Team Mgmt. Talk about the makeup of our list - midfield balance, height profile, endurance runners

[BrunoV]

Something else that has genuinely irked me for the past 3 - 5 seasons. We never reward the guys doing the right things at VFL level. We have had an abndance of guys I feel that have been helld back or not been given the opportunity to succeed at AFL level because of the poor development at EFC.

BrunoV's love child Jordan Ridley simply had to play games last year. He wasn't "banging the door down"but he was (is) talented enough and despite not dominating VFL games was doing all the right things at the level to want a step up imho.

This year we have hardly had a kid dominate for long stretches, perhaps Trent Mynott early in the season (bests in 7 weeks were, 5, 1, 0, 2, 0 , 6, 3) but instead of giving him an opportunity we go back to the well of Kyle Langford as an inside midfielder. IT baffles me. Not only do we have a natural midfielder (Mynott) but someone who was poor in the position (Langford) we had someone pushing to take the place.

In the case of Ridley, we need to understand that our back 6 is our strength. Arguarbly one of the better, well balanced groups in the comp. He was going to struggle to fit into it, but in the case of the better teams, when a player is demanding AFL selection, you fit him in and give him an opportunity. Feels like we continually go back to the square peg/round hole dilemma that has plagued our club for so long. Obviously structures don't always allow for this to happen but you need to make it work and often sacrifice a more senior player for the betterment of the team/club.

Not to mention that Ridley was good when he played AFL.

It's weird, I dont know why poster are so ambivalent about him playing.

Unless everyone managed to predict in April that he'd lose form in July.

He wasn't being developed in other parts of the ground either. Yes there was a quarter here and there but what we were really doing was holding him in reserve as a KPD.

It's like I've been saying. There is an enormous disconnect between list management/recruiting and player development and coaching.

Most of the talent recruited in the last 4 drafts is developed in the same part of the ground meaning it doesnt fit in a team.

It's staggering.

 

[TheWeapon]

Either of the young King brothers considering moving? Would probably need 1st round pick + player to get though like Tom Boyd so is a high risk strategy. Are Josh Kennedy or Luke Parker from the Swans cooked or do they enough years left worth having a crack to get an inside mid?

 

[owen87]

Either of the young King brothers considering moving? Would probably need 1st round pick + player to get though like Tom Boyd so is a high risk strategy. Are Josh Kennedy or Luke Parker from the Swans cooked or do they enough years left worth having a crack to get an inside mid?

Kennedy is pretty much done, Parker has a few good years left, though I doubt the Swans will want to trade him given Kennedy is the only other senior midfielder they’ve really got at the moment.

 

[freddy mercury]

How on earth are all you guys think we will get these trades done? We have no draft picks, unlikely that we have any players other than Daniher that would gain interest from rival clubs.

 

[ghostdog]

How on earth are all you guys think we will get these trades done? We have no draft picks, unlikely that we have any players other than Daniher that would gain interest from rival clubs.

I reckon we could shop Zaharakis to GC. They're screaming out for some mature end talent.

 

[freddy mercury]

I reckon we could shop Zaharakis to GC. They're screaming out for some mature end talent.

30 years old, probably three years left, realistically we would get a pick from 30-50.

 

[ghostdog]

30 years old, probably three years left, realistically we would get a pick from 30-50.

Yep. And I think most people speculating are operating on the premise of Daniher and Raz choosing to leave, hence the presumption of currency. Outside of that we're looking at any of Langford, Laverde, Zaharakis, Begley etc. etc. You're right though, if there's no Daniher/Raz in the equation we probably aren't trading much.

 

[freddy mercury]

Yep. And I think most people speculating are operating on the premise of Daniher and Raz choosing to leave, hence the presumption of currency. Outside of that we're looking at any of Langford, Laverde, Zaharakis, Begley etc. etc. You're right though, if there's no Daniher/Raz in the equation we probably aren't trading much.

Both carry injury history which taints their worth. Hard to argue with that, I think they both go, they will see the light. I would be happy to get picks in return or a ruck in their prime.

 

[Cold Sober]

Impressed with Zok or Wok whatever his name is and Bowman today, throw Ryder with those two, we will be well served.
Box Heppell Bellchambers and [you pick] for trade , keep Begley and Francis it's thanks for coming.

 

[freddy mercury]

Impressed with Zok or Wok whatever his name is and Bowman today, throw Ryder with those two, we will be well served.
Box Heppell Bellchambers and [you pick] for trade , keep Begley and Francis it's thanks for coming.

No club would look at TBC.

 

[yaco55]

No club would look at TBC.

It seems that some would never go to the draft - Just use draft picks on recycled players.

 

[Milanista28]

Begley Jok Ham Mutch Houlahan Clarke Ridley Mozzie Gown

How many of them will play 100 games for us and will any play 150 or 200?

We need a couple to jump a level next season.

 

[Yoda_]

Begley Jok Ham Mutch Houlahan Clarke Ridley Mozzie Gown

How many of them will play 100 games for us and will any play 150 or 200?

