Clean Out

[Theo 276]

Firstly IMO in general we are in need of.....

• A TALL strong bodied key forward who can win the contested mark either on the hit up or when playing deep in a one on one around the goal square and can kick a goal from most positions within 50. Given the number of times our younger and more senior players bomb the ball in 'hail mary' style this is a must for me atm. Hopefully this changes as the execution skills improve and we transition a little quicker as well as doing the 1%ers around the ground, allowing ball carriers more time and poise to hit up the leading targets (Howe/Green/Watts? etc) more often.

• A strong TALL half back who can manage/body on body the likes of a Cloke/Roughead/Lynch/Tippet (Others like this.....who we are bound to face as the years progress) and who uses the ball wisely and has potential leadership qualities.

• More inside players (at least 2 or 3) who are solid through the body, fairly quick over the first 10 or so, but who also have QUICK ball use/reflexes, especially around the middle and stoppages around the ground. Many of our players around stoppages are just too slow/indecisive with their decision making/disposal (in particular handball) when compared to the top 6 teams, offering our opposition many opportunities to force the turnover and or force another stoppage where they eventually win out with players who are just better in these areas. Nicholson, Blease are 2 newbies who offer this potential, but aren't necessarily inside players although Blease might be once he's had a few more pre seasons. Haven't seen enough of him yet to see what he's offering up.

Having said that i would like to see the club delist or trade the following......

Morton: 3rd year player, looks like a 1st year. Time waits for no one. We need bigger bodied hard nosed players like Tappy. Premiership windows don't stay open for long. Skinny boys who's skills/bods fall apart under sustained pressure/heat/physical contests, rarely assist in winning a premiership and i haven't noticed any change in him handling the heat on match day yet when it's applied. Nor have i seen any change in his body/physique yet that would suggest that's going to change either in the near term. On Sunday he looked like a 3 or 4 game raw boned rookie, and played like one for all but about 20 minutes once many others around him had already stepped up a gear after half time. I would have to see Robbie Flower type potential in him to change my mind. And i haven't seen anything remotely close to those skills yet.

Davey: IMO he's damaged goods both physically and mentally now. He admitted to suffering from "Etiphobia" a few weeks ago. He demonstrated it in a big way IMO on Sunday. In fact he admitted to suffering from "Awayphobia" as well in the same interview. Which for him, is any game that isn't played at the G.

I believe the younger indigenous boys and even some of the other young rookies would probably look up to him or have until recently. Seeing him leave would probably effect them in the short term i'm sure. We might even see a few follow.

However, as far as our indigenous boys go, it's not like any of them have solidified their spot in the team with what they've dished up so far. So i'm more concerned with and looking to any new rookies who we bring in from here. I'd prefer they aren't scarred and end up catching the same phobias when they join.

As Todd has already stated, this club needs a new "away" mindset...and that means a pretty big broom to those who aren't able to get their minds over playing away games.

And i'm not saying Davey is alone here. He's just the only one who i've publicly heard state this so far. I'm sure there's others who will need to be asked openly and honestly if this is an issue going forward.

Newton: As above, not sure why we relisted him.

Spencer: Had a number of chances. Another tall skinny lad (ruckman).

Sylvia: Looks disinterested and has gone backwards this year. Has never been a consistently solid player after many pre seasons and opportunities to show it. Doesn't lead by example often enough given his seniority. Provided we get a value option for him then this could be a nice win win for him and us.

Warnock: Seen enough. Judgement through the air and footy smarts/skills IMO just aren't there. Maybe he needs half a dozen games in the seniors just to be sure though. Not that we can afford that luxury and we miss out on trading this year.

Wanna: Uncommitted one trick pony. Very good at reading the ball off the pack and goal sneak though when he's fit and on. Maybe worth a pre-season just to see if he's going to build a real AFL bod/tank and get truly serious and commit to us as a small crumbing forward. Something we miss dearly at the club and have for years IMO. Hopefully they'll sus this out of him prior to offering him another year.

Players i'm in 2 minds about......

Strauss

Maric

Evans

Bate: Maybe one last try in a key defender role....Is about the same height as Tarrant and can roost the ball which might be real handy in breaking the press! Would need to turn things around big time pre-season though. Might be lost in defence though. Have we tried him down there before? I know he played off half back flank a few years ago from memory. But i'm talking FB or CHB maybe, depending on the match ups on the day.

