Adam Simpson and his inability to give youth a go

[Scotland]

Valid?

We're sitting 9-7 but haven't exactly set the world on fire this season.

3,118 games of experience this week. Average age 27y 34d. Obviously skewed by Petrie and Mitchell who were new additions this year and will probably be gone next year, but Naitanui in is nearly a 150 gamer so we'd still be about 2700 or so.

Players blooded since Simpson joined the club...

2014: Colledge (gawn), Bennell (rookie punt, gawn), Ellis (injury punt, gawn), Sheed, McGovern, Yeo
2015: Lamb, McInnes (gawn, rookied), Barrass, Nelson, Duggan
2016: Karpany, Cole, Giles, Jetta, Redden
2017: Mutimer, Mitchell, Petrie, Vardy

Bolded were sufficiently young at debut to count as youth and lay genuine claims to being best 22. Nelson was getting close before he was injured. The rest a mixture of duds, back-up rucks and experienced players traded in. I really like McInnes at WAFL level but he shouldn't be occupying a list spot if we're going to bring in Vardy and Petrie. His whole job is to be a back up ruck/forward. Ditto Giles. He played one good game last year and is now about 6th choice ruck.

I'm pretty happy with those 5 in bold, but 5 over a 4 year period seems a bit thin to me. Too much faith is kept in Masten, Priddis, Wellingham, LeCras, Redden, Hill who have all played 10+ games this year. Hutchings is another spudly mid 20s guy but is carving out a niche as our run with player and played another good game today on Walters who has been killing it.

Butler has been a pretty regular fixture over the last 5-10 years when fit but is on the way out. Schofield is another who is out of favour and Mackenzie while returning to a bit of form is a 3rd key defender which we don't really need. Valuable depth.

It's been good to see Cole, Karpany, Mutimer get a crack and it's been good to see Hill, Wellingham, Masten move to the droppable pile there's always this nagging feeling that a return from whichever mediocre experienced player is out is imminent when these younger guys are in. Redden played well today when Yeo was a late out but if we're already bringing back Masten why isn't Partington an emergency? And why can't he get a game? He has strong WAFL form equal to that of Masten and Redden.

I expect Butler, Giles, Lamb, Petrie (rookie), Mitchell to go at the end of the year at least. Natural list turnover, nothing more - but at what point will we see team turnover? Karpany is from the 2013 draft, Partington, Cole, Mutimer from 2015. McInness (rookie) is from 2011 FFS. I don't think our list profile is that bad, but there's no point having guys in the 22-25 age bracket who have barely played 20 games each. That's asking for trouble.

 

[Freomaniac]

Was this inspired about another WA teams coach giving youf a go?

 

[TheFVK]

Bring in Venables.

 

[Freomaniac]

 

[Great8]

Think their list is in a bit of trouble, will fall into the finals this year and be cannon fodder in week 1. With an ageing list they could be in real trouble for a couple of years.

 

[Snake_Baker]

He's probably more interested in winning games.

Simmo only played under two coaches and both of them favored mature bodied players ahead of youngsters that weren't ready.

Surely, you're not in the "play the kids" camp that believes that players come on earlier if they are gifted AFL games before they are ready? This is one of the biggest fallacies amongst AFL supporters.

 

[DieSwans]

Simpson isn't the only selector tbh

 

[M Malice]

Is there an aging population in Western Australia? Maybe a combined Dockers/Eagles side should enter a team in the veterans league.

 

[keithrichards]

That's a nice little picture, and I know kicking inaccuracy etc, but at the end of the day you still got rolled by 5 goals...?

 

[Thats Wright]

He's probably more interested in winning games.

Simmo only played under two coaches and both of them favored mature bodied players ahead of youngsters that weren't ready.

Surely, you're not in the "play the kids" camp that believes that players come on earlier if they are gifted AFL games before they are ready? This is one of the biggest fallacies amongst AFL supporters.

It's sad teffy that you insist on supporting your bad calls of years ago with such rubbish.

Don't bring your bullshit onto the main board. Stick with harassing those on the North board sick of failure playing spuds you still have an emotional investment in.

The irony in playing veteran duds while praying for high pick 'kids' should be enough to register even in your pea brain.

 

[Anja_Nees]

He should certainly follow AFL head office's lead and give youth a go.

 

[demondavey]

The Eagles aren't that far off pushing for a top 4 tilt again. They've got a few similar types through the midfield that aren't giving them much speed and dash, which they need. They have great accumulators of the ball in Mitchell, Priddis, Shuey, Redden, but they lack a breakaway type of player who can hurt the opposition on the rebound. Gaff is quite good but needs support.

Forward line is pretty sound, but is Le Cras done? Kennedy is critical to them and Darling has been really good. Don't forget NN coming back in next year. I don't know much about their defence, but McGovern is a pig for a contested mark and McKenzie is obviously pretty solid. How is Hurn getting on?

I think they are 3 players away from getting serious about top 4 again.

