There’s a real possibility we might lose a bloke to trade or free agency too. Injuries permitting, there’s going to be a lot of selection pressure in the medium defender bracket and the bottom end of the midfield too. Someone’s going to miss out who could legit expect senior games somewhere else - and if that happens, another club could come calling.
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Definitely, trades and free agency are always on the cards. There is no way known our quite conservative list management department was heading into the absolute lottery that was the 2020 draft desperately figuring out how to free up five senior list spots.
High quality team performance and too much on field quality would be a much nicer reason for that to happen of course.
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We’ve definitely spent the lion’s share of our resources on mids across the last decade or so.
Is it too devious to give Cutler a game & a half in the midfield against two weak teams late in the season, then wait for FarkCarlton to offer him a multi year million dollar contract?
Then pocket the compo pick?
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Yes, but what about big bodied mids…
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Yep. Pressure on the midfield is slightly released if McGrath plays back, but if he does 2 of Cutler, Kelly, Heppell, Redman and Hind will miss out.
Ham was approached by Melbourne in 2020, and you could understand him staying with the state of our team and the opportunities. But an offer to him, Guelfi, Zerk, maybe even Brand, Eyre, or Reid could be tempting to them.
Ham will be fortunate to be on any AFL main list in 2023.
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For a decade we had no midfield, now we have a shithouse backline and forwardline.
The midfield looks ok, so long as Perkins comes on to complement Stringer. Otherwise, the balanced is ■■■■■■.
Rucks- semi-confident Draper will be a long term option and Bryan is a decent alternative.
Nowhere near convinced Dodoro knows what it takes to build a premiership list as the main man.
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Our midfield has individual talent, but as a team they are shithouse. I agree that our list is overrated and Dodoro is well beyond his used by date.
We need a new list manager. Dodoro can act as a negotiator since that’s the one thing he does well.
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But does he negotiate well? Apart from the “hard to deal with” tag we’ve also gone after Hill and Dunkley- two contracted players and have failed both times.
Any trade we have done successfully is usually drawn out and nasty with the odd exception too. Hardly makes for a great relationship at the trade table when the next trade rolls around.
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Really don’t like those examples tbh.
GWS said they were never trading Hill, and there is no way Dunkley was worth 2 first rounders.
From memory we offered a first and second which seems pretty spot on.
Do agree with the issue of our trades always seeming to drag out though, it’s bloody annoying.
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He will probably end being our captain next year the way he is going!
Needs are apparent:
The ongoing development of previous two draft yields
Power mid - Perkins looms
Big back - The expected emergence of Zach Reid
Goals - optimistic on the coming of Baldwin, Wanganeen, Daveys, Jonestown
Probably need to think about life after LAV, not sure on guelfi, redman and ham.
Be patient, trust the process, draft BPA first then athletic freaks second
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We’ve got Zerk, Reid, Brand, McBride as potential replacements for Stewart and longer-term Lav. Certainly not something I’d be spending any draft picks on this year.
Without the match winners/ x-factor players, I don’t believe we have the quality to beat top 8 sides.
We’ve got Stringer and Tippa ( and Perkins is getting there).
But we don’t have enough creative players. We don’t have enough players who can turn the game on it’s head.
From the small sample size of Wanganeen, he’s shown more than 95% of the list.
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Just to re-iterate you’re the same person who also thinks we’ve drafted too many forwards, and not enough grunt mids over however many years?
To be fair, most of the forwards we draft have ■■■■ all x-factor and creativity.
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I would love to see this 22 in 3 years time.
Kelly, Reid Francis
McGrath, Ridley, Redman
Langford, Parish, Cox
Stringer, Jones, Davey
Wanganeen, 2MP, Baldwin
Draper, Merrett, Hobbs
Caldwell, Davey, Martin, Perkins
I don’t see how we fit Bryan into this team unless he unsurps Draper directly, which, could well be a possibility. I’m bullish on his tap work, skills and follow-up.
Also think we have suddenly gotten a glut of mids, i havent even included Shiel here.
Edit* x2 Hobbs is a lot of Glut.
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If by glut you mean 2 Hobbs, then yes!
Another Davey maybe?
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Wouldn’t that be nice.
If both Daveys make it, that would be fantastic.
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