How has Ablett going to the Gold Coast made them 'much further away'?

It's covered up their deficiencies. He can carry a team, by simply dominating games.

I think it is pretty bloody clear just how much they came to depend on GAJ - top 6 bound last year until he went down: downhill from there until now.

No depth - even less that ours. Overdependent on one individual - a bit like CarlTank.

The NEAFL isn't anything special. Tom Mitchell and Ryan O'Keefe were both getting huge numbers when they were playing there.

I think someone else beat me to the punch - A vdB has been a revelation until injured.

Exactly. Not only that, but because they depend too heavily on Gazza to win them games, it's stifled the development of their other mids (as has Judd did at Carlton). When Gazza's playing, he does all the heavy lifting, and they have less responsibility. So that when Gazza's (or Judd's) not there, they can't win without him because their developing mids struggle to step up.

I'm arguing against the superstar trade.

On the other side of the coin, we've done well in recruiting the #4 or #5 mid from sides that are chock-full of mids, and who have been able to step up when given the extra responsibility to be #2 mid with us - Tyson & Vince. And, for that matter, JPK. It's why I'd prefer Coniglio, for example, to Dangerfield.

Yep, spot on. I'd prefer Prestia and/or Coniglio. They are the types we should be after.

I'd only trade up the draft order if the target we were after was an 18 yr old gun mid, not for a KP type. We still need more mids, particularly mids of high quality. That's been the priority for years (or should have been). Personally I'd be happy if the club traded it's first and second round picks if it meant we got a gun mid aged around 23, eg. Prestia, Treloar. Go get 'em Taylor!

I'd only trade up the draft order if the target we were after was an 18 yr old gun mid, not for a KP type. We still need more mids, particularly mids of high quality. That's been the priority for years (or should have been). Personally I'd be happy if the club traded it's first and second round picks if it meant we got a gun mid aged around 23, eg. Prestia, Treloar. Go get 'em Taylor!

I think our midfield is looking much healthier now. Viney, N Jones, Vince, Tyson, Vandenberg and Brayshaw all look to be at least good AFL players, along with hopefully Petracca, Neal-Bullen, Salem, Toumpas, Watts and Stretch. Add in Cross, who is defying father time. And maybe even Trengove. I am not saying another quality midfielder is not wanted, but it is a vast improvement already and I think we should take best available.

I think our midfield is looking much healthier now. Viney, N Jones, Vince, Tyson, Vandenberg and Brayshaw all look to be at least good AFL players, along with hopefully Petracca, Neal-Bullen, Salem, Toumpas, Watts and Stretch. Add in Cross, who is defying father time. And maybe even Trengove. I am not saying another quality midfielder is not wanted, but it is a vast improvement already and I think we should take best available.

Agree with much of what you say Tony. We are much improved in the midfield. But can you honestly say we have 10-12 mids of AFL standard like the better teams do? Not Bail or MJones. Vince has 2 and Cross 0 years left imo. Trenners is not likely unfortunately. Petracca, ANB and Stretch we are still yet to secure a 22 spot, maybe Vanders too. Many on here want Toump and Watts traded. That leaves NJones, Tyson, Brayshaw, Viney and perhaps Salem as certain good AFL mids.

Thin, is the word I'd use to describe our midfield.

Edited July 1, 201510 yr by Moonshadow

Agree with much of what you say Tony. We are much improved in the midfield. But can you honestly say we have 10-12 mids of AFL standard like the better teams do? Not Bail or MJones. Vince has 2 and Cross 0 years left imo. Trenners is not likely unfortunately. Petracca, ANB and Stretch we are still yet to secure a 22 spot, maybe Vanders too. Many on here want Toump and Watts traded. That leaves NJones, Tyson, Brayshaw, Viney and perhaps Salem as certain good AFL mids.

Thin, is the word I'd use to describe our midfield.

We've also got the fringe trade-ins:

Riley - Won't make it

Michie - Unlikely to make it

Newton - Hopefully makes it.

We are very thin for mids.

