). Think back a couple of years and we were playing anyone who just happened to be walking past the ground.Log in to remove this Banner Ad
Just to reply to this.Spare me old man, you can't be seriously running with we're playing Hutchinson so we don't need to play Bo Allan they were drafted 6 months apart so its the same thing.
I love Hutch. And I love Maric. Having both in our 22 is good for the age profile and both should be in our 22, and thank god we had the mid year pick to take them. But thats in a different category of list management and is fixing earlier failed drafts. The primary method, the actual draft, is where you get the majority of your future players. We have smashed the past 2 drafts and yet other than insta Criss Judd Harley Reid we've somehow managed to work out way to playing none of them now outside of in the sub role.
Call it bitching, fine. It actually important though because all of Hawthorn, North and Richmond made tough calls to go backwards in order to go forwards and they've all put serious amounts of games into their draftee's. We've only gone all in on the 2022 crop, and only due to a severe injury crisis. We last on the ladder and it's hurting us because now we're refusing to risk being any worse. It's short sighted weak leadership, and should be more or a concern.
Hawks are already away back up the ladder having done what was necessary. In 2-3 years when all our dead wood has finally been trimmed from the list, our 23 and 2024 draft crop are going to be 15-20 games behind the Richmond and North kids taken from the same darts. And that'll probably come back to bite us. Why wouldn't it?
Take Tyler Brockman as one example of someone we brought in to develop, why did he play more games in his 2 seasons at with the Hawks as an 18-20 yo [when they were doing this] than he has with us as a 21-23 year old? What was the point if not playing him in the 22 when its obvious how much talent he had and how much he needed games and confidence in order to get going.
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You can do this all the way down the list, what value did we get out of playing Jack Darling last year instead of Jack Williams and Archer Reid? What is the point of not getting 10-15 games into Bo Allen this year when we are heading for another spoon, instead of delaying it to next year? How much better would Clay Hall be in his second season if we'd of found 5 games for him in the back half of last year? How much better would Tyrell Dewar be this year if he'd had an extra 5 games put into him last year? What was the actual return for us from all the games put into Witherden, Rotham and Edwards- at a guess 30-40 games aggregate? And are we doing the same thing again this year, playing blokes who are going to be delisted or traded instead of getting our next crop of 200 gamers through their first 10 games as quickly as possible.
These early games matter, and we're just not prioritising them enough imo. Week to week, it looks fine on the selection table because you can always make the case that experience matters and that there will be plenty of opportunities for younger players in future years. Of course they will be regularly playing in 2026/27. They'll be a season behind where they could be though which is frustrating. Teams at the bottom need to make selection choices that might make the side objectively worse, sometimes clearly so, in order to be better for it 2-3 seasons from now. This club has so much pride in itself it seems we're just incapable of actually doing that. its an similar [or the exact same] attitude that has bought at least two of the biggest clubs on the land unstuck time and again.
Something to think about anyway. Would be very unlike our club to put a foot wrong at the best of times, but you can never be too cautious about the risks involved with drinking 20 year old bath water. [Just play the kids ffs]
I'd prefer Fogarty as a late out. That spud always seems kick bags on us
Ginbey and Maric look pretty settled down back.
Would rather Davis on the wing. Seems the type that can run all day.
He's not playing this week for that reason, suppose a meteor could land on his house or something
Regardless of how many games theyve played, 20 year olds are still kids.
