Team Mgmt. Talk about the makeup of our list - midfield balance, height profile, endurance runners

[MAAAATTDAAAAMON]

I think the number one consideration should be marking ability . Small , medium or tall. Simply need to find some player who can take a mark.

Kicking at goal would be nice too. Hopefully Townsend’s ability to kick it straight continues.

 

[boncer34]

Agree.Would also be a very poor look to start cutting the bottom end of the list so the top end can keep earning $600k plus. Talk around the NRL is that this will be the wage correction that is needed since the Super League war inflated the wage bill. In all honesty does anyone really need to be making over $600,000 to play footy ?

Certainly not in Australia. I've heard the "we'll lose them to other sports" argument a few times. My question is which sports? If they're good enough to be overseas playing a different code is that $1m they can potentially earn here gonna ever be enough to keep them?

 

[yodellinhank]

Certainly not in Australia. I've heard the "we'll lose them to other sports" argument a few times. My question is which sports? If they're good enough to be overseas playing a different code is that $1m they can potentially earn here gonna ever be enough to keep them?

Cricket is probably in the argument. Footy took the players for most of my life, with cricket only offering big bucks for the elite squad. T20 has changed the landscape a bit in that regard.

 

[TheGrizz]

Jimmy Bartel, Caroline Wilson and Jake Niall have all stated that a list size of 35 is being thrown around.

That is - surely - far too skinny to actually be workable.
A maximum of 40 with no cat A rookie list is better in my opinion (keep Cat B rookie lists).

 

[eth-dog]

Jimmy Bartel, Caroline Wilson and Jake Niall have all stated that a list size of 35 is being thrown around.

That is - surely - far too skinny to actually be workable.
A maximum of 40 with no cat A rookie list is better in my opinion (keep Cat B rookie lists).

35 is too small.

 

[Knox Harrington]

Can't have a list of 35.
It's too small as everyone else has pointed out.
AFL also can't keep raiding lower comp sides mid season. It's not fair on them when they are run mainly by volunteers and sponsors to lose their best players mid season

 

[BrunoV]

How has the AFL PA not already gone to war over the idea of reduced list sizes?






Oh yeah, it's because the PA is a waste of time.





Like everything else it seems to do, it's very good at looking after the top end.

 

[ant555]

How has the AFL PA not already gone to war over the idea of reduced list sizes?






Oh yeah, it's because the PA is a waste of time.





Like everything else it seems to do, it's very good at looking after the top end.

Pretty much correct.

Cut the bottom end. 5 players on maybe $200k ave and 5 rookies on $75k to save under $1,500,000 rather than capping the top end at $600k and saving around $4,000,000.

 

[eth-dog]

Gonna bump this thread. How do we see our back line structuring up against Sydney? Who takes Buddy? Who takes Heeney? Assuming they have those two plus Sam Gray, Reid/McCartin, Blakey and Papley I'd like to see:

Ambrose - Franklin
Hurley - Heeney
Francis - Reid/McCartin
Ridley - Blakey
Redman - Gray
Saad - Papley

It's a tough forward line to match up on. You probably need the extra medium rather than small so you don't get caught with Ridley on Reid or something like that.

 

[CBombers17]

Gonna bump this thread. How do we see our back line structuring up against Sydney? Who takes Buddy? Who takes Heeney? Assuming they have those two plus Sam Gray, Reid/McCartin, Blakey and Papley I'd like to see:

Ambrose - Franklin
Hurley - Heeney
Francis - Reid/McCartin
Ridley - Blakey
Redman - Gray
Saad - Papley

It's a tough forward line to match up on. You probably need the extra medium rather than small so you don't get caught with Ridley on Reid or something like that.

Are you dropping Zerk or is he injured?

 

[eth-dog]

Are you dropping Zerk or is he injured?

I don't want to but we have all our defenders available

 

[CBombers17]

I don't want to but we have all our defenders available

You would think he needs to be playing senior football as much as possible soon but its a good problem to have.

The other question is will Zaka get another go on the half back flank? I didn't get to see us Play in round 1 but it his performance didn't get reviewed well on here...

 

[eth-dog]

You would think he needs to be playing senior football as much as possible soon but its a good problem to have.

The other question is will Zaka get another go on the half back flank? I didn't get to see us Play in round 1 but it his performance didn't get reviewed well on here...

He played on a wing. And sucked.

 

[owen87]

He played on a wing. And sucked.

I'd almost rather see Ham on the wing instead. I just worry he's not yet physically ready enough. But I think he's certainly a more natural wingman than Zaharakis.

 

[eth-dog]

I'd almost rather see Ham on the wing instead. I just worry he's not yet physically ready enough. But I think he's certainly a more natural wingman than Zaharakis.

Ideally I'd add Hibberd and move one of our smaller mids on the outside (most likely McGrath).

Ham is probably the closest thing to a natural wing apart from Stanton since the early 2000's. If you look at the attributes of what you want from a wing:

- 360 degree player
- Pure running power
- Good kick
- Kicks goals (averaged a goal/game in the VFL last year)
- Accumulates the ball

He has all of that. However we're getting off track, this is the defensive structures thread

 

[owen87]

Ideally I'd add Hibberd and move one of our smaller mids on the outside (most likely McGrath).

