Roast The Problem That Remains With Our List

[Zondor]

Whatever happened to him? Flush was the ideal Super Sub. I assume we got a decent draft-pick for him?
Last I heard he was working for Australia Post.

Why don't you ask one of your 69 mates? :stern look

 

[Black2Blue]

Key forwards are hellishly hard to find and we haven't passed on any/many quality ones. We've also tried some left-field options here so I can accept we are where we are in this area.

However we've been completely negligent with drafting speed and outside players. The fact we delisted Campbell and didn't look to bring in any equivalent last year was puzzling to say the least.

Not that it means much but an oddity of our drafting under Brad Scott has been that we've drafted only 1 indigenous player (rookie Malcolm Lynch) in 5 years.

Good points KC. The best available philosophy for the draft is fine until you have some gaping holes in the list, which is becoming apparent with us, especially with gaps in the outside speed/small forward area becoming chasms due to the injuries to Wells and Nahas and Harper's form crisis. Best case scenario has Harper becoming the footballer we know he can be, Nahas becoming a consistent player in the style we have seen this year, Wells playing another 3 quality seasons, and Turner kicking on to becoming a dangerous terrier of a footballer. Harvey should be the cream on the cake rather than the whole bloody cake. Anyway, it's unlikely to pan out this way, and we can see that our other outside runners (Gibbo, Anthony) have no hurt factor in their games, so we must hunt and punt on fast, running players. Last year, the Dumont pick was seen as a steal by many, and I'm looking forward to him play, but it has also increased our imbalance of inside and outside mids, so we can't afford to do the same next year both with the draft and rookie list.

 

[Spitta09]

Wow I had almost forgotten about Nahas. May sound silly but we really miss him. We are a better side when he plays was instrumental against sydney and fremantle

 

[justroyal]

Maybe it is also our coaching list. Forward coaches, we are missing Brett Allison

 

[dus]

Surely your not suggesting we go to plan b??

Surely you not suggesting we actually have a plan b to go to??

 

[Tander]

Surely you not suggesting we actually have a plan b to go to??

 

[Psicosis]

If the best available player is an inside midfielder it should be passed on, Bryce really needs to deliver these next two years.

 

[The Big H]

Our list, if healthy would probably be allowing us to really push up. Geelong apparently have everyone (bar Menzel) available atm and that allows them to balance their team better than we can. For arguments sake, lets say our list is healthy and confident and they have been able to train and play consistently at afl/vfl level. Our team (very much hypothetically speaking) might have a Tarrant or Curran at FF and Drew as the resting forward ruck. Garner and Harper might be on a wing or half forward. Dal Santo and Wells would be wing men. Delany and Grima are fighting for the same spot as are Jmac and Spud. All of a sudden our balance would look much better.

 

[R00StaR]

Good post and i think one identified by the club and most of us over the last few years. I think it fair to say on balance this board supported topping up last trade/ draft period knowing we have a number of older players.

Its probably a 3 year window for us (this year included) while we have the use of Boomer, Petrie, Wells, NDS and co. While this year isnt totally cooked next year will be huge for us, we simply must get more out of certain players and simply must be a very serious top 4 candidate.

If we go to the trade table in a big way, id think a key forward like Boyd is the most obvious even though we all see the need for more outside run. GWS having too many is rare occurrence which provides a unique opportunity to trade. Otherwise its finish bottom, use the draft and wait a long time for a big forward to mature....if one happens to available/ suitable.

As the OP identifies, we'll have some major holes to fill soon. For mine we've got 2 years after this at most then the best thing for us would be a couple of years of bottom 4 for a mini rebuild. If we can get a head start with say a Boyd who would help in the next 2 years thats a huge bonus, but will cost us some quality obviously. Then back up while Cunners, JZ and co are still in their prime.

Either way list management will be interesting over the next 5 years, we cant afford to float around the middle forever.

 

[Zondor]

If the best available player is an inside midfielder it should be passed on, Bryce really needs to deliver these next two years.

Who determines club policy on recruitment? The last time I checked we had a list manager. What's his role in this? :stern look

 

[The Big H]

Geelong's advantage from father/son can't be underestimated as well. Hopefully we can continue to snag a few good sons of guns (or 100 game battlers) in the McDonald mould!

 

[King Corey]

Wow I had almost forgotten about Nahas. May sound silly but we really miss him. We are a better side when he plays was instrumental against sydney and fremantle

We miss him, coaches can't make that claim. They dropped him after both those wins iirc.

 

[Kenny Kangaroo]

Personally,I reckon Bryce's recruiting in general has been poor since 2009. In fact, one could argue that he has been dining out on the 2009 catch for a long time. The massive question marks that have appeared over Black and Basti this year even threaten Bryce's 2009 effort. They were expected to explode into stardom in 2014 - not regress into mediocrity. The same has happened with Mullet. The only stars-in-the-making to emerge since then are Atley and McDonald(father-son).
Relatively speaking, we have been standing still and banking on the classes of 06-07-08-09(which was excellent) to carry us into the next great era.
The lack of pace and class is poor recruiting and poor list management.
When Harvey, wells, Petrie and Dal retire, the poor recruiting since 2009 will bite into us like a Great White Shark.
The odd free agent isn't going to do the trick.
I've been saying this for a while: if we can't crack a flag in 2015-16, it aint gonna happen in the following decade.

