We are such a dumb and reactive club

The club believed it had the missing pieces and thought it had the list to grow from within and win a premiership

Now it has realised we have flaws and need to reconfigure our list

All this while we have effectively achieved nothing with our premier players getting to the latter stages of their football careers

Our major flaw is the lack of run in our transition game. Both defensively and offensively. Now can someone explain to me how do we find ready made footballers in this years trading period to overcome this dilemma. It just doesn’t happen like that.

We may find one but not the 3 - 4 footballers I think we need to transform our side

We should have regenerated our list when Voss first started. Where now we are relying on a hail mary to land Houston without giving up pick 11.

The club needs to focus on better player and game development. Like Geelong. That should mean a change to our Football Head and coaching staff. Then we may find less reliance on landing a big fish to remain relevant in this competition.

The lack of a decent 2nd tall defender cost us wins this year. It's as simple as that.
Kemp is a trier but his match up as the second tall killed us on at least 2 occasions. When you finish 2 wins out of the top 4, that's the ball game. Ask Port about the value of having a second chance when you miserably fail in the first finals match.
It was a deficiency going in to the season and should have been addressed.

The issue isn't just Kemp or McGovern being dominated by their opponents but also teams pull our defence apart in game. Weitering is constantly being dragged away from defence by his opponent and when he switches, his next opponent does the exact same thing. It unsettles the structure and creates a constant diversion for our best defender.
Later in the season teams were taking advantage and sacrificing their key forwards because they knew their next best option was far better than Kemp or McGovern. Look at the roles of Larkey and Comben. Or how Taylor Walker and Jesse Hogan earlier controlled our match ups. Same with Gunston against the Hawks.

We need another tall defensive option and Haynes isn't the answer.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

he'd be more expensive than houston - a key defender and younger. he's coming off a knee injury too which is why he's not playing tomorrow, yeah?

but, sheesh... in a year where we were found out for being too tall and not mobile and fast enough, people want to get even taller and slower?

we need speed and ball movement & pressure and tackling and to veer away from the slow plodding, first use at all costs/ possession based gameplan voss has cooked up.

100% we do need a number 2. but surely not another number one like sdk who'll demand a mill or more when his rookie contract ends?

someone like young, who's tall and can leap and spoil and intercept, for around the 5-600k?

Who is it?
I'm not saying we get SDK but where are our options? Whoever it is, it is a critical piece of our structure and needs to be addressed.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

I think its our only option BV . I don't get around the VFL like I used to but what little I have seen I just can't see an AFL sized Key Defender . Nathan Cooper from Werribee is excellent but stands at 194 cm so is a tad short . I reckon there is a kid playing for Stingrays ( Jordan Doherty Sorrento FC ) who I reckon could develop SDK style into a AFL CHB . Currently playing ruck but I reckon he has the anticipation to be a key backman . Future prospect .

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All my dangerous friends

Geelong have relied on the the 'big fish' mentality as well.
They sold the farm to get Dangerfield at the end of 2015 and then did the same to get Cameron 5 years later.
But yes they have done well with late draft picks to land Stewart, Dempsey, Stengle etc.

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There is no footy god

We 100% need a second tall athletic defender. Would have like Aleer from GWS, but I dont think he is leaving. But someone like him. And SDK would be amazing.

They put work into Weitering to drag him away. And Weitering feels he has to do too much.

McGovern doesnt defend. I wish we would trade him now while he has any currency, but its hard to get the taller defenders. But if next year is a contract year, we may get the best out of him possibly. Its the way it goes with him unfortunately.

They we have the smalls:

Saad, Boyd, Newman, Cowan.

We need to try harder to get Aleer or SDK. I dont think they will cost as much as Houston.

We really dont need Houston. I mean we can always use a guy like him. But not the for price. And we have many holes to fix. He is not the cherry on top.

Wasn’t there also talk of the third McCartin brother, Charlie, who was playing down at Lorne under Ed Curnow? Did that ever go anywhere and did he end up playing any VFL?

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I'm shocked to be sitting here

Anyone have an opinion on Derksen? Another stuck behind a pretty good set of defenders at GWS. Sounds like he can go forward too.

Great kick of a football . 194 cm . Pretty handy around goals .

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All my dangerous friends

Laverde would do a better job defensively than McGovern or Kemp and he wouldn't cost much either.

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There is no footy god

I'm scared to ask - but would be curious on the status of Frost from Hawfs. With Barrass/Battle coming in then he's going to be squeezed right? He's a complete Bower with ball in hand but as a defender we could do way worse.

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The only way for some people to understand is for them to be on the receiving end

Left wing moralists
In self serving denial
They shit me no end

Its because we are trying to make Kemp a defender - where he is not. He was drafted as a mid. I dont know why we dont put players in positions of which they were drafted.

This is also a big issue of ours. We recruit players and try and make them into something else.

And its not just Voss - its every coach we have had.

Is he quick enough to play ones?

We are not as different as some suggest.
Green is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Our twin towers trump the rest
Worth every cent. I'm sure every oppo coach would love those two as their KPF targets.
I'm very happy with that.
Can we stop bombing it blindly forward in their direction?

Just need to sort out the rest of the spine...CHB....and settle on which game plan suits our list.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Haynes is the intercepting back man who can actually defend better than Gov and Kemp, but at 193cm he does not plug the CHB hole.

192cm wont cut it either. Marchbank at 193cm, was SOS' choice for CHB, but he was always going to be too small for the tall KPFs.

At this stage we are looking to replace Young 200cm who replaced Jones 199cm....or make up height with strength, like May (193) does.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

That is a spine that can play together for another 4-5 years 2025-2030.

We can work on SDK, but focus on solving the issue in this years Trade Draft period.

If we can't solve our CHB hole from a player in a lower league, we will be relying on Young, because this and next year's First Round Picks are our last chances to invest in some young mids before compromised drafts to add to Walsh, Cerra, Lord, Wilson and Camporeale.

Crippa next year turns 30, Hewett 29, Acres 30

I reckon we are in a good position. Very excited to see how Austin reacts to this year's list challenge.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Weiters makes up for the missing 5-6 cm with superior lower body strength and ability to read the play.

Kemp and Gov are 6'3" athletes who are regularly beaten in defence because they lack those compensatory attributes.

Serong is listed at 80kg, don't know if that was his teenage weight and he's gotten stronger - I don't recall seeing any of his 10 career games so can't comment on his strength, does he have it? If not, then being an athlete isn't enough for our need, IMO.

Shhhhhhhhhh

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue