List Mgmt. Contracts, trades, draft - 2021 offseason edition

[Keys]

So the 2021 season is officially done and dusted.

It’s time now to fully turn our attention to the off season and what we can do through the trade period/draft to chase down Melbourne in 2022.

List and personnel changes have already been made and I’ll update this OP as and when any further changes are made.

As it stands these are our official list changes :

Out -
• Venables (R) - retired
• Vardy - retired
• Hutchings (R) - delisted
• Ah Chee (R) - delisted
• Ainsworth - delisted
• Johnson - delisted
• Collins (R) - delisted
• Brander - cluster*
• Cameron - retired/delisted not that it was officially acknowledged by the club
• Sheppard - retired

Inactive listed -
• Cole
• Chesser

In -
• Petrevski-Seton - traded for pick 52
• Chesser - Pick 14
• Hough - Pick 31
• Bazzo - Pick 37
• Williams (Jack) - Pick 57
• Clark - Pick 62
• Dixon - SSP
• Joyce - SSP
• Strnadica - SSP
• Naish - SSP

Players on main list - 37 (Including 2 inactive)
Players on rookie list - 7

Future trade picks :
In - Port Adelaide future 2nd
Out - Future 4th

Assistant Coaches :
• Out - Graham, Hickmott
• In - Schofield (Strategy and Stoppage), Knights (Midfield), Wiley (WAFL coach), Brennan (development)

Link to contract status of all players -

The Contracts Thread

Updated (17/2/24) the status of all contracts for people’s reference : Overall List - 44 Players : Main List(37), Rookie List(5), Cat B(2) Contracted until the end of 2027 (2) : Tom Barrass (8/10/95) - Signed a 5 year extension (2023,2024,2025,2026,2027) on an existing contract set to...

www.bigfooty.com

 

[Winky]

Good analysis.

I'm strangely happiest about getting the 2 talls (given the glaring need for mids, it would more likely follow that picking up Clark would be the favourite).

I think we needed another key forward to develop. They take 2-3+ years, and at the end of 2022 we'll have Allen and Darling, waterman as 3rd tall and plural Williams developing (one may go if he doesn't show a bit).

Bazzo seems like a bit of a steal. 4th in line now, but again we have Gov not getting any younger so 3ish years into the future Bazzo should be ready to step in (fighting for a spot with Edwards, or as 3rd tall).

Wasn't overjoyed with Chesser, but he does have the attributes to become a jet. The lack of exposed form and development is a huge concern though.

Hough seems an odd choice with Chesser taken earlier. Somewhat similar types from my understanding.

Clarke fills a clear need. Absolutely worth a junk 4th rounder (when we already have an additional F2) to guarantee that selection.

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Like you, I was surprised by Chester but he is highly regarded and looks good on highlights. I like the fact that he takes it on and seems prepared to take body contact in order to get the ball to his teammate. it appears he was a very good under 16s who had some injury problems which he has now recovered from. I reckon we were hoping Erasmus would get through and Chester was next on the list, I’m rapt in both Bazzo and Williams as they do fill needs with Kennedy departing after this year and both McGovern and Darling getting on a bit relatively speaking. Hough looks pretty good and seems to have a bit more dash than Johnson although I would have take Johnson if he had been still there. To me Clark was a no brainer as he is at the age where we have a gap between young mids and our more senior ones due to some bad luck and misses. I’m keen to see the rookie drafts we pick up as there are some good local guys still there

 

[Wce17]

Almost.

We gave away our 4th rounder to Port
TRADE: West Coast has traded a future fourth-round pick to Port Adelaide for pick No.62
We then used it on Clark(e), only to see Adl, Coll, NM, Carlton, Ric and StK all pass before our next pick (which we passed on). Given that not a single player was taken between our pick we traded for and our next pick, we gave away a 2022 4th rounder for absolutely nothing.

