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Opinion 2014

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electricfeel said:
You are crazy. We don't trade someone like Fyfe regardless of what we will get for him. Fyfe is special. He is our golden child and future captain of our club.
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the thing is, i'd do it for talent but if in charge of freo i wouldt get rid of him. If that makes sense.
 
BenBenTheDegen said:
Well Pav, McPharlin, Sandi, Crowley will all be in their 30's
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Exactly, and Pav and McP will clearly be worse players next year. Sandi can still cause some damage if he keeps himself fit but those two will be on the slide next year.
On the upside, if we tread water that will be enough to stay top 4 - there are cogent reasons to think all of Hawks, Swans and Cats will dip next year too. It's all about top 4, we can have a shot from there
 
Fyfe is our future captain, would not be traded.
Up and comers Simpson and mitchie havnt even played a game yet.
Ibbo and Pearce to come back in.
Moras, would rather him give up, would love him to have career with us but imagine if he did hid knee again, the guy won't be able to walk when he hits 30.
Have some wood to get off our list which opens up the door for a bit more talent, and no doubt we will snag a gem in the free trade market.

Would it be worth trading for Jesse hogan?
 

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mightymouse75 said:
Fyfe is our future captain, would not be traded.
Up and comers Simpson and mitchie havnt even played a game yet.
Ibbo and Pearce to come back in.
Moras, would rather him give up, would love him to have career with us but imagine if he did hid knee again, the guy won't be able to walk when he hits 30.
Have some wood to get off our list which opens up the door for a bit more talent, and no doubt we will snag a gem in the free trade market.

Would it be worth trading for Jesse hogan?
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yes!! but what do u have to give up.
 
Trade Fyfe? **** sake.

2014, imo is probably going to be the last real crack at a flag with Sandi, Pav and McPharlin. We have to get things right.
 
The club has a genuine premiership window open and they pulled a big coupe getting Lyon. They will have something big and secret up their sleeve you just watch. And I think it will be exciting.
 
alright, i reckon we go for white AND buddy. then we draft kpd - blood him a bit by resting mcpharlin and johnson a fair bit.
We line up like this
FB - Duffield, Dawson, Spurr
HB - Johnson, Mcpharlin, Ibbotson
C - Hill, Crowley, Walters (ANY1 ELSE NOTICE HIS CLEARANCE IN THE LAST?)
HF - Fyfe, Buddy, White (QUICK AND BIG!!!!)
FF - Ballas, Pav, Clarke
FOL - Sandi, Barlow, Mundy
BENCH - C. Pearce, Neale, Suban
SUB - D. Pearce - Mora
Unlucky -
D.Pearce or Mora - whoever not playing
Mzungu
DeBoer
Michie
Crozier
Sheridan
Sutcliffe
Griffin
Silvagni - GOOD PLAYER
Mellington
KPD drafted

Notice the depth, the pace and the talent all round.
Premiership side no doubt about it.
Lets say Pav goes down then side looks like this:

FB - Duffield, Dawson, Spurr
HB - Johnson, Mcpharlin, Ibbotson
C - Hill, Crowley, D.Pearce
HF - Fyfe, White, Walters
FF - Ballas, Buddy, Clarke
FOL - Sandi, Barlow, Mundy
BENCH - C. Pearce, Neale, Suban
SUB - Mora - Fully fit overtakes anybody.
 
Fireballs said:
If they traded Fyfe I wouldn't renew my membership.
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Even if they could convince themselves that technically/onfield this was the right thing to do (which I would argue was incorrect) I think that fan backlash would be a factor in the greater thinking. This is not Mark Harvey level backlash we are talking about - my guess is that Fyfe is one of the top three most popular players at the club - as Ross Lyon said, they are in the entertainment industry. Assuming Fyfe is happy to stay, I don't think that the club would be looking to trade.
 