Ham is probably the closest thing to a natural wing apart from Stanton since the early 2000's. If you look at the attributes of what you want from a wing:

- 360 degree player
- Pure running power
- Good kick
- Kicks goals (averaged a goal/game in the VFL last year)
- Accumulates the ball

He has all of that. However we're getting off track, this is the defensive structures thread

The wing is arguably part of your defensive and offensive units these days, they work back to create a release player and apply pressure on the offensive ball carrier meaning our zone structure is harder to pick apart.

Not completely off topic... just mostly!

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Ham has shown great defensive instincts as well. When he was playing last year I thought opposition teams were having to switch a lot more out of defence.

 

[owen87]

Ham has shown great defensive instincts as well. When he was playing last year I thought opposition teams were having to switch a lot more out of defence.

Hopefully he can reach Nick Maxwell level of guarding grass.

 

[Bombers36]

Our list needs an overhaul. What our list screams of right now is a glut of key position defenders, multiple classy half back flankers & half forward flankers/small forwards - we have all these areas well covered.
But what we dont have is a star mid, top shelf key forward or gun ruck. The sooner we can balance out the list and develop or bring in a star mid, top shelf key forward or gun ruck the sooner we'll start pushing for top 4...

 

[eth-dog]

Our list needs an overhaul. What our list screams of right now is a glut of key position defenders, multiple classy half back flankers & half forward flankers/small forwards - we have all these areas well covered.
But what we dont have is a star mid, top shelf key forward or gun ruck. The sooner we can balance out the list and develop or bring in a star mid, top shelf key forward or gun ruck the sooner we'll start pushing for top 4...

Yes because Soldo, Nankervis, Lycett, Vardy, Roughead, McEvoy, Hale, Ceglar, Trent West are all superstar rucks. A mid tier ruck is all you need for a flag. The best would be nice but it's not a game changer.

 

[Bombers36]

Yes because Soldo, Nankervis, Lycett, Vardy, Roughead, McEvoy, Hale, Ceglar, Trent West are all superstar rucks. A mid tier ruck is all you need for a flag. The best would be nice but it's not a game changer.

With the exception of the Tigers rucks have been a big factor in the last few flags...
When the Hawks won 3 in a row from 2013 - 2015 they played 2 rucks...Hale, Baily and/or McEvoy
in 2016 when the Dogs won the flag Boyd should have won the norm smith...
in 2018 when the Weagles won it the also had 2 rucks - Vardy & Lycett...

Even this year with the exception of the Tigers all the more favored sides have top ruckman - WCoast - Nic Nat, GWS Jacobs & Collingwood Grundy.

I'd say your completely underestimating the value of a top class ruckman...

 

[eth-dog]

With the exception of the Tigers rucks have been a big factor in the last few flags...
When the Hawks won 3 in a row from 2013 - 2015 they played 2 rucks...Hale, Baily and/or McEvoy
in 2016 when the Dogs won the flag Boyd should have won the norm smith...
in 2018 when the Weagles won it the also had 2 rucks - Vardy & Lycett...

Even this year with the exception of the Tigers all the more favored sides have top ruckman - WCoast - Nic Nat, GWS Jacobs & Collingwood Grundy.

I'd say your completely underestimating the value of a top class ruckman...

I think you're overselling their quality.

Hale, Bailey, McEvoy, Boyd, Roughead, Vardy and Lycett aren't exactly top tier rucks. They're good, solid rucks for the most part, don't get me wrong, but none of them would have been in the top 5 rucks of that particular year. And current Jacobs is nowhere near the level of Jacobs of 3 years ago.

 

[ghostdog]

Our list needs an overhaul. What our list screams of right now is a glut of key position defenders, multiple classy half back flankers & half forward flankers/small forwards - we have all these areas well covered.
But what we dont have is a star mid, top shelf key forward or gun ruck. The sooner we can balance out the list and develop or bring in a star mid, top shelf key forward or gun ruck the sooner we'll start pushing for top 4...

I think the club believes Draper will be that ruckman. They resigned him to an extensive contract, while injured, when he hadn't played a senior game. That's fairly confident he's a gun I think.

A quality inside mid and a key forward I agree with.

 

[ant555]

With the exception of the Tigers rucks have been a big factor in the last few flags...
When the Hawks won 3 in a row from 2013 - 2015 they played 2 rucks...Hale, Baily and/or McEvoy
in 2016 when the Dogs won the flag Boyd should have won the norm smith...
in 2018 when the Weagles won it the also had 2 rucks - Vardy & Lycett...

Even this year with the exception of the Tigers all the more favored sides have top ruckman - WCoast - Nic Nat, GWS Jacobs & Collingwood Grundy.

I'd say your completely underestimating the value of a top class ruckman...

Would only say that of all the rucks mentioned in the flag winning sides you would only call McEvoy A grade at a stretch. The rest where B grade rucks. What you need is two or 3 good rucks on your list. We have had 1 good ruck and he gets injured a lot.

 

[CBombers17]

Personally, hearing Dodoro excitedly spruik a possible future trend towards "hybrid players" in his interview confirmed everything for me.

The guy is stuck in some delusion that 5 Justin Blumfields will win you a flag in the modern era (and continues to draft accordingly) - armed with a bag full of 'near miss' excuses for our mediocrity.