Opinion our midfield is thin and may take 2 years to solve

Remove this Banner Ad

wild side said:
Problem is we always target m/fielders in the draft, and they leave.
Never gets us in front, and we always have KPF's that aren't top shelf.
Hopefully Amiss is
Click to expand...
oh man

now all i can think about it is freo ignoring forwards in the draft and only selecting midfielders. i kinda want a functioning forward line as well. what do I choose.

mistake decision GIF
 
poshman said:
It is possible our best option will be someone performing very well at the level below, who is tough and just needs an opportunity. It doesn't always work out, but they are definitely there to be found.
Click to expand...

Hawthorn found one in Jai Newcombe...we need the next Michael Barlow
 
dropbear101 said:
oh man

now all i can think about it is freo ignoring forwards in the draft and only selecting midfielders. i kinda want a functioning forward line as well. what do I choose.

mistake decision GIF
Click to expand...

It's ok...we have one first round draft pick to solve these issues
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Boppo said:
It’s possible that Fyfes career is done, even if he makes it back on the field before September how many games before a bad back goes wrong again?

Mundy will be done after this year. All of a sudden we look small and leaderless in the middle. We need to get a gun West Aussie with 150 games u der their belt back and into the fold. Do they exist?
Click to expand...
Coniglio salary dump/A.Brayshaw free agent would be good, we will be a bit small until Erasmus and Johnson develop though.
 
lint said:
Ha! You could try to actually engage with the content. As opposed to just belittle the poster based on a tiny fraction of the post. I could take the time to explain to you the difference between that and actual discussion, but I assume you've been told numerous times over the years with little to no improvement.
Click to expand...
Eh? My comment is about your post. And after reading that comment I stopped reading the rest.

But if you think I am belittling you please report it because this forum has clear guidelines regarding posting etiquette.
 
dropbear101 said:
oh man

now all i can think about it is freo ignoring forwards in the draft and only selecting midfielders. i kinda want a functioning forward line as well. what do I choose.

mistake decision GIF
Click to expand...
We have enough developing midfielders, we don't have enough developing forwards. Some 18yo midfielder isn't going to come in and be better than Erasmus let alone Brayshaw and Serong.

You spend your first rounder on either drafting quality young forwards or trading in quality mids or forwards.

You use a later pick to grab a mature ager (aka Luke Ryan, Michael Barlow type).

And then you grab a few speculative types from our NGA.
 
The better Luke Jackson plays, the less likely it is that Angus Brayshaw will be given what he is worth at the Dees next year.
I’d love to land a free agent that is not a reject from other clubs for once, and is genuinely decent.
Would be a very solid addition to our midfield and a guy with impeccable character and a proven winner
 
dropbear101 said:
I said it to dad after adelaide almost beat us. "gee we have a weaker midfield than i thought we did".

well, it isn't hard to work out why.
in the last 5 years, 5 players have left. cerra, neale, weller, langdon and hill. essentially a starting midfield (a very very good one).
then we have had 3 players age out of the role. walters, fyfe and mundy (all very good players)

leaving us with a midfield of serong, darcy and brayshaw,....huge gap.... switta, tucker, brodie, meek, blakely, henry.
(although switta is a good impact midfielder).

fortunately, i think we already have the pieces of a good midfield. however, like all things, I believe it will take time (and jlo must invest time into them).
o'driscoll looks good. anyone with two eyes can tell that chapman will be good. erasmus, johnson are apparently impressing freo internally. fredericks I think will eventually become a wingman. who knows if young, walker, henry and clark will become midfielders.

resulting in a starting midfield of
ruck: darcy serong brayshaw
centre: odriscoll erasmus chapman
depth: johnson, fredericks, young, switta and the others (henry, tucker, brodie, fyfe on one leg, blakely, meek)

i know there are some people who will be annoyed about us continuously going back to the draftees for hope. however, i think this time its just the reality of the situation. our midfield has no depth. its only through development that we will get that depth. although every now and again our current depth will step up to the plate and put in a good performance (giving us some good times over the next two seasons).
btw i think we should keep jlo. you can't be much of a successful coach if you don't have a midfield.

oh and my buddy worner will be a star
Click to expand...
The reality is that midfield most years took a major step back with a experienced player getting traded out for draft picks.

