Autopsy The Phoenix Thread - Where Do We Start? (Rebuild)

[Cuzz09]

All good and well but it does nothing for your future. You end up with a Ross Lyon team full of battlers. We need top end talent.

i meant for the rest of this year then load up in draft. I know what u mean though

 

[Westend]

Reckon this draft is going to be so important for us going forward for the next 5 years

if we f**k this up ..well

 

[KERRPOW]

We will have pick 1,19 and likely around 26. I dont see why we will need to use 1 on English whether its by splitting or directly. Surely there are other ways of getting him if we really wanted him.

Pre season draft

 

[Cuzz09]

My opinion is also that the Willie Rioli

15

Willie Rioli

Age

30

Ht

175cm

Wt

78kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.0

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.8

4star

G

1.2

4star

No current season stats available

D

11.0

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

3.6

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.6

3star

drug shit killed a lot of our momentum 2020 onwards til Covid

There was so much fucus on it and he was a very important player

I think going forward we need to just have a no dickhead policy and if you get done for drugs see ya.

 

[Cuzz09]

English is a lot like Kelly on that he seems to play well when theres an easy kill.

 

[Cuzz09]

Reckon this draft is going to be so important for us going forward for the next 5 years

if we f**k this up ..well

To be fair I think we will be having top 5 picks the next 2-3 years but yes it should start now.

 

[Cuzz09]

Do you think its worth picking the best WA kids or just getting the best you can get at the time and worry about go home factor later?

 

[THE A5]

English isn’t the messaih. He is severely limited as a ruckmen and isn’t that young for us (he’d be around 30 by the time we are ready to compete).

Jackson’s age profile is much better but I also have reservations on him being a number one ruck. I feel like he’s tad under sized as a ruckmen and is more likely to be fwd/ruck more than anything.

I also don’t believe a mature ruckmen is of importance going into a rebuild. We need to build our midfield/ spine first. In fact I feel a quality back pocket/flanker is higher on in needs as we have no mid size players that can defender small/mid size forwards.

 

[Cuzz09]

The good thing is only 1 team can win the flag each year so there will eventually be supporters of 17 other clubs who are at some point pissed off with the season.

 

[Coasters7]

First stop has to be a new coach.

The messaging to all our younger players has been terrible from Simpson from day one.

The message has always been;

I don't trust you so I'm going to hide you on a hff.

A senior player is always more valuable than you, so you will be dropped for them irrespective of how you perform.

If the team performs badly, it's likely your fault and you will be dropped.

Now we've drafted a lot of slow, vanilla trash during Simmo's tenure but you can't rebuild with a guy who's approach is soul destroying acid to a young player's confidence and development.

How many players have we seen that look like they might make the grade when we first see them just stagnate and go backwards under him?

Yeah it also doesn’t matter how good your coach is. Once you start a “transition” faze he has to be the first to go. Not many coaches can coach a flag winning side and then be part of a successful rebuild. It just never works because it requires some harsh truths and calls to be made on senior players and gameplan. Plus like you say, he doesn’t give young players a genuine crack if they’re performing and will start coaching to save his job rather than progress the club. He’s already kind of going down that route, saying we “need” JK and Hurns leadership. Fair enough in some sense but they need to be slowly fazed out

We seriously need a clean out of the entire football department while we’re at it. All the medicos and S+C can pack their bags. It’s a bit of a crime that a club as powerful as us isn’t allowed to spend our money to get the best in the business, especially given our location handicap that’d affect staff recruitment

 

[Coasters7]

My opinion is also that the Willie Rioli drug shit killed a lot of our momentum 2020 onwards til Covid

There was so much fucus on it and he was a very important player

I think going forward we need to just have a no dickhead policy and if you get done for drugs see ya.

Do we think some of the problem is that we don’t have dickheads? Or dare I say it.. lack arrogance? We go into our shell far too often and stop trying when the going gets tough. We need some of that Sam Mitchell flair and arrogance he had as a player to be a part of our players and to stop being a soft family club. All well and good off the field but it doesn’t lead to results on field in an elite sport. Football is not our players first priority (and fair enough, family comes first) but it doesn’t work when you’re playing against younger dickheads that live for football

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

If we finish last then we have to play hardball.

Im not really a fan of english, but offer a 2nd rounder out of courtesy. If they dont accept then we will take him in the PSD

I dunno why people keep on mentioning the PSD lol.
PSD is not an option for English unless he's somehow delisted after the ND and before the PSD, which is not going to happen, or nobody picks him in the ND.
WB are more likely to delist him before the ND where anyone can select him.
I personally don't mind it because I'm not too fussed about getting him and if we can pick him up with a 2nd round pick then that's great.
If WC don't want to miss out on him then they won't take the risk.

