- Banned
- #4,651
needs more barramundiThis board has gone really out of control today with the hypotheticals of players who might leave and bottoming out.
I guess this happens during every bye round.
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needs more barramundiThis board has gone really out of control today with the hypotheticals of players who might leave and bottoming out.
I guess this happens during every bye round.
Yeah. Pay him the 900k and put him forward would solve a lot of problems. Find another KPD if necessary.Watch Battle become a gun forward at another club
Wish I could be bothered looking through the Big Footy Saints board of 3-4 years ago when everyone was moaning about Battle being a gop forward/wingman that Ratts should leave to blossom in the backlineYeah. Pay him the 900k and put him forward would solve a lot of problems. Find another KPD if necessary.
Yeah there's that, but crikey he looked the part when swung forward a few weeks ago and slotted those goals like a beast. Keep in mind he was 21-22 years old then and we were a shit sandwich.Wish I could be bothered looking through the Big Footy Saints board of 3-4 years ago when everyone was moaning about Battle being a gop forward/wingman that Ratts should leave to blossom in the backline
Still reckon he'd be a goal kicking bull if thrown into the centre (not the wing, but actual centre) reckon him alternating with Steele in the forward line would be a great look.Yeah there's that, but crikey he looked the part when swung forward a few weeks ago and slotted those goals like a beast. Keep in mind he was 21-22 years old then and we were a shit sandwich.
Called upon once every two years for a game. Might just crack the 60 game barrier in close to two decades timeWell Tom Campbell will be playing well into his 50's so in reality we have nothing to worry about!
Called upon once every two years for a game. Might just crack the 60 game barrier in close to two decades time
Can't knock the bloke at all though. He's fairly solid when he does play...he's been on an AFL list for 12 years, picked up as a Rookie, for 57 games. A lot of players drafted a lot higher, and lost to the game, would be pretty envious I would think.
Good 'ole Tom and his determination and work ethic. Well done to him
Yeah. Pay him the 900k and put him forward would solve a lot of problems. Find another KPD if necessary.
Personally, I thought he was doing well up forward, but as long as he's in the 23 I don't mind him making a name for himself as a swingman. I hope we don't let him become a premiership Hawk ad it would only be a Band one top 7 pick that would allow me to be at peace with his departure. Still think we should make him our next captain.Yeah there's that, but crikey he looked the part when swung forward a few weeks ago and slotted those goals like a beast. Keep in mind he was 21-22 years old then and we were a shit sandwich.
Watch Battle become a gun forward at another club
I just don’t get the pessimism, who’s left at present. All we have is a good ordinary player who’s a free agent possibly leaving, firstly we have cover already in place and secondly the compensation looks likely to be more than he’s worth.
Other than that we have a wild rumour about a contracted Marshall who’s 99% going nowhere and if he was traded it would have to be a stupid good deal for st Kilda. We’ll move a few players who have taken us nowhere and have nothing left to offer but more of the same. We’ll replace them with draft picks and players we can trade in whio better suit or needs.
Seriously if you want a blueprint for being a struggling 8 - 10 win team we’ve got it, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. Now all of a sudden because someone rightly wants to change that it’s a disaster. We all wanted this gringo including you, we’ve been screaming for it. Nobody is going complete rebuild and we’ll be no more affected by natural attrition etc than any other club.
Still reckon he'd be a goal kicking bull if thrown into the centre (not the wing, but actual centre) reckon him alternating with Steele in the forward line would be a great look.
Owens can't manage the centre/midfield craft thing and he's had some experience at 21 years old. Can't see Battle making it as an inside mid at any level when he'd only be starting at 25 years old.
re Owens
He's spent the majority of time training as a forward. To say he can't manage the midfield craft is ridiculous.
To me battle just isn’t that important and I think the offer we made him was outstanding. Clearly if he leaves it’s for more cash and that’s fair enough. Basically we’ve been conditioned by failure to expect it so what you have to ask yourself is do you want to take the challenge to change that or happily wallow in more of the same.Look at the Pies and Geelong. The last 2 premiers carried a huge amount of older players. We have a window now to play finals for about 3 to 4 more years before a huge amount of older players who happen to be where a lot of our best players are, fall over. Both Geelong and Pies haven't bottomed out in years.
Players under 28. Cordy, Bonner, Battle, Paton, Higgins, Clark, Dow, Stocker, King, Byrnes, Henry, Hall. All bolded players should still be on an AFL list in 4 years.
Kids 21 and under. Heath, Nas, O'Connell, Windhager, McLennan, Owens, Caminiti, Keeler, Van Es, Hotton, Phillipou, Schoenmaker, Garcia, Wilson, Hastie.
If Stavro is right and the next challenge comes when this young under 21 group is in their mid to late 20s and all of the kids reach their peak I have us at 10 players (with Battle gone). That list is absolutely frightening to me. Sos and Ross are from a different era. Sos was at Carlton when they bottomed out and rebuilt from the bottom of the ladder for years. Ross rebuilt Freo I guess to some degree. They've made the top 8 once since 2015 and still look like a middling side still.
To me now we need a few high end players to go from a middler to a finals side. I think what Essendon has done is working, they've done well to pick off some cheaper players while paying up for FAs and building up the kids they do have.
To me signing Battle should be a priority. Go to his manager and ask what he wants and negotiate. The idea that we have no control is bullshit. If he leaves it's because we wanted him to. Then pay enough to get Stengle. Try to pre-agent LDU out of North and pay a future FRDP if we have to. Should go close to being top 4 with that list and a bit more further development into the kids.
What we don't want is to move players out of that middle list. We are more affected by natural attrition because we have stuffed up the last three rebuilds and have no middle age bracket due to having to buy it all up 5 years ago with draft picks. We are a stuck in a cycle.
But by all means lets throw Battle in there.
Owens has had more experience and training as a mid than Battle and is not where we would need him to be as a mid, and that was the point I was making.
Other clubs back guys like JHF in at a young age.
I'm just talking about your comment regarding Owens. To say he can't manage as a mid is ridiculous. He needs to train there full time. I don't know how people expect him to excel there when he's occasionally thrown in.
Other clubs back guys like JHF in at a young age. We need to do the same with Mitch.
This is so true. You can't just "make" a midfielder at 25 years of age, regardless of his physical profile. Craft is vital, and gained from years of experience and coaching from a young age.Owens can't manage the centre/midfield craft thing and he's had some experience at 21 years old. Can't see Battle making it as an inside mid at any level when he'd only be starting at 25 years old.
Haven’t Sydney done just that with Heeney this year ? How old is he ? Agree Battle ain’t a midfielder though.This is so true. You can't just "make" a midfielder at 25 years of age, regardless of his physical profile. Craft is vital, and gained from years of experience and coaching from a young age.
Haven’t Sydney done just that with Heeney this year ?