We obviously thought one of those teams that passed was a chance to grab Clarke as they all have lost spots open and just didn’t want to risk it. It’s a future 4th anyway, easy to get another one they get thrown around like hotcakes.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Last 3 picks were definitely easier to swallow than the first 2.

However us brushing away our contested ball deficiency yet again until we token add
Clark right at the death, means this draft is never going to get a pass on face value for mine.

To fix something... you actually need to try to fix it. It doesn't magically go away.


Sheppard potentially retiring suddenly really does just cap off 2021 as an eagles supporter.

Bring on 2023, hopefully we're ready to usher in the next generation of eagles at that point and start building again from the ground up rather than bandaids.

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

We haven't played a mid as a mid straight after being drafted for quite a long time.
Even Shuey didn't become a regular until his 3rd season in 2011, although he was affected by injury.
Since then we haven't drafted too many highly regarded full time mids apart from Sheed (DV was a forward/mid), but either way we don't have trust in young mids playing in their actual position. The drafting of Clark at a low pick over Hobbs and Johnson reeks of it.
Unless things change, our strategy might continue being looking for ready made mids instead of drafting and developing them.

 

[Eastcoasteagle]

Is this confirmed?

I don't believe officially yet. But where there's smoke there is fire.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

If yeo, Kelly, Shuey, Nic Nat all stay healthy (a big if) our contested ball will be good enough next year.

It just means though we are playing with fire if we have any injuries.

 

[Sammy J]

If Shep is gone, that’s a truly sad loss. Been a terrific player for the club, unheralded but elite.

Foley and Rotham will have big shoes to fill there. But they are capable players.

 

[Wedgetailed Westerner]

Too late. Carlton tried to get a list spot with Jones retirement and didn't succeed so no chance. We can however use it during mid season draft next year should he be retired or moved to long term injury list

It will be different rules for this case as he was injured playing footy

 

[Obeanie1]

With one rookie selection remaining :

Out - Vardy, Venables (retired), Hutchings, Ah Chee, Brander, Ainsworth, Johnson, Collins (delisted), Cameron (something, something, WTF)

In - Petrevski-Seton, Chesser, Hough, Bazzo, J. Williams, Clark

We also look set to lose Sheppard to concussion which will be a real blow not just because we’ll miss him on field but also because Naitanui aside there isn’t another player I’d like to see with a premiership medal

Losing Brander for nothing was a real head scratcher and whilst the loss of Venables and Cameron robbed us of what might have been the reality is the departing players had little to no influence on our fortunes in 2021

Petrevski-Seton cost little (pick 52) and could prove to be a bargain if he can rediscover his mojo through the midfield

So what to make of our draft?

On face value it’s alarming that we did nothing to address our contested ball winning problems other than Clark with our final pick. Particularly when we could have selected Hobbs or Johnson with our first pick or Roberts with our second

Instead we prioritised outside run with the selections of Chesser and Hough. Maybe if we’d gone Johnson/Hough or Chesser/Roberts our selections would look better balanced. However, Clark with our final pick does give us an inside bull if he can overcome his lack of pace to translate his game to the next level.

The fact we reached for both Chesser and Hough doesn’t help. I’ll add here that it’s easy to pot O’Brien for these selections especially given inside mids are a massive blind spot of his but he’s clearly taking instructions from Simpson as to the type of player we want

So we addressed speed on the outside whilst ignoring the elephant in the room of contested possession. We must have faith then that the likes of Shuey and Yeo get over their respective injuries and/or SPS can become an inside mid and/or Exxon takes a quantum leap given he has a 2 year extension when 1 seemed more ap

The selections of Bazzo and Williams give us players we can take time to develop at either end of the ground. Bazzo in particular looks a likely Gov replacement to partner sexual in 3-4 years time

Plenty of melts here from posters not happy with our draft haul which curiously (or maybe not) is at odds with outside analysis that generally seems rather positive

From my uneducated view I’d have taken Johnson over Chesser with our first given Hough was clearly in our sights albeit that I quite like the look of Chesser and can see the attraction. I probably would have looked at another mid rather than Williams as I’m not convinced another tall forward was required at this stage

So critical we didn't take an inside contested mid and you would have been happier with Johnson......who isnt a inside contested mid and more of a tall clearance mid who struggled against men.

