List Mgmt. Our Midfield

[Malifice]

I think some focus on the dollars / salary cap space but as you note the on field improvement is just as important. I suspect it is very difficult for any club that finishes in the bottom 4 to reel in a big fish FA. Unless we make a significant step forward this season this is no chance of attracting a gun player.

Absolutely mate.

We need to sell the club as a place to be (where you're likely going to win a flag before you retire). While it's acknowledged we'll need to pay more to get players in, players have repeatedly shown they're prepared to take less money to go to a club with stronger prospects of immediate success.

We need to start tracking upwards this year.

 

[JustaBattler]

Cripps is the best mid fielder / footballer in the league, hopefully your powers to be surround him with decent support which helps prolong the career of a true champion of football.

Give it a year or so - and Cripps mightn't be opposition side's biggest headache...3 years time with this squad in place and 100+ games under their belts? look out.

 

[Eiffel 65]

Absolutely mate.

We need to sell the club as a place to be (where you're likely going to win a flag before you retire). While it's acknowledged we'll need to pay more to get players in, players have repeatedly shown they're prepared to take less money to go to a club with stronger prospects of immediate success.

We need to start tracking upwards this year.

I don't expect us to, but if we win 8-10 games this season, we should be able to attract a FA at fair value if we choose to go down that path.

With our list, I personally don't feel we need to make finals to become a destination club.

If FA's believe we're on the cusp of mounting a serious challenge for the flag, we should be able to sell the club, not the salary as a point of difference.

 

[THE_GUN]

I don't expect us to, but if we win 8-10 games this season, we should be able to attract a FA at fair value if we choose to go down that path.

With our list, I personally don't feel we need to make finals to become a destination club.

If FA's believe we're on the cusp of mounting a serious challenge for the flag, we should be able to sell the club, not the salary as a point of difference.

Until you have a few years at the top thats not going to be an easy sell, As a carlton supporter you can see the excitement of the kids coming through but you need to accept that its still only just talented kids that have yet to show they can emulate what they did at junior level

Shiel passed up the blues for Essendon and McGovern selected the blues, Until you get to where the Hawks , Swans , Cats level the $$$ are the thing thats going to have to be the draw. Blues should be all over Kelly & Coniglio and must get 1 of them (I'm hoping you guys get kelly as that will be so good to watch the north supporters melts)

 

[Malifice]

I don't expect us to, but if we win 8-10 games this season, we should be able to attract a FA at fair value if we choose to go down that path.

With our list, I personally don't feel we need to make finals to become a destination club.

If FA's believe we're on the cusp of mounting a serious challenge for the flag, we should be able to sell the club, not the salary as a point of difference.

4-8 wins is more likely this year.

What's important is that it be obvious to anyone who watches us that were tracking in the right direction.

I didn't expect us to be a chance of finals till 2020 at the earliest. We're probably a little behind that mark, with finals being a chance in 2021.

That might sound grim, but bear in mind the bulk of the playing list will all be 21-23 (Walsh, Stocker, Dow, SPS, Obrien, Setters, Kennedy, Williamson, Fisher) - 24/25 (Weitering, Curnow, McKay, Plowman, Marchbank, Kennedy) led by a 26 year old Cripps (plus 3-4 gun free agents and trades we will look to get in the next 2 trade periods).

That's a young list, and I'm using 2021 ages.

 

[Malifice]

Until you have a few years at the top thats not going to be an easy sell, As a carlton supporter you can see the excitement of the kids coming through but you need to accept that its still only just talented kids that have yet to show they can emulate what they did at junior level

Shiel passed up the blues for Essendon and McGovern selected the blues, Until you get to where the Hawks , Swans , Cats level the $$$ are the thing thats going to have to be the draw. Blues should be all over Kelly & Coniglio and must get 1 of them (I'm hoping you guys get kelly as that will be so good to watch the north supporters melts)

If I was a player leaving for a flag, I'd be looking at a list with an upwards trajectory, not necessarily one with a recent history of success.

A young list on the rise is much more promising to a player than an older list that's likely on the way down.

Shiel chose Essendon because he believed they had the best chance of success in the 5 or so years he has left at the top level. The Saints arent going anywhere (their list is largely rooted thanks to screwing a number of important draft calls in Billings, McCartin, H Goddard and others that havent worked out, and not getting in any good young talent from elsewhere other than Steele) and we're still a few years away from even playing finals (75 percent of our important core of players is aged 18-22, with around 20-30 games on average).

As long as those kids we have start tracking upwards over the next 2 years, then regardless of if we play finals or not (that would help of course!) we'll be an attractive proposition to a player looking for a flag in the remaining 5 or so years of his career.

 

[therubbernub]

Give it a year or so - and Cripps mightn't be opposition side's biggest headache...3 years time with this squad in place and 100+ games under their belts? look out.

OHHH The Synergies!! Delicious !

 

[Blue Flame]

Richmond were actually the lowest of the 3 clubs , Pies were the highest then Hawks

Agreed, but what about the money they offered?



Nope can't do it **** the pies

 

[murphster]

I love the fact that our midfield is pretty much set for the next 10-12 years.

