- Feb 17, 2016
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Don't think Pearce has trained forward this summer
Expectations and predictions for 2018
- Thread starter MrDanggazz
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Other than playing youth over the old fellas for the sake of it, I'd have him over Apeness, Jones, Strnadica and Dixon easily. Easily!
You can play more than 1 tall in the forward line despite the Tigers success. Jonno, Cox and McCarthy would be the best for me. Kerstin as back up.
Apeness and Jones will be pleased to still be classified as youth but the the reality is if Apeness doesn't get games this year then he has moved perilously close to being delisted. They are 23 and 22 years respectively.
Even so, our forward line has McCarthy, Taberner, Cox and Kersten to consider. Transitioning an ageing defender into the role that we are weakest in and that they are vying for as a stop gap measure is a huge slap in the face for the lot of them, marginally short of Lyon himself suiting up.
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Spelling doesn't get you a footy gig does it buddy
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Unless it’s in sports journalism
Well it is what it is. If Jonno is better than most of them, and is the best option, he should play. I want to win games.
Seriously?
So we are a rebuilding side with quite a few KPFs who have question marks over them which will only be answered by game time, and you want to play a defender who is unlikely to be with us next season?
Love to see your game winning best 22 with MJ the power forward, and whose career you sacrifice to achieve that. Good luck with re-signing Cox. The message he would be being sent is clear. We don't want you in the backline OR the forward line.
On a secondary note, I really cannot see Johnson working as our KPF. His contested marking is lacking, and there is little to suggest that he is a reliable shot at goals.
Plenty of players have been used for shock tactics, turn games around when swung from end to end. Even mids
these days can catch the opposition out, difficult to match up on.
But this is like the Hail Mary of grid iron, and I suspect it works best in this regard.
It probably won a GF for Blight.
these days can catch the opposition out, difficult to match up on.
But this is like the Hail Mary of grid iron, and I suspect it works best in this regard.
It probably won a GF for Blight.
Top 8 is a real chance IMO, $4 is overs to make the 8.
Down back we have plenty of depth. Only 3 of Hamling/Johnson/Logue/Pearce/Cox will play so if one of them get injured we have coverage for tall defenders. Same goes for small/medium defenders, only 3 or 4 of Wilson/Hughes/Tucker/Spurr/Ryan/Nyhuis will play so there's plenty of options.
In the middle if Fyfe stays fit and returns to his best that obviously goes a long way to making the 8, but with Neale, Hill, Hill, Blakely, Cerra, Brayshaw, Walters, Mundy there's plenty of quality rotating through there.
Our forward line is mediocre any way, so as long as Walters stays fit we'll be ok. Bennell hitting his straps would be a bonus. I still have high hopes for Taberner, but arguing with Fyfe during the intra-club was a dick move and may harm his chances for round 1.
I'll say 14 wins for the yer.
Down back we have plenty of depth. Only 3 of Hamling/Johnson/Logue/Pearce/Cox will play so if one of them get injured we have coverage for tall defenders. Same goes for small/medium defenders, only 3 or 4 of Wilson/Hughes/Tucker/Spurr/Ryan/Nyhuis will play so there's plenty of options.
In the middle if Fyfe stays fit and returns to his best that obviously goes a long way to making the 8, but with Neale, Hill, Hill, Blakely, Cerra, Brayshaw, Walters, Mundy there's plenty of quality rotating through there.
Our forward line is mediocre any way, so as long as Walters stays fit we'll be ok. Bennell hitting his straps would be a bonus. I still have high hopes for Taberner, but arguing with Fyfe during the intra-club was a dick move and may harm his chances for round 1.
I'll say 14 wins for the yer.
If that were on the cards it would have been practiced regularly over the summer. That hasn't been suggested by those who attend training?
The rebuild is finished. You don't go into a season with Spurr, Johnson, Mundy, D Pearce, Sandilands and Ballantyne on your list if you're not having a crack at the 8.
