Prediction Season 2023 Predictions

[AsterixTheGaul]

Nathan Buckley forecasts his 2023 AFL ladder

Who will finish where?

www.sen.com.au

History shows us that Buckley will be wrong as the top 8 2022 will be different from the top 8 2023.

From the article:

“St Kilda, Hawthorn, Essendon and North Melbourne will be the bottom four.

“I’ve got the Saints between seven and 11 wins.

“I don’t think the club are under any illusions as to the challenge in front of them.”



I cannot see us winning 7 games and I think there are senior club officials that are deluded. It may be to pump up corporate box sales that are slumping but the bravado from Fitzpatrick Nesbitt and Simpson seems at odds to what I am seeing.

It is often said that the most dangerous position for a club is when they misread their ability to compete at the pointy end. Be that game style, stubbornness to change, going all in (Kelly trade), extending old players based on sentiment and history, very long term million dollar contracts (Guv, Gaff, Barrass) etc

It is not fold the club but apart from membership numbers, the last 3 to 4 seasons had been brutal at all levels - AFL, AFLW and WAFL. At least the Castor mistake has been corrected.

Trev - your giving us a taste of what life as a Docker supporter is like and it is not much fun!!!! Just saying.

 

[WCErevival]

How did our supporters survive from 1995 to 2005? Or 2007 to 2015?

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

How did our supporters survive from 1995 to 2005? Or 2007 to 2015?

 

[Vic Eagles Member]

From the article:

“St Kilda, Hawthorn, Essendon and North Melbourne will be the bottom four.

“I’ve got the Saints between seven and 11 wins.

“I don’t think the club are under any illusions as to the challenge in front of them.”



I cannot see us winning 7 games and I think there are senior club officials that are deluded. It may be to pump up corporate box sales that are slumping but the bravado from Fitzpatrick Nesbitt and Simpson seems at odds to what I am seeing.

It is often said that the most dangerous position for a club is when they misread their ability to compete at the pointy end. Be that game style, stubbornness to change, going all in (Kelly trade), extending old players based on sentiment and history, very long term million dollar contracts (Guv, Gaff, Barrass) etc

It is not fold the club but apart from membership numbers, the last 3 to 4 seasons had been brutal at all levels - AFL, AFLW and WAFL. At least the Castor mistake has been corrected.

Trev - your giving us a taste of what life as a Docker supporter is like and it is not much fun!!!! Just saying.

It’s easy to sit back now in hindsight and point out what you believe to be mistakes from years ago.
The club gave up a lot to bring Kelly in yes that’s true, but context is required here: premiers in 18, Semi-finalists in 19 (should’ve been top 4 if not for an inexplicable loss to Hawthorn at home in the final round), and missed top 4 by a whisker in 2020.
The point is the club (correctly in my opinion) believed that we were still in premiership contention when we brought in Kelly - they went for a proven performer who had a top 5 finish in the Brownlow and wanted only to play for West Coast ahead of going to the draft and hoping to find a gem with pick 14. OK, it hasn’t worked out how we all wanted it to but you can imagine the criticism the club would’ve come in for if we knocked him back at the end of 2019….”they’re in the window, why aren’t they getting this deal done?” Etc etc.

With regards to McGovern and Barrass contracts, they’re both guns and I’ve got no issue with the club tying them to long term contracts. You have to pay up to keep gun key position players.

The Gaff contract, yeah there’s an argument there to say we should have let him walk. But again it was at a time when we were firmly in the premiership window and if nothing else it was just funny seeing North miss out on another big name target (after De Goey, dusty and Heeney).

