Friday October 3 - NAB AFL restricted free agency offer and unrestricted free agency period begins
Would absolutely HATE to see Paddy go (he was a pick no.7) - BUT, if he does and it's to the GC, perhaps we could jar:
Could Brandon Matera play the Motlop type role through high hf into the midfield?
Outside of GC could look to Raines to play the tagger role?
What other midfielder could we look at?
In my opinion, we don't need an upgrade of the midfield. We have elites in Heppell, Watson and Goddard. Fringing on elite there's Zaharakis and Stanton (I know he's had an inconsistent season). On top of this we have so much young talent coming through. Our midfield is fine, our defense is fantastic- we have had a very settled back six for most of the season and it looks great.
If there's an area we need to improve throughout the trade period, it's our forward line. Daniher and Carlisle will both be star forwards but while they develop we will need other avenues to goal. Our key forwards are Daniher, Carlisle and Ambrose as a third tall. We have little depth in the department of tall forwards, so perhaps pursuing another tall would be a good idea. Another exciting small forward is necessary for depth, especially with Licka's likely retirement looming and Jetta leaving the club.
If Ryder does leave, it will leave a big hole in our line-up as our only able ruckmen would be Carlisle and Daniher (both of whom we need in the forward line) and Bellchambers. I have heard little on the development of big Fraser Thurlow and Sean Gregory, so I don‘t know what we would look like in the ruck department if Ryder was to go.
Love the guy, but TBH I dont see that Bobcat would be in a GF winning team and probably Stanton also......
With BJ, Jobe and Chappy all getting on in age, still think we need some real class in the middle with a bit of Zip.
Hepp and Zaka are coming through and Gleeson and Zerret could roll through but some top shelf midfield skill and pace would be good. Would like to see us put ourselves in a position (somehow) to have a crack at some of the last few years top 10 mid picks (particularly as I said if Paddy leaves).
Don't disagree about forwards though.
Just cant see how our mids will cater for the run and spread of the emerging GC and GWS eventually with our current mid make-up. We;ve shown all year that teams that spread well from the stoppages continually trouble us. Once you get out of the congestion against us Jobe, Buddha, Bobcat and Hepp cant run with them. You have to ask why Colyer has been so important in the second half of the year with his pace - it shows that we are fundamentally a one paced midfield.
Swans, Hawks and Geelong have added speed and silk around their midfield to cater for their pace (Motlop, Hill, Jetta etc).....even Edwards is playing that type of role at the Tiges and Port have zip to compliment the likes of Boak and Wines...
So do we trade: Ryder, Dempsey, Howlett and maybe even Stanton or melk?
Get some top 10 picks/good players (Tom Mitchell or Sam Reid or the like) that are surplus to other teams needs?
Delist (not sure on contract status): leroy (or he quit or whatevs), stein, and/or pears, Gregory, thurlow
Promote: ambrose.
Recruit: A Heppell and for those who watch the recruit- Whaylen Manson.
Trade everyone
We should be looking to add to our core, not throwing the baby out with the bath water. I think we need to be looking for more dynamic players, and some replacement inside mids in the latter stages of the draft/rookie.
Edwards will be the perfect recruit next year, in expecting big things from him after a big preseason.
Trade everyone
No use, they're all being signed by Man United.
The joys of a proper competition with no cap.No use, they're all being signed by Man United.
I think we need this:
1: a elite quick midfielder, like a Yarran,type. Hard to get though.
2: another tall forward, either a young up and comer or an older 1 year contract player like Waite.
3: a good small forward like a Betts type. (hopefully 1 can cover this role in game at times)
4: Another ruckman for depth. (Mitch clarke would do both 2 and 4 nicely)
Surely Kreuzer ?
Fark Carlton.
I think a tall, to be 3rd/4th in line at one or both ends and/or ruck would make a lot of sense as we've got nothing at all in depth. Joey & Carlisle are our keys up there, Hooker & Hurley and, for the moment, Fletch down back - all look set.
Couldn't justify getting a gun, as it's not a big opportunity and frankly not a huge priority, but it'd have to be someone ready to go, and willing to give a good contest. McKernan maybe? Could pick him up as a delisted FA, and he wouldn't demand much coin.
Other than that, it's reasonably obvious.
If someone's happy to give us anything for Pears, Hardie, or Jetta - fantastic. All pretty much done.
Winders has looked pretty done the last couple, not sure if he should go on now (I keep backflipping on this!).
I'd have a talk with Melbourne about Stanton. If someone chases Dempsey, he could be replaceable.
DVU / Hardie / Pears / Jetta out as a minimum.
