Opinion GWS vs THE EXES - Who wins?

On paper which team is better ?

  • GWS

    Votes: 44 78.6%
  • EX GWS

    Votes: 12 21.4%

  • Total voters
    56
Apr 12, 2012
45,989
41,667
AFL Club
GWS
A few years ago that would've sounded great ... but in 2020? Seems to demonstrate ODN's point more than counter it.
Sauce can handle it for a year possibly 2 with Mummy rucking a couple of times to give him a break.

Flynn should be ready by the end of the year if not next with Briggs not that far behind.

Before we got Sauce was worried especially losing Simpson. Now not so much.
 

TBOW

Premiership Player
Aug 9, 2012
3,191
3,860
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
A belated update following the last trade period - things are getting a bit ugly for GWS.
I think for the first time the exes have the edge.

GWS BEST 22

B:
TAYLOR - KEEFE - HAYNES

HB: CUMMING - DAVIS - BUNTINE

C: KELLY - WARD - WHITFIELD

HF: TARANTO - RICCARDI - GREENE

F: DANIELS - FINLAYSON - HIMMELBERG

FOL: FLYNN - CONIGLIO - HOPPER

I/C: PERRYMAN - DeBOER - Tom GREEN - ASH


EX GWS BEST 22 (2021 additions in bold)

B:
FROST - CORR - PLOWMAN

HB: WILSON - MARCHBANK - WILLIAMS

C:
CALDWELL - ADAMS - SHIEL

HF: SMITH - CAMERON - WHE

F: STEWART - BRUCE - LANGDON

FOL:
LOBB - TRELOAR - STEELE

I/C: SETTERFIELD - HATELY - TOMLINSON - BONNAR
 

TBOW

Premiership Player
Aug 9, 2012
3,191
3,860
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
The amount of high draft picks that have passed through GWS since its inception is completely unprecedented. While many people have complained about the ‘advantages’ that GWS were given I’m not sure that the quantity of high picks has necessarily been entirely a blessing.

It is clear that GWS became a poaching ground for clubs looking to bring in high end talent and as such GWS has had a hard time trying to balance players under the cap. This led to revolving door of players going out and more draft picks coming in.

The sheer volume of high draft picks also meant that the later rounds of the draft were completely ignored meaning GWS lacked the kind of role players who will perform a job week in week out on a smaller wage than your average top 10 pick. These kind of players have often had to work harder to get where they are and can raise the standard of training and the general intent and desperation of a team. IMO players like DeBoer, Keefe and Reid have been more recently added to the list to try to balance out this discrepancy.

Some stats that highlight the amount of talent that has gone through GWS in the last 10 years:

Since 2011 GWS have taken 45 players in the top 30 of the draft – of that, 34 were top 15 and 14 were top 5.

Of the 45 players that GWS has taken in the top 30, 24 have since been traded or 53%

In their first 4 drafts GWS took 26 players in the top 30, of which 20 were later traded – an incredible 77%

From 2012 to 2014 GWS took 15 players in the top 30, 13 of which have been traded out at 87%

In the 2014 draft GWS took 5 players in the top 30, all 5 of them were traded out 2 years later

In their first 3 drafts GWS had 3 consecutive pick 1s – a feat only previously achieved by Carlton (who also hold the record for pick 1s with 5) – however in those same three drafts GWS also had 3 consecutive pick 2s.

In 10 years of drafting, the only top 20 picks that GWS have not used are 8, 17 and 19 - they have made at least one selection using the 17 other picks.

Their most prolific pick is 14 (which they have used 5 times), followed by 2 (4 times), then 1, 4, 7 and 11 (which they have used 3 times each).

They have had much more success holding on to academy players with only 3 of 9 having been traded, which does highlight the importance of the academies to the northern clubs.

All stats are from Wikipedia – please feel free to point out any errors in the data.
 
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