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Opinion 2024 and Beyond

Where will the Bloods finish in 2024

  • Premiership

    Votes: 24 24.7%
  • Top 4

    Votes: 46 47.4%
  • Top 8

    Votes: 23 23.7%
  • 9th - 14th

    Votes: 4 4.1%
  • Bottom 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    97

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Both Heeney and Paps have the ability to kick 50 if they spend 80-90% time in the forwards.

I agree and it’s my preference to keep them there. They’re AA forwards. I should stress I don’t want things to be so dire that Papley needs to switch to the midfield, but should both McLean and McDonald improve even further next season he could definitely spend more time in the middle.

It’s a big if but it’s also a compliment to Papley who can be a gun in two different roles.

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I agree and it’s my preference to keep them there. They’re AA forwards. I should stress I don’t want things to be so dire that Papley needs to switch to the midfield, but should both McLean and McDonald improve even further next season he could definitely spend more time in the middle.

It’s a big if but it’s also a compliment to Papley who can be a gun in two different roles.

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Very positive way to look at it.
 

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I agree and it’s my preference to keep them there. They’re AA forwards. I should stress I don’t want things to be so dire that Papley needs to switch to the midfield, but should both McLean and McDonald improve even further next season he could definitely spend more time in the middle.

It’s a big if but it’s also a compliment to Papley who can be a gun in two different roles.

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I just saw that Papley had more clearances (both centre and stoppage) than anyone on the ground Friday night. His work in the middle is outstanding. He's the kind of player we can just move to where he's needed most during a game.
 
For shits, before the crippling weight of reality crushes my spirit during the trade period.

FB: Cunningham - McCartin - Rampe
HB: Lloyd - McKay - Blakey
C: Campbell - Mills - Gulden
HF: Parker - McDonald - Heeney
FF: Papley - McLean - Amartey
Foll: Grundy - Rowbottom - Warner
I/C: Sheldrick - Florent - Hayward - McInerney
EMG: Melican - Fox - Ladhams - Wicks

Melican desperately unlucky, but I think with a bit of tinkering in the pre-season and maybe some adjustments to the midfield set-up, and we'd be in a very good position for a flag tilt imo.
Going by that you can see what a difference bringing in a couple of extra players would do for our depth. At any one time we can expect at least 4-6 injures but those emergencies are pretty good depth. And we still have the likes of McAndrew, Buller, Arnold and hopefully some decent 1st and 2nd year players ready to step up if needed.
 
Darcy Cameron, Tom Mitchell, Aliir Aliir, Nick Newman, George Hewett.
If things went as they should have, add Jordan Dawson to the list of our ex players playing in finals this year.
These guys all played in positions we clearly had deficiencies in all season & especially the other night against Carlton.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here but I guess I have a level of concern that we are unable to see in them what these other clubs have in order to have chased them. Also in our ability to keep them at our club. Much of it stems from Horse banging heads with a few of them, Mick Malthouse style. Could this be a reason also that we can't seem to get players we chase across from other clubs over to us, as Paul Roos was able to do & are we incorrectly blaming COL.

I was concerned the other night as soon as I saw Mills go to Cripps as a tagger. Rowbottom the same. All our players behaved at the first bounce as though we were trying to stop them doing their thing. Not one other game I watched did I see this from an opposition midfielder other than Drew of Port Adelaide against Neale. Yeah he reduced Neale output but they were a player down all night in the middle once you take the ruckman away.

So we have a top 5 Academy pick All Australian midfielder playing a negating role as one of our role players that Horse cherishes so much. Then came the two goals in 90 seconds. The noise was deafening. I felt humiliated sitting there amongst 85,000 Carlton supporters making all that noise. God knows how the players felt. I looked at my sons & said "that's good bye to the game right there for us. Those two goals will be the difference right there". "Shut up Dad" they told me with the club loyalty I instilled in them from a young age.
Is this gutless coaching. Gutless development. From top to bottom of our club. I have supported such players being let go over the years but I think I am done with supporting it in favour of creating a list of role players instead of play makers.

I may be very wrong but I've have been throwing this up in my mind for a while.
Is Dylan Stevens the next one that will be playing finals next season for another team?
Let's see what comes of this trading season for our club.
 
It's odd though that every inside mid that has been suggested we look at trading in this year has been shot down with the notion that he would take the place of A, B or C. Issue is that A, B & C haven't got the job done this year.
People for some reason also assume that our first choices will always be available for selection or playing fully fit. Nothing wrong with some competition for places.
 
So we have a top 5 Academy pick All Australian midfielder playing a negating role as one of our role players that Horse cherishes so much. Then came the two goals in 90 seconds. The noise was deafening. I felt humiliated sitting there amongst 85,000 Carlton supporters making all that noise. God knows how the players felt. I looked at my sons & said "that's good bye to the game right there for us. Those two goals will be the difference right there". "Shut up Dad" they told me with the club loyalty I instilled in them from a young age.
Is this gutless coaching. Gutless development. From top to bottom of our club. I have supported such players being let go over the years but I think I am done with supporting it in favour of creating a list of role players instead of play makers.
lol
 
This is difficult because we made the GF last year & played in the finals this year BUT I think our coaches need to implement a better balance in attacking/defensive mindset & game style. We need to rely less on the turnover & counter attack game style & more on winning 1st possession & driving our attack through the midfield.