2021 Cerra traded out for pick 6 (8) used on Amiss and 2022 third round.
2019 B Hill for Serong.
2018 Langdon for essentially for pick 21. Used in points for Henry.
2018 Neale for basically Hogan.
poshman said:
Perhaps you could try to engage with the discussion instead of going for the man.

As to it being a tiny fraction of your post. Your post was 4 paragraphs long. Lyon was introduced in the first and the subject of the second. Given you claim he was the primary reason for players leaving, how could you be surprised when people engage with that claim?

But go ahead - play the man instead of the post. Then please make vast generalisations about someones character, because that is always helpful.

Cerra was a flight risk from the moment he was selected. He played under JL for two seasons. Long enough for him to stay if the Lyon was his reason for leaving. I think he was always going back, his family wanted him back, they are wealthy and wanted him home. He went. we will all rejoice if Jackson makes that decision, yet look for a fall guy if a Victorian kid makes that decision the other way.

B Hill - was on a front loaded contract. Got the bulk of his deal paid out and was on his budget years. His move was masterful from a financial standpoint. Get paid 80% (could be less but it was a large portion)of your contract, leave before the budget years hit and get another massive payout. He essentially would have gotten paid a years worth of contract without having to pay it. Dumb on our behalf, smart on his. There is also the factor around his partner and having a baby over there. Personally I moved from a home in Wembley, four minutes from the beach, to guildford area because my wife wanted to have our baby near her mum. Her mum has been a life saver and helped more than I could imagine. So despite the fact I don't like the area anywhere near as much, it is better for us to live here due to that support. Don't underestimate the power of a mother/daughter bond when it comes to having a child.

Neale - I don't know why he left aside from the dollars. He seemed to have a very close relationship with Lyon. Lyon still speaks highly of him now. He went from a pick ~50 to an AA level player while with us. I thought it was a money issue and that we were dumb not to offer him the $$ if that is what was needed. I could be missing a heap of info here so happy to be corrected.

Langdon - he is the one I am the least clear on why he left. Insight is welcome.
Click to expand...
I said it before, if a pick is a high flight risk then trade down or into the next draft.

In the case of Cerra he told Fremantle not to draft him.

May have been a better idea taking the initial Gold Coast trade idea. With swapping pick 5 with 2 plus a truckload of second round picks.


When a player leaves you get set back 4 years with a rookie replacement.
 
wayToGo_ said:
I think we might be overreacting a bit based on one game. We got smashed in the centre on the weekend 14 to 4 CCs. But we won the centre battle the week before 16 to 9. Is the loss of Mundy the reason we went from winning centre clearances one week to losing the next? Mundy is great but that seems an unlikely reason alone.

Brayshaw and Brodie had 5 CCs each v Adelaide. Mundy 3, Serong 2.

Against StK Brodie 2, Switta 1, Brayshaw 0, Serong 0.

Meek's ruck work was a heap better in Rd 1 compared to Rd 2. Did bringing Darcy in and having to share the load unsettle his performance? We looked a shambles when Darcy went off injured as well but he looked a bit underdone even prior to that.

It seems every game our ruck or a key mid comes in underdone or gets injured mid game we play like rubbish. One of the worst games I have ever been to was against Brisbane in 2018 when Sandi was pulled out of the game less than a minute from the bounce and Apeness was thrown into the ruck. It just threw our whole team off, and ended up with Fyfe injured in the 2nd quarter and from there it was a look away now game.

There is no magic bullet with our midfield.

You look at a midfield like Melbourne's and it has a Petracca 26yo, Oliver 24yo, Viney 27yo, Gawn 30yo.

Meanwhile on the weekend we played Brayshaw 22yo, Serong 21yo, Brodie 23yo, Darcy/Meek 23yo.

No other team is playing a midfield as young as ours and the ones winning consistently are a lot older. We've pumped games into these guys (except Brodie) and it will pay off if we stick with it imo. Parachuting in a short term option isn't the answer. I am bullish on Erasmus, Johnson and O'Driscoll as midfielders (rotating from the wing/half forward). I'm hopeful both Ras and Noddy will be in the 22 this weekend despite Mundy likely returning. Although there are disposal question marks on both they bring a hardness and ball winning ability we need to add to our mix.

