Player Watch #?: Jack Darling - has officially requested to be traded to NM on a two-year deal. Pick 64 is expected to be tabled.

[Junk yard]

Hard to find many who think this is a good move by us. Darling will only have to break a finger nail or fart upwind of a journo and they will come at us hard. I don't like the trade - again it is hard to find anyone who thinks he has good footy left in him or the fitness level to be a competitive forward. But it is happening so let's hope me (and many others) have to eat our words. I'm sure that Clarko and Co know what they are buying and that they believe he can deliver what they want. Fingers crossed.

Yep. It's certainly not good business delisting and paying out contracts consistently either, we're making a bit of a habit of it. Hopefully he offers something and if he can't, we're not to proud to play him in the two's.

 

[The Nostradamus]

We’re building a two year bridge for whoever we draft this year, people should get over it.

That and gives us time to trade in one when we look better in 12 months time or 24 months time

imo he is the perfect 1-2 year stop gap

 

[shinboner magic]

Hard to find many who think this is a good move by us. Darling will only have to break a finger nail or fart upwind of a journo and they will come at us hard. I don't like the trade - again it is hard to find anyone who thinks he has good footy left in him or the fitness level to be a competitive forward. But it is happening so let's hope me (and many others) have to eat our words. I'm sure that Clarko and Co know what they are buying and that they believe he can deliver what they want. Fingers crossed.

Might be better than watching him play

 

[Horizons_00]

We have coaches that are supposed to teach the forwards how to create space for each other. The recruitment of Darling seems to suggest the coaches think our players' are not capable of doing this. But if this is the case, why were Cam and Nick offered such generous contracts? You don't need star forwards or even experienced ones to run to the right spots. Sydney's three tall forwards, Amartey, McDonald and McLean, are far from stars but seem to manage fine.

Our forward coach is unfortunately garbage (sorry patch)

Plus its work rate

 

[Roostorm]

It’s right at the end

MM “terrible, absolutely terrible the last 2-3 years”…”poor decision”

Mick “mercenary” Malthouse…nah him giving his pointed views is as bout as interesting as a fart in a bottle.
I Am a firm believer that it’s was his gifted players not his iq that got those premierships. Couldn’t do a darn thing at the blues…even with all their draft concessions. He reminds me a lot of that pompous fellow who’s team shot themselves in the foot repeatedly last night …even after a week off.

Awesome, now i know its a good move

Tend to think this…if it’s making a hasbeen like mick getting cranky..sweet…that’s one win already and he hasn’t even got out on the ground yet. Triggered much .
Look lm still not jumping hooray…but lm have my own expectations of what l want Jack to do…and while he’s in a north jumper I’ll happily swat back at people until he gives me a reason not to.
However lm sure if we look back at super Dooper mighty micky’s clubs (and his gracious behaviour of stepping aside for Nathan ) and their appointments there’s bound to be a few dubious duds…glasshouses and short memories…but l guess l should be kind…he is a senior after all.

 

[ferball]

Our forward coach is unfortunately garbage (sorry patch)

Plus its work rate

Thought that ex Richmond fella was forward coach.

 

[perplexed]

Our forward coach is unfortunately garbage (sorry patch)

Plus its work rate

Thought that ex Richmond fella was forward coach.

Pretty sure its Xavier Clarke. Patch is midfield.

 

[Ligma]

Our forward coach is unfortunately garbage (sorry patch)

Plus its work rate

Better say sorry to patch cause its not him.

 

[Lomas]

Isn’t out VFL coach supposed to be helping our forwards too?

 

[ferball]

Isn’t out VFL coach supposed to be helping our forwards too?

He was a great transition player too. If anyone could work you'd think it was him.

 

[Horizons_00]

Better say sorry to patch cause its not him.

My bad!

 

[Horizons_00]

Pretty sure its Xavier Clarke. Patch is midfield.

My bad, Clarke isn't doing great then

 

[Tas]

We have coaches that are supposed to teach the forwards how to create space for each other.

Do you think Clarkson and the midfield coaches are telling LDU and Simpkin to hack the ball inside 50 straight to the opposition? Players obviously do things that isn't drilled into them at training. It is why you need leadership across all three lines that can adjust on the fly.

When Larkey stops leading and just waves for players to bomb it to a pack there is no leadership via action. Someone can tell you to do X or Y but it is the ability to execute that under extreme pressure that matters. We just don't have that discipline because it has never been demanded of players to get a game.

The recruitment of Darling seems to suggest the coaches think our players' are not capable of doing this.

They do for periods of time, but when the pressure is turned up or the chips are down, our system goes out the window and we don't have good on-field leadership.

But if this is the case, why were Cam and Nick offered such generous contracts?

They are capable of being very good players, their ability to lead when under extreme pressure is also obviously not there atm. Not everyone is a natural leader.

You don't need star forwards or even experienced ones to run to the right spots. Sydney's three tall forwards, Amartey, McDonald and McLean, are far from stars but seem to manage fine.

