List Mgmt. List Management Discussion for 2021

[Strapping Young Lad]

Downie hopefully soon
Callahan next year

Callaghan

 

[Slick]

Callaghan

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

I’m still correcting posters on Thorp 15 years later.

 

[rei154]

Aside from our struggles with inside mids and clearances, the biggest thing for me is we don’t have any really good wingers. We play players there out of necessity because there really isn’t anyone else. We’ve been having to find wingers out of the above players.

Our wingers have been Shiels, Howe, Phillips, Morrison and Cousins. With Bramble getting his first game on the weekend. Ideally Downie and Saunders will come on but I see Saunders more HFF/FP.

There’s plenty of endurance but there’s no daring run or kicking that opens up the game out of the five wingers we have mostly used.

Shiels has been repurposed as a wing and tries hard but it’s not his go.

Howe and Morrison try hard but they are both so slow and not suited to the position. Morrison should be competing with Moore for that HFF position. That’s his go in a good team. I can’t see Howe making it.

Cousins and Phillips (regressed since 2018) are very poor with ball in hand. They don’t really break lines either with speed.

Hoping Bramble can come on but it’s more a long shot than anything.

To be a strong competing team we need to find 3 wingers because we have none I can see in a really strong team so far. Hopefully Downie can be 1.

Downie and Bramble are the closest to pure wings we currently have on our list imo. I agree re: Shiels, Howe and Morrison, I don't think any of them have the speed to truly make that spot their own on that front. I think of the three Morrison has the most tools suited for that role despite his speed, but I agree- ultimately I can see him being pushed into the F50; 7 goals is the best return we've had from any midfielder this year.
Phillips I have hopes for still- he's coming into a new system and being asked to play a hybrid role, I'm going to give him until the end of 2022 before I have a strong opinion on his delivery either way.
Bramble seems like a neat player, but it's a small body of work he's shown at the club.
As it stands I think Downie will end up being an im/om mid though, as his hands in close are quite good and he has a well developed body already.
Adding Callaghan and Erasmus or another player of that ilk to the list definitely does make our OM stocks look a lot prettier (I know Erasmus is also a forward)

 

[rei154]

Downie hopefully soon
Callahan next year

Really hoping Calihaghn can find his way on to our list- especially if we end up winning an extra game or two.

 

[chopflop]

Really hoping Calihaghn can find his way on to our list- especially if we end up winning an extra game or two.

I'd be pumped if we drafted kallyhan

 

[killerspud]

I’m still correcting posters on Thorp 15 years later.

Shiels
Shiel
Shield
Shields
Sheild
Sheils

 

[TheFourPillars]

Shiels
Shiel
Shield
Shields
Sheild
Sheils

Pup?

 

[CHUBBSS]

Shiels
Shiel
Shield
Shields
Sheild
Sheils

Shielz

 

[Brishawk]

Shiels
Shiel
Shield
Shields
Sheild
Sheils

Shiela

 

[MrPremiership]

Callaghan

we just started spelling Maginness correctly.....give it time

 

[BIGHAWK23]

I’m still correcting posters on Thorp 15 years later.

My Apologies

Fin' Callaghan

 

[Walshawk]

Midfield list breakdown
I thought it'd be interesting to go through our midfield stocks and have a squiz at the makeup of it all.
The reason I want to have a look at this is because I think the glaringly obvious issues we have with our midfield dynamic stem from profile imbalance, but I think this reads more as short term pain, long term gain. This is all my opinion and will probably change in about 10 minutes time when I remember an errant handball from someone, but was a fun way to spend a sad Monday morning.

