I don't think we are... and I worry that we'll lose Jones this year. We feel like Freo before Ross-the-Boss had his epiphanyOriginally Posted by Ralph Dawg
I don't think we are... and I worry that we'll lose Jones this year. We feel like Freo before Ross-the-Boss had his epiphany
I heard that we missed out on Moore and Langdon because the pies increased their contract offer. We were very close to getting Langdon.
See the other Langdon, Ed has "put talks on hold" with Freo. Sadly it's probably because he'll be added to Nathan Buckley's preposterous collection of midfielders.
The Sydney side of a few years ago would've been able to get both Langdon boys to come if they wanted them. Both players good, not quite elite but would've seen the possibility of being developed into elite players by the swans program and being in a premiership side. As I've said previously, more than happy to be surprised but unless there is a drastic shake up or form improvement this year, I think it will be a tough sell to not just the Langdon's, but any player of their calibre (most probably get the Clarke and Thurlow types).
If you were a young and skilled or just skilled player Sydney wouldn't be on your radar at the moment. We are too slow and lacking skill to be anywhere near the top. This leaves us with the unskilled and slow or the players we have to overpay to get.
We may have room in the salary cap but who would really make a difference at this point.
It's time for a complete reassessment of the club, players and staff. Constant restocking of talent has worked in the past but its now time for a total rebuild. I think the failure is a combination of the trade ban, poor retention, poor drafting, poor coaching, complacency and poor salary cap management.
We need a complete rebuild from the top to the bottom. Coach, CEO and plenty of players out the door.
We need to carefully select a coach who is going to put us on the path forward. It's a risky strategy but I don't see another premiership through the recycling of players.
Whatever has gone wrong has passed the point of no return.
To be fair, the Pies had just played in a Grand Final. I think they've done really well at retaining all the talent and adding Beams. Successful clubs do find it easier to attract talent.
I don't think it's as bad as people think, and I do think players respect us as a club, but there is a sense we are heading in the wrong direction. I think there do need to be signs this year that we have changed direction and are on the right track.
If Ross Lyon can become more attacking, anything is possible.
For those wondering about our draft position this year, as per ladder after today, currently we hold 3, 35, 39, 47, 57, 58
Pick 3, our first
pick 35, St.Kilda second, should go higher as they are currently 2nd which is hard to see them maintaining
pick 39, our third
pick 47, WCE third, could drift as they should finish better than 8th
pick 57, our fourth
pick 58, Carlton 4th
We're holding 3870 points, 130 more than we would have if we hadn't traded any last year.
Last edited by 707; 22nd April 2019 at 10:46 PM.
Points don't mean anything if you don't have a highly rated academy/father son player to bid on, which we don't
Isn't Rayner expected to go somewhere in the second round?
He looks ok but I don't think at this stage he's going to be sought after in the first few rounds. Hasn't done a whole lot and I've seen most of the Academy and NEAFL games so far this year.
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I wouldn't be drafting Rayner at all, based on what he's shown in the first three games of the NAB League. The first two games he was almost non-existent, playing in the forward line, despite being in team that was able to generate good forward entry numbers. In the most recent game he was switched to defence and looked more comfortable back there (and was more productive). But after a decent first half he faded, and wasn't much of a factor in the second half. Luke Parks seemed to take over as the general of the defence after half-time.
I find it hard to judge the draftability of players based on just watching them at U18 level as I haven't seen enough games at that level to work out what to look for, and what translates into AFL potential. I look forward to seeing several of the U18s play some NEAFL football later this year. I've much more experience watching the underage players play at that level, and you can see how they respond to playing against older, more developed opponents. You can also make some comparisons with the U19 crop playing NEAFL already, and the listed players.
But those who've impressed me so far much more than Rayner include Barling, Parks, Parker, Ellem, Maguire, Tyson, Thorne, Geddes, Brewer (who did play NEAFL last weekend and did some eye catching things) and Martin (based on just one game, admittedly). That's ignoring those still a year away from draft age.
On a different tack, I've been thinking about what is Blakey's best position. It seems that the initial plan was to play him as a tall across half forward, a position where we do have some options, albeit not firing lately. Watching him play in the NEAFL, he was used on ball and in the midfield. He showed an excellent turn of speed, good foot and hand skills and was hard at the ball. Should we be playing him there at AFL level with an eye to the future? It would get him more involved then in our forward 50, especially as the ball is not getting there anyway. I know there are arguments against playing a youngster in the midfield, due to conditioning and size but other clubs are doing it successfully (Walsh, Butters, Drew, Ross, Constable, Stack etc). Blakey could potentially be our version of the Bont.
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