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As another preseason commences and our playing list for 2017 is finalised after weeks of speculation, pontification and assorted melts over who we did/didn't trade/draft/murder it's a good time to review what we did in the off season to regenerate a playing list that failed to meet our lofty expectations in 2016 before the gloss of our shiny new draftees wears off.
Thanks for your contribution - Delistings/Retirements etal :
Ellis - Retired
McGinnity - Retired/Delisted
Bennell, Lucas(R), Adamson(RB), Colledge(R) - All Delisted
Waterman (R), Cavka -
Brown - Pussy whipped
No real surprises as to who went out with the exception of Adamson who many thought had done enough to earn a 3rd year as a developing Category B rookie but was a bit of a shock delisting that Carbine Chaos is still crying over. McGinnity, Bennell, Lucas and Colledge had all run their race and weren't taking us forward whilst Brown left in an ultimately unsuccessful search for a new home in Melbourne. Ellis finally called time on his ailing body and Waterman (glandular fever) and Cavka (feet) never got their careers off the ground before their bodies failed them - hopefully both find their way back onto a footy field in time.
With all due respect to the players concerned, despite a couple of really popular clubmen and/or some favourite whipping boys, from an onfield point of view we lost little as all the departing players had contributions that ranged from none to minimal in 2016.
Our inability/unwillingness to trade other players was a point of conjecture during trade week as a perceived opportunity to improve our draft position was lost. McKenzie who was displaced in the best 22 by an emerging Barrass in 2016 was a popular trade candidate but other than a rumoured offer from Brisbane that was rejected by McKenzie there was little substance to the trade talk. Trading Masten was wishful thinking from the BF board and Lamb found out the hard way that nobody was interested so chose to stay. Dark Sharks waged a one man campaign to trade Darling to no effect
In short we cut out some deadwood and lost a couple of promising youngsters to long term injury on the way to removing 20% of a playing list that won 16 regular season games which is a sizeable turnover albeit that there are a couple of players that can consider themselves lucky to still call themselves an Eagle.
Most importantly we retained the players we wanted/needed to.
Welcome to your new home - the Trades :
After the underwhelming performance of 2015's star recruits (Redden and Jetta) there was an understandable apprehension over who we might trade in and assorted rumours linking us to the likes of Ballantyne, Conca, Petrie (more of that later) and other assorted spuds did little to allay those fears. There was also the annual talk of why don't we just throw stripper dollars at any bonafide star as if that in itself is sufficient to lure them without any consideration of what that might actually take to happen.
As it turns out we were at the centre of the biggest trade shocks of the year, when Kim Hagdorn of all people reported (correctly - go figure) that Sam Mitchell was likely to move from Hawthorn to West Coast. Disbelief turned to astonishment as the story was confirmed and then turned to elation as a trade was officially lodged for pick 88. Pick ****ing 88 mother ****ers and Hawthorn are paying some of the salary their 2016 B&F and now 2012 Brownlow winner whilst he plays for us in 2017. Beyond that we've secured one of the best football brains there is to transition into coaching for us when his playing days are finished.
Pick 88. For Sam Mitchell. Believe that campaigners.
In what would be an overarching theme of the trade/draft period, following late season knee injuries to Naitanui and Lycett the Eagles went into Star Trek mode to reinforce our ruck stocks. The first result of that search was the trade of pick 70 something and other assorted pokemon card swaps for Nathan Vardy from Geelong after he passed a medical. (Sobering thought time - the people that cleared Vardy are the same people that said Lycett couldn't do any further damage to his knee by continuing to play). When it's all said and done we managed to get a very capable forward/ruck for a 4th round pick even if he comes with an history of injuries and cost us more at the trade table than a Brownlow medallist.
In summary, at minimal cost, we boosted our midfield and boosted our ruck depth which were two core objectives of our off season - we filled two needs without compromising our draft position in any meaningful sense. A job well done
The Lottery Arrives - Draft Time :
Wish lists, phantom drafts and we all became expert recruiters from watching two minute highlight videos. Despite the ongoing chagrin that we were unable to trade players that our posters thought were useless for first round draft picks we had picks 12,34,54,89 & (notionally at least) 94 in the national draft. Truth is, in an even draft with considerable depth it would have been nice to have an extra pick or two in the top 30 and we can only guess at how hard Vozzo and his minions pushed to achieve that because ultimately it didn't happen.
Going into the draft the popular choice for our first pick was Sam Powell-Pepper but the late consensus was Jarrod Berry based on media reports. After that was a myriad of names at our later picks some based on hope, others on educated opinion, some on a funny name but most on a guess with the only consistent wish that somehow no other club would bid on father/son candidate Jake Waterman before our 3rd round pick at 54.
