The big shift

[Webby]

It just struck me watching Daniel Cross running around tonight that, geez, there's a lot of former WBFC players running around for other AFL clubs at present!

I make it eleven. Surely some kind of record. With games played for WBFC in brackets, they are:
Daniel Cross (210)
Brian Lake (197)
Adam Cooney (219)
Ryan Griffen (202)
Callan Ward (60)
Shaun Higgins (129)
Jarrod Harbrow (70)
Liam Jones (66)
Jason Tutt (26)
Andrejs Everitt (36)
Josh Hill (66)

I make that nearly 1300 WBFC games worth of experience running around for other clubs.

Then I checked our team that played Hawthorn on Sunday.
Of the total 22, we had just under 1350 WBFC games between them. I say again, that was for the whole 22!

An enormous overhaul of our list has taken place over the past three years.

Had Matt Boyd not come back into the side again this week, we'd actually have had more WBFC games represented by players running around in other jumpers this weekend than in Bulldogs ones. I very much doubt that this would have happened at any other club at any point in history.

[bulldogtragic]

Dylan Addison has 90 odd games.

[Twodogs]

Dylan Addison has 90 odd games.


Is he still on the GWS list?

[LostDoggy]

Farren Ray? 75 games

[bulldogtragic]

Is he still on the GWS list?

Website says so. Although he looks completely different long hair and beard.

[Ghost Dog]

And their current collective performance for the most part ( Hill, Everitt, Cooney based on injury, Jones, Higgins ) convinces me we did the right thing.

Higgins had some atrocious misses a forward just should not miss versus Port.

[ratsmac]

Wow that's funny because I was thinking about this very thing tonight. The difference is I was to lazy to do the math.
It surprised me a bit when you put numbers to it how many games experience we have given up. Hopefully we come out on top in the end.
I still kills me that Lake has 2 premiership medals to his name now. Part of me is happy for him but part of me wants to swing him around the neck by his medals.

[Twodogs]

I wonder how long before this is an article in the paper?

[Webby]

Farren Ray? 75 games

If Ray played on the weekend - which I believe he did, I'm pretty sure that's then pipped us for more WBFC games of experience running around for the rest of the comp than for us.

Gives a solid idea of how much we've invested into this young group. Btw, IMO we've done so wisely. Good to see us playing the long game.

I believe the:
Ray trade ultimately landed us Roughead. Or you could argue Jones..
Jones trade ultimately landed us Daniel.
Everitt's trade was a bust with Veszpremi and Schofield
Higgins' FA compo resulted in Webb.
Cross's presence would've inhibited Bont or Macrae
Tutt simply isn't good enough
Hill's trade ultimately landed Pearce...
Addison was simply delisted
Griffen's trade got us Boyd
Cooney's trade ultimately landed Hamilton & Biggs
Lake's trade landed us Hrovat
Harbrow's compo was blown on Sherman
Ward's compo got us Macrae

Mixed bag, but, I think on the whole we've traded up re our next window.

[Go_Dogs]

I wonder how long before this is an article in the paper?

Mid-week, at the latest!

[GVGjr]

The upshot of all these moves is we now have a very inexperienced list for the next season or so but one that will serve us very well in the future. We have a real focus on youth and development and that focus is supported by our own premiership winning VFL side.
The players have been taught how to play to play exciting football with a real defensive edge and the players that could only play one way have been moved on.
It's going to be a roller coaster of a season with mixed results but it's an exciting phase we are entering and we will see what steps forward the likes of Boyd, Bontempelli, Stringer, Macrae and Hrovat etc can make.

[Ghost Dog]

The Sherman trade always confuses me. What the hell happened to him? Fools gold.

When you see Boyd clunking marks against the Hawks it's very reassuring, even when being beaten to the tune of 70 points.
I like the structure of our team, but good talls are always a problem at any club.
We need to clone Tom Boyd because actually I thought his rucking was excellent. He's smart - good footy brain.