Inside mids
Titch- 28 - 182cm
Worpel- 22 - 185cm
Shiels- 30 - 183cm
Finn- 20 - 189cm
Jai- 19 - 186cm
Cousins- 23 - 185cm

Our inside mid brigade is lead by Titch and JOM currently (more on JOM later) and I think it's safe to say this is an area that we really struggle with. The good news is I think this can partially be attributed to our IM's having to learn to read oppo taps pretty regularly as service from our rucks for the past two-three years hasn't been great.
You'd have to argue that Shiels' is on his last leg, he has been an incredible servant to the club, but at this stage him taking a dominant role in the side's midfield is less beneficial than beneficial. Currently our young IM brigade is being headed by Worps, and I think he will be our future dominant inside mid. The good thing is we now have a little pressure emerging for spots in these positions- Jai coming on to the scene puts pressure on Shiels and Cousins as our go to defensive midfielder and I think with a full pre-season under his belt he will be the man for that role come the start of the 2022 season.
What we saw last week I think is a good sign for the future; less responsibility on Titch/JOM to be the primary movers opens up their playstyle and allows their experience to have them using the ball more effectively.
Finn is the most interesting piece in this mix at the moment in my opinion- not because I think he's going to be an elite midfielder or anything, but rather as it stands his height and fitness is the biggest POD we have in this mix. Having done a defensive apprenticeship in the first half of this year tagging in the VFL, I'm hoping he spends the third quarter of the season in the VFL playing more offensively (as we saw against the Dons) and getting more of the pill as I think he's generally quite a good user of it. I agree with other posters who say he will take Shiels' spot eventually.
Overall I think our inside mid stocks are OK without being anything too special. We're currently lacking leg speed in this area, but I get the feeling Jai and Finn both have the ability to develop a lot in this area, and I think Worpel has already started to show that he's going to be an explosive midfielder.

Outside mids
Morrison- 22- 180cm
Bramble- 23 - 181cm
Saunders- 19 - 180cm

Our outside mid stocks are fairly barren, but I think we have a fair bit of quality here. The problem with this mix currently is we have no outside mid leaders. Morrison is currently our most experienced pure outside mid in my opinion, and he's only really been given license to play this role this year. I think Morrison has a much higher ceiling than people give him credit for, the only thing he's missing at the minute is leg speed which admittedly is a pretty detrimental factor in this position. Bramble has played one game in the seniors and a couple in the magoo's in practice matches, not sure we can comment too much on his ability yet but he didn't look overawed in the senior side. Saunders I think has a lot of tools in his belt, but currently is super raw. If he continues to develop how he has been so far this season he will be a regular in the seniors before too long.
Our depth in this area is STARK. We are desperate for some more A-grade talent to come in and make this role their own. The good news is I reckon this is going to be addressed in this years draft. I think the biggest issue I can see in this spot on our list is the fact that in the VFL this position is dominated by BHH players- which is an absolute credit to them and the BHH system, but means we're not necessarily developing as well in this area as we need.

Inside/Outside mids
Jaeger- 27 - 183cm
Downie- 19- 185cm
Howe- 25- 191cm
Phillips- 25- 187cm

Inside/outside midfielders are an oddity and something I don't think we do well.... YET. Jaeger is a very solid player, but I don't think we use him well at all. He is definitely being played almost purely as an IM and I don't think that's to his benefit. Yes he gets the ball and distributes it almost as well as anyone on our list, but it negates a lot of his natural abilities and I believe holds him back dramatically. Interestingly, Phillips and Howe have had similar careers to date in terms of match experience and ability to be the punching bag for their side. Phillips in his first interview when traded to us spoke about how he was excited to show that he could also do well in the IM position, but I don't think he's gotten the balance in this role right. I see him as currently a master of none type player, whilst he has improved over the course of the season (and I think will continue to do so for the next couple years) I think we need him to nail down a position and I think for him, that position is going to be more of a pure wing- where he played in 2018. Howe is such an interesting case. Has been thrown around the field a whole heap to see where he works best but hasn't really put his best foot forward consistently anywhere. He, like Phillips has developed over this season and appears to have removed some of his lapses in judgement but I think he's running out of time to find a position and confirm it as his. He has done really well as a tagger, has shown that he can play through the midfield as an IM and an OM, has shown that he can start in the f50 and push up and has shown that he can play down back and hold his own. He, like everyone else, is lacking leg speed. At 25 I'm not sure he has it in him to develop too much more toe, so I think he needs to find another weapon. Downie is young and very promising imo- after playing the first half of the VFL injured, he has shown a lot since coming back to full health and I think just needs some consistency. I think he has A-grade potential with the way he approaches training and his ability with ball in hand, he just needs time.
This position is weird for us. One player who does it well but skewed too heavily to one side, two who are kinda just about the mark and a kid. We need another kid or two to develop this role- I'm not sure Worpel has the fitness/ability by foot for it and I'm not sure anyone else fits the profile for it currently on our list. Two or three kids from the next draft or two in this spot will mean the world for us.