Dan Venables was a surprise with our first pick but a relatively popular one once the disappointment of overlooking Powell-Pepper was dealt with by some. On talent the Luke Shuey clone looks an astute choice with the qualification that he comes with a poorly defined foot injury which is currently sees him wrapped in cotton wool.
Josh Rotham was a popular and predictable choice with our 2nd pick with the main issue pre-draft being a concern that he'd be gone before our pick. Of all our picks he seems the safest choice and I doubt there are many complaints with this selection
Willie Rioli was a genuine surprise with our 3rd pick not least because the club drafted a genuine small forward for the first time in living memory. There may have been more highly fancied small forwards but in all honesty this kid looks the goods and after playing SANFL league with Glenelg is arguably the best equipped of our draftees to play senior footy in 2017 not least because there is a definitive position for him to fill.
Jake Waterman rounded out our draft when we took him with our final pick as we were committed to do after nominating him as a father/son. We all hope he gets a better run at an AFL career than his older brother Alec.
Some people. myself included, were disappointed that the club didn't use their 5th possible pick in the draft preferring instead to round out our list through the upcoming rookie draft. As it turns out based on who we and others picked in the rookie draft, using this pick would have been pointless and would only have robbed us of some flexibility when it comes to elevating players of the rookie list. In this instance the club knew best
In summary, this was a good draft - we chose good players at each pick and from a holistic view the selections were a nice balance between best available and list needs. As always we all hope and expect these kids to be stars but the probability is not all 4 will make it despite everyone's best intentions.
The also rans -Rookie draft :
Last chance saloon for those overlooked in the main draft as clubs seek to find that diamond in the rough. Pre-draft we were all in denial that the overwhelming rumours of us selecting Drew Petrie were true, surely the club would see logic.
Surely.
Alas the reports were confirmed when after taking the unheralded Tom Gorter from East Perth with our first rookie draft pick, the name Drew Petrie was posted up as our 2nd round rookie selection. To make matters worse the unloved but contracted Fraser McIness was reinstated on our list when we selected him to fill our final rookie list position as promised.
The most underwhelming day of the off season - a player that would have been delisted but for an inconvenient contract, a 33 year old that was delisted by his former club recruited to fill a position he rarely played in recent years and a defender that's a bit of a tweener.
There's a perverse logic to all three picks but it's hard to escape the feeling there were far more enticing selections that might have been made had a different strategy been adopted and salary cap restrictions not been as tight
The Bonus Round - Category B :
Pre-draft the hope was Sudanese born Tarir Bayok would fall through the drafts so that we might take him as a multicultural Category B rookie and once this transpired the club didn't hesitate to add this exciting talent as the final addition to our 2017 playing list.
Or so we thought
The club had one final surprise for us in the form of a young lad from Balgo named Francis Watson who through the vagaries of the multicultural and indigenous academy somehow became eligible for selection by West Coast. In what may turn out to be the most exciting talent to set foot through the doors of Roberts Road this off season this young man became our 47th and final listed player.
If the rookie draft was underwhelming then the category B rookies all but eliminated any disappointment that lingered. This was the exclamation point to an off season recruitment period that on balance had been relatively successful.
The Washup :
A 7th placed finish left us in something of a no man's land - the season didn't bring the success we craved nor did we finish low enough to "earn" a low draft pick that would ensure a crack at a genuine gun. Instead it left us waiting to see who slipped through. Compounding this position was the lack of any genuine trade bait - players that would demand decent value we weren't prepared top part with (Darling for example) whilst the ones we'd consider trading (McKenzie) were under contract and/or unable to command a draft pick considered worth parting with.
Despite that we filled most, if not all, of our list needs and added some genuine pace and skills to our list whilst removing a considerable amount of dead wood. Whilst we have some players that are nearing the end of their careers and a few that are yet to prove themselves as genuine AFL talent, there is very few outright duds on our list - there's only one player that I can't make some sort of case for as belonging in our playing group (To be clear I personally think there are players that shouldn't be on our list but I can at least see why they are even if I disagree with it)
Overall, I'm very happy with what Vozzo and co have done over the trade and draft period and I think they should be congratulated for what they've done. But I do have some misgivings as follows :
1) We've taken a gamble on the ability of Venables to overcome his foot injuries when there was a local, perhaps less talented but more durable, player available in Powell-Pepper. Other players like Berry may yet turn out to be a better selection. Venables was a risk, only time will tell if he was an acceptable one
2) Whilst Petrie can be seen as a short term solution to a short term problem, I'm not convinced that he will be capable of producing what he and the club hope he will and that we may have been better served selecting a project player instead. That said Petrie has spoken well since arriving at the club and has also been solid at training so I genuinely hope I'm wrong because I'd love to see him succeed
3) We are carrying McInnes and I'm a little miffed that we weren't able to manage our salary cap better to avoid the situation where we've been basically forced to retain a player that is demonstrably below AFL level.