It's probably a mindset shift from coaches in the off-season in letting more of our players have an attacking approach, rather than just leaving it on the halfbacks to drive our attack. It probably means more susceptibility in defence but the trade-off is worth exploring imo.

We probably don't need massive change but a better balance between the turnover game style & winning 1st possession. Our contested numbers/midfield susceptibility is more to do with coaching/gamestlye than personnel imo. I'd love to see more players with the mindset of Papley & Gulden aggressive nature in hunting the ball. Hopefully having a fully fit Mills next year helps address it. He's got the best balance between attack/defence & has the football IQ to organise the midfield.

I also think our coaches tend to pigeon hole players too often, whether it be a rowbottom playing a negating role in the mids because of his great tackling/pressure skills, mills versatility shifting him all over the ground etc. It took Horse multiple season with Mills being played at halfback until he moved him into a full-time mid role where he had an AA year & we reached the GF. Some of the success stories of our players have been fluky, like blakey being used as a last resort in defence, ditto with florent.
 

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This is difficult because we made the GF last year & played in the finals this year BUT I think our coaches need to implement a better balance in attacking/defensive mindset & game style. We need to rely less on the turnover & counter attack game style & more on winning 1st possession & driving our attack through the midfield.

It's probably a mindset shift from coaches in the off-season in letting more of our players have an attacking approach, rather than just leaving it on the halfbacks to drive our attack. It probably means more susceptibility in defence but the trade-off is worth exploring imo.

We probably don't need massive change but a better balance between the turnover game style & winning 1st possession. Our contested numbers/midfield susceptibility is more to do with coaching/gamestlye than personnel imo. I'd love to see more players with the mindset of Papley & Gulden aggressive nature in hunting the ball. Hopefully having a fully fit Mills next year helps address it. He's got the best balance between attack/defence & has the football IQ to organise the midfield.

I also think our coaches tend to pigeon hole players too often, whether it be a rowbottom playing a negating role in the mids because of his great tackling/pressure skills, mills versatility shifting him all over the ground etc. It took Horse multiple season with Mills being played at halfback until he moved him into a full-time mid role where he had an AA year & we reached the GF. Some of the success stories of our players have been fluky, like blakey being used as a last resort in defence, ditto with florent.

Just read an article on foxsports with the first crack lads saying something similar. Don't know whether agreeing with them is a good or bad thing :think:😂
 
Darcy Cameron, Tom Mitchell, Aliir Aliir, Nick Newman, George Hewett.
If things went as they should have, add Jordan Dawson to the list of our ex players playing in finals this year.
These guys all played in positions we clearly had deficiencies in all season & especially the other night against Carlton.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here but I guess I have a level of concern that we are unable to see in them what these other clubs have in order to have chased them. Also in our ability to keep them at our club. Much of it stems from Horse banging heads with a few of them, Mick Malthouse style. Could this be a reason also that we can't seem to get players we chase across from other clubs over to us, as Paul Roos was able to do & are we incorrectly blaming COL.

I was concerned the other night as soon as I saw Mills go to Cripps as a tagger. Rowbottom the same. All our players behaved at the first bounce as though we were trying to stop them doing their thing. Not one other game I watched did I see this from an opposition midfielder other than Drew of Port Adelaide against Neale. Yeah he reduced Neale output but they were a player down all night in the middle once you take the ruckman away.

So we have a top 5 Academy pick All Australian midfielder playing a negating role as one of our role players that Horse cherishes so much. Then came the two goals in 90 seconds. The noise was deafening. I felt humiliated sitting there amongst 85,000 Carlton supporters making all that noise. God knows how the players felt. I looked at my sons & said "that's good bye to the game right there for us. Those two goals will be the difference right there". "Shut up Dad" they told me with the club loyalty I instilled in them from a young age.
Is this gutless coaching. Gutless development. From top to bottom of our club. I have supported such players being let go over the years but I think I am done with supporting it in favour of creating a list of role players instead of play makers.

I may be very wrong but I've have been throwing this up in my mind for a while.
Is Dylan Stevens the next one that will be playing finals next season for another team?
Let's see what comes of this trading season for our club.

Don't get me started on this using Mills everywhere but where he should be playing. Then we have the ridiculous thing of playing the bloke in defence to only lose the game anyway. Honestly enough is enough let the players play as mids trying to score. Let Mills be an inside mid getting clearances, why are we tagging anyway it does not work nowadays anyway. It has been happening since Horse has been coaching his first priority is defence, lets compare that to how Craig McCrae has installed into their side.
 
This is purely hypothetical, but should McLean or Logan turn in to a 50 goal forward, would we consider shifting Papley to the midfield on a more permanent basis?

