The Carringbush Rumour File (JUST the rumour pls)

[qldmagpie67]

Hearing wright will be back at the club Monday (not sure if it’s a days work or just a catch up)
I do know for sure there’s going to be a show down
With Kelly’s issues the landscape changed quickly this week and having a leader like Wright around will be invaluable
Issue will be Bolton and Leppa and Fly are all devotees of the new age make them feel good at all times. Wright is I DONT care about the name it’s all about the clubs future
Pendles is going on Howe has hit his trigger but that doesn’t guarantee he goes on he will self access (along with coaches feedback) if he goes on. Mitchell will play on as will checkers
The big show down will come over Sidey and to a lesser extent Cox.
The coaches (Fly Leppa Bolton) want to leave the decision to Sidey to make himself. Wright is the complete opposite opinion. He wants 2 older players gone off the list this off season
It’s not a secret Wright wants to start remunerating the list over a 3/4 year period and we lost Adam’s last season which helped but he wanted another gone but relented when the coaches pleaded with him not to for team harmony
Well this seasons results will end that argument real quick
It’s also not a secret Wright wasn’t interested in Sidey joining the hawks at the end of 2020 when he was offered up when we looked to find cap space in a hurry.
Cox is hanging by a thread. While in AFL terms his oldish his body isn’t damaged as much as it would have been had he been playing in his teens. Wright doesn’t think he’s offering much going forward and we have a couple young rucks on our list and we might find a cheap 27/28 year old as back up to Cameron while they develop.
So Monday will be an interesting day. If Wrights legs go back under the desk and he starts following the plan set out in 2021 then we will see at least 2 veterans gone (if we lost all our remaining matches it would be 3 at least)
Wright doesn’t play games or favourites he’s a devotee of the modern thinking what have you done for me lately.
He is also big on sustained performance output. He will be all over the champion data data and know exactly which players (young and old) have dropped off the most this year
I can tell you as fact Mitchell Lewis Hodge all where moved on as there production has fallen on average of previous 2 seasons by over 10%. Wright decided he wasn’t waiting another year for them to fall a further 10% or more so he got rid of them.
Ruthless ? Yes but it also ushered in the new generation your seeing now

[Mr Miyagi]

Hawthorn had draft picks to trade and didn’t give up future first rounds like we did. Big difference. If it was as easy as moving on three veterans then everyone would be doing it. And it’s not a question of cap space — we have plenty! We’re still paying the price for Grundy, Treloar, Beams.

Honestly, I hope Sidey plays on one more year just to spite you.

[qldmagpie67]

Miyagi partially true we traded away loads
But sooner or later it comes to end a for every player
Sentiment shouldn’t be the judge performance should be
True the Grundy deal cost us (cost us Treloar who right now is in career best form)
Treloar should never had been traded end of story
As for the Beams agree it cost us in terms of draft picks but given we had just lost a GF by less than a kick and given he had played combined 40 games over the previous 2 seasons finished in the Brownlow top 10 both years and was rated in champion data top 10 midfielders in the game
Fair to say it was a complete bust. But financially it didn’t hurt as much as some on here believe
Beams was contracted to the Lions for seasons 2019 and 2020.
His deal there was in excess of $900k a season.
To get the Lions to pay a huge chunk of that we had to give up more draft capital than we should have
We negotiated a 4 year deal with Beams worth $2.4m but had the lions paying $1.6m of that over the 4 years. So financially it cost us $200k a season (in the end he negotiated at exit payment of less than he was owed by the club at that time)
We’ve had a history of over paying on deals and hence why you need someone like Wright who understands the business

[qldmagpie67]

Miyagi whether Sidey plays on another year doesn’t affect my life at all mate sorry to disappoint you
I’ll still offer opinions on any player whether you agree or not again doesn’t worry me we’re all entitled to an opinion.
I said months and months ago the only player who earned the right to decide his own future was Pendles and I stick by that
If he plays on fine just don’t expect his performances to improve they’ll follow the same slide they have for the past 2 and 2/3rd seasons (diminishing by around 8-20% per season depending on the stat)
If we’re losing and his form dropped off even for by say another 10% would you be happy to watch him finish his career in the VFL ? Because honestly he couldn’t be selected in the AFL team averaging under 10 touches a game

[Big T]

End of the day we are not challenging and we need to regenerate. I’m with qldpie, I absolutely love Sidey but as we are not contending, he has to go, and for me it’s the same for Howe. We have to find the kids and do the hard yards. Cox I’m torn on but understand if he goes. Mitchell needed if fit to help Daics. I’d also move on Hoskin Elliot.

[piedys]

Guys, can we have a truce [me included] on grinding the List Axe until the end of August, to see who actually shows up over the next three weeks?

[RudeBoy]

I've been a massive fan of Sidey's since his debut for us all those years ago. An incredible reader of the ball, a superb decision-maker and the best two-sided kick in the AFL. He has given us a host of great moments to remember, but none greater than that 60 metre Premiership-winning goal in last year's Grannie. However, I think father time has finally caught up with him. Sure, he is still earning his spot in our team, but his output has declined and if he was retained for another year, it would prevent the emergence of a new young player, like Allan or Demattia.

