List Mgmt. 2023 List Management

[Beyond Blue]

So what has this not happened?

It's all been forced and has come late in the season. It does not happen as part of the normal game plan, it happens when we are getting beaten and someone decides to throw a magnet around. Similar things happening in the VFL.

Cripps forward early last season was a massive win for us then mid way through that has stopped.

Then he throws players in positions they don't have the traits to play like Kennedy in defence. He's too slow. Use Hollands who spoils well, reads the play well in defence and can provide rebound two way run, bring Binns in to replace him on the wing. Our coaching staff have no idea how to identify player traits and use that.

But that’s what I’m saying…it is happening. Cripps has been going forward this season, the problem is he has kicked 1 goal 9.

I really don’t like the idea of Hollands playing in the backline - yes he reads the play well - but asking a rookie to play in a foreign position is pretty risky.

No arguments from me however that playing Kennedy in the backline is just a really bad idea. He should put him forward instead.

 

[Wickzki]

We need Anderson a lot more than we need Rowell. We've already got way too many inside mids.

Categorically not happening unless they change coaches and then he'd prioritise going to St Kilda if he wasn't satisfied with the coach's meeting.

I understand the discussion is a pipe dream anyway.

The Hawks are allegedly wink keen on Flanders.

They may be tempted to move in Elijah Hollands (Ollie's bro) a year early

 

[jpfalvo]

Yeah I know.

Sometimes I dream silly dreams.

If I get this right, the Rowell draft year was the same year we sacked Bolton and had the Teague bounce?!

But ironically we traded our future first that ye ar, so potentially could have had Rowell at 1 the way we were tracking.

Future first trade was the stocker deal?!

Sent from my SM-N981B using Tapatalk

 

[Wickzki]

When was Fyfe ever on 'the list'

There were genuine rumors that Fyfe wanted to spend the last part of his career establishing business connections playing football in Victoria. With the close media friendship he'd developed with Cripps the link was there.

Had injuries not decimated the back end of his career I do wonder if he'd have chased a premiership with someone like Geelong.

In the end, however, Fyfe will go down like Cripps. A regular discussion of "what if they left their club" when both were/are keen to remain one club players.

 

[Wickzki]

But that’s what I’m saying…it is happening. Cripps has been going forward this season, the problem is he has kicked 1 goal 9..

There's a lot more wrong with this team this year than Harry and Cripps inability to kick accurately but I do wonder how the season would be panning out had they been hitting at career average.

 

[sweethoney]

If I get this right, the Rowell draft year was the same year we sacked Bolton and had the Teague bounce?!

But ironically we traded our future first that ye ar, so potentially could have had Rowell at 1 the way we were tracking.

Future first trade was the stocker deal?!

Sent from my SM-N981B using Tapatalk

Or if Gold Coast hadn’t been given all those PP picks we draft serong instead of splitting out picks for kemp and Philp

 

[btdg]

But that’s what I’m saying…it is happening. Cripps has been going forward this season, the problem is he has kicked 1 goal 9.

I really don’t like the idea of Hollands playing in the backline - yes he reads the play well - but asking a rookie to play in a foreign position is pretty risky.

No arguments from me however that playing Kennedy in the backline is just a really bad idea. He should put him forward instead.

Cripps hasn't been forward nearly as much though.

First half of last year he had taken 25 shots at goal, had 12 marks inside 50, 50x inside 50s. We were 8-3 at this point.

Second half of last year (after we changed approach following the Collingwood game) = 7 shots at goal, 4 marks inside 50, 45 inside 50s (8 of those in round 23 vs Collingwood). We went 4-7 in this stretch

First half of 2023 = 10 shots at goal, 2 marks inside 50, 37x inside 50s. We have gone 4-1-6 in this stretch.

He is clearly going forward less, being used as a target less, and having less impact, regardless of accuracy.

 

[gbatman]

But that’s what I’m saying…it is happening. Cripps has been going forward this season, the problem is he has kicked 1 goal 9.

