List Mgmt. List Management Thread

[Kane McGoodwin]

So - eleven list changes, huh?

I'm not sure that's very realistic.

10 effective list spots... but agree we are not making anywhere near that many changes.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

As clearly stated, that is what I would do.

I’m fully aware that the powers that be at the AFC will be very happy with where they’re at after missing finals for an 8th consecutive year, so how could they possibly handle that much change.

When was the last time any team made this many changes?

Hardly realistic.

Where are we getting all the draft picks from?

 

[huludicidal]

When was the last time any team made this many changes?

Hardly realistic.

Where are we getting all the draft picks from?

From the trades that I clearly spelt out in the post.

Right now, we have 4 picks between 12 and 51. Essentially I’m just saying we’d acquire an extra 3 by trading Butts, Pedlar and getting some ROB FA compo.

Teams sometimes draft 6-7 players. Certainly not unheard of.

Would just mean 3-4 players acquired via trade and FA.


I know we won’t do it, because we’ll keep O’Brien and Sholl on the list, and probably Pedlar and Bond for 2026 too, but I’ve seen enough from those guys to conclude that I personally don’t think they’ll be part of a successful AFL team, so I would cut them now rather than watching them fail more is all I’m saying.

 

[huludicidal]

When was the last time any team made this many changes?

Hardly realistic.

Geelong and Gold Coast both made 10 list changes at the end of 2024.

How are they going?

Edit - and the Saints made 11. It’s not unheard of at all.

 

[Mutineer]

From the trades that I clearly spelt out in the post.

Right now, we have 4 picks between 12 and 51. Essentially I’m just saying we’d acquire an extra 3 by trading Butts, Pedlar and getting some ROB FA compo.

Teams sometimes draft 6-7 players. Certainly not unheard of.

Would just mean 3-4 players acquired via trade and FA.


I know we won’t do it, because we’ll keep O’Brien and Sholl on the list, and probably Pedlar and Bond for 2026 too, but I’ve seen enough from those guys to conclude that I personally don’t think they’ll be part of a successful AFL team, so I would cut them now rather than watching them fail more is all I’m saying.

Big problem with this draft is it's ridiculously compromised with Northern Academies, NGA Academies and Father/Sons making up a very big percentage of the best players all likely unavailable to us unless bids aren't matched. I reckon close to 30 of those in those categories mentioned will make up a fair percentage of the 1st 2 rounds. This draft will break all records for bids on players aligned to clubs.

 

[huludicidal]

Big problem with this draft is it's ridiculously compromised with Northern Academies, NGA Academies and Father/Sons making up a very big percentage of the best players all likely unavailable to us unless bids aren't matched. I reckon close to 30 of those in those categories mentioned will make up a fair percentage of the 1st 2 rounds. This draft will break all records for bids on players aligned to clubs.

Yep that’s a fair point and personally I would love to bring in a bunch of guys in the 22-27 age bracket as role players (trades and FA) instead of going super hard at the 2025 draft, but it’s easier said than done.

Yet another reason why the likes of Sholl, Bond, Pedlar etc probably remain at the AFC for another year despite their obvious shortcomings.

 

[Mutineer]

Sam Draper looks to have done his achilles tendon poor bugger definitely staying at the Bombers now you'd think.

yet another player that's delayed signing on looking like they've stuffed up.

Draper's Achilles injury confirmed, winger sent to hospital

Essendon has been left counting the cost of its two-point win over West Coast, with Sam Draper suffering an Achilles injury and Xavier Duursma sent to hospital for scans

www.afl.com.au

 

[Scorpus]

From the trades that I clearly spelt out in the post.

Right now, we have 4 picks between 12 and 51. Essentially I’m just saying we’d acquire an extra 3 by trading Butts, Pedlar and getting some ROB FA compo.

Teams sometimes draft 6-7 players. Certainly not unheard of.

Would just mean 3-4 players acquired via trade and FA.


I know we won’t do it, because we’ll keep O’Brien and Sholl on the list, and probably Pedlar and Bond for 2026 too, but I’ve seen enough from those guys to conclude that I personally don’t think they’ll be part of a successful AFL team, so I would cut them now rather than watching them fail more is all I’m saying.

I don't think there's much point trading players like Pedlar or Sholl under contract if we're just going to get a pick in the 40+ range which would likely net us an even worse player.

The time for us taking gambles on lots of speculative picks is over as the list moves into a contending phase

 

[huludicidal]

I don't think there's much point trading players like Pedlar or Sholl under contract if we're just going to get a pick in the 40+ range which would likely net us an even worse player.

