Are we witnessing a re-build by stealth

[spirit of norm smith 16,679]

We lost Hibbo.
We lost depth players in Baker, Harmes, Dunstan.

Jackson returned home to WA

Jordon left on free agency

We quickly and strangely traded Grundy out.  
We lost Brayshaw.  

Js29 is suspended pending investigations 

Thats a lot of premiership team and depth lost in just over 2 years  

Plus mature recruits of Schache, Hunter, Fullerton, Billings, McAdam are not of the prior quality brought in (Lever, May, Melksham, Hibbo, Langdon, Brown) 

Rebuild on the run?

Yes.

McVee and JVR have cemented themselves.
2023 draftee Windsor.  Throlstrup. Pup Brown. All have debuted.  
AMW gets his chance

Will develop Adams, Jefferson and Kentfield as key position types.

Lots of opportunities for the youngsters. 
 

AND HOPEFULLY JT HEARS THE CALL TO ADD 2-3 HIGH QUALITY MIDS IN THIS YEARS DRAFT 

Edited June 27, 2024 by spirit of norm smith
Q

[Demon Disciple 12,536]

55 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

AND HOPEFULLY JT HEARS THE CALL TO ADD 2-3 HIGH QUALITY MIDS IN THIS YEARS DRAFT 

Well mids definitely seem to be his forte…….that and hb flankers

[John Demonic 5,988]

3 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

We lost Hibbo.
We lost depth players in Baker, Harmes, Dunstan.

Jackson returned home to WA

Jordon left on free agency

We quickly and strangely traded Grundy out.  
We lost Brayshaw.  

Js29 is suspended pending investigations 

Thats a lot of premiership team and depth lost in just over 2 years  

Plus mature recruits of Schache, Hunter, Fullerton, Billings, McAdam are not of the prior quality brought in (Lever, May, Melksham, Hibbo, Langdon, Brown) 

Rebuild on the run?

Yes.

McVee and JVR have cemented themselves.
2023 draftee Windsor.  Throlstrup. Pup Brown. All have debuted.  
AMW gets his chance

Will develop Adams, Jefferson and Kentfield as key position types.

Lots of opportunities for the youngsters. 
 

AND HOPEFULLY JT HEARS THE CALL TO ADD 2-3 HIGH QUALITY MIDS IN THIS YEARS DRAFT 

The entire football world thinks our window is closed, and they're been willing us to fail all season. Maybe we can leverage all that doom and negativity about our future, into trading out that future 1st for a top 10 pick this year and going to the draft with two first rounders. 

No matter what happens this year, we can bounce back next year and that will be aided with the addition of two really good youngsters.

 

Edited June 27, 2024 by John Demonic

[PaulRB 6,435]

[sue 9,277]

7 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Js29 is suspended pending investigations

Does anyone know what is happening with this?  It seems nothing at all.  Who/what is responsible for the delay?    Justice delayed is justice denied etc.  What's the story/excuse?

(I know it is off topic, but why is there no thread about this? I can't see why it can't be discussed without causing the mods any grief.)

Edited June 28, 2024 by sue

[Colm 2,204]

1 minute ago, sue said:

Does anyone know what is happening with this?  It seems nothing at all.  Who/what is responsible for the delay?    Justice delayed is justice denied etc.  What's the story/excuse?

(I know it is off topic, but why is there no thread about this? I can't see why it can't be discussed without causing the mods any grief.)

I believe I read in another thread that the player, club and AFL are all waiting on Sport Integrity Australia completing their investigation. 

[sue 9,277]

28 minutes ago, Colm said:

I believe I read in another thread that the player, club and AFL are all waiting on Sport Integrity Australia completing their investigation. 

thanks.  But was any reason given why it should take so long?  It is beyond belief that it should take more than a few weeks.  If he is innocent, then it's totally unfair to effectively ban him till he is too old or out of it to play again. If guilty, then unfair to the club.  And similar for anywhere inbetween.  Or am I missing something?

[mo64 5,910]

As dire as things look now, I don't think a complete rebuild is in order, or even possible.

Look at Collingwood 2 1/2 years ago. Their salary cap position was so bad that they had a fire sale of top end talent. They had aging stars in Pendelbury and Sidebottom. They had a cleanout througout the club, but most importantly, they got rid of their list manager.

If we don't make off-field changes (list manager, assistant coaches for a start), we may need a full rebuild in 3 years time.

 

[Fritta and Turner 4,696]

It will come to nothing if we don't fix the spine.  I know jeffo and Adams are kicking around at Cassey but...

[george_on_the_outer 7,875]

13 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

We lost Hibbo.
We lost depth players in Baker, Harmes, Dunstan.

