Time to go Tim Lamb? Should we pursue Graham Wright?

[Demons1858 1,713]

l find alot of the the opinions in this thread to be unbalanced ... schache, billings, fullarton, hunter are cheap depth players for round 3 or 4 picks .. those picks don't typically make it and certainly aren't of any use for 3 or 4 years anyway if you go to the draft but we are in theory contending ... some say we didnt bring in a clear starting 22 player but to do that we need to swap some key picks and go without the likes of Kolt and Windsor which having seen them l am glad we picked them up ... mcadam is the one blemish but has time and we were desperate for a forward in trading periods where there aren't many available ... our issue is we lost depth in angus and smith, petty was average, and our 2 generational mids were both injured and not prepared ... no team copes without their 2 best mids

[Its Time for Another 4,077]

14 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

I suppose I'm "absolutely clueless" then.

Is it "clueless" to query Lamb's involvement, and therefore his overall performance, in the following:

1. The decisions to bring in McAdam, Fullarton, Billings and Schache? (I'd add Hunter too but, to be fair, his 2023 was good)
2. The balance of our midfield (i.e. did we go into 2024 with enough depth in terms of who can play midfield outside of Trac, Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw and Sparrow - when Gus went down, did we have enough cover?)
3. Players who appear to only have one role (e.g. what can Sparrow offer other than being a mid, and is that lack of flexibility appropriate given our planned reliance on Trac, Oliver and Viney as mainly mids going into 2024)?
4. The lack of instinctive key forwards on the list (leaving us to fashion key forwards out of key defenders in Petty and Turner)
5. The lack of any ruck depth
6. The decision to take a key forward in the mid-season draft when we had pressing issues in the midfield given what had happened to Gus and what was happening to Oliver
7. The decisions to re-contract players like Schache and Laurie before they had established themselves on-field - particularly given, as it turned out, Schache played one game all year (yes, this is hindsight, but wasn't exactly hard to foresee)

Nothing's black/white. People get measures on a whole host of metrics. Is it not possible that Lamb's done well in some regards (e.g. getting our core talent contracted through for years) but poorly in others?

Or are we all [censored] and only you guys get it?

Yep. Absolutely clueless.

Again just to clarify, Lamb is the List Manager, not the recruiter. Do you think he sits around all day at football grounds watching players. No, that's the recruiters job.  He identifies with the FD and the recruiters what holes there are in the "list"and then it's the recruiters job to go and find them.  It's not his fault if we don't have the salary cap space they are demanding, it's not his fault if they want to live on the Surf Coast, it's not his fault if their Club is demanding too much for a trade. 

Of course it's undeniable that our trading since Langdon has been a bust. Except Hunter who was ok last year and injured this year. Every player we have recruited in that time has filled in exactly the holes that have been identified. Obviously there haven't been key forwards out there. 

You have to turn over at least 6 list places a season. So what do you do experts suggest? Not recruit anyone because there's no one good enough or get someone in who can fill the role and get the FD's advice on whether they think they can work wth them to get the job done.

It's so easy  to run around on keyboards demanding people get sacked when they are probably excellent at what they do and some things aren't their fault. Graham Wright might have done a lot worse job. Who knows. 

As for your individual examples. McAdam was exactly what we needed and has shown he is extremely talented and plays small and tall. He was injured the entire pre season and over half of the season. It's way too early to make a judgment on recruiting him. Fullarton evidently has been a massive fail. But again he plays exactly the role we needed which was Lamb's job. It was the recruiters who found him and the FD who thought they could work with him. Billings had 3 brilliant seasons at the Saints and has been injured every season since. He was theoretically exactly what we needed a skilled deliverer i50. There was an expectation by many that he would be back to his best which is very good and just what we needed. It didn't work out that way. I wouldn't be sacking Lamb over these. 

Your point 2 is a bit ridiculous. Did we have enough depth when Brayshaw went down. If we knew Brayshaw was going down the list management would have been different. Plus Sparrow has IMO been the most disappointing player on the team this season. He was expected to step up into a full time midfield/onball role and went badly backwards. 

Your point 3. You don't seem to know your own team. Sparrow has spent a lot of time playing half forward not mifdield. .He was meant to step up this season on ball but was a bust a lot of the time .

Tell me an instinctive key forward out there we've missed out on that wanted to come to the club.

We tried to get Meek but no decent ruck is going to want to come to MFC and play at Casey. It wasn't for lack of trying.

I spoke to Goody about Laurie and he is very confident he is going to make it as a good player. Don't think you should sack Lamb over that one either.

Edited 12 hours ago by Its Time for Another

[ANG13 1,973]

10 minutes ago, Its Time for Another said:

Except Hunter who was ok last year and injured this year.

You’re being very generous if you don’t think Hunter has been a bust. 

[drysdale demon 4,680]

On 18/09/2024 at 13:37, WERRIDEE said:

Hunter being sign for 2025 has stuffed up my list management. 4 draft picks 3 midfielders and a CHB. An experienced ruck during the trade period.

 

B: Lever, May, McVee

HB: Rivers, McDonald, Salem

C: Windsor, Pick 5, Langdon

HF: Petracca, Petty, Chandler

F: Fritsch, van Rooyen, Turner

FOLL: Gawn, Oliver, Viney

IC: Moniz-Wakefield, Sparrow, Tholstrup, McAdam, Melksham

 

Casey

B: Howes, Adams, Brown

HB: Bowey, Draft pick, Woewodin

C: Billings, Laurie, Hunter

HF: Spargo, Kentfield, Sestan

F: Yze, Jefferson, Fullerton

FOLL: Trade, Draft pick, Draft pick

IC: Mentha, Verrall

SUS: Pickett

Really.

[WERRIDEE 5,345]

16 hours ago, 58er said:

Is Pup now a back pocket?? 

I'd try him there. Hunter and Billings have to play on the wings so there is no other spot to play him.