There had better not be any talk of a big import for next season.

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Thread starter Moderator #1
Why are we constantly hunting mercenaries?
Ill tell you why because we have a club that can not devleop its promising youngsters.
Haselby, Polak and Schammers development has stalled.
Longmuirs is not consistent.
Headland only performs when we play well.
Dion Woods for a player of his raw ability will probally be delisted come seasons end and go on to star at another team.

Pavlich is the only one that has reached his potential and I mean as if Conolly had anything to do with that, if anything he did his best to stall his development.
Frankly I dont care who is out of contract this season, we need to get the best out of what we already have before we hunt more players.
I mean comon how many high picks have we had.
 

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dominguez

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#2
Hasleby, Polak and Schammer have all been injured this season, though Hasleby hasn't missed any games.
Apart from a poor game today I think J Lo has been good this year.
Headland and Woods are both extremely talented but both are soft and seem disinterested at times.

If there is a quality player we can bring to the club we should do so but we need to retain our draft picks.
 

Belnakor

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#3
We just need someone with pace, who does clearances. but then, so does any other team. The pity is, those type of players don't leave their team, whereas guys like headland (ie: soft) leave for cash. I just hope we're not suckered into buying up big again.

Your right though Sabre, we have more than enough talent on the list. We are just not being coached right for the clearences and in the midfield. Fix that, and our spine can do the rest. Continue the way we have been going, and it will continue to look average.

A good example of a player we shouldn't go for: Dal Santo.
 

BB gun

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#4
we just need haselby and bell to find there AA best form. At this stage it looks like we are going to miss the finals, despite still being 8th.
 

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#5
In my view, CC does not allow young players to settle, get some confidence and with this confidence to fully develop to thier potential.

We have got a great squad of young guys and we are getting very little in return. CC rushes some back too early and just does not give others a go.

Look at Murphy, in/out then nowhere. He has proved that he can mix it at WAFL and now needs AFL game time. He should have been given 10 games at FF and left there. How the hell else can this kid develop!!!

How b******* stupid, rushing Schofield back, with a limited pre-season and limited WAFL game time.

Fully agree with Sabre, that CC did his best to stall Pavs development.

I have no idea where we go from here. Same old rubbish, same carp coach making futile excuses. And we just go along with it.

Bluey McKenna cannot do any worse.
 
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#7
Have to chuckle, connoly was worried about he pace of Hawks especially their midfield but we have recruited 3 midfielders - is he conceding that they are slow??

Connolly went in to a game with schofield who couldn't get a kick at subi and has only had 4 weeks of game time at wafl and done no preseason!!

Also Schammer is much bigger this year - heard he is suffering from OS.
 

oporto

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#9
wehavethepassion said:
Have to chuckle, connoly was worried about he pace of Hawks especially their midfield but we have recruited 3 midfielders - is he conceding that they are slow??

Connolly went in to a game with schofield who couldn't get a kick at subi and has only had 4 weeks of game time at wafl and done no preseason!!

Also Schammer is much bigger this year - heard he is suffering from OS.
What's OS ? Overly short !
 

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#10
oporto said:
What's OS ? Overly short !
Occasional Schlong.

During the heady days of Croad, Farmer, Simmonds, Headland hunting, I have to admit I used to feel a bit nervous that Freo was overtaking us when it came to recruiting.

More and more though, I think its a pretty good rule of thumb that teams that trade a lot are constantly shooting themselves in the foot- you accumulate players who aren't necessarily going to be happy and by definition aren't going to have total loyalty to one club, but worse still, it shoots your chemistry to ********- I'm not saying that all trading is evil, but whether or not you get a good player has to be weighed up against what you lose on the trading table, but also whether a new face is going to disrupt the pre-existing camraderie.

As the relatively old average age of the most recent flag winning sides indicates, teams only really click when they have time to gel together and develop- I get the impression that Freo's constant trading and 'big name recruiting' means they are permanently a couple of years off the kind of list stability that would let them consistently play to their potential.

Freo could go hunting for another marquee recruit, and continue with the neverending process of dismantling the walls to build a roof, but it should be pretty easy to see what needs to be done. You need a good coach, and you need to leave the list alone, get some stability and let things build. Even as someone who quite enjoys watching Freo continually disappoint, its almost obscene to see a list as talented as yours go to waste.
 
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#11
Mead said:
Even as someone who quite enjoys watching Freo continually disappoint, its almost obscene to see a list as talented as yours go to waste.
I totally agree Mead, I have no interest in freo what so ever but for the life of me I can't understand why they are not top 4. They have one of the most talented lists in the AFL yet they can't even make the finals. I have to point the finger at the coach as you can't really blame anyone else.
 

