Norths list strategy. Genius or disaster?

[Dazb86]

On the surface delisting 11 players and shopping around your best forward (Brown) and potentially your best midfielder (Higgins) in a highly compromised draft year seems like a complete disaster.

But if list sizes get cut there will be a lot of delisted players that are upgrades on the current group of vanilla players they have turfed. If they manage to use their first rounders well and pick up a few gems from the delisted crop they will be in a much better position than the start of this year.

Have they timed this cleanout to perfection or are they going to spend a long time at the bottom of the ladder in the near future?

 

[00Stinger]

They are seriously ****ed

They have a coach who is out of ideas after 1 season

If they lose Higgins and move on Brown they literally have 1 good player and he is 33. Their list is the worst in the league by a considerable margin

They have already get low crowds and low interest in their games when they are going well. Imagine how bad it is going to be when they are terrible? This is why they never let their team rebuild properly

 

[The Prosecutor]

Disaster. Moving this many people on in the one period, all in a draft year where half the pool hasn't been able to play.

Not to mention the commercial realities.

 

[BlueandGoldforever]

Disaster that is going to linger for years to come.

 

[evo]

Its the right thing to do, but shouldve started it 3 years ago. I particularly like the Higgins move.

Why they were chasing franchise players Dusty and Kelly, and giving big contracts to journeymen like Polak when it was obvious they were on the way down still bemuses me.

 

[DemonDays]

I like it. Great move having a big clean out. They will likely be down the bottom for a while but its necessary pain as they load up through the draft.

 

[Yojimbo]

I hate to put the boots into anyone when they are down, but like my club we are not the big membership clubs that seem to dominate the media and therefore have to be very careful not to alienate the membership and loyal fans. In the AFL with it's eighteen teams trying to extract talent from a limited resource and a lot of that talent tied to various teams pre-draft it is difficult to change direction mid-stream. The Jared Polec thing this year to use an example makes no sense at all, you know or should know what he brings to the table. Jared Polec should finish between 5th and 10th in a clubs best and fairest i think he finished 7th last year that is what he does to expect more is not reasonable. I hope it works out for them because i know people who are North Melbourne fans and they love their club as much as anyone else loves theirs.

 

[Rowan18]

You do not trade a key forward (who kicked 60+ goals in past 3 seasons), for a second rounder when he has one bad season due to injury/personal issues. Absolute madness. Who is going to kick their goals?

This reminds me of the crap Melbourne did to start their decade out of finals. Tough times ahead.

 

[Fat Nyfe]

You don't trade out your best players. Remember Neil Balme saying exactly that after going to Richmond following their 2016 shocker and the media had already shipped off Reiwoldt, Rance and Cotchin. It's a pretty simple, key list management philosophy.

Not that North would be anywhere near a flag next year but burning it all down on the premise of being 'bold' or 'fresh' or insert any other buzzword you like, is just setting them up for long term pain. IMO.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

You do not trade a key forward (who kicked 60+ goals in past 3 seasons), for a second rounder when he has one bad season due to injury/personal issues. Absolute madness. Who is going to kick their goals?

This reminds me of the crap Melbourne did to start their decade out of finals. Tough times ahead.

Problem with brown is he's a one dimensional lead and mark forward.
Credit to the kangas for realising that it's progressively more difficult to clear the forward line due to very few players being able to kick 50 (meaning a half back or back pocket will no l9nger worry about following their opponent up the ground)

At times past yr and this yr (when he was playing) it was 5 on 1. It's not a good move going forward to have forwards like brown

 

[Outtatym]

Delistings were spot on and needed to be done.
Trading away your best forward makes zero sense, let alone like this. Clubs can now low ball for him as we 'dont want him'.
Have to wait to see what the return is.
I'm nervous.

 

[The 747]

Too early to tell, but I agree they need to make tough calls on that list. If they are making tough calls then Brown won't be there next time they challenge and he will be worth less next year than this year. Neither will Higgins and they came second last this year with both Brown and Higgins playing.

