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List Mgmt. 2025 List Management Discussion

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Charlie Curnow at his best is very good, however for all the hype about him you'd think he was a Wayne Carey level player, it will be an interesting watch next season wherever he ends up.
 
Massive over reactions of Allen being better than Hipwood in our forward line in the media.
Hipwood has had 5 years over 30+ goals compared to Allen only 2 yes Allen is young by 2 years but to be saying he’s ahead of Hipwood is hilarious
Don’t think it’s just the media, if Allen gets fit he’ll surprise you I reckon. Was a bigger Logan Morris before his injuries hit, albeit slightly older.

He and Morris would be our two best key forwards by far imo
 

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Hipwood, if fit, goes straight into the team in the forward half. Plays around the ground, is always available to get a mark to, then passes it to his teammates.

I think a lot of posters here are forgetting how valuable he's been over the past two seasons, even though this season he didn't hit the scoreboard as much (carried multiple injuries for most of the year).

On the flip side, people are undestimating how good Allen is. If Allen stays injury free next season, he will have a 40-50+ goal season
 
Hippy is very hard to judge.

He has had career best patches the past 2 years, and amongst that osteitis pubis and and undiagnosed acl.

Also playing a decoy role once Logan emerged.

He is a great runner and total team player. The thing about our forward line this year is the sum was much greater than its parts. But take out selfless player like Hippy, and add in someone better but more goal focused and maybe you don't actually improve.

but then there is him coming off a second knee

The good thing is we seemingly have cover, so he gets time to get right. I don't get the calls that we straight away need to trade him or try the backline. Let's just wait until all of Hippy, Allen and Draper are on the park at the same time - it might not happen much!
 
Hippy is very hard to judge.

He has had career best patches the past 2 years, and amongst that osteitis pubis and and undiagnosed acl.

Also playing a decoy role once Logan emerged.

He is a great runner and total team player. The thing about our forward line this year is the sum was much greater than its parts. But take out selfless player like Hippy, and add in someone better but more goal focused and maybe you don't actually improve.

but then there is him coming off a second knee

The good thing is we seemingly have cover, so he gets time to get right. I don't get the calls that we straight away need to trade him or try the backline. Let's just wait until all of Hippy, Allen and Draper are on the park at the same time - it might not happen much!
I might add that I didn't think we could go all the way once Hippy was out given how makeshift our kpf collection was. But Gallop did an excellent job of filling his role - not as good a runner but a better tackler / chaser
 
On the flip side, people are undestimating how good Allen is. If Allen stays injury free next season, he will have a 40-50+ goal season
Look we can all agree allen is a significant upgrade on Hipwood as the number 1 forward. I'm by no means a Hipwood fan, but I think him coming back midseason and fighting it out with Gallop for that third tall spot will only be a good thing for him. Actually, I think Hipwood as the third tall would be the making of him and a role that he would thrive in.
 
Look we can all agree allen is a significant upgrade on Hipwood as the number 1 forward. I'm by no means a Hipwood fan, but I think him coming back midseason and fighting it out with Gallop for that third tall spot will only be a good thing for him. Actually, I think Hipwood as the third tall would be the making of him and a role that he would thrive in.
Yeah I agree in that the timing of him returning will work out pretty well. Gives the Hippy skeptics a chance to see what the key forward line looks like without him. If it’s working well he can find his feet again in the VFL, if not then it’s an easy decision to bring him back in.
 
Look we can all agree allen is a significant upgrade on Hipwood as the number 1 forward. I'm by no means a Hipwood fan, but I think him coming back midseason and fighting it out with Gallop for that third tall spot will only be a good thing for him. Actually, I think Hipwood as the third tall would be the making of him and a role that he would thrive in.
It could be well past mid season before Hipwood's available so there's plenty of time to see whatever else is working.

I'm not sure we're as stacked as supporters seem to think we are unless all of those in recovery/rehab mode make themselves available at the same time anyone not in there is still available.

My other observation is that we've just won the last 2 flags by 8 goals so to say we're going to improve heaps how much improvement do we have to have ?

Surprisingly the guys who played did just as good a job as the guns we have out could have done . Imo.
 
On the flip side, people are undestimating how good Allen is. If Allen stays injury free next season, he will have a 40-50+ goal season

I'm not underestimating Allen (in fact I didn't even mention him), but to say Hippy needs to leave the club to play as a forward is silly.
 

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It could be well past mid season before Hipwood's available so there's plenty of time to see whatever else is working.

I'm not sure we're as stacked as supporters seem to think we are unless all of those in recovery/rehab mode make themselves available at the same time anyone not in there is still available.

