Sharp Axes

[azabob]

Is Jeemak and Aza the same person?

I’m taking that as a compliment and so does jeemak.

FWIW I want Smith, prior to last night I wasn’t sure if Smith wanted us. Watching him last night I’m certain he wants to stay .

[Bulldog Joe]

Was everyone so confident we'd beat Essendon at 7:45pm on the 21st of July?

The only thing preventing that confidence was the lack of faith that has been created.

The coach should be giving players the belief and delivering on it consistently.

That we even considered that losing was possible is one of the reasons this thread was started.

[Bulldog Joe]

Old doesn't equal good though, does it? It just means we need to look at our list critically and address its weaknesses, which we all acknowledge.

Winning a final is the target, and any team who has made the eight should be aiming for top four. That's a stated ambition of ours and it absolutely should be our ambition.

I just think so much has to go right for us to make it. Because of our deficiencies our margin for error is wafer thin which is why I don't understand the hysteria when we don't win or the lack of enjoyment when we play well. There's always a but this, or a but that in the case of the latter.

A side that has Khamis as second ruck, Keath, Bruce and Gardner as defensive pillars, and West, Baker, Poulter and VDM in it is expected to trounce a top eight contender and make top four. Does that really stack up? Is it a great coaching effort to get these guys to win by seven goals? Great committed effort from the players to execute a plan?

The deliberate strategy to be older is on everyone. Having chosen that they need to ensure they are better because of it.

[jeemak]

The deliberate strategy to be older is on everyone. Having chosen that they need to ensure they are better because of it.

But if they're old and not good, they're not good, right? That's an organisation problem that needs fixing.

What did you make of the rest of my post and the one after it? Does a team with nine questionable inclusions scream top four material to you?

[jeemak]

I’m taking that as a compliment and so does jeemak.

FWIW I want Smith, prior to last night I wasn’t sure if Smith wanted us. Watching him last night I’m certain he wants to stay .

Yes we do.

[Bulldog Joe]

But if they're old and not good, they're not good, right? That's an organisation problem that needs fixing.

What did you make of the rest of my post and the one after it? Does a team with nine questionable inclusions scream top four material to you?

Khamis was playing due to injury/form of Darcy and Lobby
Keath, Gardner and Duryea are part of the deliberate strategy aiming at top 4. There is no excuse with those.
Bruce is effective cover for injury to Jones.
If there is any question on West and VDM it is about player development.
Baker and Poulter are new this year.

Go and look at Collingwood and where those players were in 2021 and you will find plenty of questions.
Their coach has made an enormous difference and they have players who were fringe or questionable doing the job.

[bornadog]

I’m taking that as a compliment and so does jeemak.

FWIW I want Smith, prior to last night I wasn’t sure if Smith wanted us. Watching him last night I’m certain he wants to stay .

Yes we do.

Great minds think alike

[macca]

The only thing preventing that confidence was the lack of faith that has been created.

The coach should be giving players the belief and delivering on it consistently.

That we even considered that losing was possible is one of the reasons this thread was started.

Spot on @BulldogJoe , and i believe we are doing that, supporting B.Smith
His a power athelete, who is a good runner ,has endurance and speed, and we are lucky his actually a good natural footballer.
We just need to nurture , coach and get him to achieve his potential.

[jeemak]

Isn't part of our problem that we've hung onto players for too long, and possibly shown too much faith in their ability to improve/ step-up?

I have no doubt that we could improve in our player development (our recruiting/ talent development probably isn't that bad), though that's a football department issue - not just a senior coach issue.

[bornadog]

Isn't part of our problem that we've hung onto players for too long, and possibly shown too much faith in their ability to improve/ step-up?

I have no doubt that we could improve in our player development (our recruiting/ talent development probably isn't that bad), though that's a football department issue - not just a senior coach issue.

who do you think we have held on to too long?

[bulldogtragic]

who do you think we have held on to too long?

