List Mgmt. 2018 List Management: Contracts, Trading, Drafting, Academy

[Ellie Aquitaine]

I’ve been listening to “The Originals” podcast by Emma Quayle and it throws up some interesting things that hint at future directions of the remaining 2012 “pure” Giants.

In particular I think Tim Mohr will retire if he doesn’t crack seniors regularly this year. I also think Cogs will continue to keep signing 2 year deals until he retires.

 

[Andre the Giant]

Grundy for Collingwood and Natanui for Weagles show you just how valuable a dominant and athletic tap ruckman is in the game.

Our recruiters have done some terrific work addressing some issues in the off season. Getting a G1 athletic tap ruckman is the next step. I haven’t seen enough of Flynn to comment whether he is the guy but if not that should be our number one priority in the off season.

With our Rolls Royce fleet of mids a gun ruckman would make us truly scary I reckon.

 

[coniglio_number1]

I have been banging the Naitanui drum for years. He unfortunately won’t leave Perth. Not until his career is over and needs to pad his super. But he is the prince of Perth and has no reason to leave other than success and it’s not like wce are bottom 4 material

 

[Andre the Giant]

I have been banging the Naitanui drum for years. He unfortunately won’t leave Perth. Not until his career is over and needs to pad his super. But he is the prince of Perth and has no reason to leave other than success and it’s not like wce are bottom 4 material

Buddy is amazing but I would argue that no player has more influence on their team in the comp than NicNat. They are absolute balls without him.

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

Great news! Nick Shipley extends for two years.

 

[fridgeman]

Great news! Nick Shipley extends for two years.

Good for him and hopefully he has a good run of games later in the year and looking forward to seeing what he can do when he has a more mature body but I would think he will be back in the 2nds this weekend

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

Good for him and hopefully he has a good run of games later in the year and looking forward to seeing what he can do when he has a more mature body but I would think he will be back in the 2nds this weekend

Probably but not certain to me. I really don't think Friday night was down to him.
It's pretty common in the development of youngsters though, a few games in the one's and then back to the NEAFL to develop. Steele, Kennedy and Himmelburg come immediately to mind. If he goes back he now knows what AFL level requires and will have a clearer idea of where he needs to get to I think.

 

[Giant Pete]

I’d give him some time in the twos now and give Bonar a run in the ones. Those two could be monsters in our midfield in 5 years.

 

[Andre the Giant]

Charlie Spargo looks a real goer for Melbourne. Quick, strong and has a lot of sh*t in him. Looks a handy player.

 

[Aussie18]

Charlie Spargo looks a real goer for Melbourne. Quick, strong and has a lot of sh*t in him. Looks a handy player.

And we took Daniels 1 pick earlier?????

 

[Andre the Giant]

And we took Daniels 1 pick earlier?????

We did and the talk has been good on Daniels even though he got hurt pretty early.

Will be very interesting to see how both players track as they have some similar attributes.

 

[Determinant]

We did and the talk has been good on Daniels even though he got hurt pretty early.

Will be very interesting to see how both players track as they have some similar attributes.

I don't think we did badly with Daniels, he looked like a great get, hopefully that's how it pans out

 

[fridgeman]

Still along way to go in the season but what are peoples thoughts on Heath Shaw and Griffen
Griffen seems over the injuries from last year and is having a good run of games but not standing out and it will be interesting to see how he goes over the back half of the season and my thoughts are that he will retire
Shaw contracted for next year but I think that could be to do with spreading his salary over the 2 years, very resilient and will bring up 100 club games at Adelaide still ok defensively but with the defence under pressure this season and the losses he does not have the time he use to with the ball and an increase in clangers and with it the criticism will come. Turns 33 at the end of the year so I can see him playing on next year and it will be a case of the younger players pushing him out if the side
It is an interesting situation with Tiziani and his rehab from the ACL as this was the year he needed to show something to earn a debut and a new contract but with the injury that has all changed, I think he will be redrafted as a rookie for 2019

