Yeah I think he was talked about as late main draft, we got spooked - the Dogs IIRC were into him. Spoke to someone with a connection to Sydney's recruitment, they were semi interested in him as well but no number was put on it.
Absolutely F.A. out of that draft overall, very weak. Very unusual of Keane to go a smokey, normally pretty line & length.
I'm pretty sure there were other clubs expected to take him before our next pick. Can't remember the details now, but there was one who was meant to be very disappointed we took him.
I wonder if they'd be kind enough to give us their 2nd rounder for him this year?
Am just surprised somebody thinks we are only 4 players away from finishing Top 4.
Really?
We were not *that* far off this year - easily top 6 (2 and a half games), and both 5th/6th got through to the last 4.
I think the best - and worst - thing about us this year is that we never really hit a high point in terms of form.
Add another layer to our squad does two things - that flatline goes up just a notch (we probably beat Carlton, St K, Melbourne and likely one of Hawthorn/Geelong), and we can afford to rest guys when they need it and hit the finals hard.
If we got 4 decent-to-good players - say 2 mid(ish) players, a small forward and a big forward, in reality that means we're only playing the one of JD/Carlisle who's in form, we can sit Winderlich back all the time covering his forward line output, and don't have to play Dell at all, and we only pick guys like Melksham/Jerrett/Howlett when they really deserve it. Those guys all played good footy but battled a little bit to get through the whole year.
*Any* output from Winderlich's spot, or Stanton's spot, or Gleeson/Dempsey's spot, or Bellchambers' spot - and we win that final. Get something from any 2, 3 or 4 of those spots and we ■■■■ it in pretty comprehensively and as good a chance as North against Geelong.
North aren't a class better than us - they just bat a little bit deeper by about 2-3 players.
Yep agreed although I wouldn’t even go as far as saying North bat deeper than us by a few players - no way! We arguably have better players than they do but we simply couldn’t keep up - we were too slow! I would say we’re 3 players off a semi final; A small forward that produces 30 - 40 goals a year, a line breaking I. Smith / J. Polec type on the outside and a bigger bodied quick type on the inside to assist Jobe and allow him to go 3rd tall. Goddard moves to half back to control things. Flag time!!
The pace thing showed up because they had better depth through the middle. Gibson Greenwood Cunnington Swallow Ziebell Dal Santo Bastinac Wells - with Harvey out. No real topline brownlow contender but solid, strong competitive group. At full strength we match them with maybe just a slight edge at the top end but they dug in and outworked us, more contributors. Always look slow without the ball.
Can our recruiters find players who can contribute like these players? Or have we already got them in and they need to be developed more?
Can Ambrose develop into our Gunston. Or is it Ashby?
Is Jackson Merrett going to become our Breust
Colyer is well on his away of becoming a good run and carry player like Smith.
Can Edwards step up from the 2s and start having impact like Hill and start hitting leading forwards on the chest?
We just need to find 3 or 4 players who can kick 30-40 odd goals each to be a serious contender.(Carlisle and Daniher can be two of them).
LOL…The title should be changed to 10 players. It is taken Edwards 11 rounds to make the team. So many players have gone backwards.
Langford maybe the Gunston we are looking for but can’t judge that on the 2 games he played. We are all putting all our hopes on Laverde. Hasn’t played a game yet.
Really depressive times.
We just need to pick the eyes out of a couple of drafts in a row. We need to work out how we can get a couple more picks in the top 20. We then really need to sort out the development of young players. Our VFL players seem to be developing well and getting drafted. But our drafted players are so slow in their development. We just need to go after the best in the business and develop them quicker.
Why is it that Geelong, Hawthorn and Collingwood can keep developing them at an unbelievable rate. (Lang, Thurlow, Gregson and Guthrie for Catters).
Does a team similar to how North was last year want a player like Stanton, Myers or Bellcho? Then can we go and draft a player similar to Dunstan. (How Saints did it with Stanley and NDS). We need to be bold.
Fyfe and Sandilands. The connection between the two is exquisite. I wonder why opposition players don’t just try and shark the ball off the hitout as it pretty much falls into Fyfe’s lap 70% of the time.