The Suns and their recruiter

stefoid

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Thread starter #1
Finey just went over the Suns list and shitcanned it. Yes, they have a few injuries to their topliners at the moment - no ablett, no omeara, martin still an injury prone flyweight, and now with Harbrow also injured. They are actually going to struggle bigtime this year until those players come back on-line.

But as far as the list goes specifically, their two best mids are Ablett and Richetelli, who are both the wrong side of 30. Fineys point was there is an assumption that with so many low draft picks they have 10 or 12 elite players coming on, setting themselves up for world domination, but if you run the ruler over the players in the list, they dont really have any more genuine elite young players than most other teams - there are a lot of faceless players in that group who have been around for 3 or 5 years and havent achieved much. And it seems they have 'unrest' this year with the new coach - they arent actually progressing much from a gameplan/teamwork POV either.

Given the ammunition that Scott Clayton had to fire, I reckon he hasnt done such a good job. You could convincingly argue that GWS, starting behind them, will overtake them this year and has a greater number of memorable young names on its list, particularly mids.

Oe last point Finey made was the AFL's love children - amazing they both get to play the Saints and Melbourne as their first two games of the season - what were the odds. You have to laugh hard at the suns for getting done by both of those sacrificial lambs.

good for footy!
 

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TheHoneyBadger

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#2
Finey just went over the Suns list and shitcanned it. Yes, they have a few injuries to their topliners at the moment - no ablett, no omeara, martin still an injury prone flyweight, and now with Harbrow also injured. They are actually going to struggle bigtime this year until those players come back on-line.

But as far as the list goes specifically, their two best mids are Ablett and Richetelli, who are both the wrong side of 30. Fineys point was there is an assumption that with so many low draft picks they have 10 or 12 elite players coming on, setting themselves up for world domination, but if you run the ruler over the players in the list, they dont really have any more genuine elite young players than most other teams - there are a lot of faceless players in that group who have been around for 3 or 5 years and havent achieved much. And it seems they have 'unrest' this year with the new coach - they arent actually progressing much from a gameplan/teamwork POV either.

Given the ammunition that Scott Clayton had to fire, I reckon he hasnt done such a good job. You could convincingly argue that GWS, starting behind them, will overtake them this year and has a greater number of memorable young names on its list, particularly mids.

Oe last point Finey made was the AFL's love children - amazing they both get to play the Saints and Melbourne as their first two games of the season - what were the odds. You have to laugh hard at the suns for getting done by both of those sacrificial lambs.

good for footy!
I haven't got much to add to this, but it is quite humorous.

I'd argue their talent isn't the equal of ours. GWS is frightening, though - hopefully clubs that are going nowhere like Richmond and Carlton can pick off a couple of their big names to even it out a bit.
 

Struggle

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#3
GWS. Did have a lot of extra concessions though. I think he has done well with the top 10 picks and butchered the rest. Recruiting Clayton specials like Brennan and Krakouer didn't help much either.

All I know is that I'm happy to see them struggle, hopefully GWS are in the same boat soon too
 

Zgope1

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#4
I love their spine. We don't have a kpp near may or lynch and thompson and dixon would both get games for us. Mids are soft though (who knew with clayton?) or light bodied I should say. Hopefully rocket gets the best out of the martins and bennells but bad early signs
 

fargy

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#5
I love their spine. We don't have a kpp near may or lynch and thompson and dixon would both get games for us. Mids are soft though (who knew with clayton?) or light bodied I should say. Hopefully rocket gets the best out of the martins and bennells but bad early signs
Agree with this, they have quality KPP. I really hope this is a horrible year for them so a few of their players decide to walk.
 

ossie_21

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#6
I love their spine. We don't have a kpp near may or lynch and thompson and dixon would both get games for us. Mids are soft though (who knew with clayton?) or light bodied I should say. Hopefully rocket gets the best out of the martins and bennells but bad early signs
I believe Thompson is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, something about him opting to play in the NEAFL or something like that when he could have entered the draft so that was considered his first year of AFL service.
 

