Just Like A Few Years Ago

[DOC]

With the Murray Roos doing so well it reminds me of a few years ago when we won flags in the 2nd's and gave a few kids the taste of finals footy and also finished the old blokes off with a couple of flags.

This is a good thing and also a bad thing in my opinion. With the Murray Roos second on the ladder it attracts attention to the kids that are doing well and puts us on the spot to retain those kids as a few of them must be getting the scouts attention.

It is essential that the match committee looses as little talent as possible from this crop. The list must be cut next year and a new draft is not that far away. The club needs to test a few of these kids out in the 1's to see it they have got it or not. Because there is a couple of retirements and some dead wood to be cut from the tree.

Some of the credit must go to the Hammer what a good coach he is. Simple no rant and rave and personal he knows how to approach each kid yell at some and the quiet approach to others. Also he has had Heavy "D" on the bench for at least a half of footy for the last two weeks and this is good for football. The only other improvement is to have him start on the bench go on 1 min before half time and then 1 min before full time. That is a move that should be suggested to him.

Go the Skull !!!
J.I.T.C
THE DOC..

 

[Darky]

Originally posted by DOC
Also he has had Heavy "D" on the bench for at least a half of footy for the last two weeks and this is good for football. The only other improvement is to have him start on the bench go on 1 min before half time and then 1 min before full time. That is a move that should be suggested to him.

But it would give the little turd two minutes more than he deserves.

Back to the point of your post though, guys like L.Smith, Woodley, Teague, Harding, Hilton, Rawlings, Watt and Spaull have shown enough good form in the VFL to warrant getting the attention of other clubs' scouts. Coupled with that attention is also the frustration of kicking the dew off with the likes of Calthorpe, and having bludgers like him in probably higher contention for a senior place than the hard-working kids, because of reputation and experience.

At the end of the year, it would be fair to say Martyn will retire after a sterling career, Calthorpe will retire or be told to, Olarenshaw would be unlikely to continue (poor bugger).
Blakey, Carey, Stevens, and King will all be 30 or over and most of the younger players under 22 have next to no senior experience. This is the major worry.

The fringe players like Watt, Clayton, Morrell, Rawlings, S.Motlop, Cochrane, Spaull would attract some attention, and out of the 6 of them, there'd probably be at least 2 that could be serviceable for a number of years.

Somehow, the newer youngsters have to get a few games under their belts so they don't enter 2002 as rookies as well, (weakening our already questionable depth), WITHOUT it costing us a finals place this season.

It is a very difficult situation, with no obvious answers. Perhaps if a key player is injured, and the options at hand involve a decision between a fringe player and a rookie... maybe the rookie is the better bet in terms of long-term gain.

 

[CURVE]

I've no doubt Denis sees the next 2 or 3 years as make or break seasons for North, with the likely retirements of some of the legends of the club. And I think he has been very wise in his introduction of the rookies. He has played six rookies this season already and all of them have shown that with a little more experience they will keep North in the top eight for years to come.

Essendon and Parramatta (in the League) use a rotational system. It gives everybody who deserves a game a chance to shine, and keeps everyone fresh for the finals. While I don't think we have the depth and experience to give guys like Carey, Harvey, King, Martyn and company a weeks rest, I think we have enough young guys in the squad with talent, skill and courage who with a taste of league footy will become better players in the long term.

 

[Shinboners]

Re: Re: Just Like A Few Years Ago

Originally posted by Darky

At the end of the year, it would be fair to say Martyn will retire after a sterling career, Calthorpe will retire or be told to, Olarenshaw would be unlikely to continue (poor bugger).
Blakey, Carey, Stevens, and King will all be 30 or over and most of the younger players under 22 have next to no senior experience. This is the major worry.

The fringe players like Watt, Clayton, Morrell, Rawlings, S.Motlop, Cochrane, Spaull would attract some attention, and out of the 6 of them, there'd probably be at least 2 that could be serviceable for a number of years.

Okay.....at the end of the season

OUT: Martyn (retired with honours), Olarenshaw, Calthorpe (died of obesity)
POSSIBLE OUT: Lasscock (3 years in magoos, needs some senior games to stay on the list?), Lange (over-taken by Watt for defensive role and Smith for forward role, and Jones), and Abraham (trade?). Add in a couple out of Darky's list of Spuall, Clayton etc....and the half-chance of a Capuano-McLaren change of scenery scenario.

If that happens, then there's a minimum of 8 changes to the list. We had about 10 new players come in for this season, so with a further 8, almost half the list has turned over in just two years.