As for Mitchell, we will forever be in his debt for his contribution to our 2023 Premiership, but his on-going foot injuries suggest to me that it's time for him to hang up his boots.

Cox is one of a kind, and will be remembered for decades to come as the big Yank who almost single-handedly got us into the 2018 Grannie and who was part of our 2023 Premiership team. However, in truth, his contributions are generally few and far between. Now that we have young ruckmen like Steene and Smit, it is time to give them senior opportunities.

So these are the 3 veterans I would be comfortable de-listing at the end of this year. That would enable us to retain Pendles, Howe and Elliott for another year, as they are all still playing at a level considerably above what any younger player is likely to be capable of playing. After 2025, I would expect 2 of these players to retire.

The important thing is we need to stagger the retirement of our veterans. It's a fine line between ending their careers too early or too late. I trust Wright to make the right calls.

[Mr Miyagi]

Well this is the rumours thread, not the Farewell Sidey thread (maybe we should make that thread now to get the retirement party started?). I’ll admit Sidey’s legs are going if not gone already, but let’s not put the old fella to sleep just yet. His vision and spotting players up the field, finding the right spots and space is still best 22 — and he’ll keep that spot until McCrae, McInnes, and the next Gen show the same ability, which they haven’t. I’d like to see Sidey play a forward half role, but we have plenty of talent there and not much to fill the wing and midfield without robbing Peter to pay Paul. We’re in a bit of trouble, mostly through injury this year but also bad trading under the previous admin

[warburton lad]

I think qldmagpie67 may well be on the money.
Expecting Graeme Wright to bring a dose of reality to List Management.
I expect that Sidebottom, Howe, Mitchell and, perhaps, Cox to be 'retired'

Not a heartless move, rather a recognition that we need to regenerate the playing list- none of the above are fleet-of-foot, irrespective of their collective footy smarts.

Naturally, one could make a case for retaining each of these Premiership players (Sidey as a Super-Sub, Howe as a swingman, Mitchell as an elite inside mid and Cox as a 211cm headache for opposition defenders).
Given Mitchell's injury-hit year, he may well decide it's time- or ply his trade at North with Clarkson; would love to see Sidebottom and/or Howe retained as playing development coaches in the VFL programme; as for Mason- would hope that he starts producing some male offspring to debut in the early 2040's...)

Always a tough time of year- even if we squeak into the finals, very hard to see us winning without De Goey, and perhaps Mitchell and Mihocek...

[Mr Miyagi]

Maybe Sidey should retire and turn his farm into a father-son stud.

If we retire at least three players over 30, how does that help our trade and draft prospects? Not a lot I’d imagine. We’re already flush with cash to lure UFAs and maybe RFAs. All the guns are wanting to go to Geelong though.

[Pies2016]

Not sure why some are retiring Cox and Mitchell when both of them have contracts for 2025. Unless we fully pay them out or they decide they don’t want to play AFL anymore, both players will be on our list next year. Mitchell didn’t miss a beat in 2023 but most of his 2024 season was ruined by a foot injury that required corrective surgery. I see no reason why he couldn’t return somewhere near his 2023 best, given he was so lightly run this season. In the perfect world, they don’t play much seniors in 2025 because that would mean others have passed them by but as we are all well aware, injuries can change a clubs fortunes very quickly.

[qldmagpie67]

I’m guessing tomorrow is some sort of D Day at the club in regards to Wright’s future
I’m sure he’s had conversations long before actually arriving back at the club and Browne’s comments that Wright would need to align himself with the new version of the footy department operation
I hope Browne has thought long and hard about trying to reinvent the wheel so to speak using multiple people whose jobs overlap.
I just don’t see Leppa or Bolton as the types too make hard decisions if they need to be made
If we don’t rejuvenate the list at seasons end will be a team playing for 7-12th spot again
Wayne Bennett (Brisbane bronco coach for over 25 years) better to retire them a year early than a year later

[Simply_Brutal]

What is the purpose of retiring these guys early? As far as I can tell we already had the minimum primary listed players, of which we’ve had 2 medically retired already!

There are already list spots available and undoubtedly cap room, so this desperate rush to retire players when there’s no obvious replacement makes no sense. If there are kids banging down the door to take their place they will do that, but that currently is not the case.

North Melbourne are the clearest example of how bad this strategy can play out. Please chill out.

[Mr Miyagi]

What is the purpose of retiring these guys early? As far as I can tell we already had the minimum primary listed players, of which we’ve had 2 medically retired already!

There are already list spots available and undoubtedly cap room, so this desperate rush to retire players when there’s no obvious replacement makes no sense. If there are kids banging down the door to take their place they will do that, but that currently is not the case.

North Melbourne are the clearest example of how bad this strategy can play out. Please chill out.

Thank you!

[Culprit]

I ran into an AFL player-manager at one of my Canada layovers. He saw I had a Magpies Cap on and we got chatting about player movement.
Finn McRrae and his Brother could be at Essendon
Essendon is in the box seat to grab Harley Reid.
Reef's Management is putting him out there.
I have no interest in him but Lobb's preference is the Pies. Dogs want a deal but no one wants to pay. It will be a game of bluff with Lobb happy to play in the two's and still get paid.
Bailey Smith should get to the Pies.

Take these with a grain of salt.