Rumour Speculation, Rumours, Lies Thread 2025 - Part 2

[WaynesWorld19]

You remember we did go 18-5, we beat the eventual premiers, we also beat the two teams who we lost to in the finals.

We also went the back end of the year without a key cog in defence and our most prolific small forward, we lost our best player for the finals after a disaster of a media circus that zapped every ounce of energy out of the club.

It’s not all panic stations yet my man, our kids are good, our leaders are good, our backline is top 4 and our forward line (fit) is top 4 in the comp, so we need to get some work done and natural progression through the midfield with Draper and Curtin, then add in Brisbane’s Mr Fixit as well and then just need our coaches to figure out a couple of Plan B’s and C’s and I think we’ll be alright

GreyCrow believes not going from 15th to Premiership, is an abject failure of the Club & Coaches ......wipe them all out & start again

The same people who said after the 2024 season, the rebuild was a failure, and EVERY senior Club Official needed to be cleared out ......not terribly smart of these characters

 

[GreyCrow]

You remember we did go 18-5, we beat the eventual premiers, we also beat the two teams who we lost to in the finals.

I do remember . I also remember the shit the bed games we played in finals because our player management - which many of us foresaw - was poor.

We also went the back end of the year without a key cog in defence and our most prolific small forward, we lost our best player for the finals after a disaster of a media circus that zapped every ounce of energy out of the club.

Who was the key cog in defence?

It’s not all panic stations yet my man, our kids are good, our leaders are good, our backline is top 4 and our forward line (fit) is top 4 in the comp, so we need to get some work done and natural progression through the midfield with Draper and Curtin, then add in Brisbane’s Mr Fixit as well and then just need our coaches to figure out a couple of Plan B’s and C’s and I think we’ll be alright

Expecting the coaches to come up with Plan B or C is insanity. Its Plan A F1 style

 

[Slim258]

I do remember . I also remember the shit the bed games we played in finals because our player management - which many of us foresaw - was poor.

Who was the key cog in defence?

Expecting the coaches to come up with Plan B or C is insanity. Its Plan A F1 style

Michalanney

 

[Thrillthorpe7]

I was also talking coaching group.

But you were crying '' oh look he has more ice cream than me ''

Control what you can control. We can control who we have as coaches. We can control how we develop our players. We can control who we pick each week.

And if you read back I have given credit to the club for all of these . Happy we took the swing.

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.

 

[Scorpus]

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

Bit of a negative read on what I posted, are you sure you aren't the pessimistic one?

My take is that we have lots of midfield talent. How is that a negative thing? I'm saying we actually do have the talent on our list, right now, and that this trade period should not be a fail if we can't bring in an experienced midfielder

The problem as I see it is that there is no evidence we are able to develop midfield talent into top-end AFL quality

Don't just predict the future and hope the talents we have will become AFL stars. Actually look at the evidence. You will see there is no evidence we are able to take a draftee (top end or otherwise) and make them an elite (or even very good) AFL midfielder in recent history. Any possibility of that is a projection or prediction, not a proven fact.

We need a trade period for coaches, not players, to take the club to the next level

 

[bigman]

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.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

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.

This is how the average footy supporter is ......downhearted after bowing out in Finals ....but then optimistic coming to each game & a new season

If people can't see the upside in the Crows list, then no amount of rhetoric will change the mind of negative personalities .......such a waste

 

[CrowinNT]

Motherhood statement .....says nothing

So you're saying, we don't develop players .....we don't have any good coaches ....when was the last training session you ever went to

Here's a guess .....none !

You have zero idea what happens behind the scenes, stop pretending you do

Stop being so agressive WW no need to abuse posters

 

[Scorpus]

This is how the average footy supporter is ......downhearted after bowing out in Finals ....but then optimistic coming to each game & a new season

If people can't see the upside in the Crows list, then no amount of rhetoric will change the mind of negative personalities .......such a waste

This is a weird thing to post after having a go at me for "being negative" when I pointed out... the talent and upside in the list (that is being held back by coaching)

 

[crow2crow]

GreyCrow believes not going from 15th to Premiership, is an abject failure of the Club & Coaches ......wipe them all out & start again

The same people who said after the 2024 season, the rebuild was a failure, and EVERY senior Club Official needed to be cleared out ......not terribly smart of these characters

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.