 

[AsterixTheGaul]

It’s easy to sit back now in hindsight and point out what you believe to be mistakes from years ago.
The club gave up a lot to bring Kelly in yes that’s true, but context is required here: premiers in 18, Semi-finalists in 19 (should’ve been top 4 if not for an inexplicable loss to Hawthorn at home in the final round), and missed top 4 by a whisker in 2020.
The point is the club (correctly in my opinion) believed that we were still in premiership contention when we brought in Kelly - they went for a proven performer who had a top 5 finish in the Brownlow and wanted only to play for West Coast ahead of going to the draft and hoping to find a gem with pick 14. OK, it hasn’t worked out how we all wanted it to but you can imagine the criticism the club would’ve come in for if we knocked him back at the end of 2019….”they’re in the window, why aren’t they getting this deal done?” Etc etc.

With regards to McGovern and Barrass contracts, they’re both guns and I’ve got no issue with the club tying them to long term contracts. You have to pay up to keep gun key position players.

The Gaff contract, yeah there’s an argument there to say we should have let him walk. But again it was at a time when we were firmly in the premiership window and if nothing else it was just funny seeing North miss out on another big name target (after De Goey, dusty and Heeney).

My point was more to do with the Buckley comment that St Kilda know where they are at and will act accordingly.

Did we pay to much in draft capital for Kelly? I thought so at the time but probably only by one of the R2 pick. I was prepared to go with the "All In" while we are contending. I would have also been fine with the club saying that Geelong were again being unreasonable and greedy. I would not have criticised the club for pulling out of a deal that was overs. We tried to load up and it failed. Good on the club for trying to go again. But poor that we are still fooling ourselves that we are in contention.

Step back - why have we got Gibbs (prior to leaving), Fizpatrick, Nesbitt and Simpson all giving the media statements as to how good our list is and how unlucky we have been since 2018?

 

[Monocle]

It’s easy to sit back now in hindsight and point out what you believe to be mistakes from years ago.
The club gave up a lot to bring Kelly in yes that’s true, but context is required here: premiers in 18, Semi-finalists in 19 (should’ve been top 4 if not for an inexplicable loss to Hawthorn at home in the final round), and missed top 4 by a whisker in 2020.
The point is the club (correctly in my opinion) believed that we were still in premiership contention when we brought in Kelly - they went for a proven performer who had a top 5 finish in the Brownlow and wanted only to play for West Coast ahead of going to the draft and hoping to find a gem with pick 14. OK, it hasn’t worked out how we all wanted it to but you can imagine the criticism the club would’ve come in for if we knocked him back at the end of 2019….”they’re in the window, why aren’t they getting this deal done?” Etc etc.

With regards to McGovern and Barrass contracts, they’re both guns and I’ve got no issue with the club tying them to long term contracts. You have to pay up to keep gun key position players.

The Gaff contract, yeah there’s an argument there to say we should have let him walk. But again it was at a time when we were firmly in the premiership window and if nothing else it was just funny seeing North miss out on another big name target (after De Goey, dusty and Heeney).

That’s a bit of a cop out reply.
It sits sort of in the “remember when”school of thinking.

It’s been apparent for four seasons now that we have been getting out performed in the following areas:

Clearances.
Contested Possession.
Tackle Count.
Inside 50’s.

Add the list above to the following:

Slow ball movement.
Obsolete game plan.
Ball movement that’s sideways and backwards.

Then the Coaching issues:

Not having tinkered the game plan to compete with new game style trending, which has seen us exposed badly by more contemporary game plans.

There are two parts to implementing a successful game plan:

1. Style of football and the Strategy to implement it. Generally called game plan.

2. The tactics as to how best to implement the game plan, it’s imperative that you have multiple tactics to implement the game plan. It’s no coincidence that the Clubs with the best tacticians Geelong, Richmond, Hawthorn with - Scott, Hardwick and Clarkson, have dominated the Big Dance for last decade…. I digress back to tactics and game plan.

Case in point we often don’t seem to have a Plan B - example our kick ins ….. 95 % of the time it’s kick it long to the right.
Now that’s pretty easy to pick apart and work out strategies to counter that move for opposing Coaches.
Believe me opposing Coaches love nothing better of knowing exactly how their opponents will move the ball.