Players who chip in the midfield but spent more time elsewhere
Wingard- 27 - 183cm
Scrimshaw- 22 - 193cm
Day- 20 - 189cm
Impey- 25 - 178cm

I'm gonna say it. Wingard needs to spend more time in the midfield, but needs to earn it more. I'm a Wingard fan in general, but I haven't seen anything from him this season that has said that he has really staked his claim as a midfielder. The preseason media was largely focused around him in this space and how incredible he was and we've not really seen that from him consistently this season (will touch on that soon). Day, Scrimshaw, & Impey all have the ability to go through the middle, and Scrimshaw appears to be more and more, but I don't think it's suited to any of them at the minute. Day I think everyone is hoping will become our next elite wingman, but watching him on game day I think he's too important structurally down back. He reads the ball too well and is too good of a communicator for us to lose from that area. Scrimshaw needs to develop his tank, that's the only thing stopping him from being our best midfielder imo. He gets compared to Birchall a lot but the more he plays the less I see of it. He is a similar size, mold, plays a similar position and has the same number. He defends very differently from Birch, he attacks the contest very differently and he distributes very differently. Scrimshaw could be anything, but I think us as a supporter base do him a disservice by comparing him to Birch (let the kid find his own identity, which I think he is starting to do now that he's gotten over receiving 14). Impey come into the midfield over the course of play and does so beautifully. His speed is such a POD when he does so he catches other teams off guard because he is so much faster than what they expect from the brown and gold in that area.
We do well here. Clarko always talks about players being able to play well in multiple positions and I think all four of these men do so beautifully at times, we just need to see more of it. There's probably a couple more I could throw in here (Breust, Hanrahan, Moore) but I think they spend so little time in the midfield that it isn't warranted including them yet. That being said Breust always comes in and seems to get a clearance or two when he does. Love that.
We need to draft more forward 50 players who can come through the midfield- I think Seamus will be this, as will Brocky with time, but we probably need another two or three to really make it work.

Rucks
Big Boy- 31- 200cm - 101kg
Ceglar- 30 - 204cm - 102kg
Brooksby- 31 - 197cm - 98kg
Reeves- 22 - 211cm - 104kg

Our ruck stock is dreadful. Big Boy is our leader and does so beautifully, but his tap work has never been his strength and as he ages he's being found out in this area. I love him to death and for everything that he's done for our club, but he needs to spend less and less time in the ruck. Play him forward- he takes elite contested marks. Play him back- he can wrestle with some of the bigger boys out there. I think in play he is still a very effective player, but I think as a pure ruck, his time has past. Ceglar is on borrowed time. He has an amazing game, then goes completely AWOL for three weeks. His tap work at his best is great and his contested marking is good, but he doesn't do either consistently enough imo. Brooksby is a filler ruck. He plays mostly as a forward in the VFL at the minute and does so well- I genuinely think he's a great influence on the young players around him and means a lot to the club. I would be happier holding on to him than Ceglar for that reason, though I think were we to delist him he'd probably be playing at BHH anyway so there's no real loss there. Reeves is our shining light in this department. He's grown a heap and is learning to use it incredibly well. Get him back in the side and leave him in. He's listed as our heaviest ruck and he plays like it.
A lot of people say we can't afford to take a ruck in the next draft- I disagree. We have to. In the next season or two we are losing 3/4 of those rucks. We need to have another developing ASAP to form a dynamic with Reeves, and if we were to go down the one ruck path in the seniors we need another ruck to put pressure on reeves and make sure he earns his keep.
Currently we have one tap ruckman on our list and he's the youngest on on it. I think during the preseason us reading all the good work from players like Wingard and JOM through the middle and being able to explode away from contests was due to our rucks going up against who they're comfortable with, giving our mids and supporters a false sense of development in this space. We need another ruck to come in and seriously attack the contests. Both BB and Ceglar aren't/are no longer super aggressive rucks who play the body and I think because of that when we come up against Rucks who do (ie arguably all bar one or two in the comp) we are at a disadvantage. Reeves showed that he attacks the body whilst going for taps which is great, but he needs a sparring partner to further develop this ability is we want to start turning around our midfield woes.

