WEST COAST - Defence shaky all of a sudden

[Visro]

WEST COAST - Defence shaky all of a sudden

By Michael Stevens (Herald Sun)

Friday, August 31, 2001

What your club needs

SERIOUS injuries and an ageing list have proved a headache for the rebuilding Eagles.

Senior players Ashley McIntosh, Glen Jakovich and Peter Matera are expected to continue next season.

But McIntosh is more likely to be used as a forward than a defender in his twilight. This means the Eagles must develop a couple of key defensive players to help Jakovich.

While ruckman Michael Gardiner and ruck-rover Ben Cousins will form the nucleus of the midfield for years to come, this department still needs strengthening.

Injuries to Michael Braun, Drew Banfield, Chad Morrison and Phillip Read, all midfielders, are some of the reasons for the Eagles' position.

What your club could give up

Any club that has a good full-forward is laughing. That might make Scott Cummings a trading commodity. He has managed only 16 goals from nine matches this season and it appears Troy Wilson, even at 29, is preferred to him.

Chad Morrison (knee) won't resume until the middle of 2002. Don't be surprised if the midfielder, who has represented Victoria at State-of-Origin level, is mentioned in trade talks.

Strategy

The Eagles are set to delist Andrew Donnelly, who has not played a game this season, and ruckman Ryan Turnbull appears to be on thin ice.

With injured Read, Michael Prior and David Sierakowski back for the opening of the 2002 season, they will have some ready-made ''recruits''. Finishing 14th, the lowest placing in the club's 15-year history, gives them some priority picks and early draft choices, which can be used as bargaining tools.

2001 hits & misses

Very active last year, picking up Michael Collica and Richard Taylor (Hawthorn), Mark Merenda (Richmond), Greg Harding (Fremantle) and Sierakowski (St Kilda). The first three have been valuable, while Sierakowski's season was ruined by a knee injury in the opening round. Harding has managed just eight matches.

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First of all I want to say that Michael Stevens is a genius for telling us WC supporters everything we knew allready...

Some things from the article:

What is the Victorians obsession with WC having an "ageing list". LMAO, our oldest player is 32 (Peter Matera) and after that the oldest is 28 (Jako, Milli). All three of them have at least another season in them, Jako maybe two.

Secondly he mentions trading our top draft picks! That is the worst possible thing I could think of! We don't get those sort of draft picks very often and must use them when they come around. Anyway, the poll is there for you to decide whether we should trade them or use them.

What does everyone else think of the article. For me, it was a big disappointment as I was looking forward to the WC analysis. He hasn't come up with any real good ideas and he probably wrote it in about 20 minutes.

Vis

 

[Frodo]

I don't think that it is 'all of a sudden'. Jako and Milli have been injured for most of the season and we lost Glass in round one. They are our three talls in defence.
I agree that we need to trade for another tall defender.


We are not allowed to trade our priority draft pick which we will get if we lose on Sunday so unless there is a good tall rookie out there then Polak or Medhurst look good choices.

I notice in the article that Read is termed a midfielder. I think he is moe a back pocket player but he could be what we need in midfield to support Cuz.

 

[Visro]

Originally posted by Frodo
I don't think that it is 'all of a sudden'. Jako and Milli have been injured for most of the season and we lost Glass in round one. They are our three talls in defence.
I agree that we need to trade for another tall defender.


We are not allowed to trade our priority draft pick which we will get if we lose on Sunday so unless there is a good tall rookie out there then Polak or Medhurst look good choices.

I notice in the article that Read is termed a midfielder. I think he is moe a back pocket player but he could be what we need in midfield to support Cuz.

Have to agree on the tall defender part. If we can't get D Gaspar though I think we should use one of our top picks to get a good young defender.

Didn't know that you couldn't trade a priority pick but thats good news, for me anyway! If we got to choose out of Polack and Medhurst, I'd take Polack purely on his height (I've heard he's tall but how tall is tall?).

Read can basically play anywhere in the back half of the field though the back pocket is his best position.

Vis

 

[Frodo]

Mu problem with Polak is that he is only 17 and more an investment for the future. Throwing tall 17 year olds into the AFL is risky as they haven't developed. They are also not allowed to start training until the new year so don't become part of the team easily and don't have a full pre-season. That is why I think he would be a disaster for Freo. They need players that can be thrown straight into the team more than we do. I think Medhurst is 19 and would therefore go straight into pre-season training. however there are a lot of other good players in the draft I don't know anything about.

