Our future engine room.

[year of the cat]

Although the jury is well and truly out for most of these guys if Wells has struck gold again we may be able to replace one of the all time great midfields with a more than handy lineup in its own right within only a few short years:

From: Ablett, Ling, Corey, Bartel, Selwood, Enright, Chapman, Kelly, Varcoe, Wojcinski, Byrnes


To: Bartel, Kelly, Selwood, Varcoe, Menzel, Duncan, Christensen, T.Hunt, Smedts, Guthrie, Horlin-Smith, Schroder

As I say the jury is out on probably up to 8 of the "To"'s but on numbers alone we are not badly off at all.

Add to that a few young KP's in Hawkins, Brown and Taylor and a couple of ruckmen in Simpson and Vardy and despite winning 2 flags and competing in finals over 6 of the last 7 years we have still been able to bring young talent into this club. Pretty amazing list management and a credit to Wells and co. I would be surprised if we dropped out of the 8 for too many years post the Scarlett, Ottens era.

 

[thejester]

No Hogan mate?

Your point is well made, we've really re-created our midfield depth in the last few drafts. Not all of these guys are going to make it but there's enough depth and versatility within the group of prospects that the future is looking bright. You could also add Cowan and Weston, they've shown just as much as some of those listed above.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

It's a good list...some are punts (GHS) and some are more long term (Cowan, Bundy) and some may not make it at all, but there's some very good solid guys.

With dudes like Duncan, Menzel and now Smedts, Wells has gone for versatility, which when you think we're going to retire 15 or so blokes within the next few seasons, is very helpful because it gives the coach options as to how he shuffles the chess pieces to cover that, and gives Wells positional flexibility as to who he can draft from here. For example. Duncan play off a HFF next year, and then move to the wing if Corey hangs them up, Menzel can go back if we need the kicking skills, and then go forward in future years, once Chappy etc leave the building, so it's all smart. All the guys we've focused on use the footy well, which is a no brainer given the advent of presses etc. We also have a number of tall mids which is important for the same reason.

My only issue is that we still lack speed, not in the sense that the side is slow, but we lack enough blokes who are dedicated to run and carry (read, not solely outside players, but those designated to break the lines for us). When you consider that most AFL lists have up to 18 or 20 guys now who can play midfield (they're not all pure midfielders, but most lists have that many guys that can play in there, such as we do with Enright from the back, even Mackie etc) it's reasonable to say you should have 7-8 guys minimum who give you some speed and carry.

Unfortunately we only have 4, Varcoe, Motlop, THunt and Weston (I have excluded Byrnes from this talk as he's a small forward and 26 and Wojo b/c he's 30 so neither are part of our 'future'). (although I suppose I should make Bundy the 5th maybe or Rizzo will shoot me) Weston is supposedly going to become a key defender (this I doubt, but he will become a defender), THunt is great, but will that be back or middle?, Motlop has incredibly dodgy shoulders and Varcs ain't far behind (he's a gun, but shoulder injuries are a worry vis a vis him becoming a mid that's all. So when you look at it numerically and otherwise, we do need to bolster this area. That's not to say we drafted wrongly this time...all 4 guys we took are probably worthy best available selections and will be very good players...but it is to say that if over the next 3 drafts (particularly '12 when we will have 2 X rnd 1 picks again) we don't focus on adding speed to the midfield, then I'm an idiot and I understand nothing whatsoever about list management.

That said, given the picks we've had to work with over the last few years, Wells is doing very well to get us what he is.

 

[TheHonestyPolicy]

I agree with the need for more speed PO, but I think Smedts, Guthrie and even Duncan and Menzel, will be very competitive for us given time. Maybe our definition of speed is different however?

When Thompson came in 2000 the major rebuild started then. This time with Scott its clear to see the larger midfield rebuild has been underway for 2 drafts or more already, the list is looking healthy. I think the back bone of any midfield are guys who can win the contested footy and are versatile enough to play in a number of positions. You can always draft for more speed once that is in place.