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I know that there has been a recent focus on our current need for midfield strength and I don’t disagree with this perception. Nonetheless, I believe we should continue with the development of our current midfielders and ignore the temptation to recruit an older top-level midfielder like Martin or Mitchell. Only Parker, at 29, is anywhere close to retirement, and he is signed through age 32, season 2025. Excluding JPK, which has already been factored in, we won’t be losing any midfielders for until at least 2026 if we can manage to keep the ones already on our list.
We can start with the midfield that finished the game on Friday, i.e. Campbell in for JPK, and to that we add Rowbottom, who will come into the side this Friday v. Richmond. That’s a very solid group of midfielders, consider that 6 are still under 24 yo.
To this we can add Sheldrick and Roberts, who both look to be very promising young midfielders who can win plenty of contested ball. Stephens has been improving, and although he might be primarily an outside player, I can see him continuing to grow into a decent AFL midfielder. Marc Sheather has been playing well since drafted, and has particularly looked good the past several weeks in defence. I’ve been impressed with Corey Warner and now feel very strongly that he might be as good a pick as his older brother. They are different players in some respects, in that Corey is very quick, but doesn’t have the power of Chad, but who knows how well he might develop in the coming years. I can see him as a lock down defender or small forward. His kicking has looked much improved in recent weeks. And then there is Angus Anderson, who I believe is a very good chance of being drafted this year. So that’s 6 additional good midfield prospects to add to the ones who are now playing. So no regrets about creating space by trading Hewett, despite knowing that he's been a very good player, and certainly one who I've long admired. The larger picture looks better without Hewett when considering list demographics, team balance and TPP.
However, what we do need are a couple of additional key position players. I hope we take Mutaz El Nour in the mid-season draft, or another KPP. We go into this year’s main draft with 2 probable picks in the teens and another in the 30s. I think we should try to pick up at least another KPP, hopefully a forward in that draft.
McDonald looks to be the mainstay of the post-Franklin era. From there we need to fill in 2 other good key forwards and one depth forward. Things can change, but as of now I can see Amartey as our 2nd key forward and McLean as a depth forward, which would leave room for another high quality forward, although we would have to be very lucky to pick one up in the draft of the McDonald quality.
That’s my mid-season summary of how I think we stand on list management. It’s always a moving target and we’ll see how things progress this year.
We can start with the midfield that finished the game on Friday, i.e. Campbell in for JPK, and to that we add Rowbottom, who will come into the side this Friday v. Richmond. That’s a very solid group of midfielders, consider that 6 are still under 24 yo.
To this we can add Sheldrick and Roberts, who both look to be very promising young midfielders who can win plenty of contested ball. Stephens has been improving, and although he might be primarily an outside player, I can see him continuing to grow into a decent AFL midfielder. Marc Sheather has been playing well since drafted, and has particularly looked good the past several weeks in defence. I’ve been impressed with Corey Warner and now feel very strongly that he might be as good a pick as his older brother. They are different players in some respects, in that Corey is very quick, but doesn’t have the power of Chad, but who knows how well he might develop in the coming years. I can see him as a lock down defender or small forward. His kicking has looked much improved in recent weeks. And then there is Angus Anderson, who I believe is a very good chance of being drafted this year. So that’s 6 additional good midfield prospects to add to the ones who are now playing. So no regrets about creating space by trading Hewett, despite knowing that he's been a very good player, and certainly one who I've long admired. The larger picture looks better without Hewett when considering list demographics, team balance and TPP.
However, what we do need are a couple of additional key position players. I hope we take Mutaz El Nour in the mid-season draft, or another KPP. We go into this year’s main draft with 2 probable picks in the teens and another in the 30s. I think we should try to pick up at least another KPP, hopefully a forward in that draft.
McDonald looks to be the mainstay of the post-Franklin era. From there we need to fill in 2 other good key forwards and one depth forward. Things can change, but as of now I can see Amartey as our 2nd key forward and McLean as a depth forward, which would leave room for another high quality forward, although we would have to be very lucky to pick one up in the draft of the McDonald quality.
That’s my mid-season summary of how I think we stand on list management. It’s always a moving target and we’ll see how things progress this year.
I have two questions about the midfield: are they good enough? and will they reach the level fast enough?
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