Finally - Sam Mitchell. Pick 88. He's a game changer who's mere presence will be invaluable
And Watson will be the first Cat B rookie to play 150 games
Thanks for your contribution - Delistings/Retirements etal :
Ellis - Retired
McGinnity - Retired/Delisted
Bennell, Lucas(R), Adamson(RB), Colledge(R) - All Delisted
Waterman (R), Cavka -
Brown - Pussy whipped
No real surprises as to who went out with the exception of Adamson who many thought had done enough to earn a 3rd year as a developing Category B rookie but was a bit of a shock delisting that Carbine Chaos is still crying over. McGinnity, Bennell, Lucas and Colledge had all run their race and weren't taking us forward whilst Brown left in an ultimately unsuccessful search for a new home in Melbourne. Ellis finally called time on his ailing body and Waterman (glandular fever) and Cavka (feet) never got their careers off the ground before their bodies failed them - hopefully both find their way back onto a footy field in time.
With all due respect to the players concerned, despite a couple of really popular clubmen and/or some favourite whipping boys, from an onfield point of view we lost little as all the departing players had contributions that ranged from none to minimal in 2016.
Our inability/unwillingness to trade other players was a point of conjecture during trade week as a perceived opportunity to improve our draft position was lost. McKenzie who was displaced in the best 22 by an emerging Barrass in 2016 was a popular trade candidate but other than a rumoured offer from Brisbane that was rejected by McKenzie there was little substance to the trade talk. Trading Masten was wishful thinking from the BF board and Lamb found out the hard way that nobody was interested so chose to stay. Dark Sharks waged a one man campaign to trade Darling to no effect
In short we cut out some deadwood and lost a couple of promising youngsters to long term injury on the way to removing 20% of a playing list that won 16 regular season games which is a sizeable turnover albeit that there are a couple of players that can consider themselves lucky to still call themselves an Eagle.
Most importantly we retained the players we wanted/needed to.
Welcome to your new home - the Trades :
After the underwhelming performance of 2015's star recruits (Redden and Jetta) there was an understandable apprehension over who we might trade in and assorted rumours linking us to the likes of Ballantyne, Conca, Petrie (more of that later) and other assorted spuds did little to allay those fears. There was also the annual talk of why don't we just throw stripper dollars at any bonafide star as if that in itself is sufficient to lure them without any consideration of what that might actually take to happen.
As it turns out we were at the centre of the biggest trade shocks of the year, when Kim Hagdorn of all people reported (correctly - go figure) that Sam Mitchell was likely to move from Hawthorn to West Coast. Disbelief turned to astonishment as the story was confirmed and then turned to elation as a trade was officially lodged for pick 88. Pick ****ing 88 mother ****ers and Hawthorn are paying some of the salary their 2016 B&F and now 2012 Brownlow winner whilst he plays for us in 2017. Beyond that we've secured one of the best football brains there is to transition into coaching for us when his playing days are finished.
Pick 88. For Sam Mitchell. Believe that campaigners.
In what would be an overarching theme of the trade/draft period, following late season knee injuries to Naitanui and Lycett the Eagles went into Star Trek mode to reinforce our ruck stocks. The first result of that search was the trade of pick 70 something and other assorted pokemon card swaps for Nathan Vardy from Geelong after he passed a medical. (Sobering thought time - the people that cleared Vardy are the same people that said Lycett couldn't do any further damage to his knee by continuing to play). When it's all said and done we managed to get a very capable forward/ruck for a 4th round pick even if he comes with an history of injuries and cost us more at the trade table than a Brownlow medallist.
In summary, at minimal cost, we boosted our midfield and boosted our ruck depth which were two core objectives of our off season - we filled two needs without compromising our draft position in any meaningful sense. A job well done
The Lottery Arrives - Draft Time :
Wish lists, phantom drafts and we all became expert recruiters from watching two minute highlight videos. Despite the ongoing chagrin that we were unable to trade players that our posters thought were useless for first round draft picks we had picks 12,34,54,89 & (notionally at least) 94 in the national draft. Truth is, in an even draft with considerable depth it would have been nice to have an extra pick or two in the top 30 and we can only guess at how hard Vozzo and his minions pushed to achieve that because ultimately it didn't happen.
Going into the draft the popular choice for our first pick was Sam Powell-Pepper but the late consensus was Jarrod Berry based on media reports. After that was a myriad of names at our later picks some based on hope, others on educated opinion, some on a funny name but most on a guess with the only consistent wish that somehow no other club would bid on father/son candidate Jake Waterman before our 3rd round pick at 54.
Dan Venables was a surprise with our first pick but a relatively popular one once the disappointment of overlooking Powell-Pepper was dealt with by some. On talent the Luke Shuey clone looks an astute choice with the qualification that he comes with a poorly defined foot injury which is currently sees him wrapped in cotton wool.
