2025 List Management Thread

[doggies ftw]

I had newfound for respect watching VDM/McNeill repeat sprint every week last year and most of the time it was unrewarded running - they both work their absolute asses off. Unfortunately every team has these types, and VDM/McNeill simply lack the offensive threat and polish against their opposition contemporaries. Even really poor teams like Richmond have guys like Seth Campbell, who is a much more effective and dangerous high-half forward.

Players like Keays, Mannagh, Close, Myers, McCreery, Watson, MacDonald, Moore, GWS x10 players - VDM and McNeill are nowhere near this level of offensive threat (maybe harsh on VDM, he was dangerous in patches early in the year but dropped away badly). We just desperately need depth and quality in this critical area, which is why we drafted Dolan last year (he'll make it I reckon). We need another 1-2 more at least - kudos to West, who has become elite in this area. Also fingers crossed for Weightman to make a full recovery.

Very keen on Dovastan who should be around our first pick, avging 16 touches nearly 6 tackles and 2.4 goals in the u18s this year and looked good for Box hill against us a few weeks back. He’s straight out of the mould we need - fast and aggressive but can hit the scoreboard, reminds me of young Dahlhaus little bit of a scrapper but that’s okay.

I agree Dolan looks good and should be more primed for somewhat of an impact and Arty as well looks ready to take over from VDM/Mcneil as a hard runner with some offensive flair.

My dream, realistic, offseason is Silvagni, Butts for a 2nd and Dovastan with our 1st. A fwd half mix of Cody, West, AJ with Dolan & Dovastan coming through looks potentially very very strong. And a defensive mix of Butts, Lobb & Silvagni and possibly Sellwood looks much more balanced defensively with JOD & Buss coming through.

It really shouldn’t be hard to pull this off to be honest, we can’t sit on our hands and some pretty minor but significant changes like the above could make all the difference

[The Bulldogs Bite]

I had newfound for respect watching VDM/McNeill repeat sprint every week last year and most of the time it was unrewarded running - they both work their absolute asses off. Unfortunately every team has these types, and VDM/McNeill simply lack the offensive threat and polish against their opposition contemporaries. Even really poor teams like Richmond have guys like Seth Campbell, who is a much more effective and dangerous high-half forward.

Players like Keays, Mannagh, Close, Myers, McCreery, Watson, MacDonald, Moore, GWS x10 players - VDM and McNeill are nowhere near this level of offensive threat (maybe harsh on VDM, he was dangerous in patches early in the year but dropped away badly). We just desperately need depth and quality in this critical area, which is why we drafted Dolan last year (he'll make it I reckon). We need another 1-2 more at least - kudos to West, who has become elite in this area. Also fingers crossed for Weightman to make a full recovery.

Yep, agree with all of this. VDM's running is off the charts and I thought he was fantastic in the first half of the year. His drop off was alarming, and it hurt our transition defence. Not sure why he dropped away so badly.

I think you can get away with playing one of them (VDM) but not both. Good opposition are prepared to almost show them zero respect, knowing full well they won't be hurt offensively, which then makes it harder for Naughton, Darcy and West - because it's solely up to them to score. I think this is partly why we couldn't score as well vs the better sides.

I like Dolan too and I think he'll be a better version of what we get from VDM but as you said, we still need another - a genuine goal sneak.

You can see why we wanted Watson. He would have been a good fit.

[Sedat]

I can cop this argument for VDM and have no issues with him, but McNeil? I don't care how great of a team mate he is, he routinely finishes games with less than 3 kicks and essentially plays every week.

We're absolutely no worse off with anyone else in his role.

I had newfound for respect watching VDM/McNeill repeat sprint every week last year and most of the time it was unrewarded running - they both work their absolute asses off. Unfortunately every team has these types, and VDM/McNeill simply lack the offensive threat and polish against their opposition contemporaries. Even really poor teams like Richmond have guys like Seth Campbell, who is a much more effective and dangerous high-half forward.