Off the top of my head:

Start with delisted then rookie listed:

Hahn
Goodes
Hayes
Cavarra
Pearce
Prudden

Then I?d say:

Wood (who chose to walk a year early)
Gowers
Wallis
Martin
Porter
Honeychurch (keeping him made us sack Cloke)
VDM two years (mark this post)

Then I?d say tradable players that we convinced to stay and had value reduce or eliminate with no impact for us:

Hill
J. Grant
Jong


That?s just off the top of my head, without a forensic look.

[bornadog]

Off the top of my head:

Start with delisted then rookie listed:

Hahn
Goodes
Hayes
Cavarra
Pearce
Prudden

Then I?d say:

Wood (who chose to walk a year early)
Gowers
Wallis
Martin
Porter
Honeychurch (keeping him made us sack Cloke)
VDM two years (mark this post)

Then I?d say tradable players that we convinced to stay and had value reduce or eliminate with no impact for us:

Hill
J. Grant
Jong


That?s just off the top of my head, without a forensic look.

How about currently

[bulldogtragic]

How about currently

Duryea & Keath are lucky to be on the list. But as we are thin, it’s harder to say them. Khamis could’ve been traded as clearly he was going to be behind too many up forward.

But those guys are up, perhaps with Bruce, and Sweet will go. Croz, TOB & McLean along with Roarke & Bedendo’s bodies aren’t up to the rigours of AFEL. I don’t think Hannan or McComb is needed either. Raak as a Cat B doesn’t bother me.

So currently on the list, there’s plenty to be done. If most aren’t gone (I can accept a couple might stay for depth for a year) at the end of year we can add them to the list. We need to cut deep for our draft strategy with Croft, but we don’t need to cut unlucky players. There’s just a bunch of guys whose age and injuries have caught up with them, a couple who will seek opportunities elsewhere and a few who just haven’t find enough with their time/opportunities. I dont think too many will lose sleep about losing these guys in their current stage of their careers.

[macca]

Off the top of my head:

Start with delisted then rookie listed:

Hahn
Goodes
Hayes
Cavarra
Pearce
Prudden

Then I?d say:

Wood (who chose to walk a year early)
Gowers
Wallis
Martin
Porter
Honeychurch (keeping him made us sack Cloke)
VDM two years (mark this post)

Then I?d say tradable players that we convinced to stay and had value reduce or eliminate with no impact for us:

Hill
J. Grant
Jong


That?s just off the top of my head, without a forensic look.

Its ironic that Macpherson was playing in VFL and we did not pick him and his still on GCS list, his one that got away

I dont really understand why we keep these fringe players for so long .

Our rookies other than Scott have not really worked out in the last 2 years. Buku needs to play 2 positions to get in the side as a fwd/ruck but is too small to play ruck from seeing the game against essendon last night ( he was soundly beaten by eker champ Phillips and Wright)

There is nothing from last nights game that convinces me that VDM is an AFL footballer
- cannot spoil
- got out run by Hind
- panics whenever has the ball

I am not picking on the guy but i just cannot beleive there is no one else better in the team to play that position

[bulldogtragic]

Its ironic that Macpherson was playing in VFL and we did not pick him and his still on GCS list, his one that got away

I dont really understand why we keep these fringe players for so long .

Our rookies other than Scott have not really worked out in the last 2 years. Buku needs to play 2 positions to get in the side as a fwd/ruck but is too small to play ruck from seeing the game against essendon last night ( he was soundly beaten by eker champ Phillips and Wright)

There is nothing from last nights game that convinces me that VDM is an AFL footballer
- cannot spoil
- got out run by Hind
- panics whenever has the ball

I am not picking on the guy but i just cannot beleive there is no one else better in the team to play that position

MacPherson was a list problem, he was a F/S but GCS jumped in him before our RD pick if we wanted him. But we had a glut of similar and soon to be delisted/traded types like Honeychurch & Hrovat among others clogging up the list. In hindsight, we would’ve moved on one of them and taken Darcy with our last pick. But we’ve been pretty good on getting F/S but also passing on them too correctly included Jayden Foster who Carlton bid on and was a huge disappointment.

Which kind of highlights the earlier point. Stop holding onto fringe players for too long and recruit some kids. They might just become better players than the cloggers you just delisted.