Opinion Are we really that much poorer with the 2017 retirements?

[kranky al]

Our two second rounders for Daniel Rich

Aaaarrrggghhhno no no and no

 

[Trouto]

Any club who relied on 2 players well past their prime (to be fair, Mitchell was good) like we did last year means there is trouble on the way. For mine, this year is the trouble period. Might be a couple years before we compete again. Will gladly eat my words come July in we are in the 8!

 

[Jiggyman]

only concern I have is if the older squad members flatline during games

This has been standard Eagles for 2 years. Improvement from younger players and having a fit ruck division is where we will see development.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Not a good start for Ah Chee, bit of a slap in the face.

 

[kranky al]

Not a good start for Ah Chee, bit of a slap in the face.

??

 

[Dark Sharks]

??

History of injuries and underachieving in 7 seasons at port, comes over and requests a one year contract to prove himself...

He then gets injured in our first practice match and immediately won't be available until round 5 at the earliest (going by today's medical report)

Ergo, not a good start.

 

[mattyc75]

History of injuries and underachieving in 7 seasons at port, comes over and requests a one year contract to prove himself...

He then gets injured in our first practice match and immediately won't be available until round 5 at the earliest (going by today's medical report)

Ergo, not a good start.

Not looking good for his big pay day next contract!!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[kranky al]

History of injuries and underachieving in 7 seasons at port, comes over and requests a one year contract to prove himself...

He then gets injured in our first practice match and immediately won't be available until round 5 at the earliest (going by today's medical report)

Ergo, not a good start.

Aah ok

I though you meant he had pulled up ready and not been given a slot

 

[Winky]

Here is another perspective.

Mitchell was brilliant but had aged and mentally retired during the season.
Prides was a brilliant extractor but age had caught up.
possibly Petrie will be the biggest short term loss.
Nic Nat was our most important midfielder - The day he kicked the sealer against GWS at Spotless he has got us back into the game through his inside work in packs. He is beast among beasts with huge power and brilliant hands. His leap is a bonus and while his rucking helped it was his inside power that won the contests. He is back.

Kids will improve but may not be brownlow winners - we need to be realistic. If the old guys didn't retire they would have just struggled through another season - so we are better off long term without them. Stop kidding yourself that we lost two mids in Brownlow form at their peak. Life has moved on for them.

If the boys commit we will be fine.

There's some sense in this. Mitchell was still a good player but really played a different role than he did at Hawthorn and was only here for a year anyway. He was not a ball winner here but mainly a receiver and distributer. Priddis was way past it and I really doubt we will miss him much. The problem to me is the lack of gain time for the kids. Apart from Barass, Nelson, Sheed and Duggan we have limited experience in the young players and of those, only Sheed is a genuine mid. Even Sheed's experience as a mid was limited as he was often played out of position. So while Priddis and Mitchell may not have been of great value last year, there has been nobody groomed to replace them. The kids played so far this year look a fair way off AFL level even if some good signs were there. I was hoping Ah Chee might step straight in but that is looking a bit grim at least for the first part of the season. So it looks like we have to rely on Redden, Hutchings, Sheed, Gaff and Shuey with help from Duggan and Yeo. Hopefully the match committee will have the guts to give the likes of Partington, Venables, Ainsworth and maybe Murtimer and Nelson a chance rather than use them as half forwards but some of these will take some time. On the plus side, we should at least have some players who can run in there.

 

[boondy]

Kennedy , Vardy, Mckenzie missing as well makes it tough.

 

[ioppolo]

Maybe not this season, but next season.

2011, 4th after a wooden spoon
2015, runners up after a dull previous two seasons
2019, ????

 

[footballfreak]

We went on a winning streak with Priddis out last year, So No we won't miss them.

 

[Boohemian]

We went on a winning streak with Priddis out last year, So No we won't miss them.

The media doesn't seem to acknowledge what a defensive liability Priddis and Mitchell were last year. This whole notion that we're going to be strife without them is just nonsense.

 

[kerr87]

The media doesn't seem to acknowledge what a defensive liability Priddis and Mitchell were last year. This whole notion that we're going to be strife without them is just nonsense.

They're all so blinded by Priddis.

We won't miss him.

We played our best footy of the year without him in the team.

Would have loved to have had Mitchell play one more year as a super-sub though!

 

[Reminiscence]

Not at all.

We have some genuine exciting young talent mixed with some old faithfuls.
Much has been said about Priddis and Mitchell; both brought excellent things to the table.
But we also know that at every clearance we won that Priddis was in, the opposition basically strolled right out of the clearance.

It seems a lot of people have fallen off the Sheed bandwagon. I'm still on it. I feel he has another level to go. We saw a fit and firing Sheed get some decent midfield minutes and have career high numbers. If anything; he frankly should improve on those numbers with more time in the guts. There's a lot of expectations on his shoulders; and rightfully so. Several years ago he was viewed as the next big A-grade midfielder for the Eagles. Nothing's changed my mind that he can't achieve that. He's sat under Priddis, and under Mitchell for a year. Those two are consummate professionals, and Sheed would understand what it takes to succeed and get the most out of yourself. Possesses a strong body, hopefully this was a big pre-season and he can be an extractor in close for us.

