bondiblue wrote:
No doubt we have to find out about a few of our lesser likes before we discard them. Players such as McInnes, Casboult, Mitchell, McCarthy, Rowe, Kerr, O'Keefe, Kerr, Heyne, Bell and Lodge haven't played a game of AFL but they are taking up a spot on the list. Do they warrant a spot? I like McCarthy, McInnes and O'Keefe from that bunch. Casboult and Mitchell are big boys who seem a bit slow for AFL imo, but were earmarked for a breakthrough year this year after reaching their best fitness levels ever in Qatar. I don't know if that was good enough for AFL. That's 11 players we know nothing about. Buckley is still a baby.
White, Davies, Bower, Russell, Collins, McLean, Thornton, Joseph, Curnow, Ellard lack the class needed to be a very good AFL player. So they have to go. That's 10 players.
Scotland reached his peak last year, and might have 2013 as his last.
Warnock is our best ruckman, and surely he proved his value in the WCE final last year. Consider that he has had 2 shoulder done in the preseason. TWP! How the !@#$%& was he suppose to develop upper body strength. Watch out when he does. Kreuzer is not fit, and just because his best position is ruck does not mean he is our best ruckman. Get Kreuzer fit and playing against Natanui and Cox, and then we'll decide if he should be our No 1 ruckman. I don't think he will do well against Nic Nat in a GF...isn't that what its all about?
We can't get rid of all the players mentioned above, but I'm sure most of them are excess. Too many average big guys. Too many average backmen. Too many list cloggers.
We need a new coach right now, with a game plan and roles he needs to fill from the list of players we have now. If there's a void, at least we'll know who to get rid of, what we need and who to hunt and draft.
I say tank right now. If picks will get us some ready made players then trade. Dunno about trading Warnock for picks, but I do know from the above mentioned list of excess we will not be getting any picks or players of need for them.
Need a new coach to save our opportunity.
System doesn't allow you to change that many. Some are list cloggers, some are simply out of form who could do well next year as they did last year. Unless he wants to go I'd keep Thornton as he provides provides insurance. Even though he was no more than a decent player at best we'd have loved Setanta to be there. Insurance would've been handy given the circumstances. Didn't think so at the time but circumstances have shown otherwise.
Some other's there though you can certainly get rid of although you'd have to check contract status as well. You'd also have to work out if they're no good or just having a sh1t year remembering we near reached a preliminary final last year. You can be bad one year and great the next, ask the Eagles, wooden-spooners to guns. Often sides on the rise have that sudden horrid year before suddenly storming into flag contention the next.
You won't get too much for those above and if you delist them you're playing with a pile of crappy picks. So you have to pick the right one's to chop. That's where skilled list management comes into it.
We can make something out of this year by playing youngsters. You often find someone who can play and hence further develop your depth. Often years such as this are good for that for going forward. Give Mitchell, McCarthy, Dale, McInnes etc a run. Even if they struggle game time can only enhance their development.