Offseason Changes + Road to the 2021 Premiership

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If I was in charge I'd trade McGovern for Angus Brayshaw and a draft pick. Have Barrass take his role and recruit a KPD who can't get a game at their team to play full back. Or alternatively keep Schofield and don't recruit a fb.
Why would Brayshaw move to WC? He basically hates us after the Gaff incident and he's much more likely to choose Freo since he has a brother there and we're likely to delist Hamish. Can't imagine him wanting to playing in the same team as Gaff lol.
Either way we don't trade players unless they ask for one or another team shows interest and they agree to it.
Schoey has already retired, can't see him being talked into changing his mind because we've suddenly decided to trade Gov lol. It would be a very awkward situation for him and even if he played on it was just only be for 1 more year or so.
 
AH CHEE is not, AND WILL NEVER BE best 22. Nice guy, but nope. This is not a charity - soon 27 years old... just stop forcing the issue.

PETRUCELLE too, potentially never will be best 22. But he has age on his side. Let’s give him another year, if shows nothing, trade.

focus on BRANDER & CAMERON development.

Great signs from Rotham, Williams, XON, Jones. Ainsworth will be handy with some bulk.

Recruit YOUNG guns.... don’t know from where, but wow, the near future looking quite ugly age-wise.

Team needs some “hardness”. The Simpson love and peace- family-bff-lovehearts-everyone gets a participation trophy- club identity needs to become secondary, not primary.
 

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If I was in charge I'd trade McGovern for Angus Brayshaw and a draft pick. Have Barrass take his role and recruit a KPD who can't get a game at their team to play full back. Or alternatively keep Schofield and don't recruit a fb.

Except Melbourne already traded for Lever 3 years ago and their problems are not behind the ball, they are in front of them.

No one is picking up Gov's tab. We would be stuck with 50% of 1.15m salary.

Oh, and Angus hates us.

Not a particularly realistic scenario in any regard.
 
Why would Brayshaw move to WC? He basically hates us after the Gaff incident and he's much more likely to choose Freo since he has a brother there and we're likely to delist Hamish. Can't imagine him wanting to playing in the same team as Gaff lol.
Either way we don't trade players unless they ask for one or another team shows interest and they agree to it.
Schoey has already retired, can't see him being talked into changing his mind because we've suddenly decided to trade Gov lol.
Why? Because Andrew is in WA and he would be told he will be an important part of the midfield setup. I know WC don't try and force players to leave but if they want to become a great team sacrifices need to be made. McGovern certainly doesn't deserve his high pay packet. Schofield might if he's told he's a lock for best 22
 
Why? Because Andrew is in WA and he would be told he will be an important part of the midfield setup. I know WC don't try and force players to leave but if they want to become a great team sacrifices need to be made. McGovern certainly doesn't deserve his high pay packet. Schofield might if he's told he's a lock for best 22
Give it a rest mate.

We're not trading Gov.
 
Need to convert more ground/contested balls into possession chains. Its a sad state of affairs but the difference between us and the best is our hand balling skills are too "traditional" for the modern game. Forget the tackling coach, teach the players to beat their opponent with the dive and scoop. Ie, what we need is a throwing coach, its clear the game moves too fast/is too complex for the umpires to pick up on throws. Premierships are won and lost in the modern game on the ability to get the ball out of congestion faster than your opponents can. If you can't beat, you must join.

Alternatively, we could always try lobby the rules committee for measures that would fix this. Given its impossible for the umps to see most throws, the only way to get them out of the game- as they are a true blight now- is to treat a throw the same way as a stage. Hand out fines to chuckers on Monday morning. Deliberate cheating brings the game into disrepute and undermines the integrity of the competition. Repeat offenders receive increasing penalties, up to and including suspension.

I'd also like to see the club try something left field with JKK. I think he could and would contribute solidly next year based of his form in 2020, without the concussion v Richmond might of gone AA. But I also think that he's the player we can most easily cover in the event of an early retirement, and that if he were to step aside that might be the scenario that triggers the greatest improvement across the list, as a chain reaction occurs putting a string of players into roles of greater opportunity and responsibility for which they are poised to make the most of. I believe the decision on whether to go on should be 100% up to him though, and that this should be the offer: trade the remainder of his current contract for a 3 year coaching deal as forward coach, plus a spot as a cat b rookie in the new post covid list thingy. Kind of a reverse prisoners dilemma in which the player gets to choose between ending a career a little early in return for extended job security and an ability to still play a vital role in winning the next premiership. And for the clubs part they get to keep him around teaching the next generation or if he plays on can be pretty sure he's sticking around because the hunger is there to go deep into another finals series. JK the forward coach/cat b rookie lets us benefit from his leaderships and footy nous, which we probably need more than his body out there on the field, but covers us in the event of injury. Its not dissimilar to the role dean cox played in 2014, just a slightly better way of structuring it.
 

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Coaching staff and/or the gameplan needs to change. Midfield and stoppage setups are appalling considering the ruckman we have and the dudes he’s tapping it too..

And I don’t know if it’s part of the gameplan to stand in a circle at stoppages seagulling and only going in one at a time or who’s idea it is to not have anyone front and square reading the ball off the contest but those are some basic f*cking skills. When we have the ball we are the best in the business but we struggle to actually win it unless it’s a NN centre bounce, free kick, or contested mark. Fix that up and we’d walk it in. 2018 finals series is the best example of what happens when we do.
 
