TOPIC:

It is understood that Perth did not record fringe benefits tax for flights supplied to players last year.

I think it's rough if Clarke has to step down over shit like this.

Cody Howard off the list. No great loss. Grocott back on. No great gain. 

Agree though Grocott I rate higher than Howard but injury prone. Jye Lane another of the German disciples from his former team who has disappeared. Fair to say a failed lesson there. German though raised the standards at our club on and off the field and I am greatful he had the guts to take the job on.

Is Mark Stone our current senior coach if German didn't arrive here first? Not a chance. Is Charlie Constable, Sam Simpson, Schlensog, Clarke etc here without German as head coach? I severely doubt it.

Stocktake: Losses - 2 A graders - Avery, Thompson. 3 best 22 - Manzone, Cooley, Chaplin. 4 depth players - Cary, Lane, Howard, Moody. Gains: 1 possible depth player in Williams, 2 likely reserves players and a few upgraded colts. 

No one thinks Thompson and Avery are A graders. Wouldn’t even make the 2nd State team. Given your likely -12, Stone and Dodd will be mad not to look at the kids more closely to see if they’re up to it. We’ll take Byrne and Constable- who are A graders….

Thompson and Avery were hampered by injury in 2024, but they finished 1 and 2 in our F & B in 2023. There can be a tendency to overrate players when you see them play regularly, but I find it impossible to accept that Perth's two best players last season would not be in EF best 22. If that is the case, then the disparity between WAFL teams is worse than I thought and so wide that it can never be rectified.

And we have no kids who are worth looking at. The few who had exposure to league footy last year - Cachard, Hine-Baston, Moore, Watson, Wills - may develop in a couple of years, but I don't rate the prospects of any this year's colts graduates. This is the way it is: we recruit players from interstate at great expense who stay for a couple of years at best. We pick off fringe players from other clubs and when, like Avery, they show something, they get pinched by a rival club. Demoralising doesn't begin to describe it. 

If the rumours about Randall are true, then he’s a good replacement for Thompson. Numbers the same and Randall competing against Brayshaw, Crowden and Schumacher for the footy- you’d think his numbers go up. Williams is an unknown- haven’t seen much of him. I watched both EF v Perth games this season and walked away from both thinking Perth could’ve won (and should’ve won one of them). I would be giving the new regime some time- though the -12 is a bit of a blow for next season- and potentially more if players walk.
The Sharks have had a dozen leave and replaced them with Avery and Strnadica. We’re significantly weakened on 2024 at the moment. 

So Perth fans need to be patient while the "new regime" implements our 17th consecutive 3 year plan. Fair enough. 

Ted Nugent wrote:

So Perth fans need to be patient while the "new regime" implements our 17th consecutive 3 year plan. Fair enough. 

Don't worry Ted, just wait until our club displaces Claremont as the 4th highest number of players drafted in Australia as I saw last night. And I'm pretty sure that was before Will Hayes got picked with Collingwood's last pick so they probably jumped to equal second. Behind Sandringham Dragons.

No doubt those green shoots in our zones will start bearing fruit soon. 

 

KCEF wrote:

If the rumours about Randall are true, then he’s a good replacement for Thompson. Numbers the same and Randall competing against Brayshaw, Crowden and Schumacher for the footy- you’d think his numbers go up. 


 

Tend to agree KC, suits the profile we need and probably a like for like with Thompson. Let's hope he can claim a Butcher Medal in his first season at the Demons like Charlie Thompson did. Hopefully cleared soon we could do with some good news before Chrissy.