The Remedy:
Hard decision that need to be made that relate to what we did:
Players above (x) age that wont feature in the next success of the of club need to go.
Lets have RFC (x) age be 26.
Players that just need to go are:
Bowden
Johnson
Simmonds
Brown
Tuck
Richardson*
Cousins*
I believe that the last 2 have something to offer in terms of teaching younger kids how to play and they serve a good purpose. We kept 2-3 really experienced hard bodies to help out our 1st years. They unfortunately didn't taste success but are still remembered in the building phase.
The oldest player at the club next year should be Mark Coughlan.
Bowden and Johnson will retire at the end of the season so that will sort itself out.
Simmonds is the worry at the moment. Totally out of form but our other ruck options are very young and inexperienced
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Browny is slowing down and since the broken leg has lost penetration in his kicking. Needs to be played forward for the rest of his career IMO. You could make the tough decision to cut him if uncontracted but there's probably a number of others who should go first. It's not like he can be traded for a pick.
Like you Popelord I think Richo and Cuz will get one more year although if Cuz's hammy goes again then it'll be curtains for him too.
A bit harsh on Tucky given he and Foley are carrying our midfield at the moment. Tucky is no A-grader but Petts is just as old and would be out the door before him. We also don't know Cogs' future until he returns.
We also need to trade for draft picks whilst in a phase of stacking youth. Be flooded with options. Raines, McGuane, Jackson, Graham, Schultz should all be flirted to GC for draft picks.
The problem now is clubs won't give up good picks given this is the last uncompromised draft to grab kids. You probably get a late 2nd rounder or 3rd rounder at best for a decent player let alone some of the above names. The GC picks exchanged for a uncontracted player next year are determined by some formula based on age and experience/games played. Can we rig the formula to get a top 5 pick for one of the above
It's the remedy that we used and I think is really similar to RFC and could work. I must admit being a Tiger supporter since birth it really puzzles me how watery RFC are when it comes to studying the young kids. It's no surprise Collingwood have unearthed some guns cause they put so much time into coming to our games and studying our players. RFC's absence to me is always noticeable. I plead to you RFC to come and study the Under 18's a lot more especially in this time of need to get draft picks right.
Having the worst/poorest resources in recruiting over the years makes this comment not surprising. I always felt in the past we based our choices more on watching tapes provided to all clubs for free rather than watching potential draftees live numerous times. I think now it's starting to improve as I know we have scouts looking at leagues as well as the TAC Cup. It would help also if we didn't trade picks away for other clubs' fringe players
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