2020 trading, drafting and list management: players and personnel

[waswan]

Sorry should qualify that by putting my thoughts in the context of list reductions. If no reductions, Ling will be kept on our roster. If not, then he could come under consideration. COR, Cunningham, Mills and Fox can play the lockdown role and would be ahead at this stage.

Would like to see him in another role, was pretty good in the contest.
I wonder how many other 1st Round picks are groomed as lockdown defenders.....injuries aside

[Markwebbos]

BTW Brad Crouch has decided he wants to stay at the Crows, which means they are unlikely to get the #2 pick as compensation. Big call looms after Brad Crouch declares he'd prefer to stay a Crow

I think if we take pick 3 or 4 or even 5 to the draft because we win some more games, there won't be many on here upset by that.

You'd think we'd be in with a chance against Freo, Demons and Carlton, but could also lose all three.

[Ludwig]

Would like to see him in another role, was pretty good in the contest.
I wonder how many other 1st Round picks are groomed as lockdown defenders.....injuries aside

I would say that Ling is being trained as a lock down small defender, which is a much more challenging role than it used to be, with the increasing number of quality small forwards going around. I believe he will be a rebounding defending in due course, but no player can be only an offensive weapon these days. Everyone needs to defend and it's something that's not drilled into teenage players before they're drafted.

It's interesting to see that my first choice for pick 14 in the 2017 draft, Ed Richards, has seemed to have lost his ability to kick the footy straight. The start of his career was fantastic, but he seems to have stalled. He's not the only one. Jayden Stephenson has gone off the rails as well. There are a lot of good players from recent drafts who have lost form this year. I think it's an indication that we shouldn't jump to conclusions about player performance based on 2020 alone. Things could be very different next year.

[Markwebbos]

Would like to see him in another role, was pretty good in the contest.
I wonder how many other 1st Round picks are groomed as lockdown defenders.....injuries aside

After his shimmy and kick inside 50 the other week, I think he’s a naturally offensive player. I hope this defensive training is part of his development not a long-term plan.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Just wondering.

The vocal swans supporters that haven't thought much of Geelong and their recruitment strategy.

Im curious ......can we learn from Geelong and their strategy? What could we embrace that has worked

Top of the table in 2019

2nd this year so far

A significant reserve bank of early draft picks coming up via smart trading

[dazedjosh]

Ok, this one is bit out of left field, but I want to put it out there to see what people think. Specifically, bringing a veteran in to tutor some of our young guys.

Now normally I'd say we have a good mix of veterans to train up the kids, Rampe to teach the defenders. Buddy and Reid in the forward line, Parker and JPK in the guts. But Hawthorn's demise and this article (Do these veteran Hawks have any trade value? ) got me thinking about Isaac Smith

Hear me out, it's a bit unusual, but I think it has some merit. We have lot of young wingers/flankers, without an elite experienced winger to tutor them. Florent, Stephens, JMac, COR, Foot, Bell, Elijah, and even Dawson and Heeney to an extent. We'll soon have Gulden and Campbell joining us. But our best winger above the age of 25 is Cunningham.

With that in mind, I would actually like to see us make a move for Isaac Smith during the trade period.

Think about it, he's UFA, so he wouldn't cost us anything. He's been an elite winger for a number of years and obviously knows what a winning culture is like so he would fit in immediately with our culture. But he also knows what Bloods culture is like as an outsider, as he had some massive battles against us, so he'd be able to boost some of the kids up to remind them how respected the red and white guernsey is. The biggest thing for me would be the tutoring of the younger guys. Guys like Stephens and Florent would learn so much from him.

Are there any other vets you'd like to see us chase?

[Markwebbos]

Just wondering.

The vocal swans supporters that haven't thought much of Geelong and their recruitment strategy.

Im curious ......can we learn from Geelong and their strategy? What could we embrace that has worked

Top of the table in 2019

2nd this year so far

A significant reserve bank of early draft picks coming up via smart trading

They did a very very good deal for Tim Kelly, who was a draft steal.

You could argue we could have played harder ball on Mitchell and Jones, but I think they were both out of contract.

Otherwise the Cats have been topping up with older players and will fall off a cliff soon enough. I reckon it’s now or never for their premiership.

[Markwebbos]

Ok, this one is bit out of left field, but I want to put it out there to see what people think. Specifically, bringing a veteran in to tutor some of our young guys.

Now normally I'd say we have a good mix of veterans to train up the kids, Rampe to teach the defenders. Buddy and Reid in the forward line, Parker and JPK in the guts. But Hawthorn's demise and this article (Do these veteran Hawks have any trade value? ) got me thinking about Isaac Smith

Hear me out, it's a bit unusual, but I think it has some merit. We have lot of young wingers/flankers, without an elite experienced winger to tutor them. Florent, Stephens, JMac, COR, Foot, Bell, Elijah, and even Dawson and Heeney to an extent. We'll soon have Gulden and Campbell joining us. But our best winger above the age of 25 is Cunningham.

With that in mind, I would actually like to see us make a move for Isaac Smith during the trade period.

Think about it, he's UFA, so he wouldn't cost us anything. He's been an elite winger for a number of years and obviously knows what a winning culture is like so he would fit in immediately with our culture. But he also knows what Bloods culture is like as an outsider, as he had some massive battles against us, so he'd be able to boost some of the kids up to remind them how respected the red and white guernsey is. The biggest thing for me would be the tutoring of the younger guys. Guys like Stephens and Florent would learn so much from him.

Are there any other vets you'd like to see us chase?

I’m confused as to whether we are recruiting him as a player or as a coach?

[dazedjosh]

I’m confused as to whether we are recruiting him as a player or as a coach?

