West Coast Offseason 2013 - We Want Yeo!

[maverick001]

Pav's central thesis appears correct, however his choice of evidence is poor.

WC drafted Stevens and Ebert to play as big bodied mids, then developed them poorly and lost them for very little.

WC have burnt a heck of a lot of second round picks. They also seem keen on just throwing away picks (mostly in the RD) on recycled, injury prone players unlikely to ever get a consistent game (e.g. Bedford, Dalziell, JON, Dick, Morton and Bennell).

In fact WC have largely wasted their rookie draft picks altogether. Either via rapid de-listing, or wasting away for a year or two on the main list post premature promotions.

This is kind of disastrous taking into account the fluffed first/second round picks and the fact they rarely go late into the draft.

For a club as wealthy as WC, the constant drafting/list management blunders and failure to develop draftees is pretty inexplicable. There is the money to hire the best staff possible for every department, but the club seems insular, conservative and stubborn in these areas to the point of self destructiveness.

100% agree with you on our trading, rookie strategy and recent drafting from second round onwards

 

[maverick001]

Pav's central thesis appears correct, however his choice of evidence is poor.

WC drafted Stevens and Ebert to play as big bodied mids, then developed them poorly and lost them for very little.

WC have burnt a heck of a lot of second round picks. They also seem keen on just throwing away picks (mostly in the RD) on recycled, injury prone players unlikely to ever get a consistent game (e.g. Bedford, Dalziell, JON, Dick, Morton and Bennell).

In fact WC have largely wasted their rookie draft picks altogether. Either via rapid de-listing, or wasting away for a year or two on the main list post premature promotions.

This is kind of disastrous taking into account the fluffed first/second round picks and the fact they rarely go late into the draft.

For a club as wealthy as WC, the constant drafting/list management blunders and failure to develop draftees is pretty inexplicable. There is the money to hire the best staff possible for every department, but the club seems insular, conservative and stubborn in these areas to the point of self destructiveness.

And to add to this we now have a team of coaches, none of which are at all familiar with each other, the club, or its players (barring Longmuir) which seemingly have been slapped together at the end of the season from guys who haven't had meaningful experience elsewhere. Like you say, an extremely well resourced club such as ours should do better. I'm concerned about 2014

 

[Milenko]

For a supposedly well-resourced club, it's pretty hard to see where the money is going.

 

[Jack_the_Ninja]

For a supposedly well-resourced club, it's pretty hard to see where the money is going.

Out the window obviously I'm so over our selections this last few years, only Wellingham has inspired me in a bad era for WCE drafting.

 

[Masto]

Development has been poor but they've added Selwood and Graham to the development coaches so hopefully we'll see some improvement.

 

[Agent93]

Those two would be going to East Perth you'd imagine.

 

[dajesmac]

I think we need to wait until the end of the offseason to assess it properly. Half of the panic has been due to rumour-fuelled speculation and that's all it is at the moment. If we had really signed Nahas and Everitt, and traded pick 31 for Bootsma - that would be cause for concern. But nothing's actually happened yet. I may disagree with the decision to trade out of the top 10, but if we get a good prospect out of it in the second round (eg Robertson/Cripps/Jansen) I'd be more relaxed about it.

The criticism of the Ellis acquisition is a little over the top. Best case scenario, we get 5-7 years of service out of a talented player with good upside. Worst case scenario, we miss out on using pick 49. I'm comfortable with that. It's not as if there haven't been other movements to improve our midfield.

The drafting strategy is a concern though, as Pav notes. WC are inclined to take the 'safe' selections in the first round and while it's generally resulted in a good strike rate in the first round - it's left us with a cumbersome, vanillla midfield somewhat. I feel like Sheed would only serve to excaserbate this problem, if we were to take him. He will no doubt become a very good player - but our midfield lacks strength/size, pace and versatility, and none of these are Sheed's strengths. He complements existing strengths, rather than addresses weaknesses in our midfield, and therefore I'd rather take a punt on someone a little more speculative, like Acres. 'Speculative' may not be the right word, but I refer to the risk factor associated with his injury history.

Ellis, Yeo, Acres and Robertson would be my ideal offseason, and it still may happen. I think we should save the hysteria until after trade week finishes at the very least.

 

[maverick001]

I think we need to wait until the end of the offseason to assess it properly. Half of the panic has been due to rumour-fuelled speculation and that's all it is at the moment. If we had really signed Nahas and Everitt, and traded pick 31 for Bootsma - that would be cause for concern. But nothing's actually happened yet. I may disagree with the decision to trade out of the top 10, but if we get a good prospect out of it in the second round (eg Robertson/Cripps/Jansen) I'd be more relaxed about it.

The criticism of the Ellis acquisition is a little over the top. Best case scenario, we get 5-7 years of service out of a talented player with good upside. Worst case scenario, we miss out on using pick 49. I'm comfortable with that. It's not as if there haven't been other movements to improve our midfield.

