Yeah the fact we couldn’t hold and develop both Massimo and Voss really hurts and delays things.
As the stats say we won’t be getting another good SSP or Rookie for a while given how well we have done. But to loose on both means we have to go chasing more draft picks which can fail.
We really have to hit the draft hard again to stack more talent as a big ground of what we think is ok just won’t turn out.
Offloading senior player who are unable to perform in our side will give us more and condense the age group a bit too. Without it we will just drag things along and fail to build enough to rise effectively.
Then that list above is relevant. In 2020 we took Cox, Perkins, Reid, Eyre and Brand for example. That we never did it before 2024 is rubbish. We did it in 2006, 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2020.
The media is paid to overhype everything for clicks, which also generates “news” when the hype isn’t immediately realised. Rinse and repeat. Plus a heavy dose of rumours driven by player agents or clubs wanting a particular outcome. All overseen by the AFL who frequently put their fingers on the scales of reporting.
Why anyone pays attention to 90% of what the media (or clubs) say is incredible.
We had 10 blokes with 100+ games play last night and honestly I’d hope that maybe 2-3 absolutely tops are only on our list next year and even then it’s probably only their excessive contracts that would save them.
Looking at North over the last three or four years, they’ve brought in Sheezel, Wardlaw, McKercher, Duursma and O’Sullivan.
Whilst they’ve lost a lot of games, these players are now hitting their straps. That win over Carlton was primarily these players getting them over the line. That’s really enjoyable to watch for their fans. They’ve got high end players like Larkey, LDU, Comben and Curtis already performing which helps their development.
End of the day that’s what we want to see from our top end draftees. We want Caddy, Kako, Tsatas, Robey, Sharp, Farrow etc to develop nicely. First three should be firing soon and the last three should be a year or two behind. If we get destroyed like the first few games, we can’t even give them the opportunity to perform well and develop.
Imagine if May keeps improving and starts kicking consistent goals. Roberts becomesa top end player. If Reid, Cox and Perkins at least become role players, we will start getting hope and enjoy watching games. Right at the moment hard to see any progress.
I wouldn’t be too excited about North. Lost to WC, lucky to beat Carlton and fell in against EFC. I also question their style of play which is non contested and with slow ball movement.
I don’t think they’ll offload 6 or 7 of them . What I am hoping for is that some sit in the reserves as the new draftees take over. But I’m not confident that we’ll do that.
The aim should 100% hope for those guys (plus Perkins, plus Jones etc etc etc) to spend the whole year in the reserves, as more talented kids take the baton: but between injuries, form & fitness that’s not going to be reality.
Hopefully Huss’ fitness improves rapidly and Nguyen starts getting a kick, and we don’t see much more of Gresh and Guelfi.
I really think we need to hit the draft hard again this year. Few extra picks from trade outs like Merrett and Parish would be good. Especially if we can roll up the draft with Dyson and third rounder plays with guys like Perkins, Jones etc.
If we assume a bottom 2 finish and the new rule for an extra pick for the bottom 5 when top talent is locked to a club, we are looking at pick 2, 20 and 25 roughly.
Couple of top 30 picks for Merrett could give us 5 or so cracks at the ‘top 30’ before picks get moved back.
Going off that, Hawks would have roughly picks 26 and 28. Don’t know how good trading picks 25, 26 and 28 would convince a club for a pick first round. Might be able to entice a club further for Merrett if we offered to pay his wage for next season, similar to the Dees with Petracca and Oliver.
If we’d taken the Hawthorn offer, we probably would have used some of the draft currency to match on Sweid…and I didn’t want another shorty in Sweid…in fact, post-draft, Sweid has completely vanished from sight and from Blitz’s thinking…like this:
