2023 List Management

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Footy Classified: Cornes criticizes for not improving our list in the off season - citing salary cap issues
Which led Lloyd and Hutchinson to discuss an exit strategy for Buddy. They then went to town on the use of Heeney, comparing him unfavourably to Bont, Petracca and Oliver (I thought the latter an odd comparison). The suggestion is he should spend time in the midfield.
Not exactly radical revelations but there we are
Finally, Wilson pointed out that there's a brain drain affecting the AFL with assistants leaving the industry because of the soft cap, and cited Sydney as the worst affected.

[i'm-uninformed2]

In terms of the Academy, I know there's been a bit of focus on Cleary, but starting to see Caleb May's name pop onto a few draft watch lists. At 205cm and 90+kg he is obviously a good size, but keen to hear from anyone who's seen him play.

[waswan]

Footy Classified: Cornes criticizes for not improving our list in the off season - citing salary cap issues
Which led Lloyd and Hutchinson to discuss an exit strategy for Buddy. They then went to town on the use of Heeney, comparing him unfavourably to Bont, Petracca and Oliver (I thought the latter an odd comparison). The suggestion is he should spend time in the midfield.
Not exactly radical revelations but there we are
Finally, Wilson pointed out that there's a brain drain affecting the AFL with assistants leaving the industry because of the soft cap, and cited Sydney as the worst affected.

Im the first to push anyone into the mids but i think Heeney is still more dangerous as a fwd, he needs to go in there when it its not happening up fwd.
He is like a Martin type, the strange thing is, id prefer to play against Martin as a Fwd then as a mid. Lining up side by side at the centre bounce alongside him would be terrifying. Having the assisntance of the other defenders would be a better prospect.

Im never one to give anyone an injury cop out but there always are questions as to whether Heeney is playing injured.

Seems wierd to have 6 months off and come back still injured. If its chronic he shouldnt be our marquee player.

[dejavoodoo44]

In terms of the Academy, I know there's been a bit of focus on Cleary, but starting to see Caleb May's name pop onto a few draft watch lists. At 205cm and 90+kg he is obviously a good size, but keen to hear from anyone who's seen him play.

I'm a bit the other way, as I rate him as likely to be drafted, but I'd like to see how the experts rate him against all the other young rucks that I haven't seen. There's some sort of chance that he could be rated as the best ruck in the draft, since he consistently beats his opponents. Which if the case, he might be attracting bids around the 20 mark. If there's a few others rated more highly, he could be slip through to the rookie draft.

Anyway, since I haven't seen most of his competitors, I'll just go through a few pros and cons from what I've seen. The obviously best part of his game, is his ability to win taps. Our midfielders, like Cleary and Kirk, have benefited from him consistently putting the ball on to their chests. Even last season, when he played as an underager, I thought our midfield looked better when he did a turn in the middle. Stats wise, he averages 32 hitouts a game in the Talent League, where the next best is 24 per game. Whether this is largely a result of his size, I'm not sure, but in the last game against the Lions, their 204cm ruck was soundly beaten.

He has other skills, and is certainly more advanced than McAndrew was in his time at the academy. He appears to see the game pretty well and can get some nifty handballs away in traffic. He's also quite an accurate kick and can take a strong mark.

The main thing that could be improved is his pace. I tend to like ruckmen who can pound opposition midfielders into the ground. While he can stick a tackle, I don't think he has the explosive pace to really hurry them up. Similar around the ground. He can get to ruck contests and present himself as a marking option down the line, but I'm not sure if he has the speed to separate himself from defenders.

Our other academy ruck, Harrison Podmore-Taylor, is a different style of player, but I think he's also a prospect. I don't recall seeing him at U16 level, so I suspect that he might be a recent convert, brought in because of his athletic ability. At 201cm, he's fast, agile and tends to win ruck contests with his leap. He also hits the contests hard and puts the opposition under pressure when he's around. However, what tends to make me think that he's a recent convert, is that he tends to drop marks. Which possibly means that he has trouble reading the ball flight? Although, I think every academy game this season has been played in windy conditions, so maybe that was the problem? Either way, he's got enough size and pace to make me think he's worth at least a VFL contract, to see if he can be turned into genuine key position/ruck.

I'm not sure what the representative program is for later in the year, but hopefully both will get a go with the NSW/ACT Rams or the Allies, so they can further test themselves against other highly rated youngsters.

[chalbilto]

Both young ruck prospects sound promising. Look forward in seeing how they progress.

[dejavoodoo44]

Both young ruck prospects sound promising. Look forward in seeing how they progress.

Yes, but I'd probably want more than just my word for it though.

[chalbilto]

Hey Deja don't sell yourself short as from previous posts, you have shown that you watch the young players and keep up to date with their progress.

[Maltopia]

Yes, but I'd probably want more than just my word for it though.

