Rumour Future of the club (Bevo, board, assistant coaches, football department)

[Next Waiting]

Bont does more for this club than anyone even knows. His one of the main reason players like Naughton and JUH turn down mega-million dollars offers to stay with us. He keeps the playing group together (minus one ostrich-father) whilst dealing with the football department, media, board, president, CEO, coach, and everything inbetween.

He deserves double what his on but his too much of a humble guy to accept it. I've never heard a single player, manager, or anyone in the AFL speak a negative word about Bont.

But he can only do so much and if conflicts are arising that even he is struggling to deal with then I pray to every deity that the right people at our club step up and support him.

This ostrich feather you speak of, does he have a name?

 

[_Mike_]

I wonder if it’s younger supporters who do not value the fact we have made two GFs, won one and lost one.

In all fairness DRB, the team was flogged in 30 minutes of football to lose a GF by 12 goals after being in front by 2 goals 1/2 through the 3rd, that is unforgivable coaching. Bevo walked into a club with a capable list when he took over in 2015, since then the team development has been up & down, some players have stagnated along the way/

The club has missed a number of opportunities to take more flags over the last 40 years, circumstances or otherwise, and the club took a cheap as chips option with appointing Spangher & co as assistant coaches which arguably has been well below expectations.

If it's not Bevo, what do you think is the problem with the club stagnating since the 21 GF?

 

[adammonerz]

I'm a younger fan, the prelim losses destroyed me as a kid, always felt like we were never going to get there despite getting so bloody close. The Macca era was rough, lost the joy of even following footy for a while there (I was like 11-13) Eventually though I watched to see glimpses of talent emerging, was fun to watch players like Macrae, Bont, Wallis etc all start to emerge a little bit.

After Griff left I had like no hope left for the club, the Boyd deal looked fun but I thought it was a deal for the future rather then a deal for the now and we were well and truly in a rebuilding phase.

Then out of nowhere Bevo comes in and gets the list that looked shocking playing some of the best footy I've ever seen as a supporter of the club, we seriously looked so good, fast flowing, high scoring and ferocious. I loved watching us in 2015 yeah we might of went out of finals early but holy shit finals wasn't expected anyway, this Bevo bloke had pulled a miracle, he had the list looking incredible, rejuvenated a few of the senior boys careers by changing their role. I was so optimistic that I said early on in 2016 that we would win the flag or come close and then we bloody did.

I will never ever discredit Bevo for what he did in those two years but something radically changed in 2017, teams had started to work us out and we had the weight of being the reigning premiers and we just didn't handle it well. Sydney worked out how to play against us, flogged us and gave teams the blueprint on how to beat us (No JJ no bulldogs was well and truly a thing) Bevo didn't seem the confident bloke he was in 15-16 he seemed like he was second guessing himself.

We had a few years of weirdness but it did seem like things were on the up come 2019 when we finally scraped our way back into finals, I will say 2018 might have been the most depressing year in Bevo's reign including 2023 but I wasn't truley a Bevo out guy yet. We had a few senior boys retire and a few players leave so it looked like we were trying to soft rebuild.

2020 pissed me off, we had the best looking squad we have ever had under his coaching with our young guns all entering their prime at once and we just couldn't get going, this was the beginning of me thinking Bevo had lost the plot. 2021 was a ride, I thought the man had finally got it all together, we looked great, we were so good for like 17 rounds and then we utterly cooked it, after the Port game I had no hope for us entering finals we didn't finish top 4 we looked cooked and we would have to pull a miracle out of the hat again.

We got so bloody close to doing it too, we were so close to touching that cup and then we played one of the worst quarters of footy I've ever seen us play and our coach had no answers what so ever. I go to sleep having nightmares of that last ten mins of the third when we just couldn't wrestle any momentum back from Melbourne.

Since then we have seen the team lose the same way over and over again, get some momentum against the dogs and we fold over, there has been no change, Bevo seems tired, stressed and out of ideas, our captain seems like his getting to the point where he is so stressed out it's affecting his game.

I love Bevo I really do but I don't think he is the man to lead this club on anymore, it's very sad as I think if we win in 2021 we would be in some alt timeline where we are a dynasty club under him but it just wasn't to be. His message looks like it's run stale with the players and the fans now. All that we are waiting on is it to run stale with the board and his gone.