[Webby]

The Sherman trade always confuses me. What the hell happened to him? Fools gold.

When you see Boyd clunking marks against the Hawks it's very reassuring, even when being beaten to the tune of 70 points.
I like the structure of our team, but good talls are always a problem at any club.
We need to clone Tom Boyd because actually I thought his rucking was excellent. He's smart - good footy brain.

I agree on both points. I think with Sherman, the club and Eade failed to realise where we were at. We were due for a long game rebuild at the end of 2010. In fact, we were probably due for one at the end of '09. The opportunity had realistically passed us by at that stage.

Then there was Sherman. We clearly overrated him and didn't do our due diligence. He was a renowned as a spud amongst the Brisbane list. Ill-disciplined on and off the field.

Veszpremi didn't work. You get that - rough with the smooth. However the Sherman trade was bad from the get go.

[Ghost Dog]

I agree on both points. I think with Sherman, the club and Eade failed to realise where we were at. We were due for a long game rebuild at the end of 2010. In fact, we were probably due for one at the end of '09. The opportunity had realistically passed us by at that stage.

Then there was Sherman. We clearly overrated him and didn't do our due diligence. He was a renowned as a spud amongst the Brisbane list. Ill-disciplined on and off the field.

Veszpremi didn't work. You get that - rough with the smooth. However the Sherman trade was bad from the get go.


What I don't get is all these Brisbane fans who clearly were glad to be rid of him, seemingly well aware of his downside. In a cut-throat highly analytical professional sports field, surely people would have known at our club. It's the most bizarre trade in some years.
Even the Howard one might be forgiven as a young player, hard to read the potential.
But the Sherman one remains a mystery.
In terms of the shift, it's great to see us go with a more traditional type of player, albiet we have recruited shorter players but they are smart, good ball users.
Watching Hodge pummel our younger kids has me worried if we have enough hardened bodies to prevent injuries.

[F'scary]

To me, the context of the "big shift" (love that title) has to be restricted to what occurred after McCartney took the reigns. I think it is over 20 players who have moved on in one way or another in the past 3 years, many of them with a wealth of games under their belts.

[GVGjr]

Watching Hodge pummel our younger kids has me worried if we have enough hardened bodies to prevent injuries.

We don't have enough older and stronger bodies in the side and the moment but when a team isn't performing that well on the field especially over a period of time like ours, most supporters demand that the match committee select young sides. As you have highlighted though it can come at a cost when the more physical players in the competition run through the younger players.

I suspect that with the character of the players we have like Hrovat, Honeychurch, Jong and many others it will act as a spur to work even harder on being able to not only take a strong bump but be able to hand one out themselves when required.

It's going to be a long season for the younger bodies but I'm confident they will come out of it vastly better and more determined players.

[lemmon]

We don't have enough older and stronger bodies in the side and the moment but when a team isn't performing that well on the field especially over a period of time like ours, most supporters demand that the match committee select young sides. As you have highlighted though it can come at a cost when the more physical players in the competition run through the younger players.

I suspect that with the character of the players we have like Hrovat, Honeychurch, Jong and many others it will act as a spur to work even harder on being able to not only take a strong bump but be able to hand one out themselves when required.

It's going to be a long season for the younger bodies but I'm confident they will come out of it vastly better and more determined players.
It really does make guys like Kobe, Dickson, Crameri and Wood important as well. We need those bigger bodies with multiple pre-seasons to get up and around the contest, do a lot of the bullocking work and absorb some of the hits.

[Webby]

This game on right now is a good illustration of it. St Kilda are on a better track than Carlton from a list perspective, yet Carlton's older, harder bodies are gettin on top in the second half.

The old second half fade out by a young team chestnut. It's just the pain all clubs need to go through at some point in time if they are fair dinkum about building a premiership list.

Carlton fans will go home all cock-a-hoop, hanging shit on the Aints fans, but have no doubt, in the bigger picture, the Aints are 3-4 years ahead of the Blues. And we're two to three years ahead of the Aints.

