Strategy New Direction

[Pavlovs Cat]

Dodgy English TV show hosted by Jimmy Saville.

 

[Partridge]

Correct.
He was offered a contract that stipulated time in the VFL, he refused.
Now the real question is did the club offer that contract knowing Chappy would refuse?
Regardless he was a shattered man at the B&F but held himself well and his speech was typical Chappy, straight down the line honest and I can 100% say I never felt any animosity from him towards the club.
He was disappointed he is leaving but understands why, that's important I think.
The club has made the correct decision absolutely no doubt.
Chappy out, Bartel goes into the forwardline and we play Thurlow down back for 20 games.
The teams mentioned above are going to be very very good teams so long as we can get games into the kids!
What would you prefer next year, 20 games from Chapman in his last year or 20 games into Kersten to start his career?

There's no choice at all there. And the same goes for Smedts or Murdoch or Horlin-Smith or Brown or Thurlow.

 

[Partridge]

Partridge

that team is what you want to happen not will happen. i dont think kelly and longeron will be dropped.

I agree. But it's still what I think should happen.

 

[rocker_oz33]

Hate the title sounds to much like one direction.

 

[GeelongFTW]

To the forward line yes. We shouldn't expect 40 goals and for him to be the key to our side though. For the good of the team Bartel should be relied upon less and less. It's Motlop, Duncan, Christensen, Guthrie et al we should be looking to now.

a few bog's would be nice though!

 

[candiehappy]

To the forward line yes. We shouldn't expect 40 goals and for him to be the key to our side though. For the good of the team Bartel should be relied upon less and less. It's Motlop, Duncan, Christensen, Guthrie et al we should be looking to now.

maybe JB could keep that spot warm for Menzel's return? Would be a great baton change!

 

[rocker_oz33]

There might be some draftees that can come and play straight away not saying there going to be selwoods or anything.But some guys that can put pressure on billie,GHS,shredder and thurlows of this world so these kids dont think they will straight in the main team.

 

[GeelongFTW]

maybe JB could keep that spot warm for Menzel's return? Would be a great baton change!

i thought he would be playing afl consistently in 2015?

 

[Jon Douglas]

I'll have a go*:

B: Guthrie - Taylor - Enright
HB: Mackie - Rivers - Brown
C: Duncan - Horlin-Smith - Christensen
HF: Motlop - Kersten - Stokes
F: Bartel - Hawkins - Murdoch
R: Simpson - Johnson - Selwood
I/C: Vardy - Caddy - Smedts - T.Hunt

That still looks like a pretty good team to me.

* - On the assumption that Varcoe is traded and West won't get selected.

You and I agree reasonably often on GFC matters.

If I agree no Varcoe and West (who would be traded if they could get something decent for them but really do not think they might be able to) then I think Rivers is too short for CHB and Lonners will stay in for one more year.

Brown I think will stay as no one else will trade for him and he has shown enough form to warrant staying on the list (and is contracted). But is only 50/50 to become a regular senior player. Just seems to be missing something - and I suspect it is hardness. Maybe a tad slow for being the third tall backman as well. I would prefer to see him tried as a forward - he looks far more a natural forward than backman. With Pods gone and Kersten not big enough a KPF he is competing against Walker and maybe as good a bet as him. He will need a few more kgs to hold down that position IMO.

As I have written not sure Kersten can be a genuine CHF - at 190 cms he may struggle there.

Although the club likes THunt I am not convinced just yet he is best 22. Could be as the early votes he got in the B&F indicated but like Varcoe seems too hot and cold. It may depend on how Thurlow plays next season as he could play HBF or wing and replace THunt if good enough. Just maybe some BS (Billie Smedts) may apply some pressure on THunt's position in this team. Hard to know with Billie.

Although a reasonably good looking side on paper not sure it will be good enough for a top 4 finish.

 

[manboob]

As I have written not sure Kersten can be a genuine CHF - at 190 cms he may struggle there.

Pav does OK at 192.

I think sometimes (perhaps owing to Freo's success) there is too much emphasis on body size/getting ripping athletes rather than AFL footballers. That experiment was in vogue 5-10 years ago and seemed to die out without a whimper.

Jimmy Bartel is the perfect example: as a physical specimen he's as average as the day is long - but as a footballer: OH BOY WOWEE - HUMAN MEATBALL SUB-SANDWICH FACTORY!

 

[dazbroncos]

Pav does OK at 192.

I think sometimes (perhaps owing to Freo's success) there is too much emphasis on body size/getting ripping athletes rather than AFL footballers. That experiment was in vogue 5-10 years ago and seemed to die out without a whimper.

Jimmy Bartel is the perfect example: as a physical specimen he's as average as the day is long - but as a footballer: OY BOY WOWEE - HUMAN MEATBALL SUB FACTORY!

Dunstall was serviceable at 190 too....

GO Catters

 

[manboob]

Dunstall was serviceable at 190 too....

GO Catters

I'm going to have to call you out on that one Daz. In his 269 games he could only managed 1254 goals...

 

[GeelongFTW]

I'm going to have to call you out on that one Daz. In his 269 games he could only managed 1254 goals...

pathetic.