Their key forwards aren't anything special but they have a very talented midfield: Warner, Mills, Heeney, etc. There probably wouldn't be a massive difference if you pulled Amartey, McDonald and McLean out and put in Larkey, Comben and Zurhaar in the Swans imo because they rely a lot on their midfield and smaller forwards to score rather than rely too much on their KPFs.

Amartey has scored 43 goals (1.8 avg), McDonald 37 (1.5), McLean 27 (1.1)
Hayward has kicked 40 (1.6), Papley 35 (1.8), Warner 34 (1.4), Heeney 33 (1.4), Gulden 15 (0.6), Parker 11 (1.2)

You just can't sag off these players to go 3 on 1 vs one of their mediocre KPFs. When you look at our scoring it is Larkey, Curtis and Zurhaar and not much else, you can sag off a whole lot of our players because we don't go to them and when we do it usually doesn't end in scoreboard damage and our midfield is a pump and dump midfield that doesn't run aggressively into the forward 50 and score goals even though many are capable of doing so.

Swans just have a far superior system and there is way more expectation for every one of their players to do the 1%ers and play team oriented football.

 

[Ligma]

My bad!

You need to send him flowers

 

[Lomas]

You need to send him flowers

Just not poppies, he hates those apparently.

 

[perplexed]

Do you think Clarkson and the midfield coaches are telling LDU and Simpkin to hack the ball inside 50 straight to the opposition? Players obviously do things that isn't drilled into them at training. It is why you need leadership across all three lines that can adjust on the fly.

I agree with most of your post, but I think you are being a bit too kind on the coaches. There is clearly a whole lot of basic stuff that they aren't doing. Forward line structures and movement is one thing. But on a more basic level, something like LDU's kicking just infuriates me. His technique is awful and has got worse over time. Why he hasn't been straightened up I find completely baffling. Especially as he has twice as many inside 50's as anyone else and his butchery is killing us. He obviously works really hard on his game, but for some reason nobody has taught him the basics of how to kick a footy. It's ....ing bizarre.

 

[Tas]

I agree with most of your post, but I think you are being a bit too kind on the coaches. There is clearly a whole lot of basic stuff that they aren't doing. Forward line structures and movement is one thing. But on a more basic level, something like LDU's kicking just infuriates me. His technique is awful and has got worse over time. Why he hasn't been straightened up I find completely baffling. Especially as he has twice as many inside 50's as anyone else and his butchery is killing us. He obviously works really hard on his game, but for some reason nobody has taught him the basics of how to kick a footy. It's ....ing bizarre.

I agree with you, I have been critical of our coaching to date, I was expecting more from Clarkson than he has delivered, particular around the midfield given the calibre of talent we have there around the ball.

But, I am pretty sure we aren't telling them to hack it to the opposition, the post bye period things improved for a while, but it was far from perfect and the wheels fell off when the heat was on.

 

[koshari]

Watching how other teams forward lines play compared to ours - it’s like we’re playing a different sport

Not a different sport just a different level. Thats textbook under 11s stuff the way we bomb to the square time after time. And works a treat in u11s when you have a kid whos grown quicker than his peers.

But its a hideous plan for an afl team.

 

[koshari]

Yep. It's certainly not good business delisting and paying out contracts consistently either, we're making a bit of a habit of it. Hopefully he offers something and if he can't, we're not to proud to play him in the two's.

Who have we paid out other than polec?

It would seem biggy was on a year after all ( bad but far better than the 2 i thought he was on) .

Sleevo and ccj would be good candidates but if they only have have 12 months left it makes sense to march squizzy, free , biggy and sellers as we are only likely to get 4 odd throws at the stumps in the draft

i would pefer 2 more speculative picks but i guess river gets one of those spots?? Looks like we dont have the stones to pay out a few underperformers contracts to take on a couple more speculative types late in the draft/rookie selections.

 

[Makeshift Park]

Hard to find many who think this is a good move by us.

Its also hard to find many who have good and realistic proposals for how we upgrade Toby Pink in 2025, alas.

 

[StiffArm]

Am I wrong in seeing this as essentially moving some soft cap into the general salary cap?

Darling as a stop gap who provides competition for a spot for somewhere between 6 and 18 months, but more importantly gives proper teaching to both our forwards and backs at training over preseason especially.

He's already passed on all this knowledge at West Coast, which is why they no longer need him.

 

[koshari]

Am I wrong in seeing this as essentially moving some soft cap into the general salary cap?

Darling as a stop gap who provides competition for a spot for somewhere between 6 and 18 months, but more importantly gives proper teaching to both our forwards and backs at training over preseason especially.

He's already passed on all this knowledge at West Coast, which is why they no longer need him.

I think it's more that realistically we wont be fielding a kpf who can bring the ball to ground consistently in the next 12 months and the extra year is simply collateral damage in getting someone across. Much like dylan stephens.

When we can start recruiting and developing in house solutions we wont need to pay the extended contract tax.

But then again theres lmac and zurhaar on 5 year deals so i give up.