We've also got the fringe trade-ins:

Riley - Won't make it

Michie - Unlikely to make it

Newton - Hopefully makes it.

We are very thin for mids.

Neeld copped a lot for bringing in Rodan, Byrnes and Pedersen but some of Roos' fringe selections haven't been great either.

Agree with much of what you say Tony. We are much improved in the midfield. But can you honestly say we have 10-12 mids of AFL standard like the better teams do? Not Bail or MJones. Vince has 2 and Cross 0 years left imo. Trenners is not likely unfortunately. Petracca, ANB and Stretch we are still yet to secure a 22 spot, maybe Vanders too. Many on here want Toump and Watts traded. That leaves NJones, Tyson, Brayshaw, Viney and perhaps Salem as certain good AFL mids.

Thin, is the word I'd use to describe our midfield.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

If we take Vince, Cross, Vandenburg, Toumpas, Watts, Petracca, Trengove, ANB, & Stretch out of our midfield, we ARE "thin".

You missed out JKH & Garlett. That's even before we get down into the role-players and the fringe.

Not disagreeing that we need more mids, by the way. But what we need is more quality (1, maybe 2) at the top end, not more depth (3 or 4) at the bottom end.

We've also got the fringe trade-ins:

Riley - Won't make it

Michie - Unlikely to make it

Newton - Hopefully makes it.

We are very thin for mids.

Neeld copped a lot for bringing in Rodan, Byrnes and Pedersen but some of Roos' fringe selections haven't been great either.

Newton alone has done just about as much as all 3 of those blokes Neeld recruited in a handful of games this year & he has only been going ok! These guys are a lot younger than Neeld's recruits & have a lot more upside to boot. Even if they don't make it they were better punts than what Neeld went for (which in fairness was mostly age based for experience but these guys had nothing left in the tank, unlike Cross who you also conveniently forgot about).

Neeld copped a lot for bringing in Rodan, Byrnes and Pedersen but some of Roos' fringe selections haven't been great either.

Plus the dud Neeld recruited from Geelong.....

Agree with much of what you say Tony. We are much improved in the midfield. But can you honestly say we have 10-12 mids of AFL standard like the better teams do? Not Bail or MJones. Vince has 2 and Cross 0 years left imo. Trenners is not likely unfortunately. Petracca, ANB and Stretch we are still yet to secure a 22 spot, maybe Vanders too. Many on here want Toump and Watts traded. That leaves NJones, Tyson, Brayshaw, Viney and perhaps Salem as certain good AFL mids.

Thin, is the word I'd use to describe our midfield.

I am not sure you need 10-12 genuine midfielders. The Hawthorn premiership side had Mitchell, Lewis, Hodge, Langford, Shiels and Burgoyne as genuine inside midfielders (6) and Hill and Smith on the outside (2). It also had speedy small forwards like Rioli, Puopolo and Breust as well as Gunston and Roughead who all took turns in the midfield, but I wouldn’t call any of them true midfielders (and none of them were recruited as such).

I am much more bullish on Vandenberg than you and feel Watts is starting to show really good signs. Also, it would be a complete disaster if Petracca does not come on. And Cross is averaging 91 SC points (5th for Melbourne) which is similar to last year, so I would be disappointed if he didn't play next year.

I think our midfield is looking much healthier now. Viney, N Jones, Vince, Tyson, Vandenberg and Brayshaw all look to be at least good AFL players, along with hopefully Petracca, Neal-Bullen, Salem, Toumpas, Watts and Stretch. Add in Cross, who is defying father time. And maybe even Trengove. I am not saying another quality midfielder is not wanted, but it is a vast improvement already and I think we should take best available.

Still soooo shallow. We need 10 or so A-B graders who can rotate through there. We don't.

Edited July 1, 201510 yr by AdamFarr

Yeah, I guess you're right.

If we take Vince, Cross, Vandenburg, Toumpas, Watts, Petracca, Trengove, ANB, & Stretch out of our midfield, we ARE "thin".

You missed out JKH & Garlett. That's even before we get down into the role-players and the fringe.

