Prediction Michael Barlow

[dylan123]

If it's a similar team then others will move past us. Need an injection of speed and skill in the middle and across half forward just to stay at the same level as 2016.

Falling out of the 8 is a pretty big call for basically playing the same side as we did in 2016. Either way, I doubt we'll never know.

 

[cmndstab]

If it's a similar team then others will move past us. Need an injection of speed and skill in the middle and across half forward just to stay at the same level as 2016.

Obviously, if we can do that then we should do that as well.

Barlow would come cheap and can be brought into the club in addition to any other moves you suggest we make at this point.

The window to bring in established, experienced players is pretty much gone now. Barlow might not be a massive addition but he does give us a ready-made replacement for Lyons and, hell, probably a couple of years worth of a replacement on Thompson when he finally retires too.

He's not going to be the difference between winning a flag and not on his own, but he would be useful. I hope we take him (cheap, obviously).

And, hell, if he turns out to be a disappointment, what has it really cost us? The player we would have taken with our fourth rounder? Not a lot of use next year when we should be pushing for a premiership.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Obviously, if we can do that then we should do that as well.

Barlow would come cheap and can be brought into the club in addition to any other moves you suggest we make at this point.

The window to bring in established, experienced players is pretty much gone now. Barlow might not be a massive addition but he does give us a ready-made replacement for Lyons and, hell, probably a couple of years worth of a replacement on Thompson when he finally retires too.

He's not going to be the difference between winning a flag and not on his own, but he would be useful. I hope we take him (cheap, obviously).

And, hell, if he turns out to be a disappointment, what has it really cost us? The player we would have taken with our fourth rounder? Not a lot of use next year when we should be pushing for a premiership.

He's slow and a poor kick

He is exactly the opposite of what we need to add to our team. There wouldn't be a player type in the league we need less

What it costs us is matches for players like Menzel, Milera, Knight or whoever. It's not that he's keeping pick 78 off the list that is the problem. It's that he's keeping players we need now and in the future off the park. Every Adelaide fan knows in their heart that Barlow, if recruited, will not be depth. Thompson will not be depth. They'll put in Mackay-esque preseasons and be front and centre.

 

[cmndstab]

I'm not convinced it's as simple as "he's slow and a poor kick, therefore he's useless".

We need a player who can win the ball in the centre of the ground. In the past we've relied extremely heavily on Thompson and Dangerfield. Now Danger is gone and Thompson probably should be as well. Who's going to do it in 2017? I guess we'll ask CEY to come in and do it? Or hope that Douglas gets back into form? We can't leave it all to Sloane, and besides, he's better in a role that allows him to go a bit more outside anyway.

It's all well and good to say we need to play guys like Menzel, Milera, Knight etc, and I agree, we do. But those guys aren't going to be winning the ball in tight. They're the guys who receive it from players like Barlow.

I think he would be quite valuable. I do agree that if we do recruit him, it won't be as depth.


Obviously if we could have brought in a player who could win the inside ball and use it as well, that would have been great. But we didn't. So we have to make do with what's still available.

 

[Elite Crow]

I'm not convinced it's as simple as "he's slow and a poor kick, therefore he's useless".

We need a player who can win the ball in the centre of the ground. In the past we've relied extremely heavily on Thompson and Dangerfield. Now Danger is gone and Thompson probably should be as well. Who's going to do it in 2017? I guess we'll ask CEY to come in and do it? Or hope that Douglas gets back into form? We can't leave it all to Sloane, and besides, he's better in a role that allows him to go a bit more outside anyway.

It's all well and good to say we need to play guys like Menzel, Milera, Knight etc, and I agree, we do. But those guys aren't going to be winning the ball in tight. They're the guys who receive it from players like Barlow.

I think he would be quite valuable. I do agree that if we do recruit him, it won't be as depth.


Obviously if we could have brought in a player who could win the inside ball and use it as well, that would have been great. But we didn't. So we have to make do with what's still available.

That's a really odd post, you've completely ignored the role the Crouch boys play. They are the ones to win the ball in tight. They also handball a lot and aren't great kicks, much like Barlow. Adding another similar player is madness.

Wigg will be in his third year and has played well in the SANFL. He can kick. He should be played ahead of Barlow, if he doesn't cut it we cut him rather than end up with another Grigg or CEY.