Will Cox have many options? Mid-range draft pick from SA who played a couple of decent games for a bottom 8 side but had some kicking issues. Can't see clubs lining up for his services. Obviously if he's dominating the WAFL and can't get a look in he'll get frustrated but I can't see that happening. He'd be well ahead of Taberner and Kersten in the batting order and only behind Hamling as a defensive option so if he's fit and in form he'll play.
Agree, but mainly because he'd provide very little defensive pressure. If Johnson is in the 22 round 1 I wouldn't mind seeing him thrown forward if required, but I think it's unlikely that will be a regular option in his final season.
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Rebuild isn't close to finished, for all the reasons you've listed.
Only reason we have so many of these old guys left is because turning over more than 22 players in 2 years is football club suicide.
Only Mundy is a chance to be on the list next year which means another 10 person turnover.
Eh? Leaving aside the fact that we a clearly in a rebuild, it is not like Johnno had a history of swinging forward and kicking big bags in his prime. Whatever incremental performance gains you have from playing there (which is arguably none) are comprehensively swamped by the stalled development of the young forwards.
I especially hate the idea if Mundy is spending time forward because there is nothing that Johnson can bring there that Mundy couldn't do anyway.
I think there is a bit of truth in both camps. The quality of kids on our list is enough to see results later
rather than sooner, but the foundation looks solid.
But our youngsters/veterans will need rest, rotations to see the best of Freo this year, and help develop
our youth properly rather than throw them in the deep end.
All that we really require is more attacking options, but even then we have targeted several players.
Football suicide for whom? Surely if you're going to use the term "rebuild" wins and losses don't really matter and it's all about getting games into the kids and picking up early draft picks? Especially when your senior coach still has 3 seasons to run on his contract.
Rebuilding to me suggests most of your best 22 is young blokes with a handful of senior players so that you don't get flogged each week. Brayshaw is the only skinny kid in the mix for round 1. Sure Blakely, Tucker, Darcy, Logue are young and have plenty of upside. But they're all physically ready to be very good AFL players in 2018.
If Sandilands is fit he'll play round one, so will Mundy. Ballantyne, Johnson and Spurr will possibly be picked too. That's not rebuilding. Rebuilding would be Walters, Fyfe, the Hills and 1 or 2 other players over 25 in the team and rest 18-25 years old.
How many guys in the mix for round 1 are 23 or younger? 6 or 7, but maybe only 5 of them play? There could be a similar amount of 18-23 year olds in the side round one as there is guys who are 30+. That's not rebuilding.
If we're in the mix for the 8 (lets say 5-6 half way through the season) the depth/rotations will come from Sheridan, Sutcliffe, Nyhuis, etc. Apart from Cerra, Brayshaw, and possibly Giro I don't see many of the young guys getting a run if our season is going ok. Obviously if we're 3-8 halfway through the season there's no point selecting Johnson, Sutcliffe, Spurr, etc, and the young blokes will get a look in.
Little point keeping those guys and having a crack at the 8. We have virtually no chance of winning the premiership. Much better to go the route the club has advertised and look to be serious contenders in another year or three. Those guys are in there to provide transition and support for our emerging team.
I mean, seriously, do you think D Pearce is on the list because we are having a crack at the 8? He is on the list for the same reason Sutcliffe is; he has a contract.
If Cox doesn't have other options then surely we won't want him either. But the best way to know that is by giving him game time. We certainly won't find out if Cox is any good by playing Johnson out of position, in the role we are claiming to want Cox to play in.
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Football club suicide, losing 30+ players in 2 years to accelerate the rebuild destroys the culture, leadership and knowledge of the club.
Without older leaders to pass on the football IP, values and attitudes at the core of the club's ethos the kids are left floundering.
Getting loads of games into young players is only half of the learning process and it's severely diminished when there aren't enough on field leaders/teachers.
Look at how long it's taken Melbourne to get anywhere, they had almost no players who had learnt from seniors at the club.
Do you honestly believe that any of Johnson, Spurr, Sandilands and Ballantyne will play more than half of the year and be retained for next year?