Some Idiot

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#7
Finey just went over the Suns list and shitcanned it. Yes, they have a few injuries to their topliners at the moment - no ablett, no omeara, martin still an injury prone flyweight, and now with Harbrow also injured. They are actually going to struggle bigtime this year until those players come back on-line.

But as far as the list goes specifically, their two best mids are Ablett and Richetelli, who are both the wrong side of 30. Fineys point was there is an assumption that with so many low draft picks they have 10 or 12 elite players coming on, setting themselves up for world domination, but if you run the ruler over the players in the list, they dont really have any more genuine elite young players than most other teams - there are a lot of faceless players in that group who have been around for 3 or 5 years and havent achieved much. And it seems they have 'unrest' this year with the new coach - they arent actually progressing much from a gameplan/teamwork POV either.

Given the ammunition that Scott Clayton had to fire, I reckon he hasnt done such a good job. You could convincingly argue that GWS, starting behind them, will overtake them this year and has a greater number of memorable young names on its list, particularly mids.

Oe last point Finey made was the AFL's love children - amazing they both get to play the Saints and Melbourne as their first two games of the season - what were the odds. You have to laugh hard at the suns for getting done by both of those sacrificial lambs.

good for footy!
Hmmm, David Swallow, Dion Prestia, Harley Bennell might have something to say about that.
 

womble54

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#8
Hmmm, David Swallow, Dion Prestia, Harley Bennell might have something to say about that.
Point being Prestia gets sat on when Ablett is out so his influenced is massively reduced, Swallow is a good but average mid not worth pick 1 and Bennell is a total downhill skier. Our club began its recovery when Scott Clayton buggered off in my opinion. For all the Macca baggers I feel double for old "1 draft" Scott.
 

cecil

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#9
GC will be fine. They have the best young spine in the league by so much it's ridiculous - Lynch, Dixon, May, Smith and Thompson.

Their midfield may be slightly lacking in tough contested players, but they should be able to pick up some depth with their first rounders (even if they are 10-15) over the next few years on their way to, or while, challenging. It's not overly hard to pick up players like Clay Smith (late first rounder), and Crossy (DFA) and have them feed the ball to Martin, Matera etc.
 

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Pannalstaroz

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#13
GC have a great list in terms if talent. What they are missing is a hard edge, which was obvious GWS (Sheedy) had been trying to instil since day one.
Eade will no doubt sort that out.
Yeah, GC need to find some real hard nuts to compliment the silk outside. Like Mav Weller. Oops.
 

ErnieSigley

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#14
Clayton has been dining out on the '99 draft for 15 years now. He loves players with skill and flair but doesn't always do his homework about effort. In a lot of ways I was glad to see him gone.
He is better than most, his longevity in the industry proves that.
Besides how easy is it to make a future prediction on a 17yo effort in years to come?
If we judged Bontempelli on effort advice from his coaches, he wouldn't be at the club.
 

Mofra

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If we judged Bontempelli on effort advice from his coaches, he wouldn't be at the club.
The opposite - his coaches loved him and his off field demeanor was off the charts. It's what tipped us over the edge to pick him.
Ditto Honeychurch and the way he attacked his rehab in his u18 year.

We clearly place more emphasis on:
a. rate of improvement over the course of the draft year (Macrae, Bonti are classic examples)
b. A solid citizen test (will their personality handle football and what support mechanisms do they have in place?)

Than other clubs do. Some focus more on ability by foot, GCS (Clayton) seem to weight outside ability and play reading quite highly. A midfield with Bennell, O'Meara, Prestia and Swallow in it will still challenge most sides, although clearly most clubs would dream of having a group of Macrae, Libba, Dahl, Bonti & Stringer as u23s rotating through there.
 

maddog37

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#16
It does seem the Suns have stuffed up and their players do not seem to be all singing from the same hymn book. Getting rid of Weller and getting Hallanan in is just bizarre but we don't know what these players are like behind closed doors.

It does seem Clayton has fallen for the trap of drafting beautifully skilled players that lack grunt.

