2019 trading, drafting and list management: players and personnel

[111431]

Press conference | Bolton statement - carltonfc.com.au

I know it might be challenging to get Bolton up to Sydney with his young family but his experience thru a genuine 4 year Re build and his smarts and enthusiasm from hawthorn days would be invaluable I feel at the Swans

Timing is a massive part of life

If Steve jobs, bill gates etc were born in the 30s or 90s the results of their life could be flipped on a coin vs being born in the 50s and being at an age to embrace the PC beginnings and all the infrastructure and technology supporting the age of PC

I so to believe the experience Bolton has been thru was a pressure cooker last 4 years of renewing a list and nurturing of the next generation of players would be of tremendous value to the bloods

Cameron timing harsh

Swans timing 2019/20 onwards perfect

Fully agree

[bloodspirit]

What is intriguing me a bit at the moment is what we do by way of trade (or free agency) in the trade period later this year. Stepping back to look with a bigger picture view there are two things that strike me:

1. The age profile of our list is fairly skewed. We have a handful of veterans, some of whom will be retiring (Kizza, Macca) and one of whom has already retired (Reg), and a lot of youth. If our young cohort move through together they will potentially create a very strong team but it might be hard to keep them all within the salary cap if they are peaking at around about the same time. This is one reason that it is important to have a spread of ages through the list. Another is that it would be useful to have the more mature minds and bodies guiding and leading the less experienced.

2. Courtesy of the skewed age profile and our offloading of some big money earners and the impending retirements of some more, we have money to spend. This seems to be true even despite the fact that in the next two years Buddy will be on the biggest money of his contract (perhaps as much as $3.5m over the next two seasons?).

What this suggests to me is that we will be in the market for one or more players and potentially even a 'big fish'. If we do go after a big fish, what type of player do we want? It seems to me with Buddy and Reid now and Blakey and McCartin for the future, we are well served for key forwards. We have Rampe, Aliir & Melican, so we have adequate KPDs although we could use some more depth in this position and could certainly benefit from a superstar KPD if one were available. We have also invested heavily in understudy rucks and barring the availability of Grundy or Gawn we are probably not going to chase someone marginally better than Sinclair and Naismith. Our young players have a lot of pace and we are probably ok for rebounding defenders and the like. The most obvious needs are in the midfield.

The biggest fish in the pool would be Coniglio and he is a midfielder who excels inside and outside the contest and who scores goals to boot. Could we go after him? He is due to turn 26 years old later this year, which works well for us. Also, he is from WA so doesn't have any particularly strong pull to Melbourne. But why would he leave GWS and come to us? The only reason could be if he felt unwelcome there (and the opposite is almost certainly the case) or a much better financial offer. Given that I imagine he would much prefer to achieve success with the teammates he has been playing with for years, and right now the Giants are closer to success than us, it's hard to see him joining us but we should definitely be asking the question. There is also the bonus that I think he is a free agent and we wouldn't have to give up picks for him so it is worth paying a lot to get him if we can afford it. I reckon we must have more cap room than the Giants'.

Failing that, the question exercising my mind is, who should we chase? Who can we get? Two teams with highly talented midfields who are underperforming and who might have disaffected players are the Demons and the Bulldogs. Could we get one of them? Could we entice them by selling ourselves as having more upside or getting out of the bubble? Their players include: Hunter, Macrae, Bontempelli, Brayshaw, Oliver, Petracca, Viney and more besides. All of them are probably contracted. Would any of them be gettable?

Another club with an abundance of quality mids and who might have salary cap issues is Collingwood. The obvious target there is Brayden Sier and hopefully we are doing due diligence on him. 191 cm, 88 kg, 21 years old and not currently getting a game. Given he is not in their best 22 so he is by far the most attainable and fits a need for us.

Geelong is another club with an abundance of talent and who might be having salary cap issues such that we could lure a player away. Particularly if they succeed in hanging on to Tim Kelly. Who might we target? Brandan Parfitt looks promising but it's hard to imagine the at Geelong would be willing to let him go. Beyond that I don't know their list well enough.

Finally, are their players we want at Carlton or North (or St Kilda or Essendon) who might be ready to jump off a sinking ship? It's unclear what will happen at these clubs but they haven't had success recently, there are big question marks over the coaches and it is not apparent that things are going to improve their in the near future.

What do people reckon? Who might we go for? Or do we just keep drafting youth and let our youth get experience and give up the minimum we have to as they ripen? Does my analysis make sense?

[Markwebbos]

Agree with all of that bs.

After the Lochie Neale move last year I reckon any player is worth a crack including Cripps.

I’d definitely be circling North, Crows, Bombers, Saints players right now. And GW$ although they have a knack of buying low and selling high.

I reckon a better ruckman and a mature inside outside mid. How about Grundy and Coniglio?

Think the Pies will have to shed players this year.