[GVGjr]

It really does make guys like Kobe, Dickson, Crameri and Wood important as well. We need those bigger bodies with multiple pre-seasons to get up and around the contest, do a lot of the bullocking work and absorb some of the hits.

Exactly right. The guys you have mentioned plus Picken and M. Boyd will play a big role in the development of the younger players. We need the more mature bodies to play alongside of our younger guys. Clay Smith coming back in so quickly is another sign that we need to add that sort of toughness and strength around our midfield given the loss of Wallis.

[GVGjr]

Carlton fans will go home all cock-a-hoop, hanging shit on the Aints fans, but have no doubt, in the bigger picture, the Aints are 3-4 years ahead of the Blues. And we're two to three years ahead of the Aints.

I've mentioned a couple of times that the Blues finished just one position above us on the ladder last season and yet their approach to drafting and trading last year was a massive contrast to our approach. If it doesn't pay dividends this year, and I doubt that it will, it sets them back massively in the longer term. I'd expect a fire sale at the seasons end as the Blues then start to focus on drafting and developing their own players. They will be at least 4 years behind us.

[Webby]

I think a question that should be erased from the coach's position interview is "So tell us, what do you think of our list?"

If you answer "it's crap and needs rebuilding" you don't get the job. Everyone knows that.

It's an open secret that was the reason Knights beat out Hardwick for the Essendon job.
It's therefore obvious why Mick told Carlton's appointment panel what they wanted to hear.

If you tell them the truth, you don't get the job.

I LOVE the fact that the Bombers are delusional about where they're at. Although their fans are dumb enough to buy, well, anything(!), the Essendon Football Club is clearly not hunting a premiership.

The Essendon Football Club are hunting a finals win. That's all they're hunting! Their eleven year stretch without a finals win has really gotten to them!

The way to build a premiership is to aim to build a dynasty. If you succeed, you're Hawthorn or Geelong. If you fail, you're Collingwood. But hey, 'only' winning one premiership in your quest for a dynasty is fine by me!!

Essendon are not doing this. They're doing what we used to do in former times. Simply trying to plonk ourselves in the finals and seeing what happens. Carlton, on the other hand, have NFI.

It's the disadvantage of having historically fickle, spoilt and delusional supporters - and the political turbulence that introduces to clubs.
Our great strength is that we're largely realistic, loyal and patient. We've clearly put in the hard yards, but we've just about passed the hump. It's nice to know the foundations are laid and we can watch the project developing and being finished off in the coming years.

[Sedat]

Then there was Sherman. We clearly overrated him and didn't do our due diligence. He was a renowned as a spud amongst the Brisbane list. Ill-disciplined on and off the field.
The great irony with Sherman is that Sydney offered pick 22 in that trade period but Sherman nominated his preferred destination as the Bulldogs. Gee thanks Justin!

[bulldogtragic]

The great irony with Sherman is that Sydney offered pick 22 in that trade period but Sherman nominated his preferred destination as the Bulldogs. Gee thanks Justin!

No biggy. What did that Jack Darling do who was taken at 26?

[LostDoggy]

We don't have enough older and stronger bodies in the side and the moment but when a team isn't performing that well on the field especially over a period of time like ours, most supporters demand that the match committee select young sides. As you have highlighted though it can come at a cost when the more physical players in the competition run through the younger players.

I suspect that with the character of the players we have like Hrovat, Honeychurch, Jong and many others it will act as a spur to work even harder on being able to not only take a strong bump but be able to hand one out themselves when required.

It's going to be a long season for the younger bodies but I'm confident they will come out of it vastly better and more determined players.
The old man used to tell me as a kid, “Beat up your younger brother all you want. But one day he'll grow up.” He's now taller than me at 6'6" and I'm the runt of the family.

There'll come a time when our guys are the battle-hardened and we're beating the shit out of younger teams. Given the type of bloke we've recruited (Stringer is a great example) I think we'll win long term.