 

[skam85]

I'm wondering if we have a look at the DFA market ala Keays and Hinge

 

[George CantStandYa]

Is Nicks the Head of Development now as well?

You don’t think Nicks has a say in which position players are selected and developed? Or who he gives midfield minutes to in the AFL?

 

[Slim258]

You don’t think Nicks has a say in which position players are selected and developed? Or who he gives midfield minutes to in the AFL?

There’s a big difference between match day game plan and development

 

[George CantStandYa]

There’s a big difference between match day game plan and development

Game plan isn’t the same as selection, why you bringing gameplan into it?

Do you think Nicks has a say where his players are selected in the SANFL and AFL?

 

[Slim258]

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.

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

 

[Fud#3]

I'm wondering if we have a look at the DFA market ala Keays and Hinge

George Stevens perhaps

 

[Slim258]

Game plan isn’t the same as selection, why you bringing gameplan into it?

Do you think Nicks has a say where his players are selected in the SANFL and AFL?

Your talking about match day midfield minutes, which is buy and large considered ‘the game plan’

 

[GreyCrow]

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 think we slide

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Bit of a negative read on what I posted, are you sure you aren't the pessimistic one?

My take is that we have lots of midfield talent. How is that a negative thing? I'm saying we actually do have the talent on our list, right now, and that this trade period should not be a fail if we can't bring in an experienced midfielder

The problem as I see it is that there is no evidence we are able to develop midfield talent into top-end AFL quality

Don't just predict the future and hope the talents we have will become AFL stars. Actually look at the evidence. You will see there is no evidence we are able to take a draftee (top end or otherwise) and make them an elite (or even very good) AFL midfielder in recent history. Any possibility of that is a projection or prediction, not a proven fact.

We need a trade period for coaches, not players, to take the club to the next level

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

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

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

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

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 .....

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

 

[Hodgy]

Was only thinking this morning
Who is the gun pure midfielder we have recruited since Danger ?
Absolutely none

You don’t think Dawson is a gun?

 

[Coopers]

Honestly, I think the "trade in some more midfielders" plan is just papering over the cracks

The players we were rumored to target all had significant flaws to the deal. Petracca's age and massive contract, Steele is cooked, Oliver is maybe cooked (physically and mentally), Sanders is inexperienced

We have enough midfielders on the list, we're just not getting enough out of them. The sum of the parts we have is operating below peak capacity by a large amount.

The reason we think we need to trade in midfielders is because we have failed to develop ours. That's what needed fixing. Those players listed above are stopgaps at best and not a long term solution. We only need to trade in because we can't develop them at the club.

A new set of midfield structures, new coaches, new development coaches. That's a lot more disappointing than the trade situation.

We should be developing our side towards a 2027 peak with four elite midfielders (Dawson, Rankine, Draper, Curtin) and some solid complementary pieces (Soligo, Peatling, Edwards, etc.). A multi All Australian in there, a potential All Australian mid forward, a top 5 draft pick, and a top 10 draft pick. That sounds like a fantastic set of building blocks.

But our coaches suck

That's a classic all time rant.

Someone frame this and put it up outside the club.

 

[BRL121]

You don’t think Dawson is a gun?

He wasn't recruited as a mid.

 

[jackster83]

I think we slide

5-8 range IMO.

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

 

[George CantStandYa]

Your talking about match day midfield minutes, which is buy and large considered ‘the game plan’

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.

 

[Crow till I die]

5-8 range IMO.

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

Our season next year will be almost completely defined by how we retool the midfield. If its not via trade, then as we have speculated, Draper, Curtin, Rachele, Rankine need to be there almost full time with Dawson in my opinion as thats our highest talent players all in the middle. IF it works, then the sky is the limit. if not, we better have a big plan B come trade time next year.