[707]

Brayden Sier, we can price Pies out of the market if he wanted to come to us. They have got a tight cap but will retire Wells to free up $500k but that will soon be gobbled up by a host of their rising stars like DeGoey, Mihocek, Stephenson etc.

No hope of getting a better ruckman so just get better mids :-)

[troyjones2525]

Not sure how many watched the VIC Country vs VIC Metro game on the weekend but it appears clear to me that after just seeing that first game of the championships, we are going to be getting a great player with our first pick in the draft this year.

It may not be an Anderson or Rowell as I still don't believe we will finish bottom 2, even as bad as we have looked so far this year! But I do believe we'll finish in the bottom 4 or 5 so that will put us in line for possibly at least 1 of either Lachlan Ash or perhaps Hayden Young, both of whom look to have elite kicking skills and decision making with Ash also having great speed and agility.

And like I said, that's just from seeing the 1 game from the championships so far with plenty more to come and then the back half of the U18's season where no doubt other players will jump up the rankings with natural improvement and maturity.

I feel that this off season is going to be extremely important as hopefully it will be one that will set us up to shoot back up the ladder in quick fashion. I would like to see us aggressive during the trade and free agency period and hope to see us even snatch another top 10 pick with some shrewd and aggressive moves by our recruiters!

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[S.S. Bleeder]

What is intriguing me a bit at the moment is what we do by way of trade (or free agency) in the trade period later this year. Stepping back to look with a bigger picture view there are two things that strike me:

1. The age profile of our list is fairly skewed. We have a handful of veterans, some of whom will be retiring (Kizza, Macca) and one of whom has already retired (Reg), and a lot of youth. If our young cohort move through together they will potentially create a very strong team but it might be hard to keep them all within the salary cap if they are peaking at around about the same time. This is one reason that it is important to have a spread of ages through the list. Another is that it would be useful to have the more mature minds and bodies guiding and leading the less experienced.

2. Courtesy of the skewed age profile and our offloading of some big money earners and the impending retirements of some more, we have money to spend. This seems to be true even despite the fact that in the next two years Buddy will be on the biggest money of his contract (perhaps as much as $3.5m over the next two seasons?).

What this suggests to me is that we will be in the market for one or more players and potentially even a 'big fish'. If we do go after a big fish, what type of player do we want? It seems to me with Buddy and Reid now and Blakey and McCartin for the future, we are well served for key forwards. We have Rampe, Aliir & Melican, so we have adequate KPDs although we could use some more depth in this position and could certainly benefit from a superstar KPD if one were available. We have also invested heavily in understudy rucks and barring the availability of Grundy or Gawn we are probably not going to chase someone marginally better than Sinclair and Naismith. Our young players have a lot of pace and we are probably ok for rebounding defenders and the like. The most obvious needs are in the midfield.

The biggest fish in the pool would be Coniglio and he is a midfielder who excels inside and outside the contest and who scores goals to boot. Could we go after him? He is due to turn 26 years old later this year, which works well for us. Also, he is from WA so doesn't have any particularly strong pull to Melbourne. But why would he leave GWS and come to us? The only reason could be if he felt unwelcome there (and the opposite is almost certainly the case) or a much better financial offer. Given that I imagine he would much prefer to achieve success with the teammates he has been playing with for years, and right now the Giants are closer to success than us, it's hard to see him joining us but we should definitely be asking the question. There is also the bonus that I think he is a free agent and we wouldn't have to give up picks for him so it is worth paying a lot to get him if we can afford it. I reckon we must have more cap room than the Giants'.

Failing that, the question exercising my mind is, who should we chase? Who can we get? Two teams with highly talented midfields who are underperforming and who might have disaffected players are the Demons and the Bulldogs. Could we get one of them? Could we entice them by selling ourselves as having more upside or getting out of the bubble? Their players include: Hunter, Macrae, Bontempelli, Brayshaw, Oliver, Petracca, Viney and more besides. All of them are probably contracted. Would any of them be gettable?

Another club with an abundance of quality mids and who might have salary cap issues is Collingwood. The obvious target there is Brayden Sier and hopefully we are doing due diligence on him. 191 cm, 88 kg, 21 years old and not currently getting a game. Given he is not in their best 22 so he is by far the most attainable and fits a need for us.

Geelong is another club with an abundance of talent and who might be having salary cap issues such that we could lure a player away. Particularly if they succeed in hanging on to Tim Kelly. Who might we target? Brandan Parfitt looks promising but it's hard to imagine the at Geelong would be willing to let him go. Beyond that I don't know their list well enough.

Finally, are their players we want at Carlton or North (or St Kilda or Essendon) who might be ready to jump off a sinking ship? It's unclear what will happen at these clubs but they haven't had success recently, there are big question marks over the coaches and it is not apparent that things are going to improve their in the near future.

What do people reckon? Who might we go for? Or do we just keep drafting youth and let our youth get experience and give up the minimum we have to as they ripen? Does my analysis make sense?

Very good analysis BS. Strengthening the midfield would release the pressure on the rest of the positions.

