Mega Thread 2013 Pre Season

[Fred Ziffel]

Yeah I was looking at Kep/Clarke as the 2nd forwards pulling defenders due to their height, which frees up Mayne to come in - still had him as 3rd...

but 2nd or 3rd - same idea - depending on how you prioritise Kep/Clarke in the forward line.

Well that makes the Corporal Duffy recruitment intriguing.

Methinks we may be headed for a very unconventional forward structure that Oppositions haven't really planned for.

a./ Two very effective small forwards for which there is no standout defender to counter.
b./ Two very effective mid size forwards. One who is deadly accurate,now, and another who is
very fast and skilful who takes opponents on albeit very young.
c./ Another flanker in either Fyfe or Morabito.
d./ Pavlich marshalling.
e./ An occasional visit by the biggest man in the comp.

 

[DockerLand1]

Well that makes the Corporal Duffy recruitment intriguing.

So where does Duffy fit in when you look at our forward pocket/half forward flanking players?

Ballas, Walters, Morabito, Mayne, Mellington, Crozier, Fyfe, Neale, Michie, Pitt? They are all in front of Duffy so just why did we pick this guy up again??? Anyone?

 

[Jezzitizle]

So where does Duffy fit in when you look at our forward pocket/half forward flanking players?

Ballas, Walters, Morabito, Mayne, Mellington, Crozier, Fyfe, Neale, Michie, Pitt? They are all in front of Duffy so just why did we pick this guy up again??? Anyone?

Sit down, this is about to blow your mind.



There are more than 10 positions on a football field, and not all players play the same positions at AFL level as at lower levels.

Injuries.

People failing to meet expectations.

Retirements.

Trades.

Free agency.

 

[DockerLand1]

Sit down, this is about to blow your mind.



There are more than 10 positions on a football field, and not all players play the same positions at AFL level as at lower levels.

Injuries.

People failing to meet expectations.

Retirements.

Trades.

Free agency.

Just remind me, how many key position forwards do we have that are under 30 and kick bags of goals?

I am sitting down waiting for your reply.

 

[Pavsgold]

Calm down buddy, they selected a freakishly talented guy with a relatively late pick.
Its gonna be ok

 

[DockerLand1]

Calm down buddy, they selected a freakishly talented guy with a relatively late pick.
Its gonna be ok

I am completely calm asking a completely rational question. So pick 39 is a relatively late pick? We got robbed or Broughton then didn't we. ;-)

 

[Pavsgold]

Haha, there were way to many question marks in that post than a calm person would use.
Obviously we need a gun KPF to come through, lets just see how Duff man mark 2 plays.
Real midfield depth and tall fast skillful players who kick goals are pretty important to.

 

[DockerLand1]

Haha, there were way to many question marks in that post than a calm person would use.
Obviously we need a gun KPF to come through, lets just see how Duff man mark 2 plays.
Real midfield depth and tall fast skillful players who kick goals are pretty important to.

No doubt, it sounds like you really rate the Duff man. I hope that he is an even better player than you think that he is, we need the goals in 2013. We just have a total lack in one area that has been completely neglected for half a decade. It is time right now to fix that. Especially after the failed recruitment attempts of players like Clarke, Cloak, Tippett, Franklin etc who never wanted to play for us anyway. I would love to give a local kid who fits the role a shot.

 

[Crippa]

prior to coming to freo, ross was criticised for not giving the young guys a go (didnt stop him blooding new guys last year thought)

Didn't stop him blooding new guys in 2011 either.

In 2011 St Kilda debuted 8 kids - the equal 4th most in the League (including Gold Coast).

 

[Pavsgold]

Yeah, fair enough.
I really hope they have a plan, maybe Clarke will step up this year.

 

[DockerLand1]

Yeah, fair enough.
I really hope they have a plan, maybe Clarke will step up this year.

From what I have been hearing Clarke is not putting on much weight, he is also more of a ruckman than a natural forward with a great scoring brain like a Ballas, Pav or Walters. We need to find big guys with those skills and smarts to assist and replace Pav. From what we are hearing, we have some good talent training with us at the moment. Really hoping that we pick them up.

 

[sherrif]

So where does Duffy fit in when you look at our forward pocket/half forward flanking players?

Ballas, Walters, Morabito, Mayne, Mellington, Crozier, Fyfe, Neale, Michie, Pitt? They are all in front of Duffy so just why did we pick this guy up again??? Anyone?

We drafted him because Ross Lyon wants more pace in the team and this guy has that in spades. He plays like a taller version of Ballantyne. Look at Carlton when Betts and Garlett play well together they normally win. Duffy and Ballantyne could be better than that duo and expose defences with slow defenders like Walters and Hurn. I have no doubt he will go down as an awesome pick. There were only a handful of key position players picked after him. For the record very, very few key talls who are drafted later the 2nd round in the draft make it as AFL players, put plenty of players who are not key position players do make it. The same argument you are making was been made by plenty of people on the dockerland website last year when we passed on Simon Tunbridge and drafted Sutcliffe and Neale. Tunbridge is now delisted and the two we picked up look like long term players. BTW go watch the highlights of Duffy in the media section of afl.com.au website by putting his name into the media search engine. Duffy looks awesome, taking on players, handballing to himself, he looks like entertainment gold.

 

[Nickos66]

I take it you were supposed to say Beau Waters? Not Walters?

Also, I don't think Tunbridge has been delisted? He's a rookie with WCE.