 

[scooby1279]

Personally, Bryce's recruiting in general has been poor since 2009. In fact, one could argue that he has been dining out on the 2009 catch for a long time. The massive question marks that have appeared over Black and Basti this year even threaten Bryce's 2009 effort. They were expected to explode into stardom in 2014 - not regress into mediocrity. The same has happened with Mullet. The only stars-in-the-making to emerge since then are Atley and McDonald(father-son).
Relatively speaking, we have been standing still and banking on the classes of 06-07-08-09(which was excellent) to carry us into the next great era.
The lack of pace and class is poor recruiting and poor list management.
When Harvey, wells, Petrie and Dal retire, the poor recruiting since 2009 will bite into us like a Great White Shark.
The odd free agent isn't going to do the trick.
I've been saying this for a while: if we can't crack a flag in 2015-16, it aint gonna happen in the following decade.

is that the recruiting or the coaches not developing those players to be able to take the next step?

 

[Kenny Kangaroo]

is that the recruiting or the coaches not developing those players to be able to take the next step?

Its possible the coaching is responsible. But you cant make a silk purse from a sow's ear.
other than Harper, who are the fast, silky young players languishing in the twos?

 

[justroyal]

Harper the half back flanker eh?

 

[scooby1279]

Its possible the coaching is responsible. But you cant make a silk purse from a sow's ear.
other than Harper, who are the fast, silky young players languishing in the twos?

agree we need more polish, silky players but if the coach wanted that he would have told the recruiting team what was required yet we continued to get inside mids.

 

[Shagga is all Class]

And BS puts Luke who can at least defend one on one on the wing against Geelong and Mullett in the backline.

Agree that we need more pace and skill to help our ball movement.

Injuries have not helped but neither has the selection.

 

[Kenny Kangaroo]

Watching Motlop and Murdock zooming out of defence on saturday night really drove home the lack of dynamic, lightning-fast rebounders we have coming up through the ranks.



Atley really plays a lone hand back there and he hasn't had JMAC and Wells to keep him company this year.

 

[coopers pale]

Watching the Geelong game it appeared to me that while we focus on developing "run from behind the ball" (i.e off half back), Geelong push there runners to the contest, alongside the contest and in front of the contest. It means that even if Atley gets the ball, and breaks the HB line, he then runs into opposition in the midfield. Compare this to where the Geelong runners were getting the ball, IN the midfield and were therefore afforded a much free-er run up to the HF line where they could draw players, spot up leading forwards etc.

It seemed to explain to me why our "inside 50's" aren't dangerous, they're long-ish bombs from 80-90 metres out to a predictable spot 40-50m out from goal, whereas Geelongs inside 50's were delivered with more precision from 60-70 metres out, where they had the full 50m arc within their kicking range. If I was a forward I know which inside 50's I'd rather be on the receiving end of.

I still think it's on the injury list of another team that we'll find our diamond in the rough to run alongside Wells and NDS, but we also need to be prepared to play some of Atley, Mullet, McDonald through the midfield and not just play "safe" by keeping our runners "behind the ball". Playing runners "behind the ball" is asking too much of them and not enough of everyone else. Sorry, long post, started to rant.

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

It seemed to explain to me why our "inside 50's" aren't dangerous, they're long-ish bombs from 80-90 metres out to a predictable spot 40-50m out from goal, whereas Geelongs inside 50's were delivered with more precision from 60-70 metres out, where they had the full 50m arc within their kicking range. If I was a forward I know which inside 50's I'd rather be on the receiving end of.

Spot on. Simple fact is, we have no one who can currently control the HF line. A few years back when Adams was a good player/in form and Drew was mobile, we had some advantage in this area. We could control the HF line with a mark or two and then carefully direct a kick to a leading player in the forward 50. We haven't been able to do this all year with the change in team style and injuries. We are playing 2 non-mobile key forwards, a leading HF out of form (Black) and a leading small forward (Adams) out of form. No wonder we are sucking so badly.

The thing that shits me is that it is as if the coaching staff haven't yet worked out that we have pissed another year down the toilet. We need another leading, marking forward who has been in good form and has good endurance. Do we not have a player that fits this description playing in the twos?

 

[Jack Bradley]

Daw is as useless as **** on a bull, there is no way he should be getting a game, trade/delist, im over it.

I would delist Adams, Anthony, McKenzie and McMahon before him.

 

[Jack Reacher]

I would delist Adams, Anthony, McKenzie and McMahon before him.

I agree with all of those, shame about Patch though he really does have the ability, the Daw experiment has failed, need to cut our losses on that one, just has no footy nous, the same reason all these American dudes will never make it in the AFL.

 

[scooby1279]

I would delist Adams, Anthony, McKenzie and McMahon before him.

Adams wont get delisted after signing a 3 year contract... I would trade him instead and look for what we can get with McKenzie and McMahon. Anthony will be delisted.

 

[Jack Reacher]

Adams wont get delisted after signing a 3 year contract... I would trade him instead and look for what we can get with McKenzie and McMahon. Anthony will be delisted.

....along with Jacobs!