Opinion Non-Crows AFL 10

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Surely Suns are a decent chance against Geelong in Darwin next week? No Cameron and Suns have won 5 straight in Darwin
I still don't trust them. They fold when any pressure is applied, and they played a basket case tonight.
 

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If they’re ever going to get a bit scalp this year, this is the game. Conditions that suit them against a team not in their best form and without best player.

And in Darwin the conditions won’t suit the older Geelong side. The game last night was played at 75-80% humidity. Now just on that, the best time to play footy up there is in June-July. In early May you still have the transition from wet season to dry season (you have the humidity without the rain).

This is like us last year, the Suns stay up there and acclimatise whilst Geelong will come out of blocks then bang, conditions hit them and Suns gradually reel them back in.

And the bonus, Suns now have Hardwick as coach not Dew.
 
It's a matter of what, not if.
Hope the AFL doesn't forget that they actually already gave North their priority picks for this year, last year. They traded them just in case they got better and had them taken away.

Looks like they basically ended up with Dylan Stephens plus a pinch of other pick exchange, and a 2023 pick which they used on Riley Hardemann.


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It's too hard for teams to rebuild now. The talent is stretched further with 18 (soon to be 19+) teams, and the draft has been compromised with the northern clubs now getting much of the best young talent. Free agency only exacerbates things.
Lots of reasons why rebuilding is incredibly difficult.

Rebuilding through the draft is borderline impossible. You have a squad of 42 you're trying to improve, and the difference between the draft hand of the worst team and the premier is one good pick.

Then the draft itself is completely screwed by NGAs, Northern Academies and Father Sons. It's nuts.
 
Hope the AFL doesn't forget that they actually already gave North their priority picks for this year, last year. They traded them just in case they got better and had them taken away.

Looks like they basically ended up with Dylan Stephens plus a pinch of other pick exchange, and a 2023 pick which they used on Riley Hardemann.


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No, that was last year's package. It just included assets in this year's draft. They should have their list expanded and get the first few picks in the MSD. Then the AFL pay for 2 or 3 extra development coaches outside the soft cap. I wouldn't mind if they got 3 or 4 picks in the second round, after the non-finalists, that they must use to trade for 50+ game players. No rolling together, 3 or 4 players with some experience to sit in your expanded list.
 
Lots of reasons why rebuilding is incredibly difficult.

Rebuilding through the draft is borderline impossible. You have a squad of 42 you're trying to improve, and the difference between the draft hand of the worst team and the premier is one good pick.

Then the draft itself is completely screwed by NGAs, Northern Academies and Father Sons. It's nuts.

I never thought of it like that! Puts even more pressure on the no.1 pick when you think about it.
 
Lots of reasons why rebuilding is incredibly difficult.

Rebuilding through the draft is borderline impossible. You have a squad of 42 you're trying to improve, and the difference between the draft hand of the worst team and the premier is one good pick.

Then the draft itself is completely screwed by NGAs, Northern Academies and Father Sons. It's nuts.
Would be a worthwhile PHD trying to determine what was the difference for teams like Carlton and Melbourne who went through a few rebuild cycles before climbing back up and why the Kangas, Suns currently seem unable to break it.
 

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Would be a worthwhile PHD trying to determine what was the difference for teams like Carlton and Melbourne who went through a few rebuild cycles before climbing back up and why the Kangas, Suns currently seem unable to break it.
I guess Carlton and Melbourne had to do it for more than a decade - so maybe North Melbourne are going exactly as we should expect?
 
I guess Carlton and Melbourne had to do it for more than a decade - so maybe North Melbourne are going exactly as we should expect?
But I don’t think it’s true that over the course of a decade it sorts itself out. Or maybe it is?

I think there’s a trigger. It might be that you get the midfield right, but then that’s what Kangas are trying to do but are failing. Brisbane brought in Hodge for experience. Maybe that’s it. It can’t be bring in an experienced coach. I think there’s too many fails there - Clarko, Malthouse at Carlton, wait and see on Hardwick.

For any of those teams at the bottom you’d want to carefully review those teams that broke the cycle and what are the common elements, and what didn’t work.
 
Would be a worthwhile PHD trying to determine what was the difference for teams like Carlton and Melbourne who went through a few rebuild cycles before climbing back up and why the Kangas, Suns currently seem unable to break it.

Need a clairvoyant, not a researcher. North might be nailing it as we speak and have an Essendon 2000 season in 2026.
 
Yeah, when the difference is -

WOODEN SPOONER - 1, 19, 37, 55
PREMIER - 18, 36, 54

I'm not sure how you get much better?
And if you give the wooden spooners a bunch of priority picks, then you hurt the other sides who are also trying to rebuild.
 
Lots of reasons why rebuilding is incredibly difficult.

Rebuilding through the draft is borderline impossible. You have a squad of 42 you're trying to improve, and the difference between the draft hand of the worst team and the premier is one good pick.

Then the draft itself is completely screwed by NGAs, Northern Academies and Father Sons. It's nuts.
The NFL has 32 teams and 53 man rosters and yet teams can rebuild.

Our problem is that the distance between minimum and maximum cap spend is too small, and there are too many restrictions on free agency.

Bad teams simply do not have enough extra money to lure big name players, and there is almost no player movement. Infact, with basically no real financial difference between offers, the movement is towards already good teams

Raise the roof higher than the floor and create a real pull factor.
 
Lots of reasons why rebuilding is incredibly difficult.

Rebuilding through the draft is borderline impossible. You have a squad of 42 you're trying to improve, and the difference between the draft hand of the worst team and the premier is one good pick.

Then the draft itself is completely screwed by NGAs, Northern Academies and Father Sons. It's nuts.
Again - Sam Darcy, JUH. Also - Ashcroft x2.

I don't feel sorry for Richmond or the Hawks, but imagine if they got a couple of lottery wins like that. They make a huge difference.
 
The NFL has 32 teams and 53 man rosters and yet teams can rebuild.

Our problem is that the distance between minimum and maximum cap spend is too small, and there are too many restrictions on free agency.

Bad teams simply do not have enough extra money to lure big name players, and there is almost no player movement. Infact, with basically no real financial difference between offers, the movement is towards already good teams

Raise the roof higher than the floor and create a real pull factor.
Free agency at the moment is an anti-equalisation measure. The way our league is set up, with premierships waaaay above all other achievements, it will always be that way. Giving persistently poor teams a lot of extra cap space might help offset that a bit I guess.
 
I think rebuilding is mostly down to the quality of decision making. Clubs that consistently make poor decisions like North Melbourne will do so even if they had more money and more picks.

For example, the decision to hire David Noble as head coach who had little to no coaching experience is an unforced error and it doesn't matter how many free agents they have access to if they make that sort of major decision

Also, the choice to ignore certain types of player at the draft (eg choosing Phillips over McDonald) has had major ramifications for the quality of their list. Giving them more picks to fix picks they stuffed up isn't the solution, it's making better choices with the resources they have.
 

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