Just going along as they have this year and pretending they are a potential top 4 side if it rains cows (ala Essendon) is not the way they need to go IMO.

Draft is a bit of a crapshoot this year in that later picks may turn out well so it is a gamble but at least they are doing something.

 

[Farm Boy]

It’s a good move. North desperately need to rebuild. After you put Higgins on the table, there is not a single player that should be spared. Higgins is by far and away their best player. Once they lose him it’s curtains so they may as well put them all up for trade, draft some new young talent and start from scratch. They will be down the bottom for the next 5 years but eventually they will make another push in about 6-7 years time.


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[Dazb86]

With the rumour being that list sizes might be cut back to 38 surely there'd be talent to pick up that is considerably better than what they've let go.

I think they've made the right call.

 

[the harry]

If the players aren't up to afl standard, and they largely weren't, get them out.

People will judge on how they recruit and develop but getting rid of stuff standard players shouldn't be controversial

 

[Igloo]

I think they've made the right decision, but it's still going to be a disaster. They're in for some tough times.

 

[Footy Smarts]

They got ahead of themselves late in Scott's tenure and were left with a whole stack of middle aged list cloggers. Anderson and McDonald are their only good players between the age of 22 and 27 and they're hardly stars. They've got a handful of talented kids and it makes sense to back them in since clearly they're not going to win a flag from the Higgins, Zeibell, Cunnington, Goldstein group.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Why isn't Ziebell cut as well?

 

[B4Bear]

Why isn't Ziebell cut as well?

He still provides leadership around the club. Would prefer not to be a second Melbourne tyvm.

 

[kaiserchief13]

He still provides leadership around the club. Would prefer not to be a second Melbourne tyvm.

And Brown and Higgins don't?

 

[Obeanie1]

They are seriously f’ed

They have a coach who is out of ideas after 1 season

If they lose Higgins and move on Brown they literally have 1 good player and he is 33. Their list is the worst in the league by a considerable margin

They have already get low crowds and low interest in their games when they are going well. Imagine how bad it is going to be when they are terrible? This is why they never let their team rebuild properly

Until now.

North have made a very tough decision to bottom out and rebuild starting now. It takes more than one draft to rebuild.

They have IMO made the right choice.....finally. no crowds due to Covid this year and likely next is actually good timing for a rebuild.

Go hard this year and next. Only trade in quality under 24's. Get the best you can out of the drafts.

Rawlings proved he is a very good list manager at the Eagles.

Also see North gunning for either Clarkson or Simpson in two years time. Shaw is a 'rebuild coach's who won't cost huge $$$.

They made the hard call. Good luck to them.

 

[Sentinel]

It's a bold move that in time could well either look like a stroke of genius or a moment of lunacy.

Just hope that if they do end up stuck on the bottom of the ladder for a while as a result there won't be calls for priority picks/compensation. I don't expect North would go asking though because they're not the type of club to do so.

Reminds me a little of the Dogs in 2014, where we looked to be in huge strife after clearing out/losing 12 players including older guys like Griffen, Cooney, Higgins, Williams and Giansiracusa, plus the coach.

 

[B4Bear]

And Brown and Higgins don't?

Both of whom appear to be on the table; so no.

 

[Dogsman16]

This is the right move. Now North have to decide how hard to they go. Surely Tarrant and Goldstein are accessing options too. North need to keep up the "untouchable" talk around those 2 but also see if they want to move on as well.

Contending teams could offer them valuable 2nd rounders which they could use in tandem to push higher up the draft order.

Personally I'd keep Ziebull (his currency isn't worth much and probably worth more internally than externally) and Cunnington. Anyone 27 or older who's on a decent pay packet should be exploring offers.

Build around McDonald, Anderson, Simpkin, LDU, Larkey, Thomas, Zurhaar, Scott, McKay, Corr. I'm probably missing 2-3 others who could be included.

It's going to take 3 offseasons, to get back into top 8 contention.

 

[Milanista28]

So keep them and finish around 14th or go the hard reset and finish dead last?

It's risky but it's better than not doing anything and hoping for the best.