Players like Keays, Mannagh, Close, Myers, McCreery, Watson, MacDonald, Moore, GWS x10 players - VDM and McNeill are nowhere near this level of offensive threat (maybe harsh on VDM, he was dangerous in patches early in the year but dropped away badly). We just desperately need depth and quality in this critical area, which is why we drafted Dolan last year (he'll make it I reckon). We need another 1-2 more at least - kudos to West, who has become elite in this area. Also fingers crossed for Weightman to make a full recovery.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

I think the idea is you lock the likes of VDM and McNeil in as relative known quantities with a bit more consistency in performance to find, and while they help hold you at a level you put resources into developing players brought in after them.

That's if you want to regenerate without rebuilding and dropping.

We all know VDM and McNeil aren't going to shift the dial for us in terms of improvement, but they may just be good hard working citizens and good team mates who can create selection pressure and a professional environment in which new players can thrive in. We are where we are with them in the selection window. Bounce them now and we drop back unless we replace them with equal quality or better quality, but doing the latter two properly is really bloody hard.

Anyone who wants those guys gone doesn't really get it, unless they're calling for a genuine rebuild.

I can cop this argument for VDM and have no issues with him, but McNeil? I don't care how great of a team mate he is, he routinely finishes games with less than 3 kicks and essentially plays every week.

We're absolutely no worse off with anyone else in his role.

[doggies ftw]

I think the idea is you lock the likes of VDM and McNeil in as relative known quantities with a bit more consistency in performance to find, and while they help hold you at a level you put resources into developing players brought in after them.

That's if you want to regenerate without rebuilding and dropping.

We all know VDM and McNeil aren't going to shift the dial for us in terms of improvement, but they may just be good hard working citizens and good team mates who can create selection pressure and a professional environment in which new players can thrive in. We are where we are with them in the selection window. Bounce them now and we drop back unless we replace them with equal quality or better quality, but doing the latter two properly is really bloody hard.

Anyone who wants those guys gone doesn't really get it, unless they're calling for a genuine rebuild.

All well and good to say they’re solid depth on the list etc but VDM has never been dropped to the VFL in his career, not once. Personally I’d rather him off the list so Bevo doesn’t ****ing play him.

I get your point with guys like this on absolute peanut contracts, they hold up the bottom of the list, set a standard and just don’t really need much thought or resources like you said. So long as they’re not wasting list spots which let’s be honest on a list of 44 there’s always deadwood to cut anyway, so no real issue there. Although like others put above if it was the difference in keeping Treloar I’d happily cut both.

Relying on them as key cogs of the team though is just incompetent, if we go into another season with either of these two in the starting 23 we deserve to fail. Such important positions on the ground we cannot afford to rely on these two. The myth of what they bring with their ‘repeat sprints’ is surely put to bed now? We can’t defend transition anyway so what are they really doing? Absolutely ****ing nothing, they both can’t even stick a tackle, completely kill any offensive ball movement, couldn’t hit a target or hit the scoreboard - they run quick though, enoughs enough.

Genuine hacks, fine as last resort depth sure. Pretty funny that VDM is going to be 30 when his contracts done! 30 ffs. I honestly don’t think these two would get a regular game at any club in the bottom 4 to be honest, so why are they best 22 locks for us?

[doggies ftw]

He seems like he’d be trying to compete with Kennedy for a spot rather than Garcia. I can see long term appeal in him, but I’m skeptical about his value to us in 2026.

Perhaps most relevant is that we just drafted Hynes who basically looks to fill that role long term - medium marking forward who can have bursts through the middle.

ideally Kennedy sticks around another couple years before Hynes eventually makes him redundant. I don’t think there’s any in-between period that we’d need to fill that gap with Erasmus. This is one I don’t understand tbh

Yeah very true on Kennedy & Hynes, big big fan of Hynes think he will cement himself pretty quickly - he has been playing wing a bit I think too, could he push Williams to def full time? Again I’m not sure if that makes us better, I prefer Williams on the wing now.

