Draft Needs Analysis

[buck_nekkid 1,989]

Tim Smith.  Played forward this year with some success...

[DeeSpencer 8,781]

On 11/5/2018 at 5:14 PM, Lord Travis said:

We've got a plethora of small and mid sized players as needed, but look at the talls. Other clubs might only play one or two, but they have others on their list that are either developing or are depth. We have no depth in this position. None. Zilch. 

Our list is one of the best in the league, but this is a thread about analysing our needs, and I'd have thought tall forwards were the obvious place to start. 

Tall forwards on list of approximately 40: TMac, Weid

That balance is way off, and I'm hoping we can land a decent one come draft time.

I agree it's time to get a young player in to develop, but I also think the best back up key forward in modern footy is a key defender or ruckman given a role to play. Crash packs, tackle and kick the occasional goal seems to be the 2nd key forwards job and that's done better by a mature body than a young player anyway.

On 11/5/2018 at 9:22 PM, Lampers said:

Spot on. Already using 3/40 odd spots on predominantly single position players in Gawn, Preuss and Bradtke. Having Bradtke not on the regular list looks like the perfect combination to me.

I reckon every club rolls the dice that they won’t have their first and second choice rucks go down injured and if they do they will have to improvise. Tim Smith or Sam Frost would have to do in a pinch if Weideman (who rucked lots in the VFL) and T.Mc won’t be risked, but with a very different ruck strategy than what you’d have with a potentially dominant Gawn or Preuss.

We had a preview in 2017 when Gawn and Spencer went down and things were cobbled together with Pedersen, Watts and T.Mc.

I agree the mid year draft allows for more contingency in case of a significant early season ruck injury.

 

The answer to the ruck and key forward depth might be best solved by the same player. If we were going purely for a needs player on the list we'd try to find a younger more athletic version of Pedersen. Not easy to find.