30 Year Olds

[Snake Livermore]

Which ones do we keep, which ones do we delist, and why?

For me (alphabetically):

Akermanis - delist. This is probably the hardest choice, but I think unless he takes a massive paycut, he's not worth it. Great kick, but struggled to get his hands on the footy in the second half of the year. If you're his height, you've gotta be super quick to get the ball, and he's not anymore.

Eagleton - keep. One year contract. Hope that Everitt or Hill can take his spot on a wing, but if they can't develop their gut-running sufficiently, Eagle could be very handy for our push for the flag. If Everitt/Hill do come on, Eagle will play out his career at Willy. No big deal.

Hudson (is he 30+?) - keep. Still our best ruckman. Won't get better, but we know what we'll get from him, and none of our other ruckmen can do any better.

Johnson - keep. One year contracts at a time for Johnno. Did more than enough this year to keep his spot. Our only forward that looked consistently dangerous in the prelim.

Welsh - delist. Surely, SURELY, between Boumann, Williams, and Tiller, there will be no need for Welsh to play down back next year. And we won't need him in the forward line if we get Hall.

So assuming we get Hall, that means we have 4 30+ players next year. If the club thinks that's too many, maybe Eagle has to go as well.

 

[chef]

For me, Hudson to see out the last year of his contract and Johnson to get a one year deal(i wouldn't be surprised if he plays another 2 seasons).

Akermanis, Welsh and Eagleton to be retired. Allowing us to get more game time into our fringe players.

 

[mightymightydogs]

keep one definitely, aker. and im saying ego should be there aswell.
yes they are above 30 but as long as they have the mentality and fitness for another season, they're worth it
yeah we need game time into those younger boys, but what we want is that premiership. and i dont care what we do to win it. but we ****ing deserve it

 

[divvydan]

I'm sure it will depend a little on whether the club realistically believes we can win a premiership next year or the year after. Having said that;

Johnson and Hudson are definites. Johnson is still playing fairly well (not quite what he once was, which is to be expected) but more than good enough to play on. Hudson will be 31 when the 2010 season starts but given his very late start in the AFL and that as a strength orientated ruckman, his main assets won't drop off, he's clearly in our best 22.

Welsh I believe is finished. Not really capable of being the full forward we need and there are a number of younger players who can play his loose backman/spare backman role.

Aker is very much 50/50. Was very important in getting us over the line in some games this season but will be 33 and slowing down. Probably depends a little on what he'll play for and how many spots we want to clear up this year.

Eagleton for mine is very much 50/50 too. Ideally he'd be a useful backup player and at 31 isn't quite as old as Aker. Has the ability to go onto the veteran's list next year which might be a deciding factor. Having said that, he has struggled in high pressure games, despite his gut running ability.

I'd be surprised if we kept both of Aker/Eagleton.

 

[Denny Crane]

Delist Welsh and Eagleton. Half Akas pay. Keep the rest.

 

[Spiritof82]

Acker should be the first priority to keep, maybe Johno as well and get rid of the rest and don't draft any other 30 year olds ie the thug from the swines

 

[Mutt]

I'd be happy to have Hall, Aker, Hudson, Eagleton and of course Johno all on the list provided that the selection policy is strictly based upon form/merit or even with a slight bias towards development.

This year the "senior" players were given way too much time to regain form and in the case of some they really didn't, consequently we didn't get many games into some of our younger players.

The older players add depth and will create intense competition for places in the side, which is a great thing.

I'd be very unhappy if we gained Hall (or perhaps even Hall and Bradshaw) and only shed Welsh whilst sticking with the current selection policy. That would guarantee that numerous kids on the list would get very limited game time and would be tempted to look elsewhere.

 

[The Special One]

It's a tough one. Definitely keep Hudson as we don't have many other options.
2 months ago I would've said Eagleton should definitely go but he finished off the season very well, either way I wouldn't be too worried.
Acker and Johnno - My head says only one should play on given their age but they both had such good years, I reckon if it's not too much of a financial burden both should play on. Would they take a pay cut?
Every time I saw Welsh's chubby body near the ball on Friday it made me so angry, he such a nothing player. I know Hill has weaknesses but he would've been much more of a chance to get a few goals. (actually that goes for probably every other player on the list) If Welsh isn't delisted I'll fly from London to protest!!!

 

[shaolinmastah]

Delist Welsh and Eagleton. Half Akas pay. Keep the rest.

This.

 

[The Boy From Brasil]

I'd be very unhappy if we gained Hall (or perhaps even Hall and Bradshaw) and only shed Welsh whilst sticking with the current selection policy. That would guarantee that numerous kids on the list would get very limited game time and would be tempted to look elsewhere.

I agree. We need to improve in many areas to become a premiership team and the majority of our players are at their peak or past it already, so the improvement is going to have to come from our younger players.

We have to learn to have faith in the young guys and start to get some games into them. Going for the experienced player first all the time, is an absolute guarantee that we will either stagnate or go backwards.

To the OP, I am pretty much the same as everyone else. Delist Welsh, probably acker too. Eagleton I am non plussed whether he stays or goes. He had a reasonable year so I wouldn't mind if he stayed, but we can't play him if his form doesn't warrant it. Hudson I would keep. Johnno, is up to him if he wants to go for one more year or not.

