I'm coming from a fair way back here so lets see how this goes, I could end up giving Jimmae's multi-quote record a red hot crack here:
Awesome post. Jimmie has work to do.
There's a bit more to the family stuff than you're aware of and as result you're off the mark.
Did you listen to Tom claim his dad was at the helm for 6 premierships? Or how MLG is a 'dictator' because they elected new board members in the manner that they are directed to via the club constitution?
Tom is a muppett and the only connection he should have with the club is being a paid up member. He's like a one man band version of the Richmond 'Focus On Footy' group but with less idea of what's going on and much more public outcry. If I had my way I'd have a moratorium on anyone in the Elliot family being involved with CFC. The CFC motto is Mens sana in coropre sano which means "a sound mind in a healthy body"... I'd say it should read Mens sana in coropre sano, sine Elliot
Geez you're fun. Maybe you need a break from it? Come back in a couple of years.
We got Kennedy out of Gibbs too.
Last week Gibbs kicked 1 goal, had 21 disposals at 66% efficiency (14 effective disposals), 9 of them contested, 7 marks, 3 tackles, 12 pressure acts, 281 metres, 3 clearances. If you take the average of Kennedy and O'Brien from the last game it's 24 disposals at 81% efficiency (20 effective disposals), 8 of them contested, 5 marks, 2.5 tackles, 18.5 pressure acts, 268 metres, 4 clearances. Being optimistic Gibbs has maybe 80-90 odd AFL games left in the tank, would think that Kennedy & O'Brien could easily have another 400 between them.
Doesn't seem all that diabolical to me.
Keep in mind that a good chunk of those wins last year were in the first half with Docherty, Cripps, Ed & Gibbs plus Kreuzer & Murph were flying.
Gowers has said that he didn't work hard enough and getting delisted was the kick up the **** he needed to make a change. I would have like to perhaps see Holman get another year too but lets not pretend he's doing a Tim Kelly and exploding onto the scene; the guy averages 13 disposals and is basically playing each week because he's a big body in the middle who makes 6 tackles a game.
I agree, no messiah's or quick fixes here. There's no point in going through all of this to 'give up' and take the easy way out without seeing it all through. I think the club has been fairly honest about younger player development, we've heard quite often the phrase "it's not linear".
I don't see us needing to 'add' a year to the rebuild, come 2019 I'm expecting our total turnover from the 66 games (& 4 trade/draft periods) to be up around the 50-52 mark (we're at 42 now). I'd be hanging onto our top line seniors until they retire (Murph, Simmo, Kreuzer, Ed) and keeping a few of the other older guys as depth/backup (Wright, Casboult, Phillips or Lobbe, Kerridge) until their contracts are up or maybe an extension for a couple of them. Then there's guys like Jones who is a bit less certain for me, probably gets extended (currently contracted for next year) but after that I'm not sure.
Our current injury woes have forced us into playing the senior depth players who were meant to strengthen the VFL and give us the occasional chop out in the seniors when younger players needed to be managed or got injured.
This week we'll probably see Thomas and Rowe come in for Jones and Fisher. Taking that team and then comparing the changes to our potential round 1 team (without counting any offseason acquisitions) we're likely to see names like Lobbe, Thomas, Rowe, Graham, Shaw, Casboult, Wright (& others) replaced by some of Kreuzer, Docherty, Fisher, Plowman, Jones, Williamson, Byrne, Cuningham, Lang, Garlett, Kerr... then next year I reckon Schumacher & De Koning might work their way in and get a game or two.
Kreuzer, Browne, Armfield, Pfieffer, Joseph, Hill, Ellard, Shields, Yarran, Robinson, O'Keefe, Tiller, Garlett, Stanton, Bentley, Jacobs, Lucas, Davies, Kerr, Cachia, Dare, Casboult, White, Donaldson, Tuohy, Watson, McCarthy, Mitchell, McInnes, Duigan, Curnow, Twomey, Carter, Bray, Bootsma, Rowe, Buckley, Bell, Heyne, Dale, Lodge, Menzel, Temay, Graham, Collins, Cripps, Giles, Holman, Reynolds, Wood, Johnson, Sheehan, Byrne, Boekhorst, Viojo-Rainbow, Smith, Foster, Tutt, Gowers, Walsh, Fields, Russell.
That's 62 players we picked up in the ND & RD between 2007 & 2014. 7 are still on our list and another 8 are still playing AFL. 3 of those at other clubs were delisted (Gowers, Buckley & Holman). I'd argue next year those numbers could very well be 5 CFC & as low as 5 or 6 elsewhere. Still, looking at this year, 15 from 62 is a pretty horrible number (24%), but the fact that we've still only got 7 from that 62 (11%) on our list is damning, and on of, if not the major component as to why we are where we are.
Good call, was without a doubt his best game for us. Maybe it's starting to 'click' with him.
...and considering Lobbe was our only fit ruckman last week it's hard to deem the call an outright failure. Plus he's a nice 'place holder' on some cap space while he's playing that backup role.
Stories tend to be rubbish if there's no conflict or anything to overcome. The story of #17 should be a ripper... and will probably rival LOTR for run time...
I'd pass on Griffen. Can't stay on the park, walked out of the dogs while captain to chase success and evade the 'Melbourne bubble'.
Winner winner...
What about furthest from the pin?.. the 2014/15 side was one of the oldest in the comp and most of the players weren't exactly on an upwards trajectory as far as on-field output goes. It wasn't a write-off/total-loss but hell it wasn't that far off it. The options were to hard rebuild - rip the bandaid off - and try and fix the list quickly with mass changes and bringing as much talented kids in the door as possible or do it slowly over a decade or more, most likely being a perennial 8-12th placed team.
Aye, aye