I think the crows
Benny:will come knocking again. Yeah. I mean, obviously Melbourne have such a solid defensive pairing with Lever and May. Yeah. So he gets to play that third tour and it's just. But they also need a key forward as well. They need a key forward. I wouldn't be surprised if we see him playing more forward. Yeah.
Tom:I think it should be down back, but I would, yeah, I'm with you. I wouldn't be surprised
Benny:if he plays more time up front. Obviously McDonald missed a bit of time last year, so that was why he went forward,
Tom:but. But his one as well. Yeah. Where does he play? Yeah.
Benny:Donald can go anywhere. Yep. So, I'm North. Stiffed. And I really struggled. They just don't really have too many that I would trust to go.
Tom:I know. We were talking about this before. Like, Gryffinlog was a name I threw out. Yeah. Like, played on the ball and down back. It'd be even forward, but it's
Benny:like, yeah. I don't really want to be killed again under 10 touches. Yeah. So, I went with Darcy Tucker. Just because I've seen him play on the ball on the wing down back. So yeah, he might not be a Gamebreaker for you, but he's definitely a Swiss Army knife someone that can play in a couple multiple roles left footer Use the ball pretty well, but just yeah, not great Yeah, so the reason I gave you the crows is so that you could have yeah, and you've got Richmond.
Tom:Yeah this one This guy is a Swiss Army knife I think the coach thinks he's a Swiss army knife. Yeah. So it's Myles Bergman. Yeah. He's career I think has been stifled by Port needing him to play so many
Benny:different roles. Yeah. Haven't been able to settle him. He
Tom:wants, he wants to play on the footy so he's playing on the wing. He played down back last year, where he, I love him
Benny:down back. Well he started there the first probably 7 he? And was
Tom:awesome. But then like, there was a game he played on the wing, kicked 3 goals in the first quarter. Yeah. So like this guy, he's elite in the air, so good when it goes to ground, he's got the speed. And he can play tall. Yep. He touched Cameron up. He did. And he's like the perfect matchup for
Benny:that size forward. We've seen, we've seen a few guys Bergman size touch up Cameron. Yeah, it's a good matchup for him. I think Bergman was, he was sort of the, yeah, him and Nathan Broad were the two that, they got the job done early and yeah, Bergman, his confidence to jump at the footy down back is like something you don't see from like guys his height and his age very often. So.
Tom:I hope he settles. On the wing.
Benny:Yeah. Or what ideally what you want him is being that wingman that is a really good two-way runner. Yeah. That works. Back intercept can still intercept and then push forward and then works the other way. Like classic wingman. Yeah. Most underrated spot on the ground. If you ask me. you
Tom:got your beloved ts.
Benny:Yeah. So I thought this was pretty easy. Like I saw this guy he saw his name pop up the other day and. Liam Baker, so he has played everywhere and will continue to play everywhere because he's just that good. I liked
Tom:him as a defender but after seeing him last year as a forward I actually don't mind
Benny:him around the goals. He just, wherever he goes he gets shit done. I think a lot of people probably don't realise how good he is and how highly he's rated at Richmond but such a tough in and under guy, he'd be a prick to play on and he'd chirp the whole time. And, yeah, he's just gone to another level. When he goes on the footy, he gets a lot of the footy as well. Uses it well, both sides of the body. So I think he, for Richmond, is definitely the Swiss Army Knife. And then if they need a tall guy, it's, it's probably Noah Bolter. Chuck him
Tom:around. Yeah, we've seen him go forward and in the ruck a little bit. Yep.
Benny:So, you had the the St. Kilda Saints.
Tom:Yeah, St. Kilda. It was tough, this one. Two names I've come up with, so Mason Wood. Yep.
Benny:Had a really good year on the wing last year. Has played
Tom:forward, has played back. He made a name for himself, I think he just plays wing going forward. Yeah,
Benny:well they moved him forward late because he was like, he looked so sore, so they put him forward. The
Tom:one that I like though is Jack Hayes. If he could stay on the ground like this bloke. Yeah, the
Benny:ex Sandville star from Woodville.
Tom:He's looked so good when he's played AFL footy. Yep. He just hasn't been up, he's just been so unlucky with injuries. He's played down back a little bit, in the ruck, he's pushed forward to kick a
Benny:goal. I think he's the perfect foil for Marshall. So if you can have Hayes just plays forward, gets you one and a half goals a game, then pinch hits in the ruck. Because he's a similar style player to Marshall, so they don't have to change too much. They've got two guys that are mobile, good at ground level, keep the ball well. Hopefully he gets some, I guess, continued run at AFL level. The Swannies, I had Isaac Heaney, so just someone, we've seen him go probably more deep forward lately, like plays a lot out the goal square, and then leads up, and then a little bit of time on the ball, but I think he's probably someone we see so much go down back, when the other team gets on a roll, especially the SCG, such a small deck. He often rolls straight back, like he'll start on the wing and just roll back as that spare. Where would you play
Tom:him?