The drafting strategy is a concern though, as Pav notes. WC are inclined to take the 'safe' selections in the first round and while it's generally resulted in a good strike rate in the first round - it's left us with a cumbersome, vanillla midfield somewhat. I feel like Sheed would only serve to excaserbate this problem, if we were to take him. He will no doubt become a very good player - but our midfield lacks strength/size, pace and versatility, and none of these are Sheed's strengths. He complements existing strengths, rather than addresses weaknesses in our midfield, and therefore I'd rather take a punt on someone a little more speculative, like Acres. 'Speculative' may not be the right word, but I refer to the risk factor associated with his injury history.

Ellis, Yeo, Acres and Robertson would be my ideal offseason, and it still may happen. I think we should save the hysteria until after trade week finishes at the very least.

Agreed the jury is still out on this year's effort, but it doesn't change the fact that we have made a number of mistakes in recent history

 

[Milenko]

The Sheppard selection at #7 in 2009 remains mystifying.

Why we needed a half back flanker (granted, with some pace) when we were well stocked at the time (Hurn, Waters, Schofield, Smith) ahead of pure wingmen (i.e. Jetta) and onballers (i.e. Duncan) remains a staggering decision. AND he was a big reach, not tipped to go until at least 15-20 range!

 

[Suma Magic]

Sheppard was a poor decision.

But looking back, I have wanted the following players over the last few years with out first pick, so there are much worse recruiters out there

2007 - Morton
2008 - Naitanui
2009 - Butcher
2010 - Polec
2011 - Talia
2012 - Graham

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Sheppard was a poor decision.

But looking back, I have wanted the following players over the last few years with out first pick, so there are much worse recruiters out there

2007 - Morton
2008 - Naitanui
2009 - Butcher
2010 - Polec
2011 - Talia
2012 - Graham

I like this game.

2007 - Masten
2008 - Naitanui
2009 - Lucas
2010 - Smith
2011 - Newman
2012 - Garlett

 

[Masto]

2007 - Masten
2008 - Naitanui
2009 - Lucas
2010 - Atley
2011 - Ross
2012 - Garlett

 

[sTeeL]

Think I was firmly Masten Naitanui Jetta and Darling but I lost interest in 2011/2012 when our draft picks where so high. Too hard to speculate

Only big mistake for me would have been Darling at 4

 

[INSANE]

I like this game.

2007 - Masten
2008 - Naitanui
2009 - Lucas
2010 - Smith
2011 - Newman
2012 - Garlett

Mine were:
2007- Dangerfield
2008- Naitanui
2009- Fyfe
2010- Heppell
2011- Wingard
2012- Grundy.

That's how I remember it anyway.

 

[Masto]

Mine were:
2007- Dangerfield
2008- Naitanui
2009- Fyfe
2010- Heppell
2011- Wingard
2012- Grundy.

That's how I remember it anyway.

We never had a shot at Wingard.

 

[INSANE]

We never had a shot at Wingard.

Yeah, I made that all up to look awesome. Now you've embarrassed me.

 

[Milenko]

I'm in synch with the WCE team! Except we had a falling out in 09, much to their embarrassment. Hated the Weedon pick, thought it was borderline negligence

2007- Masten
2008- Naitanui
2009- Jetta
2010- Gaff (after much Polec/Heppell deliberation)
2011- Newman
2012- Didn't even speculate cause our first pick was so rubbish

 

[Purple Suit]

Think I was firmly Masten Naitanui Jetta and Darling but I lost interest in 2011/2012 when our draft picks where so high. Too hard to speculate

Only big mistake for me would have been Darling at 4

It wouldn't have been a mistake, as you never would have known what could have happened.

 

[yakka man]

Deal done. Yeo for pick 28.

 

[Purple Suit]

Deal done. Yeo for pick 28.

Looks like Brisbane got a higher pick out of one club. Pick 31 wasn't good enough and the Eagles agreed.

 

[Masto]

Looks like Brisbane got a higher pick out of one club. Pick 31 wasn't good enough and the Eagles agreed.

Pick 30 would have been perfect - his original draft position. Some of the compo picks pushed us down too far

 

[Agent93]

Wonder when the last time was that we paid unders for a player in a trade...

 

[Purple Suit]

Wonder when the last time was that we paid unders for a player in a trade...

It makes me sad that Freo / West Coast don't trade anymore. You guys missed out big time through the early days and we're missing out now.

 

[Masto]

It makes me sad that Freo / West Coast don't trade anymore. You guys missed out big time through the early days and we're missing out now.

No we didn't. You gave us Wirrpunda and Phil Matera.

 

[Dr Riviera]

Wonder when the last time was that we paid unders for a player in a trade...

Probably Josh Hill - he was essentially free.