 

[james Dean]

They need to stop trading first round picks for crabs like Redden and Wellingham

 

[blitzer]

I think every board is pretty much screaming for their coaches to play more kids. West Coast are on the precipice of the 8 right now. I'm sure it's a tough decision. I wouldn't know if the Eagles have young players ready to make the step up.

It also has to be acknowledged that over recent years Eagles have been a pretty strong side. It can be much harder for young players to get a spot in those teams. That said if you are playing with an average age of 27 - well you'd want to be in flag contention because you will certainly have turnover coming soon.

 

[Snake_Baker]

I think every board is pretty much screaming for their coaches to play more kids. West Coast are on the precipice of the 8 right now. I'm sure it's a tough decision. I wouldn't know if the Eagles have young players ready to make the step up.

It also has to be acknowledged that over recent years Eagles have been a pretty strong side. It can be much harder for young players to get a spot in those teams. That said if you are playing with an average age of 27 - well you'd want to be in flag contention because you will certainly have turnover coming soon.

Ladder position and the draft are also great levelers, as my club is finding out.

Forget about Simmo pushing up kids that aren't ready. It will never happen. I expect WCE will hit up some more RFA/UFA's again this year.

 

[WCErevival]

If Venables and Rioli weren't injured they would have debuted by now and probably stayed in the team. A few of our promising youth have been injured like Venables, Rioli, Allen, Waterman and Watson. Partington is the only one that hasn't been injured that deserves a go.

 

[Brad Goodman]

Wins are probably his main KPI at the moment.

Still doesn't explain why Priddis keeps getting a game though.

 

[Kram]

He's probably more interested in winning games.

Simmo only played under two coaches and both of them favored mature bodied players ahead of youngsters that weren't ready.

Surely, you're not in the "play the kids" camp that believes that players come on earlier if they are gifted AFL games before they are ready? This is one of the biggest fallacies amongst AFL supporters.

If you want to talk about games being gifted have a look at Matt Priddis this season and tell me how he currently deserves selection.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

This would be the only era in the history of the game that fans are obsessed with the birth date of their players.
The Hawks just won 3 flags in a row with a so called ageing list, in fact they ignored the draft to top up on senior players so they can keep winning. Hawks fans would be pretty happy.
You play your best balanced 22 every week, birth certificates don't enter the equation if you are a good football club.
Or you can go to the draft and then cross your fingers hoping to win one in 5 years.
I know what I would prefer.

 

[Kram]

This would be the only era in the history of the game that fans are obsessed with the birth date of their players.
The Hawks just won 3 flags in a row with a so called ageing list, in fact they ignored the draft to top up on senior players so they can keep winning. Hawks fans would be pretty happy.
You play your best balanced 22 every week, birth certificates don't enter the equation if you are a good football club.
Or you can go to the draft and then cross your fingers hoping to win one in 5 years.
I know what I would prefer.

Problem is West Coast are simply a middle of the road side and with a lot of older players.

The comparison with Hawthorn silly because they were already a premiership quality side and were merely extending the life span of their run with the list management strategy they employed.

 

[Suma Magic]

I want more youth.

I'd play Partington now. And Karpany once he is over his injury.

And Venables and Rioli if/when they are fit.

 

[Altum Volantes]

Every group of supporters in the league that sees there team sitting mid-table 2/3 of the way through a season will bemoan a lack of 'playing the kids' in hope of catching lightning in a bottle and finding that perfect balance of youth and experience.

It's a nice thought but in all honesty, WCE do not have a treasure trove of young talent sitting in the WAFL - whether it be due to poor drafting, trading or otherwise (something Simpson alone can hardly be blamed for).

The Priddis hate is over the top too. Bunch of opportunists looking to hang s**t on a player they never thought would come good and is now an easy target at 32.

 

[Richo83]

He's probably more interested in winning games.

Simmo only played under two coaches and both of them favored mature bodied players ahead of youngsters that weren't ready.

Surely, you're not in the "play the kids" camp that believes that players come on earlier if they are gifted AFL games before they are ready? This is one of the biggest fallacies amongst AFL supporters.

Players will never be ready until they actually play some AFL games. Problem with doing extended apprenticeships at the lower levels is it lacks the intensity of AFL level, meaning players never learn to pick up the speed and hardness they need to play at.

 

[Richo83]

This would be the only era in the history of the game that fans are obsessed with the birth date of their players.
The Hawks just won 3 flags in a row with a so called ageing list, in fact they ignored the draft to top up on senior players so they can keep winning. Hawks fans would be pretty happy.
You play your best balanced 22 every week, birth certificates don't enter the equation if you are a good football club.
Or you can go to the draft and then cross your fingers hoping to win one in 5 years.
I know what I would prefer.

I think every era would have had fans who recognized the danger of playing middle aged plodders. It's just that now we have forums and access to the internet where you can find out the ages of every player in the league.

 

[Franc de Borges]

Think their list is in a bit of trouble, will fall into the finals this year and be cannon fodder in week 1. With an ageing list they could be in real trouble for a couple of years.

You do realise that as it stands they'd play Richmond?