Player, he's still got a couple of years left in him and as an on field tutor for our younger guys I think we would be beneficial.

[TheBloods]

Just wondering.

The vocal swans supporters that haven't thought much of Geelong and their recruitment strategy.

Im curious ......can we learn from Geelong and their strategy? What could we embrace that has worked

Top of the table in 2019

2nd this year so far

A significant reserve bank of early draft picks coming up via smart trading

Still don't think much of them. Their top dozen players are great. Their bottom half not so much. They will be exposed in finals as they are every year. Their list management strategy has left their depth of talent very thin.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Ok, this one is bit out of left field, but I want to put it out there to see what people think. Specifically, bringing a veteran in to tutor some of our young guys.

Now normally I'd say we have a good mix of veterans to train up the kids, Rampe to teach the defenders. Buddy and Reid in the forward line, Parker and JPK in the guts. But Hawthorn's demise and this article (Do these veteran Hawks have any trade value? ) got me thinking about Isaac Smith

Hear me out, it's a bit unusual, but I think it has some merit. We have lot of young wingers/flankers, without an elite experienced winger to tutor them. Florent, Stephens, JMac, COR, Foot, Bell, Elijah, and even Dawson and Heeney to an extent. We'll soon have Gulden and Campbell joining us. But our best winger above the age of 25 is Cunningham.

With that in mind, I would actually like to see us make a move for Isaac Smith during the trade period.

Think about it, he's UFA, so he wouldn't cost us anything. He's been an elite winger for a number of years and obviously knows what a winning culture is like so he would fit in immediately with our culture. But he also knows what Bloods culture is like as an outsider, as he had some massive battles against us, so he'd be able to boost some of the kids up to remind them how respected the red and white guernsey is. The biggest thing for me would be the tutoring of the younger guys. Guys like Stephens and Florent would learn so much from him.

Are there any other vets you'd like to see us chase?

I don’t mind the strategy, not sold on the target though. I think getting Hodge to the Lions was a master stroke, and if we could find someone out there to have similar effect on our youngsters than I’m all for it.

We are slightly different to the Lions though as we have some premiership winning. veteran players still on our list, and we’ll get two of those back next year ( all going well ) in Joey and Bud. Not necessarily to mentor our wings as you suggest but still to provide leadership and make the team walk taller on the field .

I can’t wait to see this young group play with Buddy in the side. Rowbottom , Dawson and Stephens delivering beautiful passes to him. He’ll kick 100 next year if he’s fit


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[dazedjosh]

There's a part of me that would like to see JPK and Bud come back for the final game this year, just so the kids can see what the Swans team looks like with them in the lineup.

Yeah the Hodge move was in the back of my mind as well. But we don't need a Hodge type as we've got Rampe as a player and McVeigh as a coach so we're covered there. The wing is the one position where we lack an onfield tutor, or even a coach really. That's what got me thinking of Smith. If not Smith, then I wouldn't mind us looking at other veteran wingers, but I think he'd fit the bill nicely, he'd be able to give us 10-15 games for a couple of seasons and he teach the kids so much. I can't think of many other free agents that would fit that bill.

[Markwebbos]

I don’t know enough about the game to know if wingmen need specialist “tutoring” or how long it would take a new one like Smith to learn our game plan, running patterns etc.

[Ludwig]

It's hard to argue with Geelong's list management. They have stayed in contention year after year over a long period of time. They've been quite good at finding quality players lower down the draft as well as mature aged players (Stewart, Menagola). They also produce a lot of mediocre players and have to keep refreshing the list as the older players retire. The team they fielded yesterday averaged more than 3 years older than ours. That's a huge difference.

We've been on the opposite end of the spectrum as far as list building goes. It would be impossible for us to go a Geelong list management strategy now.

We probably could have stayed in the top 8 these past 2 years if we had a Geelong or Hawthorne list management strategy. But I think our strategy will pay off and is more sustainable.

I really enjoyed seeing our kids walk of the field in victory Thursday and singing the team song. It was like they won the premiership. There's a lot of enthusiasm in our players. It's good young group that's going places.

- - - Updated - - -

I don’t know enough about the game to know if wingmen need specialist “tutoring” or how long it would take a new one like Smith to learn our game plan, running patterns etc.

A wingman just has to wing it. Experience not required.

[Thunder Shaker]

Just wondering.

The vocal swans supporters that haven't thought much of Geelong and their recruitment strategy.

Im curious ......can we learn from Geelong and their strategy? What could we embrace that has worked

Top of the table in 2019

2nd this year so far

A significant reserve bank of early draft picks coming up via smart trading

No risky 10-year deals that eat up a significant portion of our salary cap. Buddy's nice to have, but he's given us nothing this year due to injury. We're in a weak position to offer decent deals for good players until Franklin retires due to the cap pressure.

Don't trade out players for less than they are worth. If Geelong could get two first-round draft picks for Kelly, we should have been able to get more for Jones than a second-round draft pick in the thirties. There are other examples.

Don't chase players at other clubs with a history of injuries. Games that Joe Daniher has played since the start of 2018: 11 (and none this year, last played 15 months ago).

Geelong have done well because they keep their list balanced and have avoided these recruitment problems.

Geelong have been consistently competitive for many years. The last time Geelong finished in the bottom 25% of the ladder was 1975 (11th of 12). Since 1975, Geelong's finishes in the bottom half of the ladder: 1977 (8/12), 1982 (9/12), 1983 (9/12), 1986 (9/12), 1988 (9/14), 1990 (10/14), 1998 (12/16), 1999 (11/16), 2001 (12/16), 2002 (9/16), 2003 (12/16), 2006 (10/16) and 2015 (10/18). Geelong's overall season records here.