Jackson returned home to WA

Jordon left on free agency

We quickly and strangely traded Grundy out.  
We lost Brayshaw.  

Js29 is suspended pending investigations 

Thats a lot of premiership team and depth lost in just over 2 years  

Plus mature recruits of Schache, Hunter, Fullerton, Billings, McAdam are not of the prior quality brought in (Lever, May, Melksham, Hibbo, Langdon, Brown) 

Rebuild on the run?

Yes.

McVee and JVR have cemented themselves.
2023 draftee Windsor.  Throlstrup. Pup Brown. All have debuted.  
AMW gets his chance

Will develop Adams, Jefferson and Kentfield as key position types.

Lots of opportunities for the youngsters. 
 

AND HOPEFULLY JT HEARS THE CALL TO ADD 2-3 HIGH QUALITY MIDS IN THIS YEARS DRAFT 

...and as well who are the young up and coming who are going to replace Gawn, May, Viney in the coming 2 years? 

There are none, and we don't have the draft picks to get them this year.

[Pennant St Dee 13,452]

6 hours ago, sue said:

thanks.  But was any reason given why it should take so long?  It is beyond belief that it should take more than a few weeks.  If he is innocent, then it's totally unfair to effectively ban him till he is too old or out of it to play again. If guilty, then unfair to the club.  And similar for anywhere inbetween.  Or am I missing something?

It’s going to end up taking the same amount of time as Junior Riolis did, nearly two seasons.

JS29s choice, poor life decision he bears the consequences and a line should be put through him

[drysdale demon 4,837]

6 hours ago, sue said:

thanks.  But was any reason given why it should take so long?  It is beyond belief that it should take more than a few weeks.  If he is innocent, then it's totally unfair to effectively ban him till he is too old or out of it to play again. If guilty, then unfair to the club.  And similar for anywhere inbetween.  Or am I missing something?

Pretty sure it is more than than sports integrity  investigating him and those investigations can take some time.

[darkhorse72 1,943]

I would call it more a refresh of the list, which should always be ongoing. 

Noted: the lack of senior player depth to come it forces the hand. 

[DiscoStu17 871]

7 hours ago, sue said:

thanks.  But was any reason given why it should take so long?  It is beyond belief that it should take more than a few weeks.  If he is innocent, then it's totally unfair to effectively ban him till he is too old or out of it to play again. If guilty, then unfair to the club.  And similar for anywhere inbetween.  Or am I missing something?

Weren’t they still trying to get him out of the Ecuadorian embassy? Or was that the other bloke?

Seriously, though. What ever happened to timely justice?

[DiscoStu17 871]

On 27/06/2024 at 16:02, Salems Lot said:I have not included #16 because he does not seem to be cutting the mustard.

 …I have not included #16 because he does not seem to be cutting the mustard…

Bill seems to be getting a lot of hate, but it’s pretty hard to do much when you get 10 minutes on field after being the sub in countless games. 
It’s all well and good for players to be running laps after the game, but it does little for their touch and skills. Same with Woey.
P.S. Is Pup dropped or is he reprieved as sub again?

[JTR 2,910]

On 27/06/2024 at 16:43, DistrACTION Jackson said:

It's not really stealth, we all know about it!

 

You'd think, but the general theme here and on the various 'supporter' pages elsewhere clearly indicates that many have no clue at all. 

The level of anger and vitriol directed at our players and coaching staff for not producing 2021 (or even 2022/2023) type performances is beyond ridiculous, particularly given we now have no Brayshaw, Jackson, Grundy, Hibberd, Smith, Jordan, Harmes or Bedford, we have key injuries to Petracca & Lever and others such as Oliver, Petty & B.Brown are either seriously down on form or about to hang the boots up. 

So almost our entire premiership midfield, our second ruck/forward, our best defender and basically all the depth players we had to help cover situations such as right now have been replaced by kids, most of whom are in their first or second full seasons.

Blind Freddy could see why we are struggling this season and will probably continue to do so until we get some more games and experience into our kids.

But nope... let's blame Goodwin, or Stafford or suggest the club has serious cultural problems and say that anyone (like me) who thinks otherwise has no idea and is just "accepting mediocrity"

/rant

[jnrmac 20,375]

Their faux tough guy niggle really gives me the shots. I want to wipe these guys off the park

[Bowserpower 169]

Nah. Everyone bloods youngsters from time to time. Doesn't mean it's a rebuild, get out.

[ElDiablo14 5,055]

On 27/06/2024 at 19:12, rpfc said:

What stealth? 
 

I think we will be ‘on the radar’ for the rebuild tomorrow night around 10.45…

What's the verdict? Rebuild mode?