 

[Thetrader15]

I'm not convinced it's as simple as "he's slow and a poor kick, therefore he's useless".

We need a player who can win the ball in the centre of the ground. In the past we've relied extremely heavily on Thompson and Dangerfield. Now Danger is gone and Thompson probably should be as well. Who's going to do it in 2017? I guess we'll ask CEY to come in and do it? Or hope that Douglas gets back into form? We can't leave it all to Sloane, and besides, he's better in a role that allows him to go a bit more outside anyway.

It's all well and good to say we need to play guys like Menzel, Milera, Knight etc, and I agree, we do. But those guys aren't going to be winning the ball in tight. They're the guys who receive it from players like Barlow.

I think he would be quite valuable. I do agree that if we do recruit him, it won't be as depth.


Obviously if we could have brought in a player who could win the inside ball and use it as well, that would have been great. But we didn't. So we have to make do with what's still available.

Is it tomorrow that we find out we have missed out on Barlow or Tuesday? I can see him at the Swans or Geelong

 

[dylan123]

That's a really odd post, you've completely ignored the role the Crouch boys play. They are the ones to win the ball in tight. They also handball a lot and aren't great kicks, much like Barlow. Adding another similar player is madness.

Wigg will be in his third year and has played well in the SANFL. He can kick. He should be played ahead of Barlow, if he doesn't cut it we cut him rather than end up with another Grigg or CEY.

Are the Crouch brothers enough? They weren't this season with Lyons and Thompson in the side, one of whom is gone and another we want to be moved on.

Obviously they're still improving and Brad has plenty of upside but we're banking on him reaching that potential and staying on the field.

No issues/concerns with how small our midfield is looking, especially if we bring in someone like Wigg who is sub 180cm?

 

[dylan123]

Is it tomorrow that we find out we have missed out on Barlow or Tuesday? I can see him at the Swans or Geelong

There is like a 3 week period where it could happen, so it doesn't have to happen straight away (I think it might be Tuesday that it opens but not 100% certain off the top of my head).

 

[Bicks]

Is it tomorrow that we find out we have missed out on Barlow or Tuesday? I can see him at the Swans or Geelong

Tuesday November 1 - AFL delisted player free agency period (1) begins

Tuesday November 8 - AFL delisted player free agency period (1) closes

Thursday November 10 - AFL delisted player free agency period (2) begins

Friday November 18 - AFL delisted player free agency period (2) closes

 

[Thetrader15]

Tuesday November 1 - AFL delisted player free agency period (1) begins

Tuesday November 8 - AFL delisted player free agency period (1) closes

Thursday November 10 - AFL delisted player free agency period (2) begins

Friday November 18 - AFL delisted player free agency period (2) closes

Why so many different dates...makes no sense to me other than attention seeking by the afl

 

[Elite Crow]

Are the Crouch brothers enough? They weren't this season with Lyons and Thompson in the side, one of whom is gone and another we want to be moved on.

Obviously they're still improving and Brad has plenty of upside but we're banking on him reaching that potential and staying on the field.

No issues/concerns with how small our midfield is looking, especially if we bring in someone like Wigg who is sub 180cm?

They are enough of the same type, handballing average kick mids. In Matts case, not overly quick.

Our midfield with Barlow isn't all of a sudden going to compete with the best midfields in the comp. We need to complement Sloane and the Crouch boys with inside runners who can kick. On top of Wigg, I would give a year of midfield to Hampton, with CEY, Milera, Atkins and Smith all to get runs through the middle.

Our dynamic changes completely and in 2018 our midfield will be better for it.

 

[70lethal]

The bulldogs were bundled out of 1st week of finals in 2015.
They recruited Suckling and their 1st draft pick was 25.
Who would of thought that would propel them to a premiership.

If the crows can get a 28 y.o. big bodied mid that has average 25 possesions per game and played well in finals as a dfa is a gift.

They have recruited outside speed which was long overdue. Agree those guys need to get a go but not as inside mids. Who wants to see Cameron, Menzel, Wigg and Milera up against Kennedy, Parker, Hannebery and Jack if Crouch and Sloane go down.

The loss of Dangerfield and Thompson slowing down means the biggest need is strong bodied inside mids. Cey is the only one really in this category.

To get 2 this year, one from dfa and one from pick 13 would be a good result to fill the gap.