I tend to think that if Finey is arguing the case then it is most likely a total load of bollocks though. He is a total nutspanker.
 

Yojimbo

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#17
Jackson Allen, Jacob Gilbee, Nathan Krakouer,
Nathan Bock, Tom Hickey, Alik Magin,
Jared Brennan, Taylor Hine, Lewis Moss,
Campbell Brown, Karmichael Hunt, Liam Patrick,
Josh Caddy, Jack Hutchins, Jeremy Taylor,
Piers Flanagan, Sam Iles, Josh Toy,
Josh Fraser, Hayden Jolly, Matthew Warnock,
Maverick Weller, Joel Wilkinson, Michael Coad,
Kyal Horsley, Andrew McQualter, Tom Murphy,
Leigh Osborne and Timmy Sumner.

Exited players from 2012 season to today.

It is easy to put the boots into someone when
they are down, but no-one should underestimate
how difficult it is to build a football team from
nothing. The good teams of recent years took
years to assemble in basic form and then to
add the missing ingredients to finally hold aloft
the premiership cup.
 

ErnieSigley

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#20
The opposite - his coaches loved him and his off field demeanor was off the charts. It's what tipped us over the edge to pick him.
Ditto Honeychurch and the way he attacked his rehab in his u18 year.

We clearly place more emphasis on:
a. rate of improvement over the course of the draft year (Macrae, Bonti are classic examples)
b. A solid citizen test (will their personality handle football and what support mechanisms do they have in place?)

Than other clubs do. Some focus more on ability by foot, GCS (Clayton) seem to weight outside ability and play reading quite highly. A midfield with Bennell, O'Meara, Prestia and Swallow in it will still challenge most sides, although clearly most clubs would dream of having a group of Macrae, Libba, Dahl, Bonti & Stringer as u23s rotating through there.
Not sure of the on field stat that measures effort.
 

BRWB

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#21
It does seem the Suns have stuffed up and their players do not seem to be all singing from the same hymn book. Getting rid of Weller and getting Hallanan in is just bizarre but we don't know what these players are like behind closed doors.

It does seem Clayton has fallen for the trap of drafting beautifully skilled players that lack grunt.

I tend to think that if Finey is arguing the case then it is most likely a total load of bollocks though. He is a total nutspanker.
'Total Nutspanker' - I love phrases that can neatly encapsulate the personality of someone. Best two word summary of Finey I've heard (and I've heard a few). Kudos to you.

Early days on the Suns, people are going early on them.
 

Pannalstaroz

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#22
'Total Nutspanker' - I love phrases that can neatly encapsulate the personality of someone. Best two word summary of Finey I've heard (and I've heard a few). Kudos to you.

Early days on the Suns, people are going early on them.
Agree but it does seem he can't get over Farren Ray as his panacea of a footballer.
 

BRWB

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#23
Agree but it does seem he can't get over Farren Ray as his panacea of a footballer.
Yeah running, tallish, skinnyish mids is his go. To be fair the spine at GC looks okay to me. Put O'Meara back in that team and they look a lot better too. Jack Martin could be anything as well. Ablett and O'Meara out obviously hurts them this year, but could be the making of their team.
 

Pannalstaroz

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#24
Yeah running, tallish, skinnyish mids is his go. To be fair the spine at GC looks okay to me. Put O'Meara back in that team and they look a lot better too. Jack Martin could be anything as well. Ablett and O'Meara out obviously hurts them this year, but could be the making of their team.
Perhaps. They'll look good at times and rubbish at others. I'll wait until they show me they're a top 4 side before I jusge them individually. Rory Thompson is Zac Dawson all over again IMO.
 

BRWB

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#25
Perhaps. They'll look good at times and rubbish at others. I'll wait until they show me they're a top 4 side before I jusge them individually. Rory Thompson is Zac Dawson all over again IMO.
Lynch looks the goods. And Smith and Nichols look pretty good. Day looks ok too. Let's put this way, I'd swap their spine for ours in a heartbeat.
 
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