I reckon he coaches out the season and "resigns" don't think the board really want to sack him during the season and I feel like they want to give him a dignified ending too if it's going to happen

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

In all fairness DRB, the team was flogged in 30 minutes of football to lose a GF by 12 goals after being in front by 2 goals 1/2 through the 3rd, that is unforgivable coaching. Bevo walked into a club with a capable list when he took over in 2015, since then the team development has been up & down, some players have stagnated along the way/

The club has missed a number of opportunities to take more flags over the last 40 years, circumstances or otherwise, and the club took a cheap as chips option with appointing Spangher & co as assistant coaches which arguably has been well below expectations.

If it's not Bevo, what do you think is the problem with the club stagnating since the 21 GF?

Mike I have a couple of thoughts on a few things you point out, just mine so you don’t have to agree.

I think the 2021 GF was always going to be Melbourne’s the same as the 2016 GF was always going to be the Bulldogs. I think you can’t travel a team over the whole of Australia, lacking the usual training and warm down procedures due to COVID and some invested health department staff, and expect them to perform in peak condition in a GF against a team that has been relaxing and rejuvenating in sunny Perth. Opposition supporters are much kinder of their assessment than Bulldog supporters of our last quarter fade out.

We were one of the youngest teams to ever win a flag, and we had huge turnover a lot of it was unexpected I.e. Clay Smith, Tom Boyd, early retirements. This list is not the same, we recruited during COVID when the TAC was not running, we also spent our chips in two drafts on Darcy and Marra, so we were recruiting a lot of unknowns. It was a lucky dip in some cases.

In terms of defenders we recruited Young(Carlton), Marcus Adams (Brisbane), Cordy ( Saints), Roughy (Collingwood), Buss about to head back to West Coast. We did get Jones back who left because of McCarthy. It is not true that we haven’t recruited defenders we have lost them.

What every one seems to be overlooking is the sudden poaching of our assistants after 2016 (who used to be criticised on here as well), including Ash Hansen who had been promoted to senior assistant coach but got poached by Carlton just before the start of the season. The other thing everyone ignores is the soft cap, which Bevo has been very vocal about.

Finally I agree totally, that every coach has a used by date, and perhaps it’s time for Bevo to move on, but the pile on from so called supporters. I mean it’s pretty obvious the game has passed both Daniels and McCrae, love them both but the game has changed. I love what Bhuku has become,I love the change in Bailey Dale, Gallagher looks good. Give Bevo some credit not just pile on all the time.

Lastly Bevo is a human being, and he would be well aware of the criticism from the Bulldog supporters, he is a lot more distant than he used to be, the media attacking him on one side and the bulldogs unfaithful on the other. Not a great way for our most successful coach to go out.

 

[DogDays]

Yeah, we whine too much... I mean two flags in 100 years in the league is sensational.

Pipe down flogs and accept it. Accept the club is going OK right now on and off field and just zip it for the rest of the season. I mean that's what successful clubs do, right?

So passive aggressive.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[DogDays]

I'm a younger fan, the prelim losses destroyed me as a kid, always felt like we were never going to get there despite getting so bloody close. The Macca era was rough, lost the joy of even following footy for a while there (I was like 11-13) Eventually though I watched to see glimpses of talent emerging, was fun to watch players like Macrae, Bont, Wallis etc all start to emerge a little bit.

After Griff left I had like no hope left for the club, the Boyd deal looked fun but I thought it was a deal for the future rather then a deal for the now and we were well and truly in a rebuilding phase.

Then out of nowhere Bevo comes in and gets the list that looked shocking playing some of the best footy I've ever seen as a supporter of the club, we seriously looked so good, fast flowing, high scoring and ferocious. I loved watching us in 2015 yeah we might of went out of finals early but holy s**t finals wasn't expected anyway, this Bevo bloke had pulled a miracle, he had the list looking incredible, rejuvenated a few of the senior boys careers by changing their role. I was so optimistic that I said early on in 2016 that we would win the flag or come close and then we bloody did.

I will never ever discredit Bevo for what he did in those two years but something radically changed in 2017, teams had started to work us out and we had the weight of being the reigning premiers and we just didn't handle it well. Sydney worked out how to play against us, flogged us and gave teams the blueprint on how to beat us (No JJ no bulldogs was well and truly a thing) Bevo didn't seem the confident bloke he was in 15-16 he seemed like he was second guessing himself.