When in fact we landed Clark who is an inside bull and can play round 1.

Question. Yeo, Redden, Trew and now Clark are all big 190cm + inside contested mids. How many more do you think we need?

We also have Shuey, Kelly, Sheed, O'Neil and West who are shorter inside mids.

That's nine inside mids. NINE.

Plus Nic the biggest inside clearance mid in the comp.

IMO the elephant in the room is people who dont accept that we have more than enough mids we just need them to stay fit and have a real crack as well.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

Some great draft analysis/reasoned opinions, appreciate the post-melt contributions.

All I'll add is that Chesser has some great attributes and i love his willingness to take on opponents withrun. BUT my biggest gripe with Chesser is that we have seen his types drafted before, the great u16 who slid down the rankings in his draft year (Swift) & the classy player who has never shown he can accumulate possessions (Venables).

We might have a 15 possession HBF on our hands who does well with his 15 possessions but we really need him getting 25 to stand alongside the other top shelf rebounding flankers in the game.

Hoping to be absolutely proven wrong.

 

[bluengold89]

I don’t mind what we’ve done, sometimes feels like people on here don’t remember previous drafts. We all went wild when Constable the big inside bull slid, we were angry freo got Blakely so late, pleased we nabbed slider Lamb. Hell, if we’d taken Kelly at 14 the pitch forks would have been out. There’s obviously examples of the opposite of these, but it just highlights were not seeing the whole picture with YouTube highlights and draft profiles. There will be reasons guys like Draper and Taylor slid so late, and we’ll probably see that in the next few years

I love the Hough pick, kid has so much scope for improvement. It might have been a reach but just shows the club rates him highly. With Arthur Jones going 43 there’s nothing to say Hough gets through to our next pick, and even if we had it might have just ended up with us taking bazzo anyway.

Bazzo our best pick of the night, think he’s a very solid chance to have a great career down back.

Williams a bit of a smokey, but he only qualifies for the draft by a week. Might have a bit of growth in him, plus once he loses his puppy fat he going to be an absolute unit. Also has a bit of junkyard dog in him, happy to get more of that onto our list.

Going into the draft I was also hoping for a contested midfielder, but I’m happy with the spread we got in the end. Hopefully we pick up a high risk, high reward option in the rookie draft as we’ve already picked up some safer, lower ceilinged talent in west and Clarke.

 

[Suma Magic]

If we draft anyone but a ruck today, that’s kind of like announcing Shep’s retirement isn’t it?

 

[Off Tap]

Every AFL club’s 2021 draft haul assessed

Nice article from Fox Footy reviewing all of the teams and their selections.

For West Coast, just a lazy little A+

 

[ziad]

Wow just wow.

That is some of the worst analyst of draftee's I have seen

Hough was Peel colts main midfielder runs all day even played league
There best player by a mile
Has played against men in country football
Has very good agility and has magic about him can do things other players dream about.
Has a very high ceiling with his footy his hands are so clean

Bazzo doesn't have one on one ability except he stopped a on fire Van Rooyen in the colts grand final after
Van Rooyen had kicked 3 Bazzo goes on to him shuts him down and Swans win the premiership
He is 196cm his field kicking is very very good

Williams has huge leap and his speed over 5 metres is very good has power to get separation on the lead
Takes marks at the highest point and splits packs open
Can go into the ruck with his leap

so what you are saying is that we have added 4 mids - two mature ready to go and one very likely ready on the wing, plus two great and versitile key position players whith a hige upside. sounds like a fail to me

Plus this williams bloke is only 17 so he must be hoppeless to be a contender

We did get the subi boy and never underestimate a boy from Harvey

 

[Mulldogg]

Kade Dittmar in the rookie draft today please. That fend off on Matty Roberts is deserving of a list spot just in itself.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

Every AFL club’s 2021 draft haul assessed

Nice article from Fox Footy reviewing all of the teams and their selections.