Now to drafting and trading (Recruitment)

It’s only been the last 18 months that we seemed to ( finally ) have, put an emphasis and priority to adding players that can win contested ball:

Clark
Culley
Ginbey
Hewett

The inability of the Clubs Coaches and Football Strategists to keep not only ahead of the game trending, or even abreast with it has, goes a long way towards explaining and understanding just why we have been left behind.

I am of the opinion that our list has grossly underperformed.
Now the reasons for that have been discussed and debated ad nauseam over the past few seasons, so I wont elaborate further on that matter.

Granted that the 2022 season was a cluster f*ck , however that doesn’t exonerate the powers to be at the Club from the errors and misplaced judgment in past glories, in seasons 19, 20, 21.

Football is a brutal business if you don’t innovate and evolve adequately or quickly enough, then you are soon over taken.

That’s IMO what’s happened to us and that lies at the feet of our Coaches and Football Opertions Management.

 

[VicBased]

Step back - why have we got Gibbs (prior to leaving), Fizpatrick, Nesbitt and Simpson all giving the media statements as to how good our list is and how unlucky we have been since 2018?

Trying to keep a positive attitude in the minds of players, supporters perhaps?
Whats the alternative......We are crap and won't be a threat for the next 4-5 years?
Positive affirmation breeds positive mind sets and support.
Just a thought.

 

[FKASC]

How did our supporters survive from 1995 to 2005? Or 2007 to 2015?

We had young talent like Ebert and Koby

 

[RookiePick]

That’s a bit of a cop out reply.
It sits sort of in the “remember when”school of thinking.

It’s been apparent for four seasons now that we have been getting out performed in the following areas:

Clearances.
Contested Possession.
Tackle Count.
Inside 50’s.

Add the list above to the following:

Slow ball movement.
Obsolete game plan.
Ball movement that’s sideways and backwards.

Then the Coaching issues:

Not having tinkered the game plan to compete with new game style trending, which has seen us exposed badly by more contemporary game plans.

There are two parts to implementing a successful game plan:

1. Style of football and the Strategy to implement it. Generally called game plan.

2. The tactics as to how best to implement the game plan, it’s imperative that you have multiple tactics to implement the game plan. It’s no coincidence that the Clubs with the best tacticians Geelong, Richmond, Hawthorn with - Scott, Hardwick and Clarkson, have dominated the Big Dance for last decade…. I digress back to tactics and game plan.

Case in point we often don’t seem to have a Plan B - example our kick ins ….. 95 % of the time it’s kick it long to the right.
Now that’s pretty easy to pick apart and work out strategies to counter that move for opposing Coaches.
Believe me opposing Coaches love nothing better of knowing exactly how their opponents will move the ball.

Now to drafting and trading (Recruitment)

It’s only been the last 18 months that we seemed to ( finally ) have, put an emphasis and priority to adding players that can win contested ball:

Clark
Culley
Ginbey
Hewett

The inability of the Clubs Coaches and Football Strategists to keep not only ahead of the game trending, or even abreast with it has, goes a long way towards explaining and understanding just why we have been left behind.

I am of the opinion that our list has grossly underperformed.
Now the reasons for that have been discussed and debated ad nauseam over the past few seasons, so I wont elaborate further on that matter.

Granted that the 2022 season was a cluster f*ck , however that doesn’t exonerate the powers to be at the Club from the errors and misplaced judgment in past glories, in seasons 19, 20, 21.

Football is a brutal business if you don’t innovate and evolve adequately or quickly enough, then you are soon over taken.

That’s IMO what’s happened to us and that lies at the feet of our Coaches and Football Opertions Management.

I really feel like the difference in I50's between us and our opposition tells 95% of our story in a single stat atm.

We can't move the ball into attack from pretty much anywhere other than a CBD. We can't defend opposition transition and the bulk of our defending is done inside our D50.

Our poor defenders are just getting barbecued for 4 quarters and our forwards have so few opportunities that they all look like absolute spuds.

 

[FKASC]

Our poor defenders are just getting barbecued for 4 quarters and our forwards have so few opportunities that they all look like absolute spuds.

