Freo's trading and drafting

[Borderline]

I rarely read the mainboard, but this thread is too good to put down.

I dunno fam the 2015 GF one is pretty good too

 

[Probitas_]

I dunno fam the 2015 GF one is pretty good too

I'd bet it was little brother, I'd bet it was.

 

[Bender_]

I dunno fam the 2015 GF one is pretty good too

What's "fam" mean?

 

[Bucking Bronco]

You don't need a reason to have depression, sure that wouldn't have helped but there's people in enjoyable jobs, earning big bucks, happy kids and wife who are still depressed, it doesn't need a trigger.

Can you stop? Your ignorance is just annoying. Depressions causes varies from person to person. Some people have a physiological defect where their brain isn't able to produce sufficient dopamine which invariably leads to depression. Other people can develop it due to the environment that they are being exposed to. I am guessing with Clark that it was a bit of both.

Mahoney made it clear Clark's long layoff had had a major impact on his mental state.

"When you've gone through the horrendous run Mitch has gone through with the Lisfranc injury and the more recent soft-tissue injuries he's had, you can understand that it's going to have an effect on most AFL players," Mahoney said.

"And it has been a contributing factor for Mitch."

That is just one quote [http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-04-08/demon-clark-retires] that I can be bothered finding, it was from the first result. Maybe he would have had some minor battles with depression at the Dockers, but I am sure that without being injured, and with being in a successful environment, it would have been enough to ensure that he was able to consistently play like the way he did in the first half of 2012, at least until our successful era ended which would have been enough for him to help secure us a premiership.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Disgraced drug cheat.

Looks a bit like him but don't think it's Crowley.

 

[Bender_]

I'm surprised at the amount of playing the man that's going on with Freo supporters vs the OP.
Really poor form.

 

[Tulip]

Is Silent Alarm wrong? Regardless of what you think of him, no.

 

[Purple Suit]

I rarely read the mainboard, but this thread is too good to put down.

Almost as good as the Priddus fights on the main board between West Coast fans.

Ross Lyon needs to win a Brownlow, that should work.

 

[Purple Suit]

Is Silent Alarm wrong? Regardless of what you think of him, no.

Yes, he is wrong. Freo need a decent key forward, not a hack. Last time I checked, the only good one around that wanted to come to WA this year was McCarthy.

Next year we should go hard for Hooker, McCarthy again and also Hogan.

Other than that, we need to develop our own and see what scraps we can resurrect in the draft / rookie list. We have been burnt in the past picking up hacks (Jack Anthony, Gumbleton) and even good ones that didn't really want to come and did it for the money (Croad, Tarrant). Why do it again for a lesser player who isn't going to be the difference between a flag or prelim. Just as much chance of plucking someone from the VFL/WAFL/SA to fill that spot rather than Black or Casboult, just go to the game day threads and see what their own fans think about those two.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I'm surprised at the amount of playing the man that's going on with Freo supporters vs the OP.
Really poor form.

Amazing isn't it.

SA can be a divisive character but he’s harmless and there’s nothing with his OP, it’s well thought-out and most neutrals would seem to agree with him.

To be honest many Freo supporters in here sound absolutely feral, which isn’t surprising when you look at the way they’ve been conducting themselves at the footy of late.

They remind me a bit of Carlton supporters a year or so ago… I think they know in their heart of hearts their club has played their best hand and missed, but they’re not quite ready to admit it to themselves let alone others.

Everyone knows the way with Lyon, he tops up mid-range sides with role players who play his system and tries to stretch them to a flag. He’s come very close a couple of times but probably come up short in the talent stakes. Freo is getting worse now, not better. Wonder how he’ll go on a rebuild, not sure he’s the man for it, they may want to start afresh.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Yes, he is wrong. Freo need a decent key forward, not a hack. Last time I checked, the only good ones around that want to come to WA this year was McCarthy.

Next year we should go hard for Hooker, McCarthy again and also Hogan.