List changes I would make
Overall I think we need to remove the current players from this mix either through trade, retirement or delisting:
Cousins- has been given ample opportunity, is too similar to players younger/better suited to the top level
Shiels- amazing servant, time has caught up
Howe- Jack of all trades, master of none. Time is up for mine
Brooksby- amazing clubman, put him on the BHH list and slip him a brown paper bag to help our forwards develop around him
Ceglar- out of luck.

(imo) We need to add:
2~ IM/OM mids who are better distributors- one drafted, one traded in
1~ pure outside mid- needed to put selection pressure on and to add class
1~ ruck- needed desperately to develop. Give BB another year to help develop them too
If we nail these ins our midfield set up will look significantly nicer. I believe we have the pure inside mid pieces, or at least pieces to play with already on our list and need to focus on the other areas.

But rucks are so easy to find. I reckon half a dozen mature rucks change clubs each season. You don't need a great one. Just two good ones. Don't waste high draft picks on ruckman. Just trade for one when you need one.

 

[rei154]

But rucks are so easy to find. I reckon half a dozen mature rucks change clubs each season. You don't need a great one. Just two good ones. Don't waste high draft picks on ruckman. Just trade for one when you need one.

Tbh I strongly disagree with this, and I think we're going to see why with Reeves. There's a lot to be said about coming in as a junior and learning the club method from day dot. Sure there are some great examples of pulling a ruck out of one team and plonking him into another and it being a success, but there are an equal number of cases where this doesn't work/ruckmen remain at a club their whole careers and are very successful.
I think the league doesn't actually have many good rucks, I think there's one or two great rucks, two or three good rucks and the rest are 'serviceable'. Considering we've been a team who has had bulk success with good/serviceable rucks, I'm really keen to see what we've be like with a great one and I think our best chance to get that is through the draft.

 

[Brant]

But rucks are so easy to find. I reckon half a dozen mature rucks change clubs each season. You don't need a great one. Just two good ones. Don't waste high draft picks on ruckman. Just trade for one when you need one.

If this were so then our recruiting one of these good rucks has been atrocious.

 

[dermott]

we just started spelling Maginness correctly.....give it time

Some have.

 

[SammyC]

But rucks are so easy to find. I reckon half a dozen mature rucks change clubs each season. You don't need a great one. Just two good ones. Don't waste high draft picks on ruckman. Just trade for one when you need one.

Agree. Don’t use high draft picks on rucks, don’t use too much of your salary cap on rucks.

The last premiership side with an A grade ruck? Dean Cox in 2006. Darren Jolly had A grade seasons but not 2010.

Im a big reeves fan but regardless of his improvement, he should never be the highest paid player like Grundy is at collingwood (bet they regret that deal now).

A competitor like nank goes a long way. The A grade pure mids are much more important to premiership success.

 

[Mercy Seat]

If this were so then our recruiting one of these good rucks has been atrocious.

We haven’t needed to. So much focus on the rucks on this board but we’ve not been smashed in this area for many years. Cegs has dropped form the past season or 2, but overall we’ve had a great 10 years or so.

 

[Kanga Commando]

I'd be pumped if we drafted kallyhan

As in Dirty Harry ?

