Opinion Should the team ask for a Priority Pick 2025 edition.

[quackish]

Yes we should. Is it our fault we're absolutely dog balls? Eh I might be biased but not totally. We drafted like garbage for a decade but our senior players dropped like flies when they should've stayed on the park. Give us extra list spots, end of first round pick, some extra soft cap.

 

[Broken_Chairs]

Hate the concept of picks that must be traded away.

Yeah devalues them.

 

[Scotland]

We drafted like garbage for a decade.

We didn't.

 

[Deepthroat]

Not a fan of this.

The club has been in trouble for too long now and the response has been vanilla at best.

There's been no attempt to bring in talent from other clubs whilst there was both cap space and plenty of players that could and should have made way already.

Our inability to land the English deal (which would have cost nothing in terms of collateral) was a disgrace.

Then you have a host of players either on the fringe of their squad or even cut from the squad who we have made no decent attempt to bring in. The arrogance of this is seeing a bunch of players go on elsewhere and become Best 22 fixtures.

But we are stuck with below average fillers.

I also saw nothing over the summer to suggest the club was pushing elite standards in terms of preparation.

We need to deliver Allen on a platter to the highest bidder, send Harley off for a bevy of Round One picks and fill out about 20 redundant list spots in record time.

It's embarrassing getting handouts particularly when many of us could see this low point coming 5 years ago.

The club has done F ALL to arrest the slide...

 

[javaguice]

We wont get one.

The AFL dont care that we suck. We aren't a team they need to prop up.

They love that we suck. It means other markets Teams are performing better and likely to gain fans etc

The media outrage would be phenomenal. Everyone, except us, is loving our misery. They will help sustain it as long as possible.

Maybe if we reached the depths of North Melbourne....that wont happen for another couple of years.

 

[ziad]

We didn't.

nah we did

 

[ep2018]

Was it Phil or someone else that said the AFL told us last year if we sacked the coach and won 4 games or less we'd get something. We sacked Simmo and had North not blown a 13 point lead in 2 minutes we'd have likely gotten something last season. If we have a 4 win or less season and we ask surely we'd get something. Likely what North got a few years back.

 

[Dark Sharks]

It's mostly our own doing, sure. But not all of it. Either way it's no different to other clubs that have previously been given PP's.


Contributing factors not in the clubs control

- FA compo and compromised draft the year we get the spoon, with our second selection being pick 30 FFS. This can't be understated.

- Venables and Sheppard dead, concussion retirement.

- Piss weak NGA rules meaning we miss out on Collard, lack of time CAT B's can remain on your list.



Factors in WCE control

- Tim Kelly

11

Tim Kelly

Age

30

Ht

184cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

23.6

5star

K

13.5

5star

HB

10.1

5star

M

3.4

3star

T

4.0

5star

CL

4.9

5star

D

19.9

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

7.6

4star

M

3.1

3star

T

4.7

5star

CL

3.6

4star

D

21.6

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

11.2

5star

M

2.8

3star

T

3.8

5star

CL

3.8

5star

trade being the biggest backfire of all time.

- Long contracts given to injured players

- Absolute disgrace of a medical department for 3 seasons.

- Inability to read our list profile and commence our rebuild properly 2-3 years ago.

- Simpsons contract.

- First round busts Brander and Chesser

- Trading away/splitting our high draft picks

- The Beagles and WAFL development for our young players being a total disaster.

 

[Jumpoff Joey]

Doesnt matter what we did, the same can be said for North and GCS.

We are just as shit, the draft is compromised, we need help.

Simples.

 

[Doashuey]

No handouts please.

Problem is teams well above us on the ladder are getting hand outs via FS and academys and have been for years. We have no way of digging out of this hole without some equalisation.

 

[Doashuey]

Factors in WCE control

- Tim Kelly trade being the biggest backfire of all time

Was it really?
I know this has been discussed ad nauseum but where do you think we would currently sit had we not done this deal?
Kelly is clearly disenfranchised and a shell of a player atm but during the past few very tough years he has been our most consistant performing midfielder.
The selections taken from the picks we traded away have borne little fruit. I know we will never know who we would have taken but lets face it , whatever other clubs took would have more than likely been more astute selections than what ROB would have taken. Its highly unlikely he would have picked what few eyes there were out of those drafts based on his track record. Every chance that we have none of those players on our list now.
We payed a high price in "trade value" but not sure that we turn that trade value into anything worth more than 2 knobs of goat shit.

 

[BEagle22]

While I don't agree with PP, I think due to how compromised and unfair the draft has become west coast need some assistance.

The North PP hurt us and they received them when we were the ones to finish last.

And while the club is too blame for its downfall so is every other club in existence that's received priority picks.

Its hard to expect the club to rebuild when out second rounder at 19 turns into a pick in the 30s. Worse that we get to see our own nga prospects poached under our noses.

Give it two years and everyone will have forgotten about us receiving priority picks, I mean you hardly see anyone talk about the gold coast ones let alone the North ones.

At the very least we need 4 more rookie spots, to help develop some more talent and help out our wafl side.

 

[Scotland]

Doesnt matter what we did, the same can be said for North and GCS.

Same can be said for every club.

Do we need to go through all the things Melbourne did in the 2000s and 2010s again to end up as a 2 win 54% team?

