Recruitment: Are we in trouble?

Benji85

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"Jamie Bennell, Brant Colledge and the club’s first selection in the 2015 national draft, Luke Partington, were among five Eagles dropped to the WAFL reserves on Monday in a concerning sign for the club’s depth"

"Jetta managed only eight disposals for East Perth in Monday’s 31-point loss to West Perth at HBF Arena"
(Dale Miller - The West Australian on June 8, 2016).

This on top of the poor showing given by Redden since round one...

Has our recruitment been a complete misfire over the last few years?
Are we now in big trouble in terms of our future depth?

Honestly the only person I've been encouraged by is Liam Duggan, but I still think he's got a few years of serious development before he truly hit his straps

I'm concerned...
 
Apr 1, 2013
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It's mixed but you're being dramatic. Shred and Barrass from 13, Duggan and Nelson from 14, too early to tell this year but Cole looks fantastic. Traded in Yeo, Ellis, Wellingham and Cripps are all successes I'd say. Not spectacular but given our picks it's fine. Unlucky with Waterman and Cavka too.
 

ioppolo

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Colledge won't make the end of year cut, and Bennell would need some serious tounge skills to stay on. Other than that it's all good.

Jetta, they were trying to get someone to fill a void.
 

SpaceClef

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It's mixed but you're being dramatic. Shred and Barrass from 13, Duggan and Nelson from 14, too early to tell this year but Cole looks fantastic. Traded in Yeo, Ellis, Wellingham and Cripps are all successes I'd say. Not spectacular but given our picks it's fine. Unlucky with Waterman and Cavka too.
Cole looking 'fantastic' is a bit of an indictment on where we're at really.

I mean thanks to a couple of 20+ touch games in the WAFL some people on this board are touting Nelson as our next inside mid saviour, despite showing little more than workmanlike poise and skill as a small defender at AFL level. Let alone a premier midfielder.

Cole looks solid but far from a sure thing at this stage, but we have thought similar things about a few blokes over the last 6 or 7 years, and most of them have been delisted.

Really, the only players who have been brought in by us in that time where I have thought "s**t, this kid is our future star" are Shuey, McGovern and Naitanui.

The next rung down have been Gaff, Duggan, Darling - where you can tell they are quality but not at the same superstar level. Maybe Sheed scrapes into this category.

The rest are those we have let ourselves become conditioned into being satisfied with or excited by despite not showing much more than average standard and consistency.

That's a pretty eeyore perspective on things but * it - I reckon we have missed the boat unless we can absolutely nail the draft this year and somehow pick up a Bontempelli or P Cripps beast that can impact from day one.
 

mad_eagle

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You forgotten about Dom Sheed already?

Duggan needs time to fill out, don't forget he missed a large chunk of last year, I'll be happy if he can get through a full season of AFL footy...he'll be better for it.
Nelson & Cole look like they could both be serviceable & honest players in the years to come. Not to mention, it's far to early to be writing off any of last years picks! Mutimer is coming off no pre season, Allen will take time to develop & Partington had an interrupted pre season too if I'm not mistaken.

Don't get me wrong, we have some deadwood to shed at seasons end, but it's not all doom & gloom.
 

Belltower

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Cole looking 'fantastic' is a bit of an indictment on where we're at really.

I mean thanks to a couple of 20+ touch games in the WAFL some people on this board are touting Nelson as our next inside mid saviour, despite showing little more than workmanlike poise and skill as a small defender at AFL level. Let alone a premier midfielder.

Cole looks solid but far from a sure thing at this stage, but we have thought similar things about a few blokes over the last 6 or 7 years, and most of them have been delisted.

Really, the only players who have been brought in by us in that time where I have thought "s**t, this kid is our future star" are Shuey, McGovern and Naitanui.

The next rung down have been Gaff, Duggan, Darling - where you can tell they are quality but not at the same superstar level. Maybe Sheed scrapes into this category.

The rest are those we have let ourselves become conditioned into being satisfied with or excited by despite not showing much more than average standard and consistency.

That's a pretty eeyore perspective on things but **** it - I reckon we have missed the boat unless we can absolutely nail the draft this year and somehow pick up a Bontempelli or P Cripps beast that can impact from day one.
Gaff all Australian. Not a star. Please. Nailed 2010, absolutely nailed it. 2009 and 2011 were failures, apart from shep now. Other years we have done quite well. Cripps and Hill for what we gave up have been good. Yeo has a potential to be a star, too early to call that a fail. Bulldogs have nailed it recently but they have had their fair share of failures like all clubs.
 
Jun 30, 2009
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Gaff all Australian. Not a star. Please. Nailed 2010, absolutely nailed it. 2009 and 2011 were failures, apart from shep now. Other years we have done quite well. Cripps and Hill for what we gave up have been good. Yeo has a potential to be a star, too early to call that a fail. Bulldogs have nailed it recently but they have had their fair share of failures like all clubs.
Shep is turning out to be a potential aa player - but make no mistake - at pick 7 we werent looking for an aa hbf.
 

dave123

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Look in three weeks or so we will be 10-4 and these doom threads will go away

Yes we have depth issues ...so do many teams ....we targeted two good free agents and vein though cam Mcarthey is supposed to be going to freo I'm sure west coast will be sniffing about and having a chat with his manager at some point

We need to target quality players in free agency and trades because we are going to get high picks anytime soon

That said you don't want to pay overs either
 

Belltower

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Shep is turning out to be a potential aa player - but make no mistake - at pick 7 we werent looking for an aa hbf.
Yes but what was the talk in that draft. Fyfe was never mentioned at that high pick, most people wanted jetta and lucas, guess what we have them and shep is doing better. Jakovich played most of his junior and early senior wafl career (as a 16/17 yr old) as a forward, ends up being one of the great CHB of all time. Shep is one of the better HB going around, we will take it.
 