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

Still along way to go in the season but what are peoples thoughts on Heath Shaw and Griffen
Griffen seems over the injuries from last year and is having a good run of games but not standing out and it will be interesting to see how he goes over the back half of the season and my thoughts are that he will retire
Shaw contracted for next year but I think that could be to do with spreading his salary over the 2 years, very resilient and will bring up 100 club games at Adelaide still ok defensively but with the defence under pressure this season and the losses he does not have the time he use to with the ball and an increase in clangers and with it the criticism will come. Turns 33 at the end of the year so I can see him playing on next year and it will be a case of the younger players pushing him out if the side
It is an interesting situation with Tiziani and his rehab from the ACL as this was the year he needed to show something to earn a debut and a new contract but with the injury that has all changed, I think he will be redrafted as a rookie for 2019

I think talk of Griffen's demise is premature. He 's consistently not rated by supporters but is by Leon, which is what matters.

Heater is interesting, presumably with a large payment to made next year after a juggle this year to scrape up cash for Kelly. He doesn't seem to have any body problems that would let us pay him out outside the cap. 0erhaps one can be found if necessary.

Depends on the rest of the year I think, but the clangers have increased alarmingly. He deserves respect and you'd think Leon has a frank chat at his end of season review about his prospects and whether he risks NEAFL for his last year. Which I doubt he'd want to do.

With Bunts and Kenners back and in form It's not inconceivable he reaches that point this year.

Tiziani faces a real test of character I think. The club gets him back to health and he needs to look at his footy career. He showed resilience as a teenager staying in training after missing his draft year and persevering to get drafted the following year. Lot of discipline from a teenager. Will he get interest from another club?

 

[fridgeman]

I think talk of Griffen's demise is premature. He 's consistently not rated by supporters but is by Leon, which is what matters.

Heater is interesting, presumably with a large payment to made next year after a juggle this year to scrape up cash for Kelly. He doesn't seem to have any body problems that would let us pay him out outside the cap. 0erhaps one can be found if necessary.

Depends on the rest of the year I think, but the clangers have increased alarmingly. He deserves respect and you'd think Leon has a frank chat at his end of season review about his prospects and whether he risks NEAFL for his last year. Which I doubt he'd want to do.

With Bunts and Kenners back and in form It's not inconceivable he reaches that point this year.

Tiziani faces a real test of character I think. The club gets him back to health and he needs to look at his footy career. He showed resilience as a teenager staying in training after missing his draft year and persevering to get drafted the following year. Lot of discipline from a teenager. Will he get interest from another club?

I forgot to add my thinking is also to do with the possible replacements and Griffen I think is easily replaced in terms of position but not experience where as no one on the list at the moment can replace Shaw for experience/leadership and also the position he plays
I thought Perryman and Cumming could have slotted in this year but as they have not been that convincing I am thinking they may spend the next 2 seasons nailing down a spot on the wing and spending some time in the back half
I am a big fan of having experience in the back half and I would love to see for next year
TOJ Davis Haynes
Williams Corr Whitfield and a mix of Buntine/Kennedy/Perryman/Cumming

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

I forgot to add my thinking is also to do with the possible replacements and Griffen I think is easily replaced in terms of position but not experience where as no one on the list at the moment can replace Shaw for experience/leadership and also the position he plays
I thought Perryman and Cumming could have slotted in this year but as they have not been that convincing I am thinking they may spend the next 2 seasons nailing down a spot on the wing and spending some time in the back half
I am a big fan of having experience in the back half and I would love to see for next year
TOJ Davis Haynes
Williams Corr Whitfield and a mix of Buntine/Kennedy/Perryman/Cumming

It hard to know the future and that may be what happens. IMO you're underrating Bunts and Kenners who are no longer young or developing though. Kenners may lack Whitfield's pace but he's a very hard runner. Both have made their way into the best 22 given a clear run of health in the past and I think that will continue.
I'm a big fan of what Shaw has done for the club, but they're the guys that can replace him. I dont think he can lead effectively any more if he's not able to do it by example. He may be able to coach onfield, but I think that's a bit different.

 

[Orange Agent]

Heater still one of our best.

