What do the AFL clubs want for Christmas, and what does the new year hold? Part two

Geelong is definitely the phantom menace, no one really likes it but it's going to be there regardless :stoked:

A lot of people seem to think the bulldog's are a shoe-in to make the top eight again but nothing is guaranteed for them. A lot of dog's supporters seem to be getting ahead of themselves before the season has even started. They were belted by Carlton, St Kilda, North Melbourne and were only one of three teams to lose to GC. The dogs could very easily have missed finals if they lost to Carlton and Melbourne in close matches. Naughton will receive a lot more attention now and it is a lot of pressure to place on a third year player. They did get Bruce but he is just a serviceable forward. Their defence seems to be the weakest area of their game plan. They have an outstanding midfield but they still seem to lack a lot in other areas. Not sure they are ready to break into the top 4.

Thanks mate. I watched that West Coast game too and WC were certainly challenged by Melbourne but WC played a few games like that last year, where they were struggling to give bottom placed sides the knock out blow. West Coast still beat Melbourne twice last year and I never thought they would lose because Melbourne also seem to lack any real match winners. Petracca has been hyped up to be this match winner player that they badly need but he still continues to be mediocre for a top 2 draft pick. Petracca has been serviceable at best so far in his career at Melbourne. I think you may be onto something about their coach. Goodwin doesn’t seem to know what he is doing. His strategy completely failed this year and he didn’t update Melbourne’s game plan to adapt to the new rules changes it appeared. He is also not the greatest media person. He gives very robotic responses to questions in his conferences and I think it is important that a coach is able to communicate effectively with people. The saints will be interesting to watch next year. I have a good feeling about them with Brett Ratten as the coach now and all the players they recruited. Ratten seems to understand what has been wrong with the saint’s game plan and is trying to fix it. Skills have been the most significant problem with St Kilda in recent years and I heard Ratten say that will be his focus in the off season to correct this. The former coach certainly didn’t do anything to resolve this issue. I really like how they brought in Roughead too. They seem to be creating a good environment at the club that wasn’t there under Richo. I think Steven and Bruce will not be much of a loss to be honest. Steven is a past his prime and will not be able to cover the loss Kelly for Geelong. Kelly was a big get for WC btw. He will ensure they continue to stay in contention for the foreseeable future. St Kilda should have tried to extract more from Geelong though for a 4x best and fairest winner. Bruce did kick 36 goals this year for St Kilda but he was very inconsistent and went missing often in matches. I think his loss can be covered by Ryder, King and a game plan that will work with using st kilda’s small forwards. Tim Membrey is a very underrated forward and he kicked 44 goals in a team that only scored over a 100 points twice this year. It will be very interesting to see how they go but it will largely depend on injuries and form. Injuries derailed St Kilda’s season this year and I thought winning 9 games with such a bad run was a solid result for them. Hunter Clark was excellent in the 2nd half of the season under Ratten and he is the kind of player that could send st kilda right up the ladder.

Sounds like a well formed opinion, even if it is just that. They definitely checked out of last season pretty early. So was interesting to hear what else you thought contributed to their poor record. when I seen them play eagles in NT they looked up for it and not a bottom 4 team (mind you it was hard to see the game as normal with an almost ground level camera :laughing: ). Dominated the midfield until the last qtr if i remember right. May and Lever are still big unknowns imo. When a player comes home to WA it nearly always takes a couple of seasons before they don’t look like they’ve regressed. Plus they have had injuries. Also interesting if there is a culture problem, seems to have been a few clubs like that. I think the coach could be in trouble if you’re right. I had been thinking the saints are about to climb the ladder for a couple yrs now. Just looking at their list and watching limited games. As an outsider seeing them trade Bruce and their best player going to geelong, seems like dumb decisions mixed with bad luck. So I think I’m not so high on them this pre-season. Hope to be wrong though.

With their exciting new director, they can rescript their negative game, become exciting and eclipse the studio across town.

Like the new film Freo could bomb and make no sense ;) a wce premiership next year would be the empire strikes back!

