It's much easier to see the holes in the list of a team that finishes bottom 4 than it is when we win both the minor and actual premiership.  This is unchartered territory for all of us.  So what should our draft/trade priorities be?

Here's my initial thoughts..

1. Draft a young, raw ruckman.  Without an early pick, we're not likely to draft another ready-to-go ruckman like LJ so I think we need to pick up one or two rucks with our later picks with a view to develop them over the next 2-3 years (or more).  As much as we all love him, we need to plan for a future without Gawn.
2.  
3.  
4. That's all I've got to be honest beyond drafting the best available player of the right "type".  I think our football and talent department have now developed a clear player type that is desirable and they will continue to target them to bolster depth accross the board.

 

If we get involved in any trades, I think we should stick to players 23 and under.  Without much draft currency (or available $$'s), I can't see how we can land players of the ilk of Cerra, so I think all we can do is to look out for any players that fit into point 4 above.

I'd love to hear some thoughts because my son and I found it very hard to identify what our needs are this time round.

 

Edited September 28, 20213 yr by S_T
Spelling

Midfielder with serious pace is still a need. We'd be stuffed if Langdon went down.

Project tall/ruck.

Edited September 28, 20213 yr by adonski

With Nev and Lockhart departing we need a small defender

14 minutes ago, BDA said:

With Nev and Lockhart departing we need a small defender

Do you think Bowey or Laurie could take up that position 

Taj Woewodin is a definite pick up. Mid/defender role. A  late developer which a lot of recruiters prefer.

38 minutes ago, BDA said:

With Nev and Lockhart departing we need a small defender

Deakyn Smith? 

49 minutes ago, adonski said:

Midfielder with serious pace is still a need. We'd be stuffed if Langdon went down.

Project tall/ruck.

Langdon doesn't have serious pace... he just has beyond elite fitness.   Another one of those would be nice

Just now, ucanchoose said:

Langdon doesn't have serious pace... he just has beyond elite fitness.   Another one of those would be nice

I think Langdon has both stamina and genuine pace @ucanchoose, have seen him burn off a lot of opposition players this year.

A lot of unknowns, but we shouldn’t forget Rosman or Laurie, and also the prospect of Bowey and Rivers playing further up the ground at some point.

I think a couple of project talls could be on the cards, both in the ruck and up forward in particular.

Keep bringing in the kids - the ones that are good enough will break through.  They allow us to pay our proven stars and will prolong our window if we find some gems.

I’m still keen on youngsters with pace to compliment our strong midfield bulls. 

Some names include Isaac Birt and Will Bravo. 
 

I think we have most roles covered right now. 
 

BUT WE CANT BE COMPLACENT!! 
 

 

 

 

 

Interesting that we have seemingly kept  Baker, Hore, Daw, Chandler, Bedford and Brown.

Melk is a question mark..

Out are Jetts, Vanders, Jones, Lockhart, Bradke and Nietschkze.

We'll need to fill four or five spots. Whether we'll do that by the draft or whether someone from another clubs wants to walk into a premiership team will be interesting. Do we need to upgrade anyone from the Rookie list?

Edited September 28, 20213 yr by dee-tox

Small forwards and wingers are the biggest need. 

With another year of heavily covid interupted football in Melbourne, there should be plenty of talented players out there who haven't developed as much as they otherwise would have. I'd mostly just be backing in Jason Taylor to make some speculative picks and see what sticks. High risk high reward sort of stuff. Aside from developing another young ruckman I think our list is very nicely balanced.

We should have 4 picks in the draft. 1 should be for a developing ruckman the rest speedy midfielders.

Premiership team

B: HIBBERD, MAY, LEVER

HB: SALEM, PETTY, BOWEY

C: LANGDON, PETRACCA, BRAYSHAW

HF: PICKETT, MCDONALD, NEAL-BULLEN

F: FRITSCH, B.BROWN, SPARGO

FOLL: GAWN, OLIVER, VINEY

IC: JACKSON, HARMES, RIVERS, SPARROW

SUB: JORDON

CASEY

B: HORE, TURNER, J.SMITH

HB: HUNT, TOMLINSON, D.SMITH

C: DECLASE, DRAFT PICK, BAKER

HF: MELKSHAM, M.BROWN, LAURIE

F: CHANDLER, WEIDEMAN, BEDFORD

FOLL: DAW, DRAFT PICK, DRAFT PICK

IC: ROSMAN, DRAFT PICK

3 hours ago, Dee-licious said:

Deakyn Smith? 

Yep I liked the look of Smith from a few Casey games I saw. 

7 hours ago, BDA said:

With Nev and Lockhart departing we need a small defender

Joel.Smith will be the lock down defender.

8 hours ago, Petracca said:

Do you think Bowey or Laurie could take up that position 

Bowey already has his foot firmly in the door in regards to his position. 

I assume like last year we won't fill out our roster via trade and draft.

Likely we will leave ourselves list space for free agent signings (like D. Smith and Majak) and mid season draft selections. 

Who are our 28 + players?

Do we need a few projects to fill their shoes?

My top priority is to find a top class high performance manager, Burgess was our best recruit in recent years. We had a healthy and fit list. 

 

My view on this off-season is there is no position we are in need of, however depth is going to be very important over the next 2-3 years.

I am not really sold on trading for Cerra, as I think our midfield group of Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Brayshaw, Langdon, Sparrow & Jordon is as good as any going around. It will also potentially make it harder to keep Jackson, Pickett and Rivers if our cap is taken up and they are just as important to our side as bringing in Cerra would be.

I think we need to go and find a few 28-30 year olds who are willing to take a pay cut to come chase a flag. Will allow us to manage our salary cap, while also building strong depth in the event of an injury to key players.

The draft we should be taking best available at all picks and I'd like to see us find a solid back up ruck option.

The risk you run if you recruit 28 to 30 year olds is unbalancing your list. Plus you run the risk of starving your kids like Geelong have with their talent. 

If a 28 year old is any good you won't get them cheaply.

We made courageous decisions to play Jordon before Jones. Bowey before Nev, Sparrow before Vanders, etc. Eight players under 21.

Keep doing that and keep getting Mad Mark to develop them and we could we'll be set up for a prolonged period of success.

Edited September 29, 20213 yr by dee-tox