TOPIC:

smokey wrote:

Tiger of old wrote: Corey Yeo is a very good player, was arguably our best midfielder in 2015 but had a knee reconstruction in 2016 pre season and headed to Victoria. If his knee is all good you blokes have a picked up a good one there.

Yes, he is highly rated but I have not been able to find info on his season with Williamstown. Presumably his knee stood up ok in 2017 and he is fit and ready to go in 2018. He will add a lot to our midfield if he gets thru a good pre-season,
Welcome to the club Corey

Hopefully the football manager has asked him if he's got any mates from Williamstown and Claremont that would like to join him.

I think you get $30K for a player taken in the national draft and $15k for a player taken in the rookie draft. That's where the $75K came from the financial year starting November 1st 2016 and ending October 31st 2017.

Having only had Gordon Narrier selected at this years rookie draft the club already had a $60k whole to try and fill for this financial year.

Easiest way to increase income.

Win some games!!!!!!

I don't underestimate how hard it must be to get good players, but the news from the AGM pretty much dooms us to another dismal season. Taylor and Yeo will do little more than replace Tropiano and Jacobs, while Lague and Bourne are depth players at best. If White and Leggett are fit, they will add something, but even if we sign all of Tunbridge, Suban and Clarke, which is unlikely, I can't see us finishing higher than 6th at best. By the way, is Garstone still at the club? I can't see his name on the list.

Yes Ted, Garstone still on board. Has had some complication with his knee which is being closely managed.

I agree re recruits. Nowhere near sufficient yet to cover losses and fill desperate needs. As you say, it is difficult to get good players over the line. Most other clubs are finding it hard also so we are not orphans.
The news yesterday was that we are still actively in the market. And we should not underestimate further improvement in younger players Byrne, Ninja, Roe, Johnson, Burke, Gooch, Levien, Morisey etc in their second year.
It looks like Belly is raring to go so that is a plus. We will just have to wait and see what transpires from here.

Realistically, Garstone, Bell and Leggett are unlikely to recover their best form until the second half of the season at best. I agree we can hope for improvement from the young guys that were exposed to league footy last year, but they probably need one more year of league if any are to become consistent top line players. As much as I am as sick as everyone of multi year plans being announced, I really think we have to look towards 2019. If we can keep most of our 2018 list and then add some good players - maybe McInnes, perhaps even Conca or Mayne - we might have a crack at it then. However, 2018 just has to be about improvement and finals seem highly unlikely.

Ted Nugent wrote: Realistically, Garstone, Bell and Leggett are unlikely to recover their best form until the second half of the season at best. I agree we can hope for improvement from the young guys that were exposed to league footy last year, but they probably need one more year of league if any are to become consistent top line players. As much as I am as sick as everyone of multi year plans being announced, I really think we have to look towards 2019. If we can keep most of our 2018 list and then add some good players - maybe McInnes, perhaps even Conca or Mayne - we might have a crack at it then. However, 2018 just has to be about improvement and finals seem highly unlikely.

100% agree. On this occasion we should be planning for 2019. We should get improvement from the second year players this year, but the big improvement will come 2019 - IF WE CAN KEEP THEM. The worst thing we can do this year is sign more list cloggers or injury prone semi decent players for multi year contracts.

Well if that's what happens then that's me done.
This club needs to go all out in 2018 to try and get this lot to play finals.
There's no guarantees that players in there third year will get any better,that the recruiting will get better and that senior players will stay on if there's another lean year.

30plusyeardrought wrote: Well if that's what happens then that's me done.
This club needs to go all out in 2018 to try and get this lot to play finals.
There's no guarantees that players in there third year will get any better,that the recruiting will get better and that senior players will stay on if there's another lean year.

I think more to the point there isn't anyone left to recruit for 2018 that is worth a multi year deal. How many people have we recruited over the past 10 years that have ended up list cloggers or $$$$ grabbers and not really helped us move up the ladder. Might be a bit harsh but apart from Bevan and Young I cant really think of any that have given us any real value for more than 1 year. So I say develop what we have this year as I think its the best young group we had to develop since 96.

What about CJ ? He has been pretty good for 2 seasons.
The way things look, unless we are able to secure a couple of major signings in this difficult recruiting climate then I have to agree that we are probably looking at a two season period to achieve significant onfield results.
That would allow the kids to develop further and give the footy department more time to bolster the list and mould a solid squad to attack the finals..
If there is a definite plan and all coaches, players, recruiters and support staff are on the same page there is no reason that a two year target could not be achieved.