Dunkley was WB pick 25 and he had a huge year and a significant impact so heres hoping pick 13 can.

Barlow may not be perfect but hes far from the hack many describe him as.
To say we cant win the flag if we get Barlow is a little over dramatic.

 

[Elite Crow]

The bulldogs were bundled out of 1st week of finals in 2015.
They recruited Suckling and their 1st draft pick was 25.
Who would of thought that would propel them to a premiership.

If the crows can get a 28 y.o. big bodied mid that has average 25 possesions per game and played well in finals as a dfa is a gift.

They have recruited outside speed which was long overdue. Agree those guys need to get a go but not as inside mids. Who wants to see Cameron, Menzel, Wigg and Milera up against Kennedy, Parker, Hannebery and Jack if Crouch and Sloane go down.

The loss of Dangerfield and Thompson slowing down means the biggest need is strong bodied inside mids. Cey is the only one really in this category.

To get 2 this year, one from dfa and one from pick 13 would be a good result to fill the gap.

Dunkley was WB pick 25 and he had a huge year and a significant impact so heres hoping pick 13 can.

Barlow may not be perfect but hes far from the hack many describe him as.
To say we cant win the flag if we get Barlow is a little over dramatic.

Suckling and pick 25 didn't propel them to a premiership, Suckling wasn't picked for the key finals.

What propelled them was the development of their running creative midfielders.

You want a bigger body in there? Hampton.

3 handballing average kicking mids, 2 of which would be slow is the last thing we need and wont get us near the best midfields, so yeah, we won't suddenly go from 6th to premiers with that type of midfield.

 

[70lethal]

Suckling and pick 25 didn't propel them to a premiership, Suckling wasn't picked for the key finals.

What propelled them was the development of their running creative midfielders.

You want a bigger body in there? Hampton.

3 handballing average kicking mids, 2 of which would be slow is the last thing we need and wont get us near the best midfields, so yeah, we won't suddenly go from 6th to premiers with that type of midfield.

Last round bye helped more than anything.
Just because you recruit someone doesnt mean they have to play everyweek.
WHen Johansen, Murphy, Adams etc went down Im sure they were happy they had suckling. Sure they would have been hoping for more from him.

Having depth does amazing things. We have little in this area.

 

[cmndstab]

That's a really odd post, you've completely ignored the role the Crouch boys play. They are the ones to win the ball in tight. They also handball a lot and aren't great kicks, much like Barlow. Adding another similar player is madness.

Wigg will be in his third year and has played well in the SANFL. He can kick. He should be played ahead of Barlow, if he doesn't cut it we cut him rather than end up with another Grigg or CEY.

The Crouches should have been listed in my post, you're right. Matt at least, he's a pure inside ballwinner. Brad falls into the same category as Sloane for me in that he certainly can win plenty of inside ball but he's got enough class that he should be allowed to play inside/outside. Bit of a waste using him as a pure inside middy.

So, let's assume Thompson retires next year (as he should). We have Matt Crouch and, maybe, CEY able to play this role, as well as a couple of players in Sloane and Brad Crouch that could fill the gap rather than playing in a better position. Is that really too many players of one type?

 

[Golumless]

On one side of the argument, Barlow is that big bodied defensively oriented midfielder our midfield sorely lacks. More so than good kicks and pace. Our defensive work rate from midfield is pretty ordinary with Sloane being the only one that goes above and beyond in that regard. M Crouch is ordinary at it, B Crouch is ordinary at it and the less said about Thompson the better in this regard.

Also the fact we have no players that pinch hit with a run with role well is also quite concerning. Barlow gives us both. He's nothing special but an upgrade on Thompson now, in a position where we have just about no one coming through yet.

Wigg is a good kick, but he's another small and short midfielder. Doedee is raw, Greenwood we're all hopeful on but who knows. That's a lot of question marks, self inflicted of course, which is our way.

The other side of the argument really boils down to "i don't trust Adelaide to make the hard calls" and historically you have a point. A damn good point as it's something we've failed in years. We probably won't have an answer for this until round 1 next year whether it's the same same or shit's changed.

All in all, i'm all for getting Barlow providing we get someone who looks to be a gun inside midfielder in the draft, and he replaces Thompson.

 

[Sanders]

Wouldn't it be a rather similar team to our 2016 team, Lyons comes out and Barlow comes in?

