2020 trading, drafting and list management: players and personnel

[707]

Yes, and hopefully the planned conquest of the Chinese market will be put on hold.

Probably banned by the Chinese as retaliation! :-)

[707]

Essendon will match out offer just to screw with us.

I am really hoping that they put on the table a huge contract for JD just to force our hand.

We then say no, and they are left with this huge hole in their salary cap.

Could not happen to a nicer group of egos!

There, fixed that for you :-)

[Doctor J.]

The aura surrounding Rioli makes the Vez pick look bad, despite, as you point out, it being widely acknowledged that Rioli tanked interview with non-Victorian clubs. He also performed appallingly at the draft camp - especially in the endurance tests.

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/...r=2003&t=N&s=P

Imagine the apoplectic meltdown within Vic clubs if a player did this to get to an interstate club. Cyril is lauded as a genius for how he managed to get to his club of choice ( the one that paid for his private school education ) but his actions, and Hawthorns for that matter, are nothing short of draft tampering.

Strange how when draft tampering happens at non Victorian club the AFL is quick to act. Remember Kurt Tippett. $50,000 fine and 6 months suspension. Officials from Adelaide, suspended for up to 12 months, and fines up to $50,000. Adelaide football club, fined $300,000 and banned from the 1st 2 rounds of the 2013 draft.

[dejavoodoo44]

Yeah, and we didn't delist him. We traded him to Carlton, swapping our third round pick with their second round pick. We used that second round pick on George Hewett. It's impossible to know how drafts would have panned out with different picks, but it's probably unlikely Hewett would still have been there when that third round pick came around. Carlton used that pick on a player who never played a senior game.


Blues get their man

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/...r=2013&t=N&s=P

Yes, and just to emphasise the vagaries of the draft; it could be argued that George has had a better career than the number one pick, Tom Boyd. And looking at it further, the stars of that draft were: Kelly (pick 2), Bontempelli (4), Cripps (13) and possibly Ben Brown (47). Possibly the next best were rookie elevations: Jeremy McGovern, Zac Williams and our own Dane Rampe. There's probably another 25 or 30 players, who I would rate as good or very good. Including our other picks of: Jones, Nankervis and Aliir. The rest of the draft I'd rate as, meh.

It's also a bit puzzling to me, that the quality of the draft can vary widely from year to year. For instance: 2001, very good; 2003, not so good. I mean, the players are largely coming through the same systems, with much the same teams, coaches and methods. And there shouldn't be much annual variance in the quality of the overall gene pool, so why the difference? Just a random quirk, I guess.

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Probably banned by the Chinese as retaliation! :-)

They may not have noticed the AFL's cunning plan.

[Markwebbos]

I would pick:
1. Finlay Macrae 184cm, 79kg
2. Luke Edwards 187cm, 78kg
3. Riley Thilthorpe 199cm, 96kg

We don't need any small players as Braeden Campbell is 178cm and he will come to us as Academy.

What we need is midfielders.

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Essendon will match out offer just to screw with us.

I am really hoping that they put on the table a huge contract for JD just to force our hand.

We then say no, and they are left with this huge hole in their salary cap.

Could not happen to a nicer group of people!

That would be great, but all they have to do is match our offer to keep him. It’s more likely to happen the other way round.

As he’s out of contract I hope he does a Jack Martin to them, puts a huge price on his first year and walks to us for nothing. Pardon my French but FYD!

P.s. I completely agree our weakness is the midfield, going to the draft will take years though.

[bloodspirit]

P.s. I completely agree our weakness is the midfield, going to the draft will take years though.

Except that we have gone to the draft and we are getting those years into the kids: Florent, Rowbottom, McInerney, hopefully Stephens, maybe Warner etc. We have made long term midfield investments already and we're currently going through the painful period of waiting for them to bear fruit. In the meantime, we've got players like Lewis Taylor and Sam Gray who can pinch hit there.

I agree it would have been good to trade in some players to strengthen our midfield over the past couple of off seasons, but by now we may as well just stick with the plan we're halfway through executing.

[TheBloods]

Except that we have gone to the draft and we are getting those years into the kids: Florent, Rowbottom, McInerney, hopefully Stephens, maybe Warner etc. We have made long term midfield investments already and we're currently going through the painful period of waiting for them to bear fruit. In the meantime, we've got players like Lewis Taylor and Sam Gray who can pinch hit there.

I agree it would have been good to trade in some players to strengthen our midfield over the past couple of off seasons, but by now we may as well just stick with the plan we're halfway through executing.

Not being negative as we have a promising young midfield group, but I don't see a leader-in-the-pack among those kids I'm afraid. I like the look of all of them, but do any scream multiple All Australians or Brownlow contenders to you?

Drafting a midfielder who can dominate from the middle and break a game open is crucial for us.

[Markwebbos]

If we draft, realistically a couple of years minimum until it bears fruit.

[Odysseus]

Not being negative as we have a promising young midfield group, but I don't see a leader-in-the-pack among those kids I'm afraid. I like the look of all of them, but do any scream multiple All Australians or Brownlow contenders to you?

Drafting a midfielder who can dominate from the middle and break a game open is crucial for us.

A dominating midfielder would be great - no question.