My other observation is that we've just won the last 2 flags by 8 goals so to say we're going to improve heaps how much improvement do we have to have ?

Surprisingly the guys who played did just as good a job as the guns we have out could have done . Imo.
The question is if the guys who came in can do it consistently for a whole season. Certainly the old boys in the backline are proven. Midfield is solid.
Our makeshift forward line got us through, but it was tough.
While we smashed it in the finals series, a couple more goals per game from our tall forwards would give some much needed breathing space in the H&A. We had the lowest percentage for a premiership winner since Richmond in 2019.

Morris was unbelievable - 53 goals. He basically replaced Joe’s goals. Hippy still managed to kick 25. The 3rd tall was basically absent this year in terms of goal scoring.
Gardiner, Day, Smith, Gallop kicked 17 between them. While the mantra was the 3rd tall just needs to compete and bring it to ground - someone who can do that and drop in for 1-2 goals a game would be a huge difference.
 
It feels a bit late in the piece to admit this, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Allen play a game of football. Will be a nice journey next year to learn more about him.
 
It's great to be a Lions supporter.

Last year we won the Granny and Joe retired - the sky is falling the sky is falling who will replace him? Sam Day OMG is that the best we can do? Big O injured, Hippy injured, Henry Smith exposed off injuries. But we go back to our tree, give is a gentle shake and Morris, then Gallop fall out, Forte steps up and all is great - another Granny. Now its bugger me? how do we fit them in, Allen recruited, Gallop, Morris, Hipwood when fit, Forte and Draper now recruited. The world is a great place.

The theme for this year is the backline I guess, Zorko and Lester probably on their last year, Payne, Coleman, Doedee and Ainswerth injury riddled, Starc gone, who is a replacement if Harris goes down?

I'm so looking forward to shaking that tree again and see what develops across the year. What a club we have and a whole club wins Premierships - Coaching, Development, Recruiting, Medical, Administration and of course - Us, the supporters.
 
Oscar Allen and Logan Morris would be tied for number 1 key forward. Allen has had 1 50 goal season but has had numerous injuries the last 2 years. Morris is coming off a 50 goal year. On current form you would have Morris as number 1 target. However, it's hard to expect a 3rd year forward to keep backing up their performances with back to back short preseasons so I wouldn't be surprised if Allen has a better year next year.

I think our third best forward is clearly Hipwood. He has had a chronic groin injury and a partial ACL tear and yet he still averaged a goal a game. Gallop has played 6 games for 4 goals. He exceeded our very low expectations in those finals and played his role excellently. People saying he is clearly better than Hipwood and that Hipwood should seek out another team are clearly disrespectful haters. I saw some media pundits yesterday on channel 9 and fox saying Hipwood isn't in the same postcode as our other forwards. This stupid take is expected given Vicbias media only watches our finals games each year and ignores us otherwise. The downright shameful takes on a club legend from lions fans is disappointing.

Gallop should get half a year to really develop and see what he has to offer next year whilst Hipwood recovers from his ACL. He may cement his position as our third tall especially if Hipwoods recovery is slow. However if both are fit, Hipwood is clearly our best choice at third tall. He has the fitness to run up and down the wing for a full game. He excels at that wandering centre half forward role, going up and down the wing to support defense and transition forward. He is a solid B tier forward and would find his way onto most 22s bar maybe Crows and Suns.
 
It feels a bit late in the piece to admit this, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Allen play a game of football. Will be a nice journey next year to learn more about him.
I am sure you have but maybe he just did not impress you.
Allen missed all of season 2022 so you would not have seen him that year.
Apart from that he played against the Lions in every year since starting in 2018
 

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Sorry to ask this of the group again, but can someone remind me of the leverage we have the the Crows in the Ah Chee trade. If there's no agreement does he nominate for the national draft or the PSD? Given the cross finishing position are they likely to get him either of those scenarios? Thanks
 


If Adelaide want to give up next to nothing and a late f2 will be of limited use AND Cal is comfortable with it (plus WCE will offer the same terms), then I wouldn’t melt if we PSD Cal to WCE.

I think this’ll end up with pick swaps for us to scrape points. A flat f2 doesn’t seem like enough.
 
Sorry to ask this of the group again, but can someone remind me of the leverage we have the the Crows in the Ah Chee trade. If there's no agreement does he nominate for the national draft or the PSD? Given the cross finishing position are they likely to get him either of those scenarios? Thanks

The risk is another club would take him, most notably West Coast who put forward a contract and WA is where he grew up.
 
Probably suggests it will land somewhere in between i.e F1 and we send our F2 or F3 back to them
Pretty obvious options. Both clubs will probably just let other options play out to see where their picks end up and then deal with it then.
 

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