Other teams KPDs must look at our blokes and think how lucky they have it. Barrass and McGovern are just constantly getting smashed in packs having to put their bodies on the line waiting for the dam walls to break

 

[Vic Eagles Member]

That’s a bit of a cop out reply.
It sits sort of in the “remember when”school of thinking.

It’s been apparent for four seasons now that we have been getting out performed in the following areas:

Clearances.
Contested Possession.
Tackle Count.
Inside 50’s.

Add the list above to the following:

Slow ball movement.
Obsolete game plan.
Ball movement that’s sideways and backwards.

Then the Coaching issues:

Not having tinkered the game plan to compete with new game style trending, which has seen us exposed badly by more contemporary game plans.

There are two parts to implementing a successful game plan:

1. Style of football and the Strategy to implement it. Generally called game plan.

2. The tactics as to how best to implement the game plan, it’s imperative that you have multiple tactics to implement the game plan. It’s no coincidence that the Clubs with the best tacticians Geelong, Richmond, Hawthorn with - Scott, Hardwick and Clarkson, have dominated the Big Dance for last decade…. I digress back to tactics and game plan.

Case in point we often don’t seem to have a Plan B - example our kick ins ….. 95 % of the time it’s kick it long to the right.
Now that’s pretty easy to pick apart and work out strategies to counter that move for opposing Coaches.
Believe me opposing Coaches love nothing better of knowing exactly how their opponents will move the ball.

Now to drafting and trading (Recruitment)

It’s only been the last 18 months that we seemed to ( finally ) have, put an emphasis and priority to adding players that can win contested ball:

Clark
Culley
Ginbey
Hewett

The inability of the Clubs Coaches and Football Strategists to keep not only ahead of the game trending, or even abreast with it has, goes a long way towards explaining and understanding just why we have been left behind.

I am of the opinion that our list has grossly underperformed.
Now the reasons for that have been discussed and debated ad nauseam over the past few seasons, so I wont elaborate further on that matter.

Granted that the 2022 season was a cluster f*ck , however that doesn’t exonerate the powers to be at the Club from the errors and misplaced judgment in past glories, in seasons 19, 20, 21.

Football is a brutal business if you don’t innovate and evolve adequately or quickly enough, then you are soon over taken.

That’s IMO what’s happened to us and that lies at the feet of our Coaches and Football Opertions Management.

So what you’re saying is you would’ve let Gaff go at the end of 2018? And not traded for Kelly at the end of 2019 because we needed to target contested ball winners?

 

[Monocle]

So what you’re saying is you would’ve let Gaff go at the end of 2018? And not traded for Kelly at the end of 2019 because we needed to target contested ball winners?

If it was only that simple.

Well we probably would have used the compensation pick that we had got for Gaff and the draft capital we gave up to get Kelly ……………. to draft more half back flankers.

So it’s not just a matter of who we have picked up or kept, rather it’s a matter of the type of players - as in - their positions and style that have matter more.

I will try and be more basic for you.

With a list that has had a spine of:

Barrass, McGovern, Darling and Kennedy.
And a ruck of NN quality. ( we do draft talls well).

Thats a very VERY solid spine by anyones standard with an AA ruck.

But since 2018, the fact that we have not been a serious contender, is a byproduct of us having had deficiencies in midfield depth ….. and game plan.

Keeping Gaff and trading in Kelly is not the entire problem, more so it’s the lack of support in developing mids that has hurt us.

But you may well disagree with that assessment.

I would be keen to hear you reasoning as to why we have plummeted so far so quickly.

 

[Vic Eagles Member]

If it was only that simple.

Well we probably would have used the compensation pick that we had got for Gaff and the draft capital we gave up to get Kelly ……………. to draft more half back flankers.

So it’s not just a matter of who we have picked up or kept, rather it’s a matter of the type of players - as in - their positions and style that have matter more.

I will try and be more basic for you.

With a list that has had a spine of:

Barrass, McGovern, Darling and Kennedy.
And a ruck of NN quality. ( we do draft talls well).