 

[Libba39]

Aker - keep if he wants to play on. He was our leading goal kicker and has a lot of finals experience
Johnno - keep but replace as captain. It will be his last year and he needs to concentrate purely on his footy with no other distractions. I think he should play off the bench in his final year.
Eagle - ran the season out well but failed to stand up against Geelong and Saints (as well as Geelong and Hawks in 08). Been a great servant but I would rather give Reid a go.
Huddo - His last year also. Should be rested for a game or two next year to try out the young ruckmen.

 

[Coooooooneyyyyyyyy]

Which ones do we keep, which ones do we delist, and why?

For me (alphabetically):

Akermanis - delist. This is probably the hardest choice, but I think unless he takes a massive paycut, he's not worth it. Great kick, but struggled to get his hands on the footy in the second half of the year. If you're his height, you've gotta be super quick to get the ball, and he's not anymore.

Eagleton - keep. One year contract. Hope that Everitt or Hill can take his spot on a wing, but if they can't develop their gut-running sufficiently, Eagle could be very handy for our push for the flag. If Everitt/Hill do come on, Eagle will play out his career at Willy. No big deal.

Hudson (is he 30+?) - keep. Still our best ruckman. Won't get better, but we know what we'll get from him, and none of our other ruckmen can do any better.

Johnson - keep. One year contracts at a time for Johnno. Did more than enough this year to keep his spot. Our only forward that looked consistently dangerous in the prelim.

Welsh - delist. Surely, SURELY, between Boumann, Williams, and Tiller, there will be no need for Welsh to play down back next year. And we won't need him in the forward line if we get Hall.

So assuming we get Hall, that means we have 4 30+ players next year. If the club thinks that's too many, maybe Eagle has to go as well.

Give Boumann a crack he looks a star.

 

[BWFC]

I'd hate to say it but I'd just about keep them all. If anyone goes I'd say it's Welsh. But even he could be handy as a back up. Johnno and Aker have both done enough this year and have both been relatively injury free to make me think they can go around again. They're both great leaders and the team needs a couple veterans. Eagleton finished the year off well and he seems to be Eades favorite player so I honestly can't see him leaving. Hudson is required and will be here for a few more years.

The only thign I want to see is that if the older guys don't perform they go back to the seconds. We need to start playing blokes on the basis of effort.

 

[Coooooooneyyyyyyyy]

Robert Walls just said we should keep welsh is he crazy, and he said we should get Lloyd instead of Hall gosh he hates the Bulldogs

 

[The Boy From Brasil]

Robert Walls just said we should keep welsh is he crazy, and he said we should get Lloyd instead of Hall gosh he hates the Bulldogs

He said we should get rid of Welsh to make room in the cap for Lake.

 

[Coooooooneyyyyyyyy]

He said we should get rid of Welsh to make room in the cap for Lake.

He did? myy mistake

 

[dogwatch]

Welsh will go - probably of his own volition to live in Adelaide
Aker had his best season for us this year - should stay - interesting that he said he had a virus the last few weeks (sounds suss, but could explain his low output on Friday)
Johnno - must play another year
Hudson - ditto
Eagle - tough one here. Keep him if the team selection is going to be genuinely on form but if it goes like 2009 then it's better he's not there to tempt Eade to be so conservative. Eagle certainly offers us something when he's up. I don't buy the crap that he's only up against weak teams. You could say that 90% of our players are down when we lose so why pick on Eagleton? (probably because his role is as an outside player and they look especially soft when we aren't winning our own ball as much as usual.)

 

[Ant_]

Aker has been the most consistent of the lot. If he wants to play on, I say give him a year.

 

[billanderson64]

Welsh will go - probably of his own volition to live in Adelaide
Aker had his best season for us this year - should stay - interesting that he said he had a virus the last few weeks (sounds suss, but could explain his low output on Friday)
Johnno - must play another year
Hudson - ditto
Eagle - tough one here. Keep him if the team selection is going to be genuinely on form but if it goes like 2009 then it's better he's not there to tempt Eade to be so conservative. Eagle certainly offers us something when he's up. I don't buy the crap that he's only up against weak teams. You could say that 90% of our players are down when we lose so why pick on Eagleton? (probably because his role is as an outside player and they look especially soft when we aren't winning our own ball as much as usual.)

very true

 

[The Boy From Brasil]

Aker has been the most consistent of the lot. If he wants to play on, I say give him a year.

He has probably won us at least 3 games this year. If we take out those, we suddenly drop to 12 or 13 wins and right back to the pack. So he has been invaluable to us this year.

I wouldn't mind keeping him but I guess it depends on salary cap, team structure and what other players retire. I wouldn't be surprised if he retires though.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Welsh will go - probably of his own volition to live in Adelaide
Aker had his best season for us this year - should stay - interesting that he said he had a virus the last few weeks (sounds suss, but could explain his low output on Friday)
Johnno - must play another year
Hudson - ditto
Eagle - tough one here. Keep him if the team selection is going to be genuinely on form but if it goes like 2009 then it's better he's not there to tempt Eade to be so conservative. Eagle certainly offers us something when he's up. I don't buy the crap that he's only up against weak teams. You could say that 90% of our players are down when we lose so why pick on Eagleton? (probably because his role is as an outside player and they look especially soft when we aren't winning our own ball as much as usual.)

Agree with pretty much all of that. Aker REALLY wants to play on, and would probably agree to us paying his electricity bills. I was disappointed in his contribution during the finals but there's no doubt he got us over the line in quite a few games during the season. Worth another shot.

I think Eagleton still has a lot to offer, including experience and gut running. He might lose his spot during 2010 if a youngster bursts onto the scene but IMO we still need him at this stage.