Strategy 2022 Rest of Season strategy thread

Injuries, COVID, NicNat - reset or battle out the rest of 2022

  • 1. Keep playing our best 22 and carry on regardless, back in the champions with credits in bank

    Votes: 16 32.7%
  • 2. Accept finals out for 2022 so balance youth with experience

    Votes: 24 49.0%
  • 3. Treat it as a 12 month pre-season and learn about our list

    Votes: 9 18.4%

  • Total voters
    49
  • Poll closed .

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Does anyone here remember when football was beautiful?

Dean Kemp chopping Gary ayres?

Peter matera off the bench?

Dunstall 32 goals going in sumich 31

Sumich kicked 8.8 the week prior

Woosha trying to kill people early in the 3rd

Such a better game to watch than the product now generally. Flowing, space, one on one contests, forwards and backs staying guess what? forward and back. No rolling all the way up the ground in formation and flooding midfield and every contest. No prior opportunity rule bullshit, so no-one grabs the pack contest ball, sticks it in the crook of an arm to get tackled to ground for yet another stoppage. Everyone is prepared to tap it out. No stacks on mill in the back forming more ground stoppages. Still some good but safe body hits and pressure. Pretty much AFL at it's fast, talented best IMHO.
NB: How many argued umpire calls and unknown free kicks do you count? How many times were players, crowd, commentators left wondering what the hell was just paid?
 
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Rohan O'Brien's role probably needs looking at, and they need to throw everything at Kinnear Beatson. IMO head and shoulders above everyone else in that space, and has a proven track record across two extremely successful non-Victorian clubs.

Aside from the obvious leg-ups with the Swans Academy, he consistently plucks guys like McInerney, Chad Warner, Rowbottom, Tom McCartin and Jake Lloyd with late picks. He's a guy who has shown an ability to rebuild a list through the draft.

Whether he'd want to come or not is another thing but IMO the next 2-3 years the coach isn't the most important role at the club, it's the list manager and having a Melbourne-based list and recruiting manager is untenable.
 
Rohan O'Brien's role probably needs looking at, and they need to throw everything at Kinnear Beatson. IMO head and shoulders above everyone else in that space, and has a proven track record across two extremely successful non-Victorian clubs.

Aside from the obvious leg-ups with the Swans Academy, he consistently plucks guys like McInerney, Chad Warner, Rowbottom, Tom McCartin and Jake Lloyd with late picks. He's a guy who has shown an ability to rebuild a list through the draft.

Whether he'd want to come or not is another thing but IMO the next 2-3 years the coach isn't the most important role at the club, it's the list manager and having a Melbourne-based list and recruiting manager is untenable.

Agree 100%, and what you sort of touched on without explicitly saying it is that we need to separate those roles.

Dedicated list manager

Dedicated recruiting manager

Doing this would be the first obvious step for the club to show externally that they understand where they are at. To an extent some resources can/may be taken away from on-field performance for a year or two to deliver this. (or just over-pay on the soft cap, and maybe some staff salary cuts as they are working ~3-4 less weeks a year as we aren't making finals!)
 

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Agree 100%, and what you sort of touched on without explicitly saying it is that we need to separate those roles.

Dedicated list manager

Dedicated recruiting manager

Doing this would be the first obvious step for the club to show externally that they understand where they are at. To an extent some resources can/may be taken away from on-field performance for a year or two to deliver this. (or just over-pay on the soft cap, and maybe some staff salary cuts as they are working ~3-4 less weeks a year as we aren't making finals!)
Honestly, this should have been the first thing that happened during the post-season "review" which resulted in everyone getting promoted. If for some unknown reason they wanted to maintain the dual role I'd suggest Beatson is the best qualified in any case. He's been at Sydney for over 15 years so maybe a new challenge could be what he's after?
 
Hurn will stay on for another season
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A few tough decisions looming -- My predictions

Kennedy Retires gets a farewell game and a big send off after the bye when Allen returns
Hurn will stay on for another season
Shuey will stay on as Captain
Darling will request a trade
Gaff will stay .
Hurn is done at year end
Shuey will be lucky to play next year. Must not be captain
Darling - who cares really.
 
Rohan O'Brien's role probably needs looking at, and they need to throw everything at Kinnear Beatson. IMO head and shoulders above everyone else in that space, and has a proven track record across two extremely successful non-Victorian clubs.