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

Heater still one of our best.

Had a good game tonight.

 

[Andre the Giant]

The more I reflect on things the more I think the policy of drafting Victorian only kids was a steaming pile of horse manure driven by self interest.

Yes SA kids and WA kids sometimes get unsettled and go home but so do VIC kids.

I totally understand that with any draft teams get decisions right and wrong but I really do think SOS only had short term ambitions with us and shaped his list accordingly.

Even with the Vic only policy some decisions like overlooking the big bodied country Victorian Wines when we lacked big bodies was truly baffling. Don’t even get me started on Grundy, I have friends that are recruiters for two other teams and they say his interview behaviour was a beat up and that people just found him different rather than a dickhead. Not drafting him was a disgrace.

I look at our list and guys like Coniglio and Langdon who look very happy and others like Lobb that have been with us for ages and think how ignorant it was to not always pick talent first.

Kids will stay if a club has a good culture which thankfully we do and if the club is successful which we have been.

Other decisions to pick Academy guys over need were equally as foolhardy. Drafting a series of one paced players into a midfield with others like that made no sense and was just such a waste. We will now move some of those players at a fraction of their value as they struggle to make an impact.

The situation is not dire as we still have the basis of a very good team but boy oh boy have we been led down the garden path by some self interested and fraudulent clowns.

 

[Giant Strides]

I'd like to add a bit more analysis to this topic. There was a thread on BF last year IIRC about SOS's drafting - started by a Carlton supporter who was proclaiming him as a drafting/trading God, and lots of other (including GWS) supporters who were less favourable. For myself, the answer is (like many things in life) somewhere in the middle. However, I think that later drafting (and trading too) has been less effective and poor at times.

The initial U17 selections (not SOS selections) were pretty good, with a 50% pass rate, which isn't too bad at that age. Cameron, Shiel, Treloar, Wilson, Bugg & Hombsch have ranged from above average to really good in the overall competition, and I think that only in Hombsch did GWS not recognise the correct level of talent. We had a couple of reasonable pickups in the undrafted selections (Kennedy, Mohr) and there were several OK zone selections (Hampton, Miles, Townsend, Bruce) although we gave 3 of 4 of these away for nothing (so perhaps didn't fully recognise their talent). Part of that probably came down to the surfeit of talent that GWS had from the 2011 draft with the range of selections we had. Notwithstanding, the problem with the start up of the new club is that the majority of initial talent came from the same year, which both regulates its peak achievement (poor talent year, lower club ceiling) and requires that the talent be whittled down over time to achieve the normal age distribution of an AFL club. The 2011 draft selections were pretty good - the only real failure was Sumner, and that is possibly largely injury related. Downie was probably heading towards a failure, but overtaken by his health-related retirement. Trading Tyson for Kelly and Adams for Shaw in subsequent years were good results to assist GWS's team development and redistribute age. Of the selections, probably only Coniglio & Greene are A grade stars, but Patton, WHE, Haynes, Smith & Adams are looking B or B+, and Buntine (if he can overcome injuries) & Tomlinson are useful and are C+ at least. Of the guys we overlooked, Wingard stated he wouldn't stay and in that first year such a disruptive influence would have been toxic. Lachie Neale is the other miss - but so did every other club several times. Others who played a lot of games like BEllis, Newnes, Hill, Yeo, Sutcliffe don't feature on my 'that was a big miss' list. The one we would have benefitted from (perhaps - if we could have used him amongst the other talent) was Tom Mitchell - who we tried to entice away from Sydney at the time. So I rate the start up selections based on the talent chosen versus that available as a solid A.