The time for us taking gambles on lots of speculative picks is over as the list moves into a contending phase

I understand your viewpoint and can see that there’s probably a majority who would feel the same way, but I would personally take a pick 45 lottery ticket, or a targeted role player that addresses a need from another club over either of those two players.

My main reasoning for this is that I know that if (and it’s a big if) either of Sholl or Pedlar step onto the field in an AFL game moving forward, based on what I have seen in the evolution of their careers, I fully expect them to play badly. I have absolutely no desire to see either of them ever play for us again to be blunt.


If we have 3-4 players on our list in this category, and ship them off for 3-4 lottery tickets, and just ONE of those pays off and turns into a lateish pick / cheap moneyball acquisition in the Sloane / Laird / Rutten / Keays / Hinge / Jacobs / even Soligo / Z Taylor mould, I’d consider it a significant win, and I’d also say the chances of this happening are pretty good.

Many others won’t feel that strongly about Sholl or Pedlar and that’s fine. I feel exactly the same way about a contracted Jones.

Just no interest whatsoever in wasting resources / giving any of them even one more quarter of AFL footy despite them being contracted for 2026, and would literally rather pluck a mature ager from obscurity than persist, so a trade for any draft pick is a win for mine.

I’m not trying to convince others to feel that way though, so I get it.

 

[Danger in Texas]

End of 2025 moves if I was in charge:

Retire:
B Smith



Trade:
L Pedlar (he’s a bust who has no path to making our senior side while Keays and ANB are around, just accept a pick around 40 and move on)

J Butts (if we’ve decided to firstly play Borlase over him, and then literally play a game with only one KPD instead of bringing him in, he’s clearly gone)

L Sholl (if anyone wants him which I doubt)

C Jones (if anyone wants him - spoiler alert, they don’t so he likely rots on the list for 12 more months)



Delist:
K Gallagher (never going to make it)

H Schoenberg (done)

K Strachan (done)

L Murphy (has already played his last game for us)

H Bond (many won’t agree, and I recognise that he tries hard and applies great pressure but his football skills are absolutely atrocious so I’m not retaining him unless Michalanney does a knee or something)

C Burgess (done)



Let him walk as FA:
R O’Brien (he’s terrible, I don’t care what anyone says)



Re-sign for 1 more year:
T Walker (certainly feels like Tex can and will go on for one more year - I’m all for this because Welsh is either going to be a slow burn or never make it)



Multi-year re-signings:
Z Taylor (most important re-signing on the list - would offer him 3 years minimum)

L McAndrew (2 year deal)

M Crouch (2 year deal)

W Milera (if another club wants to offer him overs as a FA, let him take the deal. I’m only retaining him on a very modest salary for 2 years. I see him as likely to stay because there shouldn’t be much of a market for him, considering he’s played about 5 good games in the last 3 years).




We then bring in (combo of FA / trade and draft):
An established ruck who has the motor skills of an average adult human (a lot to ask I know)

A ready to go key defender who can actually defend (L Aleer is one option, but there will be others)

Some two way running on a wing or flank (obviously we are chasing NWM but once that inevitably falls over, this can be via the draft, or maybe someone like J Sharp from Freo as FA)

A small forward with pace who can apply pressure and also contribute offensively (likely via draft)

A mid with pace and power (likely via draft)

An additional 18-19 year old ruck via the draft

A small defender with low centre of gravity who can actually play football AND defend properly

Mate, we’re not getting rid of 12 players in the one off-season

 

[moogerfooger]

Sam Draper looks to have done his achilles tendon poor bugger definitely staying at the Bombers now you'd think.

yet another player that's delayed signing on looking like they've stuffed up.

Draper's Achilles injury confirmed, winger sent to hospital

Essendon has been left counting the cost of its two-point win over West Coast, with Sam Draper suffering an Achilles injury and Xavier Duursma sent to hospital for scans

www.afl.com.au

And like the Petty situation, the footy gods saving us from what would likely have been a poor list management decision.

 

[AFC979810]

And like the Petty situation, the footy gods saving us from what would likely have been a poor list management decision.

Ooooffff. That Petty contract keeps getting worse and worse. They have him another two years after this year.

We are dodging bullets left and right.

A late 2nd rounder to snatch up Ned Reeves at the Hawks is a much better option that 800k for a healthy Draper.

 

[hugecannon]

Big problem with this draft is it's ridiculously compromised with Northern Academies, NGA Academies and Father/Sons making up a very big percentage of the best players all likely unavailable to us unless bids aren't matched. I reckon close to 30 of those in those categories mentioned will make up a fair percentage of the 1st 2 rounds. This draft will break all records for bids on players aligned to clubs.