Venables adds another dynamic midfielder into the mix. Highly competitive; his ability to burst away from a contest with speed makes him an exciting prospect. Guys like him and Shuey add pace and speed to a midfielder that recently was slow. One underrated factor is his willingness to play defense. Lack of major ball winning pedigree is a tad concerning.

Ainsworth falls into a bit of the Redden category. Was a monster at contested ball, but lacks the size to compete at this next level. Give him another year to build the monolith; at 75 kgs he attacks the ball with ferocity; but will only end up injuring himself at that size.

Everyone rates Duggan highly for good reason. I can see this season being another big season alongside Sheed. Has the chance to really establish himself in the midfield and he's put on even more size. Biggest concern was last season where he looked like the hulk, but couldn't for the life of him break a tackle. Looking for him to have that strength now to shrug off these men and get the arms free. When on his game, he reminds me of Dal Santo. Understands footy and the game, tremendous ability but lacks that composure under pressure that made Dal Santo such a monster. If he's able to keep calm when under the pump then I have no doubts he has the potential to match the heights of Dal Santo.

 

[Eagleboy68]

Hawthorn won 3 flags without Priddis.
And without winning the contested ball.

 

[Eagleboy68]

History of injuries and underachieving in 7 seasons at port, comes over and requests a one year contract to prove himself...

He then gets injured in our first practice match and immediately won't be available until round 5 at the earliest (going by today's medical report)

Ergo, not a good start.

Ahh ghee that's terrible.

 

[Biggie]

It seems a lot of people have fallen off the Sheed bandwagon. I'm still on it. I feel he has another level to go. We saw a fit and firing Sheed get some decent midfield minutes and have career high numbers. If anything; he frankly should improve on those numbers with more time in the guts. There's a lot of expectations on his shoulders; and rightfully so. Several years ago he was viewed as the next big A-grade midfielder for the Eagles. Nothing's changed my mind that he can't achieve that. He's sat under Priddis, and under Mitchell for a year. Those two are consummate professionals, and Sheed would understand what it takes to succeed and get the most out of yourself. Possesses a strong body, hopefully this was a big pre-season and he can be an extractor in close for us.

No doubt about it.

 

[wraglesweb]

Yes for awhile.......

 

[Seadog]

The media doesn't seem to acknowledge what a defensive liability Priddis and Mitchell were last year. This whole notion that we're going to be strife without them is just nonsense.

I'm not sure having players a bit quicker to run defensively will compensate for an inability to win clearances.

 

[Godfather32]

I'm not sure having players a bit quicker to run defensively will compensate for an inability to win clearances.

We were 17th in clearance differencial last year so I'm not sure having Priddis and Mitchell in the side really helped as much in that regard as people like to think.

 

[Seadog]

We were 17th in clearance differencial last year so I'm not sure having Priddis and Mitchell in the side really helped as much in that regard as people like to think.

Footywire has us at 16th but your point still stands. I also noticed Gaff had highest number of clangers and Shuey had highest average of clangers per game which is a bit concerning when they are the experienced players we are relying on to hold the line.
Don't mind me, my inbuilt pessimism is coming to the fore the closer we get to bounce down.

 

[FKASC]

We were 17th in clearance differencial last year so I'm not sure having Priddis and Mitchell in the side really helped as much in that regard as people like to think.

I think it demonstrates how much of an impact Priddis had given how poorly we did during his demise

Mitchell didn’t play a contested role anyway so he shouldn’t really be in the discussion, though I do think he contributed a fair amount in the games Priddis wasn’t playing.

Simple fact is we have struggled to adapt in matches where there is a step up in intensity at the contest. That was happening with Priddis in the side as well, but I think we will struggle even more now without him.

Our mids will be fine against some sides that don’t rely on stoppages as much, but I feel it will become even easier for other teams to blow us out of the water in periods of matches by applying intense pressure and numbers at stoppages.

 

[kranky al]

I think it demonstrates how much of an impact Priddis had given how poorly we did during his demise

Mitchell didn’t play a contested role anyway so he shouldn’t really be in the discussion, though I do think he contributed a fair amount in the games Priddis wasn’t playing.

Simple fact is we have struggled to adapt in matches where there is a step up in intensity at the contest. That was happening with Priddis in the side as well, but I think we will struggle even more now without him.

Our mids will be fine against some sides that don’t rely on stoppages as much, but I feel it will become even easier for other teams to blow us out of the water in periods of matches by applying intense pressure and numbers at stoppages.

On the other side we wont have 4 vs 3 on fast breaks

It will be 4 vs 4


Thats not to be despised

 

[RookiePick]

Our stoppage setups are pretty poor and have relied a lot on Priddis getting first hands, often off our ruck dominance.

I have hoped the introduction of Mitchell would have seen some new structures with more blocking and positional work to create some advantage in time/space for our guys in the clinches. Hasn't eventuated yet. Not sure if it is not looked at or the cattle just don't have the physical presence to impede the bigger midfielders they come up against. We always look so small around the ball compared to other sides monsters.

That is why we always look better with a fit and firing Naita or Lycett at the stoppages. They are our real horsepower guys that can scrap, shepherd and tackle strongly in tight..