The 2012 draft was a poorer effort as SOS reached to fill holes - although arguably this is down to the lack of ability to trade in players to fill holes (i.e. players not wanting to come to Sydney and a new, lowly club). Wines, Macrae & Grundy are the obvious misses, while I maintain that Whitfield is an essential cog in GWS's team and certainly not a miss in my view. Strangely, the games played list (a measure to me of standing at a club) from this year is dominated by rookie promotions & father/son selections; of the drafted players the top 10 features 3 GWS selections (Whitfield, Corr & Plowman) - the last of which I don't think was too much of a mistake although perhaps a reach, but we undersold him in the later trade. Zac Williams was the value pick up. Wines for O'Rourke (understand the intent for an inside-outside type, but ultimately a massive failure) and Grundy instead of Jacksch (or Corr if you want the latest pick we had) would have made 2012 an A rather than a B- effort (although not in my view a 'Victorian conspiracy', just a failure of talent identification). Whitfield, Wines, Macrae, Corr, Grundy would have been the ideal selections for us - but that would have still created problems in that not all of Ward, Cogs, Shiel, Kelly, Scully, Whitfield, Wines, Macrae can really play in the same team!

2013 was actually pretty reasonable - no-one would have passed on Boyd as #1 pick at the time, while Kelly, McCarthy & Lobb were all fine selections where they were. Barrett a late academy selection was fine at the time, although Jed Lamb in the PSD would prove to be a failure. Of the missed players, 'the Bont' is the obvious one but purely a hindsight selection at #1, while Matt Crouch instead of McCarthy may have prevented some of our later headaches. I'd give that a solid B to B+. Lobb was good in 2016 & 2017, so his struggles in 2018 have been disappointing. Mumford and Shaw being traded in would be the kickstart of GWS's development into a finals team.

2014 would be SOS's last draft, and the one which GWS fans complain most about. However, the trade period was really good for us - we cleaned out deadwood in O'Rourke, Jacksch, Whiley, Frost, Giles (though I had a soft spot for him) and the ungrateful Boyd, bringing in the experienced Joel Patfull (who would prove to be an excellent short term pickup) and the former AA Griffen while landing an extra two early first round picks. The problem was misidentifying talent and wasting all five of our first and second round picks - all of whom left the club leaving just academy pick Finlayson by 2018. The problem was not completely talent related - Marchbank & Steele were solid talents but didn't want to be in Sydney for various reasons, while injury cruelled Pickett & Ahern. I'd also add that the guys from this year wore the brunt of the 2016 AFL decision to cut GWS's list size & TPP - they had yet to show their full talent but were on larger contracts to keep them until it could be realised, which became a millstone for GWS when the changed TPP conditions were mandated. Still, a poor outcome for GWS, but I'll admit I'm not convinced of the talent in the players from this year except for a few.

2015 saw a large batch of GWS Academy talents coming through in Hopper, Matt Kennedy, Himmelberg & Flynn and the club's need to continue its list size reduction to meet (the original) 2019 deadline for normal list size. I recall saying at the time that GWS needed to be careful about only taking academy kids that we needed (in terms of list size , balance and filling needs) rather than simply who was available, to ensure we kept our talent pool high. I don't have too much of an issue over who we moved on this year, except we would have preferred not to lose Treloar (but got decent trade value for him) and I thought that Plowman was undercompensated (through having to also move contracted players in Sumner, Lamb & Phillips) as was Bugg. Taking just the 4 draftees plus 2 cheap trade-ins (Simpson & Johnson) was/is fine in my view. In hindsight, getting two slower-paced mids in Kennedy & Hopper was perhaps a touch unbalanced, and I think we were as taken in by the overhype of the time as others. In hindsight, arguably keeping Bugg and not selecting Kennedy may have been better - Bugg being more versatile in being able to play back, forward and midfield. However, it's hard to tell whether we pushed Bugg out or he wanted to go home for more opportunity. The academy guys we didn't take (that people complain about in general) consisted of Cornell, Irvine, Coughlan and Tiziani - the last of whom we selected a year later and of the former two were selected elsewhere as rookies and subsequently cut; so we really didn't overlook any talent this year. To be honest, if we looked at Hopper as OK but not a star and needing more development and Kennedy & HH as second round talents (where I think they fit once the overhype is removed), then this was a solid draft for us.