We're not winning the flag this year regardless of how many of our older players are playing. So if we aren't winning the flag this year and they won't be at the club next year, what do you think they're at the club for? Purely to prevent us getting thrashed each week?
TL;DR: They're on the list to pass on the football IP, values and attitudes of the club.
Dawson fast-forwarded Lyon's game plan for our defense when he arrived. That is the role for MJ and Spurr in defense, Sandilands in the ruck, and Ballantyne (and Mundy) in the forward line.
Yep agree, to me the rebuild will be complete at the end of this season. Next year, we will have a pretty inexperienced group but one that has the potential to go further and be regular contenders again.
No one interviewed at the club has been anything but defensive about how we might go this year and they are certainly all on the we are rebuilding same page.
I expect that we will be trading a few of the following years trade picks at the end of the season to get some picks back this year as we need to go deep into the draft again.
I am a paid up member this year but I am really unsure of how we will go. I don't get the feeling that we are expecting to contend for the 8 but on the other hand we appear to be healthier than at any time in the past 5 odd years so that must raise our chances and the new kids appear to be good quality.
What odds were Richmond this time last year, or the Dogs heading into 2016? 24 months ago we were the 3rd favourite for the flag and won 4 games.
Almost half the teams in the competition play finals so if you're in the 8 you're atleast a sneaky chance.
Surely we're a better chance this year than next? Replacing Mundy, Sandilands and Ballantyne with North, Meek and Giro makes our 22 stronger??
Pearce and Sutcliffe yes but Mundy, Sandilands and Ballantyne were all re-signed. Not sure about Spurr? Would Gold Coast or Brisbane, 2 teams genuinely rebuilding, have re-signed Ballantyne?
When I say Cox won't have a lot of options if he doesn't play much AFL this year I mean that he won't get a Lachie Weller type offer. Sure someone might offer a deal to Cox, but it won't be one we'll struggle to match unless he has a break out year.
ydraw
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Sandilands and Johnson will play every game if they are fit.
You are going to get a big shock.
If we just wanted them here to teach young blokes they'd have coaching contracts.
Richmond played finals (admittedly piss poorly) in the previous 3 seasons to their poor 2016 and maintained most of their list from that time. We came 3rd last and 5th last with a % of 70 in the last two years. We have also turned over half our list. It is not comparable.
We are a better chance this year ONLY if all of our good players avoid getting injured (history shows this won't happen). By 2019 then a lot of the younger blokes are closing in on 50+ games and it is reasonable to expect their outputs to begin to close the gap on the senior players. This year it is highly unlikely that young players are carrying significant burden because they simply don't have the experience (Blakely and Ryan excepted because they are gun already).
What Brisbane and Gold Coast may or may not do is irrelevant. Despite being in "rebuilds" all have very different list profiles.
What you really have to ask yourself is would you rather Ballantyne on your list or pick 80? Me personally, I like the idea of some speculative rookie pick but can definitely appreciate the intangible things those senior players can bring. Training standards, professionalism etc.
I think it is fair to expect around 8 list changes (Sandi, Ballas, Spur, Ape
, DPearce, Johnson, random trades) at the end of this year. Teams that have "finished rebuilding" don't turn over 1/5 of their main list at the end of the season.
Assuming he plays 15 games and finishes the year with no significant issues I'd keep Sandilands for 2019.
Why can't we win the flag this year? If we're genuinely rebuilding then about a dozen Richmond players should walk into our best 18. Other than Dusty, Cotchin, Rance and Riewoldt how many Richmond players would be in our best 18, and which players are they replacing? I'm pretty sure Richmond would be able to slot Neale, Walters and Fyfe into their 22, possibly Sandilands, the Hill's, Mundy, Hamling and Ryan too. So based on that there's little between the 2 teams?
I'm not saying that we WILL win the flag, or even make the 8. But you don't retain that many old blokes if you're not having a crack. $4 to make the 8 is massive overs IMO.