We've actually got a lot more pace than what people think. We'll soon have the luxury of playing one bull and two contested players with pace at centre bounces with ample rotations. E.g.

Group 1
Cripps (bull)
Cuningham (explosive inside mid)
Stocker (explosive inside mid)

Group 2
Kennedy (bull)
Dow (explosive inside mid)
new recruit/trade (explosive inside mid) say Jye Caldwell type

Accompanied by seriously talented outside runners:
Walsh
O'brien
Fisher
SPS

Then allow Setterfield to be the damaging balanced mid/utility to run forward of the play and hit the scoreboard a la Bontempelli/Martin style.

And to think some supporters want us to trade for Kelly and Coniglio.

If you can't see it now just because we had one bad injury riddled season, the proof of the pudding will be on display in 12-24 months when North Melbourne and St Kilda start throwing massive offers at our players.

Here’s some wishful projections on our mids etc:

Setterfield - Bontempelli ( has all attributes to match Bont)

Cripps - Warrior with no equal

De Koning- Young Cory McKernan maybe.

SPS - S Burgoyne/ Brad Hill ( smooth mover and class ball user)

Fisher - B Harvey (same tenacious attitude and good inside for diminutive size, needs to kick more goals)

Dow - Pendles/Judd ( great inside with a great step and burst from the stoppage like Judd, needs to tidy up kicking.)

Walsh - J Kelly/ Buckley/ ( driven to succeed never shirks and runs all day)

Stocker- Martin/Mundy ( Same solid size at young age with sublime foot skills both sides, inside outside game and will be able to play forward. )

Cunningham - De’Goey/Caddy ( Solid frame good acceleration and strength.)

Pickett( if he gets right) - Walters/B Hill ( upside is phenomenal if he can get it right could play either of these roles or even a Neville Jetta role.)

Kennedy- Parker/Kennedy ( obvious reasons)

Obrien- Phillips/B Hill ( wing is his spot if he can emulate either of these two we are on a winner. )

Garlett- (if back) Courtney Dempsey, if wing Stephen Hill

Let’s hope we can get close to this would make for a deadly set of players going forward.

 

[HARKER]

Wow. Just a bit of a stretch?

SOS didn't reel in all these mids just for the fun of it.
Only problem though is, it may take a couple of years yet to get them up to speed and to gel together.
Even though we may be keen on the names, one has to realise that we're terribly young and that will hurt for now at least:

24: Cripps
23: 0
22: 0
21: Petrevski-Seton Setterfield Kennedy
20: Fisher
19: Dow O'Brien Stocker
18: Walsh

Now if the 18-21's were 21-24.......that makes for a completely different story and they'd still be considered young.

We have to understand that the age profile will let us down every now and then and which is why we still need another quality senior mid.

 

[Weiterbot23]

Shiel should have stayed at GWS for 1 more year.

As good a chance at a flag as anywhere. Then he'd get a good look at us before deciding on future, would have got more money too.

Does anyone really expect Essendon to be flag level contention? I don't

 

[Brutalitops]

Shiel should have stayed at GWS for 1 more year.

As good a chance at a flag as anywhere. Then he'd get a good look at us before deciding on future, would have got more money too.

Does anyone really expect Essendon to be flag level contention? I don't

Theyve built themselves a nice middle of the road list. Theyll get continue to get flattened at stoppages for a while yet until they get a decent in-and-under or two.

 

[Red Bull]

Shiel should have stayed at GWS for 1 more year.

As good a chance at a flag as anywhere. Then he'd get a good look at us before deciding on future, would have got more money too.

Does anyone really expect Essendon to be flag level contention? I don't

Reckon the giants let Shiel know they had no problem if he "wanted" to leave.
Ditto Scully.
They had huge salary cap problems and something had to give with more players to be re signed this year.
They identified their priorities (Kelly/Coniglio) and have tried to put themselves in a position to keep them this year.
FWIW , Shiel probably made the right call taking into account his career window opportunities ...

 

[BlueRenaissance]

SoS probably just adding quality with Setterfield and Kennedy on top of Cripps rather than a planned list build ploy. In terms of draft picks, that is 3 first rounders spent on midfielders with strong inside capabilities and who are all non speedsters.

If all three come good then i can really see great leverage for Bolton on matchday with Cripps eventually getting more fwd minutes as he goes 26+ in age. Someone like McGovern can then swing from the fwd 50 to def as they manage rotations. Maybe Charlie running downfield too.

Hopefully Kennedy and Setterfield particularly show us the form we want to see as it gives Bolton so many options going forward in 2020+.

 

[BlueRenaissance]

The truth may eventually come out, but I'm not so sure Shiel had the Dons as the place he wanted to go to.
It just worked out that way as we weren't prepared to put the #1 on the table and that GWS wanted to deal hard....as they should have and scored two first rounders from Essendon. Guys aren't' going to be push-overs any more from here on in and I think they've done it well having been perceived as easy gets where clubs train their focus and then when they do and are in too deep.....Venus fly trap.