Obviously the ideal scenario would have Thompson coming out as well but given it's Adelaide, I'm fully expecting him to play come round 1.

Our 2016 team had almost no injuries and a game plan that caught people on the hop

Neither is likely to be true in 2017. A fair few teams around us have improved too

We'll do very well to repeat our 2016 finish

Barlow makes a bit better but not good enough imo, and will therefore just be blocking someone who might be good enough

We made our bed I'd hate for us to not even lie in it

 

[Alwaysacrow]

For me it gets down to will Barlow be more useful than the likes of Grigg or Henderson Ie. Midfield players we would be looking to delist to make room for Barlow.

Good point. The 2 players you mentioned are not inside mids so based on that the answer to the Barlow question would be yes. On a side note it's been suggested that Barlow is too slow for us to bother with but I'd put $20 him to beat Grigg over 20 mts.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Grigg didn't play a game in 2016. His speed didn't impact our team at all.

Douglas is a given. Thompson is a given.

*If* we'd delisted Thompson then getting Barlow would make some sense.

As it is it's just another sign that we don't really trust our younger players.

 

[Croweater23]

Suckling and pick 25 didn't propel them to a premiership, Suckling wasn't picked for the key finals.

What propelled them was the development of their running creative midfielders.

You want a bigger body in there? Hampton.

3 handballing average kicking mids, 2 of which would be slow is the last thing we need and wont get us near the best midfields, so yeah, we won't suddenly go from 6th to premiers with that type of midfield.

You're asking a lot. Hampton will be 24 when the season starts. He has played 50 odd games, the majority of which were in 2012/2013 in a uniquely young team.

In the past he has been criticised for his commitment and fitness. He has never played as a mid.

There'a very little chance Hampton has a bigger impact than Barlow next year.

 

[Danger in Texas]

You're asking a lot. Hampton will be 24 when the season starts. He has played 50 odd games, the majority of which were in 2012/2013 in a uniquely young team.

In the past he has been criticised for his commitment and fitness. He has never played as a mid.

There'a very little chance Hampton has a bigger impact than Barlow next year.

Agree. Hampton a very outside player too, we need bigger bodies in the guts more than anything.

I'm not too optimistic about Hampton's chances. Reckon Seedsman will always be a better option.

 

[lunacy]

He's slow and a poor kick

He is exactly the opposite of what we need to add to our team. There wouldn't be a player type in the league we need less

What it costs us is matches for players like Menzel, Milera, Knight or whoever. It's not that he's keeping pick 78 off the list that is the problem. It's that he's keeping players we need now and in the future off the park. Every Adelaide fan knows in their heart that Barlow, if recruited, will not be depth. Thompson will not be depth. They'll put in Mackay-esque preseasons and be front and centre.

He's not quick but he is not as slow as Thompson/Grigg/M.Crouch/Lyons.
Did you watch the footage of him from a few pages back. He can definitely spread from a stoppage quicker than those listed above.

 

[Eagleboy2011]

Good point. The 2 players you mentioned are not inside mids so based on that the answer to the Barlow question would be yes. On a side note it's been suggested that Barlow is too slow for us to bother with but I'd put $20 him to beat Grigg over 20 mts.

Barlow is 4 1/2 years younger than Thommo.

 

[Mismatched]

Grigg didn't play a game in 2016. His speed didn't impact our team at all.

Douglas is a given. Thompson is a given.

*If* we'd delisted Thompson then getting Barlow would make some sense.

As it is it's just another sign that we don't really trust our younger players.

I guess my interest in Barlow is based on Thompson playing limited game time next year and the net ins/outs would be Thommo and Lyons out, for Barlow plus a Milera/Hampton. I'd love to be able to give the spot to Douglas, given his best is borderline A-Grade, trouble is he was putrid in the midfield early last year, hence we had to hide him on the HFF.

 

[Elite Crow]

You're asking a lot. Hampton will be 24 when the season starts. He has played 50 odd games, the majority of which were in 2012/2013 in a uniquely young team.

In the past he has been criticised for his commitment and fitness. He has never played as a mid.

There'a very little chance Hampton has a bigger impact than Barlow next year.

Perhaps, but give him a year what about 2018 and beyond?

I think people have to realise we are not winning the flag with our midfield even if we add Barlow. It's nowhere good enough, we need organic growth to have a decent tilt at 2018.