We had a few years of weirdness but it did seem like things were on the up come 2019 when we finally scraped our way back into finals, I will say 2018 might have been the most depressing year in Bevo's reign including 2023 but I wasn't truley a Bevo out guy yet. We had a few senior boys retire and a few players leave so it looked like we were trying to soft rebuild.

2020 pissed me off, we had the best looking squad we have ever had under his coaching with our young guns all entering their prime at once and we just couldn't get going, this was the beginning of me thinking Bevo had lost the plot. 2021 was a ride, I thought the man had finally got it all together, we looked great, we were so good for like 17 rounds and then we utterly cooked it, after the Port game I had no hope for us entering finals we didn't finish top 4 we looked cooked and we would have to pull a miracle out of the hat again.

We got so bloody close to doing it too, we were so close to touching that cup and then we played one of the worst quarters of footy I've ever seen us play and our coach had no answers what so ever. I go to sleep having nightmares of that last ten mins of the third when we just couldn't wrestle any momentum back from Melbourne.

Since then we have seen the team lose the same way over and over again, get some momentum against the dogs and we fold over, there has been no change, Bevo seems tired, stressed and out of ideas, our captain seems like his getting to the point where he is so stressed out it's affecting his game.

I love Bevo I really do but I don't think he is the man to lead this club on anymore, it's very sad as I think if we win in 2021 we would be in some alt timeline where we are a dynasty club under him but it just wasn't to be. His message looks like it's run stale with the players and the fans now. All that we are waiting on is it to run stale with the board and his gone.

I reckon he coaches out the season and "resigns" don't think the board really want to sack him during the season and I feel like they want to give him a dignified ending too if it's going to happen

While I don’t agree with you re: Bevo, I do applaud you for a well written and articulated post showing your reasoning.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[adammonerz]

Yeah it's a bit sad to see how distant Bev has become with the supporter base remember him being really vocal and seen in his early days with us, remember him going and greeting nearly every supporter he could during the prelim in 2016 when all the supporters travelled up. I actually do feel for the bloke his a good man I reckon and I think he cops a lot of control freak and dictator vibes here and yeah maybe thats true, as well but the players seemed very bought into his message for years even during the 2017, 2018, 2020 years, it just seems now that it's running a bit thin.

I think a lot of the blame has to be put on the club as well the assistants they put with him in 2022 did him no favours and from all reports Bevo had to take on more of a football director role and a senior coach rule during this time. There are rumours that he has been doing this since the soft cap cuts. Club should of sensed the bloke was under a lot of pressure and intervened a lot earlier then this year

 

[Iamspock]

This ostrich feather you speak of, does he have a name?

I'm guessing Andrew Dunkley.

 

[glenashley]

I don’t think they just become poor coaches but things can just get stale. Just seems to get to the point you lose your innovativeness and feel for the group. I think Bevo probably does really well if he were to coach elsewhere, somewhere were he doesn’t have complete control of the box and less of an imprint on the list. I just don’t see it happening here.

You just have to look at Collingwood and GWS as an example. Cameron and were decent coaches, I wouldn’t consider great coaches, but great football intellects. Their teams in the last few seasons were doing really poorly and everyone was saying that their lists aren’t the same quality and they’d need to rebuild. First year of a fresh set of eyes and a new philosophy and they both make a PF in the first season and maybe both get flags in their second season.

I don’t think anyone’s memory is falling short. Think everyone is grateful for what Bevo achieved with this group to win a flag and make a GF appearance. Think everyone would agree he has been our best coach to date and will possibly be so in twenty years time as well. I disagree that he has this job for life though and in my opinion the 22 and 23 seasons were the most underperformed since the Rohde days.

This.

I don't think we're playing out of our skins.

I think the way we're losing games, the game plan, the margins etc, we have room to go a little better.

If we were playing out of our skins and falling short, I'd say it's the players.

No one's looking at Richmond and saying Yze was the wrong choice. They get that it's the playing list.

In our case, I think a fresh coaching set of eyes would be useful.

 

[BrisDog]

The only Cox we've ever had (Simon) was 192cm.
Dean Cox is 204cm.
The jokes write themselves...

(Dave Dick in 1926 was a mere 173cm, managed to play 8 games at 3 clubs, so limited exposure in his case.)

You’re fast becoming my second favourite poster after Scrag, Geoff. Good stuff. I love your nostalgia.

 

[dogwatch]

Mike I have a couple of thoughts on a few things you point out, just mine so you don’t have to agree.