[ElDiablo14 5,055]

On 27/06/2024 at 20:33, Binmans PA said:

Ideally we wouldn't have so much youth in the 23 at once, but with Gus, Trac and other injuries, I think it's been inevitable.

We don't need 23 stars, we need 5 or 6 stars (Trac, Clarry, May, Lever and Gawn) surrounded by good role players.

Trac will be fine in 2025, Clarry will hopefully get a full pre season, Lever will enter 2025 29 years of age (enough time still on his side), it's really just May and Gawn we'll have to replace in the next 2-3 years. And it's possible Max lasts even longer.

And JVR is trending in a star direction and Kozzy probably already is.

If we can land a star FA like (for example) LDU to add to the midfield or even a Callaghan; and then when Max and May go, address the Max issue by trading in a competent mature aged ruckman (does not have to be a star) and hitting the FA market for a May replacement in 2027-2028, we're not a world away.

Would be nice to add the likes of Bowey and McVee's ball use higher up the field, we also need Jefferson to take hold of the second key position spot next to JVR.

Whilst it's been a disappointing season, we could bounce back quickly next year.

Khalani White to take Max's place🤞🏻

[ElDiablo14 5,055]

4 hours ago, JTR said:

You'd think, but the general theme here and on the various 'supporter' pages elsewhere clearly indicates that many have no clue at all. 

The level of anger and vitriol directed at our players and coaching staff for not producing 2021 (or even 2022/2023) type performances is beyond ridiculous, particularly given we now have no Brayshaw, Jackson, Grundy, Hibberd, Smith, Jordan, Harmes or Bedford, we have key injuries to Petracca & Lever and others such as Oliver, Petty & B.Brown are either seriously down on form or about to hang the boots up. 

So almost our entire premiership midfield, our second ruck/forward, our best defender and basically all the depth players we had to help cover situations such as right now have been replaced by kids, most of whom are in their first or second full seasons.

Blind Freddy could see why we are struggling this season and will probably continue to do so until we get some more games and experience into our kids.

But nope... let's blame Goodwin, or Stafford or suggest the club has serious cultural problems and say that anyone (like me) who thinks otherwise has no idea and is just "accepting mediocrity"

/rant

We do need a refresh in the coaching staff though. Mark Williams kicking school hasn't produced the desired results. We have a ruckman as fwd line coach.

[58er 6,872]

2 hours ago, ElDiablo14 said:

What's the verdict? Rebuild mode?

Thought it was a good entree to our possible team ( minus possibly Salo and no doubt Trac ) also Jefferson is now starting to look much more like the footballer we saw in the highlights and wisely recruited him on that potential. He will fit in our forward line and give it some A grade looks at times His marking kicking and ground ability plus new found developing hardness for the contest bode well for our most maligned part of the ground. 

Most of the Casey boys given a go have shown they are not too far short of AFL standard. Pup needs a few full games and AMW , Howes are looking reliable calm and rounded to assist us fill in the gaps and improve some facets of our game. Kolt is a good style and will develop in leaps and bounds at half forward and with plenty of cameos and mid field grunt and spirit  be a force to be reckoned with by mid 2025 I believe. Apprenticeship time for the rest of the season will be the key 

Not sure why Chin has kept his place all this time so Kynan would benefit from a real debut as a hfflanker come on the ball cameos to test him out. 

Whst do we do with Tommy Sparrow ? Is he going to fulfill his potential or fade nicely as a 15 possession player. Maybe make him a tagger and be taken to the ball as he has some strength and hardness plus kicking skill we can still use. 

If we  could guarantee this performance for the next 8/9 games I have no doubt we could again make Finals. But not win a Flag though. And might even win a Final or two,   

[rpfc 29,027]

8 hours ago, ElDiablo14 said:

What's the verdict? Rebuild mode?

It was a very good performance. To play that well, albeit only potent in a 25 min period, with AMW, Brown, Turner, et al in the 23 is really admirable. 

I hope it may continue but not expecting it to. Too much burden on too few.

[3183 Dee 2,917]

Very encouraging signs last night from AMW, Kolt, Taj and Disco. What I liked the most is that they all seem to be ‘up and about’ types: love the contest, like a bit of chat, seem to really enjoy playing football together.

[Queanbeyan Demon 7,023]

On 27/06/2024 at 17:15, DubDee said:

yeah with Jordon and Harmes we’d be flag favs i reckon 😂

both free agents who left btw. we didn’t look to trade them

Just checking . . . is that the same James Harmes that runs around with Foostcray in the VFL? Yeah - he'll be the difference Melbourne being pegged to the lower half of the ladder and being premiership favorites.