 

[Scotland]

Was it really?
I know this has been discussed ad nauseum but where do you think we would currently sit had we not done this deal?
Kelly is clearly disenfranchised and a shell of a player atm but during the past few very tough years he has been our most consistant performing midfielder.
The selections taken from the picks we traded away have borne little fruit. I know we will never know who we would have taken but lets face it , whatever other clubs took would have more than likely been more astute selections than what ROB would have taken. Its highly unlikely he would have picked what few eyes there were out of those drafts based on his track record. Every chance that we have none of those players on our list now.
We payed a high price in "trade value" but not sure that we turn that trade value into anything worth more than 2 knobs of goat shit.

We finished 5th in 2020 and 9th in 2021 before all four wheels fell off.

If we don't do the Kelly trade we still finish around that mark and get criticised on not capitalising on our window.

 

[Doashuey]

We finished 5th in 2020 and 9th in 2021 before all four wheels fell off.

If we don't do the Kelly trade we still finish around that mark and get criticised on not capitalising on our window.

Agree.
The only thing not getting Kelly may have done is ensured we dropped away a bit faster and a bit lower, so could be argued we may have moved into full rebuild a year earlier..I doubt it though.

 

[Scotland]

Agree.
The only thing not getting Kelly may have done is ensured we dropped away a bit faster and a bit lower, so could be argued we may have moved into full rebuild a year earlier..I doubt it though.

Kelly doesn't make us better, he makes our best better.

Naitanui, Yeo, Shuey, Kelly is elite. Take out Kelly and replace with Sheed or Redden or whoever still very good. Take out of the first three, average.

 

[Quinz]

Gotta blow up the WAFL side before we do anything else. Grass roots movement.

 

[Doashuey]

Kelly doesn't make us better, he makes our best better.

Naitanui, Yeo, Shuey, Kelly is elite. Take out Kelly and replace with Sheed or Redden or whoever still very good. Take out of the first three, average.

I know what you are saying but he often battled away without NN Yeo and Shuey as they were perma injured. He was the difference between finishing on the ladder with a 58% rather than 50% and maybe an extra win. We probably have one more spoon in the cabinet without him.
Whatever the case, I dont think the Kelly deal broke the club like so many seem to think. It was just shit timing and I think part of why he is in the mental state he is now. He has copped a lot of flak for the decisions of others and has given his all in a lost cause for years. I think he is a broken man and I can see why.

 

[Altum Volantes]

I’d rather not, I hate the concept of handouts or anything that compromises a fair drafting system.

BUT

It’s not a fair drafting system is it?

So…you gotta do everything you can to get ahead I guess - especially when your club is in the mother of all holes.

What is like to see is the club actually use mechanisms like the Pre Season Draft to secure a decent player, if the opportunity is there to do so. It’s not the ‘done thing’ but why not? Good relations with other clubs? The ones that actively poach players and do everything they can to beat you?…

 

[Jumpoff Joey]

Same can be said for every club.

Do we need to go through all the things Melbourne did in the 2000s and 2010s again to end up as a 2 win 54% team?

Sorry mate, i assume you agree - revisiting what clubs did is neither here or there. They all received some form of assistance?

And for posts regarding picking up players via PSD, easier enough to do if a player is willing to do that. Its rare, it can be threated to get a trade done but it is rare for a player to burn bridge at a former club to leave via PSD.

So that leaves the AFL to support this club either by giving additional picks or by providing soft cap relief. There is no other way.

**I premise this by if this bullshit continues Pyke really needs to do organise an external review, its been long enough and need NON WCE football minds to make sure we are getting the very best out of every facet of the club.

 

[WCE_phil]

Club softly applied last year.

Being shit at WAFL level as well as AFL level helps the clubs cause. Can show that not only is the club not performing at AFL level but is woefully shit at tier 2 level as well.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Have to agree with the talk shows. We should have split our high picks for more young talent.

Wait we did that in 2022.

Uh, should have taken elite talent when we had the chance.

Wait, we did that in 2023.

Army of kids is all well and good but how about using a high pick creatively to add to the list in multiple ways.

Bugger, we did that too.

Priority picks shouldn’t exist, but it’s funny that North gutting their list deliberately and embracing the tank didn’t get the “they did it to themselves” treatment like this. When we take the kid, they say we should have split. When we split, we did it for old guys which is dumb. When we split for multiple kids, how can we thumb our nose at top picks like that?

I’m old enough to remember when the same panellists were saying we tanked the game vs Essendon to ensure we could get Harley, as though we’re good enough to dictate terms now.

 

[quackish]

The talking heads in the media don’t have enough brain cells collectively to count on two hands.

First it’s we shouldn’t give contracts to injurred players.

Then it’s about how we shouldn’t have traded Barrass.

Now it’s all about how Harley should go home, but also you guys are so shit, why don’t you guys care about each other.

Even back in the day. We kept injured players on contracts because what else are we meant to do with them. We have to spend the ****ing money, and we can’t trade them because they’re injury prone. We would have thought they would get over their injuries and play consistent footy again.

I also assume we didn’t want to end up like north, because north culled all their players and we know how that’s still going.

We literally can’t win until we go undefeated with a team of all WA players. Then they’ll finally stop endlessly criticising us. But neither of those thing will happen.

 

[Balls In]

We are the biggest sporting club in Australia and if we weren't based in WA this situation would have already been fixed. Unfortunately WA pumps massive revenue and playing stocks into AFL and as long as 40,000+ people keep rocking up week in week out watching an F grade product nothing will change.

 

[Spange]

Gotta blow up the WAFL side before we do anything else. Grass roots movement.

Was discussing this with wifey before regarding our child’s wabl team and domestic alliance. The domestic team quality is weak, lack of quality coming into the league and it doesn’t push the wabl aligned team competition for spots.

We need to fix our wafl team and alliance pronto.