In my opinion, 2016 was the year that GWS made its biggest mistakes. Partly this came from the AFL decision to reduce the list size and TPP in response to us making finals for the first time (how shortsightedly reactive). That decision, and the resulting squeeze on TPP, makes it really difficult to tell what trade outs occurred because of GWS talent management decisions, players wanting to go home, or purely pragmatic contract $ reductions. However, we cut 9 players and brought in 7 - 6 via draft and Deledio by trade. I think that turnover was too much, and undermined our depth, which is what is hurting us badly in 2018. We should be reasonable in our criticism, though, because losses such as WHE can be seen as trading away the bountiful 2011 age group for a later age group, and arguably WHE had not hit the heights that we thought he could. The 2014 crop bore the brunt of the AFL decision, particularly Ahern & Pickett through their injuries, while Steele and Marchbank perhaps were not fought for as hard as we otherwise might have due to the TPP situation. IMHO, the better scenario for GWS was a loss of say 5 (such as Palmer, McCarthy, McKenna, Marchbank, Pickett) and selecting just 3 in the national draft (Taranto, Setterfield and one of Perryman or Cumming or someone else) while getting de Boer in the rookie draft. And the biggest mistake of all was trading for Deledio. No offence to the man, but as I feared at the time, he was an incredibly poor pick up (doubly so at the price paid) with his injury prone body. I'd argue that he cost us retaining Dev Smith (who has been a massive loss up front and rotating through midfield this year) due to $ as well as another first round pick in the 2017 ND. In regards the overlooked GWS Academy talent, while Macreadie, Garthwaite, Mutch and Sam Fisher all ended up on other clubs' lists, I don't see that any would be GWS's saviour in our current circumstances; although you could argue Mutch instead on Perryman, Cumming or Tiziani might have been a better outcome (though I think that would be a hindsight call). Instead, the experienced players could have been our saviour - for example, keeping someone like Stewart would have negated the need for Keeffe (Stewart being able to play forward & second ruck, also releasing HH to the defence) and assisted us with HH & Patton so out of form this year. Again somewhat of a hindsight call given that you couldn't condemn Stewart for going to Essendon for a better chance at first grade, which he's grasped. WHE and Steele would similarly have gotten games through our current injury crisis in lieu of lesser talent such as Buckley, Reid & Lloyd.

I think it's too early to make a call on 2017's outcome, especially with guys like Bonar & Daniels having had injury disrupted first pre-seasons. However, I'd note the influence of the Deledio trade on 2017. Had he not been traded in, I think we could have retained Smith - negating the over-focus on small/medium forwards in the ND and rookie drafts. As well, we would have held an existing first round pick (#15 from Geelong) and our third round pick. So we could have gotten the guys that we did anyway, but would have been ahead in retaining an experienced player in Smith. The non selections of Academy kids Powell, Richards, Langlands and Myers or removed Academy kids like Brander and Spargo I don't see as having any bearing on this year; but time will tell in future.

So, while I agree that we needed and need to be pragmatic about academy kids, I'd argue that some of the non-selections prove exactly that the GWS recruiters have been (and yet they have copped flak from us on BF about not selecting the likes of Macreadie & Spargo, who were all overlooked for specific perceived flaws or list balance aspects). Perhaps we will ultimately be disappointed by Hopper and Setterfield (hard to tell with the latter due to his injuries), but most other clubs would have jumped at them where we matched for them. We were pragmatic at getting Taranto ahead of academy talent, and he looks pretty good. We got Bonar as a quick, big-bodied midfielder - exactly what is being asked for in the previous post - but he needs time to develop. Criticism of Shipley is unwarranted IMHO - while we probably could have got him as a rookie his selection at #64 is hardly a major misstep and when he's used in his primary inside mid position he may prove better than he showed in his initial two first grade games.

As I said, the 2016 trade & draft period is the biggest mistake from what I assess - largely IMHO attributable to the AFL decision on list size & TPP - and this has contributed to the lack of depth being seen in 2018; which has been exposed by the massive injury toll this year, but also last year's injury toll that restricted development in some of our junior players. I actually don't see the lack of SA draftees or lesser number of WA draftees as being a particular flaw in our list composition, although happy to discuss who anyone thinks would have been a better choice than an incumbent.