Thats a very VERY solid spine by anyones standard with an AA ruck.

But since 2018, the fact that we have not been a serious contender, is a byproduct of us having had deficiencies in midfield depth ….. and game plan.

Keeping Gaff and trading in Kelly is not the entire problem, more so it’s the lack of support in developing mids that has hurt us.

But you may well disagree with that assessment.

I would be keen to hear you reasoning as to why we have plummeted so far so quickly.

The original post I was replying to was one which was suggesting we had misread our ability to compete and referenced the Kelly trade and contract extensions for Gaff, McGovern and Barrass as examples of that.
I disagree with this and gave my reasons why.
You came back and called it a cop out….And then went onto give your opinion on why it’s gone wrong.
By and large I agree with most of the points you made on that (apart from your statement that we haven’t been a serious contender since 2018, I think we were in 19 & 20) - but I don’t blame the club for doing what they did back in 2018-19, we were in the mix and we went all in with established players (which was the original point).

 

[Grahame]

Re the generous Gaff contract, if you also add in a very obviously injury-prone NN getting a two not one year extension, I'm just wondering if these were on the generous side due to their loyalty (and at a stretch??? to help make up for missing 2018; for Shep it was never an issue due to concussion.)

Whatever, they'll probably be peripheral over the next two seasons (when their contracts expire). Gaff's very replaceable (if the MC has the fortitude) and given NN's injuries, Bailey and Jamo will probably gets lots of games anyway.

PS: I don't have a problem if they were rewarding loyalty as long as the MC don't then take the contracts into account at the selection table.

 

[AsterixTheGaul]

The original post I was replying to was one which was suggesting we had misread our ability to compete and referenced the Kelly trade and contract extensions for Gaff, McGovern and Barrass as examples of that.
I disagree with this and gave my reasons why.
You came back and called it a cop out….And then went onto give your opinion on why it’s gone wrong.
By and large I agree with most of the points you made on that (apart from your statement that we haven’t been a serious contender since 2018, I think we were in 19 & 20) - but I don’t blame the club for doing what they did back in 2018-19, we were in the mix and we went all in with established players (which was the original point).

From the article:

“St Kilda, Hawthorn, Essendon and North Melbourne will be the bottom four.

“I’ve got the Saints between seven and 11 wins.

“I don’t think the club are under any illusions as to the challenge in front of them.”



I cannot see us winning 7 games and I think there are senior club officials that are deluded. It may be to pump up corporate box sales that are slumping but the bravado from Fitzpatrick Nesbitt and Simpson seems at odds to what I am seeing.

It is often said that the most dangerous position for a club is when they misread their ability to compete at the pointy end. Be that game style, stubbornness to change, going all in (Kelly trade), extending old players based on sentiment and history, very long term million dollar contracts (Guv, Gaff, Barrass) etc

It is not fold the club but apart from membership numbers, the last 3 to 4 seasons had been brutal at all levels - AFL, AFLW and WAFL. At least the Castor mistake has been corrected.

Trev - your giving us a taste of what life as a Docker supporter is like and it is not much fun!!!! Just saying.

I posted that St Kilda were given a tick by Bucks as that they knew where they were at as a list. I then stated that the rhetoric being spouted by senior leaders at West Coast had misread where our list was at (or are bullsh1tting the members or both). The issues I raised were game style, refusal to change, going all in and not now adjusting for an over-read, extending old farts, etc.

I firmly believe we are in a rebuild and we will not be able to compete at the pointy end for another 3 years (assuming all goes to well on the draft and development front).

If you are happy to say "watch us zoom back up the ladder in 2023", good luck in that dream. We are 2 drafts into a rebuild that has very few stars in the age bracket of 21 to 27. I count Allen and Ryan as the only genuine A or B grade prospects. The rest (including Duggan as best of the rest) would only be considered C graders. This is the core age group that would be genuinely contending and we are not even close.

As they say in AA, I am an alcoholic and I have a drinking problem. Honesty starts the process.