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#12
They need to bring in a "recruit" each year to help the spin dockers sell another pup to the faithful -after another disappointing year.

The Docker Faithful are in most eternally hopeful. So the Spin doctors play on this. The Talk of our LIST being fantastic is a myth promoted by the boys own club of Schwabb and Connoly. If they survive to to the end of 2007, then they would have made enough money from FFC to be set up for life. And there won't be a premiership not even a finals win!! Hang on they have to make the finals first.

It is the biggest scam!!
 

Jetau

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#13
All of their big trades have turned out to be shockers. The Croad trade was only saved by getting McPharlin as well, but the Headland trade?! Didn't we trade a high pick and McPhee for him??

No more trading, Freo. Chumps of the trade table. No hang on, there is one more trade I want to see.

Headland OUT. I don't care if we get pick 20 for him.
 

TheReason

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#14
I've purposefully sat on the fence in the 4-5 weeks... let me start off by saying:

1. Freo's list (starting 22) would be in the top 6 of clubs
2. Depth = no good
3. Melb win, IMO, even though it was the best win by the club in its history and could've been a 10 year turning point....was an abirition.
4. When the chips are down, they get slayed in the media, when they are no hope of winning & they are rank underdogs.... do they win a game. All other occassions they show no ticker & they crack under the weight of the expectation to win.

5. CC - where do I start. It is 100% the Coaches fault. Players won't perform on the big stage... off to the WAFL for you! Player makes an error... get onto the bench you lazy ******. Use the media to embarass some players.... Player X was Shizzenhoussan and a disgrace, players like this are inexcusable etc...

6. Development of young players has come to a grinding halt.

7. Polak - Dear Lord... if this guy was at any other club, I have no doubt that he would be dominating at CHB. I just don't know what to say. His devolpment as a player has not progressed since he debuted. And to be honest he was sensational in his 1st year.
 

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#15
The problem has always been in the midfield & still is, our small on ballers are as good as any when they are given first use of the ball. Where we really struggle is in the ruck and we have no one on the list who can improve this situation.We will still win 10 -12 games this year and maybe fall into the 8 but the bottom line is Freo will have to recruit a quality ruckman to take the next step.
 

BB gun

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#16
Undertaker said:
The problem has always been in the midfield & still is, our small on ballers are as good as any when they are given first use of the ball. Where we really struggle is in the ruck and we have no one on the list who can improve this situation.We will still win 10 -12 games this year and maybe fall into the 8 but the bottom line is Freo will have to recruit a quality ruckman to take the next step.
umm no
we also need a FF, FB, Midfielders.
We have a good enough list to make the finals. We need to find some A list players, at the moment we have 1, we need bell and hasebly to fire again.
 

dominguez

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#17
jarman said:
Bluey McKenna cannot do any worse.
There are a lot of assistants with better credentials than McKenna and Sumich. Claremont were shocking under McKenna. Sumich is Worsfolds puppet.
 

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#18
Big Bird said:
I have to point the finger at the coach as you can't really blame anyone else.
???huh???
Why not point the finger at the players? Carr (x2), Bell, Hase, McPharlin and Medhurst have been average to poor over the past 2 weeks.
But NO coach in the AFL would drop ANY OF THEM after 2 bad weeks. NO ONE. Not Sheedy, not Matthews, not Williams, not Woosha.
They need to either get themselves fit or just put in a have a decent effort. You can't expect Pav to perform on his own each week.
 

Exeter

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#19
ThePope said:
???huh???
Why not point the finger at the players? Carr (x2), Bell, Hase, McPharlin and Medhurst have been average to poor over the past 2 weeks.
But NO coach in the AFL would drop ANY OF THEM after 2 bad weeks. NO ONE. Not Sheedy, not Matthews, not Williams, not Woosha.
They need to either get themselves fit or just put in a have a decent effort. You can't expect Pav to perform on his own each week.
You've got a point there.

But the unfortunate reality is that the buck stops with the coach - if individuals fail to perform they should be dropped, and if they consistently fail to deliver over a long time then they'll find their careers are on the slide. But if the team as a whole fails to deliver it's the coach's head that's on the block - that's why he gets paid what he does.

The question I asked after the Richmond game was: "Does Connolly have the attention and the respect of the players." If he does, then surely its the players you've just mentioned that should be showing the on-field leadership.