The other thing is that the kids that will be coming up for this draft are supposed to be a very good bunch....almost like the lot that came up for the 2000 season. Someone like Sheedy might go for an aggressive trade to try and snaffle an extra pick within the top 10, but I'm not sure Pagan will try the same thing. Firstly, Pagan is very loyal to his players and secondly, he'd be wary of doing anything that could hurt the team morale and the close bonds between the players.

I think we've done better than other aging sides though. A club like Hawthorn had a massive hemorroging of experience over just a two year period in the early 90s (although losing Jarman to Adelaide and Allen to Fremantle didn't help), but Pagan seems to have managed it better by "losing" just one or two experienced players each year, and the only young players we've lost that Pagan didn't want to lose were Bell and Welsh.

 

[35eye]

Originally posted by DOC
Also he has had Heavy "D" on the bench for at least a half of footy for the last two weeks and this is good for football.

I just wanted to highlight this because its funny. If it wasn't so long I'd use the quote as my signature.

 

[Groucho]

I think we'll go for a trade to get someone out of contract who can help bridge that gap between old and young. I don't know who that will be but someone like Solomon would be good (though they won't get him!). With Carey going onto the veterans list there'll be a bit more cash around to get a reasonably high profile player. This years draft is meant to contain some very hot prospects so it would be good to get an early pick somehow as we'll probably be consigned to 16th!!

 

[Moti.com]

The extra cash will be a bonus at the end of the year.
Also look for the Roos to target Stevo's little brother at Port who has failed to make an impact, due to the fact he isn't happy. Other than that, the cheque book may come out once more.
Very tough to choose 6 to go though.

 

[DOC]

Stevo Jnr.

Would not mind him at all.


Go the Skull !!!
J.I.T.C
THE DOC

 

[Aussie_Roo]

Good topic. We are going through a re-building stage, a possible strategy we could use, and if it can benefit the club in the long-run it is worth considering.

* Don't play guys that are carrying injuries. Give our senior guys more time to get over their injuries. Leads too:

* Giving our fringe players an opportunity to see if they are the real McCoys. And

* Give our rookies valuable experience. Leads too:

* Less than 5 wins for the year, which means we get priority draft picks out of a draft that supposedly oozes talent, and we get priority picks in the December draft for those players out of contract.

That way in 2002, our senior players will be fit and raring to go, we have got rid of the all deadwood, our rookies have about 15 - 20 games under their belts and Denis starts all over again..


Downside to all of this is of course members and sponsors have to patient and continue their support to the club.

 

[Moti.com]

There are no more priority draft picks anymore. They were abolished a couple of weeks ago. It is only the reverse of the ladder now.

 

[DOC]

From what I've seen of the draftees of 2000 it seems asthough it will be considered a good draft.

Next year coud be as good Geez I hope so and if it is we realy need to start sorting through what we have got.


Go the Skull !!!
J.I.T.C
THE DOC..

 

[Darky]

For 2002, consider this :

Martyn retired, Calthorpe delisted, Burton and Olarenshaw iffy, Carey and Stevens onto the veterans list (halving the salray cap burden of two highly paid players), and the salary cap to increase by approx. $500,000.

That would have to add up to at least $1 million more room within the cap. Given that 95% of the cap HAS to be spent, I think that even after players have received pay rises, there will be a fair bit of room for aggressive trading for a highly-credentialled player, preferably aged 23-25 (if any are available). I won't go so far as to nominate who we should offer as bait, but it would take a very promising youngster, an established senior player, or high draft picks to do it.

After last year's push for Heath Black to be included in the Bell deal, will he be sought after again? Does anyone know his contract situation?
Another likely target should be a physically-developed young ruckman who is unable to cement a number one berth at his current club, perhaps along the lines of Paul Dooley, Mark Porter, Beau McDonald.

Opionions please?

 

[Gonzo]

Just to take up Darky's question of targetted players.

I believe that we would probably need to shore up the backline with either:

a skilful speedster (Kingy replacement) - Wirrpunda?

or a "banger" (Arch/Mick replacement) - Solomon?

My thoughts anyway

Cheers

Gonzo

 

[Darky]

According the AFL official site (http://www.afl.com.au/news/story_230698.htm),
several Freo Shiitfish are out of contract, most notably... Heath Black.

 

[Shinboners]

Heath Black will be in a spot of bother though.....if he goes out of contract and into the draft, with the way things are going, Freo will have first pick. Of course, if the AFL take the bottom 3 teams and do a lottery out of them to see who gets the first pick (as was mooted a couple of weeks ago), then things could get interesting in the contract negotiations.