I think the 2021 GF was always going to be Melbourne’s the same as the 2016 GF was always going to be the Bulldogs. I think you can’t travel a team over the whole of Australia, lacking the usual training and warm down procedures due to COVID and some invested health department staff, and expect them to perform in peak condition in a GF against a team that has been relaxing and rejuvenating in sunny Perth. Opposition supporters are much kinder of their assessment than Bulldog supporters of our last quarter fade out.

We were one of the youngest teams to ever win a flag, and we had huge turnover a lot of it was unexpected I.e. Clay Smith, Tom Boyd, early retirements. This list is not the same, we recruited during COVID when the TAC was not running, we also spent our chips in two drafts on Darcy and Marra, so we were recruiting a lot of unknowns. It was a lucky dip in some cases.

In terms of defenders we recruited Young(Carlton), Marcus Adams (Brisbane), Cordy ( Saints), Roughy (Collingwood), Buss about to head back to West Coast. We did get Jones back who left because of McCarthy. It is not true that we haven’t recruited defenders we have lost them.

What every one seems to be overlooking is the sudden poaching of our assistants after 2016 (who used to be criticised on here as well), including Ash Hansen who had been promoted to senior assistant coach but got poached by Carlton just before the start of the season. The other thing everyone ignores is the soft cap, which Bevo has been very vocal about.

Finally I agree totally, that every coach has a used by date, and perhaps it’s time for Bevo to move on, but the pile on from so called supporters. I mean it’s pretty obvious the game has passed both Daniels and McCrae, love them both but the game has changed. I love what Bhuku has become,I love the change in Bailey Dale, Gallagher looks good. Give Bevo some credit not just pile on all the time.

Lastly Bevo is a human being, and he would be well aware of the criticism from the Bulldog supporters, he is a lot more distant than he used to be, the media attacking him on one side and the bulldogs unfaithful on the other. Not a great way for our most successful coach to go out.

These are all fair points Drb. Let me explain how I see it ...

The vast majority here genuinely appreciate what Bevo has done for the club. However a fair number, maybe a majority, (maybe even a sizable majority??) feel that it's time for a change. The reasons for that have been done to death so I don't need to explain them again here.

So why the "pile on" as you call it?

I think it's just the whipping boy syndrome that we so often talk about with regard to players. Untried players like Freijah, O'Driscoll, Clarke etc are seen as the bright hope for the future. Then they get a game (like say Gallagher, or Khamis have). They do OK for a while but the spotlight of senior football also reveals some flaws in their game. Not every player is an instant star like Bont or Naughton.

Fans are notoriously fickle and unforgiving. If the player gets dropped they forget about their grievances because that player has dropped out of sight again. However if the player continues to get games the fans blame the player, not the coach or match committee who are really the ones responsible for him being there. Every time that player puts a foot wrong, drops a mark or fumbles a ball there's a "pile on". That's when you have a new whipping boy.

In other words a whipping boy is a player who fans think don't deserve to be in the seniors but who keeps getting games and performing at about the same level regardless. While Cleary, Poulter and Bedendo are not getting games none of them are whipping boys, but if any of them gets a string of games this year ... watch out!

Bevo is a special case of whipping boy. He can't be dropped to the VFL. He's the main man. He's the itch that can't be scratched. So his only crime really is to still be there when he is (debatably) past his use-by date. When the prevailing opinion is that he is now holding us back rather than propelling us forward.

As such the anger unfairly gets vented against Bevo, just like it gets vented against McNeil or VDM or Gardner.

The implication is that our anger (our pile-on) should really be directed at the board or the CEO and Football Manager rather than the coach who no doubt is still trying his hardest to get us to the finals. Just as our anger at player whipping boys would be better directed at the Match Committee than the dogged whipping boy himself. Bevo still does some good things, pulls some right levers, just as a Lachie McNeil will sometimes bob up with a 20 possession, 3 goal game. The trouble is once they have acquired the whipping boy status they have to do things right for a very long time before they become accepted again. Generally that doesn't happen.

So why don't we direct anger at the right targets?

I suspect because it's easier to focus on the individual in the public eye rather than a largely invisible, anonymous Match Committee or Board.

Are there really "Bevo haters" on this BF board? I very much doubt it.

 

[_Mike_]

I suspect because it's easier to focus on the individual in the public eye rather than a largely invisible, anonymous Match Committee or Board.

