Dear Garry,

We have now not won a flag for 47 years and we showed no real improvement in this year. Regardless of who we select as our new coach, in my opinion we need to think outside the box and make some hard decisions going forward. Here is my 10 point plan for the future:

1. Pay 100% of the salary cap – If our current players do not deserve any extra money at the moment we should use front-loaded contracts. Preferably this should be done with an option (which the club may exercise) so as to extend the players’ contracts on below market money in the later years of the contract. Effectively the players would be paid early, so they will not be disadvantaged by this type of arrangement. This contract should only be put in place for players that have a high chance of being in the system for an extended period of time (i.e. Watts, Trengove, Frawley, Garland, Sylvia). For example, we could strike a deal with Watts to play for $500K per season for the next two years with a club exercisable option to extend his contract for a further two years for $250K per season.

2. Increase our recruiting department even if it comes at the expense of reducing expenditure on player development – IMO the difference in the ability of clubs to develop players is minimal these days and the real gains to be made are in getting recruiting decisions correct. Does anyone really believe Bartram would be a better kick if he was drafted by Collingwood? Would Judd, Franklin or Martin be lesser players if they started their careers at Melbourne? If so, why has Frawley been able to develop so well at Melbourne? Genetics are the key determinate of a player’s ultimate ability, not the club that they are drafted to. This means we should focus on getting our recruiting decisions right and the rest will follow. While it would be nice to go to Arizona over preseason and have altitude training facilities etc, unfortunately we don’t have the money. IMO the balance in AFL footy has erred too far on the side of focusing on player development rather than on recruiting.

3. Only offer Scully what he is worth – I doubt Scully will stay, but I also doubt he will be the player he has been touted to be given his size, average disposal and not exceptional (but good) pace. His injury also makes the chances of him being a future top 10 AFL player less likely. Overpaying him would be a mistake given the compensation we are likely to receive is reasonable.

4. Pick our best side – We have not picked our best side every week since Daniher was our coach. IMO this is the most crucial ingredient to building a strong culture. We need to remember that players can also develop in the VFL and the weights room.

5. Trade Jamar – I doubt Jamar will be at his best when we are in contention to win a flag and he looks to me like he is probably on the decline. Only one dinosaur is needed in modern footy and you cannot have two, so I would therefore focus on developing the team with Gawn as our ruckman. Jamar is probably still worth a first round pick (or one of GWS’s 17 year old picks).

6. Trade/Delist Morton, Bate, Fitzpatrick, Jetta, Maric – IMO we need to make a judgement on players much earlier in their careers than we have been doing and then quickly move them on if we believe they are not going to make it. A player’s trade value drops dramatically after a third mediocre year. Bailey believed that he could turn develop players like Bate and Dunn into quality AFL players, but in my view this was always unrealistic and instead we should have traded them when they had value. Going forward, we should learn from this and be more ruthless on players after two years in the system, looking to trade them if we are not convinced that they will make it. Sometimes this approach will come back to bite us (and a late bloomer will develop at another club), but in the long run I think we will be better off with this approach.

7. Train Frawley as a midfielder over preseason – Centre clearances are more crucial with the modern press and large, strong, quick midfielders are the future. We should put our best clearance players in every centre bounce and Frawley could be a star in this area, as he strong in the contest and has the ability to burst away from the stoppages. I have considered the impact this will have on our backline and I still believe it is worth trialling. Next season we need to defend from the forward half and the only way to do that is to win the contested ball.

8. Look to acquire older players at bottom clubs and ‘bad eggs’ – Players such as Fevola, Lovett, Power, Cornes and Tuck will play on low money contracts and could potentially provide great value. While none of them will have long careers, they can always be replaced by the next batch of older players coming through. AFL clubs at the very bottom are incentivised to clear out their lists and go for youth, but we are now in a position where we need to look to improve.

9. Ascertain the worth of GWS’s 17 year old picks – Hawthorn supporters were in uproar over the Croad/Hodge deal but the decision was clearly the right one in hindsight, even though it did not look like right at the time. Essendon’s deal to get Lloyd was also a masterstroke in retrospect. While a difficult process, we need to clearly determine the value of these picks, remembering that Jaeger O'Meara could either be the next Judd or the next Banik.

10. Keep Green and Davey – There is no point losing players of their ilk for little return. The fabric of our footy club has been dented by the departure that many of our older players in recent years. Moreover, their current trade value makes them more valuable for us to keep given they are/will be on the veterans list.

Go Demons,

Fat Tony

Dear Garry,

Go Demons,

Fat Tony

rpfc endorses points 8, 9, and 10.

Already being done: 1 and 3.

We shouldn't do this: 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Dear Garry,

We have now not won a flag for 47 years and we showed no real improvement in this year. Regardless of who we select as our new coach, in my opinion we need to think outside the box and make some hard decisions going forward. Here is my 10 point plan for the future:

...........

You put alot into this eh FT.

Points 2, 4 5 6 & 8 are interesting and i'm open to some of what you're saying.

Chip might be worth a roll of the dice through the middle but maybe just in the pre season warm ups to see if it's a 'possible' as an experiment. You never know but i doubt it. Stranger things have happened.

And the Jamar point. I'm in two minds here. If we were to trade him i'd want something pretty special in return. I think ruckman are probably the last part of the jigsaw puzzle in terms of being the key to a premiership. But the big capable bullocking ones, who can play a little, don't grow on trees.

We definitely need to get some mongrel into this side in the short and long term so i'm open to getting some bad boys or unloved ones that no one else wants provided they've proven they can play and we're getting them at a bargain like the Pies did with Krakour.

Within reason though and contracts that allow us to quickly send em out the way they came in if it goes pear shaped lol

In particular i also think we need to get our best team on the park while the season's still alive and make the youngsters work/develop/build in the Magoos until they're ready and have earned their rightful place. Something the Cats have been able to afford to do very nicely. The only problem being we don't have a direct VFL affiliate to control how they develop and where they're played etc like they do.

Cheers mate

In particular i also think we need to get our best team on the park while the season's still alive and make the youngsters work/develop/build in the Magoos until they're ready and have earned their rightful place. Something the Cats have been able to afford to do very nicely. The only problem being we don't have a direct VFL affiliate to control how they develop and where they're played etc like they do.

I agree it would be an advantage if we had our own VFL side.

On the Jamar trade, not being a forced seller, we should only do it for fair value in return.