 

[fridgeman]

I am going to throw it out there early that I would be in favour of trading HH or Tomlinson despite them being contracted I can only see room for one of them on the list and next year it would be 8 years for Tomlinson and 5 for HH and although solid contributors HH has IMO being poor this season and has played every game due to what I think is a lack of options to replace him and Tomlinson has had some good moments he is down on confidence and when he needed to stand up he gives away the 50 to change the momentum of the game v the Bombers
It is all dependant on form in the back half of the year but at this stage one of them could easily be dropped and TOJ could play a swingman role
With what i think is an excess of tall players at the club would either be interested in a move? what club would be interested in a tall utility type? What would they be worth?
I am sure money and length of contract could motivate one of them
The Saints and Hawks could be interested depending on their list movements

 

[captainMyCaptain]

I am going to throw it out there early that I would be in favour of trading HH or Tomlinson despite them being contracted I can only see room for one of them on the list and next year it would be 8 years for Tomlinson and 5 for HH and although solid contributors HH has IMO being poor this season and has played every game due to what I think is a lack of options to replace him and Tomlinson has had some good moments he is down on confidence and when he needed to stand up he gives away the 50 to change the momentum of the game v the Bombers
It is all dependant on form in the back half of the year but at this stage one of them could easily be dropped and TOJ could play a swingman role
With what i think is an excess of tall players at the club would either be interested in a move? what club would be interested in a tall utility type? What would they be worth?
I am sure money and length of contract could motivate one of them
The Saints and Hawks could be interested depending on their list movements

HH has only played 26 snr games and for mine has a lot of upside, and just generally the worse thing we could do is weaken our depth even further and even if you do think we have enough talls you should keep in mind both Tomlinson and HH have the ability to play fwd, back or in the midfield and that utility value is an asset to any list.

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

If we start trading these guys out for picks we might extend our run of finals appearances. The risk is we might never reach the point we are good enough to win a flag.
To me any trades now should be for players who can strengthen the list for the next few years. I think a McGovern or a Preuss for example would be great, but I cant see it happening.

 

[Giant Strides]

Following on from my previous post, here's how I assess our current list - very much looking at where they ideally fit in relation to best team position, which I'll then relate to our drafting/trading strategy:

First 22:
Defenders: Davis, Corr, Haynes, Shaw, Williams, Kennedy, Finlayson or Buntine
Ruck: ?
Midfield: Ward, Shiel, Coniglio, Whitfield, Scully, Hopper, Taranto
Forwards: Cameron, Patton, Lobb, Greene, Kelly (mid resting forward), De Boer, ?

Second 22:
Defenders: Mohr, Taylor, Tomlinson, Buntine or Finlayson, Stein, Cumming, ?
Ruck: Simpson, Flynn
Midfield: Griffen, Setterfield, Shipley, Deledio, Bonar, Perryman, ?
Forwards: Himmelburg, Sproule, JBuckley, Tiziani, Reid, Lloyd, DBuckley, Daniels, Langdon
Spare: Keeffe

My thoughts on the list balance:

- The ruck question is a significant one (& current problem) for us: we've elected to try Lobb as the primary ruck (which consequently moves HH from the S22 into the F22 forwards from the club perspective) for his mobility, but that's not really working for us at the moment. It was always going to be a big question for our team this year. We may just need to give it time, but we are missing Mummy's extra aggression, tackling & some clearance work in the ruck. It appears that Simpson is not favoured as F22 ruck, but at NEAFL level he's great in tapping down to our junior mids & developing them. It's not unbalanced to have Flynn as the developing ruck, but Keeffe I perceive as being on the list purely as that 'spare ruck' while Flynn develops and makes the list a touch unbalanced IMHO. That's where keeping Stewart may have been a better course of action, being a much more viable player as third forward. However, if Tim Mohr retires this year, then Keeffe can assume a KPD position and right-size the list balance. But what do we do with the ruck? If The Lobb experiment doesn't produce fruit, then we'd need to go for an up-and-coming ruck (think Preuss) but they might cost us more than we an afford; or an old stager on his way out for a few years until Flynn comes ready (think Goldstein or Lycett) - but for whom we would not want to pay much in both trade and contract terms.

