Analysis Clarko in 2019 “We’re a middle of the road team”

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Jan 17, 2008
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We’ve disagreed about this before. Lewis had an interrupted preseason, and was then played behind Patton as a general rule. He didn’t become sh*t suddenly. The club didn’t prioritise him, plain and simple.

As for being denied games.. yes it happened. Clarko said it himself in the preseason about Morrison playing out of position for years to accommodate Smith and Henderson on the wing.

O’Brien: I also thought Clarko knew where he was at. Then he dropped him and recalled him in the space of two weeks. Absolute nowhere-land is where he’s at now, and the coaches are to blame as much as him.

Edit: I think if we’re all perfectly honest, there was a rebuild to be had in 2017, and it didn’t happen. The club backed themselves in, we backed them in. But we’re still paying the price.
Are you suggesting we only play the youngest players on the list in the senior team and that is the only way to develop players? Kosi was managed. Does that mean we must not play O’Brien?

go and look at the 2005-2007 team. Full of guys that weren’t in our 2008 premiership team. Clarko didn’t just play kids then so why do you expect he would do it now?
 
May 10, 2007
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6 years ago we won b2b2b, 5 years ago we finished top 4, 3 years ago we finished top 4. Get a grip.

After this season it'll be 6 seasons without a finals win, 4 seasons out of 5 missing the 8 including 3 in a row and back to back bottom 4 finishes.

But I think the bigger issue is his reluctance to fully commit to youth although this season is better than the last few in that regard.

Also the football brand we play is pretty much unwatchable, 430 touches yesterday for 45 inside 50s is some dire s**t.
 
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Are you suggesting we only play the youngest players on the list in the senior team and that is the only way to develop players? Kosi was managed. Does that mean we must not play O’Brien?

go and look at the 2005-2007 team. Full of guys that weren’t in our 2008 premiership team. Clarko didn’t just play kids then so why do you expect he would do it now?

That is true, the problem we'll have this time moving forward is we don't have elite level young core like we did in 2006, compare our sub 24 players in 2006 compared to now and it's dire.
 
Jul 13, 2015
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It's okay to be down the bottom of the ladder as long as we are giving young players opportunities and preparing for the future, Clarko refuses to do this. He's full of crap the last few years.

Play the kids and let them get flogged everyweek. That worked so well for GCS in 2012.

Or maybe develop them at Box Hill so they actually learn rather than barely touch the ball.

Which clubs have succeeded by throwing kids to the wolves ?
 
Sep 13, 2020
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You cant play just 'kids' , there are enough examples of this to show how it doesnt work in the now or the future.

We are currently playing a group of youngsters in the senior side , plus we have a good group in the VFL who are developing and performing .
Its actually a very good sign and points to us being able to filter them into the side with some confidence rather than throwing a heap in and hoping for the best.
By seasons end we most likely will have played a heap of 'kids' through the season .

We have played the two previous GF teams and have had a road trip to Perth.
Freo arent world beaters but they will roll some very good sides over there .

We are most likely winning 6-8 games , get a decent pick and draft hand.
We will be a lot better next season .
Got to play the patient and long game, seems after 4 rounds thats running out .
 
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That is true, the problem we'll have this time moving forward is we don't have elite level young core like we did in 2006, compare our sub 24 players in 2006 compared to now and it's dire.
1618174730887.png

croad, hodge, Mitchell, Williams, brown, Crawford (well past his best by 2008), Sewell was the core we built the team around once Clarko joined. All the other elite talent was taken 2004-2007 in the draft.

right now we have Mitchell, omeara, wingard, Worpel, day, impey, scrimshaw, dgb, Cj. (Left out Breust and Gunston deliberately and included Sewell based on what he became, not where he was at the time of the Clarko era). It isn’t substantially worse as a group but obviously hodge and Mitchell are all time greats and we are yet to see if any of these players will get near that ceiling. But we got priority picks and nailed buddy, roughy, Lewis, Birchall and Rioli in the next couple few drafts. Not likely to repeat that success ever again. Finding one, let alone 2, all time great kpf is going to take a miracle. We need to nail this upcoming draft and hope guys like brockman, finn, s.Mitchell, morris etc can improve us once they develop. Brockman looks a very good talent.

right now our biggest issues are kpp and the stage of development of our youth. Time will solve the second one. Maybe free agency will ultimately solve the first.
 
Apr 13, 2015
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Play the kids and let them get flogged everyweek. That worked so well for GCS in 2012.

Or maybe develop them at Box Hill so they actually learn rather than barely touch the ball.

Which clubs have succeeded by throwing kids to the wolves ?

I never said play all kids but when they perform at box hill or senior level they should be rewarded, they are not. Clarko is super conservative and always goes back to old favourites who don’t deserve games.
 