Yeah if we were going to cut deep and hard into the list, last year was the year to do it.

Sadly this year it’ll probably be 3-4 changes at most and hanging onto players who don’t have a future at AFL level.

 

[GreyCrow]

Yeah if we were going to cut deep and hard into the list, last year was the year to do it.

If only there were posters here who mentioned cutting deep last year

Oh how they were mocked

 

[1970crow]

Serious question where do we see Pedlar playing and whose spot does he actually take. Feel like him is grouped with some many fighting for the same spots

Tex or Curtin in terms of being a forward or Crouch if he could handle 60% game time as a mid.

 

[1970crow]

The overrating of Pedlar on this board has become laughable. He’s consistently not even in the best 8 players in our SANFL side. McHenry level garbage who will be lucky to ever play another senior game.

Who cares how he performs at sanfl level, what matters is how he went at AFL level. Beleivng players need to master the sanfl is stupidity.

 

[1970crow]

Big problem with this draft is it's ridiculously compromised with Northern Academies, NGA Academies and Father/Sons making up a very big percentage of the best players all likely unavailable to us unless bids aren't matched. I reckon close to 30 of those in those categories mentioned will make up a fair percentage of the 1st 2 rounds. This draft will break all records for bids on players aligned to clubs.

If it's compromised at the high end it makes little difference to us. We have ur first and then sit it out for a while. Our3rd and 4th picks are presently in the 50s. Can't see high end NGAs making much difference to our draft 'haul'.

 

[spenze]

If only there were posters here who mentioned cutting deep last year

Oh how they were mocked

The more this SANFL season goes on the more it looks like we had an eye on winning that flag which is poor. There was an opportunity for us to go deeper in that draft, one where it looks like there is veins of gold through the second and third rounds

 

[WeeBlake]

The overrating of Pedlar on this board has become laughable. He’s consistently not even in the best 8 players in our SANFL side. McHenry level garbage who will be lucky to ever play another senior game.

Yeah it’s starting to look really grim. Part 2 of the Macasey debacle. Where is the player we saw vs StK a couple of years ago.

 

[GreyCrow]

The more this SANFL season goes on the more it looks like we had an eye on winning that flag which is poor. There was an opportunity for us to go deeper in that draft, one where it looks like there is veins of gold through the second and third rounds

My worry is that after beating Gunelg there will be a balancing act at selection to continue to feed both sides

And end up robbing Peter to pay Paul

 

[WeeBlake]

I don't think there's much point trading players like Pedlar or Sholl under contract if we're just going to get a pick in the 40+ range which would likely net us an even worse player.

The time for us taking gambles on lots of speculative picks is over as the list moves into a contending phase

There is a point - managing our cap and rolling the dice.

1. Draftees are the cheapest players.
2. Every time you roll the dice you give yourself another chance to get a great player. At this point it looks very unlikely Pedlar or Sholl will be A graders.

Yes, trading for Peatling types is better, but that comes with more salary cap cost.

 

[NSolis]

Yeah it’s starting to look really grim. Part 2 of the Macasey debacle. Where is the player we saw vs StK a couple of years ago.

At least unlike McAsey the other players we were linked to if we didn't pick Pedlar haven't turned out to be all that great either. They've either played less games than Pedlar (Reef McInnes and Finlay Macrae) or left their drafting club to go home (Tanner Bruhn). Think we were destined not to get much from that pick.

If we didn't get McAsey we'd probably have picked Hayden Young who would be very nice to have.

 

[maxlilly]

The more this SANFL season goes on the more it looks like we had an eye on winning that flag which is poor. There was an opportunity for us to go deeper in that draft, one where it looks like there is veins of gold through the second and third rounds

Keeping Smith on the list was very poor list management
Even though he is racking them up in the sanfl

We just give too many average players contracts that go for too long

 

[hugecannon]

At least unlike McAsey the other players we were linked to if we didn't pick Pedlar haven't turned out to be all that great either. They've either played less games than Pedlar (Reef McInnes and Finlay Macrae) or left their drafting club to go home (Tanner Bruhn). Think we were destined not to get much from that pick.

If we didn't get McAsey we'd probably have picked Hayden Young who would be very nice to have.

Tom Powell is tracking pretty well at North.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Geelong and Gold Coast both made 10 list changes at the end of 2024.

How are they going?

Edit - and the Saints made 11. It’s not unheard of at all.

We aee not in rebuilding stage & would destroy our list as we wouldn't have the quality picks to bring in decent players.

Basically a crazy strategy to turnover 25% of out list in 1 year.