There is also another trading scenario. If we need Gaspar and are prepared to pay $600K a year we may have salary cap problems. It may be that Milli or Jako would have to go to fit him in!!! Roo is a veteran list player and only half his salary counts towards the cap. I could even see Freo trading for Jako and making him captain!!!!!

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

I believe our first two picks should be on the untradable's list. Both picks are potentialy superstars, so giving them away would be silly.

Our 2nd round draft pick would be a good trade assett, the #20 pick is still considered to be very good. So offering that pick and a player for a tall defender sounds more appealing to both sides then just our #3 or #6 pick for the defender.

 

[Voice of Reason]

Ordinary article.

In terms of draft picks, it all depends who is available as to whether we trade picks or use them - and it's a compromise to fit everyone in under the salary cap too. Much as I like Gaspar, that is a lot of money and I think IF he is available, he has to consider that money goes a lot further in Perth, he gets to play with his brother, etc etc.

I'd be happy to use one of the two picks as we already have a reasonably young list (attention: all journalists, Eastern Staters, assorted donkeys: the Eagles have a lot of young players).

 

[jod23]

A shocking article, to think he actually gets paid for writing that. I could have done a better job!

Well i voted dont trade either of them but i would consider giving up 6 if Gaspar was involved. Other than that keep them and get the best youngsters we can get. The problem is we have too many problems. Our backline is suspect and will be worse in a couple of years and our midfield lacks drive. Our forwards also arent the best but maybe its just because they dont see it enough.

In the Saints game we dominated the midfield and as a result we kicked like 25 goals or something so maybe we must target the midfield and a quality tall with our picks and think about the backline next year as Jako Matera and Milli will all be there in 2002.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

We have three picks in the top 20. If we use all three picks to secure quality players we'll be allright in 2-3years time.

Our defence is not shaky. Imagine this line up:
FB: Carroll Glass Read
HB: Wirrpunda Gaspar Collica

All these players are so young that if they play together for a few years they will be as good as the early 90's combo of McKenna, Worsfold, Waterman, Jakovich and McIntosh.......well, maybe not. But our backline certainly isn't weak.

Our forward line is also decent.
HF: Williams McDougall Embley
FF: Merenda Buszan Fido

Could be a formidable setup, if only they had better delivery.

So our only weak point is our midfield, Cousins, Braun, Morrison, Fletcher and Kerr all play there. Cousins and Kerr are the only dominant players of the lot. The rest are just backup.

So in conclusion, we need midfielders. We could pick up at least 2 Cousins/Kerr quality players with those 3 picks, so why trade them away?

 

[Visro]

Unfortunately D4E, I don't share your same optimism regarding our crucial ends of the fields.

Just some points:

* Is Carroll good enough to be in a starting 18?
* Is Wirrpunda taking the easy option down back and will he be at WC next season?
* Does the lack of skills down back worry anyone (Carroll, Glass, Collica & Read to some extent)
* Is the defensive unit too small height wise?

* Will McDougall live up to his reputation?
* Is Embley good enough and will he be here next season?
* Same deal with Williams?
* Is Buszan good enough for AFL level?
* Can Merenda be consistent?

As you can see, things aren't all that rosy and I would sure feel a hell of a lot better if we drafted players for these zones in the upcoming draft. Quality tall players are hard to find whereas midfielders can be found later in the draft. If we have too many tall players, other clubs will always be willing to trade for them.

Here is what I think we should do with our picks:

#3: Tall forward player, eg Polack
#6: Tall backman player
#22: Midfielder
#38: Midfielder

That is taking into account our current picks before trading. We may even pick up another couple of high picks if we're lucky, another 2nd round draft pick would be nice not to mention another first round draft pick!

Vis

 

[jod23]

I too do not share your optimism D4E's. I think Vis has it more on the money, i also dont agree that Morrison and Braun are just backup midfielders. Morrison i still believe is a star and on a couple of occasions before he went down with injury he had 30 plus possesions games. The thing with Braun and Morrison now is not knowing if they can get back to there best after there injuries and will they now stay injury free.

