Opinion The Great Roo Cull - 4 years on. How do you feel now?

[Marstermind]

Yep.

I reckon anyway.

There were some close games we lost that year that his experience and composure might have helped us win.

He was a match winning player and was still playing games where he'd kick multiple goals at vital points to bring us into the game or on to a win in his last two seasons.

Still doesn't wash with me. We were 1-5 in games decided by under a goal in 2017. Although 3 of the losses were in the first 5 weeks, and a couple of those being turned into wins maybe could have kick-started some confidence for the whole year. Even at 4-2 in those games, we'd have gone up the ladder by 1 spot, maybe 2. And maybe not getting LDU, we'd have got Stephenson, or Naughton. Lots of maybes in all that but whatever way you look at it, the decision and its subsequent handling was a black mark against the club at the time.

 

[DuckYeah]

It's probably a winner if expected development goes to plan.

You eventually have to rebuild through the draft anyway, otherwise you're eternally treading water like post 2011 Geelong & post 2015 Hawthorn.

Not sure keeping Boomer would have projected us any higher anyway.. he was done as a mid.. his only place was as a small forward, he’d probably still be playing if we kept him.. would have been a very good small forward and you’d trust him to put it through on your life

 

[ferball]

Still doesn't wash with me. We were 1-5 in games decided by under a goal in 2017. Although 3 of the losses were in the first 5 weeks, and a couple of those being turned into wins maybe could have kick-started some confidence for the whole year. Even at 4-2 in those games, we'd have gone up the ladder by 1 spot, maybe 2. And maybe not getting LDU, we'd have got Stephenson, or Naughton. Lots of maybes in all that but whatever way you look at it, the decision and its subsequent handling was a black mark against the club at the time.

I wouldn't have said sacking Harvey was justified by getting LDU. And I didn't.

But as you say it was a poor decision and a black mark against the club - for mine because we wrung the dollars out of him then dumped him in a s**t show. (And to his credit he's still here with us.)

Naughton ... Could be good. In fact could be a great KPP.. but I dunno if Stephenson would have provided as much value as him two years later.

I've only been watching last years games, and except for the Dogs game only the games Scamper coached. But I'm thinking of watching the first Brions game just to watch LDU again. That was his best game, if we'd won and he'd kicked a goal or two could have won the Rising Star. He is a gun, and I'm even more bullish about him after watching last seasons games again. He could have a year like Jy this year and we'd all be drooling.

I doubt we'd have got him with Boomer playing and we may be glad for that in 10 years but I still think it was poorly handled and it's not a decision I would have made.

The close games were against Freo and Doggies twice, GODees, and Geelong. The Cats and one Dogs game were decided by a point.

 

[ferball]

...so we could have got above Freo even if we only beat them once. Another two wins and we'd have been equal with Pies on points but probably below on %. If not then I doubt LDU or Stephensen would have been there by our pick.

(Went early, oops.)

 

[Heaps of fun]

The only possible reason I can think of that led the decision making in delisting Boomer was salary cap restrcitions. Perhaps we weighed up his age and what he was asking for and decided financially it wasn't worth it in order to invest in the future.

However if it came down to money, I am sure he would have taken a paycut.

Freed up the cap space which enabled us to add Dusty and Kelly. Thanks for the service Boom Boom but these two studs are going to bring us a dynasty!

 

[Nutjob]

Educate me on the ‘letting Boomer go helped net LDU’ angle.

Is it as simple as keepingBoomer would have seen us finish higher, hence without the draft pick?

Hrovat played every game in 2017 and we had a lot of close losses. Nothing against Hrovat, but if you swap him for a champion still playing great footy, it could have potentially swayed some of those close losses.

I don’t have a problem with the club going with a Hrovat and other youngsters in the hope they would make it. If we stuck with boomer and other older players, we would have ended up middle of the road at best.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Nutjob]

I would have preferred to keep Harvey on the list for another two years, he still had plenty of good footy left in him and he really deserved to go out on his own terms. The other 3 were cooked, especially Spud.

We wasted plenty of list spots in 2017/18 on the likes of Watson, Williams, Junker, Taylor, Fordham, Mullett and Wagner.