I really don’t like the idea of Hollands playing in the backline - yes he reads the play well - but asking a rookie to play in a foreign position is pretty risky.

No arguments from me however that playing Kennedy in the backline is just a really bad idea. He should put him forward instead.

Players get drafted with an attachment to a position and that changes when they come into the AFL all the time. A lot of the good defenders were midfielders at U18 level. Kade Simpson was a wingman and always a wingman and then became a great defender. He's got it without doubt to play half back IMO. It only adds to his skillset and his development, it gives him a rest position to rotate to and it gives the team flexability and a greater ability to cover injury. Those things I just mentioned are massive weaknesses in our playing list. And it's not our big injury list, it's poor player development.

Bench rotations are limited, list sizes are smaller, players have to be developed in more than one position. Our list structure and coaching is so outdated it's not funny.

When we had smaller defenders our, we should have been able to put Hollands back flank, Binns or O'Brien wing. Wing and back flank are at high level are not that different. Half back at higher level football is pretty much the same as playing defensive wing except you have to do some of the deep defensive stuff such as blocking holes which just so happens to be what Hollands does really well when he play defensive wing.

Cripps has hardly gone forward. Mostly due to us lacking that forward who can go mid but mostly because our coaching group have cracked under pressure and have gone hard at keeping players "in their position".


Silvagni rotated because it's forced but he's the wrong player to go into the ruck. That is because we refuse to develop DeKoning as a forward. We did previous seasons but for some strange reason have canned that this year. When Silvagni goes into the ruck we get burnt because our midfield coaching is terrible and we have no plan to go defensive/pressure around the ball.

Dow was super impressive as a midfielder who went forward and kicked goals in the VFL last year. It's 100% what our team is missing. That development has been canned. He does not go forward in the VFL.

O'Brien good goal kicker, never been developed outside the wing.

Cerra was a good goal kicker at Freo, has never been developed or played anywhere else as an onballer at Carlton.

Motlop has all the traits as a great onballer and forward/mid but only plays forward, but I will give the club this, it's most likely due to his tank.

Kennedy can play forward, grew up as a Full forward and we all know he can play forward. Never gets played forward. Get's played back where he has no traits of a defender at all. Signs that our development and coaching group are no good. Kennedy is not an on the ball all day player, needs to be rotated, does not get rotated properly. Our bloke can't coach.

DeKoning needs to develop his forward craft and become the third tall forward and forward/ruck our team desperately needs. His time in the VFL was given no forward time. Club puts no development into his forward craft anymore. We can't develop players.

Acres. Surely when we had no small defenders, he would have been a better option to go to half back and give us drive. With Binns getting 30 possessions on a wing per week and O'Brien being available we sent Kennedy back and got slaughtered. Voss can't coach.

Carroll is a genuine onballer, he's been left at half forward in the VFL for whole games. Why not give him a run at half back. Why so little midfield time?

Walsh is a brilliant natural footballer with terrific endurance and legspeed and we have turned him into a conservative ball magnet and one position player. We've rested him at half forward last season. Why haven't we put more work into expanding his game and getting him more dangerous. Has not been coached well. Plays well based on natural ability. Even teach him half back, get him doing what Daicos is going and Saad last season. Another one position player.

Durdin. Came to us as an onballer who goes forward. Only ever plays forward. Get's 5 minutes every second game to go on the ball, does really well then gets left forward. Sometimes he struggles to get into the game, hasn't had a touch for ages, get's left forward. Coaches role is to bring players into the game, to get every player playing well. The more players playing well and involved the better the team goes. Our coach doesn't do this, he leaves them to rot. Durding should be regularly playing on the ball and through the middle.

Fisher. Has shown plenty as an onballer but limited opportunities. Has his deficiencies but when things aren't working in there, you throw him in. Voss' ability to get the best out of this player is waning.