 

[Lickmesocks]

But rucks are so easy to find. I reckon half a dozen mature rucks change clubs each season. You don't need a great one. Just two good ones. Don't waste high draft picks on ruckman. Just trade for one when you need one.

Give us a ruck with a bit of old fashioned grunt that is happy to whack in for us and take some body contact.

 

[chopflop]

As in Dirty Harry ?

 

[CHUBBSS]

I firmly believe we identified a talent void 3 years ago now and painfully but surely we are correcting that void, what is most suprising is how well we have done late in the draft and through additional sources, further development but then some elite top end talent (have to strike certainties) we will correct a few silly errors.

 

[Timo pez]

Bit rough on Morris. He’s played 4 senior games this year. Not sure how many of those were starting as sub but at last one with last week.

Plus only 4 senior games last year and I’d hazard a guess not many games at all for BH last year either with things being shut down.

He very well may not make it, but surely he gets more of a shot at it before we put a line through him.

I wouldn't be surprised if he's delisted at the end of this year. His effort has been admirable but simply cannot get near it yet at AFL level. I'm not sure which attributes will allow him to become a regular in the 1's

 

[Timo pez]

Midfield list breakdown
I thought it'd be interesting to go through our midfield stocks and have a squiz at the makeup of it all.
The reason I want to have a look at this is because I think the glaringly obvious issues we have with our midfield dynamic stem from profile imbalance, but I think this reads more as short term pain, long term gain. This is all my opinion and will probably change in about 10 minutes time when I remember an errant handball from someone, but was a fun way to spend a sad Monday morning.

Inside mids
Titch- 28 - 182cm
Worpel- 22 - 185cm
Shiels- 30 - 183cm
Finn- 20 - 189cm
Jai- 19 - 186cm
Cousins- 23 - 185cm

Our inside mid brigade is lead by Titch and JOM currently (more on JOM later) and I think it's safe to say this is an area that we really struggle with. The good news is I think this can partially be attributed to our IM's having to learn to read oppo taps pretty regularly as service from our rucks for the past two-three years hasn't been great.
You'd have to argue that Shiels' is on his last leg, he has been an incredible servant to the club, but at this stage him taking a dominant role in the side's midfield is less beneficial than beneficial. Currently our young IM brigade is being headed by Worps, and I think he will be our future dominant inside mid. The good thing is we now have a little pressure emerging for spots in these positions- Jai coming on to the scene puts pressure on Shiels and Cousins as our go to defensive midfielder and I think with a full pre-season under his belt he will be the man for that role come the start of the 2022 season.
What we saw last week I think is a good sign for the future; less responsibility on Titch/JOM to be the primary movers opens up their playstyle and allows their experience to have them using the ball more effectively.
Finn is the most interesting piece in this mix at the moment in my opinion- not because I think he's going to be an elite midfielder or anything, but rather as it stands his height and fitness is the biggest POD we have in this mix. Having done a defensive apprenticeship in the first half of this year tagging in the VFL, I'm hoping he spends the third quarter of the season in the VFL playing more offensively (as we saw against the Dons) and getting more of the pill as I think he's generally quite a good user of it. I agree with other posters who say he will take Shiels' spot eventually.
Overall I think our inside mid stocks are OK without being anything too special. We're currently lacking leg speed in this area, but I get the feeling Jai and Finn both have the ability to develop a lot in this area, and I think Worpel has already started to show that he's going to be an explosive midfielder.

Outside mids
Morrison- 22- 180cm
Bramble- 23 - 181cm
Saunders- 19 - 180cm

Our outside mid stocks are fairly barren, but I think we have a fair bit of quality here. The problem with this mix currently is we have no outside mid leaders. Morrison is currently our most experienced pure outside mid in my opinion, and he's only really been given license to play this role this year. I think Morrison has a much higher ceiling than people give him credit for, the only thing he's missing at the minute is leg speed which admittedly is a pretty detrimental factor in this position. Bramble has played one game in the seniors and a couple in the magoo's in practice matches, not sure we can comment too much on his ability yet but he didn't look overawed in the senior side. Saunders I think has a lot of tools in his belt, but currently is super raw. If he continues to develop how he has been so far this season he will be a regular in the seniors before too long.
Our depth in this area is STARK. We are desperate for some more A-grade talent to come in and make this role their own. The good news is I reckon this is going to be addressed in this years draft. I think the biggest issue I can see in this spot on our list is the fact that in the VFL this position is dominated by BHH players- which is an absolute credit to them and the BHH system, but means we're not necessarily developing as well in this area as we need.

