Player Watch #20 Jacob Koschitzke

[Ceehook]

showing good signs, starting to clunk some marks and he either competes or curses himself if fails to do so

I've been saying to people he has wooden hands

I wonder if given the way the season has unfolded , he has relaxed a touch
now to work on the set shot kicking :-(

 

[banzai]

The club's stated aim was to remain competitive. In 2023 we were competitive. Not strong, but competitive. This was despite our must important individual player, Lynch, missing every game after rd 4. And Hopper missed a third of the season and was not right physically for at least another third. The club finished with a 10-1-12 record and 94%. Remember this was after an abrupt mid-season coach change.

When the team ceased to be competitive was a point that wasn't difficult to trace. After some encouraging early season performances including beating the top team on merit with closer to our full team, we headed to Perth in rd 6 2024 to play the Eagles with none of Lynch, Balta, Prestia, Taranto, Hopper, Gibcus, Ross on the plane, and not one starting midfielder or key position player who had played more than 20 games continuously in the role for the team. Under a brand new coaching structure. With 4 players who had debuted for the club this season and another 2 that debuted last season, one of whom had played only one match. And from there the injuries only got worse with Dusty's back, losing Maurice Rioli, Lefau's ACL, Lynch's hamstring strain on return and so on.

You are giving any club a reasonable excuse for being uncompetitive at that point. Not one list in the competition remains properly competitive under that type of duress.

The reason GWS beat us on the scoreboard yesterday was not simply about speed and quality disposal. Their forward line contained:

1 Toby Greene, a veteran who is probably the best forward in the AFL and certainly the best of the non-key forwards.
2 Jessie Hogan, essentially a number 1 draft pick very experienced and talented Full Forward in great form who has played the role in this team for 4 seasons, and is below but near enough to the best key forward in the AFL right now.
3 Brent Daniels, again long experienced in this role in this team and the 13th highest rated general forward in the AFL this season, rd 2 draft pick
4 Second year number 1 draft pick Aaron Cadman
5 5th year key forward Jake Riccardi
6 2nd year rd 1 draft pick Darcy Jones

Our backline looks ok on paper but has suffered quite a lot of disruption and contained Miller and Brown who remain very new to their roles.

But compare their forward line with ours:

1 Samson Ryan - not even a forward, he is a developing ruckman totally unsuited to the role of key forward
2 Jacob Koschitzke - swapped for a late rd 3 draft pick first year at club has played this specific role all of about 6 times maximum
3 Steely Green - very late rd 3 draft pick playing his 3rd game as a 20yo
4 SSP selection Rhyan Mansell who is a converted defender but starting to get some continuity in his role
5 Rookie draft star Liam Baker late of the midfield who has no continuity in this role much less with this structure around him
6 Tyler Sonsie - rd 2 draftee more suited to playing around the midfield, with about 10 games continuity in the role, would have played with a different key forward structure in just about every one of those 10 games.
7 Shai Bolton - genuine star forward who knows his role inside out but is again being asked to play within a very unstable structure

You simply give us anything like this team anywhere near their recent best, and reasonable continuity:

B Gibcus Miller Brown
HB Rioli Short Vlastuin
C McIntosh Taranto Pickett
HF Martin M Rioli Bolton
FF Lynch Lefau Balta

R Nankervis Prestia Hopper

I/C Broad, Ross, Graham, Baker

With in reserve any of Ralphsmith, Mansell, Campbell, Koschitzke etc.

Just ask yourself would that team or anything resembling it be competitive? Every bit of evidence we have available says yes, it would be. 7 of them were missing yesterday, and of the 15 who weren't missing, about half at best had reasonable continuity in their role leading into yesterday's game.

