List build - where are we? Where are we going next (Part 1)

In what way is this year’s draft bad? ie top 10 not as good as last year’s top 10? Or less depth? Or something else?

Top 5-10 are pretty good but nearly all of the better ones are mids or mids that can push forward. Real lack of quality KPP’s this year and overall the depth is said to be pretty shallow. Will obviously be a few diamonds unearthed from the rough but one of the blokes I speak to regularly thinks that there won’t be much quality come out past 35-40 this year

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That must be why no team ever tanks. No point doing so, the good draft is next year.

The AFL got so bored of that they hit Melbourne with a limp lettuce leaf for being the clubhouse leader at not tanking.

Did Woosha miss a trick by not playing McGrath in the midfield. There were lot of talks this was going to happen by midyear.

Hopefully we can use our picks wisely this year. Either through trade or swapping to better our position next year. Irrespective if Kelly chooses us or somebody else, if he does leave we should try to use it to our advantage. I.e. Doing a pick swap in our favour to give FCFC a better chance of landing him. Kinda like the saints did with Hawks.

I would’ve liked to see it at some point. disco was saying earlier in the year he was capable of stints in there at least.

I would give Worsfold very very high marks for what he’s been able to do with gameplan and developing the established guys, but we have gotten very little development into our 1st-3rd years.

What about if we get rumoured to be involved in a lot of things but then just trade pick 97 for an old guy?

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Jon ‘Mayo’ Ralph is saying that Crameri is likely to be traded and a strong link back to Essendon.

I think a forwardline of Daniher, Crameri & Stewart is very threatening prospect.

Then a key defense of of Hurley, Hooker and Ambrose.

He also said Redpath could be a trade option also.

So be it, take the picks and blood out new crop.

Crameri would be a big no for me. He bailed on us once and made his own bed

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I have no idea why people want Joe to cop the #1 defender so badly. Crameri for Hooker is a huge downgrade.

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Too long out of the game for crammers now and was lacking agility when he was fit.

Crameri’s position is not one we should be seeking to increase. If you’re talking high half-forwards, we have Stewart and Lav with Begley and Francis able to fill it too.

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And Langford too. Were saturated there.

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As much as I loved him, if you walk out you don’t expect us to welcome you back in your retirement years. Fck right off.

I like Crameri. But he’s not a position we need (as others have said).

Latest I heard is that Crameri’s injuries have cooked him unfortunately. Like the bloke but not what we need.

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So if we miss out of Rockliff, Kelly, Martin and any other GWS first round throwaway we are going to be seriously cashed up next year!!

is he a midfielder no move on

Trading Monfries, Crammers, Paddy, Carlisle, Melk and Pig is a lesson in the value of giving up 25 year old and over players to build for the future, even though most of these departures weren’t planned.

In 2012 Monfries was traded for pick 51, Dylan Van Unen, which seems like a bust except we probably would have used pick 53 for him if not pick 51 which means we most likely would have missed out on Gleeson at pick 53.

In 2013 we won the lottery with Zerrett, and Raz with the picks we got for Stewie and Gumby. We were also looking for Ambrose to make a similar transition to Stewie from Rookie to best 22 medium strong forward, it didn’t turn out that way, but the effort to look for a similar player got us a very different best 22 player.

2014 we got The Langford for Paddy Ryder, which will hopefully start to hurt less from next year onwards.

In 2015 we got St Francis and Alex Morgan for Carlisle and Redman for Melk, the jury is still out on those 3 acquisitions. We will know much more next year I suspect with Franga the most likely.

In 2016 we seemingly got totally dudded by getting pick 29 from Melbourne for Pig who is a possible 27 YO All Australian half back, only to get Fridge who at the moment I would say “yes” to in a direct swap given his youth, composure and the famous Disco Dodoro upside.

So lets look at the score sheet:

OUT: Monfries, Stewie, Gumby Paddy, Carlisle, Melk, Pig

IN: Gleeson, Zerrett, Raz, Ambrose, Langford, Franga, Morgan, Redman and Fridge.

Arguably we are only missing Paddy, Pig and Carlisle.

But we have replaced them with 5 current best 22 players (Zerrett, Raz, Ambrose, Gleeson and Fridge), and I would think Langford and Franga should emerge next year, with the jury out on Redman and Morgan.

This looks even better if you consider, Gumby is retired and Monfries, Stewie and Melk would struggle to be in our best 22.

What does this mean for the future?

We probably have extra half forward type players and possibly an extra 3rd tall back who may want to look for other opportunities if they don’t look like getting a game next year or the year after.

Possibly, Hartley, Brown or Dea, could get frustrated by Hurley, Ambrose, Gleeson in front of them at the moment, and with Francis and Ridley coming through (either forward or back)…

We also have congestion in the forward line with JD, Hooker, Stewart, Raz, and Walla established and Green, Lav and Fridge competing for a place. Add to this the Langford as a potential forward in addition to the already mentioned Francis, Ridley and Brown.

Where we need to replace and upgrade the most players is in the midfield, which probably puts players who can do midfield time at an advantage.

We may well keep all these players next year, given the number of older players who will most likely retire, but by years end there may be good players who will be prepared to play elsewhere given the competition for places forward and back.

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