Binns has been left on a wing and that's fine. But at some stage he needs another position. Perhaps forward? On ball is another.

Honey. He's been given wing time in the reserves but not a heap of it. I think he look more of a back pocket or half back.

The thing is our mids are tired, they don't have second positions. Some can't, other's can but coaching and development have let them down. We don't rotate well and we pay for it. When our players do rotate they don't have any impact and that's our development. We don't rotate enough so players aren't prepared for it when it happens. No, Cripps has not had much forward time, it's been forced and at random. If our players rotated consistently and not because "this week or this quarter is different" then they would be more settled and impact more.

Crap coaching and development means it does not happen in the 2s, means it does not happen consistently in the 1st and players are not developed and prepared for it when it does happen.

We need to take the navy blue glasses off and see that Voss and Co. can't coach and our player development, despite investing in it is shit.

 

[Gointocarlton]

We need to take the navy blue glasses off and see that Voss and Co. can't coach and our player development, despite investing in it is s**t.

Our development may be terrible, but our list isn't as good as many make out, our general skills are below standard. Voss can't make strawberry jam out of pig shit.

 

[gbatman]

Voss does not rotate players, he does not prepare and develop his players to rotate, he does not believe in players playing more than one position unless they are elite in it because he sees positional play as being a specialist thing. Specialist forward pocket, specialist forward flank specialist onballer etc. this is what he is trying to develop players as and it's garbage. I don't give a shit what he says, his actions and coaching speaks volumes and this is clearly what he believes.

You have smaller list sizes which means to have depth you need players to be able to play more than one position and you have less rotations which means you have to have plenty of players who can rotate and rest on the field. These are things our list/team does not have, week in week out and it does not strive to either. Watch the VFL and you will see this. Watch the AFL and you will see this.

We throw a player into another role when things are going bad, not as part of our game plan/system. Which means we aren't prepared to do this and it's not part of our thinking, it's forced.

We have quit the development of a lot of players secondary positions. Again watch both VFL and AFL and you'll see this. We don't use rotations as a primary tactic. We don't use rotations as a means to carry the work load, conserve energy and as an offensive measure or a player management and workload measure.

If anyone thinks our coaching and player development is any good then you're dreaming. It's rubbish.

 

[gbatman]

Our development may be terrible, but our list isn't as good as many make out, our general skills are below standard. Voss can't make strawberry jam out of pig s**t.

Our list is mid table, it's good enough to make finals but not go much further. But, it's not far off top 4 either. It's really only a bit better development, better coaching and a little more leg speed off the top.

We might feel far away but we aren't. We aren't at the level where we lose easily to a very undermanned Sydney, get smashed by Adelaide. We're a bit better than that.

 

[Red_man2008]

Who is let go off the list this year:

Out:
Philp
Cuningham
O’keefe
Martin (trade for a pick - 3rd at worst)
McGovern (trade for pick - 2nd at worst - WCE)
TDK (trade for picks - late first and a second)
Curnow
Dow

Trade out future first with late first and a second for pick 1 - Harley Reid.
Use pick 6-10 for a running mid/fwd - Zane Duursma, Nick Watson, Colby McKercher.

Free agent pick ups;
Ben McKay

32

Ben Mckay

Age

26

Ht

202cm

Wt

104kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.5

2star

K

3.7

1star

HB

3.8

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

1.7

4star

MG

77.2

1star

D

7.5

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

3.0

2star

M

2.5

3star

T

1.5

2star

MG

88.5

2star

D

7.0

2star

K

3.4

2star

HB

3.6

3star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.0

4star

MG

67.8

1star

Lachie Shultz

Late pick for a mature second ruck forward
Sam Naismith

24

Sam Naismith

Age

31

Ht

205cm

Wt

108kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.9

2star

K

3.6

1star

HB

5.3

4star

CL

2.0

4star

HO

25.5

5star

D

9.5

2star

K

7.5

3star

HB

2.0

1star

CL

3.0

4star

HO

26.5

5star

D

9.2

3star

K

3.2

2star

HB

6.0

4star

CL

1.4

4star

HO

25.4

5star

 

[Gointocarlton]

Our list is mid table, it's good enough to make finals but not go much further. But, it's not far off top 4 either. It's really only a bit better development, better coaching and a little more leg speed off the top.

