Okay, so we are on the way back.

My guess is this year we will finish between 8th and 10th giving us roughly pick 7, 23, 39. These should be kept.

The ultimate goal is a premiership and for all that we have gone through over the past few years I believe we deserve more than one.

So, out of our current list who will be part of it? What is the type of player we need? What is our ultimate game plan?

The modern game is all about run! Sides load numbers back and run the ball through the corridor and try to deliver it as quickly as possible into the forward line. The better sides are the ones that can deliver the ball better and who can apply tremendous defensive pressure all over the ground!

Big Forwards are great but the need for a number of 'Gorilla' backman has diminished. Look at Geelong, Scarlett, Harley, Egan , Rooke are big but are not massive and they can run and use the ball. The same with Hawthorn, they have Campbell Brown and Croad playing on key forwards and are successful.

In my opinion we need more true footballers more than athletes! Players who can use the ball well under pressure and can read the game, such as Ablett, Bartel or Judd.

Of our current list here is who I think is our future.

Key Backs: Thornton, Waite, Jamison, Bower, Walker

Small Defenders: Anderson, Browne, Carrazzo, Scotland, Grigg, Armfield

Mids: Judd, Stevens, Murphy, Gibbs, Simpson, Joseph, Hadley, Jackson, Bannister, Bentick, Russell, Pfeiffer

Small Forwards: Betts, Houlihan, Ellard

Key Forwards: Fevola, Fisher, Hartlett, Edwards

Rucks: Cloke, Hampson, Jacobs, Kruezer

To me, Walker could easily fill CHB, he is as big as Croad or Egan and is athletic and can still provide run from defence and the more that can the better.

Bannister can play anywhere depending on who he needs to pick up.

My best side for next year and forward (not including future recruits) is:

B: Anderson Jamison Bower
HB: Browne Waite Walker
C: Simpson Murphy Gibbs
HF: Fisher Hartlett Betts
F: Ellard Fevola Kruezer
Foll: Hampson Judd Joseph
Int: Bannister Grigg Armfield Thornton
Emerg: Jacobs Jackson Pfieffer

My reasonings:

Anderson - a very disciplined hard running player who uses the ball well, will be very good if he can get fit.
Jamison - I can't see both he and Thornton in the same side in the future. To me he is a better prospect.
Bower - Improving, can play tall or small, provides run.
Browne - composed, runs and good user of ball.
Waite - a Star, can run and play tall, disposal only weakness, reads play well.
Walker - Can play tall or small, fit and runs well, disposal an issue.
Simpson - tough and a runner through middle, real leader, uses ball well.
Murphy - Clever and excellent workrate.
Gibbs - as above, excellent defensive pressure
Fisher - excellent hands, needs t improve defensive skills and when ball is on the ground.
Hartlett - Shows signs of being a CHF, big, strong could be a great foil for Fev.
Betts - Has great skills, uses ball well can tackle, if fitness keeps improving could be excellent in midfield as well. Needs to work harder on a more consistent basis.
Ellard - I like him, works hard and knows where goals are, can tackle.
Fev - A star if keeps off grog. 2 months ago I would of turfed him but if he keeps up form and attitude will be a key. One more slip up he is gone. Impressed with defensive presure of late.
Kruezer - More a ruckman but he and Hampson have the ability to push forward and kick goals. Amazed with his agility and reading of play for a kid.Will be a star.
Hampson - As above.
Judd - we all know.
Joseph - this kid is a ball magnet and hard, will be a player.

I personally am not a Stevens fan. This is a team game and for me any player who shows up in the condition he has this year I would not pick. It is an insult to the club and his teammates. I know he has had a severe injury but that doesn't mean he cannot watch his weight. Also, I believe defensively he is a liability. Also, the way he looks after himself I cannot see him playing past 30.

I also have severe doubts on the future of Benjamin & Edwards.

Russell I would like to see do well and he tries hard but I am not convinced.