 

[Visro]

I don't believe our midfield is that bed, they just need to settle and to "gel". I think you could classify the following players midfielders:

Banfield
Braun
Chambers
Cousins
Fletcher
Humm
Jones
Kerr
Morrison
Munro
Taylor
Wooden
Wirrpunda

That seems like too many midfielders. I've also left out other players that play on the CHF and CHB lines that also help out in the midfield:

Collica
Embley
Green
Harding
Haynes
Matera
Merenda
Prior
Read
Williams

A lot of those players are quite young. At this years draft we look set to pick up a couple more midfielders. We certainly are not lacking in this department. Its not that our midfield isn't good enough skill wise, its more experience, lack of confidence and injury that is damaging our midfield. Next year, with competion to play there to heaten up with the return or injured players, expect them to all improve as competition for spots increases...hopefully!

Vis

 

[Visro]

and some of my spelling is shocking but what the hell!

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

Originally posted by Visro
Unfortunately D4E, I don't share your same optimism regarding our crucial ends of the fields.

Just some points:

* Is Carroll good enough to be in a starting 18?
* Is Wirrpunda taking the easy option down back and will he be at WC next season?
* Does the lack of skills down back worry anyone (Carroll, Glass, Collica & Read to some extent)
* Is the defensive unit too small height wise?

* Will McDougall live up to his reputation?
* Is Embley good enough and will he be here next season?
* Same deal with Williams?
* Is Buszan good enough for AFL level?
* Can Merenda be consistent?

I think all those questions have the same answer. Ken Judge! We have all seen those players have ripper games, where they played really well. If they could do it consistently then the eagles wouldn't be sitting in 14th.

These are the only points i agree with you on:
* Is Wirrpunda taking the easy option down back and will he be at WC next season
* Is Buszan good enough for AFL level?


On the other points, the blame either comes down to Ken Judge or the fact that they are still young and so can't be judged too harshly.

 

[jod23]

I agree Vis. Next year the only midfielder that is guaranteed a game the following week after only getting 2 touches will be Ben Cousins. Thats a good thing! If everyone is healthy then there will be pressure on Banfield, Jones, Taylor to perform week in week out or Kerr, Fletcher, Wooden, Chambers (if he stays) Humm, Braun ect ect will be there to take there place.

Think about the midfield we have had this year, Braun, Morrison and Banfield have been out injured, Wooden has gone down back to cover the loss of Read. That leaves Cousins, Fletcher, Taylor, Jones, Kerr and Chambers fighting for spots. There are a few others but there not really specialist midfielders. Thats 6 guys fighting for the Centre line and the 2 onballers. Thats 5 spots, too easy.

With the hopeful emergence of Humm and the return of Braun, Morrison and Banners it will provide plenty of competition. Also with Read back, Wooden will be forced to break into the midfield.

More players, more competition. Well thats what i hope anyhow.

 

[bunsen burner]

Re: priority draft pick (#6)

I was under the impression that clubs are not allowed to trade priority draft picks. That means we won't be trading #6 for anyone.

I would be quite happy to let go #3 and a good player (Braun, Morrison, Banfield) to secure D.Gaspar. Gaspar is still young and a proven quality player. If we keep #3, what are the chances that they will be as good a player as Gaspar? Not mention Gaspar is ready to play. A draft pick might take a few years. We need an extra good player now.

I'm usually against trading draft picks, but just on this occasion, I would like to see the club secure a big name player, ie, Gaspar, Woewoedin, Chick, Pickett etc.

A big name player and a new club just might spark the team. We got flogged all year in the midfield, and this was probably the teams biggest problem. Imagine having Chick or Woewoedin in the middle with Cousins. Now that's something we could mould a team around.

 

[plays tall]

i'd be opposed to trading one of our top draft picks for darren gaspar. he's a fantastic player but what is he next year, 26? it would make sense if we were likely to be a premiership contender in the next couple of years.

the only area where we are covered is the ruck. i think our most pressing need is for quality midfielders. sure we have plenty already but how many can be expected to dominate? in the games in which we got thrashed we were annihilated in the midfield. even with injured players returning i don't see that changing.

 

[Frodo]

Originally posted by bunsen burner
Re: priority draft pick (#6)

I was under the impression that clubs are not allowed to trade priority draft picks. That means we won't be trading #6 for anyone.

I would be quite happy to let go #3 and a good player (Braun, Morrison, Banfield) to secure D.Gaspar. .

The priority pick is #3 and cannot be traded. Normal drafting then starts with the bottom side having pick 4 and WCE pick 6.

 

[bunsen burner]

cool, that works out better.