TOPIC:

I agree in part Southener, Giblett was given opportunities at EP he was not ready or not good enough to take them. Time will tell as you suggest. I know more detail of his time at EP and his departure but I don't wish to say any more than good luck to him and the Demons.

Mr AFL wrote: Does anyone else get the feeling that there are going to be no more 'big name' recruits? I'm sure there will be a couple more but I just get the feeling there won't be much fan fare.

No disrespect to any players that do come and sign for the club and I hope you are able to have a good season but I just don't think it will be like last year when we had Angus Graham, Spencer White, Clint Jones.

If thats the case Mr AFL then i dont see us lifting off the bottom half of the ladder any time soon.

As far as recruiting "Name players" goes our footy club has a history of recruiting hard one year and picking up very good recruits to the next season going really cold on the better recruits eg.Jones,Graham etc..
This recruiting tactic of "every second year" has cost us playing finals on a couple of occassions imo because of a lack of talent and failure to recruit to our needs.

In MacFarlane and Giblett i see nothing in there previous seasons at other clubs to suggest they will be anything more than depth players at best.

I agree 30+ with your "every second year" thesis but I have not yet given up on any further signings for next season.

I think that there are several reasons why we have heard nothing since the Smith, Colledge and Mzungu (who has gone back to AFL) announcements.

1. There is an apparent lack of quality, experienced recruits both locally and in the east. Example.. Subiaco have made no significant signings eg Grimley deciding to stay in Melbourne etc. If they can't find them how can we? This may be a sign of the times for local clubs.
And I don't believe for a minute that we haven't been active enough.

2. The club (IMO) has been spooked by the $53k loss for 2016 so money is a problem. We have to recover from that loss of revenue. We don't have a "white knight" and can't afford to make further sequential losses .
To recruit players from the east there are relocation costs as well as salary and other incentives required to induce signings.

3. I haven't done the sums but we may be close to the points cap. It is all very well to say "drop him and him and him" but if there are no new signings we will need "him and him and him" for depth. Having said that we must beware of re-clogging the transition paths for the kids coming through.

I still believe in Father Christmas so I will hold my breath a bit longer and will be happy if we snare just one quality player (a tall please). If not, then the task of lifting too much up the ladder becomes that much harder. Hopefully improvement will come from within but as we all know that takes time.

smokey wrote: I agree 30+ with your "every second year" thesis but I have not yet given up on any further signings for next season.



2. The club (IMO) has been spooked by the $53k loss for 2016 so money is a problem. We have to recover from that loss of revenue. We don't have a "white knight" and can't afford to make further sequential losses .
To recruit players from the east there are relocation costs as well as salary and other incentives required to induce signings.

The 3 players that got picked up in the AFL next season should help 2017's book balance.

30plusyeardrought wrote:

smokey wrote: I agree 30+ with your "every second year" thesis but I have not yet given up on any further signings for next season.



2. The club (IMO) has been spooked by the $53k loss for 2016 so money is a problem. We have to recover from that loss of revenue. We don't have a "white knight" and can't afford to make further sequential losses .
To recruit players from the east there are relocation costs as well as salary and other incentives required to induce signings.

The 3 players that got picked up in the AFL next season should help 2017's book balance.

True 30+, I did overlook that but I don't know how soon that money trickles through. The truth remains there is a lack of quality players available. Most clubs seem to have the same problem and are signing returning players only.

Clayton Giblett now listed as a 2 points Perth player. Has played 8 league games.
At 192/87 he is a similar size to Brandt Colledge. Apparently a defender with some grunt and will add depth to the backline but could, no doubt, be another useful big bodied midfielder?
Devin McFarlane not yet listed as a Perth player. I will be interested in his points once he is listed with us. He has played 54 WAFL games so suspect at least 5+ points and possibly 10.

I'd be unhappy if he is a 10 point player.

Demons Forever wrote: I'd be unhappy if he is a 10 point player.

Me too if we run out of points and can't fit in a quality KPP.

Listed as an in for Perth by Southerner is Brad McPhail ex SF age 20 191/83 played 2 league games still listed as a 1 point player for Souths. Modest stats at all levels ???

smokey wrote: Listed as an in for Perth by Southerner is Brad McPhail ex SF age 20 191/83 played 2 league games still listed as a 1 point player for Souths. Modest stats at all levels ???

Any chance he's the son of former Perth player Ashley McPhail Smokey? Played in the late 80's early 90's from memory.