Inside/Outside mids
Jaeger- 27 - 183cm
Downie- 19- 185cm
Howe- 25- 191cm
Phillips- 25- 187cm

Inside/outside midfielders are an oddity and something I don't think we do well.... YET. Jaeger is a very solid player, but I don't think we use him well at all. He is definitely being played almost purely as an IM and I don't think that's to his benefit. Yes he gets the ball and distributes it almost as well as anyone on our list, but it negates a lot of his natural abilities and I believe holds him back dramatically. Interestingly, Phillips and Howe have had similar careers to date in terms of match experience and ability to be the punching bag for their side. Phillips in his first interview when traded to us spoke about how he was excited to show that he could also do well in the IM position, but I don't think he's gotten the balance in this role right. I see him as currently a master of none type player, whilst he has improved over the course of the season (and I think will continue to do so for the next couple years) I think we need him to nail down a position and I think for him, that position is going to be more of a pure wing- where he played in 2018. Howe is such an interesting case. Has been thrown around the field a whole heap to see where he works best but hasn't really put his best foot forward consistently anywhere. He, like Phillips has developed over this season and appears to have removed some of his lapses in judgement but I think he's running out of time to find a position and confirm it as his. He has done really well as a tagger, has shown that he can play through the midfield as an IM and an OM, has shown that he can start in the f50 and push up and has shown that he can play down back and hold his own. He, like everyone else, is lacking leg speed. At 25 I'm not sure he has it in him to develop too much more toe, so I think he needs to find another weapon. Downie is young and very promising imo- after playing the first half of the VFL injured, he has shown a lot since coming back to full health and I think just needs some consistency. I think he has A-grade potential with the way he approaches training and his ability with ball in hand, he just needs time.
This position is weird for us. One player who does it well but skewed too heavily to one side, two who are kinda just about the mark and a kid. We need another kid or two to develop this role- I'm not sure Worpel has the fitness/ability by foot for it and I'm not sure anyone else fits the profile for it currently on our list. Two or three kids from the next draft or two in this spot will mean the world for us.

Players who chip in the midfield but spent more time elsewhere
Wingard- 27 - 183cm
Scrimshaw- 22 - 193cm
Day- 20 - 189cm
Impey- 25 - 178cm

I'm gonna say it. Wingard needs to spend more time in the midfield, but needs to earn it more. I'm a Wingard fan in general, but I haven't seen anything from him this season that has said that he has really staked his claim as a midfielder. The preseason media was largely focused around him in this space and how incredible he was and we've not really seen that from him consistently this season (will touch on that soon). Day, Scrimshaw, & Impey all have the ability to go through the middle, and Scrimshaw appears to be more and more, but I don't think it's suited to any of them at the minute. Day I think everyone is hoping will become our next elite wingman, but watching him on game day I think he's too important structurally down back. He reads the ball too well and is too good of a communicator for us to lose from that area. Scrimshaw needs to develop his tank, that's the only thing stopping him from being our best midfielder imo. He gets compared to Birchall a lot but the more he plays the less I see of it. He is a similar size, mold, plays a similar position and has the same number. He defends very differently from Birch, he attacks the contest very differently and he distributes very differently. Scrimshaw could be anything, but I think us as a supporter base do him a disservice by comparing him to Birch (let the kid find his own identity, which I think he is starting to do now that he's gotten over receiving 14). Impey come into the midfield over the course of play and does so beautifully. His speed is such a POD when he does so he catches other teams off guard because he is so much faster than what they expect from the brown and gold in that area.
We do well here. Clarko always talks about players being able to play well in multiple positions and I think all four of these men do so beautifully at times, we just need to see more of it. There's probably a couple more I could throw in here (Breust, Hanrahan, Moore) but I think they spend so little time in the midfield that it isn't warranted including them yet. That being said Breust always comes in and seems to get a clearance or two when he does. Love that.
We need to draft more forward 50 players who can come through the midfield- I think Seamus will be this, as will Brocky with time, but we probably need another two or three to really make it work.

