2021 Strategy

The thing that we have to understand is that we were actually rebuilding from the Parish draft.

If we don’t go after Shiel (in particular) then we’re further advanced on the full rebuild, but it was also a reasonable choice in that our rebuild then was probably seen as a 2012-2017 rebuild. But JD and Fantasias injuries just moved it to a 2015-2022 rebuild.

Or something like that.

We’re going to be good now on the back of Parish and Langford and Laverde and Francis and McGrath and Redman and Ridley, not because of Cox and Perkins (even though they’re the cream).

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Great topic.
I’m in the Strategy 2 camp, however I strongly believe that a winning culture requires to win games as an reward and emotional motivator for the team. Moreover, once a team is selected, it must be a win at all costs attitude for that game.
I also think that older players should play a role in leadership and also to protect our youth. For game day, every line on the field should have one senior player for this role.

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Taking a bigger picture view, holding the club accountable to what it’s working towards, I think CJohns perfectly answers this question. I hope he doesn’t mind me referencing his tweet.

Beyond this, the little hits and misses are part of the ups and downs of the journey we’re on.

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We are in such better shape than Carlton and that always gives me pleasure.

And I think out of the top 4 style sides capable of winning a flag we are in the top 1 or 2 on potential to join them in playing that quality of footy.

Which is awesome.

8 . Sign Merrett

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I just want as many games as possible into fit young players. No not rushing Draper and Reid straight in after injury, that can hamper confidence and development.

If we can get Draper and Reid into the team with Cox, Perkins, Jones for the rest of the year, that’s a massive success for me. Possibly Bryan for some more games too.

On top of that, having Redman, Francis, Laverde, Ridley, Hind, Langford, Parish, Snelling, Ham and Guelfi all playing consistent footy together.

The biggest disappointment has not being able to get games into Caldwell, Draper and Mozzie. McGrath injury sucks too but he’s already an established gun.

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This exactly- draft positions are vastly overrated by many on here.
The difference between 4 and 10 can be absolutely minimal.
And while I sit firmly in the “winning is learning” camp there are real subtleties within that.
For example, bedding down a back 6 or 7 (or 8 or 9 counting Zerk & Reid) is more important in the medium term than throwing Hooker or Ambrose back to try and win a game.
Whereas playing Zaharakis in a sacrificial role ahead of an out of form Cahill- and Cahill is out of form - is a good use of an experienced player.
And a positive message to older players they won’t be thrown on the scrap heap- which is equally important in preserving & building team unity.
And things will change slightly weekly - I don’t know who drives attitudes, positioning, team ethos etc on field, and who needs that, or who’s self motivated. But that can influence selection & balance too.
Reducing team development to binaries, rather than being somewhat flexible within an overall strategy, gives you the Norf, St Kilda or FarkCarlton outcomes.

Finally I disagree with the pessimism associated with who we’ve beaten.
Given we have been clearly developing a system, and a team first ethos, that measure would only be applicable if we were anywhere near full strength- and we haven’t been there since the Port game in Round 2.
Give us any three of Shiel Draper Smith Caldwell Snelling Wright or Hurley against Richmond then ask the question.

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I am also 1.5. I agree that the development also stems from the coaches in place and the depth at VFL level which is lacking at the moment.

We have 7 extremely winnable games in the back half and could easily finish on 12 wins this year and end up 9th. Materially that makes us better than 2020 - so we have developed and won some games. But there’s no guarantee we get better again and win 14-15 games in 2022.

To assume that is dangerous. It’s always easy to get a D student up to a B+. Getting them to take the next step is trickier and needs more detail and strategy.

I think what the coaching staff have done is build a competent brand of football. A baseline requirement of the effort and adherence to game plan and style of play that is demanded to get a game every weekend. We’ve cut the dead weight, injected some youth and set some standards. Essentially what they’ve done is “easy” - everyone unified and on the same page. Now comes the hard/er part.

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I was more talking theoretically, I think tanking will be very rare nowadays as the likely benefit is seldom there and a club would have to be in just the right spot. I wasn’t really talking about this draft either; even the draft watchers don’t know how that will shake-out until after the championships.

To be crystal clear, I’m against EFC deliberately losing games. I was against it before the seasons started.

I think a really interesting decision around this will be on Ambrose, Hooker, Zaka and to a lesser extent Hurley (since he’s contracted). If we’re fully embracing the rebuild, really at some point you have to make a decision those guys won’t be around when we’re challenging. The question then becomes, how soon do you let them go, how does that impact team culture.

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By the way, I’d argue a full rebuild isn’t a 2-3 year cycle. Its a 6-9 year cycle. Teams who are already up can do some refreshing and be out of the top 8 longer, but if you’re off then it takes a long time.

However, for us our “bottom” was 2014-2016, where we had 5 first rounders and another 4 top 30 picks.

With West Coast, that would make it about 8-9 years before their premiership. Interestingly, if you add 8-9 years to our 2015 & 2016 years you get … 2023/2024.

I’m saying Port didn’t rebuild. Or rather, 2010 was one part of a longer rebuild.

I don’t see it as controversial to say that wins worsen your draft position. And I don’t think you need to win to establish a winning culture. Certainly Clarkson didn’t win much in his first season, but clearly he was establishing the right culture.

I was thinking they’d all be gone this year. Now I suspect 1 or 2 survive if we are in better shape than had been expected, but still I can’t see any of the 4 being on the list for Rd 1 2023.

So it’s kind of not even a question, you just work it through. It might take a bit of management though.

‘Blue Collar’ is such a nothing term in relation to football. When was the last time a bunch of white collar pen pushers won a flag?

He’s a clever bloke what can I say.

Last time he hid and wouldn’t open the door to the recruiters.

He is here and he is playing this year and he loves this club. He is probably a good mentor.

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university blues won the vafa premier division in 2019

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20 likes on this, I’m guessing half of you think I’m serious.

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I think that would probably be fine by the Option 3ers

Honestly, it isn’t invalid either, in my opinion. Not my preferred outcome, but you could mount an argument that it’s not the worst one.

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I’m here too…but I’d definitely draw a line through guys who won’t (or shouldn’t) be there next year…Zaka, Ambruise, Gleeson, Clarke…and if it wasn’t for the fact that we have no spare mids, I’d be a firm 1.

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At the start of the season I was advocating a scorched earth policy. To embark upon a full rebuild like we had failed to really do. Development at all costs and load up on top end talent over the next two/three drafts at least. The season has been much better than expected and the most pleasing part is Rutten has done that whilst having a youth/development focus. I’m now happy and somewhat confident to back in his strategy. If we can further imbed the game plan and build a competitive culture whilst playing the younger guys and finding out more about our list I think that’s a huge win.

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See, I’m kinda a bit of group 1 and a bit of group 2, but as far as the bit you’ve put here…

I don’t think possibly making finals should be an absolute or primary goal.

However, I do think that it’s wrong to keep your focus purely on the future, because you can miss opportunities in the here and now.

As it stands now, we are one game out of the 8 [edit: Derr, we’re actually two games], are playing some decent footy with plenty of upside, and potentially have the Brownlow medalist in our side. There are two teams in the 8 (Sydney and West Coast) who I think we are at least the equal of. Now personally, I felt last week was the one we needed to win to really start thinking about finals, but we are still surprisingly close.

Obviously, it’s the next few years where we’d start to expect to be able to mix it with legit teams, and this year would seem premature. I just don’t think you should focus totally on the tomorrow, because sometimes tomorrow doesn’t actually arrive.

As long as the season is still alive, we should treat it that way.

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