The thing is the young talent is still there for ‘ron’ and each year more join the list. Three very good draftees this year. We will draft again next year. Cats went down the trade route 4 times to get a premiership & that was far too many. Now their list is either Dad’s army or the Cheche

Players like Ollie Florent, Sheldrick, McInerney, Campbell, Jordan, McLean, Amartey, Roberts, corey Warner & ‘Lizard’ Blakey all under 25 and all have played seniors. Some are regulars. The future is bright and we have some real talent in the wings;
Green, Schnell, Konstanty (Best small forward in the U18’s), Buller, Magor, Arnold (would be A grade fullback at say North or Hawks), Cleary (if he were at a lower club he would walk into a midfield).
Getting Adams, Grundy & Hamling gives us a better age profile. While Jordan is a very good YOUNG addition at only 23.

I don’t think there are too many holes there at all. The defence has held up pretty well under bombardment because the mids have let far too much ball enter the back 50. Opposition forward entries against were one of our worst stats. Grundy & Adams will help the mids win more stoppages & Clearances, therefore letting less ball go into the opposition forward 50.

We have not just gotten Hamling, we have recruited Arnold in the mid season draft and he is developing nicely. Schnell in the draft this year is a CHB with huge potential which will be developed under Hamling. Rampe is nearing the end of his career but we have Fox, Ollie Florent, McInerney, Magor, Mitchell, Lloyd, Vickery & Blakey. Magor, Vickery & Mitchell are developing nicely. Mitchell is as hard as nails. Add to that the fact Mill can go back if needed.

Retirements hurt Cats badly. Joel Selwood was huge for them. They will be hit with far more retirements at the end of this year. Potentially, Stanley, Touhy, Hawkins, Rohan, Duncan, Guthrie, Dangerfield, Bliclavs & Stewart are all close to retirement. I would say that grouping are all under 3 years away. This means they are slowing down, not producing as much.
The Swans had the opposite problem. Youth, and when injury hit there was little in the way of experience on the park to help. Add to that the Swans did not have a key defender for 3 weeks and only one for 6 weeks. Losing most of those games with mills playing on Hawkins. Getting Hamling in the Trade Period, picking up Arnold in the mid season draft & drafting Schnell have helped no end in this area. The trouble with Will Gould is that he was not tall enough to be a key back and not mobile enough to play on smalls. All the new boys are of Key back height.

I think the Swans have more up side than Cats. As Cats will lose a lot of players in the coming years & their recruiting in the draft has been lower end. Their middle players are not quite up to it and their depth flags off at the bottom end.

Longmire is under pressure to deliver a premiership. Can he do it? does he have the game plan? If he continues to use the long play to a contest or the big bomb into the forward line I’d say no. Because in finals, especially Prelims or the GF, they get picked off by the opposition. If he learns to play smart with shorter, more precise delivery, as happened in their better wins last year & in 2022, there is every indication that he could.

As to whether getting Adams 30, Grundy 29 & Hamling 30, is just short term thinking I’m not sure. They all fill roles for the short term but they will also be educating the young Swans. The Swans have drafted a young ruck, Key back & their mids are young and will develop in the next two years. Adams will help guys like Sheldrick, Warner, Rowbottom, Roberts & Gulden develop. Green & Ladhams will benefit from having a top flight ruck like Grundy to compete with at training. The backs will all learn from a premiership Key back in Hamling. Schnell will develop better that way & young players like Tom McCartin will benefit from learning from his experience.

This is about developing the young talent to a capacity of being able to take over as much as winning a premiership.

I agree, it’s not necessarily his fault. But he does have a say in list management. Whether he was listened to is another thing. Whoever is in charge of list management needs to go.​

My problem with Weat Coast is that I can’t see a core group you could build a team aeound emerging at this time. What needs to happen is they need to have a really big clean out, see Hawthorn, Swans etc, and start again. Hard Times but that group will then emerge. You have to plan for that.

I agree with this. It never went back to the level it was before COVID. The coaches are all saying they and their staff are exhausted. But the Coaches Association is as weak as Nun’s Pee. They should get rid of the CEO, he seems somewhat useless. I mean, Hardwick, Longmire, Ross, Clarkson, Fagan, Hinckley have all made statements about this but the AFL A deos nothing to help them.

But Voss is the new voice at Blues. I think the Blues players are soft as melted butter. A bunch of whining Winnies. Mackay whinging about the crowd greeting them with expletives. What bull. In Soccer thry would have ripped their arms off if they were as uncommitted as this mob.

I wish Tom would stop using rubbish American references that those with any intelligence don’t understand because they don’t watch tripe.

As for Simpson going or staying that is between Simpson and the club. Frankly, I don’t know why he is still bothering. His list of ageing stars is cringe worthy, more so seeing most of them are on the injury list.

If you are going to rebuild you have to have a core group to start you off. I’m not sure he has a big enough group to base a rebuild on. Allen, Barrass and one or two others. That’s it. Not 9-10 players you can put our trust in.

