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Re: Bulldog ONLY Trade News
Agreed but I reckon there's been a little too much doom and gloom in relation to post-season discussions around us (not from you), which I personally find surprising for a team that had the best defensive/attacking profile in the competition for the entire 2024 H&A season - the only other 2 teams with comparable balanced profiles were Hawthorn who were white-hot and knocked us off in the EF, and Brisbane who won the whole shooting match.
We have been quite deliberate with our list management strategy this off-season and also who we are specifically targeting that can add to areas of deficiency. The 2021 halcyon days are well and truly over and the game has change significantly even in that short period of time, so we have adapted accordingly this year (2 years too late IMO, but better late than never).
The elite tank one-paced accumulator is not going to get it done in 2025 - Macrae and Daniel are victims of the changing landscape but Daniel has elite disposal and decision-making weapons that are still valuable. Macrae in the right team feeds it to the outside runners, so he would be also be valuable in the right set-up. And clearly we have targeted unsexy players this off-season but those who perform roles which we have in short supply - Peatling as that defensive-oriented mid (to replace the Dunkley hole) and XOH to add to our high-half forward stocks (every team except Geelong, Hawthorn and GWS needs more of these types, not less).
We've also been hamstrung by some overly generous list management contract extensions in recent years that will hopefully be rectified next year.
I don't see the negativity that some others do at the moment. Power is not going to get screwed over in the next 8 days - he's as tough at the trade table as anyone - and we will bring in some more quality via the draft and also potentially bring in some seasoned players to bolster areas of need. I am still concerned with our ruck set-up at stoppages (especially in big games when it counts), but it is what it is.
Agreed but I reckon there's been a little too much doom and gloom in relation to post-season discussions around us (not from you), which I personally find surprising for a team that had the best defensive/attacking profile in the competition for the entire 2024 H&A season - the only other 2 teams with comparable balanced profiles were Hawthorn who were white-hot and knocked us off in the EF, and Brisbane who won the whole shooting match.
We have been quite deliberate with our list management strategy this off-season and also who we are specifically targeting that can add to areas of deficiency. The 2021 halcyon days are well and truly over and the game has change significantly even in that short period of time, so we have adapted accordingly this year (2 years too late IMO, but better late than never).
The elite tank one-paced accumulator is not going to get it done in 2025 - Macrae and Daniel are victims of the changing landscape but Daniel has elite disposal and decision-making weapons that are still valuable. Macrae in the right team feeds it to the outside runners, so he would be also be valuable in the right set-up. And clearly we have targeted unsexy players this off-season but those who perform roles which we have in short supply - Peatling as that defensive-oriented mid (to replace the Dunkley hole) and XOH to add to our high-half forward stocks (every team except Geelong, Hawthorn and GWS needs more of these types, not less).
We've also been hamstrung by some overly generous list management contract extensions in recent years that will hopefully be rectified next year.
I don't see the negativity that some others do at the moment. Power is not going to get screwed over in the next 8 days - he's as tough at the trade table as anyone - and we will bring in some more quality via the draft and also potentially bring in some seasoned players to bolster areas of need. I am still concerned with our ruck set-up at stoppages (especially in big games when it counts), but it is what it is.
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