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Our post-flag list development is at the crossroads. There are lots of posts right now about list imbalances, drafting strategy and trading/FAs, all in the context of the WB undergoing a rebuild of sorts.
While the specific player prospects will get a lot of discussion throughout the season in the trades and list management threads I'm interested in how we approach this properly as a club.
List Development - or List Management if you prefer - involves at least the following:
My concern is that it's not at all clear how we make balanced decisions in the best interests of the club. In fact from the outside it has looked like each of them go about their job separately and we just arse some good outcomes but get quite a few poor outcomes as well.
There have been many anecdotes related here about how Dalrymple, JMcCartney and Beveridge (and before him BMcCartney) have been at odds over our list development approach. Not just which kid to draft or which type of player to draft, but also whether to burn draft picks in order to trade in players. It seems McCartney might have just gone out and made some unilateral trading decisions which have cut across the planning of both Dalrymple and Beveridge.
It seems blindingly obvious that we need someone to moderate the views of the three key players (drafting/list management/head coach) in order to get the best short and medium term outcomes. Who is that person, or who should it be? Chris Grant? And is he the right bloke for it? I reckon a club like Hawthorn has got this right over the last decade or so. I don't think we have.
With Dalrymple and McCartney gone in quick succession and replaced by Nick Austin and Sam Power we have a new regime, overseen by Chris Grant who at times appears to be more nice guy than hard-nosed strategist.
Over the next 6-12 months we need the right structure and the right people to get the best result out of
For a start can anyone say for certain what the command arrangements are between Grant, Beveridge, Power and Austin? Are there any other key players in this space?
It seems an opportune time to fix what looked to be a broken structure. Have we done that?
How do other clubs structure their List Development, especially those who are habitually good at it like Sydney and Hawthorn?
While the specific player prospects will get a lot of discussion throughout the season in the trades and list management threads I'm interested in how we approach this properly as a club.
List Development - or List Management if you prefer - involves at least the following:
- Identifying and agreeing on current needs
- Identifying and planning for future needs (eg what happens when Murphy, Moyd and Morris retire)
- Managing contracts of currently listed players
- Drafting (and all that it entails, such as talent identification, character checks, etc)
- Trading (ditto)
- Managing the TPPs
- Managing the draft points from year to year (including trading future picks and going into credit/deficit)
- Developing players currently on the list, especially the 18-20yos. This includes re-inventing them in different roles at times, to fill list needs or to get the best out of the player's particular strengths and deficiencies.
My concern is that it's not at all clear how we make balanced decisions in the best interests of the club. In fact from the outside it has looked like each of them go about their job separately and we just arse some good outcomes but get quite a few poor outcomes as well.
There have been many anecdotes related here about how Dalrymple, JMcCartney and Beveridge (and before him BMcCartney) have been at odds over our list development approach. Not just which kid to draft or which type of player to draft, but also whether to burn draft picks in order to trade in players. It seems McCartney might have just gone out and made some unilateral trading decisions which have cut across the planning of both Dalrymple and Beveridge.
It seems blindingly obvious that we need someone to moderate the views of the three key players (drafting/list management/head coach) in order to get the best short and medium term outcomes. Who is that person, or who should it be? Chris Grant? And is he the right bloke for it? I reckon a club like Hawthorn has got this right over the last decade or so. I don't think we have.
With Dalrymple and McCartney gone in quick succession and replaced by Nick Austin and Sam Power we have a new regime, overseen by Chris Grant who at times appears to be more nice guy than hard-nosed strategist.
Over the next 6-12 months we need the right structure and the right people to get the best result out of
- the supposed super-draft of 2018
- the emergence of 4 exciting F/S and NextGen Academy prospects
- the impending loss of experience (Morris, Picken, maybe Dickson)
- securing the best players on our list who are most likely to be raided by other clubs (from Bont and Macrae, through McLean, Dunkley etc down to Naughton and Richards)
- the FA market (keeping our own FAs in Libba and Dahlhaus while potentially targetting others who become available)
- Keeping an eye on what's happening down the track (retirements, future F/S picks, etc)
For a start can anyone say for certain what the command arrangements are between Grant, Beveridge, Power and Austin? Are there any other key players in this space?
It seems an opportune time to fix what looked to be a broken structure. Have we done that?
How do other clubs structure their List Development, especially those who are habitually good at it like Sydney and Hawthorn?