I am not confident that this year was an aberration for them. If anything, 2018 was the outlier and they were fortuitous to have a very favourable draw that year. Melbourne might win four or five more games next year with a better run with injuries but that will still not be sufficient to make finals I think. Five wins and a percentage of 78 this year supports the idea that they are second rate and their list requires a lot of refinement. They do get to play GC and St Kilda twice next year but I think GC will not be push-overs next year and they made some smart decisions with their recruiting in the trade period. St Kilda have an excellent record against Melbourne and belted them twice last year even with all of the injuries to a lot of St Kilda’s best players. They also have a more balanced and talented list than Melbourne in my opinion. I have much more optimism about these teams than Melbourne. Time will tell if I am right or not about them but it’s just an opinion and what I think about their list. There also appears to be some disharmony at Melbourne. There were a lot of on-field outbursts by players such as May and Oliver this year I noticed. That suggests there might be some cultural or leadership problem internally. I thought May did not have the right to berate Frost in that Brisbane game, when he himself is one of the most undisciplined players in the league. He showed up to the preseason out of shape and was not professional at all. Not sure Melbourne did their homework when recruiting him and now Frost, Melbourne’s most reliable defender left for Hawthorn. I think Frost’s loss could be quite detrimental for them if May and Lever can’t get their acts together and actually play some games. Based on how those two played at the end of this year, they would want to hope they contribute a lot more and brush up on their skills.

How much has their list changed since 2018? The teams you mentioned might have better lists now, I’d say a little less developed though. The bottom of the 8 was weak last yr. I can see them slipping back into there if they win some big “neutral” ground games, I think they should accommodate for anything across the road.

The dark side in this one I sense. A good fit freo is.

That's down by 8k then on they're peak. Belief among the supporter base is getting low unfortunately.

Port's 2019 Membership was just under 52,000 (August numbers), ranked 11th in the league, and they were one of 4 clubs to go backwards. Not that good in a 2 club town (Adelaide also went backwards, but by only 300)

Adelaide Docker ''I say that with a tinge of jealousy..'' Eagles Fans ''Luke, Come to the Dark Side...''

Yes, Ken Hinkley seems to have done his dash and is unable to get the best out of Port’s list. Hinkley was excellent in 2013 and 2014 but cannot seem to get Port back to that standard. Some people say this was due to the loss of assistant coaches in the subsequent years and that may be a good reason for Port’s under-performances. Port’s most significant problem seems to be consistency. They can be up and about one week but very ordinary the next week. If Port fails to make the finals in 2020, I have no doubt Hinkley will be gone by the end of 2020. I am not confident Port will make the finals in 2020 though. They just seem to be too inconsistent and did not really improve their list much in the trade period. They can only hope the players they drafted can have an immediate impact. Port’s list strategy seems to also be all over the place. One year they recruit Rockliff, Watts and Motlop and then have a radically different approach the subsequent year and go to the draft. It seems Port did a good job with their drafting in 2018 but time will tell if all those players will become quality footballers. Some draftees are excellent in their first year playing football but are unable to play good football consistently later on.

2019 membership was just under 60k, about 6th in the league I think, so pretty good, cant see that happening this year.

I would sack him now (albeit I am no Port fan) but I can not see them sacking Hinkley mid way through the year and tacking the focus away from the celebratory aspect. Not good optics, especially as Port has likely already written the "2020 is a Success" Media Releases eg: increased membership(albeit off a lowish base and on the back of the celebratory aspect), better crowds (so as to join in the celebrations), surely they will pick up a major sponsor to capitalise on the increased focus etc etc. They should sack Hinkley and the Board if 2020 turns sour!

Agree with all of that except not sacking a coach mid season this year. If Port are struggling and the crowds drop the board will have no choice to sack him.

I would suggest that, given the aggressive recruiting/draft strategy of recent years that any failure to make the 8 is a big fail and Port should be setting the pass mark for Hinkley at Top 4 (maybe 5th). Port under Hinkley has bought in some high priced big names (Ryder, Dixon, Motlop, Polec, Watts) and sold the farm in the process (Wingard, Polec, Howard, Impey), just to make salary cap room and to access some kids (some of which look OK). Hinkley has been there for 8 years (incl 2020) and Port has played 1 losing final since 2014. With that record he should already be sacked but they won't sack him mid way through the 150 celebratory year.