The selection committee probably could have made us more competitive in the middle (sans Fyfe and Mundy) by bringing in Blakely but didn't. What would people have preferred? Although Brodie was awful, he's still only 23yo so at least has a slim chance of being part of our future. Tucker was the most disappointing for me, always looks close to worst on for a few weeks after returning from yet another hammy (but in fairness so do most players).

Expecting a much improved midfield performance in the derby. Not sure we can fix our forward line problems just yet but am confident we can turn around things with the midfield from last week.
Click to expand...
Totally agree on the midfield which means our skills around the ground when we get the ball need to be consistently good every quarter to make up for it. On the weekend it was horrible - turnovers, fumbling, over-running the ball, dropped marks, hospital handballs, etc..
 
eastfreo75 said:
I said it before, if a pick is a high flight risk then trade down or into the next draft.

In the case of Cerra he told Fremantle not to draft him.
Click to expand...
This is just hindsight hero stuff. Nat Fyfe said he tried to hide from Fremantle recruiters because he didn't want to come to us - that has worked out OK. Pav's family were devastated when he was recruited by Freo and he hung about a bit. There are people on here spewing we didn't pick up Aaron Naughton instead of Cerra, when Naughton had made it very clear he wanted to move to Victoria. Doesn't mean we shouldn't have picked up Naughton, just that it is never as simple as we love to make it on here.

Drafting is a chook raffle and sometimes you just have to ignore the noise and make the best choice for the club. Hopefully once they are here they buy into the club like Fyfe has and like Pav did. Sometimes the lure of home (Cerra) or money (Neale / Hill) is too strong and they leave, but Hilly was a local lad and still left. Bottom line is, we can scrutinize every drafting choice made by every club and we can't change a single one.

Having said all that, if I had two similar players and one was local I'd always lean towards the local.
 
Cesoir said:
This is just hindsight hero stuff. Nat Fyfe said he tried to hide from Fremantle recruiters because he didn't want to come to us - that has worked out OK. Pav's family were devastated when he was recruited by Freo and he hung about a bit. There are people on here spewing we didn't pick up Aaron Naughton instead of Cerra, when Naughton had made it very clear he wanted to move to Victoria. Doesn't mean we shouldn't have picked up Naughton, just that it is never as simple as we love to make it on here.

Drafting is a chook raffle and sometimes you just have to ignore the noise and make the best choice for the club. Hopefully once they are here they buy into the club like Fyfe has and like Pav did. Sometimes the lure of home (Cerra) or money (Neale / Hill) is too strong and they leave, but Hilly was a local lad and still left. Bottom line is, we can scrutinize every drafting choice made by every club and we can't change a single one.

Having said all that, if I had two similar players and one was local I'd always lean towards the local.
Click to expand...
This post is setting off an alarm at BF HQ somewhere.

Waaaaaaaay too much common sense.
 
poshman said:
Perhaps you could try to engage with the discussion instead of going for the man.

As to it being a tiny fraction of your post. Your post was 4 paragraphs long. Lyon was introduced in the first and the subject of the second. Given you claim he was the primary reason for players leaving, how could you be surprised when people engage with that claim?

But go ahead - play the man instead of the post. Then please make vast generalisations about someones character, because that is always helpful.

Cerra was a flight risk from the moment he was selected. He played under JL for two seasons. Long enough for him to stay if the Lyon was his reason for leaving. I think he was always going back, his family wanted him back, they are wealthy and wanted him home. He went. we will all rejoice if Jackson makes that decision, yet look for a fall guy if a Victorian kid makes that decision the other way.

B Hill - was on a front loaded contract. Got the bulk of his deal paid out and was on his budget years. His move was masterful from a financial standpoint. Get paid 80% (could be less but it was a large portion)of your contract, leave before the budget years hit and get another massive payout. He essentially would have gotten paid a years worth of contract without having to pay it. Dumb on our behalf, smart on his. There is also the factor around his partner and having a baby over there. Personally I moved from a home in Wembley, four minutes from the beach, to guildford area because my wife wanted to have our baby near her mum. Her mum has been a life saver and helped more than I could imagine. So despite the fact I don't like the area anywhere near as much, it is better for us to live here due to that support. Don't underestimate the power of a mother/daughter bond when it comes to having a child.

