I want Lav and Begs to end up full time mids.
We have been ■■■■ for as long as we saw the small forward role as some sort of right of passage to the midfield
Guess what, it created average mids and small forwards for years
Raz, Zerret, Walla are the exception. Not the rule.
I don’t see your point.
They don’t have to play like Raz or Walla.
As long as they know how to play their role/position, can apply the necessary pressure, fit into the structures, and kick a few goals, they would be fine.
I think Parish could do it, Zerrett could do it, and we know Smith can, as can Zaka.
Fair enough.
I had the benefit this year of being able to look at our list through the prism of another club, and I can tell you that the number one thing that the other afl clubs fear about our team when planning was the speed in our forward half. Very few teams have/had the speed in their back 6 to cope with our smalls.
I saw this clip literally run a drill where they set up our foward line and threw in an extra person to simulate our Walla/Raz/Green ability to close space and pressure the exiting ball
It is an absolute farking weapon which we need to continue to develop with made to order players of this skill set
Not just plug in some one coz they happen to be on the list and theoretically can fill the role.
Our record without Raz was shithouse because Raz is awesome but also because going anything other than fast goal kicker in our set up ■■■■■ our structures.
As for Smith, Parish, Zerret I want them as 90% mids
So how come we flourished without Green?
Who incidentally is not overly quick
And with Walla being pretty farking average for most of the year?
I understand that the out and out pace in our forward line is a serious weapon.
But it’s a factor, not the whole deal.
Another nippy forward would be nice, but not at any price.
And not if it comes at the expense of something we need more.
That said, it’s pointless us debating it.
The club will do what it thinks it needs to do regardless of what you and I think.
Who said anything about any price?
I’ll get you one with the last pick I’m the rookie draft
■■■■
I can probably find one with a PNG grandfather so we can pull that alternative tallent bullshizz
He may fire up on the basis of being drafted elsewhere. Hope he kicks 8 this weekend.
I’ll take 2 in the rookie draft thanks.
He kicked some goals. I liked him some.
One thing, perhaps obvious once you say it, that I think hasn’t been mentioned as a plus for the guy is that he really likes kicking goals.
You could argue that’s also a negative, if it comes at the expense of other things, and that’s fine.
As long as it’s acknowledged that it is also a plus.
He really, really likes kicking goals. Way more than anyone else on our team.
Daniher is the only one who is in the ballpark, but even then he’s a long way off.
Just to clarify Raz is awesome.
And if it’s closing space that is critical to the structure (and I agree it’s critically important) then it’s worth noting that the club learned that Baguley could do this and it was better for our structure to have a guy who was shutting down space more than a guy who could snag a goal (although Baguley ended up snagging a few).
So there’s your parameters for your rookie draft selection
Priority #1 shut down space defensively
Priority #2 classy forward craft
In that order.
#1 is not negotiable
#2 is negotiable if we have enough class elsewhere.
If you can get both all the better, but #2 without #1 will make us a worse team.
I’d be quite happy with 2 of these guys in the rookie draft. I just want 2 pacy guys who are prepared to work hard both on and off field.
I agree with your point about midfielders rotating. I’d throw McGrath into the list you gave, because I reckon he’d be awesome forward, especially at applying forward pressure.
But I still think we should regularly be playing Fanta, Tippa and one other guy who are essentially specialist forwards. Obviously Fanta and Tippa can rotate through the middle and I’d like to see that time increased for Fanta especially (offsetting the rotating of McGrath, Smith, Zerrett etc…).
Bags might hang on and be the 3rd of those specialist forwards. But I’d hope if we add 2 youngsters to the list, they watch and learn how much a guy like Bags gets out of himself.
Edit: If these 2 rookies have the capability to play as forwards or on the wing, even better. Small forward and outside mid are the 2 areas we need to add depth.
Green and Jerrett gone. Long (maybe he’ll be gone too) and Colyer our only other depth left in these roles. Yuck!!
McGrath (while we develop another youngster hopefully).
At the end of the day I don’t think he was delisted because ha is no good. He was delisted because he is best 22 quality on best 22 $$ but not in our best 22. Can’t pay that kinda money for a depth player. We will be using that cash along with the Goddard cash somewhere.
Confident green will get picked up as a DFA somewhere.
Not a fan. Selfishness is OK if you are a gun but josh was ordinary, butchered too many goals and demanded the ball rather than directing play to where it was best for the team. Not everyone is equipped to play AFL. Belongs at the next level down.
I’d fill the whole rookie draft full or then, they are hard to find and you have to churn through the numbers till you get one.
Thinking about small - medium forwards. Begley ? Remember him?
Don’t we have access to Tiwi islands as our academy.
3 of those thanks.
He’s 6’ 2”, solidly built, and not particularly fast.
Can we please stop this?
Hooker. Like he won the lotto every time it sails through.
I find it very hard to believe he was on best 22 $. He was picked up as a delisted free agent.
And I doubt he’ll be picked up by anyone again. Delisted twice now by clubs outside of the 8.