- I believe that we're playing too tall at the back, and have too many tall defenders overall on the list. I agree (to an extent) with the thoughts on Tommo: he's not a great one-on-one defender, and he doesn't really use his endurance to best effect; he's neither a great marking back nor a great distributing rebounder either. Ideally, once we get Williams, Buntine & Kennedy back from injury, the best setup would be the 3 talls, 3 mediums & either ToJ or Buntine who can play both tall & small; for mine, probably ToJ is the pick if he can be a second interceptor and big kicker. If I put Tommo back to the S22, then I believe that we're unbalanced - effectively short the extra defender (with none of the mids really suited to filling that hole) - and Stein (seemingly similar to ToJ in a tall but running defender) making it too tall. This is an area where IMHO the 2017 trade/draft failed to correct: we over-focussed on small forwards and failed to fill a gap in the medium/small/running defender category (effectively the Wilson position went unfilled) - and arguably we're actually two short if Stein is too tall. We could have gone for someone like Ed Richards with the early draft pick or several others including Ryley Stoddart later. If Mohr retires then I wouldn't necessarily trade Tommo, as the list could be balanced if Stein is traded in for a medium or running defender. From team selections, GWS is looking at Perryman as another defender, but I am yet to be convinced that's his best role: he's a bit slow and don't think he's the best rebounder or even lock down defender. (If he is deemed a defender, then we're also short a midfielder.)

- The forward list is a bit unbalanced in my view too. Leon likes the 3 talls, and the best setup we're had in the last 2.5 seasons is with Lobb as #3. With Greene & MdB fit (as respectively attacking & defensive small/medium forwards) and a resting midfielder, we're still searching for the final forward. But to me we have one too many small forwards on the list (and Bonar, whom I've put as a mid for the long term placement will be looked at there also). This is where Dev Smith's loss hits home - as one of the competition's best pressure forwards we've lost that and unable to replicate it with guys like Lloyd, Reid, Langdon & DBuckley. I get that Reid, Lloyd & DBuckley would be very inexpensive options for our list (especially compared to Smith), but I think that in looking at Richmond's success last year and seeing Johnson & Smith depart, GWS over-fascinated on the small/medium forward at the draft.

- OK, I accept that how I've assigned the midfield might be a bit controversial: but IMHO I don't perceive Griffen as top grade anymore, and while Lids at his best would be (and would push Taranto into a forward position) his long-term injuries have hurt our depth. It is jointly the result of our list balance and injuries that sees a bunch of these S22 (IMHO) playing F22, with the resultant lack of depth (especially midfield depth) in NEAFL games. As I said in my previous post, we need to give the 2017 draftees time to play before we assess whether they are individually good for GWS, but right now I'd just look at the list balance and wonder if we got the selections right from a balance perspective. Despite his having now played two games for us, I'd continue to question the value of DBuckley on the rookie list. If we accept that we have too many small/medium forwards, and that Shipley could probably had been rookied, the I'd look at someone like Matt Guelfi (another WA lad, who Essendon picked up at #76) who's a speedy inside midfielder with a penetrating kick who could have been of benefit to our list. (And in a strange twist, he's been played forward to good pressure effect by Essendon.)

So, across these two posts, I'd posit that the 2016 decisions continue to dog our situation in 2018. A past decision such as keeping Stewart could have negated getting in Keeffe and also the need for JBuckley, freeing up a list spot. Keeping Dev Smith (such as a result of not getting Deledio) would have prevented the over-fascination with small forwards and capped that selection to perhaps just Daniels.

However, what's done is done and the more important question is what to do in future. However, it's probably too soon in the season to get too wrapped up in that. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to discuss towards the end of the season.

 

[coniglio_number1]

Deledio out for another 10 weeks with a calf injury. Looks like we’ve seen the last of him and what a failure of a trade that was.