Not disagreeing that we need more mids, by the way. But what we need is more quality (1, maybe 2) at the top end, not more depth (3 or 4) at the bottom end.

Yep. We need more top end quality. We need more potential/legitimate A graders.

Purple brought up 4 names from GC who are looking to move on at season's end - Charlie Dixon, Daniel Gorringe, Sam Day and the surprising one was Jaeger O'Meara. O'Meara is contracted for next year but there are rumblings that he is looking at his options. Apart from Gorringe I'd been keen to have a look at all three of those for obvious reasons. Day and Dixon as a second foil to Hogan and O'Meara to be an excellent addition to the midfield.

There is obviously plenty of water to go under the bridge with GC this year and what happens with their list come season's end, but there is certainly a chance that we can poach someone that will really improve the list.

Read somewhere that O'Meara's girlfriend lives in Melbourne.

Jaeger presents as a very professional, focused footballer. May well want away from the laughing stock of a culture that currently exists at the Suns.

Purple brought up 4 names from GC who are looking to move on at season's end - Charlie Dixon, Daniel Gorringe, Sam Day and the surprising one was Jaeger O'Meara. O'Meara is contracted for next year but there are rumblings that he is looking at his options. Apart from Gorringe I'd been keen to have a look at all three of those for obvious reasons. Day and Dixon as a second foil to Hogan and O'Meara to be an excellent addition to the midfield.

Interestingly enough, I'm well informed he's having an extended period of time in Melbourne at the moment.

Recovery related I wonder? Or...

Purple brought up 4 names from GC who are looking to move on at season's end - Charlie Dixon, Daniel Gorringe, Sam Day and the surprising one was Jaeger O'Meara. O'Meara is contracted for next year but there are rumblings that he is looking at his options. Apart from Gorringe I'd been keen to have a look at all three of those for obvious reasons. Day and Dixon as a second foil to Hogan and O'Meara to be an excellent addition to the midfield.

There is obviously plenty of water to go under the bridge with GC this year and what happens with their list come season's end, but there is certainly a chance that we can poach someone that will really improve the list.

I wouldn't be surprised if Dion Prestia is on that list at the end of the year.

Interestingly enough, I'm well informed he's having an extended period of time in Melbourne at the moment.

Recovery related I wonder? Or...

The word from Purple is that he is looking at property in Melbourne. If players leave en masse GC are in deep poop.

I wouldn't be surprised if Dion Prestia is on that list at the end of the year.

We would hope that he is at any rate, but we still need to win a few more games to convince someone like him we are worth playing for.

The word from Purple is that he is looking at property in Melbourne. If players leave en masse GC are in deep poop.

We would hope that he is at any rate, but we still need to win a few more games to convince someone like him we are worth playing for.

Personally mate i don't think he will need much convincing to be honest.

The word from Purple is that he is looking at property in Melbourne. If players leave en masse GC are in deep poop.

We would hope that he is at any rate, but we still need to win a few more games to convince someone like him we are worth playing for.

Send him a tape of the Dees vs. Cats match and then remind him that Salem, Hogan, Petracca, Trengrove, Vanders, Kent & JKH still have to come into the team!

Edited July 1, 201510 yr by CBDees

FWIW, isn't Jaeger part of the "God squad" with Ablett?

He doesn't strike me as a disloyal type, but if he's looking at property in Melbourne with a girlfriend living down here, plus the turmoil up there... who knows.

How much do people think Jaeger and Prestia are individually worth and whereabouts would they place within our current list in terms of performance?

Send him a tape of the Dees vs. Cats match and then remind him that Hogan, Petracca, Trengrove, Vanders, Kent & JKH still have to come into the team!

And Salem!

FWIW, isn't Jaeger part of the "God squad" with Ablett?

No, IIRC It was Hall, Dixon and one other but can't remember which one

Purple brought up 4 names from GC who are looking to move on at season's end - Charlie Dixon, Daniel Gorringe, Sam Day and the surprising one was Jaeger O'Meara.

Ill take all 4 thanks