Player Watch Rory Sloane - Retired

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Improvement from an acl would be a big factor which i tend to agree with (having done an acl at a similar age it improves a fair bit from year 1 to year 2) which might see him being ok next year. He could also not improve and continue his natural decline which we have seen this year. We will find out i guess.
He was shite, slowing down and pretty much cooked, before he did his ACL though…

In reality.. if we are being totally frank and honest.. He’s been a very average player since 2018.. with a lot of unfortunate injuries thrown in to mess it all up.

There’s very little chance 2017 rory will all of a sudden be resurrected next year.

He is going to be nothing more than a list clogger..
 

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Jack Reiwoldt

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Rory Sloane

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Spot the team player
 
I heard crouch wants to leave and my feeling is McAdam will go back to WA. Doedee is definitely leaving imo.
Reports are we have a 3 year deal in front of Doedee
Crouch gave an interview 2 weeks ago saying how much he loves Adelaide, the club and the place, and is very settled here
 
I honestly have to wonder what the club sees in Rory at the moment.

I'm sure he's a great leader and well-liked around the club, but he has been a liability on-field more often than not this year. Are there some KPIs they're looking at that I'm just not seeing? Is there some instruction that he's following better than others? Or is this solely a case of wanting to be seen as treating a club stalwart well?
I'll have a go.

I think Sloane should have retired but the terribleness of Sloane's performances are being (typically) overstated on this board. In terms of KPIs, the club is going to be looking at on field performances and seeing them as declining but not too bad, and will see him as a fringe player similar to a Boak or Cotchin or someone along those lines. A veteran who is past his best but still able to make solid contributions. Plus presumably there's off field stuff they value that we have no visibility of as fans.

Some pro-Sloane facts about this season:
  • Sloane is equal second in clearances for the club behind Laird, 3rd in tackles, and 7th in disposals. He's still a pretty effective clearance winner, and I think they value him as an inside mid for that reason, especially if we are losing Crouch. He's clearly behind Dawson and Laird but is our third most used midfielder this year, so they aren't going to see him as a hopeless lost cause but rather a player who can make telling contributions even if he is not the future.
  • Sloane has been in the coaches votes three times this year, which is the same as Hinge, Crouch, Fogarty, ROB and Smith. This is a group who have been fairly good. The only players with more than 3 vote-getting games are Dawson, Walker, Laird, Rankine, Jones and Keays. Based on the assessments of coaches, this puts him in the top dozen or so players for the club this season. I suspect the B&F voting will be similar.
  • Sloane is pretty versatile. Unlike some of our inside mid options like Laird and Crouch, he can also play forward or back and has done so reasonably effectively at times this year. I emphasise reasonably here - he's no gun in any particular role, but he's a decent mark (the only one of our mids other than Dawson who has contested marking skills) and a reliable shot for goal, and has gone back a couple of times to some success, most notably against Melbourne. I think the club would value the fact that you can use him in a range of positions.
  • As has been widely discussed, he's been pretty good late in games, especially in the first half of the season where he had some of his best performances in influential last quarters in the Showdown, against Carlton and against Hawthorn. They've used him as sub twice and in one of those games he was quite good, so maybe they see him as a useful sub option. The flexibility would help here too.
  • This point isn't particularly good but I suspect Walker's performances may have had an influence here too, in terms of 'our older blokes are generally doing pretty well' type logic. Plus the lack of experienced players on the list in general.
That's about the best I can do. The big problem with Sloane is not really this year, which I think has been modest but not a disaster, but what happens if he declines further next year and is a total liability. He's fallen away a bit later in the year which doesn't bode particularly well for 2024.
 
Reports are we have a 3 year deal in front of Doedee
Crouch gave an interview 2 weeks ago saying how much he loves Adelaide, the club and the place, and is very settled here
Is that wise offering 3 years to a player thats done two acl's.
 
I'll have a go.

I think Sloane should have retired but the terribleness of Sloane's performances are being (typically) overstated on this board. In terms of KPIs, the club is going to be looking at on field performances and seeing them as declining but not too bad, and will see him as a fringe player similar to a Boak or Cotchin or someone along those lines. A veteran who is past his best but still able to make solid contributions. Plus presumably there's off field stuff they value that we have no visibility of as fans.

Some pro-Sloane facts about this season:
  • Sloane is equal second in clearances for the club behind Laird, and 7th in disposals. He's still a pretty effective clearance winner, and I think they value him as an inside mid for that reason, especially if we are losing Crouch. He's clearly behind Dawson and Laird but is our third most used midfielder this year, so they aren't going to see him as a hopeless lost cause but rather a player who can make telling contributions even if he is not the future.
  • Sloane has been in the coaches votes three times this year, which is the same as Hinge, Crouch, Fogarty, ROB and Smith. This is a group who have been fairly good. The only players with more than 3 vote-getting games are Dawson, Walker, Laird, Rankine, Jones and Keays. Based on the assessments of coaches, this puts him in the top dozen or so players for the club this season. I suspect the B&F voting will be similar.
  • Sloane is pretty versatile. Unlike some of our inside mid options like Laird and Crouch, he can also play forward or back and has done so reasonably effectively at times this year. I emphasise reasonably here - he's no gun in any particular role, but he's a decent mark (the only one of our mids other than Dawson who has contested marking skills) and a reliable shot for goal, and has gone back a couple of times to some success, most notably against Melbourne. I think the club would value the fact that you can use him in a range of positions.
  • As has been widely discussed, he's been pretty good late in games, especially in the first half of the season where he had some of his best performances in influential last quarters in the Showdown, against Carlton and against Hawthorn. They've used him as sub twice and in one of those games he was quite good, so maybe they see him as a useful sub option. The flexibility would help here too.
  • This point isn't particularly good but I suspect Walker's performances may have had an influence here too, in terms of 'our older blokes are generally doing pretty well' type logic. Plus the lack of experienced players on the list in general.
That's about the best I can do. The big problem with Sloane is not really this year, which I think has been modest but not a disaster, but what happens if he declines further next year and is a total liability.
All good points....

However weren't we all saying the same thing about Tex 3 years ago when he couldn't get near the ball?
 

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Is that wise offering 3 years to a player thats done two acl's.
I didn't say it was wise. What i heard was that the deal was in front of him before he did the 2nd one, and we chose to keep the deal on the table rather than screw him over. The fact he hasn't signed suggests he may be gone anyway
 
Our board: laughing at the Hinkley re-signing, crying at the Sloane contract
Their board: laughing at the Sloane re-signing, crying at the Hinkley contract

What a strange world the footy one is.
They should have moved Hinkley. The only reason they didn't was that awful anti vaxxer Tredrea telling them what to do. Ken was safe after that. Maybe Ken paid Tredders to say it lol.
 
If Sloane believes he can play up to 20 matches next season, just like this season, in his current playing state then he's more stupid than I had initially thought—or he's simply deluded.
20 more games plus 2 this year gets him to 276

You just know the lure of 300 in 2025 will be a massive marketing opportunity
 
20 more games plus 2 this year gets him to 276

You just know the lure of 300 in 2025 will be a massive marketing opportunity
His body will struggle to hold up half a season next year. 300 isn't happening. Tex can probably get there though.
 
If Crouch has already let the club know that he wants to leave, perhaps it's a case of them thinking they need experienced bodies in the guts?

I don't know, I'm grasping at straws here. I can't see a single reason to actually retain him based on performance.
There must be something we can't see. Rowey and Ginever reckon he's been really good this year. You can question whether they are good judges but surely having played the game they know something. It's bizarre
 

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Player Watch Rory Sloane - Retired

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