What happens to Keplar and Johnson?

[rgauci]

Surely if we get Clark these two start to become superfluous to our needs. Not to mention J.Griffin.

Keplar Bradley filled the role of key position forward and 2nd ruck and was reasonably good at the start of this year. He seemed to fall away due to injury. Kicked a similar amount of goals compared with Mitch Clark but isn't anywhere near as successful in the ruck. Mitch looks less awkward

Michael Johnson, the easiest player to dislike on our list for his lack of physicality and poor physical conditioning. Not to mention the drug incident which saw him miss 6 weeks. His position in the side was already on a tight rope and if we manage to secure Clark he will slide even further down the pecking order. He's jack of all trades and master of none. His work as a ruckman is finished with the emergence of Zac Clarke, and will be dead and buried if we secure Mitch Clark. His role as a tall forward is also limited, with the rumoured return of Pav to the forward line and a sidekick of Mitch Clark i can't see a forwardline including Johnson working. It would be far too immobile and tall. That leaves him in the dreaded position of backman which hasn't worked since he was left as 'loose' man in our preliminary final year. Since that time he's been exposed as terrible 1 on 1 player and opposition defences do their utmost to isolate him against his defender. Hell the eagles even isolated Quentin Lynch with good effect in our first derby. All i can say is thank god we have Silvagni coming up through the ranks.

Mitch Clark will essentially make 3 players on our list redundant. Our list managers must be aware of this problem and be making moves towards repairing the imbalance. If the rumours are true Griffin may be returning to Adelaide. What about the other two? IMO depth that is aged in their mid to late twenties is useless. Depth should be up and coming kids or retiree's ALA Grover who may have a season or two left in them.

The big issue is both signed for 2 more seasons. We can't even cut them after 2012 if they've barely been used.

 

[Kenny_01]

Both will be ideal depth players.

Not in our best 22 but will be able to fill in if injuries mount.

 

[tacopavlich]

handy depth players.

 

[Nickos66]

Kepler will still push for a spot in the forwardline/HFF. Failing that, bump him up to the wing and watch him KePLOW through opposition wingmen. He's pretty versatile at the end of the day and nobody expected him to get many games this year but he bobbed up and surprised everyone, I'd back him to do it again.

Johnson? Who cares at this stage.

 

[PurpleGreenRed]

Got to Keep Keps. The fella did enough this year to justify a chance next year. I've said it before ...on a set shot from the 50 mark I feel more comfortable if Kep has the ball in his hand than any other player...including Pav. We need Keps

 

[Lach72]

WAFL. Depth.

 

[free at last]

Kepler: centre half forward for the giants

Jonno : centre half back for the giants

 

[PurpleGreenRed]

Kepler: centre half forward for the giants

Jonno : centre half back for the giants

In an ideal world you'ld get first round draft picks for them both too. It won't happen.

How soon we forget about Keplar eh? 25 goals..joint highest goal scorer and only played 14 games.

Turncoats...the lot of ye!

 

[theGav56]

I assume that Griffin will be going with Clark coming in. If he simply wants to be in WA, and stays, then we have secured one of the better back-up rucks that we have ever had, and he gets to play wafl. Even if Sandilands was missing a game, Clarke + Clark would be my prefernce, and bring in another player.

I don't think both MJ and Keplar are required either. But I can see Keplar playing it out in the wafl trying his best to force his way into the team due to form.

MJ (have we actually inked the contract?) I am hoping will be a Lyons project, and gets some clarity about what his role is, and some consistency in performing it.

My ideal is trading Griffin to Port for a 2nd rounder, and trading either of the other 2, not both.

 

[Jezzitizle]

Surely if we get Clark these two start to become superfluous to our needs. Not to mention J.Griffin.

Keplar Bradley filled the role of key position forward and 2nd ruck and was reasonably good at the start of this year. He seemed to fall away due to injury. Kicked a similar amount of goals compared with Mitch Clark but isn't anywhere near as successful in the ruck. Mitch looks less awkward

Michael Johnson, the easiest player to dislike on our list for his lack of physicality and poor physical conditioning. Not to mention the drug incident which saw him miss 6 weeks. His position in the side was already on a tight rope and if we manage to secure Clark he will slide even further down the pecking order. He's jack of all trades and master of none. His work as a ruckman is finished with the emergence of Zac Clarke, and will be dead and buried if we secure Mitch Clark. His role as a tall forward is also limited, with the rumoured return of Pav to the forward line and a sidekick of Mitch Clark i can't see a forwardline including Johnson working. It would be far too immobile and tall. That leaves him in the dreaded position of backman which hasn't worked since he was left as 'loose' man in our preliminary final year. Since that time he's been exposed as terrible 1 on 1 player and opposition defences do their utmost to isolate him against his defender. Hell the eagles even isolated Quentin Lynch with good effect in our first derby. All i can say is thank god we have Silvagni coming up through the ranks.

Mitch Clark will essentially make 3 players on our list redundant. Our list managers must be aware of this problem and be making moves towards repairing the imbalance. If the rumours are true Griffin may be returning to Adelaide. What about the other two? IMO depth that is aged in their mid to late twenties is useless. Depth should be up and coming kids or retiree's ALA Grover who may have a season or two left in them.

The big issue is both signed for 2 more seasons. We can't even cut them after 2012 if they've barely been used.