 

[dazbroncos]

So it has happened. Still a bit blue about this. Chappy was, is and will a champion of the GFC and regardless of where he grabs a cheque from next year he will always be one of us.

It is still very hard and sad to see such a player go somewhere else. I felt mediation was possible regarding playing time but alas no.

I see the club perspective too - however with Pods, J Hunt, Smiithy ( tbc) and Chap now all gone that is 850 odd games lost in experience. No matter how the new legs run faster and longer, you can't buy that experience.

I also feel bad for whomever gets Chappys # and spot. His number just because, well it was Chappy's number...
The harder part will be for the small forward/MF that plays his role. At least after GAJ left there was no reasonable expectation that he could be replaced. Now, the club has effectively said we can cover your loss. And that guy is the one I feel sorry for as Chap's impact on a game was often clearly evident and influential in the extreme. It will hard for that to be covered.

Finally, we have a good bit of SC cleared and list spots to fill. Currently 4 spots - presumably 2 ND and 2 Rookie upgrades.

Even the mention of getting a heater to warm the room makes me gag right now. Im not even considering going further.

GO Catters

 

[dazbroncos]

I'm going to have to call you out on that one Daz. In his 269 games he could only managed 1254 goals...

hack....

GO Catters

 

[Partridge]

I also feel bad for whomever gets Chappys # and spot. His number just because, well it was Chappy's number...
The harder part will be for the small forward/MF that plays his role. At least after GAJ left there was no reasonable expectation that he could be replaced. Now, the club has effectively said we can cover your loss. And that guy is the one I feel sorry for as Chap's impact on a game was often clearly evident and influential in the extreme. It will hard for that to be covered.

Finally, we have a good bit of SC cleared and list spots to fill. Currently 4 spots - presumably 2 ND and 2 Rookie upgrades.

Yeah, but we do need to move on. Your mentioning of Ablett is a perfect example. We may never get a midfielder quite that good for a while (if ever), but we picked a kid in the 2010 draft, gave him #29, and last I looked he seems to be going ok at the moment.

 

[Claude Balls]

Seems like beating both grand finalists and being a goal away from a grand final didn't mean much to the club.

Ridiculous.

We won't know if it was ridiculous until some years into the future. Chris Scott said that they need to be careful of not overrating the list, on account of being a kick away from the GF. History shows many examples of clubs doing exactly that, and paying for it afterwards.

At the very least, letting players over 30 go, most of whom are clearly well past their best, is not a fundamentally ridiculous thing to do.

 

[manboob]

We won't know if it was ridiculous until some years into the future. Chris Scott said that they need to be careful of not overrating the list, on account of being a kick away from the GF. History shows many examples of clubs doing exactly that, and paying for it afterwards.

At the very least, letting players over 30 go, most of whom are clearly well past their best, is not a fundamentally ridiculous thing to do.

It's a very difficult thing to ascertain - we were ravaged by the Jail Birds in the 2010 prelim and then came out and destroyed them 3 times the next year.

 

[manboob]

Jimmy'll fix it! Um.....maybe not!

Haha outrageous!

 

[Jon Douglas]

Dunstall was serviceable at 190 too....

GO Catters

Yeah but Dunstall was a leading FF not a CHF. If Kersten played that role it would mean Hawkins would need play CHF - or more the PODs or Mooney role.

 

[manboob]

Yeah but Dunstall was a leading FF not a CHF. If Kersten played that role it would mean Hawkins would need play CHF - or more the PODs or Mooney role.

I think that Vardy and Walker would be mobile enough for that role - from what I've seen of Kersten he's quite happy to get on his bike... oh and he loves to smash a pack. Oh and he can go BANG FROM 50 and send the air conveyance though the big sticks. I think I'm in love.

 

[rocker_oz33]

I think that Vardy and Walker would be mobile enough for that role - from what I've seen of Kersten he's quite happy to get on his bike... oh and he loves to smash a pack. Oh and he can go BANG FROM 50 and send the air conveyance though the big sticks. I think I'm in love.

Yuup hes a thumping kick lol at air conveyance have not heard that saying in donks.Hes a strong unit he hawkins and vardy add something differnt to the forward line.

 

[Jon Douglas]

I think Kersten, if he plays (was absolutely gutted by his performance in VFL GF), will play as the third KPF - not as true CHF or FF.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

We finished the year with 13 players that were 29 years old and over. Most of who played extended periods in our best 22.

If we didn't start making changes soon, it would have hurt us significantly in the long term, as much as you like to HOPE that it would have benefited us in the short term. There is no guarantee 2014 will be an improvement on our 2013. However, if we make changes now we are guaranteed to be a better team in 2-3 years than we would be if we don't.

That's it in a nutshell Catgirl
Many of our veterans have been superstars in an era which has yielded 3 flags since 07 and got us damn close in 2013.
We have understandably held onto these champions.
However the list is now hopelessly skewed with guys under 22 , over 28 and not much quality in between.
We need to transition out the older guys respectfully and at the right time , get games into the kids and trade selectively for guys in the 23 - 26 YO bracket in order to get the list balanced again.
2014 will be tough but you would hope we'll still be top 8 , build from that from 2015 onwards.

 

[manboob]

This will be him and Bruce next year.