Benny:I don't actually know. I think he'd probably I think ideally on the ball. Ah,
Tom:I love him. I love him at half forward. Nah, see, I think there's too many times in games. There'll be like a quarter at sg. You'll be like, where's Heney? Like he goes in and outta games.'cause he is playing that half forward role. Yeah. He's so dangerous as a Ford. Like he's got good hands above. His hands are unreal. Yeah. Plays taller than he is. But they're also,
Benny:someone was kicking someone, a bullet at any Ford in the comp. I probably back him to market. Yeah, I agree. Because he's like, it just doesn't break stride and it's just like bang. Whereas yeah,
Tom:that's why I like him closer to goal. Yeah. West Coast, bit of a curve for him. McGovern would've been the easy one. Because he has gone forward games, did it against
Benny:Port Oscar Allen. They do a fair bit of as well. Yeah.'cause they're down a lot.
Tom:Their Swiss Army knife this year I think is gonna be Harley Reed. Yep. There's talk. So he is gonna play down back, I believe. No doubt. He's gonna play on the footy. He'll probably play forward. It's like they'll just throw him around, I think. Do you think they should do that? Yep. I think that's fine. I think just learning here, it's
Benny:a lot though to move. But I think it's a lot
Tom:to play a whole year on the footy.
Benny:Yeah, I would like him to settle if, like, he's as good as they say like around the goals. I'd like him to settle as a mid forward.
Tom:Yeah. Are they talking about finding him down back?
Benny:I don't know why. I wouldn't bother. Well, the footy's gonna be down there a lot. I know, but just like, play him on ball and, yeah, I think he, I wouldn't want too much on my show as a young kid. Like, having to play half back and then Like you, then you're going to get thrown forward on the ball. It's a bit, it's a fair bit for a first year player with already like a lot of pressure on him. So he probably just wants to get, you know, cause I feel as though if you go to half back, you get like, you might get some, stuck with some really smart half forward. Kind of loses you in the shit and they've kicked three on you in the first quarter and the kid's confidence just shot. The Doggies, I had another young kid as well here, so Sam Darcy. Wanna see him play. Yep. Wanna see him play more, but I think his athleticism is, like, unmatched. So, one of the guys where you can just put him in the ruck, he can play deep forward, he can play deep back. And we've kinda seen him do that already. Yeah.
Tom:Not to much effect
Benny:yet. Not to much effect, but I think he's definitely gonna be I don't know, I think
Tom:he's going to have to play down back to get into the team, because Jamara took a step last year. Yeah,
Benny:Jamara. He's still got Norton.
Tom:Yep. I don't know if he can play the three tools.
Benny:Probably not. I think he plays down back to start. Because they've got
Tom:some nice, like, slugger weight men up forward. Yep.
Benny:Yeah, I mean, they've got Rory Lobb that's running around as a tool. Rory Lobb as well. Riley West played a fair bit of footy. There's
Tom:always like a McLean or some,
Benny:yeah,
Tom:Anthony Scott. Like one of those guys that ends up playing forward for
Benny:him, Neil, those type of guys. So I mean, and you look down back, they've got Keith and Gardner and yeah. So I think that's the spot for him. And O'Donnell. So yeah, I think he definitely plays down back, but he's someone that they can use anywhere. Yeah.
Tom:To wrap up, we've got, will we be watching any of the match them?
Benny:I'll definitely try and watch as much as I can, I think. The first half of games, I'm gonna try and watch, like first quarter, first half, and then it usually goes to shit, but I'll probably try and watch a bit, just cause I have been starved of footy. You? I won't. You won't? Not even port? No, I'll watch the Hornet. I'm shocked. I'm surprised it took you 58 minutes to get to the Hornet. Um, expect,
Tom:yeah,
Benny:this is a record. Yeah, especially when talking AFL.
Tom:Um, expect probably a message three minutes into the game after he gets a clearance being like, Oh my god, that's Nathan Buckley. Nah, I'll probably just watch the port games. If I'm, if I've got nothing on I might, but I won't. I'll save
Benny:it for round one. Yep. Yeah, I mean you pulled the pin most times last year. You only watch on your own. Yeah,
Tom:I like watching by myself. Boring.
Benny:No fun. Yeah,
Tom:we're just shit mates.
Benny:You mean just mates?
Tom:But nah, it's cool, we're fucking close to the footy bean back, which is great. We are very close.
Benny:NBA. Yeah. All star. All star trade period. So, keep your eyes peeled for another pod at the end of the week, Sunday, Sunday. We might touch on Super Bowl on Saturday. Yeah, we'll do a Super Bowl preview, so, yeah, the bloody Chiefs are in, and 49ers. I said that last week, I, they were my tip, the Chiefs. They were your tip, so, yeah, they are, the Swifties, they're going nuts. She just wanted Kelsey went berserk.
Tom:He did, he went
Benny:back to clock so, probably good thing he got two week break because he's. And you get Jason
Tom:Kelsey clips from. Yep. The long weather Kansas City Chiefs during the games, there's more. Less
Benny:clothes he's
Tom:wearing. Exactly, if he didn't, if he didn't amend Keeney. Yep. Comes through the wall. Hey have a good week everybody, speak to you
Benny:soon. Yep, see you guys.