Everyone has a theory and my guess is he wasnt the personality type (like a D Martin) that wanted to take on a massive pay contract and massive hype. At Saints, it was the money pressure; at Carlton it was the money and the pressure it would have heaped on him personally on gameday (hard tag). This is backed up a little that it wasnt actually him saying 'come and get me'. It was more GWS saying, take a look and then probably, and ultimately, how about the dons.

At the bombers, i think he could probably get a good salary and just play his role. The other two clubs required him to be the star and kill it while probably facing a hard tag.

 

[bmaurizio]

4-8 wins is more likely this year.

What's important is that it be obvious to anyone who watches us that were tracking in the right direction.

I didn't expect us to be a chance of finals till 2020 at the earliest. We're probably a little behind that mark, with finals being a chance in 2021.

That might sound grim, but bear in mind the bulk of the playing list will all be 21-23 (Walsh, Stocker, Dow, SPS, Obrien, Setters, Kennedy, Williamson, Fisher) - 24/25 (Weitering, Curnow, McKay, Plowman, Marchbank, Kennedy) led by a 26 year old Cripps (plus 3-4 gun free agents and trades we will look to get in the next 2 trade periods).

That's a young list, and I'm using 2021 ages.

I’d be very happy with an outcome of 4-8 wins it would acceptable after a disastrous campaign last year, we’re very young still but I think Newman, Fasolo, Bugg and McGovern will have a reasonable impact.
However the real X factors will be , Andrew Russell's physically and mentally conditioning of the team and Robert Walls contribution and adjust if any to Bolton's game plan. We make reach 10 wins just.
Go Baggers

 

[Weiterbot23]

Reckon the giants let Shiel know they had no problem if he "wanted" to leave.
Ditto Scully.
They had huge salary cap problems and something had to give with more players to be re signed this year.
They identified their priorities (Kelly/Coniglio) and have tried to put themselves in a position to keep them this year.
FWIW , Shiel probably made the right call taking into account his career window opportunities ...

Maybe I'm too optimistic, but by 2020 we should be as good as Essendon, 2021 much better

At worst we should make the finals 21,22,23 and onwards so 3 of the 5 years +however many seasons he wants to play onwards

 

[Laphroaig]

Richmond were actually the lowest of the 3 clubs , Pies were the highest then Hawks

That would read better if you put Once upon a time in a far away land.. in front of it.

It's standard spin where there has been competition for a players services. Player, manager and Club all come out in harmony and say he took the low offer, or even that he took a pay cut.

And it has about as much credibility as I'm shocked to be sitting here

 

[murphster]

Just a quick thought but I believe JEFF Garlett comes out of contract at the end of 2019 and even though he is 29 could still offer us that experienced small forward and teach some younger ones some tricks, averages 1.8 goals a game which is good could easily kick 30-40 goals for the year and would come cheap.

Main idea would be to package him in with a deal for Jayden Hunt who would be our main target and a great pick up for us and has been out of favour at Melbourne although still contracted till 2020.

Could be two good gets that give us speed across half back/ wing and a very handy small forward, for steak knives, that we never should have lost ( ****in Malthouse). Thoughts anyone?

 

[AceAndy]

Just a quick thought but I believe JEFF Garlett comes out of contract at the end of 2019 and even though he is 29 could still offer us that experienced small forward and teach some younger ones some tricks, averages 1.8 goals a game which is good could easily kick 30-40 goals for the year and would come cheap.

Main idea would be to package him in with a deal for Jayden Hunt who would be our main target and a great pick up for us and has been out of favour at Melbourne although still contracted till 2020.

Could be two good gets that give us speed across half back/ wing and a very handy small forward, for steak knives, that we never should have lost ( ****in Malthouse). Thoughts anyone?

He certainly does seem to be out of favour at Melbourne , not sure he played many games in 2018 if at all. I would imagine it wouldnt be too difficult to get him out of Melbourne.

As for a coaching/mentoring role not every player has the aptitude or desire to do it. Those at the club would have a better idea as to whether that sort of role would be suitable for Jeff.

 

[La Dispute]

According to Melbourne supporters his defensive pressure is a big weakness, and doesn’t really create goals himself, but gets in the right spots. I’m not completely opposed to getting him, but I’d be looking at getting some smaller forwards via the draft.

I’ve cooled on getting Hunt now we’ve brought in Newman, and Willo will end up being a better, more versatile player too.

 

[C4[2]Yo`DooR]

Does anybody here think that Kennedy, Cripps, Setterfield and Stocker can all play in the same side?

 

[Nori]

Does anybody here think that Kennedy, Cripps, Setterfield and Stocker can all play in the same side?

Hell yeah!

 

[HARKER]

Does anybody here think that Kennedy, Cripps, Setterfield and Stocker can all play in the same side?

Excellent question.

Straight up feeling is no, but with all this new personnel and new rules, we'll just have to see.
Do though feel that speed could be the real weapon with a little more space around the centre square and which is again why I'd like to see Cuningham develop into that speedy, strong, evasive wing-man. If I say it often enough, will I get my wish?

 

[Aphrodite]

Does anybody here think that Kennedy, Cripps, Setterfield and Stocker can all play in the same side?