Other than that, we need to develop our own and see what scraps we can resurrect in the draft / rookie list. We have been burnt in the past picking up hacks (Jack Anthony, Gumbleton) and even good ones that didn't really want to come and did it for the money (Croad, Tarrant). Why do it again for a lesser player who isn't going to be the difference between a flag or prelim. Just as much chance of plucking someone from the VFL/WAFL/SA to fill that spot rather than Black or Casboult, just go to the game day threads and see what their own fans think about those two.

You say we don't need a hack but then mention Cale Hooker?!

A hack is also better than no one. We already have one in the forward line – Matt Taberner. We don't need another.

Freo spent two weeks chasing a dead end. It's incredibly stupid.

How can you seriously sit here and think it's acceptable?

Hogan will also never come. Melbourne would only accept Fyfe for him. They wouldn't even take a pick one for him. And the kid's manager has said he loves the city of Melbourne too much to leave.

Two years ago, you would've sprouted this Hogan line and the "well we'll get McCarthy" or "definitely get Black" or something.

You are a galah sir.

 

[Bender_]

Almost as good as the Priddus fights on the main board between West Coast fans.

Ross Lyon needs to win a Brownlow, that should work.

Why are you excusing Fremantle supporters' poor behaviour in this thread?

It's disgusting, a person should be able to construct a thread on this board with the intent of constructive discussion without the fear of being personally attacked. Pathetic behaviour from Freo posters.

 

[Lach72]

Hooker's not a hack. I'm starting to wonder* if you know football...

 

[Danny Cullen]

SA & friends

 

[Kram]

Why are you excusing Fremantle supporters' poor behaviour in this thread?

It's disgusting, a person should be able to construct a thread on this board with the intent of constructive discussion without the fear of being personally attacked. Pathetic behaviour from Freo posters.

 

[Purple Suit]

You say we don't need a hack but then mention Cale Hooker?!

A hack is also better than no one. We already have one in the forward line – Matt Taberner. We don't need another.

Freo spent two weeks chasing a dead end. It's incredibly stupid.

How can you seriously sit here and think it's acceptable?

Hogan will also never come. Melbourne would only accept Fyfe for him. They wouldn't even take a pick one for him. And the kid's manager has said he loves the city of Melbourne too much to leave.

Two years ago, you would've sprouted this Hogan line and the "well we'll get McCarthy" or "definitely get Black" or something.

You are a galah sir.

I think it's acceptable since I saw no good options except McCarthy. I would have sold the farm but since GWS wouldn't entertain a trade, it left us going to the draft or PSD and getting a couple of C graders to see if we can find a gem. Better than over paying for a hack.

Put a name up then. Hooker is much better than the two you've listed in Black (400K contract) and Casboult (couldn't hit a barn). He's also from WA and a free agent so I'd say we are in a position to at least be considered.

Did you want to put players on the table? Weller for 14 and then trade that for Casboult?

It's fine to yell at the sky for being blue but if you can't suggest a better colour then you're no better than the sky.

 

[Purple Suit]

Why are you excusing Fremantle supporters' poor behaviour in this thread?

It's disgusting, a person should be able to construct a thread on this board with the intent of constructive discussion without the fear of being personally attacked. Pathetic behaviour from Freo posters.

Where did I defend other posters? I think you need a bigger spoon Bender_, if that's your real name.

To be honest, I haven't read pages 2-7. Sure, people shouldn't do it but when the OP is known for personally attacking posters, it doesn't take much for old scores to come out.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Think Freo have missed the boat on Hooker. He was actually put up for trade by Essendon a couple of years back, the deal was done to West Coast for two second round picks. He refused to go and he was ripe for the picking then with the drug saga whirling about. Can’t see him leaving now.

It’s an intimidating proposition at Freo which is why I think they don’t land players. They chase huge names which means going over there as the no.1 man straight away on huge money. The pressure is massive and it’s a complete fishbowl, and a slightly feral one at that. It’s not that attractive, it looks like a pressure cooker from outside.

 

[Danny Cullen]

To be honest many Freo supporters in here sound absolutely feral, which isn’t surprising when you look at the way they’ve been conducting themselves at the footy of late.

Where did you get your Masters in Generalisations from?