At the end of the day DW the buck stops with Bevo. He receives the accolades when a team is doing well and is in the firing line when a team is performing badly. No different from the CEO of a multinational company. When the company stocks arent performing to the expectations the shareholders demand accountability from the board of directors, like the fans expecting accountability from the coach who is making the decisions on match day.

I think we can be reasonable about the situation, as you've suggested, and acknowledge that maybe Bevo's time is up and he's done as much as he can with this list.

 

[Doggies_13]

Pre season the messaging from the coach was we had the “Fittest, strongest and most ready team”, “we are a team about to re-emerge”

Barely more than after one round into the season we are a team in a period of evolution, we are a team transitioning, a team looking to the future whilst being in the now (whatever that means)

That is massively mixed messaging and screams of a coach that has given up on his playing list in the first month of a season.

Further to that our off season last year was not that of a team in transition and looking to the future, trading away so many assets and bringing in players like Harmes is a team in the now.

The coach has to go and not based on mixed messaging but based on the fact the deficiencies in the game plan haven’t been fixed post the 2021 Grand final. Every week is the same issues over and over again.

Are we going to get rid of him right now? No but I don’t think we should wait till the end of the year either. If we are any worse than 5-9 at the bye I’d move on him.

Who should replace him?

I think we go for someone untried:

McQualter - did a decent job with Richmond when he was interim coach and was unlucky not to get their coaching job.

Dean Cox

Dean Cox

Age

42

Ht

203cm

Wt

107kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.9

4star

K

8.9

3star

HB

6.9

4star

M

5.3

5star

T

1.5

3star

G

0.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

13.0

4star

K

5.8

3star

HB

7.2

5star

M

4.8

5star

T

1.4

4star

G

0.0

1star

- seems to be a lot big wraps on him but always worry about ruckman as coaches they don’t exactly seem to have good track records.

Josh Carr

Josh Carr

Age

44

Ht

179cm

Wt

80kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.8

4star

K

10.6

4star

HB

7.2

4star

M

4.0

4star

T

3.3

5star

CL

2.0

4star

No current season stats available

D

12.2

3star

K

7.2

3star

HB

5.0

4star

M

2.6

3star

T

0.8

3star

- unlikely as he is planned to take over from Hinkley but with no set date, could we entice him?

I don’t think our list is as bad as people make out but it is unbalanced and we need to make some tough decisions and do a mini reset which includes moving a couple of players on to gain assets to fast track it.

 

[Some Idiot]

I've noticed a slight evolution of our gamestyle this year, the kick-mark possession game we've played in recent weeks, our kicking skills have never been a feature of our game, but it does look like we are changing that.

 

[Anja_Nees]

At the end of the day DW the buck stops with Bevo. He receives the accolades when a team is doing well and is in the firing line when a team is performing badly. No different from the CEO of a multinational company. When the company stocks arent performing to the expectations the shareholders demand accountability from the board of directors, like the fans expecting accountability from the coach who is making the decisions on match day.

I think we can be reasonable about the situation, as you've suggested, and acknowledge that maybe Bevo's time is up and he's done as much as he can with this list.

Frankly I think it’s healthy for the coach to adopt a ‘the buck stops with me’ mentality, but not the rest of the organisation. It just allows people to avoid accountability.

It’s why so many coaching coups change nothing.

Again, that doesn’t mean the coach doesn’t deserve scrutiny. I think our list management, recruiting, the assistants and fitness and medical staff probably all share some of the responsibility for where we are now. And the players.

And when we won in 2016, plenty of kudos went to Dalrymple (in particular), the medical team, the players and others, as it should be.

 

[_Mike_]

And when we won in 2016, plenty of kudos went to Dalrymple (in particular), the medical team, the players and others, as it should be.

From reports there were frayed relationships between Bevo and the assistants post 2016. The club board also has the responsibility and accountability to keep the club profitable.

 

[DogDays]

Yeah it's a bit sad to see how distant Bev has become with the supporter base remember him being really vocal and seen in his early days with us, remember him going and greeting nearly every supporter he could during the prelim in 2016 when all the supporters travelled up. I actually do feel for the bloke his a good man I reckon and I think he cops a lot of control freak and dictator vibes here and yeah maybe thats true, as well but the players seemed very bought into his message for years even during the 2017, 2018, 2020 years, it just seems now that it's running a bit thin.

