Draft Night Blunder perhaps? The critique of Hine et al

[Pies2016]

Already been told by Lyon to lift his training standards and professionalism. Will spend the next month doing additional training with the VFL team.
17 other clubs passed. There wouldn’t be too many regrets so far.

[What'sinaname]

[What'sinaname]

WarburtonLad,

Our draft / trade strategy has been hit or miss since 2021.. I know we seem to have struck gold trading for some experienced players - Frampton, Hill, Lippa and Titch, but we've missed on Krueger and McStay (due to injuries).
Our draft cohort, outside of Naicos as FS, has been very poor.

We've got 5 games from our entire 2021 National Draft selections and 1 game from the entire 2022 National Draft selection.

[LaurieHolden]

[What'sinaname]

^ The drafting issues go back quite a few years and coupled with an intention to trade away Rd 1 picks, we are in a precarious position where have have very thin depth, coupled with an aging side. This isn't going to fix itself in the short term either.

[LaurieHolden]

^Give us some facts. What exactly has gone wrong?

[What'sinaname]

From 2015 - 2019, the only player (not FS) from the National Draft still on the list is IQ.
From 2020 - only McCreery has played a solid amount of games . We traded away Henry.

We seem to pick up players through trading who are doing well, but our inability to get meaningful contributions through the National Draft is a concern.

[shawthing]

[inxs88]

^
Some great points made by Stui Magpie above and Qld Magpie67. If I can add to that narrative (thankyou for the word Gerard Whately), we are bit like the Lleyton Hewitt/Michael Chang of AFL relying on a labour intensive, body taxing and win by TKO mode of victory. This can be attributed to the simple fact that list management has for a number of years drafted and traded for a ground-ball game vs an aerial game.

It's a philosophy spearheaded by Hine and Co. and one that can be very effective on its day such as GF 2023. However, you just wish sometimes we had our own AFL version of Goran Ivanesvic like Carlton do (Curnow/McKay) to stamp or blunt matches like the Blues did to GWS in a quarter last week without such taxing on the body and mind.

[The Black and White Lion]

Apart from the career ending injuries, honestly this sends a fearful message to CFC draftees. Unless you're a father son or NGA, you're unlikely to have made it to AFL level regularly with any longevity at CFC over the last few years. with the exception of McCreery and Noble, draftees that did make it for a few games have all gone or are biding time below the top level in the VFL. Henry Ginnivan trades Bianco Ruscoe delisted.

like the cats, the pies might be attractive for older players with bigger or mature bodies. Part of the reason McCreery has survived and thrived compared to Macrae, Draper and Murley. Combined with Macrae's boring selection, its partly why we're unlikely to see the VFL crop come through
in 2024 unless there's an injury.

Just look at this week. We ran out of AFL legs in the Anzac Day match. Both teams noticeably dropped off in the last quarter. We brought on Harrison late for Mitchell with a goal effect. But we didn't play Sullivan and he missed out on 2 games in a week.

One of these scenarios that presents the current VFL crop is the potential for AFL veterans to retire. There are 6 or 7 spots in the next 3 years so there's a lot of incentive. But with all the talk about FAs and trades, you can't help but wonder if the VFL crop are on a hiding to nothing.

[Pies4shaw]

[Pies4shaw]

^ In any event, the more appropriate comparison is between the team that won in 2010 and the team that played off the following year. The only changes in the 2011 GF were that Krak came in for Macaffer (hardly a move to "youth"), Davis came in for Nathan Brown (who missed the entire 2011 season) and Fasolo came in for Beams. Davis would have come in for someone else, I suppose - but he played virtually the whole of 2010, anyway.

[Charlie Oneeye]

I like our strategy of moving players a year early rather than a year later. This ruthless approach imo was a major contributor to our Grand Final win last year.

We created opportunities for players like Markov, Frampton, Hill, and Mitchell.
GF heroics aside, how many close games did we win to get there?.

We need to be ruthless. Older listed FL players need to be consistently clearly pressuring our top 22. There are lots of replacements out there.

We need to be ruthless, younger prospects must obviously be able to play at VFL standard, but also show exceptional upside to earn a development game.

Anyway, I guess I'm about not giving easy games, and delisting bread roll eaters lol

[inxs88]

^ The challenge is delisting those who feel entitled to play on but may not deserve it. That shall take some finesse and ruthlessness.

[Simply_Brutal]