Rucks
Big Boy- 31- 200cm - 101kg
Ceglar- 30 - 204cm - 102kg
Brooksby- 31 - 197cm - 98kg
Reeves- 22 - 211cm - 104kg

Our ruck stock is dreadful. Big Boy is our leader and does so beautifully, but his tap work has never been his strength and as he ages he's being found out in this area. I love him to death and for everything that he's done for our club, but he needs to spend less and less time in the ruck. Play him forward- he takes elite contested marks. Play him back- he can wrestle with some of the bigger boys out there. I think in play he is still a very effective player, but I think as a pure ruck, his time has past. Ceglar is on borrowed time. He has an amazing game, then goes completely AWOL for three weeks. His tap work at his best is great and his contested marking is good, but he doesn't do either consistently enough imo. Brooksby is a filler ruck. He plays mostly as a forward in the VFL at the minute and does so well- I genuinely think he's a great influence on the young players around him and means a lot to the club. I would be happier holding on to him than Ceglar for that reason, though I think were we to delist him he'd probably be playing at BHH anyway so there's no real loss there. Reeves is our shining light in this department. He's grown a heap and is learning to use it incredibly well. Get him back in the side and leave him in. He's listed as our heaviest ruck and he plays like it.
A lot of people say we can't afford to take a ruck in the next draft- I disagree. We have to. In the next season or two we are losing 3/4 of those rucks. We need to have another developing ASAP to form a dynamic with Reeves, and if we were to go down the one ruck path in the seniors we need another ruck to put pressure on reeves and make sure he earns his keep.
Currently we have one tap ruckman on our list and he's the youngest on on it. I think during the preseason us reading all the good work from players like Wingard and JOM through the middle and being able to explode away from contests was due to our rucks going up against who they're comfortable with, giving our mids and supporters a false sense of development in this space. We need another ruck to come in and seriously attack the contests. Both BB and Ceglar aren't/are no longer super aggressive rucks who play the body and I think because of that when we come up against Rucks who do (ie arguably all bar one or two in the comp) we are at a disadvantage. Reeves showed that he attacks the body whilst going for taps which is great, but he needs a sparring partner to further develop this ability is we want to start turning around our midfield woes.

List changes I would make
Overall I think we need to remove the current players from this mix either through trade, retirement or delisting:
Cousins- has been given ample opportunity, is too similar to players younger/better suited to the top level
Shiels- amazing servant, time has caught up
Howe- Jack of all trades, master of none. Time is up for mine
Brooksby- amazing clubman, put him on the BHH list and slip him a brown paper bag to help our forwards develop around him
Ceglar- out of luck.

(imo) We need to add:
2~ IM/OM mids who are better distributors- one drafted, one traded in
1~ pure outside mid- needed to put selection pressure on and to add class
1~ ruck- needed desperately to develop. Give BB another year to help develop them too
If we nail these ins our midfield set up will look significantly nicer. I believe we have the pure inside mid pieces, or at least pieces to play with already on our list and need to focus on the other areas.

Howe has quietly had a few solid games on the trot, and using the ball really well by foot. You might be right though as he'll be 27 next year.

 

[rei154]

Howe has quietly had a few solid games on the trot, and using the ball really well by foot. You might be right though as he'll be 27 next year.

I think it's just a matter of time with Howey- he has patches where he looks like a solid, well rounded player but I just don't think he's shown it regularly enough to this point in time.
If he plays out the year showing the same form he's shown the last few weeks he's got a good shot to get another year I would have thought, but I don't know how likely that is.