Imagine if we kept Boomer and passed on blokes like Larkey and Zurharr. They were both picked up late in the 2016 draft and through the rookie draft respectively.
I guess you can look at it in two ways, the spots boomer could have filled, but also the spot he opened up.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Zondor]

Imagine if we kept Boomer and passed on blokes like Larkey and Zurharr. They were both picked up late in the 2016 draft and through the rookie draft respectively.
I guess you can look at it in two ways, the spots boomer could have filled, but also the spot he opened up.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Ease Up. Just don’t recruiting Hrovat. That’s all. Bob’s your Uncle and Fred Fanny is your Aunt. Best of both worlds. :stern look

 

[Nutjob]

Ease Up. Just don’t recruiting Hrovat. That’s all. Bob’s your Uncle and Fred Fanny is your Aunt. Best of both worlds. :stern look

I don’t think there were too many people upset that we got Hrovat for next to nothing. It’s even more ironic that people on here were calling him the next Boomer.

There were a lot more people whinging that we got Pittard and Williams at the time and they have turned out more than serviceable to date.

I guess it’s all pretty easy with hindsight.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Zondor]

I don’t think there were too many people upset that we got Hrovat for next to nothing. It’s even more ironic that people on here were calling him the next Boomer.

There were a lot more people whinging that we got Pittard and Williams at the time and they have turned out more than serviceable to date.

I guess it’s all pretty easy with hindsight.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Well that’s because you’re reading the thoughts of a bunch of bananas. If you asked me or most others at the time, who would you rather have? Harvey or Hrovat? What do you think the answer would’ve been? A stupid decision is a stupid decision and Scotts and Joyces made a stupid decision. :stern look

 

[Nutjob]

Well that’s because you’re reading the thoughts of a bunch of bananas. If you asked me or most others at the time, who would you rather have? Harvey or Hrovat? What do you think the answer would’ve been? A stupid decision is a stupid decision and Scotts and Joyces made a stupid decision. :stern look

Harvey no doubt would have been the best option for 2017, but I guess the club was looking further down the track than 2017.
Would we have been a contender with Harvey? No. Would Harvey have been part of our next flag? No.
I would have gladly seen boomer go around again, but on the flip side I can completely understand the direction the club wanted to take. We needed to get games into younger kids and see if they could go to the next level. Some didn’t develop and some have, which is no different to any other club going through a similar phase.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Firestarter]

Freed up the cap space which enabled us to add Dusty and Kelly. Thanks for the service Boom Boom but these two studs are going to bring us a dynasty!

Who and who?

Bruh you don't even know what I mean to be disagreeing...

 

[Asifhe Givashe]

Ease Up. Just don’t recruiting Hrovat. That’s all. Bob’s your Uncle and Fred Fanny is your Aunt. Best of both worlds. :stern look

We replaced a legend with a Cat.

On about the same money too.

 

[Scallop Industry Thug]

We're in the same place we were. Battling for 8th.

Some see the next great crop of young players. But we've seen a similar 4-5 crops over the past 2 decades and topped out as the worst prelim finalist of the group on 3 occasions.

 

[Passmore]

We're in the same place we were. Battling for 8th.

Some see the next great crop of young players. But we've seen a similar 4-5 crops over the past 2 decades and topped out as the worst prelim finalist of the group on 3 occasions.

I reckon we're in a much better spot than we were 4 years ago with regards to youth. When you compare players like Hibberd, Mountford and Wagner to what we've bought in over the last 4 drafts, you can see some really elite talent as opposed to players that will top out as battlers.

Sent from my SM-A908B using Tapatalk

 

[The Nostradamus]

I think this crop of youth is seriously talented. Similar to the basti, Ziebell, Atley, Cunners, Harper etc though and that group maxed out at prelims. With some still part of our core atm
The experienced players they had at the time were good to guide that young crop also and part of the cull the thread refers to

This group i think will at least match that but we need it to do better, if we can get a gun free agent like Zac Williams and get 2 jets with our first round picks this year or with the second round pick then I think that sets us up better than ever before

 

[Scallop Industry Thug]

I reckon we're in a much better spot than we were 4 years ago with regards to youth. When you compare players like Hibberd, Mountford and Wagner to what we've bought in over the last 4 drafts, you can see some really elite talent as opposed to players that will top out as battlers.

Sent from my SM-A908B using Tapatalk

True, but Im referring to the previous batches over the past 20 years. Ziebell/Cunners/Tarrant...Wells/Petrie/Motlop...none of these teams ever really challenged for a flag.

Im hopeful this crop changes that but the previous 20 years does nt give much hope of a genuine 16-18 win a season type of side.

 

[Passmore]

True, but Im referring to the previous batches over the past 20 years. Ziebell/Cunners/Tarrant...Wells/Petrie/Motlop...none of these teams ever really challenged for a flag.

Im hopeful this crop changes that but the previous 20 years does nt give much hope of a genuine 16-18 win a season type of side.

I think for a fair patch there we were under resourced to challenge for anything. Plus the good players we drafted were spread out.