Aside from the obvious leg-ups with the Swans Academy, he consistently plucks guys like McInerney, Chad Warner, Rowbottom, Tom McCartin and Jake Lloyd[ with late picks. He's a guy who has shown an ability to rebuild a list through the draft.

Whether he'd want to come or not is another thing but IMO the next 2-3 years the coach isn't the most important role at the club, it's the list manager and having a Melbourne-based list and recruiting manager is untenable.

Is it all Kinnear?
I’d expect the scouts KB has must also be pretty good.
I’d expect the process to identify, shortlist, rank and then select & develop would worth looking at too.
 
We should use the rest of 2022 as an extended preseason to physically rehabilitate our players, try a few new things and players in different roles. That's it. Season is long gone.

Agree, forget the results. I'd like us to pick a batch of games towards the end of year (e.g. round 17 to 21) that we target for really testing a new game plan for next year (forget the last two games against Fremantle and Geelong away).

We should be over the worst of Covid by then, we can try and tweak things in the lead-up to that batch of games but tell the players "these are the games we are focusing on and we're aiming to win more than we lose of these."

That's it. People saying that'll demoralise the players, the players already know we're shit. They need to have an aim they can work towards.

I'm borrowing from another sport where Ferrari deliberately wrote off 2021 and used it to develop and test their engine and the integration with the drivers, which is paying off now.

It would be a crime if we get a bunch of good new kids in the draft and still haven't worked out our game style for 2023.
 
Agree, forget the results. I'd like us to pick a batch of games towards the end of year (e.g. round 17 to 21) that we target for really testing a new game plan for next year (forget the last two games against Fremantle and Geelong away).

We should be over the worst of Covid by then, we can try and tweak things in the lead-up to that batch of games but tell the players "these are the games we are focusing on and we're aiming to win more than we lose of these."

That's it. People saying that'll demoralise the players, the players already know we're shit. They need to have an aim they can work towards.

I'm borrowing from another sport where Ferrari deliberately wrote off 2021 and used it to develop and test their engine and the integration with the drivers, which is paying off now.

It would be a crime if we get a bunch of good new kids in the draft and still haven't worked out our game style for 2023.
First time our list has been called a Ferrari
 

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Rohan O'Brien's role probably needs looking at, and they need to throw everything at Kinnear Beatson. IMO head and shoulders above everyone else in that space, and has a proven track record across two extremely successful non-Victorian clubs.

Aside from the obvious leg-ups with the Swans Academy, he consistently plucks guys like McInerney, Chad Warner, Rowbottom, Tom McCartin and Jake Lloyd with late picks. He's a guy who has shown an ability to rebuild a list through the draft.

Whether he'd want to come or not is another thing but IMO the next 2-3 years the coach isn't the most important role at the club, it's the list manager and having a Melbourne-based list and recruiting manager is untenable.
O'brien is part of the reason we are in this mess. Between our two grand final appearances his drafting was woeful.Look at how many are gone.
2015 pick 28 Partington, pick 57 Mutimer, pick 62 Matt allen.
2016 pick 13 Venables (We will never know if he was something special).
2017 pick 13 Brander, pick 32 Ainswoerth, pick 68 brayshaw.
2018 pick 39 jarrod cameron.
The rookie picks between 2015-2018 just as bad.
We just need to get our drafting right.Fortunately we can't trade our first.Not sure if we can split.Likely we will have pick 1 or 2 at worst.could we get two top 10 picks.Not sure if their are any stand out draftees like the last couple.
 
Lol - I watched for 5 mins only to see Hawthorn awarded a dodgy free for deliberate out of bounds, that lead to a shot on goal (they missed).

Maybe the rules have always been a bit crap.
People's view on umpiring and the rules is always pretty tainted.

"So many soft free kicks these days" then I see in the 70's there was usually 100+ free kicks in a game.
 
I got my wish!! Edwards in the ruck. I imagine it'll be a good run around for the big fella.
Well you should have a good idea now. He showed he’s not even a backup ruckman. At best the ball up here or there when a ruckman can’t make it but that’s it. Edwards only relevant attribute is he’s tall. Powell-Pepper is a better ruckman as was Grigg for Richmond.
 
