Quick rebuild required

[Jack-Packenham]

2 options

1. Bomber resigns and we seek a new coach.

2. Bomber stays, but makes the hard decisions at year end and we turn the list over to a certain extent.


Either way we must be ruthless. This current group has won us nothing and I doubt they are capable of it.

Backline : We are pretty much stable there with Scarlett, Harley, Egan and Spencer in the key spots. The problems are in the smaller roles. Hunt, D Johnson, Slade, Wocjinski and Callan have all struggled to cement a place in the side with good form. Hunt and Wocjinski could be trade options.

Midfield : This is a huge problem as we have a lot of very similar types. Corey, Bartel, Kelly, Enright and Ling are all fairly slow and are not that dangerous going forward. We need pace and clearance players to be added to this group. With Varcoe, Tenace and Byrnes coming through, the pace may not be the huge problem. We need a player a Sam Mitchell or Scott West type who can consistently win clearances. Trade 2 of Kelly, Ling and Enright.

Forward : Playfair, Kingsley, Gardiner, Lonergan and Gardiner are all no good and will not be any good in 3 years time. Trade or delist all of them. Keep N Ablett, Mooney and Grima, add T Hawkins and try and pick up a gun forward or 2 through the draft. e.g. Hansen & Gumbleton. Small forwards we are great with G Ablett, Chapman and Stokes. Trade S Johnson as I don't think he will ever return to his best form at Geelong. Don't worry about what he might do elsewhere, worry about what he has been doing here.

Rucks : At the best (being fit) King and Ottens might be the best ruck duo in the comp. With Blake and West coming through I think we are ok in this area. Although if an opportunity came up to get the home sick Meesen from the crows we should jump at it and maybe send Blake the other way.

Summary : Trade Hunt, Wocjinksi, Enright, Ling, S Johnson, Kingsley and Playfair. Try and get 5 picks inside the top 25. We already will have 2. Don't go for old players in trades, just draft the best young kids going around.

Be ruthless, we owe this bunch of players nothing.

Get the salary cap back to about 95% which will give as an opportunity to chase a big name the next year. Don't reward players with big contracts for getting us to 4th or 5th, wait until they have won us a flag.

 

[jess_555]

Why get rid of Enright?

Oh and I don't know a whole lot about trading and stuff... how many players are you allowed to trade?

 

[jim boy]

Bring back H!

 

[Devilcat]

Do get rid of Enright. He is massively overrated. Also, I reckon we should get one ready made player through trade. It's not time for a complete overhaul. We should aim for a lot of top 25 picks, but I still think next season is a possibility if we snag 1 or 2 big namers. Also, is anyone else finding it hilarious that Chambers is still getting a senior spot at Sydney? He has got like 4 touches all year!! If we can get pick 35 for him, anything is possible.

 

[ablettjnr]

As of now, I'm with Jack. Depending on the rest of the season, we'll see.

I would only say keep Enright, and H if he does anything for the rest of the year.

 

[costanza23]

Backline: Okay, concern over Harley and whether Spencer will ever be any good. Smalls are also uncertain.

Midfield: Too slow, trade 1 or 2 players and get 1 already experienced one from somewhere.

Forward: We have a lot of talls, but none are any good. A lot will be traded or delisted at seasons end and again, we should get 1 experienced one in the trade (but not like what we did to get the usless Haynes) and Top 10 tall in the draft.

Ruck: You can never be too sure with King and Ottens, so probably keep Blake and West.

We also need to give Chappy, Mooney and Gaz (looks like he's always directing traffic and barking orders) a go as Captain / Vice or Co Captains too. King and Ling should both not be up there.

Thompson and Davidson will be back next year, but I think Costa will give it away.

 

[year of the cat]

I am not going to be quite as ruthless as Jack but nevertheless this is my action plan for the end of season-

1. I reckon Bomber will resign if the players are no longer with him. He is not a fool and will know whether it is time to pull the pin. Listening to Costa tonight it appears more likely that he will go than unlikely.

2. We will get at least 2 top key position/ruck in this draft. One is obviously Tom Hawkins the other either Hansen/Meeson/Thorpe/Gumbleton. The talk is you can't miss with any of these four - they are all rated ahead of any of the talls from last years draft. We look likely to finish bottom five so with Bryce Gibbs almost certain to be taken by Essendon we will get one of the above. This is finally the launching pad to build a successful team. We have been kidding ourselves that a combination of Playfair/Kingsley/Ottens would be good enough.

3. Trade for John Meeson. Best trade bait is Andrew Mackie. Both first round picks - shouldn't require much more than a straight swap. Meeson is not getting a game as Adelaide have currently such a string ruck combo with Biglands/Clarke/Maric and also Hudson to come back. Adelaide may take Mackie rather than losing him for nothing.

4. Players that should be delisted include Gardiner, Lonergan, Koulouriotis and Spencer (not up to it sorry jack). Riccardi will retire which means there is at least five spots to fill at this stage.

5. Players up for trade include Mackie (already mentioned), S.Johnson, Enright, Ling, Kingsley, Playfair, Blake, Hunt and Wojcinski. If gaining a top ready made player for a combination of any two of these can be done then go for it. We aren't losing much if any of these go. I had trouble putting Ling on this list but I reckon he may struggle to find a place in footy now - hopefully the other clubs don't feel that way.