 

[Vic Eagles Member]

I posted that St Kilda were given a tick by Bucks as that they knew where they were at as a list. I then stated that the rhetoric being spouted by senior leaders at West Coast had misread where our list was at (or are bullsh1tting the members or both). The issues I raised were game style, refusal to change, going all in and not now adjusting for an over-read, extending old farts, etc.

I firmly believe we are in a rebuild and we will not be able to compete at the pointy end for another 3 years (assuming all goes to well on the draft and development front).

If you are happy to say "watch us zoom back up the ladder in 2023", good luck in that dream. We are 2 drafts into a rebuild that has very few stars in the age bracket of 21 to 27. I count Allen and Ryan as the only genuine A or B grade prospects. The rest (including Duggan as best of the rest) would only be considered C graders. This is the core age group that would be genuinely contending and we are not even close.

As they say in AA, I am an alcoholic and I have a drinking problem. Honesty starts the process.

I’m under no illusions as to where we’re at, we probably need a minimum of 2 more good drafts to right the ship.
Before the preseason games I thought we’d win about 7-9 games, after watching the Crows game even that may have been generous. Let’s see how we begin (rounds 1 and 2 will tell us a lot) but we’re definitely in for more pain.
Mind you our last prolonged period without finals was 2008-10 so we’ve had it fairly good for a while.

 

[jesterwester]

My prediction for this year.

We will lose more matches than we win. But our gap between our worst and best footy will drop as the year progresses. I think our ball movement will look different as we start to gel. Changes take time.

Predict a % in the 70-75 range. 14-16th.

Ginbey, Culley, Hough, Hewett, Chesser will play 15 games + if they stay fit.

Nic won’t play until round 4 at the earliest.

Barrass & Ryan will be AA. Ginbey top 3 in rising star.

 

[Schtinker]

Pretty sure on Knightmares power rankings that Margot Robbie is ranked higher than Miranda Kerr.

168 cm blonde that’s only 32 years old.

Can play inside and outside mid. Can push back if required and likes to push forward for a snag.

Apparently Miranda doesn't partake of a snag.

 

[Obeanie1]

I’m under no illusions as to where we’re at, we probably need a minimum of 2 more good drafts to right the ship.
Before the preseason games I thought we’d win about 7-9 games, after watching the Crows game even that may have been generous. Let’s see how we begin (rounds 1 and 2 will tell us a lot) but we’re definitely in for more pain.
Mind you our last prolonged period without finals was 2008-10 so we’ve had it fairly good for a while.

Two more drafts and 2 to 3 years of astute trading for potential quality depth.

Over three trade periods we aim for two of say M Robertson, A Sheldrick, D Jones or R Garcia for picks in the 40+.

Throw cash at Tim English as a FA.

Have a crack at McDonald in 2024 but F1st plus ?? Not that years,

What players may move is the big unknown and unless they have an outstanding year their values are at all time lows.

Bit of luck would be nice.

 

[MrWoollie]

It’s been apparent for four seasons now that we have been getting out performed in the following areas:

Clearances.
Contested Possession.
Tackle Count.
Inside 50’s.

Add the list above to the following:

Slow ball movement.
Obsolete game plan.
Ball movement that’s sideways and backwards.

I would add
failure to adjust game plan to account for rule changes
to that list.

I don't think there is another club that has done less to update the game plan to account for the 6/6/6/ and stand the mark rule changes as us. With a forward setup of 3 quality talls (JK, JD, OA) and Ryan, Rioli and Cripps, that's a forward six that was setup to take advantage of the 6/6/6. It just needed a game plan that got the ball inside 50 quickly and more often.
And having slow mids and backs standing the mark was asking to be run around and burnt for pace.

 

[CursoryMercenary]

We could beat our record very soon again like we did last season.