 

[Arcassius]

Well that makes the Corporal Duffy recruitment intriguing.

Methinks we may be headed for a very unconventional forward structure that Oppositions haven't really planned for.

a./ Two very effective small forwards for which there is no standout defender to counter.
b./ Two very effective mid size forwards. One who is deadly accurate,now, and another who is
very fast and skilful who takes opponents on albeit very young.
c./ Another flanker in either Fyfe or Morabito.
d./ Pavlich marshalling.
e./ An occasional visit by the biggest man in the comp.

Reminds me of a chat we had at the meetup regarding whether there is a real need for so many tall forwards with the way the game is progressing - whether a fleet of goal kicking mids and fast athletic mid sized forwards with a resting ruck and a token KPF would be enough

 

[caterina]

Reminds me of a chat we had at the meetup regarding whether there is a real need for so many tall forwards with the way the game is progressing - whether a fleet of goal kicking mids and fast athletic mid sized forwards with a resting ruck and a token KPF would be enough

That must have been somewhere towards the end of the night, when your judgement was clouded

 

[Seppo]

That must have been somewhere towards the end of the night, when your judgement was clouded

Nope, it was well before I had my 9th pint and we saw a purple unicorn fly past.

I agree you can get away without having 2 really good KPF's and someone of the ilk of Kepler/Clarke can be the 2nd tall. All you need is great delivery into the fwd 50 from the mids and the big bodies that know where to run.

 

[Arcassius]

That must have been somewhere towards the end of the night, when your judgement was clouded

Feel free to contribute your thoughts on the matter

 

[Jezzitizle]

Just remind me, how many key position forwards do we have that are under 30 and kick bags of goals?

I am sitting down waiting for your reply.

What has that got to do with picking Duffy? If we had a top ten pick, and they took Duffy I would understand your point.

 

[DockerLand1]

I take it you were supposed to say Beau Waters? Not Walters?

Also, I don't think Tunbridge has been delisted? He's a rookie with WCE.

Walters. Michael Walters. Played for Swan Districts before us. Natural forward thinking with great skills. I know who I meant thanks Nickos66. You take it incorrectly.

 

[DockerLand1]

What has that got to do with picking Duffy? If we had a top ten pick, and they took Duffy I would understand your point.

I don't think that Duffy would have been picked up until the rookie draft. Which made the whole trade Broughton exercise pointless unless we were trying to relieve salary cap pressure and we seem to have plenty of room there.

We were meant to improve our trading position to pick up a key position forward and then did not, we went for another fleet footed small forward.

 

[mayne iac]

I don't think that Duffy would have been picked up until the rookie draft. Which made the whole trade Broughton exercise pointless unless we were trying to relieve salary cap pressure and we seem to have plenty of room there.

We were meant to improve our trading position to pick up a key position forward and then did not, we went for another fleet footed small forward.

So our recruiting staff pick him at pick 39 - and there are 70 odd picks in the national draft.
We have 3 picks and the other teams together have 70 odd picks and you think he wouldnt have been picked until the rookie draft??

Geez our drafting team must have really buggered up...

 

[theGav56]

Reality is the only gaping hole in our list is a KPF. That is it. The remainder of our forward set-up looks pretty strong to me and is peppered with speed and skill. It is dangerous. Quite happy to draft a few speculative talls in PSD and RD, but don't actually have anything but low expectations they will contribute a lot. if they do, great.

Looking beyond that we know the formula. Press for a FA, press for a trade, look for a decent prospect with our 1st rounder, look for more speculative/value selections after that.

For 2013 the only real question is, "Can we structure up a dangerous forward line?", and the answer is that clearly we can.

Walters Mayne Fyfe
Morabitto Pavlich Ballantyne

Mayne Bradley de Boer
Mellington Pavlich Clarke

Crozier and Duff ready to play.

Of course we are Pavlich dependent, but not a lot of forward lines work that well if their #1 target goes down.

 

[Jezzitizle]

I don't think that Duffy would have been picked up until the rookie draft. Which made the whole trade Broughton exercise pointless unless we were trying to relieve salary cap pressure and we seem to have plenty of room there.

We were meant to improve our trading position to pick up a key position forward and then did not, we went for another fleet footed small forward.

Where did you hear they were trying to relieve salary cap pressure? I thought they were trying to open up spots on the list due to the mandatory list lodgements..?

Anyway I think we should at least give Duffy minimum a year to see what he has before we start calling dud drafting.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

I don't think that Duffy would have been picked up until the rookie draft. Which made the whole trade Broughton exercise pointless unless we were trying to relieve salary cap pressure and we seem to have plenty of room there.

We were meant to improve our trading position to pick up a key position forward and then did not, we went for another fleet footed small forward.

I dont think it was salary cap pressure as much as it was freeing up space for an assault on some free agents next year. A key forward would have been nice, we just have to hope now that pavlich stays relatively injury free for the next year or so and allow us to draft a key forward or three over the next two years whilst he is still playing good footy

 

[Paracleet]

So our recruiting staff pick him at pick 39 - and there are 70 odd picks in the national draft.
We have 3 picks and the other teams together have 70 odd picks and you think he wouldnt have been picked until the rookie draft??

Geez our drafting team must have really buggered up...

The only way the narratives of people like that ever make sense is if you recognise that the logic involved is that our recruiting staff are somehow less competent judges of footballing talent than a random internet fan forum poster and every other football recruiting team at the other 17 clubs. That’s a very specific and unlikely venn diagram.