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Strategy Trade and List Management Thread Part 8 (opposition supporters - READ posting rules before posting)

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Members deserve an explanation of why we’ve done **** all, we won’t get it though.
I mean we've certainly tried. You know players have to agree to come to us? We can't kidnap them.

It also doesn't mean you chase whatever player for the sake of it. I'm sure many targets were discussed and worked through.
 

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Sam Power living off a moneyball trade period where we got Bruce and Keath for nothing (thanks Saints), Martin who was a good find for half a season (though we'd been chasing him for years) and a luck draw with Treloar.
 
I've made this post before but I'm far less concerned for the next 5 years than I have been in the past.

Our 2021 team was good but depended on a dominant midfield, a large number of players playing out of position, a list where players 30-40 on the list were top-style players to try and balance that out of position best 22 (rather than investing in youth and moulding a player to play a certain role, in-position), and we didn't have much depth in young players coming through.

Contrast to now where we have half a dozen good young players who have had a taste of AFL level (not true in 2021-23), our recruitment of Budarick was critical (I think our defensive issues came from having too many offensively-oriented defenders, tall or small otherwise, and we needed to recruit a defence-first defender, and things will balanced with that. Our key defensive issue looks bad because we played three talls. Budarick allows us to play a two talls, a defensive medium (Sellwood/Walker/improving Cleary, take your pick) and a defensive small (Budarick himself), and all of a sudden the whines for needing a good tall defender goes away.

Part of our weakness in 2022-23 was that from 2017 onward we didn't draft any 17 year old players outside of the top 20 but before the end of the draft to develop and help build our list, we went for a top end and fill the blanks strategy where we'd bring in a bunch of top-end raft picks (Naughton, Richards, Smith, Weightman, Jamarra, Darcy, Busslinger), then simply fill out the last 5 or whatever list spots with mature agers, cheap trades, VFL promotions.

Between 2017 and 2021 we did not draft a single U18 player between pick 17 and pick 42 in the draft, except for West who we got at a massive F/S discount points-wise.

West himself is proof of you can develop a list with players with a rough start that become good over time, and we leart from that and added Clarke (failed, but we took a punt in a very weak draft), Freijah, Smith, Hynes, Jacques and Dolan over the last few years, players in the West mould that will take time but is sustainable and we'll reap the rewards in about 5 years' time. We'll take 2 more draft picks of this similar mould into this draft and I can easily see us breaking pick 14 up into two later picks.

Have to look at list management holistically, a strategy to be built up over several years and how it all works with your player development. Our strategy in 2021 was good - if not for the Bruce injury we give the flag a real crack - but we sacrificed some sustainability for the next 5 years in building a list to get there. We're not going down that same path again, so some of the doom and gloom is a bit silly here.
 
People say contracts mean nothing these days so we could have had a crack at literally anyone. I am not paid to identify and secure players for the club.

Others have pointed out we do not necessarily need a big name. It's yet to be seen whether Busslinger (who might not even be at the club beyond next year) and JOD can be key pillars. They are tall, but neither has shown great one on one capability. They would seriously need to get on the protein bars.
People say it but it's something dumb that people like to throw around. Petracca, Merrett and Curnow trades look a lot different for an uncontracted player.
 
I've made this post before but I'm far less concerned for the next 5 years than I have been in the past.

Our 2021 team was good but depended on a dominant midfield, a large number of players playing out of position, a list where players 30-40 on the list were top-style players to try and balance that out of position best 22 (rather than investing in youth and moulding a player to play a certain role, in-position), and we didn't have much depth in young players coming through.

Contrast to now where we have half a dozen good young players who have had a taste of AFL level (not true in 2021-23), our recruitment of Budarick was critical (I think our defensive issues came from having too many offensively-oriented defenders, tall or small otherwise, and we needed to recruit a defence-first defender, and things will balanced with that. Our key defensive issue looks bad because we played three talls. Budarick allows us to play a two talls, a defensive medium (Sellwood/Walker/improving Cleary, take your pick) and a defensive small (Budarick himself), and all of a sudden the whines for needing a good tall defender goes away.

Part of our weakness in 2022-23 was that from 2017 onward we didn't draft any 17 year old players outside of the top 20 but before the end of the draft to develop and help build our list, we went for a top end and fill the blanks strategy where we'd bring in a bunch of top-end raft picks (Naughton, Richards, Smith, Weightman, Jamarra, Darcy, Busslinger). Between 2017 and 2021 we did not draft a single U18 player between pick 17 and pick 42 in the draft, except for West who we got at a massive F/S discount points-wise.

West himself is proof of you can develop a list with players with a rough start that become good over time, and we leart from that and added Clarke (failed, but we took a punt in a very weak draft), Freijah, Smith, Hynes, Jacques and Dolan over the last few years, players in the West mould that will take time but is sustainable and we'll reap the rewards in about 5 years' time. We'll take 2 more draft picks of this similar mould into this draft and I can easily see us breaking pick 14 up into two later picks.

Have to look at list management holistically, a strategy to be built up over several years and how it all works with your player development. Our strategy in 2021 was good - if not for the Bruce injury we give the flag a real crack - but we sacrificed some sustainability for the next 5 years in building a list to get there. We're not going down that same path again, so some of the doom and gloom is a bit silly here.
Absolutely this! you look at our team under 27 before the draft (with Will Darcy):

Buderick W.Darcy JOD
Jaques Buss Sellwood
Davidson Sanders A.Jones
Hynes Naughton Dolan
Croft Darcy Flea
Smith Freijah Richards
Walker Cleary
 
Sam Power living off a moneyball trade period where we got Bruce and Keath for nothing (thanks Saints), Martin who was a good find for half a season (though we'd been chasing him for years) and a luck draw with Treloar.
Duryea, Kennedy?
 

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I’m sorry but none of those 4 are even depth. Gardiner and Coffield are horrendous and shouldn’t even be on the list, walker is tiny and Darcy hasn’t even been drafted yet with some pretty mild numbers this year.
I think we are also not taking into account what the new interchange could have an effect on.
An extra midfielder can increase your running power.
Or in our case and extra ruck, this is where Lachie could be on the bench for the opposition with fowards like the Crows.
Timmy rucks, then he can play FB against mobile big men.
Lachie uses his mongrel against the gorillas, which are few and far between.
 
Hoping our developing VFL ruck who is yet to debut at AFL level could be our KPD savior next year is peak BigFooty.
 

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Got to laugh at the AFL Trade Tracker. A quick scan of the headlines:

High flying Roos forward traded to Crows
Hawks, Blues do pick swap to open up another Merrett offer
Swans land in-demand Hawks defender
Demons add speedy Hawk to bolster defensive stocks
Swan moves to Blues, not part of Curnow deal
Dogs, Suns finally agree to deal for young utility

I mean, it's subtle, but why is there a little negative dig in the headline about our trade when every other headline is neutral to positive? Last year, people were shaking their heads at the Dogs' stubbornness in dragging out a trade for Smith. It certainly happened in the Stringer trade too. The message - take what's on offer, be thankful, what's taking you so long?

We really are treated like crap, aren't we.

 
I'm wanting the club to come out now and tell us a little bit more about how bad his behaviour has been and why they decided to to try and get himself right with us...

I think as a paying member we need to hear it from high up!

Gloves are off now
Never gonna happen.
 

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Strategy Trade and List Management Thread Part 8 (opposition supporters - READ posting rules before posting)

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