Coniglio would be absolutely perfect for us. He's the exact player we need and would probably improve us by several positions on the ladder. Unfortunately, I suspect he's heading to a Victorian club with dollars and that will also bring him closer to his business interests in Melbourne.

Brayden Sier would be a very good recruit a dis probably the second best option.He's not great ATM but in a year or two he should be and shouldn't cost too much. We know that the club has the cash for a gun recruit if needed and he would fit our needs.

I agree about the gun KPD. A key shutdown defender would be ideal for us as it would ease the pressure on Rampe et al.

[Markwebbos]

Not sure how many watched the VIC Country vs VIC Metro game on the weekend but it appears clear to me that after just seeing that first game of the championships, we are going to be getting a great player with our first pick in the draft this year.

It may not be an Anderson or Rowell as I still don't believe we will finish bottom 2, even as bad as we have looked so far this year! But I do believe we'll finish in the bottom 4 or 5 so that will put us in line for possibly at least 1 of either Lachlan Ash or perhaps Hayden Young, both of whom look to have elite kicking skills and decision making with Ash also having great speed and agility.

And like I said, that's just from seeing the 1 game from the championships so far with plenty more to come and then the back half of the U18's season where no doubt other players will jump up the rankings with natural improvement and maturity.

I feel that this off season is going to be extremely important as hopefully it will be one that will set us up to shoot back up the ladder in quick fashion. I would like to see us aggressive during the trade and free agency period and hope to see us even snatch another top 10 pick with some shrewd and aggressive moves by our recruiters!

There might be a temptation to use some of our draft picks to recruit a mature aged midfielder or two. We do need to get more players in the 24-28 bracket (Brayden Sier is 21 I believe) I hope any wheeling and dealing is not done at the expense of our 1st rounder this year, which would be the highest draft pick (putting aside matching a bid for Mills) since Macca I think.

[troyjones2525]

There might be a temptation to use some of our draft picks to recruit a mature aged midfielder or two. We do need to get more players in the 24-28 bracket (Brayden Sier is 21 I believe) I hope any wheeling and dealing is not done at the expense of our 1st rounder this year, which would be the highest draft pick (putting aside matching a bid for Mills) since Macca I think.

Agree. We cannot trade that pick!

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[Markwebbos]

Thoughts on Ben Cunnington at North? He’s 27 and a pretty handy ball winner at the coal face?

[wolftone57]

There might be a temptation to use some of our draft picks to recruit a mature aged midfielder or two. We do need to get more players in the 24-28 bracket (Brayden Sier is 21 I believe) I hope any wheeling and dealing is not done at the expense of our 1st rounder this year, which would be the highest draft pick (putting aside matching a bid for Mills) since Macca I think.

We do not need an experienced mod. We have drafted plenty. Just wait until they are ready. Cunning ton is nearly 30 and a waste of time as he probably won't be in our next premiership team. Just let the kids develop. Forget about giving them away for short term solutions. I prefer long term glory

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[Ralph Dawg]

I know it's in the realm of impossibility, but I would love it if we could get Cripps from Carlton. I would go as far as to say he alone could turn us into a serious force. I would:
a) Offer him good money
b) Point out that he would be out of the Melbourne bubble
C) Promising young group he would become the leader of soon
D) Good chance of winning a flag as opposed to Carlton who are a basket case
I know it is about as likely as Buddy moving from the Hawks to Sydney........

[707]

Cunnington turns 29 next June, not a need. Only want FA, don't want to be trading out high draft picks on a mature player with only a few years left.

I watched the Vic M vs Vic C game, other than Rowell & Anderson (lucky Crows) who are widely touted as the top 2, Hayden Young and Ash were impressive but we probably need a top 4 pick. This is why I'm nervous about winning too many games in the run home, Carlton, GC & Saints should be wins diluting our first rounder! Saints second currently at 25 looks to be going higher for us.

[mattybloods]

I personally hope we don't try to land a "big fish" at the end of the year; would much prefer targeting fringe players that aren't getting a run. Brayden Sier as mentioned before would be a good get. Also there was talk last year that we were interested in Darcy Parish. Wasn't getting a run earlier this year but seems to now be playing some good footy, I wonder if he'll be a target for us https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-06-...areerbest-form

[Melbourne_Blood]

2019 trading, drafting and list management: players and personnel

I personally hope we don't try to land a "big fish" at the end of the year; would much prefer targeting fringe players that aren't getting a run. Brayden Sier as mentioned before would be a good get. Also there was talk last year that we were interested in Darcy Parish. Wasn't getting a run earlier this year but seems to now be playing some good footy, I wonder if he'll be a target for us https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-06-...areerbest-form

Parish was one I was thinking about also . Is playing good footy now back in the middle, doubt they’d let him go ..


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[707]

Parish was one I was thinking about also . Is playing good footy now back in the middle, doubt they’d let him go ..

Dodoro would want two firsts for him :-)