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personal demon wrote: Further to "state of the demons". Here's our list, divided-up into positions:

Forwards: Mitch Morton, Stack, Billings, Cale Morton, Collard.

Mids: O'Sullivan, Leeson, Bateman, Hodge, White, Lynch, Tropiano, Keast, Hug, Ugle, Florio, Manuel, Kalajzic.

Backs: Boyle, Sinclair, Busher, Houghton, Holland, J. Morton, Hunt.

Rucks: Leyendekkers, Eyres, Power.

Others: Brookes, Browne, Cox, Edmonds, Leggett, Deaves, Sandilands, Garstone, Chrimes, Borrett, Moreno, McGillivray, Arangio, Busher, Gray, Jones, Bell, Fleay, Wellburn, Murray, Moore, Tanner, F. Jones, A. Ryan, Chester, Donocon, Mercer.

Others here represent those guys who haven't played league or much league. I think we can look to Edmonds to step up from this list. Others? Be interested to know whether any colts guys from last year can progress.

That list is wooden spoon material, unless we get quality recruits that's where we are headed I've said it before we are just treading water until the new facilities and the gates get painted blue and yellow.

Everyone thought that about Swans last year including your coach when he sent your reserves team to play us in a practice game.
Do what Swans did - get fit and back your kids and stop worrying too much about recruits, get a bunch of blokes playing for the club is more important In the short term

MarkOlsen wrote: Everyone thought that about Swans last year including your coach when he sent your reserves team to play us in a practice game.
Do what Swans did - get fit and back your kids and stop worrying too much about recruits, get a bunch of blokes playing for the club is more important In the short term

You cannot compare "what happens at one wafl club will be the same for others"
It just doesnt work that way.
Bear in mind as well Swans won a premiership not that long ago and have played finals.
Im telling ya the talent pool at Lathlain is not that great.

We do have to make sure that the very best young talent in our zones go on and play colts and the club develops them enough to go on and become good league players,thats just not happening at the PFC!!

By the way Swans have had some good "recruits" and a very good one that went a long way to getting you a flag.
Its a mix of both local and recruits that will get the job done rely on just the "locals" to do it for you and you will never play finals.

Most Premiership teams these days have 5 or more good recruits in there teams.

We also made the finals last year with a team everyone picked to finish last.
Our colts finished last in 2013 and our reserves never make the finals, maybe invest some time in your country and metro zones and you may reap some rewards like Swans did in 2014, if you can't find blokes in your zone with more ticker than the Mortons I would be surprised

I have a bit more faith in some of the guys we already have than others it seems. Pretty tired of hearing about what the board is doing. Seems to me much of what they have done since Lawrence is their jobs (i.e. keeping the club afloat through stormy waters, and keeping the club as independent from the Commission as possible). Not sure in what ways Jarman wasn't given support. I have a different memory of the Jarman years, obviously.
I agree with the Swans bloke on here. You have to build a team from your locals first. Recruits add the icing. No doubt a Krakouer type or a Spinks type can make the difference. No one is arguing with that. All I was saying is that we have to be realistic with recruits and that it's unlikely we will get more than 3 or 4. I really do think people - generally - underestimate what happens with recruits and how hard it is. Sellar last year is one example. In any case, take nothing for granted, until they sign on the dotted line (we might have already lost one close to signing). The thing is is that the club is talking to many players, and only a small minority ever seriously consider playing, and we only get a one or two of them. Every club does this. Obviously for those with fat wallets it can be easier, but it's not always the case that they get the best (think of Pang, Young etc.)

Just read that Essendon have invited an amateur footballer in WA to train with them. Perhaps there is some talent in the amateurs, after all. All I said was that Earl would have a pretty good idea who could make it from the amateurs and who wouldn't; and that no doubt if he thought one or two were good enough he might invite them to train. Pure speculation. I don't know Earl's mind. Just a reasonably good guess, given his experience in the amateurs over the last few years.

Also, I said that, overall, we seem to have lost one or two from last year that we couldn't afford to lose. But it's not always that clear-cut. The current squad will develop. There is potential there and we have to hope that Earl can extract that and some if we want to win more than 3 games. Earl made the point that we won three and that in seven other games we led at some point in the last quarter. There is something there to work with, even absent Bevan and Risol and Moody. Improvement can come from within, and it is this that most often wins flags, not recruits, otherwise Subi would have won every flag since 1987. If White can become among the best midfielders in the competition (evidence for this might be Subi's interest) then it shows that improvement can be extracted, if things go right.

PD, we just missed the finals in Jarman's first year and there were expectations that we would take that extra step into the finals in his second. Alas, there was little support given to him re recruiting etc and he seemed to spit the dummy, not surprisingly IMO.
He was a clown but I thought he was a good coach in his own inimitable style and we did not seem to capitalise on his high profile appointment.

I remember the Jarman years, but I'm a bit fuzzy on who we recruited in his second year. Who did we lose from our first year? Did we add no one to the squad? Who did we add? My memory is that Jarman was given lots of support. Jarman didn't bring any players with him from memory, though I know it's difficult to attract SA players (why?). I think he spat the dummy for reasons other than lack of recruits. I think, for a start, family connections sent him back to SA.

You are right Smokey,the club did no recruiting in Jarmans second year just as they didnt for Blackwell the year after he got us to finals in 1997.

This football club has a habit of resting on there laurels when after a good season they sit on there hands and do zero recuiting the following year to build and get even better.

Mark Olsen just to give you an idea of recruits in 2013 when Perth played Swans you had 9 recruits play,this season in 2014 V Perth you had 5 bearing in mind you lost 2 to Subi and a couple retired pre-season.

The other thing that has let Perth down imo is who we recruit eg.pre season in 2014 i stated on here that imo we recruited 1 too many Mortons,i wasnt slagging off at how good they are but my point was none were KPP's and genuine mids and thats what we needed desperately,we had none good enough coming through the ranks!!

Is it only me who remembers the mass exodus of players after 1997 - Spinks, Abraham, Davis (a lazy 150 goals), Robertson, Bertram, Cable (our engine room), Cachard (our best defender). 30plus - you're having a laugh aren't you, thinking that those guys, and they weren't all, could be replaced in one year?

And Jarman in his second season had Ferguson, Armstrong, Young, Cook, Moody, Thornton, Mzungu, still. Plus he gained MacDougall. Conca, Busher, Smith came through from the ranks that year, too. He never whinged about not having support of board. That was one thing he didn't whinge about. Didn't we lose our first nine games in Jarman's second year? We got belted by East Perth at home (I think it was 100 points and more), and then he said he was leaving for family reasons. 100 point lose!!! He wasn't the messiah, though he had a great first year and we enjoyed some wins. His second year had nothing to do with the quality of players he had, or any suggestion he wasn't receiving or had not received support.