2022 List management, trading, drafting

[Maltopia]

Chad gives our midfield a different look. It's never going to be the same kind of midfield we had with Kennedy in the lead. We can play a more agile and open kind of midfield. It will be a bit more like Richmond of recent times. We don't have to be the contested ball kings we once were, but rather a midfield better at creating turnovers and taking territory on offence with our run and carry and kicking skills.

I like the current mix of players we now have. We should use midfield rotations from Papley and Heeney as a strength. Gulden and Campbell will also likely be players we can rotate through midfield stoppages in due course.

It shouldn't be long before Sheldrick will add to our contested ball winning in the midfield. We drafted him for that reason, with the knowledge that we let Hewett go and Kennedy was headed for retirement.

With a core of 5 stoppage midfielders in Chad, Mills, Parker, Rowbottom and Sheldrick, and several others that can rotate through the midfield, we don't have a need for any more, especially since it's a young group without any looking to retire for at least several years.

It's important to have a good list, but it's also important not to go overboard. If we have enough depth in a position, we shouldn't look to recruit expensive players and turn it into superfluous depth, because we want our good players to be playing in the AFL, not the VFL and on their way to another club.

Good post. Only thing I would question is the claim of no retirements for several (4-7? years). Parker would be one we may not renew after his current contract given development of others, age and likelihood of increasing soft tissue damage/recovery time in the next couple (2-3) years.

[Ludwig]

Parker is contracted through 2025. He will be 33 in 2026, so borderline if we can count on him beyond 2025. We have 4 post seasons between now and the 2026 season. I'm sure we'll have plenty of midfielders coming onto our list in that time, so it's not a worry at all.

Angus Anderson from our academy is a big inside mid that we might draft this year.

[Maltopia]

I’ve mentioned most of this before, I think our priorities are:

1 - tall support for McDonald for post Franklin years, as Almartey and McClean have not shown yet they can be a strong number 2 (eg like a Brody Mihocek or a Jack Darling).
2 - Small forward to fill the Wicks/Bell/Clarke role
3 - tallish defender to replace Rampe (Gould hopefully?)
4 - ruck post Hickey to support Ladhams

I agree our midfield is not a priority, though mid season some of us were really worried that it was lacking with Kennedy on the decline, Hewett gone, and RB having some poorer games. Florent had some bad games too but has really performed since being shifted to defence.

[707]

Going to be an interesting draft, I really don't know what we need and what will be available with our picks. Two first rounders but both shaping to be 15-20 range.

[TheBloods]

It doesn't matter who the others are but just counting these together. They are 14 players we are talking about. I am sure we will have another Ruckman in that list soon. And don't underestimate that the list has no tall forward that is going to kick goals consistently. McDonald is great but won't do it consistently for another 3-4 years. It means we would have 16-17 excellent players on the list who will demand top dollar in a very similar age group. I just think it is very difficult to keep the list of these many high quality players demanding top dollar together. Lets see what happens.

Wrong . When Mcdonald Sheldrick etc are dominating and earning big bucks , Heeney Paps will be older and making less money . We will never be paying more than 5-7 players a fortune at a time . In the mean time we stay on top of it by cutting the players who arent must keeps and who will be a pain in the arse for us financially . Last yr it was Hewett, year before Aliir , . If we lose 1 so so player on decent cash every year that gives us breathing space to keep the great players together .

[jono2707]

Wrong . When Mcdonald Sheldrick etc are dominating and earning big bucks , Heeney Paps will be older and making less money . We will never be paying more than 5-7 players a fortune at a time . In the mean time we stay on top of it by cutting the players who arent must keeps and who will be a pain in the arse for us financially . Last yr it was Hewett, year before Aliir , . If we lose 1 so so player on decent cash every year that gives us breathing space to keep the great players together .

Why would we be paying them decent cash to begin with then?

[Ludwig]

I’ve mentioned most of this before, I think our priorities are:

1 - tall support for McDonald for post Franklin years, as Almartey and McClean have not shown yet they can be a strong number 2 (eg like a Brody Mihocek or a Jack Darling).
2 - Small forward to fill the Wicks/Bell/Clarke role
3 - tallish defender to replace Rampe (Gould hopefully?)
4 - ruck post Hickey to support Ladhams

I agree our midfield is not a priority, though mid season some of us were really worried that it was lacking with Kennedy on the decline, Hewett gone, and RB having some poorer games. Florent had some bad games too but has really performed since being shifted to defence.

Agree that the priorities are KPPs this year.

I think we have plenty of small forwards. We can continue with Papley, Hayward and Heeney as the core group, with Clarke, Wicks and Ronke as defensive and depth players. We also have HHK, who can play in several positions; he looks very promising. Corey Warner is another possibility. He needs to become a more consistent player, but has good traits to build on.