We will get a likely gun young midfielder in the draft this year, as well as some other promising players. That gun young midfielder will almost certainly be hand-picked to complement Taranto and Hopper in the midfield, ie breakaway speed and damaging kick. And he will benefit from their presence in that midfield as he hopefully develops into a top class AFL footballer. We have ready made replacements for McIntosh, Pickett, Graham at least in the team I named above. I don't see the need for what you call a hard rebuild. The club just needs to keep trying to be competitive and take what it is given in terms of draft and free agency and trade opportunities, and hopefully with better luck with injuries and continuity we will be competitive whilst building a team that can genuinely challenge in the future.

I agree the team you list would be competetive. But it also declining with some very old players in it. Having an old team that finishes midtable or so isnt a good thing. There are too many good players from that team you list to replace to get back to the top. There is also the reality of Baker and maybe Rioli leaving which means pretty much half of that team is gone in the next 2-3 years.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

I agree the team you list would be competetive. But it also declining with some very old players in it. Having an old team that finishes midtable or so isnt a good thing. There are too many good players from that team you list to replace to get back to the top. There is also the reality of Baker and maybe Rioli leaving which means pretty much half of that team is gone in the next 2-3 years.

I suppose the thing to ask you is say that team or something similar to it was sitting 10-7 on the ladder right now around 7th place, with plenty of our young players showing promise playing in a better structure, would you think we needed a hard rebuild?

Because if we got a few things going our way instead of against us that is likely about where we would be. And we now likely add a pick 1 to the list plus probably 2 other later first round picks.

 

[tiger_tough]

His last month is basically what we all hoped for. Not a no 1 forward, not a world beater, just a solid 2nd / 3rd tall.

Handful of marks, chop out in the ruck, 10 odd posies and a goal a week with the odd, 2-3 goal performance.

100%. Can't expect anything more than that for what we gave up. Fine trade so far.

 

[Grrr]

Wish he was a bit quicker, get's run off pretty easily, but at least he is clunking them when he gets a chance.

 

[Morro]

100%. Can't expect anything more than that for what we gave up. Fine trade so far.

Especially as we are yet to see him in our best setup.

 

[TigerImposter]

Especially as we are yet to see him in our best setup.

and we may never mate?

 

[banzai]

I suppose the thing to ask you is say that team or something similar to it was sitting 10-7 on the ladder right now around 7th place, with plenty of our young players showing promise playing in a better structure, would you think we needed a hard rebuild?

Because if we got a few things going our way instead of against us that is likely about where we would be. And we now likely add a pick 1 to the list plus probably 2 other later first round picks.

It's hard to say, but that team has very few young players in it. So if they were healthy and 7th, we would have hardly any games into young players, so we would be losing 10 or so players in the next few years with not many games into kids to replace them. It would still need to replace 5-6 guns in the next few seasons who will decline. So yes we are getting pick 1 (or a very high pick now), but we also might lose a few we didn't expect. I just think if we did a full rebuild (weve already had 1 bottom season, we could handle 2 more) it would nearly be hard to fail.

If Lynch is cooked and Rioli and Baker leave, it pretty much happens anyway doesnt it?

 

[Morro]

and we may never mate?

It does feel that way

 

[Meteoric Rise]

It's hard to say, but that team has very few young players in it. So if they were healthy and 7th, we would have hardly any games into young players, so we would be losing 10 or so players in the next few years with not many games into kids to replace them. It would still need to replace 5-6 guns in the next few seasons who will decline. So yes we are getting pick 1 (or a very high pick now), but we also might lose a few we didn't expect. I just think if we did a full rebuild (weve already had 1 bottom season, we could handle 2 more) it would nearly be hard to fail.

If Lynch is cooked and Rioli and Baker leave, it pretty much happens anyway doesnt it?

I am sure the club will just try to field the best team it can and if things go wrong, then race for the bottom again and get quality players in that way. But these gun draft picks should benefit from playing in a midfield next to Taranto and Hopper. Perhaps somewhat similar to Hawks young mids playing with Mitchell and O'Meara. Now Newcombe, Day, Worpel are flourishing. I don't think it is healthy to introduce youngsters into a totally uncompetitive midfield.