- Apr 25, 2011
- 2,241
- 4,806
- AFL Club
- Fremantle
KPF recruitment (and retention)
It's said that the game is won in the midfield. BUT, you are stuffed without good tall forwards. It's not just the marks they take and the goals they kick, they enable the small forwards to be more effective. Instead, we've had our smalls picking up the slack and not feasting on crumming opportunities, let alone the missing spectacle of watching our talls take a few marks and kick a couple of goals each a game. We've long complained of our mids not looking up and finding a target, but there hasn't really been a target to kick to, you'd kick to the gun defender instead of our (missing) gun kpf.
We didn't have a functioning 22-28 year old gun in place to inherit Pavs spot through the Ross years (let alone be a proper 2nd tall forward for extra effect). We instead had Tabs playing Seniors when he should have been on apprenticeship in the Magoos. Just for those without a memory, the Tabs project was with the rookie draft in December 2012. He's 30 now, flip a coin as to if your KPF will have retired from injuries - or be a legend playing through his late 20s early 30s. I've backed Tabs as he is the bird in the hand, pointless dreaming about the ones in the bush, but the club needed better alternatives (not just 1) and hasn't provided it to the coaches.
To some degree, it's how we coach and train what we've had (Cox and others), retention (Hogan/Lobb). But we have been in a bind for an almost criminally long time on this, we should have had a couple of talls recruited a handful of years before Tabs that were good enough and either recently retired or are on on their last legs, we should have had a few recruited talls that have just finished their apprenticeships (talls take time) and are just hitting their straps now. Jye (with Treacy in the Shadows) will be an excellent player but ffs he's only 19 years old - he is years away from his best footy.
This issue slew our team under Ross even when we were contending, Probably is our biggest issue right now - and if we were to get another coach, will kill their career until it's fixed (the passing of time and Jye/Treacy getting older).
It's said that the game is won in the midfield. BUT, you are stuffed without good tall forwards. It's not just the marks they take and the goals they kick, they enable the small forwards to be more effective. Instead, we've had our smalls picking up the slack and not feasting on crumming opportunities, let alone the missing spectacle of watching our talls take a few marks and kick a couple of goals each a game. We've long complained of our mids not looking up and finding a target, but there hasn't really been a target to kick to, you'd kick to the gun defender instead of our (missing) gun kpf.
We didn't have a functioning 22-28 year old gun in place to inherit Pavs spot through the Ross years (let alone be a proper 2nd tall forward for extra effect). We instead had Tabs playing Seniors when he should have been on apprenticeship in the Magoos. Just for those without a memory, the Tabs project was with the rookie draft in December 2012. He's 30 now, flip a coin as to if your KPF will have retired from injuries - or be a legend playing through his late 20s early 30s. I've backed Tabs as he is the bird in the hand, pointless dreaming about the ones in the bush, but the club needed better alternatives (not just 1) and hasn't provided it to the coaches.
To some degree, it's how we coach and train what we've had (Cox and others), retention (Hogan/Lobb). But we have been in a bind for an almost criminally long time on this, we should have had a couple of talls recruited a handful of years before Tabs that were good enough and either recently retired or are on on their last legs, we should have had a few recruited talls that have just finished their apprenticeships (talls take time) and are just hitting their straps now. Jye (with Treacy in the Shadows) will be an excellent player but ffs he's only 19 years old - he is years away from his best footy.
This issue slew our team under Ross even when we were contending, Probably is our biggest issue right now - and if we were to get another coach, will kill their career until it's fixed (the passing of time and Jye/Treacy getting older).
