A very good thread. Few things to mention first up -
- We have a good/very good list, but what we do not have is a great list.
- From a totally realistic point of view....very, very few young AFL players want to live in Adelaide. And if it wasn't for the concessions given to Goldcoast (no disrespect), only slightly more AFL players want to live in QLD than in Adelaide. That's why The Lions are up against it as well.
If you do not agree with both those points above - duly noted, but there's absolutely no point in reading any further, cos it'll only be a total waste of your time.
The reality of the AFL at the moment is that most young AFL players want to live on the East Coast, and they want to play for either The Swans (because of their f*ckin' ridiculous Salary Cap concessions), or the Victorian power clubs -
- Collingwood
- Hawthorn
- Carlton
- Geelong
- Essendon (before the supplements debacle)
Because of this, simply having a Salary Cap and Draft is woefully, woefully inadequate. Keeping the status quo is playing right into the hands (and pockets) of the six clubs listed above.
Please take a look at these three posts - they've raised some very valid points -
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/the-reality-of-our-list.1066284/page-8#post-33733882
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/the-reality-of-our-list.1066284/page-7#post-33698233
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/good-bad-ugly-vs-essendon.1067586/page-15#post-33698824
I gotta make it loud and clear that I am a huge supporter of Free Agency, and then some. Why? Because once a player has put his time in and chalked up a certain number of seasons/games, he should have a full choice in where he gets to play and how much money he earns.....but only once he has reached the level of an unrestricted Free Agent,
and not a moment sooner. But Free Agency needs to go hand-in-hand with what is mentioned in the first post above, regarding to the Trade system in American Sports Leagues. When players enter the AFL Draft, they have absolutely no say whatsoever in which club they play for - not the slightest bit of say or influence whatsoever. But nowadays, the moment a player gets Drafted, they almost immediately want to start dictating terms on where they get to play - this is utterly absurd, and it's seriously affecting the SA and QLD based Clubs, as I've mentioned above. The reality is The Crows are a team that's based in a city that most young AFL players wouldn't piss on. And for this very reason, we need to change two things -
- We need to focus more on recruiting SA-born players....with friends and family living in Adelaide. While this should be a priority, it unfortunately reduces our player options drastically (Adelaide has a tiny population, and because of sheer weight of numbers, most of the AFL talent is found outside our borders).
- A system where players can be Traded against their will....while they're still in contract to a Club. Not a very nice approach? Duly noted, but I do not care one iota.
And when the AFL Players' Association (undoubtedly) kicks up an almighty stink, all the AFL needs to do is point to Free Agency, and tell the Players' Association to piss off. And immediately threaten legal action.
And we need to be aggressive with players in the last year of their contracts - their needs to be an unwritten rule etched in stone at the Crows - if they don't sign by mid-season, Trade them. Simple. We only need to look at what happened with TidBit and Gunston. Dangermouse, Sloane Ranger, and Tex are absolute Guns, and I want to keep them....but I wonder how Crows supporters would feel if they walked to another Club?
The bottom line is that The Crows are seriously up against it, in terms of attracting players. It's not about The Crows, it's about getting blokes to live in Adelaide, and unfortunately a "nice, soft, respectful" system towards individual players does not help us. Where we're at now shows this in big, bold, glaring, neon lights. We've busted our arses for decades to get some quality Key Forwards, and the two previous Key Forwards we managed to recruit pissed off to the Eastern States as soon as they could. The next quality player we get that wants to jump ship at the end of his first contract - we should go out of our way to make his playing future (before he reaches Free Agency) an absolute misery.
I'd even go so far as scrutinising his off-field interests and plans. Ditched his last partner, when everything was going well? He's earning over $400k and won't buy a house in Adelaide? He's very vague and cagey about what he wants to do? What do you reckon that tells you? He doesn't want to live in Adelaide!
I'd completely ignore his requests on a target Club - I'd either Trade him to whichever club offers us the best deal, or dump him in the Draft. Sure, it won't do us any good in the short term, but it will send a big, loud message to our future rookies - look to jump ship at the end of your first contract, and we'll make it our personal interest to stuff you up as much as possible. This will help us in the longterm, no end (
an approach that is sorely lacking at this Club). If we dropped just one or two Gun players in the Draft, we wouldn't have to do it a third time....I'd bet the house on it. I honestly don't think there are too many blokes that want to get picked up by GWS, Melbourne, or the Lions in The Draft at the moment.
There are only two things I am interested in, in the AFL -
- The Crows winning more Flags
- A realistic approach to making this happen
Anything else is just window dressing, and nothing more.
We're in an utterly ruthless, cut-throat competition that does not even resemble a level playing field. In this situation, a softly, softly, "individuals first" approach to Drafting, Trading, and List Management is not helping us. At the next Trade and Draft periods, I'm praying to the Lord Almighty that we can secure some A1 Quality
OUTSIDE Mids with both serious pace and razor-sharp foot skills. Another two or three Eddie Betts types, but young and with endurance. In terms of Drafting and Trading, everything else needs to take second place.