We might feel far away but we aren't. We aren't at the level where we lose easily to a very undermanned Sydney, get smashed by Adelaide. We're a bit better than that.

Mid table doesn't make finals.
The players who's skill level is questionable under pressure have been in the system for several seasons, they dont need a development coach, they need a shrink.

 

[My Hat]

Voss does not rotate players, he does not prepare and develop his players to rotate, he does not believe in players playing more than one position unless they are elite in it because he sees positional play as being a specialist thing. Specialist forward pocket, specialist forward flank specialist onballer etc. this is what he is trying to develop players as and it's garbage. I don't give a s**t what he says, his actions and coaching speaks volumes and this is clearly what he believes.

Really? Just off the top of my head:

Doc mid/defence
Cerra mid/defence
Kennedy mid/defence (which is bizarre, it should be mid/fwd, but either way it's a rotation)
Walsh has rotated mid/fwd at times
Fisher mostly fwd but sometimes goes mid when he's in the team
JSOS fwd/ruck/even defence at times

There are probably others.

No doubt we need to improve this area of our game like we do so many others. And I'd agree that some players seem to be rotating less at present than they have in the recent past, e.g. Cripps fwd. But it seems a stretch to make a blanket statement that we don't rotate.

 

[JustaBattler]

Really? Just off the top of my head:

Doc mid/defence
Cerra mid/defence
Kennedy mid/defence (which is bizarre, it should be mid/fwd, but either way it's a rotation)
Walsh has rotated mid/fwd at times
Fisher mostly fwd but sometimes goes mid when he's in the team
JSOS fwd/ruck/even defence at times

There are probably others.

No doubt we need to improve this area of our game like we do so many others. And I'd agree that some players seem to be rotating less at present than they have in the recent past, e.g. Cripps fwd. But it seems a stretch to make a blanket statement that we don't rotate.

Just to add...

TDK : Ruck /Forward
Cottrell : HFF/Wing
McGovern : HBF/HFF ( albeit only briefly)
Fisher: HFF:Wing and rover

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Our list is mid table, it's good enough to make finals but not go much further. But, it's not far off top 4 either. It's really only a bit better development, better coaching and a little more leg speed off the top.

We might feel far away but we aren't. We aren't at the level where we lose easily to a very undermanned Sydney, get smashed by Adelaide. We're a bit better than that.

We have zero depth in the midfield (least from a pace perspective) , we have drafted (and arguably poorly developed) too many flankers over the years, and our under manned backline has to bear the brunt of our midfield currently not cutting it from a defensive effort
.
We need to back Voss in for a few more years and trust and assume the player development will improve along the way..

The club doesn't help reassure supporters with the constant mixed messages we are getting from the board and CEO.

We/They need to be more realistic in their communication to supporters and members, and I think Brian Cook was spot on when he said our rebuild wasn't finished (when he first arrived at the club)

 

[Accidental genius]

Cripps hasn't been forward nearly as much though.

First half of last year he had taken 25 shots at goal, had 12 marks inside 50, 50x inside 50s. We were 8-3 at this point.

Second half of last year (after we changed approach following the Collingwood game) = 7 shots at goal, 4 marks inside 50, 45 inside 50s (8 of those in round 23 vs Collingwood). We went 4-7 in this stretch

First half of 2023 = 10 shots at goal, 2 marks inside 50, 37x inside 50s. We have gone 4-1-6 in this stretch.

He is clearly going forward less, being used as a target less, and having less impact, regardless of accuracy.

It’s obviously a coaching instruction. Why would they do this though?

