2025 List Management Thread
Collapse
X
-
Yep thats a view.
Not sure I share but well said.
We couldn't beat a decent side this year, every time we needed to win we couldn't get close, we had a pretty healthy injury list too.
Weightman and Treloar I have doubts whether they can get back to their best.
Lobb to me struggled in defence.
Davidson I want to be good but I'm not sure where he is yet.
There are positives for sure.
I think we balance the defence better bw runners and more defensive types (budarick instead of JJ for eg) and things might get better down back.
The competition doesn't stand still either so teams below will be better especially the Aints.
I think we will slide before rising but the 3 - 5 year plan if we get some decent A grade talent in is positive.
I think 2026 is an easy one to see going either way.
If we get 20+ games from Bont and Darcy, more matches with stronger bodies from our 2024 draftees, continued improvement in young guns Freijah, Croft, JOD, Busslinger, a return to AFL for Weightman and Treloar, and most importantly a tightened up defensive structure - it's easy for me to see improvement there.
Injuries to any of the key guys with minimal depth (Bont, Darcy, Lobb, English, Dale, Richards all essentially irreplaceable on our list) will see us probably slide.👍 2Leave a comment:
-
He showed a lot of improvement in the 2nd half of the season.
Why I doubt he could be a defender is that he is just a tad slow with his movement, his kicking skills are average and he doesn't really have a vertical leap.
I know that sounds a tad harsh but I think he has some limitations.
If English is injured or sick Darcy and Lobb fill in, but moving either from their key positions more than a game or two isn't sustainable. If Smith isn't a realistic option then we likely need another plan.👍 1Leave a comment:
-
Usually the teams below aren't collectively that shit.👍 1Leave a comment:
-
I'm not I'm usually quite glass half full.
My belief is that our ladder position flattered us last season. We couldn't beat a good side.
There will be some improvement from the kids but I don't see that being enough of a bridge with our mid age talent being a weak spot.
Realistic not pessimistic. Still think we've got a good side. Just will slide a bit until we get the defence right.
We were clearly better than the bottom 9 and not quite as good as the top 8, with the exception of our orange bunnies.
We finished exactly where we deserved to finish.👍 2Leave a comment:
-
I can’t see how you would believe we’re on the slide…. I truly can’t.
We were a far more consistent team this year compared to 2024 and it wouldn’t be a stretch that if our best 2 players had played together for more than 1/4 in the first half of the season we would’ve found an extra 1-2 wins.
So where does the improvement come from? I would hope each of the following players can improve their output year on year:
Best 23 players:
- Darcy
- Freijah
- Cleary
- Davidson
- JOD
- Croft
Fringe players:
- Dolan
- Hynes
- Jaques
- Busslinger
Add in hopefully getting some output from Weightman and Treloar and a competent /much needed small defender (Budarick) and things are looking ok, especially with a core of likes of Bont, Ed, Naughton, English, Lobb, Dale, West, etc.
Not sure I share but well said.
We couldn't beat a decent side this year, every time we needed to win we couldn't get close, we had a pretty healthy injury list too.
Weightman and Treloar I have doubts whether they can get back to their best.
Lobb to me struggled in defence.
Davidson I want to be good but I'm not sure where he is yet.
There are positives for sure.
I think we balance the defence better bw runners and more defensive types (budarick instead of JJ for eg) and things might get better down back.
The competition doesn't stand still either so teams below will be better especially the Aints.
I think we will slide before rising but the 3 - 5 year plan if we get some decent A grade talent in is positive.🥰 1Leave a comment:
-
GG that is very pessimistic. We won the same number of games in 25 as we did in 2024 - so hardly a slide, but yeah not an improvement.
We will have natural improvement from the young guns in the team - Darcy, Sanders, Freijah, Buss, JOD etc. We kicked a shit load of goals for the year and lost a few games due to lapse of concentration in one quarter.
Agree, we need to improve our defence and go back to what we did in 2024 when we were the number one defensive team.
I am bullish for the future (I always am) and with a few tweaks we will be a better team.
My belief is that our ladder position flattered us last season. We couldn't beat a good side.
There will be some improvement from the kids but I don't see that being enough of a bridge with our mid age talent being a weak spot.
Realistic not pessimistic. Still think we've got a good side. Just will slide a bit until we get the defence right.Leave a comment:
-
How do we expect to improve out of interest.
I'm feeling the opposite view. We've been on the slide for a bit just hanging in there.
Budarick is a good get, and hopefully we get improvement from Dolan, Jaques etc but the jury is out on Buss and the defence is still a disaster along with our one paced midfield.