I'm not overly worried about a 'harder draw', it's an opportunity as much as a threat. All harder draw means is we get 2 or 3 of the other top 6 teams twice, which means home games as well as away, which means we are better off than this year.
This year:
a) Geelong/Hawks/Swans away only, so they get the big advantage to win the "8 point" games. So we get these teams home and away we are better off
b) Richmond home and away, if we get that again we are no worse off
c) Collingwood home only, so potentially we are worse off here, but even if we get them twice it's another MCG game

All good as far as I'm concerned
 

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I don't think you magically lose your powers when you turn 30. Cadel Evans was well into his 30s when he won the tour. I know that football is a high impact sport, but it's not as if they fall off a cliff.
 
I'll tell you what I'm looking forward to.

Josh Simpson, if he can't get any sort of consistency in his preparation I think he has more natural talent that any who have come before him.

If we can set him on a straight path off the field, and extract 80% of his talent, we will have an amazing player.
 
Simmofreo said:
I know it's a little early but what are your initial thoughts for 2014 ?
On the main board they have a sliders and risers thread, and it is surprising to see a huge number predicting Freo to slide.

The concern for me is that we will be guaranteed to have a harder draw and teams like WC, Gold Coast and Sydney are sure to have less injuries than they did this year.

Also so much has been made of our pressure that teams will plot how to combat it over the off season like hawthorn managed to. And will we see teams lower down the ladder copying Lyons game plan next year because they believe it works ?

I hope we can get a key forward and keep our best players on the ground and experience that GF excitement again, but I have no illusions of how hard that will be.

I would like to hear your thoughts ???
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I loved meeting you in 2013 and hoping to catch up with you again next year for the very same reasons!

we have a lot of youth in our side who would have learnt from this experience. I'm feeling optimistic :)
 
I haven't read the main board, but Geelong, Hawks and Sydney are all primed to slide - not right out of there, but I think they will all be a bit vulnerable to dropping out of the top 4. We should be strong enough to stay top 4, especially now that we've made Subi a near impossible place for opposition teams to win at. Really top 4 would be pass mark for where we're at.

The big issue is the vets - Elvis especially, his body is struggling. I know he's keen, but he can't do a whole season, that much is clear. All the 'big three' are going to take some serious managing.
 
PapaJ said:
I haven't read the main board, but Geelong, Hawks and Sydney are all primed to slide - not right out of there, but I think they will all be a bit vulnerable to dropping out of the top 4. We should be strong enough to stay top 4, especially now that we've made Subi a near impossible place for opposition teams to win at. Really top 4 would be pass mark for where we're at.

The big issue is the vets - Elvis especially, his body is struggling. I know he's keen, but he can't do a whole season, that much is clear. All the 'big three' are going to take some serious managing.
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Collingwood also seem a little bit unsettled and will lose a few players. WCE will have quite a few of their guns retire.

Biggest threats to us this year will be North Melbourne, Port Adelaide and possibly Richmond.

If Alistair really does go to WCE that could be "interesting" and Fyfe had better stay put!
 

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caterina said:
I'm not overly worried about a 'harder draw', it's an opportunity as much as a threat. All harder draw means is we get 2 or 3 of the other top 6 teams twice, which means home games as well as away, which means we are better off than this year.
This year:
a) Geelong/Hawks/Swans away only, so they get the big advantage to win the "8 point" games. So we get these teams home and away we are better off
b) Richmond home and away, if we get that again we are no worse off
c) Collingwood home only, so potentially we are worse off here, but even if we get them twice it's another MCG game

All good as far as I'm concerned
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I agree caterina. Playing Hawks, Sydney, Geelong etc twice and once in Perth makes the draw harder for them - (our competition for places in Top 4).
 
Only things you lose at 30+ is a bit of explosive speed and recovery times. But not immensely so until 33-34. The old guard will be fine next year. And they will be hungry. Prepare to see a ruthless side to Fremantle that we've not ever seen before.
 
Drafts and pre-season is the key to 2014, key position players required. Kicking skills need to be addressed, limited injury woes, player management of rehab. players.
 
clipboardbinocs said:
I'll tell you what I'm looking forward to.

Josh Simpson, if he can't get any sort of consistency in his preparation I think he has more natural talent that any who have come before him.

If we can set him on a straight path off the field, and extract 80% of his talent, we will have an amazing player.
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If only we can find cure for homesickness, or if RTB can do what he did to walters to him.
 