 

[Bender_]

Where did I defend other posters? I think you need a bigger spoon Bender_, if that's your real name.

To be honest, I haven't read pages 2-7. Sure, people shouldn't do it but when the OP is known for personally attacking posters, it doesn't take much for old scores to come out.

You failed to address it and instead decided to defer to the irrelevant behaviour of opposition supporters in an equally irrelevant thread in some desperate attempt to subtly excuse the disgusting behaviour of Freo posters.

And secondly just like my behaviour elsewhere on this site, it shouldn't mean that I am subject to automatic abuse because I start a fair and topical thread on the correct board.

Freo posters are embarrassing themselves and are personifying exactly what is wrong with this country with their prejudice.

 

[ThirtyThr33]

You're pretty thick, aye? Butterfly effect... He severely injured his foot in a freak accident against GWS in round 13 at the 'G. Prior to that he was killing it for the Dee's and was one of the top scorers in the comp.

He didn't have a defective body, he just got really unlucky. Something that probably would never have happened had he joined Freo. Once he injured his foot it set off a chain reaction which resulted in other areas of his body breaking down and him developing depression. Chances are he never would have sustained a serious injury in his entire career at Freo and we would have won a premiership in 2012/ 2013 and then probably another one this year or last.

Who knows if his body is partially cooked from all the injuries or if the mental issues were still weighing on his mind, but the Mitch Clark that was out there for Geelong this year was not the same one that was out there for Melbourne in 2012 and the same one that would have been at the Dockers.

Ifs and buts. Reality is that he hasn't done anything and Freo didn't miss the boat by not recruiting him. Aye?

 

[Bucking Bronco]

Yes, he is wrong. Freo need a decent key forward, not a hack. Last time I checked, the only good ones around that want to come to WA this year was McCarthy.

Next year we should go hard for Hooker, McCarthy again and also Hogan.

Other than that, we need to develop our own and see what scraps we can resurrect in the draft / rookie list. We have been burnt in the past picking up hacks (Jack Anthony, Gumbleton) and even good ones that didn't really want to come and did it for the money (Croad, Tarrant). Why do it again for a lesser player who isn't going to be the difference between a flag or prelim. Just as much chance of plucking someone from the VFL/WAFL/SA to fill that spot rather than Black or Casboult, just go to the game day threads and see what their own fans think about those two.

But how do you know that Black and Casboult are hacks? People would have said that Josh Bruce is a hack before the start of the year. People would have said that Josh Jenkins and Tom Lynch were hacks when Adelaide traded them in. It's about the ability to exercise foresight.

I think a lot of the people on here have ridiculously short memories as well and are incapable of remembering the transpirations of only a few seasons ago. Were people calling Aaron Black a "hack" back in 2013? No, they were hailing him as an up and coming tall forward. There are a lot of reasons for players' form yo-yoing. Black had shoulder surgery post-2014, maybe he got a bit complacent after his promising season in 2013, as well?

Regardless, it is imbecilic to write someone off just on the back of how they performed the previous season or up until however long you can remember.

Maybe Black will be a dud, or maybe he will become a 40 goal a year forward? Who knows? But when there is someone who has showed signs of being capable of being able to fulfil a role that we desperately need fulfilling then it is within our due diligence to attempt to fill that role with the best available option, provided that it is at a reasonable price. We know he is no superstar, but we weren't expected to be paying the price for a superstar when we traded for him - maybe pick 22 for Black + 47? He still kicked 26 goals last year whilst being opposed to the oppositions best/ 2nd best key-defender. At the very least we could have had that to rely on, and would have been able to rely on him assisting us in not having the ball continually being regurgitated out of our 50 due to the inability to compete with the opposition tall defenders and to stop them from intercepting the ball.

History has shown that we can't afford to sit back passively and hope that players will come to us - even if they have promised, things can change quickly, football can be a fickle industry. Who knows if McCarthy will come to us? Maybe he will outgrow his longing to "watch his younger sisters grow up" and may instead prefer to be part of a premiership push with GWS in 2016/ 2017 when by that stage, who knows, maybe Fremantle are on the other side of the ladder.