TylerDurden

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croad, hodge, Mitchell, Williams, brown, Crawford (well past his best by 2008), Sewell was the core we built the team around once Clarko joined. All the other elite talent was taken 2004-2007 in the draft.

right now we have Mitchell, omeara, wingard, Worpel, day, impey, scrimshaw, dgb, Cj. (Left out Breust and Gunston deliberately and included Sewell based on what he became, not where he was at the time of the Clarko era). It isn’t substantially worse as a group but obviously hodge and Mitchell are all time greats and we are yet to see if any of these players will get near that ceiling. But we got priority picks and nailed buddy, roughy, Lewis, Birchall and Rioli in the next couple few drafts. Not likely to repeat that success ever again. Finding one, let alone 2, all time great kpf is going to take a miracle. We need to nail this upcoming draft and hope guys like brockman, finn, s.Mitchell, morris etc can improve us once they develop. Brockman looks a very good talent.

right now our biggest issues are kpp and the stage of development of our youth. Time will solve the second one. Maybe free agency will ultimately solve the first.
Not sure which KPF are FA this year. If anything it would be adding class to our midfield via Merrett. Which would help enormously in my book.
 

Billyc

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Cornes is a jerk but hes not wrong. It’s why it bewilders me when people query whether we should be throwing money at an A grade free agent because it might annoy the overpaid average players on our list. When every club has to pay the same cap minimum, if you have a weak list, you are massively overpaying your players. We should be throwing big attractive coin at Merrett.
 
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Cornes is a jerk but hes not wrong. It’s why it bewilders me when people query whether we should be throwing money at an A grade free agent because it might annoy the overpaid average players on our list. When every club has to pay the same cap minimum, if you have a weak list, you are massively overpaying your players. We should be throwing big attractive coin at Merrett.

Why would Merrett want to join a list like we have at the moment?
 
Erm, it’s not correct. Not all of those players are in our current best 22, but Burgoyne, Gunston and Sicily clearly are. Hartley certainly doesn’t count, Hartigan, Brockman and maybe even Phillips squeezed out with a full bill of health..

If your point is that we have talent to come in, I agree with you. If you’re suggesting all those players will play meaningful minutes... I worry.
You made the point that we keep selecting the same players, when I’ve just shown you that 50% of the 22 that you gave as an example has changed or will continue to change this year from that 2019 side.

And in response to your earlier post, you are indeed being impatient.
 

Bruno Oresar

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He’s not wrong. It’s why it bewilders me when people query whether we should be throwing money at an A grade free agent because it might annoy the overpaid average players on our list. When every club has to pay the same cap minimum, if you have a weak list, you are massively overpaying your players. We should be throwing big attractive coin at Merrett.
Could not agree more. Not throwing big coin might be relevant when you are trying to hold a premiership list together. Now we have a team of B grade talent. What was the point of keeping all that space? If we don’t have space then boy have we mismanaged our current list of mediocre talent. Who presently demands big coin? Who is getting big coin? I don’t like that people compare us to Norf but it’s a rather apt analogy. Just like them we tried a top up strategy and it failed. They are on their 3 coach in 3 years as a result yet Clarkson rides on because of a three peat in 2015. Leigh Matthews ran out of puff at the Lions post 2004. I believe that Clarksons time at Hawthorn is running out. Tick tock.....
 
Jul 13, 2015
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I never said play all kids but when they perform at box hill or senior level they should be rewarded, they are not. Clarko is super conservative and always goes back to old favourites who don’t deserve games.

He gives kids a run all the time. Brockman has played every game despite being drafted at 46 last year.

Day would be playing every game if not injured.

Half the people here wanted CJ axed last year yet he is probably the best HBF under 22 in the comp and would probably be in the AA squad.

Lewis now fit is getting chances. Kosi had a few games and now goes back to BH to develop skills before I have no doubt he returns.

Downie will get chances soon.

DGB is injured but will play, and Im sure Maginness will too.

Greaves was great at the end of last year so Im sure we see him again.

And Moore. Im pretty sure half of BF wanted him axed towards the end of last year. Yet he has been very good.

That is 10 young players. Who else are you wanting to see ?
 

theiaofseed

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The same people lamenting we don't play enough youth are now suggesting we grab a 27 year old free agent? How about we front load all contracts by 3 years and then hit free agency in 2024 after we've also hit the draft hard.
 

Bruno Oresar

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The same people lamenting we don't play enough youth are now suggesting we grab a 27 year old free agent? How about we front load all contracts by 3 years and then hit free agency in 2024 after we've also hit the draft hard.
We’ve been front ending contracts since 2015. Maybe that’s the problem! Half our list is playing on 100g a year🤣 if I hear front ending again I’ll spew
 

theiaofseed

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This is a team with small changes that coudl easily line up at some point this year, average age of 23. How do people claim we're not playing youth still, when 8 of our best 22 are under 24.
 

Lickmesocks

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Oct 2, 2019
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[1] Out played them for 3 out of 4 quarters, it wasn't a lucky win don't rewrite history to match your opinion.

[2]The best side of the last 4 years, out classed a bottom 4 side, impressive observation mate.

[3]We were missing Gunston, Sicily, Day every bit equal to their 3 outs, as for Gutherie have you paid any attention to him over the last two years? Clearly you haven't and as for Ducan he's been elite for 5 years.

[4] The bold aren't best 22 or wouldn't be missed if they weren't playing, Mitchell, Omerea, Wingard, Impey and Frost will all still playing in 5 years( so very old).

[5] Why does it matter where they were taken in the draft???

I could not disagree with your opinion anymore if I tried.
 
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