I reckon we've nailed some real top end talent over the past 4 drafts. There's a bunch of 1-4 year players with as much upside as I've seen for 30 years.

Sent from my SM-A908B using Tapatalk

 

[Scallop Industry Thug]

I think for a fair patch there we were under resourced to challenge for anything. Plus the good players we drafted were spread out.

I reckon we've nailed some real top end talent over the past 4 drafts. There's a bunch of 1-4 year players with as much upside as I've seen for 30 years.

Sent from my SM-A908B using Tapatalk

I thought the same about the 06-10 crew. They made 2 prelims but were never a great side. I think we need a couple more gems in the draft and FA to establish a genuine core.

 

[Snake_Baker]

True, but Im referring to the previous batches over the past 20 years. Ziebell/Cunners/Tarrant...Wells/Petrie/Motlop...none of these teams ever really challenged for a flag.

Im hopeful this crop changes that but the previous 20 years does nt give much hope of a genuine 16-18 win a season type of side.

It's not so much the players, as the mix of player types around them. These blokes are all better players than blokes who have won grand finals in their era.

 

[Nutjob]

We're in the same place we were. Battling for 8th.

Some see the next great crop of young players. But we've seen a similar 4-5 crops over the past 2 decades and topped out as the worst prelim finalist of the group on 3 occasions.

I haven’t been this excited about our youth since the early 90’s. I was excited early days with Ziebell, Cunners, Bastinac, Goldy, etc coming through, but they didn’t have the raw talent of guys like Thomas and Simpkin.
I wasn’t excited at all with our youth during the 00’s or when we made the prelims a few years back. In fact I was the opposite and quite concerned about it. During the 00’s we couldn’t even afford to invest in youth. We weren’t financially in a position to take two steps back to go forward. Our recruiting during that era was also very poor, particularly with first round picks.
The Scott era had promise early days and he went all in towards the end, which was detrimental to our youth coming through.

Plenty of sides have had to go back to the well and bring through another crop? How many times did Richmond and Doggies do it before they got the right mix.

I think you also need to consider how the team was coached and the development of the players. It’s a new era in that regard.

Since the early 90’s we have basically had one decent crack at assembling a premiership side and the team fell short with 2 prelims.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[The Nostradamus]

The thing that annoyed me About the cull was Sam Gibson surviving over the greats of our team. He should have been part of that cull.

 

[Asifhe Givashe]

The thing that annoyed me About the cull was Sam Gibson surviving over the greats of our team. He should have been part of that cull.

Do you reckon Josh Walker still has an indentation from the tackle Gibbo put on him during the 2014 Semi?

 

[The Anvil]

What is the point of keeping an unaccountable 38 yo who may kick you 35 goals but who's opponent will be the architect for most of our losses? Boomer' s last year was good offensively but shithouse defensively. He and Dal were the holes the opposition worked their way through our "net".

We were never going to win a flag with that team, we didn't have another gear the top 4 sides had and prologing Harvey's career made no sense for a team that needed a big fix.

Boomer was a champion and he has been looked after by the club post career and he seems content but one thing still irks me about this and that's Boomer's selfish behaviour after the decision was publicly announced. To me that confirmed that the club made the right decision to not offer him a new contract.

Remember Boomer couldn't wait until AFTER the season to find out his contractual position, no no no, Boomer needed to know BEFORE finals and when he was told well ...... You all know the rest.

CLUB>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>individual

Yep, first time I recall a team making the 8 and having given up before the ball was bounced.

Love Boomer but he couldn’t be trusted with that information before season’s end.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[The Anvil]

Petrie had been cooked for at least a year. Funnily he was the only one to continue his career elsewhere. Dal Santo and Firrito could have gone around again, but the thinking on finishing them up was sound. The timing - three days after securing a finals spot, four days before the last H&A game - was awful and the manner of the announcements was amateurish. I don't buy "They were wanting to know" argument. Tell them, keep it in house, plan the most respectful way of announcing it and do it properly.

The call of Boomer was wrong from whatever angle you approach it. He'd just broken the games record and was playing well. Whilst the handling of the other three was poor, the way Boomer was treated shown a massive disconnect between the football dept, coaching team, and the fans. It was actually quite shameful what and how it happened.

The other decision was on Daniel Wells. The club handled this perfectly. He didn't have three years left in him as his time at Collingwood would eventually show. Imagine if we still had Wellsy on the books last year. What he was offered was more than fair. Good luck to him for getting money for nothing at the Pies, but the club did well holding firm on him. Unfortunately we got nothing from the compensation pick.

We got a reasonable chunk of cap space back and provided a spot for someone who actually would be able to play.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app