 

[gbatman]

Really? Just off the top of my head:

Doc mid/defence
Cerra mid/defence
Kennedy mid/defence (which is bizarre, it should be mid/fwd, but either way it's a rotation)
Walsh has rotated mid/fwd at times
Fisher mostly fwd but sometimes goes mid when he's in the team
JSOS fwd/ruck/even defence at times

There are probably others.

No doubt we need to improve this area of our game like we do so many others. And I'd agree that some players seem to be rotating less at present than they have in the recent past, e.g. Cripps fwd. But it seems a stretch to make a blanket statement that we don't rotate.

You just backed up what I am saying, it's not a part of our plans, it's all forced.

Doc Goes mid when we feel he has to, yep well done that is one we do a bit.
Cerra hardly rotates and if he does it's forced and doesn't have a huge impact, he impacted forward better at Freo, not us because it's not something we do enough or train enough.
Kennedy back when this is clearly a bod move and there were better options.
Walsh has never impacted outside the midfield, he should be has never been developed outside the midfield and has never been prepared to.
Fisher hardly goes on the ball, it's only if we have injuries.
Silvagni is a forced rotation. It's mostly because we have failed to develop DeKoning's forward game and are showing no interest in doing so, as noted from his game against Williamstown in the VFL where he took up all the ruck time despite O'Keefe and Mirkov playing and there being no need for him to be in the ruck in that game at all.

 

[gbatman]

We have zero depth in the midfield (least from a pace perspective) , we have drafted (and arguably poorly developed) too many flankers over the years, and our under manned backline has to bear the brunt of our midfield currently not cutting it from a defensive effort
.
We need to back Voss in for a few more years and trust and assume the player development will improve along the way..

The club doesn't help reassure supporters with the constant mixed messages we are getting from the board and CEO.

We/They need to be more realistic in their communication to supporters and members, and I think Brian Cook was spot on when he said our rebuild wasn't finished (when he first arrived at the club)

Yeah, because they won't play Dow and won't give much time to Durdin and Fisher in there. They also consistently play Cripps, Hewett and Kennedy in there. They would rather play them out of position than play Dow and throw Durdin and Fisher through there.

Backline is undermanned due to too many players not having a secondary position and poor selections when it comes playing someone out of position. We had 4 wingmen fit when our backling was missing players. Binns getting 30 touches per game. Hollands a young winger with excellent defensive attributes, O'Brien. We chose to put Kennedy in defence instead of a winger. What position is most like half back? Wing. At high level football half back is pretty much defensive wing with the need to drop back deep in defence at times.

You create list depth by having more AFL quality players but also by having more players who can play another position which IMO is a must have. Our development and coaching for some reason has gone the other way. We do not develop players to play other positions and do no play players in other positions as much or as regularly as we should. We do when forced to which catches players by surprise which is the wrong way to go.

Cook is one of the few who knows what they are doing and where we are at.

 

[gbatman]

Mid table doesn't make finals.
The players who's skill level is questionable under pressure have been in the system for several seasons, they dont need a development coach, they need a shrink.

7-13 is mid table, two of those teams make finals. I would like to think we would be in the top end.

Shrink can say anything, end of the day the only way confidence is built is proving your ability to yourself. That comes from training well and playing well. That comes from good coaching, good fitness, good management and good development.

 

[My Hat]

You just backed up what I am saying, it's not a part of our plans, it's all forced.

Doc Goes mid when we feel he has to, yep well done that is one we do a bit.
Cerra hardly rotates and if he does it's forced and doesn't have a huge impact, he impacted forward better at Freo, not us because it's not something we do enough or train enough.
Kennedy back when this is clearly a bod move and there were better options.
Walsh has never impacted outside the midfield, he should be has never been developed outside the midfield and has never been prepared to.
Fisher hardly goes on the ball, it's only if we have injuries.
Silvagni is a forced rotation. It's mostly because we have failed to develop DeKoning's forward game and are showing no interest in doing so, as noted from his game against Williamstown in the VFL where he took up all the ruck time despite O'Keefe and Mirkov playing and there being no need for him to be in the ruck in that game at all.

