Martin had his foundation development done by Subiaco, Durham with Richmond VFL.
Roberts it’s too early to call a win, we’ve had plenty of guys show a bit in their first season and then trail off, Cox, Perkins, Hobbs etc all looked like something in their first seasons and have only marginally progressed since.
Who on our list right now, other than Merrett have we drafted and developed that is legitimately A-Grade?
this is broadly my point.
Our development in my mind was an even bigger issue than our drafting. Because the odd guy we draft has turned into an AA level player… at other clubs. A MASSIVE part of that is we’ve treated our VFL program like ■■■■ for years
I was thinking about our development coaches this week.
I was thinking back to Brendan McCartney at Geelong. Most of the Geelong Premiership team from 2007-2011 credit McCartney for pushing them when they were young players.
For us we seem to employ ex-AFL footballers, who specialise in technical skills, and it seems to be more about their pathway into coaching.
McCartney was a high school teacher. He challenged the player’s attitude, character and energy. This is exactly what young players need.
Does showing a young player how to position themselves in a 1-1 contest really make a difference, compared to constantly challenging their attitude and work dedication?
I’m pretty comfortable with this for now. It’s a pretty clear ‘you’re not gonna make it on talent alone’ kind of vibe seeing Stringer and JDavey let go so easily. A lot of others would be on notice right now…
More than anything though I would want to see some of the senior guys actually digging in this coming year and fighting. Redman is a very obvious scapegoat here. You just can’t carry guys who are giving 75% effort and intensity instead of 100% every single game. As s senior player on big money, you can’t be okay with those standards being set for others to aspire to.
We do not have much talent. Suggesting that Jake Stringer played over two hundred games, made All Australian, won a flag, Club Leading goal kicker in six seasons played on talent alone does not hold any scutiny.
Jayden Davey and Anthony Munkara were always development prospects. Not sure that EFC development processes are as good as they should be.
Good post. Given his injury history, he’s always higher risk. And if he’s not 110% committed then that’s an even bigger risk.
His firm throughout the year was underwhelming, even allowing for his recovery. Unfortunately the decision to keep Menzie shadows doubt on any call in Jayden. In isolation, he’s high risk and it’s a sound decision. The Ckub can’t keep holding onto high risk, injury prone players who’ve shown glimpses.
No I don’t agree. Picks above 40 are clearly speculative, but there are heaps of maybe players out there playing WAFL, SANFL and VFL. Pick young ones with recent performance and the right attitude and see what you can find. Better than persevering with guys like the Daveys, Weideman, and in the recent past, Cutler and others who we keep around hoping for incremental improvement. Every so often you get someone like Geelong did with Humphries, El Hawli and the like. My only concern is if you get them via the national draft, you have to give 2 yr contracts. Better SSP.
This is exactly what being ruthless is. Ruthless means you don’t let players you’re not sure on hang around a list for 5-6 years. Look at the Hawks, they just delisted pick 6 in the 2020 draft, whereas we have pick 10 in that draft that has been injured the whole time and is what we are banking our future on. I don’t care if you have played 1 year or 10, if you are not up to it, cut them.
To be fair, that pick 6 that the Hawks cut, Denver Grainger-Barras, still played 28 AFL games over 2021-2023. They actually got a look at him on an AFL level.
J Davey literally only just started playing VFL games this year. Hard to really call cutting a player who played 18 games this year in the VFL “ruthless”.