I want us to pick up Fiorini purely for some very specific meltdowns on here.
I’ve also never seen him play in my life.
6 Likes
Yeah, but someone said Karl Worner, who I have never farking heard of, so I would be questioning whether they took it seriously. 
While I don’t think our player development has been brilliant in the past, I think criticism of it and the blame it gets is a bit overdone. Yes we’ve had plenty that haven’t come on, but we’ve also had enough that have developed very well through that time period. Durham for instance was drafted around the same time as Perkins and has gone flying past him.
Its one thing to have a big game. I’m sure we all remember Perkins huge game early last season where he ranked up 10+ tackles and looked like he might be ready for a breakout season. The question is whether you can sustain that, over the course of a season and a career, and Perkins has shown that he’s incapable of sustaining midfield form for even a stretch of multiple games lets alone a season.
There’s simply never been any evidence that Perkins can consistently win his own footy at stoppage. Just have a look at his clearance numbers over the course of his career. Its not as though he’s a guy that has the raw talent to do it, but needs to work on/develop other things to earn consistent minutes in there. He’s simply never shown that he can do it outside of extremely rare, single game moments.
I’d love for Archie to suddenly become the player we wanted him to be when we drafted him, but its been five years now. You can only blame the development program for so much. He’s just not that guy.
18 Likes
Perkins is poor below his knees in traffic, knows it and it is hesitant to attack the ball around stoppage as a result. Those midfield games where he got big tackle numbers were very much a product of him being comfortable being second to the ball. He’s much more comfortable receiving the ball than picking it up
3 Likes
And I’d be okay with that if Perkins had shown a consistent ability to find the footy on the spread and get damaging. I haven’t looked at the numbers, but I suspect Ed Richards isn’t the most prolific clearance player, but he’s as dangerous as anyone when spreading from stoppage as a receiver. Perkins doesnt even do that especially well.
3 Likes
Not sure if Brad is part of the problem with Perkins, he can’t get the best out of him yet he continues to play him.
Hoping someone like Ken can come in and make a difference.
3 Likes
Its been said throughout the year that this would be more likely than unlikely
Perkins also has almost the worst hands at the football club, just barely edged out by Mckay, who looks at times like he has never seen a football before.
4 Likes
Used to be beep test/yo yo test to measure it all. Its now found the 2km time trial is the best to use for fitness levels capacity/guides
I think Perkins best case scenario is to become a good one on one forward and utilise his forward class and marking closer to goal - maybe model on someone like Ben Keays- who also was a slow starter in his career.
10 Likes
Agreed, his acceleration is poor and his speed is average at best
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Was the one thing he actually did show in his first year.
Sometimes it takes both the player and the club recognizing that he’s not going to develop into a star, and becoming more pragmatic about what the best version of him as a more limited role player looks like.
One thing in Perkins favour is that he seems to be a solid club man, popular among the group, so he’ll likely stick around long term if he can carve out a fringe role in the team.
4 Likes
I like Perkins as a forward. I’d play him at half forward and just tell him to kick a couple of goals a game as his role.
10 Likes
With Perkins it’s not development or lack of talent. He made the mistake of cutting his long hair and has been bad ever since. The same fate that befell redman.
7 Likes
Carlton is probably our biggest trade up target for an additional top 10 pick (Harry Dear bid).
As it currently stands, 26, 29 & 2026 2nd would be my first offer pick 9 with the blues looking to bank points for next year.
If we end up dealing Merrett, I would be okay with 8, 30 & 2026 1st from Hawks.
Enter the draft with 5, 6, 8, 9, 20 + Sweid (30) & potentially El Achkar.
If Rosa somehow managed to get this done, this is my order:
WC - Duursma
WC - CDT
Rich - Sharp
Rich - Taylor
Ess - Robey
Ess - Cumming
WC - Farrow
Melb- Schubert
Ess - Lindsay
Ess - Dovaston
*assuming WC trade up with GC & Melb lands pick for Petracca
20 - Philipou/Barker/Pickett/Thredgold
13 Likes
That would be a great outcome, but everything would have to go right for that to play out.
1 Like
I really want sharp for midfield balance now. I’m blaming aceman for the sharp sized hole in my heart if we don’t get him
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Interesting reference point. Durham is both older than Perkins , arrived later than Perkins, was already quite developed via a VFL program and is another example of us being much much better at the ssp / msd evaluations than our ND picks for much of the last decade or more. Not sure what it means or why , but it’s seemingly real.
6 Likes
After doing a quick 5 minute glimpse into this years draft, I can say I am now an expert. Lets draft Koby Bewick
11 Likes