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Yes but what was the talk in that draft. Fyfe was never mentioned at that high pick, most people wanted jetta and lucas, guess what we have them and shep is doing better. Jakovich played most of his junior and early senior wafl career (as a 16/17 yr old) as a forward, ends up being one of the great CHB of all time. Shep is one of the better HB going around, we will take it.
Personally i would have taken fyfe :(
 

Shmiddy15

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ok but could have done much better. no stars at all. By that I mean look at Sydney's first year players we are well short with kids playing WAFL 2's

Shame we don't have an academy like them, wouldn't mind seeing patty cripps or jessie hogan running around for us.
 
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Someone else said in another thread I'm pretty sure there is a cap on West Coast players in the first team so there will always be some in the reserves. Colledge is now a rookie and Bennell is a former rookie that will most likely be delisted. The other 3 are Snadden(rookie), Partington and Allen who are all first year players. Its not all doom and gloom. Outside of our current 22 we have Barrass, Brown, Sheed, Nelson, Jetta, Ellis and McInnes that can all play AFL. There is some depth there. Not many clubs have endless reserve talent like GWS
 

SpaceClef

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Gaff all Australian. Not a star. Please. Nailed 2010, absolutely nailed it. 2009 and 2011 were failures, apart from shep now. Other years we have done quite well. Cripps and Hill for what we gave up have been good. Yeo has a potential to be a star, too early to call that a fail. Bulldogs have nailed it recently but they have had their fair share of failures like all clubs.
I don't think Gaff is an out and out superstar of the level that a club needs to be a dominant force.

Chad Fletcher was AA in 2004. I see Gaff as a moderate upgrade on Chad Fletcher - an important cog in a midfield, but with a few flaws and certainly not the engine it's built around.

If you don't realise Gaff has some major flaws (no right foot, limited contested ability, very limited utility) then that proves my point about how our list has been overrated.

Like I said, when Gaff debuted you could tell he was definite quality but that next rung down from the 'superstar' impression that you get seeing the development of the sorts of players that midfields are built around.
 
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Belltower

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Personally i would have taken fyfe :(
At the time you thought he would be a monster midfielder, you must be a genius, was playing as a skinny forward pocket for WA in the champs I remember. In hindsight we would have all taken Fyfe. Go back through the past, I remember all the talk was about lucas, jetta and sheppard of our local crop, and we have them all now. I wasn't on big footy then so I am not sure what they were saying on here but I don't remember any talk of fyfe with our first pick or dockers first, they took morabito. He has been cruelled by injury but fyfe was already more impressive in the first year than morabito.
 

Belltower

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I don't think Gaff is an out and out superstar of the level that a club needs to be a dominant force.

Chad Fletcher was AA in 2004. I see Gaff as a slightly better Chad Fletcher - an important cog in a midfield, but with a few flaws and certainly not the engine it's built around.

If you don't realise Gaff has some major flaws (no right foot, limited contested ability, very limited utility) then that proves my point about how our list has been overrated.

Like I said, when Gaff debuted you could tell he was definite quality but he's that next rung down from the 'superstar' impression that you get seeing the development of the sorts of players that midfields are built around.
Gaff is 23 or 24 and I am sure plenty of improvement to come, yes he is not judd or cousins or kerr but a player that can run all day, break a tag and use the ball well (this year a bit off for some reason) is a valuable player. Bennell, swallow and Day before him, polec, heppell (did not want to leave Melbourne). You think we could have done better that year. He is a star in his position, if we have a position locked down that we are likely to win every week I am pretty happy.
 

SpaceClef

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Gaff is 23 or 24 and I am sure plenty of improvement to come, yes he is not judd or cousins or kerr but a player that can run all day, break a tag and use the ball well (this year a bit off for some reason) is a valuable player. Bennell, swallow and Day before him, polec, heppell (did not want to leave Melbourne). You think we could have done better that year. He is a star in his position, if we have a position locked down that we are likely to win every week I am pretty happy.
Never said anything about our draft performance that year - I was just making a point that we don't have many young players in our side where I have thought 'wow - this guy is going to be a super star that will bring us a flag'.

I also don't agree that Gaff is going to 'win his position' every week. He'll reliably rack up stats, but that doesn't necessarily = winning his position.

Anyway, splitting hairs here over one player instead of focusing on our overall list management/recruitment since our last flag.
 
Sep 28, 2009
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Never said anything about our draft performance that year - I was just making a point that we don't have many young players in our side where I have thought 'wow - this guy is going to be a super star that will bring us a flag'.

I also don't agree that Gaff is going to 'win his position' every week. He'll reliably rack up stats, but that doesn't necessarily = winning his position.

Anyway, splitting hairs here over one player instead of focusing on our overall list management/recruitment since our last flag.
We haven't picked many genuine superstars because we haven't had any top 5 picks apart from Gaff and Naitanui. How many come out of each draft? Maybe only a handful.
 

SpaceClef

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