Econopower
Team Captain
- Aug 15, 2020
- 367
- 955
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
Fantastic postI'd love to do a full review of our list management over the last period, to confirm this, but definitely feels like we've made some mistakes and are feeling it. A lot of good has been done, but also a few bad moves.
RIght now if our squad was holding Dougal and Ladhams, they'd both be best 22, both are entering their prime years, and we wouldn't have a squad filled with so many speculative late draft pick kids. We gave Ladhams away and Dougal I'm pretty sure we got Williams for who still looks unlikely to make it long term.
We've also cut too hard in our delistings in last few years. It seems like a great idea to just cut those that won't make the grade, but you have to do it with balance. Picking up too many kids, with shitty deep draft picks does not end well. To develop they need to be playing in a more competitive side where they are given the opportunity to excel in the contest. Instead the weak lineup we have exposes our better players to needing to lift to a level they just aren't capable of.
Jackson - 2021 4th round pick, unlikely to ever play AFL and would be playing reserves for North.
Scully - A 2022 4th round KPP, extremely raw, would be playing SANFL reserves if lucky at West.
McCallum - Our highest pick of the developing crop, a semi-tall, bit O'Shea or Pettigrew like, that was end of 2nd round, and still is years away from AFL. Would play reserves elsewhere, maybe senior footy.
Marshall - Literally the last pick in the 2022 draft. Would be playing reserves at best at the Panthers.
Visentini - 2021 4th round pick, a good kid, but years away from AFL. Certainly SANFL reserves and even senior capable.
Barkla - Cat B rookie, would be lucky to be playing reserves at the Eagles.
So we have 6 players in our side weekly that are literally a liability right now. Promising futures or not, we're carrying a third of a team that's not good enough. That are super deep, useless picks that we've filled out list with.
On top of that, today we fielded 3 ruckmen. None of which contain the mobility to play any role other than ruck effectively.
Then on top of that we Nick Moore who is a good trier, but lacks polish, then we have an array of amateur league players filling gaps. Francou and Hagan are 18 year old kids that weren't drafted, they're not even deep draft, they weren't drafted.
So now we're talking at least 8 super young, largely ineffectual kids, that are in no way up to the level and ultimately are bringing the side down.
Our best players are Burgoyne, Mead, Bonner and Dumont. 2 of those again juniors.
Then you have Sinn who just doesn't seem to be coming on, Lachie Jones who just desperately needs some continuity in a position, and Clurey who is cooked now.
We've got issues everywhere because our list balance is absolutely ****ed. We have ok immediate depth, but way too many deep draft picks filling the list.
We CANT afford to keep going to the draft and picking up a stack of pick 50 players, because they won't develop in this environment. We desperately need to pick up some free agents, and/or find some mature age players worth a crack. We certainly can't afford to cut so deep when again our first pick looks like it'll be high 30s.