The VFL/WAFL/SANFL hope that you cling to is nothing but a myth, as well. No effective mature aged key-forward has been plucked from state footy apart from Podsiadly and Ben Brown, who of course we didn't draft. We could have traded up pick 58 in 2013 to ensure that we had the pick to get Brown before North got him at 47, but we didn't. Even if there is someone there we will be competing against the rest of the league to get him, and will no doubt be superseded due to our incompetence.

 

[Plugger35]

Amazing isn't it.

SA can be a divisive character but he’s harmless and there’s nothing with his OP, it’s well thought-out and most neutrals would seem to agree with him.

To be honest many Freo supporters in here sound absolutely feral, which isn’t surprising when you look at the way they’ve been conducting themselves at the footy of late.

They remind me a bit of Carlton supporters a year or so ago… I think they know in their heart of hearts their club has played their best hand and missed, but they’re not quite ready to admit it to themselves let alone others.

Everyone knows the way with Lyon, he tops up mid-range sides with role players who play his system and tries to stretch them to a flag. He’s come very close a couple of times but probably come up short in the talent stakes. Freo is getting worse now, not better. Wonder how he’ll go on a rebuild, not sure he’s the man for it, they may want to start afresh.

SA is actually one of my favourite Freo posters, he's divisive and can come across as pretentious but he does know his footy and he's right on the money here, a lot of his fellow Freo supporters obviously don't like him giving them a few home truths.

The same thing happened with Ross Lyon at St Kilda, in 2009/10 when we were almost invincible just about every Saints supporter thought Ross was the messiah and could do no wrong, any criticism of him and his selections or game plan was howled down. The old "In Ross we trust" mantra was like a cult.

Well a few of us older wiser Saints supporters weren't that happy with some of his selections at the time, leaving out guys like Hudghton (a Saints stalwart) in favour of Dawson and Raph Clarke, leaving out talented young players like Armitage and Steven for defensive plodders like Eddy and McQualter who were delisted shortly after Lyon left.

If he had've won a flag with us all would have been forgiven I guess but he didn't and now most Saints supporters look back on that era with a sense of regret and questioning whether Lyon was as great a coach as he's made out to be.

We warned Freo supporters when they poached Lyon about his faults and it seems only now that some of them like SA are starting to get the drift.

 

[TheMcManusNose]

Why are you excusing Fremantle supporters' poor behaviour in this thread?

It's disgusting, a person should be able to construct a thread on this board with the intent of constructive discussion without the fear of being personally attacked. Pathetic behaviour from Freo posters.

Constructive discussion? On the mainboard? Surely you jest.

I'm all for constructive discussion and I agree with his the thrust of his OP, if not his Lyon criticisms (somewhat mutually exclusive to my mind).

But if you're going to set yourself up as the 'only one who will admit it', despite pages and pages of evidence to the contrary, and have a history of portraying yourself as the only true authority on a topic; expect to get pilloried.

 

[Bucking Bronco]

Ifs and buts. Reality is that he hasn't done anything and Freo didn't miss the boat by not recruiting him. Aye?

You haven't done yourself any favours with that response, bud. You just look like an even bigger thickhead.

He did plenty in 2012. He was 7th for goals per game in that season, despite being subbed early in 2 games, and despite not playing against any of the bottom 5 teams unlike the other top goal scorers who were able to pad their stats in 7 or so other games against those teams. He dominated up forward against quality opposition and kicked 4,4 and 5 against 3 of the 4 top 5 teams that he played against. So he didn't get his goals from beating up on shit teams. He was just dominating against everyone.

When he finally got the opportunity to play against a crap team (GWS), he looked set to kick 10+ goals after he kicked 4 goals in the first quarter before fking his foot up in the second quarter in what proved to be the beginning of the end for him at Melbourne. Who knows where things could have gone for him, but he looked like a likely perennial top 5 goal scorer for sure.

Anyway, not going to waste my time talking to some neanderthal who can't even comprehend a basic concept of life such as the butterfly effect.