Successful VFL = Healthy AFL.
Please tell me we are actively recruiting in an attempt to build depth in the VFL?
Is Stanton still coach?
Is Leigh Tudor still at the club?
If so what exactly was his role as it’s been identified we have a development issue, NO ■■■■!!!
Please merge or delete if I’ve overlooked a thread
Gurge.
Incredible to think that we have put so little value in to the VFL in the last 2 years, thanks Xavier.
Last year we put more effort in to building a balanced side and saw some rewards. Previous 2 years were utter garbage.
Our injury management is critical to how the vfl team will perform. Ideally you have maybe 6-8 vfl players to fill the ranks of the afl listed blokes. You can’t afford many quality vfl players, so you target the mature vfl players to fill the specific gaps in the afl reserve mix. When the afl list gets large numbers of injuries, you start to field 10-14 vfl players. That necessitates playing younger vfl guys who aren’t suited to balance out the young afl draftees.
So fix the injuries and the vfl team will automatically look far far better.
That’s what the clubs leadership said.
Gurge Saucy … Problem solved !
I don’t understand what happened with our VFL. We went from playing finals to a mere shell of that team in the space of a couple of years.
We never seem to recruit any experienced players like many other clubs, leaving kids to compete against mature players week in, week out.
Yeah, I also can’t understand what went wrong with our VFL team in 2020-21.
Mostly because I’ve got an acquired brain injury.
Really?
You don’t remember anything changing in 2020 and 2021?
It didn’t stop other teams adjusting did it???
We took too long to contact the players that we had signed up previously and they went to other teams instead. We were then left trying to coble a team together to field a full side. We did that two years in a row and the focus was elsewhere, we took our eyes as a club off VFL. Last year we appointed Stants and Fletch, but again lacked a solid team to start with. We then went out and recruited some VFL guys who were decent and with Stants good coaching actually played some very good football. That’s the very simplistic take that lacks all the nuance. AFL side injuries, leadership changes, off-field issues, all play a part.
Hopefully we don’t take too long this year again and actually have a decent side lined up from round 1. Paul Cousins is the VFL President and has been doing a good job since taking over imo.
that’s the hard balancing act.
If there’s no injuries (hahahahah) the vfl side essentially takes care of itself to a vast degree.
when there are injuries well thats where you end up with gleeson on 70 odd afl games as you’re most experienced player in the vfl, and that’s just not good.
but the hard part is knowing what and where you need the vfl players ahead of the season, and then finding flexible players who can play multiple positions based on injuries and what you’re actually trying to achieve.
Stanton showed in The second half of the year that he’s a quality coach.
The team improved significantly when we found a winning formula in the midfield with Atley, Rasinac and Bernacki.
You just need to look at the hard fought, last minute wins…. To see the players were playing for Stanton.
The VFL program needs to get their programs underway in about a month or 2. So the players have a full preseason.
The problem over the last few years, is that the preseason has been starting about 1 month before the season starts. Which is just inexcusable for a professional/semi-professional sports program.
It’s going to be even harder now that solid vfl performers like Ham and Waterman are gone. These were players who had flaws in their game at senior level, but could consistently take a heavy load at vfl level.
With the youngest senior side in the competition, the reserves team will be very very young. Mature vfl players will be even more important.
very much so
The back end of the year also had a bunch of senior guys returning from injury. The afl contingent in the vfl side grew substantially in the final weeks, which made Stanton’s job borderline achievable. Early in the season the vfl team was set up to fail through senior injuries.
I wouldn’t think losing Ham or Waterman will have any impact at all.
We’ve brought in Weideman and Setterfield…. And we can argue how influential they’ll be to the AFL team. I see them as depth players who will be in and out of the team. So you’ll have some senior bodies coming in.
I think Wiederman and Setterfield have been brought in with the intent of playing them in the senior team. They may not perform through preseason, but the sales pitch would surely have been a best 22 role.
But anyway, I used Ham and Waterman as an example. We are young. We don’t have many mature reserve players. I can’t see many players like Clarke who could dominate games in the vfl for us. Cutler and Francis did some great work at vfl level. We have leaned down the mid 20s fringe players, which means the vfl will be far younger than 2022.
This is the list came up with last week. Obviously injuries aren’t considered. But it was a point about balance. I don’t want to argue the weeds of who should be best 22, it’s more of a point to what a VFL team looks like when there are no injuries.
Opposition clubs are also delisting experienced fringe players aswell. So I think think it will matter too much.
The main point I will make, is that some of these 3rd year players should be starting to perform now.
B: Hind, Laverde, Ridley
HB: Redman, Zerk-Thatcher, McGrath
C: Martin, Parish, Langford
HF: Perkins, Wright, Stringer
F: Jones, Stewart, Guelfi
R: Draper, Merrett, Shiel
I: Hobbs, Caldwell, Kelly, Durham
VFL:
B: Eyre, Reid, D’Ambrosio
HB: Lord, McBride, Cox
C: Bernacki (VFL list), Rasinac (VFL list), Heppell
HF: Weideman, Voss, Menzie
F: Snelling, Baldwin, Phillips
R: Bryan, Atley (VFL list), Setterfield
I: Wanganeen, Davey, Davey, Fitzgerald (VFL List), Conforti (VFL list)