Midfielders draft or trade?

[Impatient Sainter]

Its blatantly obvious we need more quality midfielders, the question is do we go to the draft or look to trade in ready made players? I think with guys like Owens, Windhager, Nasiah Wanganeen & Peris on our list we have our long term future covered. The question is can the next level of players like Byrnes, Gresham & Bytel take the next step?

A lot will depend on how our midfield progresses this season but if there is no improvement should we look to trade for the now and go after genuine inside/outside mids? OOC players who want to play more midfield and arent getting the opportunities like Noah Anderson, Tanner Bruhn, Tim Taranto, Bailey Smith, Josh Dunkley, Brayshaw etc could be our targets. Collingwood got Lipinski for pick 43 last year...

[Winmar]

If a best 22 mid in the 23-26 age bracket was available I think we should go for them.

[wally]

It’s all very well to want to trade in but how many good / potential players want to come to us? We get linked to everyone but ESS and Carlton seem to score once Coll get settled they will be destination prob Richmond and Haw too then Geelong . We are last along with NM

[MC Gusto]

the core has to be draft. 80/20 i reckon. we've gone two far the other way... draft the core, get in the cream when the time is right

[Viscount Jeremiah]

Draft & Free agents

[CURLY]

Which of Jones Billings Clarke played Friday night?

[CURLY]

Which of Jones Billings Clarke played Friday night?

[cwrcyn]

We have just recruited NWM, Windhager, and Owens. I would expect that next year we'll see a lot more of these guys. Then there are the rest of our mids (or potential mids) and their ages

Byrnes 20
Bytel 22
Clark 22
Gresham 24
Steele 26
Jones 27
Ross 28
Crouch 28

Bytel has shown nothing of substance yet. Byrnes had a promising 2021, but was awful last Friday. Clark and Gresham have obvious talent.

To trade out draft picks for a highly rated mid from another club will likely cost two first round draft picks.


The depth of quality is not there yet, but I'd prefer we took the draft option for now. Hopefully, in three years time that group of mids in the 18 to 24 age bracket will have blossomed and we won't need to consider a trade. Once we've seen enough of that group to make a judgement, then we can make the call

[CURLY]

We have just recruited NWM, Windhager, and Owens. I would expect that next year we'll see a lot more of these guys. Then there are the rest of our mids (or potential mids) and their ages

Byrnes 20
Bytel 22
Clark 22
Gresham 24
Steele 26
Jones 27
Ross 28
Crouch 28

Bytel has shown nothing of substance yet. Byrnes had a promising 2021, but was awful last Friday. Clark and Gresham have obvious talent.

To trade out draft picks for a highly rated mid from another club will likely cost two first round draft picks.


The depth of quality is not there yet, but I'd prefer we took the draft option for now. Hopefully, in three years time that group of mids in the 18 to 24 age bracket will have blossomed and we won't need to consider a trade. Once we've seen enough of that group to make a judgement, then we can make the call

Remember that Collingwood had there best midfield Friday night. No kids running through there all mature bodies. We were forced to run Owens and Byrnes due to injury.

[D.B.Cooper]

Which of Jones Billings Clarke played Friday night?

NONE!
Do I get a gold star?

All good players, but which are/would be pure midfielders?

Jones - yes
B grade mid, good pace and aggression, average disposal

Billings - no
B grade high half forward, A grade on his day.

Clark - no
C grade half back. B grade on his day.
Has some elite traits & plenty of heart at the contest, but yet to find consistency in his game.
Doesn't appear to have the running capacity or the desire to run himself into the deck (as yet) to play midfield other than pinch hit.

We are clearly short of midfielders with pace and kicking skills.
Hopefully NWM, Windy & Owens will help address this but they are going to take 3-4 seasons to have a real impact.

Our issue IMO is we have not drafted & developed any high end quality young midfield talent in the last 5 or 6 years and we are paying for it.
Jones though a B grader is so important as he adds a point of difference with his pace and aggression and willingness to take the game on.
The only other player who does this consistently is Gresham.

