Little Goffy

Funny, I've always thought of Frost as being a bit of a free wheel. Or was that... loose wheel? (I should put out a tips jar)

You're just saying that because he has had a longer tenure already than any St Kilda coach except Allan Jeans. Fun fact - even if Richardson coaches out the full season, finishing with an entire season longer in charge than Thomas or Lyon, he will still have coached fewer games than either of them!

I really didn't think we'd be passing anyone on percentage this season, but the Saints look like they have decided to dangle that particular carrot in front of us. Compared to their early season run, it would seem that it is their defensive side which is really falling away. Scores against the Saints Rounds 1 to 5 - 84, 65, 71, 69, 55 = 68.8 Since round 6 - 97, 114, 88, 112, 55 (Blues), 139, 76 = 97.3 And tonight's running tally of 113 with 20 minutes to go.

Seems to be bringing out the adventurer spirit in Sam Frost, that's for sure. Not pretending he's perfect, but it does feel comforting to know we have a strong tall defender who is pretty reliable for skill and composure with the ball. For us in the stands and for everyone within the club, I'd guess.

I didn't realise Brad Hill was still only 25 (26 in a couple of weeks). Interesting to see his recorded disposal efficiency (generally between 65-68%) isn't super high as might have thought it would be. However, he does get the ball inside 50, and effectively, he gains a LOT of ground, which you'd expect since he kicks three times more than he handballs. He is not a god of football, not a perfect player, but oh yes he would be supremely useful for us right now and for the forseeable future. Stephen Hill is a bit old but also a free agent. Would be a tricky balancing act of risk-reward given that he is showing signs of aging (with the recurrent quad problem the headline), a particlarly problem when your game uses so much speed and agility. I worry that if a trade did happen, Freo might want to use Hill as part of a package (swap of 1st-rnd picks) to get right to the top end of the draft, and I'm not keen on giving away any early pick that might come our way. Best solution as I see it, is for us to win a bunch of games, end up with our first pick being around 7 or 8, so we can talk about pick swapping without the angst of giving away a shot at absolute top-end talent. As with all things, best solution is to win more games.

Magner to a pocket.

Pretty sure Winmar was a diver, y'know. Ducking his head for frees and all that.

He's a high quality young player. but he's at a club that needs him more than we would need him, and he would cost more than would be appropriate to pay (in pick-equivalent and dollars). I think our trade-recruiting should be very focused on picking out specific players who meet our specific needs, and I don't see Parish as in that category. Overall I think we should also be very much looking at managing salary cap and keep a stash prepared to go after free agents, because that bypassing of trade/draft 'cost' is a huge bonus for building a list to reach the very top. Plus, I'm expecting pretty significant turnover from the tail-end of our list at the end of the season, so I really think we should be trying to hold onto multiple good draft picks to make sure there is some serious quality coming through the new kids.

What I want to know is, can he book travel and accommodation, take the minutes for board meetings, and answer calls at reception?

Nah. I could argue the point, I even typed it out, but now I've deleted because it is just going to end up being one of those odious back-and-forth threads where gradually people become more irritated and actually pump up their original soft opinions into more extreme versions just to annoy the other person who is annoying them. So just, nah. Brayshaw good. Better value than what we'd get in a trade. Our inside midfield is not actually that deep, either, so not an area we should talk about trading quality players out of.

NooooooooOOOOOOOooooooOOOOOoooooooo Cue another 20 pages on the thread.

lol, wasn't that SOS? 2011-2014, a drafting period so bad that it is probably the reason GWS don't have three premierships by now. He really put his stamp on the 2012 draft. Picks 1, 2, 3, 12, 14, 27, result: Lachie Whitfield, with 1. 2014 was a special one, three picks in the top ten and their best selection was Caleb Marchbank. Overall would have been the worst draft by any club ever, except for the academy picks Steele and Finlayson. Actually, thinking about that 2014 draft, aside from De Goey there aren't many 'hindsight' better options who were actually available (not F/S or academy), compared to Petracca and Brayshaw. Maybe Lever.