Can’t say I’ve noticed him a lot to be honest so probably don’t know him too well and like I said always happy to have good mature bodied players but it’s not like he’s going to be a token pick upgrade too? Feel he’ll cost a bit for what we’re getting, it really is a strange one.

anyway he seems to have cemented his spot at Freo now and is a WA boy so likely going to be irrelevant you’d think

[jeemak]

I think the idea is you lock the likes of VDM and McNeil in as relative known quantities with a bit more consistency in performance to find, and while they help hold you at a level you put resources into developing players brought in after them.

That's if you want to regenerate without rebuilding and dropping.

We all know VDM and McNeil aren't going to shift the dial for us in terms of improvement, but they may just be good hard working citizens and good team mates who can create selection pressure and a professional environment in which new players can thrive in. We are where we are with them in the selection window. Bounce them now and we drop back unless we replace them with equal quality or better quality, but doing the latter two properly is really bloody hard.

Anyone who wants those guys gone doesn't really get it, unless they're calling for a genuine rebuild.

[josie]

If we can carry Gardner for god knows how many years and McNeil, I struggle to see how we don't try one more year with Treloar regardless of what happens at VFL level over these next few weeks.

There's plenty we can move on before even considering someone as talented as Adam. He should be viewed as a free hit for 2026 - if he gets up to play regular footy, brilliant. If he doesn't, we know it's the end.

Hear hear.

And sign VDM (my moniker for him is the headless chook) for 3 more years.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

If we can carry Gardner for god knows how many years and McNeil, I struggle to see how we don't try one more year with Treloar regardless of what happens at VFL level over these next few weeks.

There's plenty we can move on before even considering someone as talented as Adam. He should be viewed as a free hit for 2026 - if he gets up to play regular footy, brilliant. If he doesn't, we know it's the end.

[Hotdog60]

I take it we will start exit interviews either today or tomorrow. I wonder if the word on Treloar will be, Adam if you get through the VFL games we'll extend for 1 year if you don't you may want to look at retirement.

[Virgin-Dog]

Still a lot of talk around Erasmus, what are people’s thoughts on this? Doesn’t really seem like a need for mine but in saying that if he’s an upgrade on Garcia that’s not necessarily a bad thing and I’m never going to turn down more mature bodied decent players in the right age bracket. But still seems a weird move for him

He seems like he’d be trying to compete with Kennedy for a spot rather than Garcia. I can see long term appeal in him, but I’m skeptical about his value to us in 2026.

Perhaps most relevant is that we just drafted Hynes who basically looks to fill that role long term - medium marking forward who can have bursts through the middle.

ideally Kennedy sticks around another couple years before Hynes eventually makes him redundant. I don’t think there’s any in-between period that we’d need to fill that gap with Erasmus. This is one I don’t understand tbh

[doggies ftw]

Still a lot of talk around Erasmus, what are people’s thoughts on this? Doesn’t really seem like a need for mine but in saying that if he’s an upgrade on Garcia that’s not necessarily a bad thing and I’m never going to turn down more mature bodied decent players in the right age bracket. But still seems a weird move for him

[Throughandthrough]

I've seen the future, and his name is Latrelle Sumner-Pickett

19 yo, been playing reserves for Glenelg this year, finally unleashed him yesterday for his first league match, kicked 4.1, 16 posessions and gave a goal away. Lightning speed, great skills, and a great leap. Believe he may have been a little wayward a few years ago but at a great club with great mentors , coaches and maturity he's been wonderful this season. So if there's room on ourt list for a wingman, half forward, goal sneak, small forward well worth considering.

https://youtu.be/KHbiXCRutAM?si=BsJroOc77XR-SmlU

Round 19 SANFL AAMI Rookie - Glenelg's Latrelle Pickett (Tumby Bay)

https://youtu.be/Adro0QUg39s

[azabob]

I’ll be pissed off if we have to pay Jamarra anything next year

If we do negotiate a settlement surely it comes with some caveats he can’t play for another side in 2026.

[Warrnambulldog]

I’ll be pissed off if we have to pay Jamarra anything next year