It's not that bad

[fleabitten]

We're not contending for flags any time soon, but we're a long way from falling back into the abyss. There's some young talent, and there are premiership players with years of good service still to come. Here's a look at how the list would look next season if all the players 30+ and out of contract retired or moved on (Martin, Grimes, Prestia, Pickett, McIntosh, Naismith) and every other out of contract player was re-signed.



The players with *** are out of contract at the end of the year. A few are likely to be delisted.

It's not a terrible list by any means, it's just chronically injured.

Our current draft hand, based on the current ladder: 2, 22, 30, 40, 41, 48, 58, 67, 69. That equates to 5422 points, more than any other team except the Suns.

We don't need or want a major rebuild from here. We want to pass on the culture of the premiership group to the next generation. Keeping Baker is a huge part of that. Keeping Bolton less so, and if he's keen to move, that's one deal I would facilitate. Very good player on a great team, but potentially toxic in our current situation.

 

[Groupie_]

 

[Karp3_dm]

 

[SunshineBoy]

We're not contending for flags any time soon, but we're a long way from falling back into the abyss. There's some young talent, and there are premiership players with years of good service still to come. Here's a look at how the list would look next season if all the players 30+ and out of contract retired or moved on (Martin, Grimes, Prestia, Pickett, McIntosh, Naismith) and every other out of contract player was re-signed.

View attachment 1988850

The players with *** are out of contract at the end of the year. A few are likely to be delisted.

It's not a terrible list by any means, it's just chronically injured.

Our current draft hand, based on the current ladder: 2, 22, 30, 40, 41, 48, 58, 67, 69. That equates to 5422 points, more than any other team except the Suns.

We don't need or want a major rebuild from here. We want to pass on the culture of the premiership group to the next generation. Keeping Baker is a huge part of that. Keeping Bolton less so, and if he's keen to move, that's one deal I would facilitate. Very good player on a great team, but potentially toxic in our current situation.

We are in the abyss

 

[_RT_]

We're not contending for flags any time soon, but we're a long way from falling back into the abyss. There's some young talent, and there are premiership players with years of good service still to come. Here's a look at how the list would look next season if all the players 30+ and out of contract retired or moved on (Martin, Grimes, Prestia, Pickett, McIntosh, Naismith) and every other out of contract player was re-signed.

View attachment 1988850

The players with *** are out of contract at the end of the year. A few are likely to be delisted.

It's not a terrible list by any means, it's just chronically injured.

Our current draft hand, based on the current ladder: 2, 22, 30, 40, 41, 48, 58, 67, 69. That equates to 5422 points, more than any other team except the Suns.

We don't need or want a major rebuild from here. We want to pass on the culture of the premiership group to the next generation. Keeping Baker is a huge part of that. Keeping Bolton less so, and if he's keen to move, that's one deal I would facilitate. Very good player on a great team, but potentially toxic in our current situation.

Agree with most of what you've said, except that we need to rebuild and we can do it quite quickly with some aggressive and smart list management/trade decisions.

Trading our way into 4-5 picks inside the top 30 this year will give us that boost of quality talent to the bottom end of our list. We'll still have a good core of experienced premiership winners to build a side around over the next 2 years and could be back challenging as soon as the end of 2025 if we get it right.

 

[Coach_Required]

This is what's currently wrong with the club, they have had this belief for the past 3 seasons that our list is actually ok and we don't need to do much.

The problem with this list is half those guys mentioned haven't played enough senior footy so it's unrealistic to expect they are going to cut it. You still have Lynch at full forward, the guy is over 30 and now has had 2 long term injuries.

Apart from D.Rioli, Balta, Baker, Bolton, Ross, Vlastuin, Brown, Short (i personally don't rate him but have included), Broad, Taranto, Hopper & Nankervis (we need a replacement) the rest we don't know enough about. So, our list is only 12 players long.

The following I have my hopes that they will be good enough or have shown glimpses they can make it:

McAuliffe, M Rioli, Coulthard, Smith, Gibcus (injured 2 years out of 3 is a worry), Sonsie, Banks, Tresize & Clarke

So i disagree, i think we do need a rebuild, i think we do have a good core to build a team around, but we need to inject a lot more top shelf youth into this side. (6 to 8 top 30 picks)

 

[fleabitten]

Agree with most of what you've said, except that we need to rebuild and we can do it quite quickly with some aggressive and smart list management/trade decisions.

Trading our way into 4-5 picks inside the top 30 this year will give us that boost of quality talent to the bottom end of our list. We'll still have a good core of experienced premiership winners to build a side around over the next 2 years and could be back challenging as soon as the end of 2025 if we get it right.

Probably just a differing definition of "rebuild", really. I'm not saying we don't have to do anything except re-sign players and go to the draft with those picks. Obviously, injuries aren't going to go away for all those players and some of the young guys aren't going to make the grade. Totally agree with trying to consolidate the picks into 4-5 top 30 picks (we already have 3, with 3 more in the 40s, so this isn't likely to be difficult). We could also entertain trades for Bolton. So, definitely need to make some moves, I'm just saying, it's not back to square one. We can build on what we have without needing to bottom right out and start from scratch, like some people seem to think is necessary.