Well you should have a good idea now. He showed he’s not even a backup ruckman. At best the ball up here or there when a ruckman can’t make it but that’s it. Edwards only relevant attribute is he’s tall. Powell-Pepper is a better ruckman as was Grigg for Richmond.
Looked clueless out there😂 But i reckon he applied decent pressure when he was in there. Thrown to the wolves(lions)

Still since he is fairly mobile id definitely would try and develop him there at WAFL level for a little bit to see if there's any chance at all that he could play.
Handy backup too if we could him to play 20% game time there
 
Strategy for the rest of the season needs to be to get the players minds and attitudes straightenned out and move on those who are lazy and entitled and therefore encouraging other players to be the same way. Players who won't chase, tackle, run both ways and fight for the footy when it is in dispute need to get dropped to the WAFL. It doesn't matter if they are on 800k a year or in the leadership group or anything else. Just drop them and tell them their career is at a crossroads. Tell them if they want to keep playing the same way they have been then they need to find another club to play for. Drop them for the whole of the rest of the season if necessary and make a point to them and the rest of the players in the playing group. Make sure they are under no illusions that what they are putting up is not AFL standard and their career will be over at the end of their current contract.

Play guys like Florenca and Clark instead. Maybe they will become solid AFL players or maybe they will not cut the mustard in the long run. But they will give it everything they have got when they are given a game and prioritising guys who want to have a go over those who want to just cruise around and pick up a pay check makes a statement. Drop the blokes who want to pick and choose when to have a go and when they can't be bothered. It won't make a difference to our win/loss record. And even if it did, if we are going to finish in the bottom 4 anyway the only difference an extra win or two means in the long run is worse draft picks. I know i would feel a hell of a lot better about watching a 10 goal belting if i was watching the top up players going down in a blaze of glory whilst giving their all vrs watching the entitled overpaid old stagers jogging around the park.

We have a lot of problems to fix in lots of areas of the club. But the terrible mentality and attitude of our playing group is one of the big ones and will be one of the hardest to fix. You can sack your recruiters or strength and conditioning staff and hire new ones but you can't sack all your players. So we have to turn the attitude of playing group around. And the best way to do that is to start being hard as f*** on them for the rest of the season and having a zero tolerance policy towards not competing and giving everything they have every time they step on the park.
 
Strategy for the rest of the season needs to be to get the players minds and attitudes straightenned out and move on those who are lazy and entitled and therefore encouraging other players to be the same way. Players who won't chase, tackle, run both ways and fight for the footy when it is in dispute need to get dropped to the WAFL. It doesn't matter if they are on 800k a year or in the leadership group or anything else. Just drop them and tell them their career is at a crossroads. Tell them if they want to keep playing the same way they have been then they need to find another club to play for. Drop them for the whole of the rest of the season if necessary and make a point to them and the rest of the players in the playing group. Make sure they are under no illusions that what they are putting up is not AFL standard and their career will be over at the end of their current contract.

Play guys like Florenca and Clark instead. Maybe they will become solid AFL players or maybe they will not cut the mustard in the long run. But they will give it everything they have got when they are given a game and prioritising guys who want to have a go over those who want to just cruise around and pick up a pay check makes a statement. Drop the blokes who want to pick and choose when to have a go and when they can't be bothered. It won't make a difference to our win/loss record. And even if it did, if we are going to finish in the bottom 4 anyway the only difference an extra win or two means in the long run is worse draft picks. I know i would feel a hell of a lot better about watching a 10 goal belting if i was watching the top up players going down in a blaze of glory whilst giving their all vrs watching the entitled overpaid old stagers jogging around the park.

We have a lot of problems to fix in lots of areas of the club. But the terrible mentality and attitude of our playing group is one of the big ones and will be one of the hardest to fix. You can sack your recruiters or strength and conditioning staff and hire new ones but you can't sack all your players. So we have to turn the attitude of playing group around. And the best way to do that is to start being hard as f*** on them for the rest of the season and having a zero tolerance policy towards not competing and giving everything they have every time they step on the park.
Well said. One problem we have is nobody to replace players dropped. Others may know the rule re using WAFL players but i think we need to have exhaused AFL listed players.
The standards and leadership must be from the very top. If this is not so there can be uncertainty and inconsistancy. Coaches are improtant but they dont sit at the very top.
I thought the effort against Brisbane was pretty good, it just highlighted that the very best effort of some isnt near the required standard. We should be moving plays out now as returning players make it possible just as we must move on players not competing as you wrote. A bit of survival tension will help if suported by good leadership and clear communication.
 

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Strategy 2022 Rest of Season strategy thread

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