Jurrah: Needs to take a huge leap in work ethic (not just aerial speckys!) for me to believe he'll survive given the emphasis on all players needing to play their role in the forward press, along with the constant physical pressure coming the other way from his opponents now.

Jetta: Worth one more year maybe.

Gysberts: No tank and too skinny. Opponents just run him ragged, run off him and/or break his tackles like he isn't there atm. Needs 2 more pre-seasons at least.

Grimes: Only because of his injury misfortune.

Dunn: Needs to change into a more athletic player through the bod to survive i reckon, with a view to quickening him up over 20 - 30 meter sprints on the lead and to help when chasing. Leigh Brown had a significant change in his physique after joining the Pies and it's paid off after many years and a few clubs. Maybe Dunn is also capable of a similar 'sea change'.

I also wouldn't like to lose him yet as he's one of the few players who has an AFL bod (weight wise), can hold the occasional mark, stick a bone crunching tackle and kick a goal from 50 or slightly more.

He's also entertaining as he likes to niggle/sledge his opponent and does a few dumbass things from time to time such as the Chappy incident. I even saw him shape up to a West coast player on Sunday lol. Cracks me up sometimes. And yes i realise this is not a good reason to hang on to him. But in the end if we aren't winning, i like to at least be entertained a little...even if it means having a laugh at our expense. If i didn't, i would've gone crazy by now

I like your work Rusty. In my opinion your comments are generally on the money. Some hard bodied accummulators and clearance specialists are required and a super quick outside midfielder. The goal to goal line is not strong enough therefore I like your comments about a key back and key forward. The Club has had 10 years or more to develop a strong goal to goal line and has failed to do so. I believe that is a major reason we are inconsistent and non-competitive at times. Big strong bodies down the spine would help the smaller bodied flankers and midfielders.

I spoke to Dean Bailey just before Watts was recruited and he said midfielders win matches. The problem is the midfield types we selected are not as strong as those selected by clubs after us. I.e Strauss, Bennell, Jetta, v's Hannebury, Zaharakis, Shuey, Suban, Ballantine, Rockliff, Beams etc and many others.

Recruiting has been our downfall. The senior players that should be the backbone of the side are either gone (Johnstone, McLean, Bell, Molan, Buckley, Bruce) or struggling to hold their place in the team (Bate, Dunn, Sylvia, Warnock,Morton,Bartram). This is aside from the many duds we have selected along the way as top 20-30 picks (Nick Smith, Molan, Rogers, Armstrong, Paul Johnson, Maric?).

I know other clubs have poor selections and you can't get it right all the time, but they seem go get it right more often than we do. Over the years we have had to rely on late picks and rookie selections to form the backbone of the team. That should not be the case.

Dean Bailey would still be the coach if the recruiting in the Daniher years had been more competent.

[Demon Dynasty 17,129]

I know other clubs have poor selections and you can't get it right all the time, but they seem go get it right more often than we do. Over the years we have had to rely on late picks and rookie selections to form the backbone of the team. That should not be the case.

Dean Bailey would still be the coach if the recruiting in the Daniher years had been more competent.

Thanks mate. That's a good point. I still believe the biggest mistake we made during the later Danner years was trying for a repeat of 2000 (ie., a grand final ...but this time hopefully a premiership of course) by hanging on to basically the same team that took the field that day for as long as possible, give or take some marginal or forced changes along the way until Danners' retirement. I think he might've forgotten that we were 10 goals behind the best team on the day.

This might suggest that some players on the day, just weren't up to it, and hence probably wouldn't be if we were to make it once more...just a thought.

Dean probably saw the aging list as an issue as well, but then seems to have gone a little too boldly too soon with the broom to what was left when he arrived.

We're now paying the price of the apparent 'steady as she goes' list management policy over many years through the 2000's IMO and Bailey's early boldness. Hopefully we've learned our lesson and will ensure that we never get so out of wack again when it comes to the mix of experience vs rookies in future.

That's one reason why i'm reluctant to dump players like Bartram and Dunn for rookies, provided i see them fully committed to the cause, which they seem to be so far. Although they have serious flaws, they can still mix it a little on game day and stay in the contest when the heat is on. In addition they're only about 15 games away from breaking 100 games. Not easy to replace that sort of AFL bod/experience unless we secure some very sweet trades ie., not rookies.

I'd hate to see more rookies running around on average next year instead of the 11/12/13 or so we had on most occasions this year. With all the ups and downs that came with about 12 in the team, an extra 2 or 3 rookies might result in a pretty ugly 2012