We didn't beat anyone of note sadly.
Love the optimism but my reality is we slide down some more.
We were a far more consistent team this year compared to 2024 and it wouldn’t be a stretch that if our best 2 players had played together for more than 1/4 in the first half of the season we would’ve found an extra 1-2 wins.
So where does the improvement come from? I would hope each of the following players can improve their output year on year:
Best 23 players:
- Darcy
- Freijah
- Cleary
- Davidson
- JOD
- Croft
- Sanders
Fringe players:
- Dolan
- Hynes
- Jaques
- Busslinger
Add in hopefully getting some output from Weightman and Treloar and a competent /much needed small defender (Budarick) and things are looking ok, especially with a core of likes of Bont, Ed, Naughton, English, Lobb, Dale, West, etc.
👍 2Leave a comment:
-
How do we expect to improve out of interest.
I'm feeling the opposite view. We've been on the slide for a bit just hanging in there.
Budarick is a good get, and hopefully we get improvement from Dolan, Jaques etc but the jury is out on Buss and the defence is still a disaster along with our one paced midfield.
We didn't beat anyone of note sadly.
Love the optimism but my reality is we slide down some more.
We will have natural improvement from the young guns in the team - Darcy, Sanders, Freijah, Buss, JOD etc. We kicked a shit load of goals for the year and lost a few games due to lapse of concentration in one quarter.
Agree, we need to improve our defence and go back to what we did in 2024 when we were the number one defensive team.
I am bullish for the future (I always am) and with a few tweaks we will be a better team.
Leave a comment:
-
It's the overall plan I am concerned about. Like, what is it? (Defence)Leave a comment:
-
How do we expect to improve out of interest.
I'm feeling the opposite view. We've been on the slide for a bit just hanging in there.
Budarick is a good get, and hopefully we get improvement from Dolan, Jaques etc but the jury is out on Buss and the defence is still a disaster along with our one paced midfield.
We didn't beat anyone of note sadly.
Love the optimism but my reality is we slide down some more.👍 1Leave a comment:
-
I'm feeling the opposite view. We've been on the slide for a bit just hanging in there.
Budarick is a good get, and hopefully we get improvement from Dolan, Jaques etc but the jury is out on Buss and the defence is still a disaster along with our one paced midfield.
We didn't beat anyone of note sadly.
Love the optimism but my reality is we slide down some more.Leave a comment:
-
It appears we had 44 players on the playing list
Outs and projected outs
Scott, L.Jones, Duryea all confirmed
Poulter, Coffield, Johannisen all projected delistings
Ugle-Hagan traded and Budarick coming in
By my calculations that leaves us with 3 draft spots (Will Darcy being one of them) 2 rookie upgrades (JOD and McNeil) and one spot for a delisted free agent (Defender)
Is that about right?
👍 1Leave a comment:
-
Agree on the slowness as I noted. I do think he has the potential to be a 2nd ruck that rotates more backline than forward. I'd like to see him tried there pre-season. He wouldn't be a Liam Jones key type but I'd like to see his defensive instincts tested. You can build skills if the instinct is there, building instinct is almost impossible.Leave a comment:
-
He showed a lot of improvement in the 2nd half of the season.
Why I doubt he could be a defender is that he is just a tad slow with his movement, his kicking skills are average and he doesn't really have a vertical leap.
I know that sounds a tad harsh but I think he has some limitations.
I really like Smith though as a ruck, I think he has elite potential - some limitations sure, but 19 year olds just don’t perform like he has in the VFL. I’d potentially look at bringing him in this year for some ruck work which can allow English to drop back behind the ball. I actually think English playing some defensive coverage, 2nd ruck, forward work with Smith taking the gruntwork in the ruck could make us a better side both around the ground and in the midfield.
The only issue I’m seeing is the make up of the rest of the list with the likes of Lobb and Darcy were already covered for that super tall option at both ends. If we had smaller defences & fwd lines I’d love the ability to rotate English through there this year, but it just probably doesn’t suit us as much with the way we usually structure up.
Maybe we just play Naughty & Darcy forward, Croft training in defence. When Darcy/Naughty go bench, English goes fwd, Smith rucks. When Lobb goes bench (I know he doesn’t usually even go to the bench but is this sustainable for a 33yo? I’d rather Lobb at this best then out on his feet for a full 100% game time), English goes back, Smith rucks.
This allows us always to keep a similar structure across the field - I think our athletic, versatile talls are our biggest list strength and I’d like to see us lean into that and get creative with them. Especially now with 5 on the bench👍 2Leave a comment:
Leave a comment: