Nah not at all. The fork in the road to make the season worth something was that patch of games after the bye against Geelong, Collingwood, Melbourne, Adelaide and St Kilda.
That was the time to show, after a good start to the season, whether we had advanced in maturity and temperament as a group to really create something and lock in a home final.
So with that come and gone and with the form we are now playing in, I’d be very comfortable just trying a few different things and letting the season play out.
Yes, of course narrow losses where we show a bit and maybe see a few young players display their wares, would be preferable to getting belted.
A few weeks ago I had 2 probable losses - Collingwood and Freo - and 5 should wins in Geelong, Melbourne and the three at Marvel. After all, Geelong were crap until that third quarter, Adelaide and Gold Coast don’t win in Melbourne and Saints were rubbish.
I think we desperately need more competitors, elite users (particularly by foot!), and better decision makers in our defensive half. He seems to be rated around where our second round pick will be and Cal’s write up suggests he’d be a great fit
We don’t know where our second rounder will be, or indeed, how many picks we’ll have. If we get rid of Lav, we won’t even have a first rounder, as I’m assuming we’d have to package him up with our first rounder to get a fourth back.
Good point. Hopefully no one bothers bidding on Kako early or we can get creative with trading, like @Ants has suggested, to recruit specifically to a need
I’m hoping we can snare three picks in the top 30. A combo of Travaglia, Kako and Faull will do me and suits our needs - an attacking, classy half-back; a dynamic small forward; and a competitive tall forward.
Looks to be plenty of good options so hopefully we stock up on picks.
Well, I’m no mathologist, but lets try and figure it out.
Lets say the bid comes at pick 15.
Pick 15 is worth 1112 points. We get a 20% discount as the matching club which takes it down to 890 points, which is roughly equivalent to pick 21.
Our current pick 29 would be worth 653, but what teams typically do is trade out of any higher picks that would be absorbed in matching the bid, and split them into a larger number of later picks which works out better for matching purposes. For instance if we could trade pick 29 for picks 47, 48 and 49 (or something like that) it would give us enough points.
Two things to be aware of though, is that one, in matching the bid you can only use as many picks as you have available (empty) spots on your main list entering the draft. Like you can’t use 5 super late picks to match a bid when you only have one list spot open. Also, I think you’re still required to use 3 selections each national/rookie draft. So if we had a pick prior to Kako, then matched on Kako, we would need to use one more pick, although I think we can cover that with a rookie elevation.
A second impressive VFL game in a row for Shanahan. He was quiet through the first half, but really got motoring in the third quarter taking a few impressive contested grabs and kicking a goal. The contested marking in particular was a welcome sight given that has at times been questioned. If he carries this form over to close out the Talent League season Shanahan could really start to move up draft boards.
Our small stocks are absolutley dire, we need more than Kako. Our first two picks should be small and quick pressure forwards. Then I’d draft another one for good measurein the rookie draft.
If we don’t trade in any picks, for our first I’m going for a power forward or dangerous foot skills half back, Kako next which will blow up our second and third, then looking as much as possible at 2-3 indigenous small forwards with high upside and Jobe Shanahan. I’d also be stacking the rookie draft with high running capacity players.
It is quite unlikely we take any rookie picks. Menzie, Visenti are locked in. El-Hawli is likely to be. Good odds one of Wanganeen and Hunter survive the cut.
Also, unless we get additional picks via trades it is unlikely we can get Shanahan. Probably go top 30, with Kako eating picks our third pick is going to be pretty late. We only have 29 in the first 4 rounds currently, which is unlikely to be sufficient to cover the Kako bid.
Edit: actually, that might mean I’m wrong on rookie picks. We might promote someone after the ND (to make our 3 “ins”) and then take 2-3 rookies maxing out the rookie list at 6. Rather than give late ND picks we don’t highly rate 2yr contracts.