It's hard to say if McAndrew will make it. He's missed a lot of games this year, but has improved overall. He takes a good mark, but kicks poorly. We haven't played him enough in the ruck this year. I wouldn't mind picking up another developing ruckman for our rookie list. I'm assuming that both Sinclair and Naismith will be delisted.

RB's poor games were the same ones as when the whole team performed poorly. Otherwise he's had a good year. He's quite capable of being a more offensive minded midfielder, but has been instructed to be our midfield stopper, a role that he's played very well. It's unappreciated by some how important his contribution has been to our midfield. The challenge for him is continue his defensive role and try to get his possessions up in the 20s as well. He can use Mills as a model of a midfielder who will put defense first when required, but still can win plenty of ball. Mills is a very special player. We are often outplayed in the ruck, so need to take a defensive posture at stoppages when it's more likely that the tap is going to the opposition.

[Ludwig]

Wrong . When Mcdonald Sheldrick etc are dominating and earning big bucks , Heeney Paps will be older and making less money . We will never be paying more than 5-7 players a fortune at a time . In the mean time we stay on top of it by cutting the players who arent must keeps and who will be a pain in the arse for us financially . Last yr it was Hewett, year before Aliir , . If we lose 1 so so player on decent cash every year that gives us breathing space to keep the great players together .

Heeney's current contract runs through 2028. Hopefully,, McDonald and Sheldrick are dominating and on big bucks before 2029. Papley is the same age as Heeney.

We have a lot of players who will be looking for big bucks in the coming years if they live up to expectations. The plan should be to try to manage our salary cap so we don't have to lose players we want to keep. We wanted to let Hewett go, but we lost Aliir because of salary cap pressure. I'm sure we will face similar challenges in the future. Hopefully we learned that getting players like Franklin and Tippett comes at a cost that lingers for a very long time.

[TheBloods]

Why would we be paying them decent cash to begin with then?

Their value changes as others come on . Remember 2-3 years ago Florent was our future star mid ? No one saw Chad coming . Now Florent is in defence and Chad will win a Brownlow . Same goes for Hewett , Aliir . Right now there are a few who are on decent money on the list but when their next contracts run out , their value will have dropped and we will reassess how much we want to pay them . And they probably wont like it and will walk . Thats the way it goes , especially for us without COLA

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Heeney's current contract runs through 2028. Hopefully,, McDonald and Sheldrick are dominating and on big bucks before 2029. Papley is the same age as Heeney.

We have a lot of players who will be looking for big bucks in the coming years if they live up to expectations. The plan should be to try to manage our salary cap so we don't have to lose players we want to keep. We wanted to let Hewett go, but we lost Aliir because of salary cap pressure. I'm sure we will face similar challenges in the future. Hopefully we learned that getting players like Franklin and Tippett comes at a cost that lingers for a very long time.

What do you think i said ! We will keep the players we want to keep unless they are sooks like Dawson , and the rest will have to stay for less or leave . Club will not break its bank for a bottom 6-8 player

[i'm-uninformed2]

We just locked in Roberts for the standard cheapo two year extension

Roberts Commits

[TheBloods]

We just locked in Roberts for the standard cheapo two year extension

Roberts Commits

Good , he will be a star

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Those continually calling for more mdfielders, or wanting to convert current Swasn into midfielders - seem to forget that's there's only so many forward pockets where one can store superfluous midfielder.

I think we have an exellent spread of midfielders forming, so much so that I think the days when the same 4 attend 90% of centre bounces will be a thing of the past.

[707]

We just locked in Roberts for the standard cheapo two year extension

Roberts Commits

Nice. Out of his depth on debut but a lot to work with.

We won't have salary cap problems going forward, Buddy's massive contract caused us some pain but that is now all in the past.

I'm wondering if we are doing something sneaky this trade period, we've been very quiet as we always are, could we be about to raid GW$ for a Hopper? Things have never looked so bright for us and so dim for GW$. Hopper wouldn't even have to move house.

[stevoswan]

Additional player ? He would walk into our midfield

Yep.....as an additional player.

[The Big Cat]

Nice. Out of his depth on debut but a lot to work with.

We won't have salary cap problems going forward, Buddy's massive contract caused us some pain but that is now all in the past.

I'm wondering if we are doing something sneaky this trade period, we've been very quiet as we always are, could we be about to raid GW$ for a Hopper? Things have never looked so bright for us and so dim for GW$. Hopper wouldn't even have to move house.

I think Taranto is the bloke desperate to stay in Sydney. But he’s on a lot of dough.