Rumour Speculation, Rumours, Lies Thread 2025 - Part 2

[Scorpus]

a) you have no idea how a Coach performs ......so it's a crap argument, only people within the environment can assess .....same as in any work environment .....outsiders are guessing, and more often than not are wrong

The output of the team is evidence.

Outsiders of any company can judge that company and its leadership on their output

b) No, your arguments over the journey, has always been negative on player drafting .....however, to say we have midfield talent, but then not factor in age / experience / fitness, in why a player may not be playing FT mid within their first 2 years ....is where I know you lack a feel for the game

Chayce Jones is a 7th year player, Schoenberg 6 years and delisted, Pedlar is a 5th year player, Berry 5th year; Rachele, Soligo and Taylor all into their 4th year.

c) Did we not develop Dawson as a MID ? ......Rankine ?

We didn't draft either of them. I have no idea how much influence Sydney and Gold Coast had on their development.

Players drafted by Adelaide were exclusively developed for AFL by Adelaide

To say we have no ability to develop a MID, which is simply a stupid statement .....given the Clubs rich history of Mids, Goodwin, Roo, Macleod, Edwards, Thompson, Laird, Dawson

"Recent history"

Supporters who feel Draper could & should be matching it with the likes of Bontempelli, Treloar, Libba, and Richards in his first year .....just mindboggling
One's 19 yo ....the others predominantly 10 years and 200+ games more experience, size and fitness

Richards, the overnight Midfield sensation ....only made the FT move into the midfield in his 8th season
Sheezel, into the Mids, in his 3rd season .....

Nowhere did I say he should be matching it with the best players in the AFL in his first year. I said our list has a lot of high end midfield talent and there is no evidence we can develop those players into AFL quality midfielders.

You're the one who predicts, without any evidence ....that Dowling and Edwards are surefire AFL Mids ....where's that evidence?

I didn't predict that. I merely stated that Edwards is a first round player selected as a midfielder, which adds to the midfield talent already on our list.

 

[jbanger]

whatever happened to Silvers and his huff and puff about being ultra aggressive this trade period?

Too much whining and dining.

 

[GreyCrow]

5-8 range IMO.

Ah Chee is more icing but we need more cake to really trouble the top sides.

Thats my range also

Depends on fixture now

 

[George CantStandYa]

The output of the team is evidence



Chayce Jones is a 7th year player, Schoenberg 6 years and delisted, Pedlar is a 5th year player, Berry 5th year; Rachele, Soligo and Taylor all into their 4th year.



We didn't draft either of them. I have no idea how much influence Sydney and Gold Coast had on their development.

Players drafted by Adelaide were exclusively developed for AFL by Adelaide



"Recent history"



Nowhere did I say he should be matching it with the best players in the AFL in his first year. I said our list has a lot of high end midfield talent and there is no evidence we can develop those players into AFL quality midfielders.



I didn't predict that. I merely stated that Edwards is a first round player selected as a midfielder, which adds to the midfield talent already on our list.

I had to laugh at the midfielders he named as who we’ve developed, some from the 1990s

 

[GreyCrow]

Thoughts on Godden by WWT supporters? Eagleboy2011

 

[Coopers]

Look, you really don't have much feel for the game ....

B4 posting the above players, how about also adding their age & experience .....what you are implying is Draper is a failed pick, because he didn't show a lot in year 1 ......where the lack of "feel for the game" comes in, is you completely discount Draper's injury history

Why are you talking Rankine ....dramatic mayonnaise ......he was leading our B&F for a large part of the season .....when Rachelle got injured (which you also dismiss in your argument) .....Rankine played fwd more for two reasons a) to manage him b) to cover the small fwd role for Rachelle's injury

Curtin almost wins the Rising Star in his 2nd year .....but you claim he's not being developed as a MID .....yet he's played important patches of games as a MID this year, and will get more next year ......year 3 as a Mid, is not a Club either holding him back or not developing him

But such is your anti-Club .....or should I say your pessimistic outlook on life .....that you can only see the downside of every situation

It's not about failed picks (all those guys are pretty good), it's about the fact that they were supposed to be midfielders and most of them now aren't.