It’s great to hear of these prospects, even if doesn’t end up working. Thanks for giving us something to hope for

[caj23]

The top rated ruck in last year's draft didn't get taken until the mid 20's, clubs are reluctant to use early picks on them.

I don't think we have to worry about an early bid on May unless he's developed into a super elite prospect

[liz]

There was a match at the weekend between a combined Giants/Swans academy team and SA. The Swans academy representatives included, amongst others, Kirk, Gander, May, Webster, Rider, Lugsdin, Podmore-Taylor.

If anyone is so inclined, they can watch a replay here:

2023 SA U18 v Giants/Swans Academy - YouTube

And for a team sheet:

https://aflnswact.com.au/the-teams-giants-swans-academies-vs-south-australia/

If anyone wants to watch the match without knowing the result or anything else about it, stop reading now.

I don't know how SA compare to the other state U18 teams this year, but they were classier in every department than the combined academy team. A little bit bigger, quicker, more agile, more purposeful in their movement and disposal, and far better skilled. Their marking ability all over the ground was far superior, but the delivery into the forward line combined with marking prowess and leading patterns was the biggest gulf between the two sides.

However, after a first quarter where they were utterly outplayed and only SA's wasteful conversion in front of goal kept the scoreboard respectable, the academies team did dig in for the rest of the game. They upped their tackling pressure around the ground and were able to stymy some of SA's movement. But when they moved the ball forward, it was all a bit haphazard compared to the streamlined system of SA. Their goals tended to be scrappy rather than smooth.

Without looking up any stats, I suspect Kirk led the possession count for the academies team but I would describe his game as industrious rather than classy. Rider kicked a couple of goals, while Gander scored one and had a couple of close misses. Lugsdin also scored a goal. May competed well in the ruck and was probably credited with a respectable number of hitouts but few (for either team) were clearly to advantage. Moraschi (from the Giants' academy) was the one smaller player with the pace and evasiness through the academies team midfield to break some lines, and the tall, woolly-haired McCormack was the other Giants player who caught my attention in flashes.

For those who will inevitably ask "but what was the score", SA finished with 11.14.80 to the Academies' tally of 6.8.44.

[707]

Reading about how far SA is in quality ahead of the best NSW can offer makes me remember the lunatic rantings a few years ago by Eddie Maguire against our academy, the kind of rantings that led to the farcical NGA system.

He's still on about it!

To think that this biased idiot (with a lot of dreadful gaffes and opinions in his past) is sometimes suggested as a future AFL Commissioner by the equally biased Vicmedia. Please save us!

[Auntie.Gerald]

For me the difficult area to reconcile is that we were in a window and we didnt go with a trade to bolster our team leading into 2022 or 2023

I mean really bolster like the Bears or the Cats majorly did...........players that would make a massive difference come finals and the season week in week out

We all know it is the tipping point of talent that kills.......it is the 4 or 5 gun mids or the 3 or 4 gun forwards that is just such a hard matchup for the opposition to counter NOT the 2 or 3 !

we dont have that right now vs the leaders in the comp

I do totally get that maybe we couldnt get what we wanted (yet some clubs can) and that is real and may have been the case. If so draft picks of Sheldrick and Roberts make sense......sort of !

I do totally get that maybe Roberts and Sheldrick are perceived as 10 year players and were worth they weight in plutonium and the same for Konstanty !

Yet as supporters that appears difficult too measure right now......its muddy and not clear just like the rise and rise of Dawso which took many of us by surprise or the opposite with a Stephens pick 5?

Yet how funny is footy.......

Cats nailed their drafts and trades but are struggling with injuries and closing out games

Swans didnt bite the bullet and go for the juggler by giving up some draft currency for a serious trade...........and thank god we didnt given the injuries

But if we didnt get the injuries it is fair to say we certainly went over weight drafting and under weight trades for immediate impact in our window

Now all of this is null and void if we secure a weapon for 2024 ......... a 50 goal plus weapon and or serious KPD via trades plus a tanky early pick

[i'm-uninformed2]

We still have a long window.

We have Mills, Heeney and Paps for another five years.

We have a batch of elite young talent from Blakey back in age, who've been a bit inconsistent this year and are going through some growing pains (a la Melbourne in '19 and '20) but boy it's a great group.

We do have some list work to do, as our older talent in Bud, Ramps are going; we've always known our KPP stocks needed replenishing; and we need one or two other positional weaknesses addressed (ie: small forward). But we've got a cracker of a draft hand this year, and our salary cap situation has eased. So if Kinnear and co do their job right, we can recover quickly.

[707]

Small forward is hopefully Konstanty

[goods53]

I could never understand why we cut BOC from our list a player 24yo 193cm 93kg ( we need the height) i thought he was coming along ok his marking & kicking had improved out of sight as we know GWS picked him up
their VFL side 5 wins 2 losses in 2023 so far his disposals in his 7 games 25,22,21,24,23,19,23 i think that shows his going well besides Sheldrick i dont know of many others in our VFL side with better stats & consistent