Not sure what you mean by forced. Doc / Cerra / Kennedy rotate most games. Walsh has had a role at times starting at hf for centre bounces and looking to provide that connection with the mids. JSOS is mostly being selected in the ruck/fwd rotation role -- you might argue he's the wrong choice, but the role is the role regardless of who fills it.

 

[btdg]

It’s obviously a coaching instruction. Why would they do this though?

My take, and i stand by this, is that across the first half of last year we played attacking footy and were able to lay the hammer down on teams, but vulnerable defensively on the rebound.

When we lost to Collingwood (who most thoight were a bottom 4 team at the time) they scored several cheap goals 'out the back'. We only lost by a kick but there was a lot of tall about how slow we were in transition etc. Voss and co got spooked by this...

From the following week it was immediately apparent that we had changed strategy, with more numbers behind the ball and a deeper zone. We beat Essendon but it was like 70-40 instead of the 110-80 wins we had been having.

Ever since we have kept the midfield back and relied on forwards for pressure. We have been better defensively but much worse in attack, and in particular, we are getting almost no goals from our midfield.

Against the Bulldogs we pulled the trigger a bit more in the third quarter, scored heavily and took the lead, but then they also scored very easily when they won it back again and blew us back out. So Voss dropped everyone back again last week.

Also of note: Dow played that infamous game vs Collingwood (his first for the year) and had 21 touches... and was immediately dropped.

Also of note: Since that game Collingwood went on a 10 game winning streak, are 20-3 overall, and have destroyed everyone on transition with their run and carry. Did we look slow? Yep. Did we actually hold up about as well as anyone against them... yep...

 

[gbatman]

Just to add...

TDK : Ruck /Forward
Cottrell : HFF/Wing
McGovern : HBF/HFF ( albeit only briefly)
Fisher: HFF:Wing and rover

Do any of them play both positions well and are prepared to play both positions because it's part of the game plan? No they don't, they don't get trained and developed well and they don't do it often enough to be good at it because these rotations are forced.

We should have a number of forwards and backs capable of going on the ball and on the wings. We should have wings who can rest in other positons and onballers who can go forward and have an impact, we should have a proper forward ruck, someone who can go forward and take a mark and kick a goal but also compete with proper AFL ruckmen. We don't and don't prepare or develop to.

TDK forward craft has been neglected, is being developed as a pure ruckmen. Played a whole game in the VFL, does not need to work on ruck craft all that much, needs to work really hard on forward craft, played no minutes forward. despite the fact we are desperate for a forward ruck.

Cottrell is a genuine rotation. Somehow has been developed in the last moments of this season this way.

McGovern is a third tall/medium defender who under extreme circumstances has been thrown forward for no impact.

Fisher hardly plays rover.

 

[gbatman]

Not sure what you mean by forced. Doc / Cerra / Kennedy rotate most games. Walsh has had a role at times starting at hf for centre bounces and looking to provide that connection with the mids. JSOS is mostly being selected in the ruck/fwd rotation role -- you might argue he's the wrong choice, but the role is the role regardless of who fills it.

Players out. It came about because some of our main 5 mids were missing, mainly Walsh last season. It's only because his impact was so good that this was continued.

Cerra and Kennedy have little impact rotation and mostly rotate via the bench. Walsh at half forward was used a bit last year when all 5 were playing but was only mildly successful IMO. Can nearly guarantee that Walsh's forward craft was never worked on. Cerra had an impact going forward at Fremantle but I've never seen it at Carlton.

Yes Silvagni is a half forward who is forced to play other roles, handy but he does not rotate or get a game if there is a proper forward ruck so once again this is a forced move and not a tactical move to gain advantage above the opposition.