Funny thing is, there wasn't anything like the level of crackdown or heavy-handed tactics wheeled out to deal with people getting hopelessly trashed and hurling abuse or starting punchups at Auskick and other kids-level footy games. Local community clubs were practically left to handle it themselves. And the 'behaviour' thug squads at Docklands didn't seem to do much to actually stop the really serious incidents of people dishing out constant vileness at anyone around them for a whole game, thanks to true gits lathered up with some generous 'preloading' of alcohol and kept slippy by the stadium's complete failure to actual do any basic responsible service of alcohol checks. Nobody looks at the chest-puffing lurkers the stadium calls protective and thinks 'oh, I'll ask those friendly looking fellows to come over and use their extensive training in conflict resolution and dealing with unruly behaviour, I'm sure they can take the heat out of the situation effectively and calmy'. No, lets not have any effort directed at the actual problems in the crowds. We've got themed rounds for all that [censored]. Meanwhile, I see the social injustice warriors have decided it is all part of the neo-marxist militant feminist gaygenda. Whoopeee do. One might almost think that the AFL knew they'd get away with anything, thanks to the right kinds of nuffies getting worked up and making it about their own wacky persecution complexes to the point where nobody else wants to go near it.

Hmm.. let's see... how much longer before it becomes a mathematical impossibility, even allowing for crazed gains in percentage? Current situation is we need, over the course of ten games: +4 wins (and %) over the single worst performer of Brisbane, Fremantle and Richmond, AND +3 wins (and %) over ALL of Port, Essendon and St Kilda. +2 wins (and %) over ALL of Hawthorn, Kangaroos and Bulldogs. If you accept the realistic view of our percentage then you need to turn those figures into +5, +4 and +3. Does anyone need a more solid 'nope' than that? I do! I'm just going to keep saying 'one more win' to myself until the end of the season. Like the players and coaches should be, except I'll also be maintaining my mad delusion.

To be clear, by ordinary I meant just average, not 'ordinary' in the Australian euphemism sense! I'm also referring to the relatively recent drafting, within a timeframe that could be compared to Jason Taylor. Darling, McGovern and Shuey are all recruits from 2010 or earlier, and as I said, 15 of the Eagles best-22 have been in the system for at least 8 years. Oh, Happy Birthday to Andrew Gaff, who turned 27 today and his age was updated as I was looking at the tables! Ryan, Petruccelle, Rioli and definitely top value selections (and, annoyingly, a collection of what we wish we had more of) but not the kind that pull a team up. Fact is the foundations of the Eagle's side were laid a long time ago. If the Eagles had been in our position six years ago, their drafting/recruiting (even giving them a bonus to account for our better first-round picks) woudl not have ben enough to transform them to a top-level side. West Coast starting players 27 years or older: F: Kennedy HF: Cripps Darling C : Redden Gaff HB: Hurn McGovern Sheppard B: Jetta Schofield FOLL: Naitanui Shuey Int: Vardy, Hickey, Hutchings, Masten Even dropping one of Vardy/Hickey, that means the Eagles only need to fill seven spots from the last nine years of talent coming into the AFL system. That balance is almost a precise reversal of the Demon's situation. They clearly got something hugely right in their recruiting 'back in the day', but since the convenient separation point of the 2011 complete fail draft (which we also shanked massively), they have been only ok.

Joining in the effort to assemble something to compare Taylor's record to - here we have the Eagles. For brevity I've only included the 'good' or adequate enough picks, and any first rounders. 2018 - Nothing to report yet, though also no first rounder. 2017 - Jarrod Brander in the first round, no action so far. Oscar Allen, Liam Ryan and Jack Petruccelle making this draft look like a winner. 2016 - 1st round, Daniel Venebles. Then Willie Rioli and Jake Waterman of note, later. 2015 - No first round, and only pick playing regular games is Tom Cole 2014 - First Round Liam Duggan, only other is Jackson Nelson 2013 - First Round Dom Sheed, then Tom Barass. 2012 - no first round, then Mark Hutchings and Callum Sinclair 2011 - no first round, and Fraser Mcinnes? An entirely failed draft. 2010 - First round Gaff, priority pick Darling (it pays to tank, eh) also Scott Lycett and the rookie drafting of Jeremy McGovern 2009 - Brad Shepphad at pick 7, nothing else. 2008 - first round Nic Naitanui, priority pick Luke Shuey (ohh boy, isn't tanking awesome) My read of it - aside from nailing their tanking seasons way back in 2008 and 2010, West Coast have actually been pretty ordinary with drafting. They also traded in Josh Hill, then Sharrod Wellingham (for pick 18... Brodie Grundy), Elliot Yeo (for pick 28), Jack Redden (for pick 21), Lewis Jetta (for Callum Sinclair), and Nathan Vardy (for pick 72). I'd say our list selection has been overall better than West Coast in recent years. Consider the Eagle shave 15 players in their current best-22 who are Gaff's age (26) or older, of whom 5 are over thirty, I don't think their recent drafting is a part of their success story. In fact, for West Coast, it all comes back to successful tanking, and the Judd trade, of course.