 

[Cuzz09]

Do we think some of the problem is that we don’t have dickheads? Or dare I say it.. lack arrogance? We go into our shell far too often and stop trying when the going gets tough. We need some of that Sam Mitchell flair and arrogance he had as a player to be a part of our players and to stop being a soft family club. All well and good off the field but it doesn’t lead to results on field in an elite sport. Football is not our players first priority (and fair enough, family comes first) but it doesn’t work when you’re playing against younger dickheads that live for football

Im all for having on field arrogance and flair but enough of the off field garbage.

 

[Cuzz09]

Other than Nic I reckon our best option as a Ruck would be a workhorse type for the next couple of years.

Make a contest get around the ground a bit take a few Grabs and link up

No flashy stuff needed while we rebuild this shattered midfield

 

[WA footy mad]

Everybody is talking about Sheed coming back he is cooked. Watch a few of his last games he kept getting caught with the ball & was way to slow.

 

[Cuzz09]

I think thats why Petrucelli stands out. He has pace and compared to all the other mids he looks like Usain Bolt.

Imagine what peak mid 00s Eagle Juddy would look like in this side

 

[Lia]

Who will be the captain in 2023?

 

[InTheWings]

Things we can do immediately...

Persist with our newer players over players who haven't performed on our list in 5/6 years.

For example...
Keep new players like Hough in the team
Keep players who haven't performed in 5/6 years like Nelson out

We desperately lack speed in our back half. Play Shuey into form on the half back flank - and perhaps let him finish his career there.

In the middle...
Keep Clark in the middle...
Keep Gaff on a wing...

When Willie is fit play him more through the middle.


Long term...
Go to the draft.

Longer term...
Encourage our players to adopt lots of boys and raise them for our father/son prospects! (joking...really).

 

[DirtySandman]

Everybody is talking about Sheed coming back he is cooked.

Everybody?

not many, if any.

 

[Shoei]

Do you think its worth picking the best WA kids or just getting the best you can get at the time and worry about go home factor later?

How many players actually play the "go home" card though?

Considering the vast amount of AFL lists would be made up on kids from Victoria I think its a none issue.

Draft best available always.

 

[DirtySandman]

Just looking at our 2010 player list, we had a bunch of players on that list to go on and be gun players after that,

Lecras, Priddis, NN , Butler, Sheppard, Shuey, Emac, JK, Hurn, Schofield, Rosa, masten*

*Yeh i know, but he won a flag.

Maybe back then, we didn't see how good those players would go on to be, but our current list....pfft...Oscar? anyone else?

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

Need to phase out most of our current established midfield apart from TK & Yeo, so rebuild is gonna be hard to achieve since Simmo favours them too much.
Sheed since he's contracted for 3 more years should be moved to half forward flank.
Gaff needs to moved to back to the wing.

 

[Jumpoff Joey]

Just looking at our 2010 player list, we had a bunch of players on that list to go on and be gun players after that,

Lecras, Priddis, NN , Butler, Sheppard, Shuey, Emac, JK, Hurn, Schofield, Rosa, masten*

*Yeh i know, but he won a flag.

Maybe back then, we didn't see how good those players would go on to be, but our current list....pfft...Oscar? anyone else?

Those guys were drafted over six years.

Butler #20 2003
Lecras #30ish 2004
Kennedy (Trade - 2007) #4 2005
Hurn #13 2005
Priddis Rookie 2006
EMAC #30ish 2006
Schoey 2006
Masten #3 2007
Nic Nat #2 2008
Sheppard #7 2009
Shuey #7 2009

Hindsight is beautiful, after 2018 we should have hit the draft but we tried to hit the pinnacle and 2019 just didnt work out, considering it went up in smoke. Then Covid happened and we shat the bed ever since.

Now with Allen, we need a core of top 20 picks for the next five years. If we split pick 1 it will be a hell of a start. Assuming we have Picks 6/7, 10/12, 20, 23

Or Pick 1, 20 and 23 and next year 2023 i assume we will get Pick 1/2, 20. There is a possibility we swap pick 20 for a future first being first pick of the 2nd round which can add to the haul in 2023/4.

 

[Cuzz09]

Who will be the captain in 2023?

zac Mainwaring

 

[Mop]

I come in peace. I’ve always had a soft spot for eagles mainly due to them always getting the wood over pies when it matters. What position do you guys think you should draft this year?

Hello mate.

My feeling? Proper midfield class. It’s what’s let us down for the last three years - Kelly was supposed to be the fix. It didn’t happen.

Best available mid, then whoever can break a line. We’ve got one proper class CHF. Build it around him.

Also, make him our next captain. We’re not going anywhere soon, let him be the pilot on the journey. Why the hell not?