[CURLY]

Which of Jones Billings Clarke played Friday night?

NONE!
Do I get a gold star?

All good players, but which are/would be pure midfielders?

Jones - yes
B grade mid, good pace and aggression, average disposal

Billings - no
B grade high half forward, A grade on his day.

Clark - no
C grade half back. B grade on his day.
Has some elite traits & plenty of heart at the contest, but yet to find consistency in his game.
Doesn't appear to have the running capacity or the desire to run himself into the deck (as yet) to play midfield other than pinch hit.

We are clearly short of midfielders with pace and kicking skills.
Hopefully NWM, Windy & Owens will help address this but they are going to take 3-4 seasons to have a real impact.

Our issue IMO is we have not drafted & developed any high end quality young midfield talent in the last 5 or 6 years and we are paying for it.
Jones though a B grader is so important as he adds a point of difference with his pace and aggression and willingness to take the game on.
The only other player who does this consistently is Gresham.

Billings Jones and Clarke are ball carriers and are great compliments for Steele Ross and Crouch. Basically you can't have one without the other.

[MC Gusto]

Even with those 3 in i think we still lose.

the 1st game of the season was all too representative of the start of last season. The fight and aggression just wasn't there. not only were we out skilled we were out muscled.

[MC Gusto]

scoreboard was flattering as most have said. we were 35 down and sure we kicked into gear but then they got easy goals to solidify the lead and win. just not good enough. When you look at our draw we needed to be 3-2 off the first 5 worst case. that looks very risky now, most would have the Pies posted as a lock

[CURLY]

Even with those 3 in i think we still lose.

the 1st game of the season was all too representative of the start of last season. The fight and aggression just wasn't there. not only were we out skilled we were out muscled.

Please Billings Jones and Clarke for Owens Byrnes and Kent.

We win.

Thats 60 touches at high disposal % compared to 18.

[B.M]

Doesn’t matter how you get em

[Vortex]

We have just recruited NWM, Windhager, and Owens. I would expect that next year we'll see a lot more of these guys. Then there are the rest of our mids (or potential mids) and their ages

Byrnes 20
Bytel 22
Clark 22
Gresham 24
Steele 26
Jones 27
Ross 28
Crouch 28

Bytel has shown nothing of substance yet. Byrnes had a promising 2021, but was awful last Friday. Clark and Gresham have obvious talent.

To trade out draft picks for a highly rated mid from another club will likely cost two first round draft picks.


The depth of quality is not there yet, but I'd prefer we took the draft option for now. Hopefully, in three years time that group of mids in the 18 to 24 age bracket will have blossomed and we won't need to consider a trade. Once we've seen enough of that group to make a judgement, then we can make the call

Take Bytel as an example of why we need to temper our hype for NWM owens and Widhagar to be a meaningful part of any midfield set-up over the next 2 or 3 years. It was only 2 years ago Fans on forums were lavishing Bytel with the same adulation and hype as is currently being enjoyed by NWM, Owens and Widhager. So much so you'd swear Bytel should already have won his first Brownlow already.

It would be nice to think Bytel is way ahead of NWM, Owens and Widhager in establishing himself as a first picked mid.

If at the end of the year this isn't the case and Bytel has struggled to improve and get regular game then this is the area of concern for the club.

Throw Byrnes and Connoly onto the end of Bytels name as these were our NWM, Ownen and Widhager of a few years ago and none or them seem to he giving us any hope so far.

Hopefully that changes this year.

[Impatient Sainter]

We were flattered by the final score, Collingwood were all over us, apart for 20 minutes of footy. They owned possession and their small running players worked far harder than any of ours. I watched the game live then the replay and you just don't get a complete picture on TV. The Pies out numbered us at nearly every contest, they won the ball at ground level and that allowed them to maintain their spread around the contest. Basically we chased shadows all night.

We desparately need elite stoppage midfielders to give Steele a chop out. I don't care where they come from, but the club needs to address a decades old short coming and recruit midfielders.