Its now time to give up on the Irish experiment! Setanta and Aisake have done remarkably well but at times that gets lost and to me will never have that football brain. There is to much to catch up on. Not many people who start the game late in life become stars. Stynes being an exception and he came from gaelic football. They will be 23 and 26 next year. How much do we hope to get out of them?

Scotland I am 50/50 on, same with Houlihan and I loking to the future. They can both look great at times the go missing for weeks.

Another key forward to take pressure of Fev is essential. Hartlett is best bet at this stage. Fisher needs to be third option.

To me this is a side than can run and can tackle. It has speed and is flexible in its positions. If it can keep improving it defensive skills and disposals across the board we will be a real threat.

Another year under Ratts and with our new fitness department having it first FULL pre season to evaluate and train these players I believe we will improve dramatically.

Whatever you think it all looks exciting.

All opinions are welcome and I am interested in what other people think.

no scotland, houlahan, stevens, hadley........ there all be there for a few more years, for experience, or else our team average we'll be 10 games lol com be optimistic if that team lines up next year i would laugh

you have to remember players dont take a fken yr or 2 to mature they need aleast 3/4 years to come to there real potential i sure they'll show glispses as there careers go on but it takes time, you not gona have players like joeph, ellard, anderso, browne all lining up next year with fken 30 games of experience between them all.

gibbs, murphy and kruzer are exceptions because they are freaks of the game.

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Follower's: Kreuzer/Judd/Murphy

Anderson Browne Hartlett Ellard Hampson Joseph Armfield Jacobs Jackson

None of these guys can get a game at the moment - Hampson is the only one who excites me. The others are lucky dip players. In 4 years I will be surprised if 2 of them are still on our list.

_________________
Ecclesiastes 1:4, "One generation passes away, and another generation comes: but The Blues abide forever."

Overlooking Hadley was a mistake, he should definitely be in.

All for maturity my point is we need to get games into these kids asap to be successful. Hawthorn over the past few years is a classic example.

It will be a bumpy ride for a while but I believe it will be worth it in the end.

PS "Is there any real need for swearing?"

You seem to be a bit happier than you were two weeks ago cj69! Still, you aren't the only one there... put the rest of us in the same boat!

As for anything else, I liked your initial post and agree with almost all of it... with the exception that I still think Hartlett is a long shot. And I am glad you've put Hadley in there... he'll be an important fixture in this side for a while I think.

Who remembers Ratten saying at the start of the year that Hadley could play CHF? I'm still waiting to see if it happens.

we will still pick up a mature age player in this yrs PSD.

...and perhaps trade for one with a 4th or 5th rd pick.

Thanks Molly, it is amazing what a couple of wins will do!!

I agree Blue4 and that is my point. The side I have listed above is based on what we have now. If we can add another one or two stars from the draft, maybe trade late picks for a good player and pick up another good mature player in the PSD how good would we look?

The depth of our list is hugely important to building success.

We need a gorilla down back......Egan is a 196cm and over 100kg...thats why when fit he can take on players like Brown and nullify them. Geelong got him into the team because Harley couldnt handle the bigger players....
Franklin, Riewoldt, Kosi, Hawkins etc are not going to be taken by martians over the next 5-10 years so we need another tall with some muscle to help out Jamison....

Walker at CHB will see the kid with a permanent booking each season to have his shoulders done......he needs to be looked after rather than knocked around.

Hartlett is an unknown quantity.......

A lot of our kids are unknown quantities.......all good potential prospects but the football law of nature would see maybe only half of them making it
for various reasons...
Fev might not be there long term and maybe Hamposn could be rucking for Gold Coast..

Two wins on the back of Fev and Judd hasnt yet convinced me about some of our players..........the Melb win was less than impressive.
I would still be veiwing out list as incomplete and looking to get some more quality draft picks by trading a player like Nick Stevens and getting another A grader like Rich or Hurley....