Neale - I don't know why he left aside from the dollars. He seemed to have a very close relationship with Lyon. Lyon still speaks highly of him now. He went from a pick ~50 to an AA level player while with us. I thought it was a money issue and that we were dumb not to offer him the $$ if that is what was needed. I could be missing a heap of info here so happy to be corrected.

Langdon - he is the one I am the least clear on why he left. Insight is welcome.
Click to expand...
You can rationalise it all you like, and use money and a variety of other factors, but good clubs don't lose four players of that ilk.
 
Last edited:

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Fremantle​

David Mundy - 20
Andrew Brayshaw - 10
Sean Darcy - 7
Rory Lobb - 7
Caleb Serong - 5
Nat Fyfe - 3
Adam Cerra - 3
Luke Ryan - 3
Matthew Taberner - 2
Sam Switkowski - 1

Of our Brownlow vote getters from last year, less than 50% of the votes are taking the field in Rd3.
 
lint said:
You can rationalise it all you like, and use money and a variety of other factors, but good clubs don't lose four players if that I
Click to expand...

That wasn't your argument. You said Lyon was the 'primary reason' so I engaged with that point.

It was you who tried to rationalise it by saying it was due to lyon.

Now we are past that we can agree, good clubs don't keep losing players.
 
I think people are underplaying the importance of losing your two best midfielders here

Take Petracca and Oliver out of Melbourne and see how they go
 
Shoeless Joe said:
I think people are underplaying the importance of losing your two best midfielders here

Take Petracca and Oliver out of Melbourne and see how they go
Click to expand...
Problem being that those two mids probably dont have long left in the game (also, I'd argue AB has gotten that status now)
 
poshman said:
Agree our top two mids are Fyfe and Brayshaw.

I am hoping with foolish optimism that Fyfe has another three to four good years left minimum...
Click to expand...
I agree with the hard ball gets guys, he could have 4 years left, he could retire without playing another game and i wouldn't be surprised...
 
poshman said:
That wasn't your argument. You said Lyon was the 'primary reason' so I engaged with that point.

It was you who tried to rationalise it by saying it was due to lyon.

Now we are past that we can agree, good clubs don't keep losing players.
Click to expand...
If the reason for this club losing four players of that quality isn't down to the coach and/or his gameplan, the captain, or the culture of the club, I would love you to speculate as to what other reasons we would lose all four perhaps? When clubs like Brisbane, Sydney, West Coast, the Bulldogs etc manage to hold on to their quality talent, regardless of their geographical origins? Do you put it down to the fremantle doctor being a tad too windy for friday arvo beers? Or perhaps the mining industry destroying the environment? Let me guess...McGowan being based in Rockingham? Expensive coffees at Gino's? Average library at Cockburn? I don't think there is anything really contentious or groundbreaking about suggesting those three things I mentioned are probably in some capacity linked to losing so many quality players. I even pointed out in my post it's probably best to move on from such analysis and figure out how we can move forward, which is why debating this is so tiresome and counterproductive. We have made the necessary changes, it's now down to filling that missing middle twenties quality player bracket to aid in the speed of the rebuild/retool...
 
Last edited:
lint said:
If the reason for this club losing four players of that quality isn't down to the coach and/or his gameplan, the captain, or the culture of the club, I would love you to speculate as to what other reasons we would lose all four perhaps? When clubs like Brisbane, Sydney, West Coast, the Bulldogs etc manage to hold on to their quality talent, regardless of their geographical origins? Do you put it down to the fremantle doctor being a tad too windy for friday arvo beers? Or perhaps the mining industry destroying the environment? Let me guess...McGowan being based in Rockingham? Expensive coffees at Gino's? Average library at Cockburn? I don't think there is anything really contentious or groundbreaking about suggesting those three things I mentioned are probably in some capacity linked to losing so many quality players. I even pointed out in my post it's probably best to move on from such analysis and figure out how we can move forward, which is why debating this is so tiresome and counterproductive. We have made the necessary changes, it's now down to filling that missing middle twenties quality player bracket to aid in the speed of the rebuild/retool...
Click to expand...

poshman said:
Perhaps you could try to engage with the discussion instead of going for the man.

