First things first someone needs to be ruthless. Dimma or the club. So sick of watching underskilled hacks from other clubs and our own run around. They served a purpose at first because they stop us from being Melbourne like with no leadership so guys like Jackson etc get a game. My issue is that right now we have so many on our list that we keep playing them and it's stopping us from developing our promising kids. And yes, they are promising. Not saying throw in 10 juniors into the side and watch us get pantsed every week but blood 2 at a time. (not including Flossy because he's already pretty established) Give them 5-6 games and see if they sink or swim.
My biggest gripe with the recycled blokes is how many of them would have been drafted if they were 18 year olds under our recruiting philosophy? (Good kicks and Competitive)
2010Bachar Houli - Good kick and has improved his competitiveness so would keep playing him is doing well.
Shaun Grigg - Can't kick and is about as uncompetitive as we have in the team. No cost to us in that trade but he wouldn't have been drafted and doesn't fit the type of player we want at the club yet gets games.
2011Ivan Maric - Good kick when fully fit for a big fella and very competitve. Obviously needed a ruckman and was fantastic last year. Shouldn't be playing as he clearly looks injured. My fear is we have broken him already.
2012Troy Chaplin - Decent kick and been pretty competitive so would probably just pass. Been a good pick up so far.
Chris Knights - Good kick and competitive. Probably best 22 and offered something we lack so isn't holding a kid out.
Ricky Petterd - guy competes but can't kick to save himself yet was a walk up start over Vlastuin.
Sam Lonergan - super competitive but skills, skills, skills. Wouldn't get a second look from our recruiters if he was an 18 year old draft hopeful, yet cracked a game on the weekend.
Orren Stephenson - not ever going to be a long termer but at least has a crack and is back up if Big O goes down. We haven't got a young ruck coming through outside McBean who looks like a gun forward so no harm there.
Aaron Edwards - what purpose does a 29yo 184cm FF have for our team? If we cop an injury to a KPF then a Griff/Elton/Astbury even McBean (last resort) should be getting a crack first.
The next group I want to look at is the older Richmond players who keep getting games despite not fitting the kicking profile.
Robin Nahas - too small, can't win his own ball, too slow and can't kick over a jam tin. Does he offer a big body? No. Does he offer leadership? No. Develop a kid like McDonough in his role.
Matty White - again another small who lacks skill. Doesn't seem to be a real leader and isn't a body protecting the kids. Move Edwards into his role up forward and give a kid like Arnot or Helbig a crack in the midfield.
Luke McGuane - has improved this year and given us a decent target. But is decent what we want from our CHF or do we want to try get something better than that? We have Griff, Elton, Astbury and McBean playing ressies. They won't develop at Coburg and Griff and Astbury are now 4th year players who we need to make a call on in the next year or so.
Daniel Jackson - I can actually see the purpose of why he plays as he's the one always blocking but with our game style, opponents just sag off him and let him have the ball because he's a butcher. Play him in a tagging role and get him to nullify the oppositions best player. ie. Goddard or Watson. Either that or give his spot to a Arnot/Helbig.
Shane Tuck - gives it his all and we struggle without him. We need to find a replacement in the draft soon as he won't be around forever. Feel like we can't play him and Jacko with our game style even though we should be able to. (Will elaborate later)
Shane Edwards - another who has been butchering it lately. Needs to slow himself down when kicking because his hands in traffic are great. He's a small forward though so we need to be playing him there.
Alex Rance - prone to the odd howler but as a KPD I think we can carry one or two blokes like that. Just needs to take the easy/safe option when possible.
That's 7 players in the side lacking in foot skills. Then you add Grigg & Petterd as well who've been regular members and you're nearly at half the team. Aren't we a high possession team that uses foot skills?
KIDS NOT GETTING A REGULAR GAME
Matt Dea - comes in does ok gets dropped. Comes in does ok gets dropped again. I really rate this kid but this isn't helping his confidence. His skills are good, is very good defensively, gutsy as all hell and has great touch below his knees, is as clean as anyone on the list. Give him 5 or 6 games in a row and see what he offers.
David Astbury - this guy was so good in his first year. Cool, calm and collected. Good skills, good leadership and maybe a victim of his own versatility? I'd like to see him get a game at FB (Hurley would have been a good assignment actually.) Batch isn't a KPD and is therefore inconsistent in the role but is making a decent fist of it. Adelaide game onwards and give him a crack at Jenkins.
Ben Griffiths - worst effort to develop a player I think I've seen. Kid looks shot a bit like Post actually. He's a FF and nothing else. Get rid of McGuane and move Riewoldt to CHF and let this kid play out of the square. I reckon he swapped between fwd/back about 5-6 times on Saturday. poohouse for his development. If he flunks it at FF either trade or delist by end of next year. At least give the kid a crack at it though.
