2023 List Management

[707]

Why are people retiring Hickey? Still a very good ruckman, the best one at the Swans!

Only certainties are retirement of Buddy, and due to not making the grade after four years the delisting of Gould. Other than those two the balance is, like my hair, more shades of grey.

Certainly there must be doubts about Paddy McCartin's future from a health perspective.

I'd think of the experienced players, Clarke, Reid, Stephens, Wicks, Melican will be touch and go if they are OOC.

A stronger VFL side from now will give a better indication of the claims of players like Rankin, Magor, HHK to get a 2024 contract.

[Auntie.Gerald]

I’m not sure who is saying hickey will not be renewed in 2024?

He is finishing his 3yr contract end of this season 2023

He will definitely be kept on for 2024 in my opinion

My comment was that he might not be the total solution for 2024 ie if the opportunity arises for a more a ruckman to join with years on his side then we might make that happen

Ladhams for me is not a no1 for a top4 team

Hickey turns 33yrs of age in March next year and is injury prone

Our other two boys ie McAndrew is cheap as chips and needs more time and Owens is a ruck / key forward and is cheap and needs years to develop

I suspect this trade if the opportunity presents we may go for a ruck as a trade and or free

[Maltopia]

I’m really confused what this even means ?


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If one or both extended, then they need to be matched with delistings/retirements as they are taking Paddy’s and Reid’s main list spots while they are on long term injury list.

If both, that means we have to lose at least five more players in addition to Franklin and we assume Paddy, if we:

Keep Reid
Use both our own and Hawks’ 1st round pick
Use both our own and Hawks’ 2nd round pick

That’s assuming no trades that reduce our number of picks, such as our two second round picks for Gold Coast first round.

And also assuming we don’t also want to rookie draft some Academy players which would mean more than seven exits through retirement, delisting or trade.

[Thunder Shaker]

If both, that means we have to lose at least five more players in addition to Franklin and we assume Paddy, if we:

Keep Reid
Use both our own and Hawks’ 1st round pick
Use both our own and Hawks’ 2nd round pick

Hawthorn may object to this plan because they still hold their first-round pick (provisional pick 3).

[Maltopia]

Hawthorn may object to this plan because they still hold their first-round pick (provisional pick 3).

Oops! One less player for us to exit from the system then unless we intend to us a third round pick.

[707]

Oops! One less player for us to exit from the system then unless we intend to us a third round pick.

Our third round picks are almost locked at 41 and whatever ours is, 45'ish, so I'd expect us to use them either by pick swapping or matching academy bid/s.

I'd expect us to be a player for Gold Coast first which would reduce the number of picks we take to the ND. Two picks before 12 plus a couple of late academy boys and go home.

We weren't expected to use a RD pick last year but did when Magor was still on the board. probably wouldn't be RD this year except for listing accademy players.

But who knows, all I do know is we have an unexpectedly good ND hand as at the end on June

[Roadrunner]

Why are people retiring Hickey? Still a very good ruckman, the best one at the Swans!

Only certainties are retirement of Buddy, and due to not making the grade after four years the delisting of Gould. Other than those two the balance is, like my hair, more shades of grey.

Certainly there must be doubts about Paddy McCartin's future from a health perspective.

I'd think of the experienced players, Clarke, Reid, Stephens, Wicks, Melican will be touch and go if they are OOC.

A stronger VFL side from now will give a better indication of the claims of players like Rankin, Magor, HHK to get a 2024 contract.

Clarke and Wicks can go- the Pelican is needed for depth. Sammy is a keeper if he recovers fully. Stephens may be traded if he doesn’t perform, same for Gould. Question mark re Paddy- he and the medicos will need to make that call over the next 3-4 months. It will be sad if he has to hang up the boots but understandable.????

Stretch and Ladhams should be ok in the ruck as backup to big Tom, who may be good for another 2 years if managed. Of course, if we can pick up another ruckman without costing too much, I wouldn’t say no, but a backup/ replacement for Paddy is what we need most!

[waswan]

I’m not sure who is saying hickey will not be renewed in 2024?

He is finishing his 3yr contract end of this season 2023

He will definitely be kept on for 2024 in my opinion

My comment was that he might not be the total solution for 2024 ie if the opportunity arises for a more a ruckman to join with years on his side then we might make that happen

Ladhams for me is not a no1 for a top4 team

Hickey turns 33yrs of age in March next year and is injury prone

Our other two boys ie McAndrew is cheap as chips and needs more time and Owens is a ruck / key forward and is cheap and needs years to develop

I suspect this trade if the opportunity presents we may go for a ruck as a trade and or free

Ladhams is our No 1 Ruck now and is more then capable going forward.
Not many his age at the same level.

Hickey is 33 and missed the first 2 months of footy and has looked good in probably 2 games this year. He is retiring himself.

Its the old Mcveigh, Kennedy story, head says yes, body says no.

[Auntie.Gerald]

waswan........do you think Ladhams would help our hinder the top 4 teams right now as their Ruckman vs their current no1 ruck?

I totally hear your point but I do worry Pistol Pete is not a top 4 ruckman not really close.

IK do suspect that would hurt us in final series games..........just like Hickey was targeted in our GF but Hickey general season was valuable for us vs our other options.

[waswan]

waswan........do you think Ladhams would help our hinder the top 4 teams right now as their Ruckman vs their current no1 ruck?

I totally hear your point but I do worry Pistol Pete is not a top 4 ruckman not really close.

IK do suspect that would hurt us in final series games..........just like Hickey was targeted in our GF but Hickey general season was valuable for us vs our other options.

Ladhams hasnt got to Hickeys heights yet but he is closer then Hickey is to returning to them.

The dumb stuff will subside and he will be good going fwd.
He is mobile, takes a mark and can get possessions. Rucks across the comp are thin, Ladhams is Top 10 in a small pool

[Auntie.Gerald]

Ladhams has already evolved no doubt in his last two seasons.

His trajectory of ability is up for debate hence our chat.

If Richmond can win 3 premierships with a basher and a charger as a ruckman in Nannygate........ maybe we can also......but i sense that is a circumstance of who was around him and we dont have an outlier midfield vs the competition.

I hope Pete can be that guy that defies all odds and level jumps significantly as it is super difficult to be right re development and high performance.

I felt our output from the ruck was enhanced by the combo of Reid last season and not just Hickey alone as the key factor.

[waswan]

Its about working with what you have, Reid and Hickey are closer to the end. If those 2 missed next year thru injury it wouldnt be a surprise, if Ladhams did it would be a shock.

I think Amartey can be a good backup with a good preseason and conditioning behind him.

Ladhams in my eyes is more than capable

[liz]

I reckon both Amartey and McLean have shown they might be decent second rucks as well as decent forwards. McLean, in particular, seems to have now got his head around the fact he needs to contribute in the ruck to secure a spot in the team.

That means we only need to have one “proper” ruck available for each game. I think Hickey probably has another season left in him, Ladhams is competent and might get better, and McAndrew is developing. So I don’t see getting another experienced ruck as a recruitment priority right now. Especially not a mediocre (poor?) one like De Koning.

[waswan]

Id say Hickeys agent would be shopping for 2yr deal anywhere

[Thunder Shaker]

Hickey: age 32
Ladhams: age 25
McAndrew: age 23

A fair spread of ages for the rucks. I consider a 5-year age spacing to be close to the mark for this position.

We may be looking at drafting an 18-year-old ruck in the next two years to replace Hickey.