One more vote here for a new midfield coach, not just for the issues with our supposedly A grade midfielders (12 touches tonight for our boom recruit, yay!) but also on the development side. So little improvement from the young mids over the last few years.

Also please, pretty ****ing please, can we sort out what the best position is for our 1st round draft pick Brander? The wing experiment in 2020 was um, underwhelming and right now he's looking like Brent Staker-lite.
 
1...Midfield rework and upgrade
2...Tackling..20% technique/coaching..80% want to
3...Ground Game..a premiership worthy side is not held hostage to wet/dry/whatever game conditions..get rid of this excuse
4...Simmo might benefit from a review and adjustment of his in match approach..a quicker hook for those not bringing it full on and changing the side chemistry is a thought..some lower list guys get too much rope.
5...For '21..retire Family, Friends, Flags with just "Flag"..for a capable side like WC the last two seasons will taste very bitter in future years..make hay when the sun is shining..less settling for "better than most" and a more relentless (see Liam Ryan) pursuit of the flag..they have the talent.
 
1. Hire a rugby union coach to teach the players how to tackle properly; how to hold a tackle and to want to tackle.
2. If Willie Rioli is unable to play recruit a genuine crumbing small forward. We are the worst team in the league at crumbing off packs.
3. Fix up our stoppage clearance work. Most of the time it is appalling. And I am not talking about centre clearances.
4. Recruit players with football nous. Surely, there must be some players out there who are natural footballers.
5. Revamp the game plan. Every team needs a plan B. We don’t see to have one.
6. Make some moves on match day. Adam ‘I don’t like to move players on game day’ Simpson needs a slap across the head. He is too pig-headed. Clearly, we are very robotic on match day.
7. Stop playing players who aren’t AFL standard. Petruccelle; Reid, Ah Chee and Ainsworth spring to mind.
8. Harden the **** up. Too many Eagles players want someone else to do the hard work.
 
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If you listen to Simmo's press conference he concedes that the over reliance on centre clearance has been an issue all year.

Hopefully that means changing a few things.

I honestly don't think our mids can all play together in the same midfield. It's slow and they get burnt on the spread, and when our blokes don't have ball in hand they are unable to curtail oppo mids.
 
If you listen to Simmo's press conference he concedes that the over reliance on centre clearance has been an issue all year.

Hopefully that means changing a few things.

I honestly don't think our mids can all play together in the same midfield. It's slow and they get burnt on the spread, and when our blokes don't have ball in hand they are unable to curtail oppo mids.
Yeo helps, and was missed last night (but tbh there are deeper issues and injuries happen so we need to be able to overcome them).

The old adage that you can't win a premiership in the first 5 (or even 10) rounds of the season, but you can lose one, rings true for us. The reality (until the players disprove it) is that without top 4 we are just making up the numbers, probably even top 2. Got to turn up from round 1 (and round 2 if there is ever such a gap again).

We need to be hungrier, for longer - too many changes in intensity and output, both within games and from match to match.

Lastly, and this is an easy fix, if we select players who are more triers than class - those players need to be tough and apply manic pressure. Petch, Ainsworth, ah chee - we need more toughness and defensive pressure from those spots.

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Yeo helps, and was missed last night (but tbh there are deeper issues and injuries happen so we need to be able to overcome them).

The old adage that you can't win a premiership in the first 5 (or even 10) rounds of the season, but you can lose one, rings true for us. The reality (until the players disprove it) is that without top 4 we are just making up the numbers, probably even top 2. Got to turn up from round 1 (and round 2 if there is ever such a gap again).

We need to be hungrier, for longer - too many changes in intensity and output, both within games and from match to match.

Lastly, and this is an easy fix, if we select players who are more triers than class - those players need to be tough and apply manic pressure. Petch, Ainsworth, ah chee - we need more toughness and defensive pressure from those spots.

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The mids just feel one wood. You're right, Yeo is arguably our most important mid.

Our midfield shouldn't get beaten just because we are missing one player.

Simmo is very rigid, backs are backs, mids are mids, forwards are forwards.

I'd like to see Simmo implement more flex into our system. I'd like to see us play one less mid and have players like Duggan and Ryan rotating through the midfield. They are players who offer something different to our current midfield setup.
 
The two periods of 15-17 & 18-20 feel like carbon copies of each other.

Develop/twig game plan in first year, opposition teams struggle to figure it out & we look a million bucks getting into two GF’s. Next two years, teams slowly but surely figure us out & we constantly get picked apart, we look like a middling team who can only manage inconsistent flashes of our best.

Let’s see what happens in 21, but Simmo & co definitely have their work cut out to reinvigorate our style of play. I believe this group still has at least two more good goes at it before we start to fall away.
 
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Sad night, what has been obvious all year, not just a bad nigh t is that we lack speed , JK is old and must be phased out, we cannot tackle - pace is part of this and Barrass is a problem one on one - he just plays dumb. We are always opened up by teams that run in waves.

What stood out last night was that Allen is a better key forward than JK, Petro can run but has lost pace and does nothing in offence and defence.

Looks like returning mids lacked condition. We were belted in the midfield - that make out backs and forwards look poor. Not sure how two weeks of home quarentine helps prepare players, but you voted for the idiot not me. Now they can do another two.
 
JK should retire.

Allen is ready to play 2nd fiddle to Darling and it’ll actually enable Brander and Williams to become relevant team members and develop. I don’t think another season of those two stagnating is best for the next decade of the club.
 

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