Like... why can't we draft mids that become mids?

 

[SugarShane]

The AFL need to go back to a 1 week trade week, they're losing fan interest by dragging it out and making it more boring than it needs to be.

Yeah but how many more continental tyres ads are they selling?

 

[WaynesWorld19]

I just did the member survey. I still gave the season a 9/10 despite the pitiful finals I think you do need to look at where we came from.

We still have a very young list .....and a young underbelly

It's why the inclusion of Cumming, Peatling, and ANB added so much experience & depth .....but it's time for some of those young 2-3 season players to take the next step in 2026

 

[jackster83]

Thats my range also

Depends on fixture now

I mean it's not a big drop off given how close the top 9 were all season.

There is still potential for improvement also. A lot hinges on the coaches.

 

[All_In]

I wonder if Jars is referring to Will Day?

 

[Mutineer]

Couple of things:

Not sure what Port are trying to achieve with their list. They just delisted a bunch of list cloggers only to refill the squad with more (Wehr, Brodie, Durdin) not to mention they kept all three mid season picks, a mechanism which is very hit or miss (and Liddy is already a list clogger).

In my view they should’ve tried to get some of the young SA talent this year. It’s not a strong draft, but there are a number of draftable locals.

The other is Carlton. If they lose Curnow, to go with TDK and Silvagni - not to mention Cripps close to hitting 31 and Newman 33 - they are officially in rebuild stage. So why go for Ainsworth? He’s a role player who is in his prime now, not in four years when they need him.

They’ve actually got a chance of a strong rebuild - Jagga is a star, they get Dean this year and Walker the next which is pure luck. Take advantage of it rather than trying to salvage a failure.

I have it from a genuine excellent source Cody Walker's brother Arli is even better than Cody was at 14 so they have him coming down the pipeline as well in a few years, suited up 8 times for Echuca U15's for 8 B.O.G.'s in the Goulbourn Murray Junior League this season where so many topline AFL players have come from, also a representative level basketballer.

 

[Hodgy]

You quoted a post talking about player movements, it had nothing to do with coaches. I'm very optimistic next year that after adding in Ah Chee and seeing further growth in Curtin and Draper, while also getting back our Rankine/Rachele duo, we can push for a prelim.

I'm not crying about anything, I can't wait for next season.

I’m with you. This year was one of my favorite ever years watching this team and I see no reason that we aren’t entering a fantastic era. I’m really not sure why everyone suddenly sees our midfield as being so weak, 2 years ago absolutely, but now we have a really exciting young group.

Dawson and Rankine are elite, and Izak will be even better with another pre season learning the craft. Curtain looks like being a genuine A grade star in there and we have a pick 4 in Draper that in 2 or 3 years should also be an A grader. He was clearly not physically ready this year to make the jump so I totally back the way we handled him. Then you can throw in Soligo as your 5th or 6th option and cameos from Rachelle and Michalaney who both have so much upside and then potentially a Phillipou or Cummings this year. Add to that the very real possibility of bring in Zac Bailey next year (who I know we are very confident of luring) and this could easily be the best midfield in the comp in 2 years.

The problem we have is clearly ruck though. ROB was so poor in the finals that I have to believe he was injured, as he never gave our understrength midfield a chance. If he wasn’t, then I think we need to try Murray or McAndrew and liberate Tillthorpe more from forward where he can get more involved.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

It's not about failed picks (all those guys are pretty good), it's about the fact that they were supposed to be midfielders and most of them now aren't.

Like... why can't we draft mids that become mids?