The weekend's result means 4/5th of F. all to what our trade week strategy should be. We're certainly not there, but we're not miles off either.
Would we prefer a tall or an x factor mid/high HF though...?
Would we prefer a tall or an x factor mid/high HF though...?
How about we get more than one?
The tall gap is a structural thing. Sort of list improvement without being much to do with the best 22. I'd suggest we'd be upgrading at least Ambrose & maybe Stein too, which would give us the right sort of shape for talls on the list (pending Ryder decision, if he goes we need a replacement ruck)
Every other acquisition would be just getting the best out there, which would be predominantly smalls. I don't really see this huge lack of pace that's only happened since Saturday. We certainly need to look at another pacey, skilful half forward type but that hasn't changed since 2009 but the club's barely tried for whatever reason. After that, a couple of mids; if Demps goes, a half back.
That would about do it for me.
In my opinion, we don't need an upgrade of the midfield. We have elites in Heppell, Watson and Goddard. Fringing on elite there's Zaharakis and Stanton (I know he's had an inconsistent season). On top of this we have so much young talent coming through. Our midfield is fine, our defense is fantastic- we have had a very settled back six for most of the season and it looks great.
If there's an area we need to improve throughout the trade period, it's our forward line. Daniher and Carlisle will both be star forwards but while they develop we will need other avenues to goal. Our key forwards are Daniher, Carlisle and Ambrose as a third tall. We have little depth in the department of tall forwards, so perhaps pursuing another tall would be a good idea. Another exciting small forward is necessary for depth, especially with Licka's likely retirement looming and Jetta leaving the club.
If Ryder does leave, it will leave a big hole in our line-up as our only able ruckmen would be Carlisle and Daniher (both of whom we need in the forward line) and Bellchambers. I have heard little on the development of big Fraser Thurlow and Sean Gregory, so I don‘t know what we would look like in the ruck department if Ryder was to go.
After Heppell we actually have a tiny midfield. We need some larger upcoming mids to replace Goddard, Watson and the like.
Friday October 3 - NAB AFL restricted free agency offer and unrestricted free agency period begins
Would absolutely HATE to see Paddy go (he was a pick no.7) - BUT, if he does and it's to the GC, perhaps we could jar:
- Dean Prestia (who was a Pick 9)
Could Brandon Matera play the Motlop type role through high hf into the midfield?
Outside of GC could look to Raines to play the tagger role?
What other midfielder could we look at?
Spot on - what we need, more than any other player, is an inside mid who rack up the clearances and CPs.
It's an area we are weak on and we were exposed in the last quarter, yet again, on Saturday night.
Andrew Miles, has been this player for the Tigers - a complete unknown from GWS. Miles is one of the key reasons for the Tiger's run of wins.
If we are to lose Ryder - and I sincerely hope we don't - then a straight swap with Prestia would be help us address our biggest weakness.
Would Stanley fit the bill from GCS then potentially...?
There's a core group of players you can build a team around.
In the midfield you have Watson/heppell. Those two need to be complimented by faster midfielders who can both be inside midfielders and outside. surroudning those two with Myers, stanton, hocking or melk or Howlett is just not going to work and it hasn't for so long.
Hopefully both of Coyler and Zac Merrett continue their development and can play more midfield time on the wings next year, and Zaka to find some more consistency in his footy.
that leaves one spot to fill for the midfield who prodominately play midfield. At worst one of the 5 names above can fill that spot, but still preferably need someone who is quicker than any of those 5, and probably can play like Howlett, albiet at a higher level and consistently.
the 5 players I mentioned, Howlett, Hocking stanton myers and melk, we simply can't carry them. they are all pretty much the same type of player, bar stanton being an outside midfielder, however they are all pretty much inside slow midfielders who are more clearence players above anything else. ATM too many of them are in a clearence situation are, see ball, get ball, kick ball forward more often than not. in certain situations thats ok, but it shouldn't be the first option which it is with all of them, including stanton.
you can't get numbers around the contests to win the clearence battle only to continually blindly bomb the ball forward. It's counter productive to what you're trying to achieve.
I don't know who the players are to fix our issues, but we severely need to cull the midfield, it's still the biggest weakness we have. It's great for winning the ball, again prodominately into clearence stats, but skill wise, defensive wise and consistency wise, it's simply our weakest link.
That being said I know none of the players will be moved on let alone removed from our starting 22, so it's kinda pointless mentioning it, but oh well
Isn't there already a thread for this?
There are currently several threads for this. I imagine once trade period proper starts, one of the mods will go on a gurge/merge bender.
Need some outside line breakers and another good inside mid.