Brad Helbig - midfield, midfield, MIDFIELD. He's not a small lock down defender. He's a tough, inside mid with foot skills who if playing outside the midfield is more forward than back IMO. Get rid of Nahas and play this kid. Can't do any worse and find out what he's got.
Kamdyn McIntosh - not ready yet but wouldn't mind him getting a crack in last couple of games to see what he's got. Went up a notch last year when he played at a higher level.
Liam McBean - again not ready but should get a game as a forward (very late in season) if Griff struggled in the role.
Matthew McDonough - wasn't sure on his tank but he was everywhere on Saturday. Depending on his knee I'd play him this week over White. We go up a notch in skills and he's capable of finding as much ball as Whitey.
Todd Elton - don't mind him being developed down back and would like to see him get a crack later in the year at FB. Reckon he could be our big, athletic Carlisle/Talia type defender. Unlike Griff he's played there before. I worry about his skills but Talia is an ordinary kick but has improved and as that dour defender shouldn't need to get much of the ball.
Matthew Arnot - not sold on his skills but should replace Lonergan straight away. Again, give him a block of games to see if he's up to it and if not then delist and try again.
Brett O'Hanlon - unfortunately injured but at some stage should take Grigg's spot on a wing to try him out in FULL games. Better mark and better kick but just as outside as Grigg is.
MY GRIPEThere's two major gripe's I have with Dimma and they're the reason why last night I was one of the ones advocating Paul Roos because I've lost faith in Dimma's direction.
1. "Full rebuild, no shortcuts and no gifted games". These were Dimma's words not mine. I've had no negative comments about the direction the club is heading though I have had concerns over my second point for awhile. Reason I've been positive is for 3 years we stayed the course. Dimma cut the list deep and weeded out a lot of outright spuds and got games into kids. But Dimma has now gone out and loaded up with "back-up players" from other clubs. (Petterd, Stephenson, Lonergan, Edwards, Knights) Not really disappointed with that because they are back-ups if our kids get tired or we run out of players. My issue with Dimma is he has played all these guys over the top of the kids we have been getting games into. Looking back at that list of kids (plus Batch) not getting a regular game and we have Dea (22 games), Batchelor (36), Astbury (24), Griffiths (19), Helbig (16), O'Hanlon (
. These guys should have been getting another 22 games under their belts this year (injury permitting of course) But instead we've gone down the 2013/14 must make finals at all costs path. I have no doubt we will play finals either this year or next but the path Dimma is taking to me screams a 7th/8th side not a future premiership contender.
Now obviously Dimma didn't want to gift these kids games. That's fine with me. But don't bloody gift games to mature age rejects that don't deserve it either. Does Petterd deserve a game more than Dea or Batchelor? Could Batch play the Petterd role and Astbury get a game as a KPD? Does McGuane deserve a game (currently) more than a Griff/Elton/McBean? Does Lonergan deserve a game more than a Helbig or an Arnot? Does Grigg deserve a game over an O'Hanlon/Helbig? Do White/Nahas deserve games over McDonough?
*Haven't mentioned Tuck/Jackson here because in the right system they'd be fine in the team.
2. Our game plan. "The Hawthorn model." Ok, so Dimma wants us to play the Hawthorn model of keeping possession of the ball with high level of foot skills. However, looking at the 22 on the weekend the following are not capable of playing this type of game plan. Grigg, Edwards (full time midfield version), McGuane, Rance, Lonergan, Jackson, Chaplin (borderline), Nahas, White. 9/22 and you could probably add Foley to that list too. King would be borderline, though plays deep forward so not really an issue and I've cut Maric some slack as a ruck his skills aren't bad for a big fella. Nearly half the bloody side can't play the game plan we want to play. 3 of those blokes have been recruited by Dimma and the rest Dimma has had a chance to get rid of over 4 off-seasons.
My next issue with the game plan is whether or not people believe it is a finals winning game plan and then a flag winning game plan. Hawthorn despite being regular favourites for the flag have won one premiership with this model and if everyone casts their mind back Geelong should have torched them that day. Will it hold up under finals intensity against a Sydney/Freo pressure game plan? I'm far from convinced.
Hawthorn would be unlikely to have 9 players on the list that can't play the game plan let alone in the 22 on game day. We just don't have the cattle to play this way. The other thing Hawthorn have in their way is some genuine superstars (Franklin, Hodge, Mitchell) and match winners, who win games on their own. (Cyril, Franklin) We have star players and not many win a game off your own boot match winners.
