By mid year he was done but he has turned himself around, his pressure and ferociousness around the contest are magnificent and is exactly the kind of player you need come finals time.
He stays, even if a youngster takes his spot in the 22 next year, he at the very least will be a very good 22nd - 26th player who can come in and play his role.
It’s a no brainer he gets another season
Making the right calls involves being ruthless. In years past we have hung onto older players for too long and been far too sentimental with keeping middle tier players. Look at Hawthorn. Who would’ve ever imagined that Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Luke Hodge would finish their careers elsewhere after being 4-time premiership heroes? But they made very tough calls on club champions. The fact we have not offered Goddard a new deal and have put contract talks on hold for others, is it nice? No. But these are the types of calls you have to make if we want to get to where we want to be, and that’s playing Finals perennially, being in the top 4 and contending for premierships. We haven’t been in the conversation for 17 years.
We’re building a gameplan around forward pressure.
Second half of the season he’s been our best pressure forward by a country mile.
Why would he not be kept on?
Agree. He was a big part of our resurgence and as reinvented himself, definitely another year
I don’t think many would have him best 22 with a full squad.
If he plays 5-8 matches next year but cost $$$ that could go to getting an elite player then that would be bad list mgmt.
I suspect he is in trouble.
Love Bags; but Stringer, Fantasia, Walla, and resting mids including Langford, Parish, Smith, a contracted Colyer and an injured Begley makes for lots of depth in this area. That’s before we bring in a midfielder which pushes Smith and Langford into the fwd areas more.
That’s the nature of the beast.
If he gets a contract I’ll also be happy, but nobody can objectively say this is a good or bad decision. It’s right on the edge.
We have been crying out for somebody to help out Walla in delivering forward pressure and Bags did that very well.
I hope we hold onto him but if we don’t I hope that the club realizes how important it is to have somebody down there that’s primary role is to defend first, and kick goals secondly.
The Stringers, Laverdes, Langfords, Begleys and Parish’s of the world don’t do that.
I’d have him best 22. He’s pushed Green out permanently. Good mark, great pressure, kicking goals, great desperation inside 50. Gets a contact.
If we get the midfield targets we expect to i’m not sure he will be best 22 as we will be forced to play Smith as a fwd/mid just to fit players in
However Bags has been great this year in the new role & if we can keep him on should
I think that is the prototype player we are aiming for now. They are ALL Forward / Mids. Every mid we have can go forward and play a small forward role - means our midfield rotations can be up, meaning we are more competitive all the time in the middle of the ground. A genuine forward, a forward/ruck, a genuine ruck and 12-14 midfield/forwards that are all tackling machines
Maybe.
Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t.
The ‘ruthless’ bit - though it’s a fun and popular thing to say (for various reasons) is not the important part. The important part - is succeeding at your goal. If your goal is to win a premiership, than that is the important thing. The myriad of decisions that lead to, and effect that goal will take all sorts of forms. And the timing of those decisions - and the repercussions of the same, are all important.
Some people like bandying the ‘ruthless’ word around a lot - making out that if they were in charge, they wouldn’t be ‘weak’ like the -insert unsuccessful club here- - but would make the ‘ruthless’ decisions to succeed. Well - that’s just rubbish - shallow rubbish. Knowing what to do, when, and how - is what makes managing a club hard to do - and is the key to success.
So people can go and water it down to whatever they like - whatever is easy to say, write on a slogan, post in a forum. It’s a slogan - not a solution. And it is still rubbish that better fits media flogs and wannabe big-shots.
I’d actually give BAGS another year ahead of the CORGI.
We all know how well he has done forward.
I would move him on.
this.
you can’t just sack all the old people.
I think Baguley being forced out would only happen if Shiel or Gaff came in and Smith playing more of a For/Mid role - making Baguley a 30yo depth player surrounded by young up and comers and a few new draftees
Fine except that we promised Smith more time in the middle, as that is what he wanted. He has delivered big time in that role, and l believe will only improve in there in 2019. l would not go tinkering or tweaking with Smith’s role too much. While he can be more than handy when going forward, it is not why he was recruited, and was a factor in him deciding to leave GWS.
He’d still be a midfielder, just one that plays more forward of centre where he’d bring his defensive acts to both the middle and forwardline. He’d likely be started off the wing at centre bounces with the starting positions bs too. He definitely wouldn’t be playing Baguley’s role.
He should be an automatic inclusion into our leadership group as well.
That is a given, since he has been a de facto leader throughout the season.
The hell would we consider moving our best midfielder for a decade out of the farking midfield?
Because.
And you’ll be happy about it.
Not ruling that out, seems unlikely.