We need a couple to jump a level next season.

The bolded could be ones that are around for 5 years. The rest? end of next year

 

[Xavier Menzies]

The bolded could be ones that are around for 5 years. The rest? end of next year

Harsh. Much, Dylan & mozzie have futures.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

The bolded could be ones that are around for 5 years. The rest? end of next year

Harsh on Mozzie and Gown thought they both showed very good signs.

 

[citizen-erased]

The bolded could be ones that are around for 5 years. The rest? end of next year

Begley is the big one.
We ignored a few at that draft in Drew, Stewart, Graham and Battle that would have been handy.

 

[Yoda_]

Begley is the big one.
We ignored a few at that draft in Drew, Stewart, Graham and Battle that would have been handy.

Dodo just doing Dodo things

 

[Yoda_]

Harsh on Mozzie and Gown thought they both showed very good signs.

I questioned Mozzie but he hasn't even debuted. Gown is in no mans land for mine

 

[Red Black and Blue]

I questioned Mozzie but he hasn't even debuted. Gown is in no mans land for mine

I like Gown, was starting to put some form together before his injury. But I mainly like him for his attributes. He’s aggressive and attacks the contest hard, pressures very well for someone his height, has better lateral movement than most his height and uses the ball well. Needs to work on reading the game but that’s really an issue for all our forwards so ill wait and see on that one when we get Caracella in. I think he’ll make it.

 

[andleanback]

I questioned Mozzie but he hasn't even debuted. Gown is in no mans land for mine

How is gown in no mans land? Had his first season ended prematurely through injury. You can’t expect too much from talls in their first year. I’m happy the club pulled the pin so he can have a full preseason and launch into next year.

 

[blitzer]

There's way too much negativity in general regarding our list. We had tons of injuries this year, it made a lot of our developing players look a lot worse than they are as they were forced to take on a lot more responsibility than they were ready for.

We have our issues no doubt but if you read some of the posts on here you'd say that we are just ordinary across the board but i think we are a fair bit better than that. We have a pretty good back 6, maybe one of the best in the league if we could get our team defense working more reliably. We genuinely have great pace across our team. Whilst our midfield isn't top tier I still reckon if we had all of Merrett, Shiel, Heppell and Smith fit and firing we would have done pretty good this year. Heppell limping around on one foot and Smith MIA hurt us a huge amount. Our support cast doesn't look that bad with the likes of Parish, McGrath, some rotating players like Stringer, Snelling and Tippa etc. Could do with some bolstering but really we lost out having our top end compromised more so than just not having any good players to begin with.

Ruck is an issue unless we get a miracle result from Draper. Bellchambers lasting a full season is pretty doubtful but I do reckon he did a good job whilst fit and our whole team was more competitive when we did have that. Clarke isn't an answer for anything.

Tall forwards seem like an issue. McKernan I think is good enough to be a 2nd key forward particularly since he's solid in the relief ruck role but I think its a bit much to hope for him to be our best key forward in a successful forward line against better defences. If we lose Daniher its difficult to see who could step up or how we could secure a replacement (Hooker would be my break in case of emergency option if he leaves). Brown is probably only good enough to be depth and Stewart has to overcome injuries and improve as a player which seems tough. Stringer is quality as a 3rd tall but is not a key forward. I think our small forwards are good with Tippa, Fantasia and Snelling. Guys like Smith to rotate through. We do lack depth for the role though until some of our development options take the next step which is made worse by the fact that Fantasia is made of tissue paper.

I know there will be a lot of talk about getting that big bodied mid and sure that would be nice if we could get an upgrade on Langford who I don't rate as a midfielder (he goes OK as a forward though). A more pressing issue for me is ensuring that we put together a list that consistently applies pressure on the opposition week in week out. Its by far the biggest success factor to our gamestyle and we simply don't bring it often enough. Watching West Coast break through our tackles time after time was very disappointing.

In a nutshell I have little faith that we will improve our list over this trade period in a huge way. What we need to do is get our players fit and get more out of the players we do have. Hopefully Caracella can do something about our midfield-forward line connection which was problematic in general throughout the year.

 

[Mikevk123]

Aaron Francis- 3 years
Will Snelling- 1 Year
Tom Jok- 1 Year
Mitch Brown- 1 Year
Michael Hartley- 1 Year
Trent Mynott- 1 Year
Jordan Houlahan- 1 Year
Mark Baguley- Retire
Matt Dea-Retire
Jake Long-Delist
David Myers-Retire
Luke Lavender-Retire
Zac Clarke-Delist
Ben McNeice-Delist

Trade
Jayden Laverde
David Zaharakis

 

[Milanista28]

Houlahan to be delisted surely?

 

[Mikevk123]

Houlahan to be delisted surely?

Played well in vfl. Put on rookie list

 

[Yoda_]

Played well in vfl. Put on rookie list

He is a 185cm mark and kick flanker that barely averaged 10 possessions a game. I like what he could become but the growth just is not there. Likely to be delisted