Seems to have an excellent attitude. Looking forward to him joining us.I’d say that there’s very few Freo rookies that don’t last into a second season. Worner would have to be very average or have a poor attitude to get cut after one season.
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Seems to have an excellent attitude. Looking forward to him joining us.I’d say that there’s very few Freo rookies that don’t last into a second season. Worner would have to be very average or have a poor attitude to get cut after one season.
Current out of contract players for 2023:
Sturt
Logue
Acres
Walters
Aish
Crowden
Wilson
Mundy
Blakely
Pearce
Valente
O'Driscoll
Walker
Colyer
Western
Banfield
Worner
Priority signings (Group A):
Sturt, Logue, Pearce
Group B:
Walters, Aish, Mundy
Group C:
O'Driscoll, Walker, Colyer
Group D:
Western, Worner, Blakely, Wilson, Banfield, Valente, Acres, Crowden
I think you have nailed the main players under threat. Hopefully 2-3 can have a good season and earn themselves a 1 year contract for 2023.Every year at least 7 or 8 players are delisted. It’s ruthless but that’s pro sport I guess.
For this season I would say the following are under the most pressure, basically facing career saving seasons:
Mitch Crowden - lucky to be re-rookied when he was OOC. I quite like some of what he brings the team, particularly his ball use by foot but he doesn’t get enough of it, simple as that. Will be surprised if he’s there in 2023.
Connor Blakely - being delisted and rerookied as a 25 yo in contract is not a good sign for him. I get the sense he’s not Jlo’s type of player, can’t see him being extended at this stage beyond this year. Free agent in 2022 so if he joined another club we would get a compensation pick I believe?
Blake Acres - final year of his contract. On thin ice I reckon, doesn’t really have any standout traits at AFL level. Needs a massive season to earn a new deal
Bailey Banfield - a perennial candidate to be delisted, he seems to just do enough each year to hang around. Would surely need to play at least 10 AFL games to have a chance of staying - if he spends most of the year at Peel he’s surely on the way out.
Luke Valente - 4th year on the list and yet to play a game. Surely he’s got to play some AFL games this year to stay around? Would be nearly unprecedented for a midfielder to spend 5 seasons on an AFL list without playing a game I’d say. Faces stiff competition for a spot from Brodie, Blakely, Tucker, Banfield, Johnson and even Erasmus.
Trav Colyer - would have probably been number one on this list last year but an excellent season earned him a new one year deal. Age not on his side and will need an equally good season this year to stay around.
David Mundy - at 36 he’s always going to be on this list. For me, if he stays fit he’s clearly in the best 10 players at the club, probably even best 5. So I think he’s going to play every game again this year and get a new deal in 2023 to bring 400 games within striking range. What a legend.
The reality is that 40 more games from Mundy is more valuable to freo that probably the output of everyone else on this list put together.
Karl Worner - the last 19 year old we rookied lasted one season (Pina). Hopefully Karl will be different, but the odds of his draft position suggest he’ll be going well to still be here in 2023.
Sam Sturt - of course he’s got talent. But he’s just has to get on the park and play a decent stretch of footy this year. One of the most injury prone players ever to be listed by freo, so far in his career anyway. Even if it doesn’t go well for him again this year I can see them keeping him around on a rookie list as he’s too talented and plays a position of real need for us, unlike some others on this list.
Joel Western & Nathan o Driscoll - both OOC next year I believe. They have youth on their side though so even if they can each play a few games they should be extended I’d say.
I haven’t included any potential traded out players. Lobb is the obvious candidate. Hopefully no one else wants to leave that’s good, unlike Cerra last year.
Anyone else I’ve missed on this list?
Who is most likely to lift themselves off the canvas and away from the trap door, earning themselves a new deal through good performances like Colyer and Schultz did last year?
EDIT: I forgot Nathan Wilson! Definitely in the last chance saloon too I reckon. A lot of competition for his position too doesn’t help his cause either.
7 or 8 seems like a lot for next season. We also don't hold much of a draft hand. Perhaps we'll be under that.
Draft picks aside there’s easily 7-8 players OOC that may be off the list in 2023 if they have poor seasons.
Not sure where the currency is coming from outside of future picks but Freo generally finds a way to get the picks if we need them.
Just 2 clubs in the AFL had less than 7 list changes last year - and they were both contenders with much better depth than us (brisbane and the Dogs had 6 player changes each on their lists).7 or 8 seems like a lot for next season. We also don't hold much of a draft hand. Perhaps we'll be under that.
It's a fine line between list cloggers and depth sometimes.Acres and Blakely are classic list cloggers.
How many feathers would Belly get for poaching a guy already on our list?Andrew Brayshaw would be handy but unlikely to head to WA.
It ultimately comes down to what the club thinks is better for the list; de-list more players and take in late draft picks or hold a few more average players.
Given our draft hand starting point you wouldn't expect more than 3ish reasonable picks next year.
Acres/Wilson would be the two I wouldn't be too fussed about, but at the same time if they're 5-8 on the de-list ranking, then would you keep them on a reduced salary or take another speculative youngster?
I'd suspect we'd value capable depth more coming into the next few years.
Yeah probably not far off. I’d say however that Walters has enough credit in the bank to avoid just being delisted no matter how poor he might be this year.The negativity regarding Wilson is a bit over the top imo. He’s been very good for us for the majority of his time on the list. People are very quick to remember only the last five minutes of someone’s career.
For me we’re starting with Blakely and Acres as delistings (both would’ve been delisted this year out of contract imo), then we see if guys like Mundy, Walters and Colyer will play on.
After that you start looking at Wilson, Crowden, Valente etc.
Yeah probably not far off. I’d say however that Walters has enough credit in the bank to avoid just being delisted no matter how poor he might be this year.
It’s a stretch to think that Walters will be cut at the end of the year unless he has serious injury issues
Pretty handy bringing along the young warriors. Not quite sure when his time will be up, but he'll have a major say in it.Yes I see no chance of Walters getting delisted, would be very much a required senior player into 2023. 2021 was a bit of an aberration due to an interrupted preseason
Yes I see no chance of Walters getting delisted, would be very much a required senior player into 2023. 2021 was a bit of an aberration due to an interrupted preseason
I think Docker82 was talking about Walters retiring, not getting delisted.
Thought it was interesting to hear that JL offered him more of a midfield or wing role but he said he wanted to stay and lead the forward line. I assumed he preferred the midfield a lot more in the last few years
I found the whole situation odd when a player dictates his position. Longmuir and his coaches suggested him in the midfield/wing for a reason? Maybe to let Henry / Western to develop in the small forward role? Reckon when he said no they moved Henry to develop on the wing. Dangerous gamble for Walters, not a quick small and relying on a very young midfield there’s risk he won’t get the ball and potentially not kick enough goals. Reducing the contract $ come renegotiation time.I think that's a really smart decision by Walters as he was getting pretty banged up in the midfield as a smaller player, seems like he'd have a great year followed by a year with knee injuries or similar, over the past 5 or 6 years. Hope we can get 2 or 3 more years out of him up forward to bring the next generation through. Maybe we'll see Joel Western crumbing off packs in years to come, I know he played alot of midfield in Colts but that pace under Walter's guidance....
Reread the post and I've totally misread it Hopefully zero chance of Walters retiring either
Acres very popular with the group. Wouldn’t be surprised if he got a year extensionAcres and Blakely are classic list cloggers.
Actually Alex Howson was one year but the guy told the club not to renew his contract.