My banging on yesterday about this .....which Top 10 midfielders played in the midfield in 2025 .....none

Langford got some minutes late in the season .....but he's a strong body and could take the buffeting ....he did spend most of the season on the HFF

FOS - No
Lalor - 90% fwd
Lombard - No
Murphy Reid - No
Ashcroft - replicated Langford's late season

Midfield is the hardest position these days .....two-way running is a non-negotiable, meaning you have to be super-fit ....your positioning spot on, with no concentration lapses (hard for young kids) .....and physically the average AFL midfielder, they're much bigger than kids

You just need to be patient .....Sheezel was year 3

 

[Hodgy]

He wasn't recruited as a mid.

What’s that got to do with it. He’s a gun midfielder that we recruited isn’t he?

 

[bigman]

I have it from a genuine excellent source Cody Walker's brother Arli is even better than Cody was at 14 so they have him coming down the pipeline as well in a few years, suited up 8 times for Echuca U15's for 8 B.O.G.'s in the Goulbourn Murray Junior League this season where so many topline AFL players have come from, also a representative level basketballer.

Even more reason for them to reinvent their list then.

Of course, selling to their supporters that they need another rebuild, after only making a single prelim with the last one, will be…difficult.

 

[Eagleboy2011]

Thoughts on Godden by WWT supporters? Eagleboy2011

Not sure why the tag.
I always rated Godden, but he always disappointed at the big dance. Lots of top juniors came and went on to AFL careers through the club. Development was always a priority.

 

[Thrillthorpe7]

This.

And yeah we did SFA this offseason but remember we had 5 AA squad members, 4 of which are under 26, plus Rach who was putting up AA numbers before his two injuries

I don't consider bringing in Ah Chee as SFA but I do agree we have enough talent on the list to improve next year, it just needs to be better managed so it's in top condition come finals. Curtin is the biggest wildcard for me and if his progression this year is anything to by, he will be an even bigger weapon for us in 2026.

 

[Eagleboy2011]

We still have a very young list .....and a young underbelly

It's why the inclusion of Cumming, Peatling, and ANB added so much experience & depth .....but it's time for some of those young 2-3 season players to take the next step in 2026

They are there waiting, but not getting call-ups.

 

[Slim258]

Oh boy, we’ve got a live one here.

No, the coach selects players to play the game plan. He makes a decision on who he wants in the midfield. This would start at SANFL level as he would want them to be options in the AFL midfield if he considered them midfielders.

You’re posting is all gusto but your opinions don’t back it up.

Interesting take, but I’m going to try and get us back on track, because it looks like you’ve gone elsewhere.

When have the Crows ever played a kid out of the draft straight into the midfield? When has Nicks?
Do you think that Draper learning multiple roles in the twos is not beneficial to his development?

You’re talking about Nicks being the head of development here, and I’m talking about game plan strategy, which do work hand in hand.

 

[Thrillthorpe7]

I think we slide

Fair enough but I do think they will surprise you in a positive way

 

[Mostyn]

Crows: Hello, Is this Will Days Manager? I was enquiring about his....
Will Days Manager:

Considering it's unclear to what level he'll play football in the future, I'm sure he'd at least take the call from ANY interested club

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Nowhere did I say he should be matching it with the best players in the AFL in his first year. I said our list has a lot of high end midfield talent and there is no evidence we can develop those players into AFL quality midfielders.

In other words, you're writing Draper, Edwards, Dowling & others off .....because you're saying we can't develop midfielders

Poor Curtin, written off in his 2nd year by Scorpus

 

[bigman]

Considering it's unclear to what level he'll play football in the future, I'm sure he'd at least take the call from ANY interested club

He loves the Hawks and living in Melbourne. Will be a fairly long wait, if ever.

 

[GreyCrow]

Not sure why the tag.

Because of your insight as a supporter through the Godden years

I always rated Godden, but he always disappointed at the big dance.

Cheers. Why do you think he stumbled at the last hurdle?

Lots of top juniors came and went on to AFL careers through the club. Development was always a priority.

Interesting given the current narrative. Thanks

 

[Mutineer]

He wasn't recruited as a mid.

I thought that was one of our selling points that he'd get midfield minutes at the Crows he wasn't going to get at the Swans?