I wouldn't be trading Kelly or Callan yet. Both are still young and have a lot of good footy ahead of them.

6. Get the captaincy as far away from Steven King as possible. He has NO leadership skills or presence when he can get on the park. His future is very much up in the air.

That's about it - I reckon taking the hit this year in the long term may be the best thing that ever happened to GFC. We were not going to win a premiership with the current team unless our luck was unbelievable (i.e. the other teams all had shocking injury years at once!). I think the future is very bright still. That is why I for one wasn't overly upset about the loss to West Coast - its a means to an end - we are now closer to securing another top draft pick.

 

[Catastrophe]

I like the idea of going heavy in the draft as the list is still young enough so that when the Abletts, Chapmans and Bartels hit 150 - 200 games the next generation is hitting 50. I don't think we will ever get a big name (Ottens is about the best we have ever done if you look back...maybe Mark 'Jacko' Jackson, but that was another game back then) as they just don't move clubs anymore. Brown was probably the last when he left the Bullies., but can anyone think of any others?

I still think N.Ablett is a key postion forward but needs another year or two. We need the 150-200 game leaders that we just don't have.

 

[hyperswivel]

Rebuild?
This is meant to BE the rebuilt side... the one that takes you to glory. You spent years building THIS side... and now you're talking about a rebuild! You weren't talking about a rebuild at the start of the season? So why now, halfway, is a rebuild all of a sudden required?
I think your current side would be fine if only they had some ticker and were fit enough to play four quarters of footy.
The problem isn't that you need newer, younger and better players... the problem is that the players now simply don't care enough until they're on the field, and you don't win a game in four quarters... I question the coaching staff that encourage the players to play a "stop and wait" brand of footy.. certainly they were all brought up being taught to kick long and down the middle! So when did this playing ethic change? When they came to Geelong.
Rebuild indeed!

 

[ablettjnr]

Rebuild?

F*ck off.

 

[cats2rise]

F*ck off.

Agree. i had forgotten that there was a reason why I didnt like you Hyperswivel. Nothing personal.

Its not rebuilding, just adding another extention

 

[Turbocat]

Jack , as I've said before we have disagreed on many things but I could never say you lack a ruthless streak.

Look ,I agree with most of what you have posted but do remember its supposed to be a "Quick" rebuild.Maybe not rebuild rather than a realignment. Sort like like your cars steering.Basically OK but we need to tweek it a little. The footy we played in the first half shows we are not light years away from a strong side. We need to add to our weak area's not create weakness by blind short sighted spite.

We need another quality tall backman. Sat was the best Egan had looked for ages with Harley and Scarlo we looked solid again. But Haley is starting resemble Grandma's crockery set, we need another backup. We have shown a reticence to play Spencer but he may yet be a 100 game player , with us or elsewhere who knows but we need another backman tall who we trust. We also could do with a bit more speed rebounding the ball that has a bit of finesse. Enright is a failed Midfielder and is sloppy by foot.He cant handle tall forwards and rarely takes a mark like a Hinkley. Ding Dong is that the door bell or does bell toll for thee , Corey. I think he would have value in the trade market and we need to change our mix.

Our Midfield , is too middle of the road , it lacks creativity. Watch Gary Ablett and you will know I mean. The addition of Varcoe and another like him will probably do the trick.We also lack a generator.A pure in and under mule that just eats bruse's for breakfast. GeeCat has said before we should go after the kid Selwood for this purpose. Im not sure.If we have the chance to get a quality tall surely we must go that way.

The key forwards. Here I feel is the prickly little splinter that has fester up this infection we now bear. I agree with Jack we need another tall but no more iffy projects.We need a predigree type that will lift confiedence of all onball, a player that once seasoned will win more than his fair share of 1on1's
Hawkins could be it but if we finish near bottom this will give us the glimpse of a Blue Moon we have been waiting for. Quality talls are just so hard to get we must pick the best tall , wheather its Hansen or Sellar's or Gublelton or Thorpe. If we finish bottom 4 we will get 1 of them.

We also need to remove the log jam of promising talls. Seems to be a lot false promises there. I'd keep H , but hey there you go Jack.

Nathan Ablett, is without doubt the most talented tall forward we have who may develop into a strike forward. I see three areas we need to help him indeveloping. He needs 2 years in the gym. 3-4 days a week , for two years.He stuggled to push Glass. If Deludio can go from nothing to the third best Bench Press at Richmond in 18 months , so can , Some agility training would help in his initial burst and change of direction. Attitude, would it possible for him to be slightly more "UP". I dont know maybe its wrong , he just gives off a disinterested vibe at times. Look ,this may have adavntages.He is alsmost Borg like or Dunstall-ish. When asked to kick the goal to put us ahead. He just did it. Id hate to think of what KK would have done in that predicament.

Ruck. I wish people will stop trying to get rid of Blake. We dont need less ruckmen , we need more. No one seems enthused with Blake yet we have no other option.Why? because we refuse to carry enough and develop them. If we can trade for Meeson and he is as good as some say fine do it. Even Wood from Brisbane .The trick is who do we give to get them.Its cheeper to develop your own.

No matter what we must have the addition of two extra quality talls. If the only way to get that is to finish in the bottom 4 then so be it.

Lose a Battle, lose a few but in the end , Win the War !!