Josh Rotham was a popular and predictable choice with our 2nd pick with the main issue pre-draft being a concern that he'd be gone before our pick. Of all our picks he seems the safest choice and I doubt there are many complaints with this selection
Willie Rioli was a genuine surprise with our 3rd pick not least because the club drafted a genuine small forward for the first time in living memory. There may have been more highly fancied small forwards but in all honesty this kid looks the goods and after playing SANFL league with Glenelg is arguably the best equipped of our draftees to play senior footy in 2017 not least because there is a definitive position for him to fill.
Jake Waterman rounded out our draft when we took him with our final pick as we were committed to do after nominating him as a father/son. We all hope he gets a better run at an AFL career than his older brother Alec.
Some people. myself included, were disappointed that the club didn't use their 5th possible pick in the draft preferring instead to round out our list through the upcoming rookie draft. As it turns out based on who we and others picked in the rookie draft, using this pick would have been pointless and would only have robbed us of some flexibility when it comes to elevating players of the rookie list. In this instance the club knew best
In summary, this was a good draft - we chose good players at each pick and from a holistic view the selections were a nice balance between best available and list needs. As always we all hope and expect these kids to be stars but the probability is not all 4 will make it despite everyone's best intentions.
The also rans -Rookie draft :
Last chance saloon for those overlooked in the main draft as clubs seek to find that diamond in the rough. Pre-draft we were all in denial that the overwhelming rumours of us selecting Drew Petrie were true, surely the club would see logic.
Surely.
Alas the reports were confirmed when after taking the unheralded Tom Gorter from East Perth with our first rookie draft pick, the name Drew Petrie was posted up as our 2nd round rookie selection. To make matters worse the unloved but contracted Fraser McIness was reinstated on our list when we selected him to fill our final rookie list position as promised.
The most underwhelming day of the off season - a player that would have been delisted but for an inconvenient contract, a 33 year old that was delisted by his former club recruited to fill a position he rarely played in recent years and a defender that's a bit of a tweener.
There's a perverse logic to all three picks but it's hard to escape the feeling there were far more enticing selections that might have been made had a different strategy been adopted and salary cap restrictions not been as tight
The Bonus Round - Category B :
Pre-draft the hope was Sudanese born Tarir Bayok would fall through the drafts so that we might take him as a multicultural Category B rookie and once this transpired the club didn't hesitate to add this exciting talent as the final addition to our 2017 playing list.
Or so we thought
The club had one final surprise for us in the form of a young lad from Balgo named Francis Watson who through the vagaries of the multicultural and indigenous academy somehow became eligible for selection by West Coast. In what may turn out to be the most exciting talent to set foot through the doors of Roberts Road this off season this young man became our 47th and final listed player.
If the rookie draft was underwhelming then the category B rookies all but eliminated any disappointment that lingered. This was the exclamation point to an off season recruitment period that on balance had been relatively successful.
The Washup :
A 7th placed finish left us in something of a no man's land - the season didn't bring the success we craved nor did we finish low enough to "earn" a low draft pick that would ensure a crack at a genuine gun. Instead it left us waiting to see who slipped through. Compounding this position was the lack of any genuine trade bait - players that would demand decent value we weren't prepared top part with (Darling for example) whilst the ones we'd consider trading (McKenzie) were under contract and/or unable to command a draft pick considered worth parting with.
Despite that we filled most, if not all, of our list needs and added some genuine pace and skills to our list whilst removing a considerable amount of dead wood. Whilst we have some players that are nearing the end of their careers and a few that are yet to prove themselves as genuine AFL talent, there is very few outright duds on our list - there's only one player that I can't make some sort of case for as belonging in our playing group (To be clear I personally think there are players that shouldn't be on our list but I can at least see why they are even if I disagree with it)
Overall, I'm very happy with what Vozzo and co have done over the trade and draft period and I think they should be congratulated for what they've done. But I do have some misgivings as follows :
1) We've taken a gamble on the ability of Venables to overcome his foot injuries when there was a local, perhaps less talented but more durable, player available in Powell-Pepper. Other players like Berry may yet turn out to be a better selection. Venables was a risk, only time will tell if he was an acceptable one
2) Whilst Petrie can be seen as a short term solution to a short term problem, I'm not convinced that he will be capable of producing what he and the club hope he will and that we may have been better served selecting a project player instead. That said Petrie has spoken well since arriving at the club and has also been solid at training so I genuinely hope I'm wrong because I'd love to see him succeed
3) We are carrying McInnes and I'm a little miffed that we weren't able to manage our salary cap better to avoid the situation where we've been basically forced to retain a player that is demonstrably below AFL level.
Finally - Sam Mitchell. Pick 88. He's a game changer who's mere presence will be invaluable
And Watson will be the first Cat B rookie to play 150 games
"Favourite Eagle" 