_________________
"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Hey Elwood,

I haven't seen the Melbourne game (am taping it on Fox today), and agree from the reports I've read that the win wasn't entirely impressive. That said, I'm a bit of the belief that we need to give the kids some points for getting over the line. I think Stan Alves said that it was the first time many of our players had been the hunted rather than the hunters, and it sounds as if Melbourne played a pretty negative game to make sure they shut us down. In many respects, it was the first time a lot of our kids had entered a game as favourites, and managed walked away with the win.

As I said... I haven't seen the game. But do you think we need to give our lads some credit for at least collecting the points when they were in a set of circumstances they hadn't probably confronted before? I guess I'm asking if we should slightly discount the quality of the play, and just appreciate the fact they got across the line?

Fair enough Molly...take the 4 points, enjoy the win is a good attitude.
If we can beat Adelaide or not disgrace ourselves I will more enthused about our chances and CJ69's long term hopes.....

_________________
"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

We need to build up our backline first. Premierships are won from backlines.

Also lacking in what we need is a CHF. Fisher is never going to be the Jonathan Brown of the competition, so leave Waite at CHB because he is shining for us there but we need a Wayne Carey, Brown, Barry Hall type mold taking big pack marks for us ... complimenting the leading mark up Fevola in our forward structure.

I agree that the backline needs to be built first but with the people we have I do not believe we are far off. Defence is built all over the ground. If we could grab a Rutten type that would be great but they don't grow on trees. Waite can take Reiwolt, Brown etc and he is probably our best bet on Franklin. Getting numbers back will help especially with Kruezer or Hampson helping out. Then we need to rebound as quick as possible with our runners.

Not sure about that Elwood, I would rather see him punching from behind than having somone jump into him. Anyway in todays game it is very hard to protect players, you have to be going in 100% all the time.

Watched him forced to play on Travis Cloke last season and he was outsized....AW is a nice size player these days but not to play Key position....if Brad Green was playing CHF , Brad Johnson, then fine but I think AW's value is running with the footy rather than defending bigger stronger players.
Cos he is such a versatile player and our list was so poor we made the kid play in positions and on players you normally wouldnt and he looked exhausted and overwhelmed by the end of last season....we abused his talent IMHO and wore him down.
I'd rather we sit him on a wing or on a back flank and tell him to run with the footy and give us some drive and get back to enjoying his footy....like when he played his first game and had 26 possies, flew for marks and was
free to do his own thing,....

_________________
"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Fair enough Elwood, for me it is really about matchups and horses for courses more than positions anyway. I could see him on a Reiwoldt or a Boyle for example but he could also easily match up on a Mark Williams type. Mind you he could also be damaging as a midfielder. I really don't care where I just like the group we are developing and one of the great things about them is they are adaptable.
Two weeks ago I would have never given Bower a chance against Cloke!

The development of Paul Bower is a good example of why we need to encourage the young and inexperienced players (in terms of AFL games played and time on the park) who are deemed by the MC to be in the best 22.

This web site has many people who are very angry about the what has happened to this club. They seem to take out their anger on the younger players who do not perfrom like 100 game veterans. Perhaps we dream about our past champoins and pine for them, so the comparison between what was then and what is now, is not relevant and not reasonable.

I could list a few players who seem to be on a hit list of angry supporters.

Over the past few season, Paul Bower used to be on this list but his efforts of recent time have elevated him to an "OK" list.

Why not give the other young players the same break?

As we have seen after the first 5 rounds of the season, we will NOT win all the games we play. No one sensibly thought we would do so.

We have the youngest list of all AFL clubs.

If you are angry about an error a player makes, remember this - did you learn more from making an error or more from doing something that was acceptable? Give them time, give them support and encourage them to improve. Having said this we still win NOT win all the remaining games this year, so be prepared. When we loose, chill out. We will get better with time. Think how long it took Geelong to get in the mood to win a Grand Final.