 

[Handsuper47]

We were actually doing pretty well early in the season before most of the injuries hit - next year get a good draft haul, fresh and healthy list, I believe we'll be playing a lot better than folks expect. Like right now we could just be having a year similar to 2021 Collingwood where they finished 17th, then rocketed right up to 4th the year after.

 

[TigerImposter]

The minute the club fails to review the whole of the FD and Fitness crew they're living in lala land. Our list is also old, slow and full of kids with bigger question marks than a VCE Physics exam. We need to delist all duds, trade players, retire off golden oldies and most importantly stop drinking our own bath water from 17-20 as we will end up being non destination club again and losing membership which equals money.

 

[prodigy1311]

It was bad on the weekend!

 

[TigerImposter]

We needed Balmey to do this in the joint instead Benny sacks him:

 

[THE_GUN]

Are we there yet .....................

 

[smasha]

I hope the Swans win the flag.
We proved this year,with a good list in,that we can compete.
Now we have an unprecedented injury list which is starting to affect our VFL squads' performances.
Yze can look at our kids this year while the injury list has a positive in that it grants us a great draft opportunity.
Maybe keep Meehan for another year to get more good draft picks then get in a fitness guy after that.

 

[captain blood 17]

 

[tropicaltiger]

We needed Balmey to do this in the joint instead Benny sacks him:

balme & brown to the rescue

 

[Crumpet_avenger]

Wake me after cricket season
Im bored of all you campaigners this year

 

[TigerImposter]

Wake me after cricket season
Im bored of all you campaigners this year

No Ashes this Winter mate.

 

[Charlie Pannam]

This is what's currently wrong with the club, they have had this belief for the past 3 seasons that our list is actually ok and we don't need to do much.

The problem with this list is half those guys mentioned haven't played enough senior footy so it's unrealistic to expect they are going to cut it. You still have Lynch at full forward, the guy is over 30 and now has had 2 long term injuries.

Apart from D.Rioli, Balta, Baker, Bolton, Ross, Vlastuin, Brown, Short (i personally don't rate him but have included), Broad, Taranto, Hopper & Nankervis (we need a replacement) the rest we don't know enough about. So, our list is only 12 players long.

The following I have my hopes that they will be good enough or have shown glimpses they can make it:

McAuliffe, M Rioli, Coulthard, Smith, Gibcus (injured 2 years out of 3 is a worry), Sonsie, Banks, Tresize & Clarke

So i disagree, i think we do need a rebuild, i think we do have a good core to build a team around, but we need to inject a lot more top shelf youth into this side. (6 to 8 top 30 picks)

Think Blair has made the correct call, re going hard at this year’s draft by all accounts it has great depth.
Go hard again at next years draft, and then with many of our senior group retiring, look at a couple of FA’s that bring leadership qualities.
All this before Tassie get hold of the best young talent and experienced out of contract players

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

Big inside mids with elite tanks and quick elite outside mids are king in the modern game.
Mid - sized plodders who can’t kick, ( which we have a plethora ) have no place in the modern game .
Baker , Bolton , Ross our only potential long term mids .

 

[richard parker]

we have somewhere between 5 to 37 years of pain ahead of us in my estimation

It’s going to take years for the kids we recruit to develop into genuine match winners

We don’t have cheat academies so it’s the hard road ahead

We’ve had our turn so afl is giving us the flick. It’s big business. AFL weaves into every facet of the economy so every market needs refuelling with a period of success.

 

[tugga]

Being young doesn’t necessarily mean being good.
I haven’t seen many of the kids under 21 even remotely look like they are going to have 150-game careers.

 

[SleepingGiant]

Need at least 10 top 30 draft picks, steal a few rookies, then load up on Free Agents for the gaps. Trade out Rioli and Baker and we will be close

 

[tugga]

Need at least 10 top 30 draft picks, steal a few rookies, then load up on Free Agents for the gaps. Trade out Rioli and Baker and we will be close

Looking back, we really did nail the rookie drafts.
Like, unbelievably so.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

we have somewhere between 5 to 37 years of pain ahead of us in my estimation

It’s going to take years for the kids we recruit to develop into genuine match winners

We don’t have cheat academies so it’s the hard road ahead

We’ve had our turn so afl is giving us the flick

You would have said the same about the Adelaide Crows FC in 2019-20-21. But a few class draftees, Thilthorpe, Rachele, a couple of moderate picks looking really good, Soligo, Michelanney, a couple of gun mature recruits, Rankine, Dawson, a few "finds" amongst the pre-existing players, Laird to midfield, Keays to forward line, a couple of formerly good players re-surging Walker, Crouch, and general improvement from a load of other moderate looking youngsters as they mature, and voila, you have a list that can contend. Like us they are probably not having loads of luck with some key injuries. But over the next 2 off seasons we should at least get a chance to match the Rachele-Thilthorpe-Rankine-Dawson part of their recruiting. And there is a hell of a lot more talent sitting on our list now than they were sitting on 2 years ago.

 

[tigersnag]

Need at least 10 top 30 draft picks, steal a few rookies, then load up on Free Agents for the gaps. Trade out Rioli and Baker and we will be close

Trade Rioli?. Absolute madness.
Only defender that breaks the lines from defence. Do you want to be like lol norf.
Baker and Short & Graham (if he's worth anything)