 

[fmurphy30]

Sorry, long post about Paddy Dow

15

Paddy Dow

Age

24

Ht

184cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.1

4star

K

7.0

3star

HB

7.1

4star

M

2.1

2star

T

2.9

4star

CL

2.6

4star

D

7.0

1star

K

4.0

1star

HB

3.0

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.0

3star

CL

0.0

1star

D

12.4

4star

K

5.8

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

1.6

2star

T

2.8

5star

CL

2.6

5star

. Probably best placed in here.

I watch the Magoos pretty much every week (the ones don't give me much to get excited about). I've wanted Dow to succeed from the outset and always kept a close eye on him. I think he has improved massively in the last two years. Does that translate to being an effective senior player? I don't know, but neither does the MC. That's what worries me. We haven't handled him well at all.

Dow is not Pat Malone in not being great defensively, but not many ball focussed mids are. He works much harder and longer now than he used to. Lays tackles, corrals and buys into the team ethos. When Harley Reid played, Dow was in his ear about where to stand (it didn't help Reid in the middle who couldn't get near it, but the effort was there!). He busts a gut every week and even when he has a lean period, he works his way into it. He can now impose himself on a contest. If you are not watching closely, you might think he had 20, when he's had 40. That's because he feeds the ball quickly to others. He can use his short burst pace well, but I'd like to see him do that more (I think with confidence, he would).

Dow is an elite clearance player. He gets the ball in congestion. Even in the ones he could do that. BUT, he has improved immensely with his ability to get involved around the ground. He accumulates now. One of the great criticisms was he didn't get the ball enough in the ones. He was clearance or bust. Well, now he does. Is he damaging enough? By hand, yes. His ability to create space with handball in traffic is awesome. One of the issues for the senior team is that we don't get effective clearances. Too many hurried kicks to nowhere. Effectively handball to advantage can change that. Dow could be very influential in this space.

By foot he is not as good. I don't think he is a horrendous kick. He is pretty good around goals. He can hit a target and do it lace out in the right circumstances. Being an inside mid, he has a lot of hurried kicks (he has kicked more this year at times because I suspect he is told to). These can turn over. That can happen to anyone. He is not an elite kick but he is not a poor one. Maybe an occasional ordinary decision maker... put it this way, I don't think his kicking is a show stopper.

Last week, he spent time at half forward and found ways to get involved. That is a sign there is still something to work with and maybe the MC haven't given up on him yet. Still, I think he should have played long before now.

In the second senior practice game before this season, Voss appeared to have stuck Dow on a hot Errol Gulden for 5-10 minutes early on. He was torched and Gulden went ballistic. Paddy is not a tagger (bad choice of role) and Gulden was BOG with 45 touches and 3 goals. He didn't play exclusively on Paddy and it should not have been seen as Paddy's fault, but I wonder if it was.

Bear in mind, Paddy has not had a decent run in the seniors under Voss at all. It's been two years. In the back end of 2021, he was starting to find his feet. More ball, more impact. There was an Adelaide game he was excellent in. Several that he had an impact. I thought he would break out in 2022, but he was in the Magoos. I watched. He was starting to find the ball more but he was not getting opportunities. He's played 3 games under Voss (another as an unused sub). A couple of those were off the sub bench. That's not getting a chance. That's wasting his talent.

The wash up? Selection integrity demands he gets a chance. He apparently is well liked and a clean skin. He is not out due to poor behaviour or anything like that. He also is not Nick Graham (twos god only). I think he is much better footballer. Give him 4-5 weeks in the ones and find out. It is the least a responsible club should do.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think Paddy will be a future hall of famer, but he has the ability to be much more than we have given him the chance to be. I thought the same about Matt Kennedy two years ago when he was in the twos. My thoughts at the time were we should contract him even if we are not playing him. You always need depth. I honestly think Dow is better than that but Blind Freddy can see he won't be here at the end of the year. I blame the club for that. We should have done better. We can still do better. Play him.

TL: DR - give him a chance and find out. He has improved.