We need improvement just to stay ahead of others, then further improvement to make sure we win it next year. Where is that going to come from?

Coaching?

We flew under the radar this year. Lots of clubs will go to school on us. Lyon is one for preaching about staying ahead of the pack so no doubt he will rejig things and come up with new strategies.

Kicking Goals

We never really blew a lot of opposition away when we had the chance. Poor conversion and scoring power lost us a few games including the final. A power forward is one key, but not the answer as Buddy and Roughead show. What a key forward can do is allow lesser lights to shine by taking the focus away from them and also provide that outlet option for when there are no other options except to kick it long. I doubt we will land a free agent target. We will have to go through the draft to find one and its a lean draft for forwards.

However it is critical that some of our improvement if not most of it, comes from our forward line. Can tactics win the day? Can Sandi or Zac step up finally to clunk some marks? Hannath? Taberner is more a leading CHF.

I would not be surprised to see Ross go back to the old Mcpharlin forward move next year. Yes, I know we all hate it, but lets face it he is ageing, his disposal coming out of the backline can be a bit iffy, and Ross can give him his best chance of succeeding as a forward under strong structures and team rules.

I also think we will see guys like Mundy (191cm) and Fyfe pushing forward a lot more as Fyfe did towards the last half of the year. Sharing the "key forward" hole in essence between Mundy, Fyfe, Pavlich, Sandi, Zac and maybe Mcpharlin. As the Hawks showed, they are prepared to use guys like Franklin as decoys and rotate players through the key forward role.

Youth vs Elderley

Something that a lot of naysayers miss is that we spent most of the year without Sandi, Mcpharlin and Pav. Lots thought we would drop off this year because these guys were ageing.Their contribution in finals was minimal except Sandi. Of the three, you would say that Sandi had the biggest impact when he came back, but that also:
(a) he is the one we are best placed to replace with Zac, Griffin (reco) and Hannath/Moller in the wings;
(b) as the GF showed, having such a dominant ruckman may be a bad thing. The Hawks knew to focus on reading his tap and swarming our mids. Sandi being replaced by a not so dominant tap ruckman like Zac, but who does potentially offer much more around the ground, could be a big plus.

Mcpharlin I don´t think we would miss so much. Ross preaches team defence. Mcpharlin´s role as a intercept marker was lower this year as Ross positioned loose men like Ibbo and Spurr in that role instead.

Pav is probably the biggest loss if he goes in the next few years, however he may still have 2-3 years left as a forward.

As we know our youth depth is very very good and I see good improvement there. Neale, Sutcliffe, Crozier, Sheridan, Michie if still here, Simpson, Tabener, Morabito, Mello will all be pressuring guys like De Boer, Suban, D Pearce etc for a spot.

X-Factor
Every year someone bobs up to surprise. This year Spurr, Ibbo, Johnson, Mzungu and to an extent Duffield, Pearce again, Walters again, and Suban bobbed up and improved out of sight.

Who can do it next year?

Neale is one - his last 7 games are like Walter´s coming out last year. Expect a big year next year.

Zac Clarke has to take it to the next level as does Fyfe and Hill.

Morabito has huge x-factor if he can stay together. He could be our new Pav or Goodes.

Under the Gun
De Boer for mine is the one that is under the gun. Does a great job at shutting down an opponent, but is so one-way and often a liability in a forward line struggling to kick goals. Lyon preaches two way football. A big pre-season by Crozier or Mello will see De Boer out.

Skills and Composure

I reckon this is going to be a focus all pre-season. Working on elite skills under all conditions and pressure. Fyfe will spend all summer with a ball in hand. Lots of guys can improve in this category and its where we can see the most improvement. I expect Lyon to make everyone go to school on Mayne´s approach to goalkicking. Barlow will be told to improve or lose his spot to an up and coming mid. Ditto D Pearce. Walters will be asked to build a tank in the hope of pushing him into the middle for bursts.

I think we will win our 11 games at Subi next year ("House of Pain" is back baby!). Then add in at least 5-7 on the road and we have a top 4 spot. Anything can happen from there.
 

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