But I feel and think a little differently about the leader-in-the-pack comment. Young people take a while to develop - good on them, people my age have stopped developing! I look at the names that were mentioned and like the trajectory they've been on. I'm particularly interested to see how far Ollie can go. He strikes me as having the confidence required and the competitive dislike of being beaten that could be great assets over the journey to come.

[Blood Fever]

A dominating midfielder would be great - no question.

But I feel and think a little differently about the leader-in-the-pack comment. Young people take a while to develop - good on them, people my age have stopped developing! I look at the names that were mentioned and like the trajectory they've been on. I'm particularly interested to see how far Ollie can go. He strikes me as having the confidence required and the competitive dislike of being beaten that could be great assets over the journey to come.

Fair call O. Given the right environment and I reckon the club has one, young people (players) can advance very quickly. Agree that they take a while to develop but we may be pleasantly surprised.
.

[TheBloods]

A dominating midfielder would be great - no question.

But I feel and think a little differently about the leader-in-the-pack comment. Young people take a while to develop - good on them, people my age have stopped developing! I look at the names that were mentioned and like the trajectory they've been on. I'm particularly interested to see how far Ollie can go. He strikes me as having the confidence required and the competitive dislike of being beaten that could be great assets over the journey to come.

No doubt, but a dominant midfielder? I just don't see it. He's over 50 games into his career and hasn't shown the capacity to dominate. That won't just come from nowhere. Young players take time to develop definitely but you can usually see signs that they will be superstars. I don't see that with Florent, same as our other mids. They may be very good, but good enough? I'm not so sure.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

No doubt, but a dominant midfielder? I just don't see it. He's over 50 games into his career and hasn't shown the capacity to dominate. That won't just come from nowhere. Young players take time to develop definitely but you can usually see signs that they will be superstars. I don't see that with Florent, same as our other mids. They may be very good, but good enough? I'm not so sure.

I have changed my mind about young Ollie, I first saw him as simply a Nick Fosdike type outside runner, but what showed when he started to get some inside time in the latter half of 2019 has changed my attitude. I think he's might well be an awful lot more than that, early days yes, but let me whisper another name name Paul Kelly.
If the 2020 season had gone on or a few more rounds there'd have been a awful lot of buzz surrounding him.

[mcs]

I have changed my mind about young Ollie, I first saw him as simply a Nick Fosdike type outside runner, but what showed when he started to get some inside time in the latter half of 2019 has changed my attitude. I think he's might well be an awful lot more than that, early days yes, but let me whisper another name name Paul Kelly.
If the 2020 season had gone on or a few more rounds there'd have been a awful lot of buzz surrounding him.

The guy i reckon could be the 'superstar' is Rowbottom. I just got that feeling about him last year - the way he came in and almost immediately felt like he was at home in the top grade.

I'm looking forward to seeing what young Ollie can do this year. There is a smoothness about his work, and as your so RNR, his inside time in 2019 suprised many - me included. I liked what I saw a lot.

Its an interesting question more broadly about whether our midfield group is going to be 'good enough'. All the parts are there I think for it to become a very well oiled machine, and very competitive once some more experience gets into the younger quality guys. But as always, it'll need a player or two to go beyond their expected 'talent level' when they were drafted - what I mean there is to perform at a level well above what anyone thought was likely when they were drafted.

[TheBloods]

The guy i reckon could be the 'superstar' is Rowbottom. I just got that feeling about him last year - the way he came in and almost immediately felt like he was at home in the top grade.

I'm looking forward to seeing what young Ollie can do this year. There is a smoothness about his work, and as your so RNR, his inside time in 2019 suprised many - me included. I liked what I saw a lot.

Its an interesting question more broadly about whether our midfield group is going to be 'good enough'. All the parts are there I think for it to become a very well oiled machine, and very competitive once some more experience gets into the younger quality guys. But as always, it'll need a player or two to go beyond their expected 'talent level' when they were drafted - what I mean there is to perform at a level well above what anyone thought was likely when they were drafted.

The question with Rowbottom is can he find more of the ball, and can Florent put together a four-quarter performance?

If they are the future of our midfield, which certainly appears likely, then I'd like to have answers to those questions sooner rather than later, so we don't end up putting all our eggs in their basket.

This is not to say that they won't go on to have successful careers for us, but I remember watching a young Hannebery and knowing in his first year that this kid was going to lead us to success, and he did so. I got the same impression in Kennedy's first handful of games as a Swan. As rapt as I am with the early signs from Rowbottom and Florent, I don't get that same assurance watching them - still feel as though they are teasing us with their ability rather than convincing us.

[SeanM]

If they are the future of our midfield, which certainly appears likely, then I'd like to have answers to those questions sooner rather than later, so we don't end up putting all our eggs in their basket.

We will need more than two midfielders. So I think they will still keep looking for more young midfielders to provide depth regardless.

I don't think there is going to be a complete player. Even Florent and Rowbottom bring something different. Rowbottom is more inside player but has clean hands and good vision. Florent is very instinctive and has the ability to break out of packs or do something unexpected.

So I would be happy if we ended up with a depth of good young midfielders that complemented each other and worked well as a unit. Even if we don't get a Brownlow medalist or All Australian.