 

[Schtinker]

Last year we started making inroads when we had some speed in the back end through Yeo and JJones. We recruited Hunt for speed and spread from the defensive half. With a backline of

BB: Hurn - Barrass - Jones
HB: Yeo - McGovern - Hunt

we'd have the speed and spread we desire but Simmo looks at it and thinks "Where does Duggo and Cole fit as they have the credits". So we shift Yeo to the midfield where, yes he goes alright, but is more susceptible to uncle OP returning. Hunt, we shift to a wing where his disposal is then more focused on our forwards rather than having an open field to hit targets thus limiting his effectiveness. Jones, a revelation last year, gets shoved into the crumbing forward position he wasn't playing that well before we shifted him down back, and becomes a fringe player. I'm not saying Duggo and Cole aren't reasonable players but they are momentum killers. The speed and spread just isn't there. It's like when Gaff marks the ball, his first instinct is to run back to the mark to take the kick.

So instead we end up with a backline of

BB: Cole - Barrass - Hurn
HB: Shuey - McGovern - Duggan.

which to me looks more like treacle than silk. Coles up and under kicks put so much pressure down the field. Duggo, not bad defensively, but with no-one running past for the give and go he attempts to take a risk and run which isn't his forte. I've never seen Shuey play back but I can't imagine it being something that will come naturally to him.

In the game against Adelaide we got trounced and would have been embarrassed even more except for McGovern and Barrass. Certainly weren't any signs of a change in game plan that day.

As for the season I'd say we will more games than last year if we can keep players on the park. I'd have us in the 12 - 16 range on the ladder.

 

[Shueygod]

Last year we started making inroads when we had some speed in the back end through Yeo and JJones. We recruited Hunt for speed and spread from the defensive half. With a backline of

BB: Hurn - Barrass - Jones
HB: Yeo - McGovern - Hunt

we'd have the speed and spread we desire but Simmo looks at it and thinks "Where does Duggo and Cole fit as they have the credits". So we shift Yeo to the midfield where, yes he goes alright, but is more susceptible to uncle OP returning. Hunt, we shift to a wing where his disposal is then more focused on our forwards rather than having an open field to hit targets thus limiting his effectiveness. Jones, a revelation last year, gets shoved into the crumbing forward position he wasn't playing that well before we shifted him down back, and becomes a fringe player. I'm not saying Duggo and Cole aren't reasonable players but they are momentum killers. The speed and spread just isn't there. It's like when Gaff marks the ball, his first instinct is to run back to the mark to take the kick.

So instead we end up with a backline of

BB: Cole - Barrass - Hurn
HB: Shuey - McGovern - Duggan.

which to me looks more like treacle than silk. Coles up and under kicks put so much pressure down the field. Duggo, not bad defensively, but with no-one running past for the give and go he attempts to take a risk and run which isn't his forte. I've never seen Shuey play back but I can't imagine it being something that will come naturally to him.

In the game against Adelaide we got trounced and would have been embarrassed even more except for McGovern and Barrass. Certainly weren't any signs of a change in game plan that day.

As for the season I'd say we will more games than last year if we can keep players on the park. I'd have us in the 12 - 16 range on the ladder.

Shuey is by far the best kick of any of our backline options including the players you mentioned. Cole the only one that can really lockdown on a small forward and both him and Duggan are pretty solid kicks. The speed was needed all over not just the backline.

It’s pretty rare to see many teams running it out but rather pinpointing those 45s that open teams up. Would much rather Hunt and Jones spraying it inside 50 rather than running it 20 to turn it over.

Not saying it would hurt to have one pact player back there but 3 guys who, while they are quick are all prone to shoddy turnovers would not be the solution to our ball movement from the back half.

I say this knowing Shuey had a couple of miskicks last week but I’d trust him over any in our team under 40m.

 

[WA footy mad]

Prediction for 2023 Shuey, Natnanui, Hurn, Sheed retire & we fight harder than ever for a wooden spoon & further draft low picks.

 

[mattyc75]

Prediction for 2023 Shuey, Natnanui, Hurn, Sheed retire & we fight harder than ever for a wooden spoon & further draft low picks.

Sheed? Thats wishful thinking

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