As to it being a tiny fraction of your post. Your post was 4 paragraphs long. Lyon was introduced in the first and the subject of the second. Given you claim he was the primary reason for players leaving, how could you be surprised when people engage with that claim?

But go ahead - play the man instead of the post. Then please make vast generalisations about someones character, because that is always helpful.

Cerra was a flight risk from the moment he was selected. He played under JL for two seasons. Long enough for him to stay if the Lyon was his reason for leaving. I think he was always going back, his family wanted him back, they are wealthy and wanted him home. He went. we will all rejoice if Jackson makes that decision, yet look for a fall guy if a Victorian kid makes that decision the other way.

B Hill - was on a front loaded contract. Got the bulk of his deal paid out and was on his budget years. His move was masterful from a financial standpoint. Get paid 80% (could be less but it was a large portion)of your contract, leave before the budget years hit and get another massive payout. He essentially would have gotten paid a years worth of contract without having to pay it. Dumb on our behalf, smart on his. There is also the factor around his partner and having a baby over there. Personally I moved from a home in Wembley, four minutes from the beach, to guildford area because my wife wanted to have our baby near her mum. Her mum has been a life saver and helped more than I could imagine. So despite the fact I don't like the area anywhere near as much, it is better for us to live here due to that support. Don't underestimate the power of a mother/daughter bond when it comes to having a child.

Neale - I don't know why he left aside from the dollars. He seemed to have a very close relationship with Lyon. Lyon still speaks highly of him now. He went from a pick ~50 to an AA level player while with us. I thought it was a money issue and that we were dumb not to offer him the $$ if that is what was needed. I could be missing a heap of info here so happy to be corrected.

Langdon - he is the one I am the least clear on why he left. Insight is welcome.
Click to expand...
 
lint said:
If the reason for this club losing four players of that quality isn't down to the coach and/or his gameplan, the captain, or the culture of the club, I would love you to speculate as to what other reasons we would lose all four perhaps? When clubs like Brisbane, Sydney, West Coast, the Bulldogs etc manage to hold on to their quality talent, regardless of their geographical origins? Do you put it down to the fremantle doctor being a tad too windy for friday arvo beers? Or perhaps the mining industry destroying the environment? Let me guess...McGowan being based in Rockingham? Expensive coffees at Gino's? Average library at Cockburn? I don't think there is anything really contentious or groundbreaking about suggesting those three things I mentioned are probably in some capacity linked to losing so many quality players. I even pointed out in my post it's probably best to move on from such analysis and figure out how we can move forward, which is why debating this is so tiresome and counterproductive. We have made the necessary changes, it's now down to filling that missing middle twenties quality player bracket to aid in the speed of the rebuild/retool...
Click to expand...

I have already done that... at length and without sarcasm or snide remarks. If you don't want to have the discussion without personal attacks then lets not have it.
 
Snuffaluphagus said:
I agree with the hard ball gets guys, he could have 4 years left, he could retire without playing another game and i wouldn't be surprised...
Click to expand...

I hadn't head them say that but agree. So I choose hope... there isn't a heap to be positive about this week so may as well be about that. If he doesn't play a game again I will have lost nothing by being positive in the meantime.

I am hoping we see him before the bye and he has a few best ons from round 14 onwards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

dockshark
Time for Club Members to take a Stand
2 3 4 5 6
Replies
138
Views
4K
FD2646
FD2646
FreoGirl
Toast It's time to celebrate Nat Fyfe and what he has done for our club
Replies
17
Views
835
FreoGirl
FreoGirl
G
Our bottom Six.
Replies
16
Views
529
pK75
pK75
dropbear101
dynamic midfield?
Replies
17
Views
745
pK75
pK75
Tonga Bob
Autopsy Dogs take revenge for last year’s Elimination Final - 118 to 69 (Not Nice)
13 14 15 16 17
Replies
422
Views
18K
gaskin
gaskin
Fat Nyfe
Tell me why we shouldn't be expecting to make Top 4 this year
2 3 4 5 6
Replies
130
Views
8K
Raz
Raz
Bud
Coaches Votes round 2
Replies
7
Views
299
Bender571
Bender571

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top