If​ ​I was Simpson, and I’m not, I would walk away.

Oh and the friends with benefits analogy is cringe worthy. Footy clubs are not Relationships like that. They are business relationships. The players are the assets and liabilities of a club. They are just meat to be moved around until the premium meat is one the park and the ultimate goal of a premiership is achieved. They are no longer human beings, they have been reduced to bait (trade bait), commodities (those that have good trade value and those that do not), assets (those that have value to the club), dead meat (those to be delisted). West Coast has a lot of the latter and not much in the way of assets. They should have made the call on NicNat and half the injury list last year but did not.

No Josh Dunkley at Lions?

The article concentrates on how good the Dees can be and not how good Swans were. There was no analysis of how the Swans picked apart the Dees. There was no mention of the defensive match ups. How important Clarke was in keeping Salem incredibly quiet. How the Swans forward pressure obliterated the Dees sure ball movement out of defence. How Hickey took on the best ruck duo in the AFL and totally nullified them, while getting 17 disposals, 5 clearances and a goal. There was no mention that the Swans cam with a plan, not the same as the last one but one different that put more emphasis on midfield dominance. Although the midfield was mentioned once there was no discussion on just how important it was after half time.

The article concentrates on how the Dees will bounce back to beat Lions next week and possible Cats the week after. Not how the Swans are now set for a huge Prelim against either Pies or Freo.

Your point is?

The only team playing Rugby on Friday night were the Dees. They threw the ball more than Magic Johnson did in his whole career in basketball. Again and again I lamented the lack of prosecution of the throw by the umpires. Clarry Oliver got one against him in the last and the look on his face said it all, ‘How come I’m getting penalised for this when we have done it all game?’ I think incorrect disposal is the worst umpired rule in the AFL.

But Swans did get them. Not only that it was Dees stupidity that reigned. The fact is on all occasions Swans had control of the ball. Who knows Swans might have kicked all three goals anyway. Reid could have kicked his easily. The forward line was set up for a lead and goal on the Hayward occasion. Lloyd could have set up a goal.

But the reality is Dees players stuffed up. Those 50’s came at different stages of the game. The Lloyd 50 early in the last. Who’s to say Swans don’t get a goal even without the 50, after all Lloyd had control of the ball just on the 50. You are supposing Swans did not get the ball forward and kick scores from any of these when they had control of the ball.

The reality was Swans were far harder than Dees. They put the Dees off their game with unrelenting pressure. They would have won with or without the 50’s.

Well if they disappoint this year it will be a long rebuild as all the pensioners retire next year

How many times have they peaked in the right half of the season but not won a final?

They are in SA. You might be lucky to get them but probably not both as FS

If Saad goes to Stengle then expect him to get around 10 disposals. Stengle will strangle him and then kick about 10 goals on him. Saad is not a shut down defender, which is what you need on Stengle. I would put a shut down small defender on him.

Anyway the real BIG game is the later game in Perth where the two most exciting sides in the AFL play each other.

Are you talking about the Freo v Swans match?

I don’t think Freo has peaked too early. Many sides who have won premierships go through peaks and troughs. Richmond in 2017 were beaten in 4 matches from round 5. starting with a huge shellacking by Adelaide. They then lost badly to the Saints in round 16 and were beaten by around 20 by Cats in round 21. But they still won the premiership.

Freo might lose to the Swans. It would be unusual at home but they might. But the Swans best is probably better than any side in the AFL. Their worst is about as bad as Crows normal. But if the Swans turn it on Freo will have a game on their hands. But even if Freo lose it will not mean the end to their season. Sides like them bounce back.

But they have retained McKay, Weitering, Curnow, Cripps, Walsh, Cerra at a high cost, all over $1 million/year. Kennedy, Silvagni, Pittonet, Dow & Saad will all want more of the pie. Hewett’s contract will be performance based and he might just like to up the anti in 2 years time too. That is a lot of talent to fit into one cap

Prestia is that good Don. In fact Richmond perform far poorer when he is not there getting his26-30 touches/game. Last year they lost a lot of players but the one who was the most damaging was the loss of this bloke.

Cunnington is a really good player. I think he has been your best for many years and should have been captain.

Jason Horne-Francis has already gone. Adelaide people tell me he will be at Port either next year or when the contract comes up at the end of ’23. I am sitting in Adelaide at the moment and my brother is a Port supporter. Adelaide could not afford him as they now have Dawson, who they paid $800,000/year.

It will be hard to keep players. Your club doesn’t seem to value them, which is sad. Brown, Daw, Tarrant, Campbell, Dumont not to mention getting some players in that don’t seem to be working out. But the latter might be the coaches’ fault.

The trouble was the deal to bring Kelly back home. It cost them too dearly. Wait a year and he has no contract and they have the upper hand. Then list management. Several players, some still on the list, should have been delisted. Sure, you need experienced players. But not those for whom the bell hath tolled. Now, you have the problem that you could not get high draft picks, have too many players about to retire as a group and no real high end talent to replace them.

I wish you luck.