IMO Connolly is in strife, and I've seen nothing to indicate he has the capacity to turn things around.

It's a shame to see such a talented squad playing without clear direction, passion or commitment.
 

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#20
BB gun said:
umm no
we also need a FF, FB, Midfielders.
We have a good enough list to make the finals. We need to find some A list players, at the moment we have 1, we need bell and hasebly to fire again.
BB I think you misunderstood what I am saying, I believe we have players already on our list to succeed except for one position and that is in the ruck.
Longmuir cannot do it on his own, Sandilands is in development mode still another season away before he can be truly assessed and Warren is to short to be an AFL ruckman. If Longmuir gets injured we will not make the finals.
 

BB gun

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#21
Undertaker said:
BB I think you misunderstood what I am saying, I believe we have players already on our list to succeed except for one position and that is in the ruck.
Longmuir cannot do it on his own, Sandilands is in development mode still another season away before he can be truly assessed and Warren is to short to be an AFL ruckman. If Longmuir gets injured we will not make the finals.
Sorta agree.
My point was we can't have the 18 of the best players in the comp. Longmuir is by not the best ruckman in the comp, but he can do a good enough job. (Think back to the start of the season) Imagine longmuir at St Kilda, they would have been $1.10 favourites for the premiership.
I agree we need another ruckman, but we don't need a superstar ruckman.
 

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#22
sabre_ac said:
Should definitely be on the short list.
I reckon we have a crack at sheedy
A crack at Sheedy? I don't think that would ever happen. So one game is all the difference then hey? If Freo had won we would be 5-4 and 5-6th on the ladder. One loss, we are still in the 8 and its time to kill the coach.

And on Hasleby... May be we should have drafted Danny Roach, or Aaron Fiora, or Josh Fraser. All three of those guys are so much better than Hasleby(!?!?!?!) It must be their coaches that made all the difference.

Schammer has been injured pre-season so whats your point?

McPharlin is our FF at the moment and he's been giving us a target while Murphy has done not much the last few weeks at WAFL level. So why the what about Murphy spiel?

The Reason... Polak was playing very good at the beginning of the season before his knee injury. The last minute mark he took against the Saints earlier in the year was phenomenal. Now he comes back to play in two shocking games and he's terrible. Please.

We lack what West Coast have spades of. Tall, athletic, pacey midfielders (Judd, Embley, Stenglien etc, etc).

We also lack hardness (mentally not physically).
 
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Thread starter Moderator #23
raffrox said:
A crack at Sheedy? I don't think that would ever happen. So one game is all the difference then hey? If Freo had won we would be 5-4 and 5-6th on the ladder. One loss, we are still in the 8 and its time to kill the coach.
Not one game I have had concerns about Conolly for over a year now, so has many posters on this board.

Freo in my opinion are a top 4 side so making the 8 isnt enough.

raffrox said:
And on Hasleby... May be we should have drafted Danny Roach, or Aaron Fiora, or Josh Fraser. All three of those guys are so much better than Hasleby(!?!?!?!) It must be their coaches that made all the difference.
Well how far has Haselby advanced since his first year?
I never said there was anything wrong with our recruiters, hell if anything we have one of the best. It is the development I am concerned about.

raffrox said:
Schammer has been injured pre-season so whats your point?
Dont have one....

raffrox said:
McPharlin is our FF at the moment and he's been giving us a target while Murphy has done not much the last few weeks at WAFL level. So why the what about Murphy spiel?
Put the kid at FF and leave him there, have McPharlin in the forward line as well, have both leading from the square.

raffrox said:
We lack what West Coast have spades of. Tall, athletic, pacey midfielders (Judd, Embley, Stenglien etc, etc).

We also lack hardness (mentally not physically).
Headland?
Webster?

raffrox said:
We also lack hardness (mentally not physically).
Fault of the coach.
 

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#24
sabre_ac said:
Not one game I have had concerns about Conolly for over a year now, so has many posters on this board.

Freo in my opinion are a top 4 side so making the 8 isnt enough.
Are we even going to make the 8? We've got to win 8/13, with 7 at home (1 vs WCE). We've got to win away at least twice more this year, and win all our home games just to make it.
 

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#25
Undertaker - agree with you, it astounds me that we only have two "real" ruckman, regardless the quality. Most other clubs have three or four with then eye to the future/rookies. I just don't know what is in CC head at times.

Also agree with Sabres comments - Freo in my opinion are a top 4 side so making the 8 isnt good enough. Development is non existent and McPhee is a classic example.

Also good to see Duchy and The Pope on bigfooty.
 
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