Again, purely hypothetical and I know he’s a weapon up forward but he also plays like a naturally damaging midfielder when he’s in there.


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I would split Papley & Parkers mid/fwd mins. Both are strong bodies, they can be effective in both roles & it allows for a bit of flexibility in match-ups. I don't want either to play full-time mid mins though. I think this way you can still have the spark/impact of Papley in the mids without wearing him down. It allows Parker to be fresher in the mids when it's his turn too. You also still keep the experience & power flowing through the mids but add another dimension to it with Papley's involvement.

I think if you can have Mills & another player (Rowbottom? Heeney? anyone else) as your primary mids then the likes of Papley, Parker, Gulden, Sheldrick etc flowing through it will be effective. It might also help keep our players be fresher in the backend of the season. This is all on the proviso that coaches & players see the midfielders as ball winners first rather than pressure players/tacklers.
 
Is Dylan Stevens the next one that will be playing finals next season for another team?
Darcy Cameron, Tom Mitchell, Aliir Aliir, Nick Newman, George Hewett.
If things went as they should have, add Jordan Dawson to the list of our ex players playing in finals this year.
These guys all played in positions we clearly had deficiencies in all season & especially the other night against Carlton.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here but I guess I have a level of concern that we are unable to see in them what these other clubs have in order to have chased them. Also in our ability to keep them at our club. Much of it stems from Horse banging heads with a few of them, Mick Malthouse style. Could this be a reason also that we can't seem to get players we chase across from other clubs over to us, as Paul Roos was able to do & are we incorrectly blaming COL.

I was concerned the other night as soon as I saw Mills go to Cripps as a tagger. Rowbottom the same. All our players behaved at the first bounce as though we were trying to stop them doing their thing. Not one other game I watched did I see this from an opposition midfielder other than Drew of Port Adelaide against Neale. Yeah he reduced Neale output but they were a player down all night in the middle once you take the ruckman away.

So we have a top 5 Academy pick All Australian midfielder playing a negating role as one of our role players that Horse cherishes so much. Then came the two goals in 90 seconds. The noise was deafening. I felt humiliated sitting there amongst 85,000 Carlton supporters making all that noise. God knows how the players felt. I looked at my sons & said "that's good bye to the game right there for us. Those two goals will be the difference right there". "Shut up Dad" they told me with the club loyalty I instilled in them from a young age.
Is this gutless coaching. Gutless development. From top to bottom of our club. I have supported such players being let go over the years but I think I am done with supporting it in favour of creating a list of role players instead of play makers.

I may be very wrong but I've have been throwing this up in my mind for a while.
Is Dylan Stevens the next one that will be playing finals next season for another team?
Let's see what comes of this trading season for our club.
Not if he got to North he wouldn’t be
 
Should Papley play more in the mids? In turn, do we need to recruit another small forward?

No. Papley playing in the mids at all is a sign that our current midfield just is not good enough. Papley is an AA forward and you don't stick AA small forwards in the midfield unless something has gone wrong. You never saw Betts and Milne in the midfield like Papley has been.
 

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I agree that our game falls over when you look at the contested possession stats. I also beleieve we have an emerging player in Sheldrick. When he played (until he got injured) he actually played really well and got in and under at times which is what we need.

In terms of putting Paps in the midfield i am sort of on the fence. i guess Parker and Paps could alternate to switch it up a bit and keep the oppo guessing. On the other hand i would like to see what Jocob Konstanty has got. When the club drafted him they were bullish about his ability to play like Papley IIRC. Not sure what sort of player Hugo Hall Kahan is but would like to see him get a go as well. In saying that they must be holding him back for a reason.

Players to bring in.
Definitely need a key defender and an experienced ruck. If we could somehow jag Grundy and McKay in the same trade period i think that would be a good result but im not sure we could get both.
Ruck - Grundy, Sweet, Flynn, Goldstein
Defenders: Not many left on the market - McKay, Ratogalea (seemingly Port), Doedee (LTI). I also liked what Borlase from Adelaide was able to do when he came in but i dont think he will leave Adelaide. He is a big body too.

Players retired
Franklin
Hickey
P.McCartin

Potentials going out (bold as likely)
Out-of-contract:

Ryan Clarke
Will Gould (delist)
Hugo Hall-Kahan
Jaiden Magor
Lewis Melican (looks to be re-signing)
Cameron Owen
Lachlan Rankin (delist)
Sam Reid (retire)

Marc Sheather
Dylan Stephens (trade to Nth - tie to McKay signing perhaps *fingers crossed scenario)
Sam Wicks
 
If you don't get why Papley is in centre bounces you haven't been paying attention to the increased importance of centre bounces or watching closely enough

desperate times call for desperate measures.

Coaches rightly deemed Tommy was more likely to win a clean possession than Parker and Rowey.

I really think everyone gets that.
 
desperate times call for desperate measures.

Coaches rightly deemed Tommy was more likely to win a clean possession than Parker and Rowey.

I really think everyone gets that.
Well said - the reason why the best small forward in the league is in the centre is as obvious as a pimple on the ar$e of a small elephant.
 

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