I think a lot of the blame has to be put on the club as well the assistants they put with him in 2022 did him no favours and from all reports Bevo had to take on more of a football director role and a senior coach rule during this time. There are rumours that he has been doing this since the soft cap cuts. Club should of sensed the bloke was under a lot of pressure and intervened a lot earlier then this year

Honestly he was still like that up here in QLD. I spoke to him for several minutes back when they were at Maroochydore earlier in the year and he was chatting with other supporters as well.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[BEaston]

He receives the accolades when a team is doing well and is in the firing line when a team is performing badly.

Really? Don't think so. In most sports, I think the players get the accolades first and foremost when doing well, and get a bit of a free pass when they're performing badly at which point the coach cops the brunt of it.

 

[Hobdog]

My first preference is for the team to start kicking arse with Bevo at the helm. I love the guy.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Optimistic Dog]

My hope is we get Michael Barlow as senior coach next season, although probably not helping his CV as assistant with North.

 

[maddog37]

My first preference is for the team to start kicking arse with Bevo at the helm. I love the guy.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Either he goes or he stays and we do a full list rebuild would be my guess.

 

[Next Waiting]

Either he goes or he stays and we do a full list rebuild would be my guess.

I've got question marks over this list as well but I don't think we're in full rebuild territory.

The midfield and wings definitely need to be rebuilt imo and it's priority no. 1. Speed and skill.

 

[Doggies_13]

I've got question marks over this list as well but I don't think we're in full rebuild territory.

The midfield and wings definitely need to be rebuilt imo and it's priority no. 1. Speed and skill.

The wings need to be rebuilt but do we really need to rebuild the midfield or just re-balance it?

I think the answer depends on Smith, if we lose Smith we probably need to find another 3-4 mids over the next 2 off seasons. Especially those with burst speed and also some with defensive instincts.

If Smith stays then he, Sanders and Bont can be the main part of our midfield with the drafting of a couple mids to replace treloar and Libba. Also depends if West and Garcia can become part time mids at AFL level.

 

[Doggy Dan]

To be honest, I thought Bev was the greatest being ever to grace this earth after 2016. I remember thinking this bloke could go and coach an NBA side to a championship such was his ability to inspire and get the most of his troops. Alas, glory days can pass us by.

I empathise with Bevo’s situation, i’m facing something similar with the sales team I manage. We could do no wrong for the first 6 years I was in the role, we were killing our ‘backwards’ competitors, tripling our revenue in that time, doing incredibly clever and innovative things to get deals done and having so much fun. Over the past 12-months however, we’ve lost the spark, and results have plateaued. As much as I want point to the economy and other external factors, I know it’s a deeper issue and things just aren’t clicking for us.

As the leader of the team, it’s incredibly frustrating and disconcerting to realise what worked for you in the past is no longer having the same impact. You second guess yourself and your abilities. You find yourself agitated easily, blaming others, latching to excuses to internally and externally justify the situation. You become somewhat desperate and find yourself making ‘sugar rush’ decisions you know to be bad, and much like the out of form golfer, the harder you try to fix things the worse it all gets.

The very last thing you want to do is continually front up to directors and other stakeholders to explain what’s happening and why things are as they are. When placed in this position you defer to the easiest route out which can often be achieved by going down the attack path, or changing the narrative altogether.

Thankfully, the world i’m in limits my exposure to the highs and lows that Bev must face, and the weekly binary proof of worth in the win/loss column is certainly not something I envy.

Hopefully for him and the team (and me and mine), the mojo can return soon. If not, it is likely in everyone’s benefit to be led by a fresh voice with fresh ideas.

 

[Next Waiting]

The wings need to be rebuilt but do we really need to rebuild the midfield or just re-balance it?

I think the answer depends on Smith, if we lose Smith we probably need to find another 3-4 mids over the next 2 off seasons. Especially those with burst speed and also some with defensive instincts.

If Smith stays then he, Sanders and Bont can be the main part of our midfield with the drafting of a couple mids to replace treloar and Libba. Also depends if West and Garcia can become part time mids at AFL level.

I have no confidence whatsoever in Smith as an elite midfielder or player generally and Sanders to this point is a bit of an unknown quantity despite some exposure. He may well come very good....we need him to.

Richards I'd keep going with.

Not sure what our solution is short term given what we've given up to secure Darcy and Sanders.

But there is not an abundance of sustainable high quality options on the list right now.

Keen to have a look at Freijah on a wing.