For West Coast, just a lazy little A+

Gave Sydney a C even though i loved their draft.

No one really knows for 4 or 5 years on these things.

 

[Get_The_Gaff]

Best 22 round 1 without shep , mcgovern and redden

B. Cole Hedwards rotham
HB. Hurn Barrass Duggan
C. Gaff Yeo Sheed
HF. Rioli Allen Ryan
F Cripps Kennedy Darling
Foll. Natanui shuey Kelly
Int . SPS Petruccelle Foley Ledwards

Beagles 22
B Witherden Bazzo
HB Chesser Jwilliams Nelson
C Hough Clark O'Neill
HF langdon Waterman Jones
F winder Bwilliams
Foll Jamerson Trew west

 

[mattyc75]

Whilst I'm hoping we grab dittmar I've got a feeling it might be jack avery if the news on shep is true


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[Off Tap]

Gave Sydney a C even though i loved their draft.

No one really knows for 4 or 5 years on these things.

Warner was a good get at 40. Don't know enough about Rankin.

I thought that Sheldrick was a bit of a reach at 18.

Seeing that we were given an A+, a C to them is a little harsh.

 

[ziad]

We haven't played a mid as a mid straight after being drafted for quite a long time.
Even Shuey didn't become a regular until his 3rd season in 2011, although he was affected by injury.
Since then we haven't drafted too many highly regarded full time mids apart from Sheed (DV was a forward/mid), but either way we don't have trust in young mids playing in their actual position. The drafting of Clark at a low pick over Hobbs and Johnson reeks of it.
Unless things change, our strategy might continue being looking for ready made mids instead of drafting and developing them.

Only the Judds and Bonts are up to playing midfield from day one.
Chesser actually has the untrainable pace and movement to start on the wing as he grows into a mid. He is a power athlete and will be powerful - a State sprinter not a marathon runner. But he has a great footy tank as a huge bonus.

 

[The wily weagle]

The thing that demoralises a lot of us, is the way we draft, anyone would think the midfield/onball division was the least important area of the team make-up.

Other clubs draft midfielders because they know that's where a side can succeed or die. And too many gun midfielders on your team list is a good problem to have.

With us, we seem to do everything except that: we draft talls, flankers and utilities and hope perhaps they can make it as a midfielder and then failing that, when we do actually look at a midfielder with an early pick its always someone with running power who plays outside, rather then an inside, contested ball winning player who tackles.

Its like contested ball and tackling in the eyes of our coaches/recruiters has no value at all.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

I’d happily take Bailey Rogers today, adds more competition for the middle and at the very least will help us build from the bottom up by ensuring a competitive Beagles outfit. Clark, West and Rogers would be a great reserves midfield duelling it out for opportunity.

 

[SumaGodCoach]

Almost.

We gave away our 4th rounder to Port
TRADE: West Coast has traded a future fourth-round pick to Port Adelaide for pick No.62
We then used it on Clark(e), only to see Adl, Coll, NM, Carlton, Ric and StK all pass before our next pick (which we passed on). Given that not a single player was taken between our pick we traded for and our next pick, we gave away a 2022 4th rounder for absolutely nothing.

Giving Port a future 4th could have been a part of the original 12 for 14 and a future 2nd trade. But it would be sneaky to keep it as a separate trade once Port are on the board at 62 so that the teams between 62 and our pick 69 don't get pre-emptively tipped off. Port and WCE both knew that Port would be passing on pick 62 anyway. Even if there was only a 1% chance that the teams between 63 and 68 want Clark, it's still smart to do it this way.

 

[PremiershipNo4]

Fox gave most clubs an A. Exceptions were Sydney with a C and a couple of B grades

That’s fair enough though Sydney overreached targeting Gladstone Small with their 1st pick.

 

[Schtinker]

Duggo to the midfield. This is the year.