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the problem is to find players who are off contract.
gamble and prismall at geelong are fringe players who could be useful
gamble and prismall at geelong are fringe players who could be useful
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forgotten 1996
2005 a much sweeter memory,2012 even better -
Mattner is far to good to be on the bench. Swap him for Thornton straight away.Very simple, Matthews and Everitt should be given the option to retire and if they don't they will be delisted.
Both Crouch and Leo Barry may still have something to offer, but this decision should be left to the club and their list management team. If the club feels they still need cover for what they offer then by all means keep them. But a couple of youngsters will be given first crack for their roles like Jack, Bird, Moore and Thornton (but for injury) got this year.
Laidlaw for Crouch and one of Faulks or Murphy for Leo.
Trade for a CHB, such as Kosi form the Saints.
Would be interesting to see a team Round 1 like this:
FB: Bevan C Bolton Faulks
HB: Malceski Kosi Thornton
C: Goodes Bird Kennelly
HF: ROK Hall Vespremi
FF: Moore MOL White
R: Jolly Kirk McVeigh
Int: Currie, Jack, Mattner, Laidlaw
Emg: Fosdike, J Bolton, Schmidt, Barlow and take your pick of DOK, Merideth. Murphy or our first pick from the 2008 draft
One key position defender signing, a couple more youngsters in Thornton, Faulks, Currie, Laidlaw and White will give us a further new look after this years first phase over haul.
DST
Jude and Schmidt should be in the 22 as well. I would have them ahead of Laidlaw and Thornton.Comment
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You misunderstand, I mean keep Ablett but put some pace around him, Ablett,Kirk Bolton doing the in and under and some pacey runners for them to feed the ball to after we win the contested. At this point who do we give it to? None of them are especially quick, in the legs that is. Fossie if he were match fit maybe and Goodes if he were not injured, but these guys are getting older too so were a bit hard up right now, hard decisions and I'm glad I'm not making them. Anyway, We'll see a different team this week, and I'll be in the Orielly stand cheering as usual, don't really care who they put out there, if they got red and white on they're my blokes and I luv em all.
Paul Roos for PMComment
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[QUOTE=DST;407603]Mundy of Fremantle and Boyle of Hawthorn come to mind./QUOTE]
Boyle's a mediocre CHF, and we already have Playfair being that.
Mundy's a flanker.
I saw today that Andrew Lee has been de-listed by the Bombers. I remember hearing from the Swans camp that we we're interested in drafting him but Essendon got in with the pick before us and we got Schmidt instead. Lee's 22 now, and been unlucky with injury, but I think we should look at him.
Jaymie Graham from the Toast is a bit older, but I think could be good too.
There's no one else really. Clubs just don't trade their first choice CHB/FB. You either have to take a punt on a young one and hope, or try and morph a flanker into a KPP, like we did with Craig Bolton or go for an OK player while developing the yonger ones.Comment
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More likely barring trades
FB: Bevan C Bolton Crouch
HB: Malceski LRT Mattner
C: Goodes Bird Kennelly
HF: ROK Hall Playfair
FF: Moore MOL Vespremi
R: Jolly Kirk McVeigh
Int: Currie, Jack, Thornton Fosdike
Em Smith Thornton BrabazonSports do not build character. They reveal it....Heywood Broun
I always turn to the sports pages first, which record people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures......Earl WarrenComment
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I reckon Crouch is an interesting case. He's played some good football over the last few weeks. But it has been good football, not great football. And it has just been for a few weeks. Not for a season. He has broken down with injury so many times over the last couple of years when he's been close to returning that there has to at least be a question mark over whether he can still play most of a season of good football.
To some extent, him playing on has to depend on spots available on the list. The issue with our younger group of players is that most of them fall into the group of showing promise, some signs of being able to carve out good quality senior careers, but with one or two exceptions, you wouldn't bank on any of them. You can make a case for giving pretty much all of them at least one more year to show whether they've got what it takes, and that includes several on the rookie list. But there isn't an unlimited number of spots on the list, and even if you assume that Everitt and Mathews will retire, and consider it likely that Davis will find himself a new home, a few more spots still need to be cleared on the list if players like Smith and O'Dwyer are to be given another year, or if the club thinks this year's draft is worth taking more than the minimum of three players.
If the club truly has decided it is time to focus on rejuventating the list, a couple of players who might otherwise be capable of one more year's decent football might have to find themselves tapped on the shoulder. It might seem tough on premiership heros like Crouch (or maybe Leo or even MickyO) but if some of those tough decisions aren't made, we'll go into next year with an even older list. The imminent retirements need to be managed so they don't all happen at the same time, especially with the talent pool to be stretched over the next four or so years.Comment
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well said liz!OUR EDGE IS REGComment
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I agree, Crouch has always been one of my fav players with his run and dash and has appeared indestuctable. Doesn't look like that now though, and one more year might prove too much from an injury standpoint, with age comes injury, just ask my arthritic little hands, the product of a misspent youth
Paul Roos for PMComment
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Excellent post on Crouch, liz. Cutting the likes of Mathews and (sorry to those who think otherwise) Davis are the easy calls.
But sometimes good list management requires you to make the tough calls: blokes who may still have a good year or two to go, but who are not crucial to team structure, are nearer the end of their careers than the beginning, and to keep the list in some kind of balance, you have to take them into the office and have a quiet word. I'll go out on a limb and say that (in terms of the role he's expected to play in the team) Crouch has been closer to great than merely good, the last 4 weeks. But is that enough to bank that he'll be able to follow it up with a full year at similar quality at the age of 30/1? Based on most of his career, you'd say he probably can: but based on the last 2 years, maybe not.
Other tough calls for 2009 among the 2005 premiership class: Leo Barry, Ablett and Fosdike.
Would prefer Fossie to stay rather than go (and he is still just young enough to have some trade value) but it'd be hard to argue we don't have plenty of youth to take his place. I've doubted Ablett's ability at the highest level for a while now and the selection committee obviously shares my doubts. And I'm firmly on the team of Leo Barry staying but being used properly. He's somewhere between very good and exceptional as a running, creating (heart-palpitating) half-back. And he's got great leadership skills. However, he's now approaching merely average as a full back and gorilla-wrastler. If the Swans are going to force him to occupy that role, he might as well retire.Comment
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I personally think he should enough against the Dogs in Canberra to show that when he IS fully fit & confident that he CAN contribute to the team still.
But as you say, seeing how fit he is over a whole season is the thing. He could be taking the spot of one of our young pups, which in the medium to long term would be counter-productive to the the club's re-building process.
JF"Never ever ever state that Sydney is gone.They are like cockroaches in the aftermath of a nuclear war"
(Forum poster 'Change', Big Footy 04Apr09)Comment
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