Jarka

Jaded, apart from Neitz who are our key forwards?

I tend to agree that Wheatley is a depth player, but every club needs these types to play finals.

Is there anyone in our starting 22 this weekend who is capable of replacing Neitz? We are one injury away from having a dysfunctional forward setup and on the surface it looks like there isn't any urgency to solve the problem. Also three talls out for three mobile players confirms the team selection screw up from last week.

Neaves would be a good promotion, in rucking terms he's already in front of both Jamar and Johnson. Would be good to leave White in the forwrd line and rotate the other two to have a real good look at them, a really positive development move, but we all know it won't happen.

7 delisting's are alot but 6 isn't? Regardless, if we delist 7 we won't have 7 picks in the draft because at least one rookie player will get promoted at the end of the year. Not much thought gone into that.

He said that he learnt alot from playing alongside Bizzell, and it was probably having him there that helped him play so well. The Biz is good to show the younger guys how to play defence, and leadership in the backline has been an issue for us over the last couple of years.

Interesting that you've edited my post, this was about Ward and Brown. Rotations comes in many forms I highly doubt that, you've already misquoted me by suggesting that I said we should play everyone. Do you think the team is ok as it is or do you think there are areas that we need to work on? Where did I say it was ground breaking? In fact these ideas are as simple as it gets, but I bet they don't happen. Myguess is that the same players that we've used over the last four or five years will be played, making the same disposal errors we've always done.

Not entirely correct, it's about getting a good mix of youth and experience together. Especially youth in the areas that we're lacking in but to give them the support to learn from some very talented guys around them. It's also about not relying on the same old players that Daniher has used for years, the ones that aren't up to getting us into a top 4 spot. It's about getting the team full of talented footballers who are capable of good disposal under pressure.

I've already stated what I would do with Ward and Brown and of course you can't play injured players but all those you mentioned are due to play over the next couple of weeks and this is a suggestion with what to do for the rest of the season. Didn't you see the word rotations? I didn't say that at all, did you actually read it properly or just count the names in that sentence? I said to either use Miller (which I think is a mistake) "OR to try other players like...." I've already stated that I think we're close to having a good team, we just need to work on our deficiencies and part of that is not relying on our senior group of inconsistent, lack of leadership types that Daniher plays over and over again.

Firstly, good post Jaded, voice of reason as per normal. Secondly, in an ideal world I wouldn't trade Bruce, but unfortunately it's not ideal. To get good players via a trade you have to be prepared to give up good picks or players or a combination of the both. That means you would have to give up quality to get quality, I wouldn't want to trade one of our quality kids so one of our senior players would have to be sacrificed and Bruce would fall into that category. Also his ability I think is overrated by the majority of the football world which would work more in our favour. Having said all that the deal would have to be advantageous to us to go ahead.

Good post ML, it would be interesting to see when these players contracts finish up.

I've only mentioned twenty players that I'd concentrate on, where did you get everyone?

Ok, we're in the shiite well and truly, but the season isn't over yet, we can still achieve alot in terms of player development. In this thread I'd like to concentrate on positive things that we can do to make us a stronger team. I still think we're close to a very good team but we do have a couple of deficiencies, however this year we can go close to solving them. -We have only one big forward and we know that when he's not playing we struggle to kick goals. Now, I know this has been argued to death but playing Newton alongside Neitz in the goal square will only do good to the kid. I can't think of a better person for Newton to learn from on our list and I'm concerned that we don't have much time left for him to pass on his knowledge. I believe doing this will help his development more than playing with Sandy, especially now that we are getting our midfield back -We don't have anyone capable of playing CHF so we don't really have a choice, either continue to play Miller or try other players like Dunn, Bate, Robo or even Sylvia as mobile targets. -Our midfield is pretty good when we have all hands on deck, however it's pretty obvious who we rely on for grunt, Jones and McLean. It wouldn't do Jones any harm if Daniher continues to give him some tough opponents to follow as well, eg chasing Judd all day is a very good on the job training program. Fitness permitting I'd like to see Sylvia rotated through the midfield as much as possible, I know he's a good forward but I love his tough inside work in the middle of the ground. -For the rucks definitely give PJ more and more time as ruckman and easing back on White. With White now on the wrong side of thirty we have to start to get ready to make do without him. If we have any long term injuries I'd promote Neaves straight away and give him a run as well. -For the defence once again we really don't have much of a choice. Frawley should be given more time and I'd play Bizzell for the rest of the year - remember what Rivers said about him after winning the Rising Star Award. So a rotating defence of Rivers, Frawley, Bizzell and Carroll gives us more options and more versatility. I'd like for Warnock to be given as much time as possible as well - we really need to make a decision on his future this year and we can't do that without seeing him play. -For the small defenders I would use Bell, Wheels, Petterd, CJ and Buckley. The first three are obvious choices, CJ and Buckley aren't and I know it won't be popular but they have both showed promise and like Warnock now is the time to find out about them. There is no point having them on our list if we don't play them. -The following players I would use sparingly or to cover injuries and even then not in major roles: Holland, Ferguson, Ward, Brown, Pickett, Miller, Jamar and Yze. I know some of these guys are currently better than others I have already mentioned however I believe that they are not good enough to get us to the top four if we continue to rely on them like we have been. Let the flaming begin :D

meh

I completely agree with White, our senior players have been letting us down and let's face it, nothing will change untill that whole generation retires because Daniher will continue to play them. Leadership issues has been our achilles heal for the last 5 years.

Was that the year that pick 18 went through about 4 or 5 different clubs before ending up with Geelong and they picked up Kelly?

I agree.

You're right, I've got my years mixed up, I think we got Green via the Longmuir trade. Do you remember what we received for Farmer and who we picked up? Was it Armstrong?

I honestly don't read or listen to their stuff much so I can't give a fair response to that. There's only a few footy media 'experts' that I take notice of.

Not the Woey trade, we got Green via the Farmer trade if my memory isn't failing me.

Watson is a fool, he says things that will make headlines to get his name out there more, his comments re the Whelan/Ball head clash and Pickett's tackle on Cornes was disgusting and completely showed how out of touch with modern footy he is.

He definitely did not get arrested for that.

I agree that at the time the compensation we got didn't seem great, pick 18 or 19 I think. We picked up Green with it and I will argue till I'm blue in the face that we've got more out of Green than they have out of Farmer and that's not taking into consideration the damage Farmer has done to Fremantle with his off field behaviour. I do not want someone who belts his wife playing for us.

The Farmer one definitely resulted in our favour and same for the Woewodin one, however it just took about a seson and a half for it to become apparent that we made the right decision. We have a talented list but we have some major issues in certain areas.

I think played well enough to deserve more game time but I don't think he fits into our medium or long term plans, and we aren't going to win the premiership in the next couple of years.