Odd numbered year. Always in trouble. Been 28 years (1991) since we last won a final in an odd numbered year. 10 even-numbered-year finals wins since then.

That piece of news popping up for some reason made me go back and check his playing career stats, and awards. Also spent some time just reminiscing about his playing style and roles. Setting everything else aside for a moment, is it just me or would Adam Goodes be the precisely perfect player to add to our 22 right now? Plenty of goals, a huge load of goal-assists, really effective at getting the ball to dangerous places and doing it quickly and decisively, good at offering leads backed by top workrate. And as a bonus he contributed most of that right from the start of his career (hence the 372 games). Oh, and uh... just for the people still splurting on as if his 'playing for frees' was an actual thing and not just a shameful beat-up... his career average for 'Frees For' was one a game, which doesn't even put him in the top-100 for 2019. His highest season average for frees was 1.3, which just barely sneaks him into the current top-70 for 2019... and that average is when he was playing primarily as an undersized ruckman/mid. If he was flopping and diving for frees an unusual amount, then clearly it was also the one and only aspect of Australian football that he wasn't elite at. Oh, to have a pick 43 the likes of Adam Goodes.

Come on, he's got us winning all the way through to the premiership. That's just crazy. ?

Geelong choking in finals again would be funny. Fremantle, from 8th, eliminating 5th-placed West Coast. The Port Adelaide football club going into fits of self-hate after missing the finals with nobody to blame but themselves. Ditto Richmond. Demons going undefeated after the bye, for 13 wins total and a 7th placed finish, ahead of the Dockers and five other teams all on 12 wins with better percentage than us.

I haven't seen as much of our games as I'd like to, but what I have seen sometimes makes me think of the bit of fun at the end of a training session where people are competing to kick the balls back into the wheelie bin they are stored - trying to bring it down neatly from above. One thing you can definitely say for Melksham, his typically low-angle kicks usually have an intended target and even if they miss they are still moving towards goals. Lot of other players, if their kicks were just left to drop on grass, they'd be as likely to bounce back on the arc they came down on. Doubly easy for defenders because all that extra air time lets them get into position better, and when the ball comes down it has no momentum towards goal that crumbers and troublemakers can try to use or protect. It means that most of the time our crumbing efforts are facing away from goal when trying to get the ball, so to take a meaningful snap requires either an extra couple of steps, a full change of direction, or an extra disposal, and that lost time is a killer.

Now There is a tangent I'd follow; does a senior coach really only need to be smart enough to understand (and humble/practical enough to actually listen to) the collection of other smart people around him? Mind you, there was also once upon a time a sci-fi novel which featured an entire species which had been selectively bred for good luck. Some kind of lottery process, and over a few thousand generations it produced real results. Maybe we need some of that. (some would say, it wont be any slower than our current progress to our next flag, ha ha ha uhhh)

I'm going to look at it as a hurdle requirement; you need to pass a certain level but beyond that it becomes less important. I must say, it is weird not just seeing Buckley at the top of Matsuo's list, but realising that I'd probably agree. If I had to pick an AFL coach for a long session of free-ranging discussion of the world, it would probably be ol' Nate. I'm on the cusp of not having any real problem with Collingwood (except a segment of their supporters), soon I'll be calling the Queen's Birthday game a 'jolly good show against a worthy rival'. Scary times.

Ahh, the memories.

Lol. Next up, there will be talk of trading picks to get Sam Day (the free agent not currently getting a game at the Suns).