1 player is going to make 3 players redundant? Some would argue Johnson already was, but I always thought he pointed the way. And we didnt play in a prelim. You think we need depth consisting entirely of kids and geriatrics? Sounds distinctly like not depth..

What happens if Clark gets injured.. we will (somehow) have 3 holes in our list! I think the off season is getting to you early.

 

[ritz]

Off to the markets with at least one of them

 

[Clay Davis]

Johnson would make great glue.

 

[Seppo]

Johnson would make great glue.

How could he? MJ can't even stick an uncontested mark!

 

[freocuz]

1 player is going to make 3 players redundant? Some would argue Johnson already was, but I always thought he pointed the way. And we didnt play in a prelim. You think we need depth consisting entirely of kids and geriatrics? Sounds distinctly like not depth..

What happens if Clark gets injured.. we will (somehow) have 3 holes in our list! I think the off season is getting to you early.

Really? It must have been a dream then, I guess.

Johnson - out. Don't care, just out.
Kepler - would like to keep, but if Sheedy wants him, then will gladly accept a pick or two.
Griff - as per Kepler.

We don't need middle-aged list fillers. If you can't cement a spot by the time you're 25-27, then you probably aren't good enough (with a few exceptions, of course).

 

[dominguez]

We don't need middle-aged list fillers. If you can't cement a spot by the time you're 25-27, then you probably aren't good enough (with a few exceptions, of course).

You need 30 players who are AFL calibre and ready to contribute tomorrow if required. On form Johnson's not a good AFL player but his trade value would be eff all and under a new coach he might get it together so best to keep him around IMO.

The same applies to Kepler, unless Sheeds makes a play for him he's worth next to nothing during trade week and offers good depth across a number of positions.

 

[rgauci]

You need 30 players who are AFL calibre and ready to contribute tomorrow if required. On form Johnson's not a good AFL player but his trade value would be eff all and under a new coach he might get it together so best to keep him around IMO.

The same applies to Kepler, unless Sheeds makes a play for him he's worth next to nothing during trade week and offers good depth across a number of positions.

That's the contentious part. Define contribute. We didn't field a team of teenagers this year, so by some people's definition we had depth. Just they were no good. The aforementioned players are borderline best 22. With the presumed addition of Clark they become almost certain not to make the 22.

I'd trade 2 out of 3.

Unfortunately there can only ever be 46 players on a list. If we have 2-3 slots filled with players who will only play if Sandilands, Clarke or Clark get injured we are in trouble. We need depth across all positions.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

as long as we piss that serial bludger johnson off im happy. i like kepler, good solid citizen and can play a role as a depth player. i really like griff too, and he wants to play for the jumper, but if he leaves for opportunity then i wouldnt begrudge him, and he should net us a handy pick as well

 

[Clay Davis]

That's the contentious part. Define contribute. We didn't field a team of teenagers this year, so by some people's definition we had depth. Just they were no good.

Yep, 13 out of our 22 games we had the more mature side.

If plans were afoot to sack Harvey, then what was the deal with signing Johnson for two? Surely his contract could have been negotiated closer to trade week. It's funny how Chris Bond cops no heat for poor list management decisions, yet Harvey gets no kudos for the good ones we've made.

 

[prattsta]

It's funny how Chris Bond cops no heat for poor list management decisions, yet Harvey gets no kudos for the good ones we've made.

The entire Chris Bond love affair is funny IMO.

 

[Clay Davis]

The entire Chris Bond love affair is funny IMO.

Yeah, I don't get it. Fundamentally our drafting and list management is on par. The 2009 premiers looks to have done better out of the 2009 draft that us, and we finished third last.

 

[Lach72]

Yeah, I don't get it. Fundamentally our drafting and list management is on par. The 2009 premiers looks to have done better out of the 2009 draft that us, and we finished third last!

Their drafting has been good.
However Fyfe and Morabito will be excellent players, if Mora's knee holds.

Vardy would've been handy.
We wouldn't be bidding for Mitch Clark now...

 

[Clay Davis]

Their drafting has been good.
However Fyfe and Morabito will be excellent players, if Mora's knee holds.

Vardy would've been handy.
We wouldn't be bidding for Mitch Clark now...

Mora and Fyfe are good, but you'd hope so at pick 4 & 20. Geelong got some pretty handy gems deeper than us.

I don't find our drafting that worthy of acclaim, and certainly don't think Bond's list management is all that stellar. I mean, two years for Johnson? Really?

 

[raffrox]

Michael Johnson will finish top ten in our B&F next year. Thats right. I'm calling it now. One proviso though, this will only be true if we don't trade him to GWS next week.

This guy needs to be part of a rigid structure thatdoesn't take crap (like a Peter Bell lead Freo to be honest) or has to be under threat. He has to be under pressure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes–Dodson_law

I honestly believe that MJ was playing partly for his survival or his role in the team in the last game of the season this year. He was told something imo and just played differently. He was actually very good. He needs to be under the pump off field for him to play well and I think he has been allowed to cruise.

I actually think Lyon will get close to the best out of this guy because he will have the first real off field pressure on his performance for a long time.

Or I just might be a fool...

 

[Clay Davis]

Michael Johnson will probably finish top ten in our B&F this year, by virtue of having played every game and a number of good players missing half the season. Big deal.

 

[Admiral Byng]

What about the KPF we recruited last year - Jack Anthony?

What happens with him?