Will we have a debutant this season?

[BACCS]

Curtin actually named at HB in the SANFL side?! Do our opponents play with 4 KPFs? Hopefully there’s a matchup for him to hone his defensive skills

 

[CryptoCrow]

Nicks has a minimum wins clause in his contract

He can’t trust the kids to get him the wins he needs to get paid

Let's run a poll on minimum wins..
I think he has to win 10 games

 

[benji2]

I’m thinking in the toughest circumstances possible, maybe Collingwood at the MCG on a few weeks, or Geelong in Round 21


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[TRP1996]

Maybe Nicks is afraid to announce it because he doesn't know how to pronounce 'debutant'?

 

[Coopers]

Let's run a poll on minimum wins..
I think he has to win 10 games

To do what?

If we win 10 games from here on in, that would be massive

 

[cmndstab]

I think there will be a couple, yes. Dowling and Curtin the most likely.

However I doubt a single debutant gets 5+ games.

 

[Danger in Texas]

Curtin actually named at HB in the SANFL side?! Do our opponents play with 4 KPFs? Hopefully there’s a matchup for him to hone his defensive skills

George Kramer will give you an A+ for this, surely

 

[George Kramer]

George Kramer will give you an A+ for this, surely

BACCS has well and truly crossed over, we must be that bad.

I’m going to watch SANFL rather than watching the crap in Tassie

 

[1970crow]

Nothing seven rounds in but still two thirds of the season to go.

Mathematically we could be out of the finals race soon which could see us move towards a development focus.

Still have Schoenberg, Murphy, Murray, Smith, Sloane, Butts, Berry and hopefully eventually Thilthorpe to come back in so pretty squeezy for spots.

Will we have a debutant this season?

My debutant thread was better.

 

[Sanders]

I think there will be a couple, yes. Dowling and Curtin the most likely.

However I doubt a single debutant gets 5+ games.

I think this the salient point

I think Curtin, Dowling, Taylor and Ryan will all get a game or 2.

But nothing more than that

 

[CrowinNT]

My debutant thread was better.

Your thread had a short life of only 3 rounds

 

[SugarShane]

I think there will be a couple, yes. Dowling and Curtin the most likely.

However I doubt a single debutant gets 5+ games.

And all back out of the side by Round 24 when Smith, Laird, Crouch, Walker all line up alongside Sloane for his retirement match.

 

[Southerntakeover]

And abandon selection integrity?

What, do you want to be a bottom club?

 

[StonesThrow]

What the hell has happened to BACCS?

 

[Sanders]

What the hell has happened to BACCS?

The road to Damascus changes a man

Plus the dark side cookies, they’re peanut butter crunch this week

 

[StonesThrow]

We've played dogshit football for 5/6 rounds for a team that was gunning for finals. How many unforced changes have we made where those players omitted haven't been back in within a couple of weeks?



This is damning imo. Recycling of the same players within a short time frame. Shows reactiveness and lack of direction.

Add to that our three (glaringly) worst players (Murphy, McHenry and Smith) either cannot be dropped or have only gone out with injury.

Horrible stuff

 

[El Doederino]

We've played dogshit football for 5/6 rounds for a team that was gunning for finals. How many unforced changes have we made where those players omitted haven't been back in within a couple of weeks?

View attachment 1971205

This is damning imo. Recycling of the same players within a short time frame. Shows reactiveness and lack of direction.

Add to that our three (glaringly) worst players (Murphy, McHenry and Smith) either cannot be dropped or have only gone out with injury.

Horrible stuff

I hate to be that guy that says “but Portz do it betterz”

But I see Port in the finals race and playing well but for last week against the reigning premiers at their home ground cauldron, have dropped Ryan Burton due to performance

If they can drop Burton, why couldn’t we drop a half-crooked Smith?

 

[cmndstab]

I think this the salient point

I think Curtin, Dowling, Taylor and Ryan will all get a game or 2.

But nothing more than that

Yep, the club will be at pains to point out how they were fortunate to be able to give the players a "taste of AFL football" so that they could discover the required level.

 

[cmndstab]

I hate to be that guy that says “but Portz do it betterz”

But I see Port in the finals race and playing well but for last week against the reigning premiers at their home ground cauldron, have dropped Ryan Burton due to performance

If they can drop Burton, why couldn’t we drop a half-crooked Smith?

It's not just Port... pretty much all clubs except ours do it.

 

[BACCS]

It’s like Nicks debuted a heap of players in 2020 and 2021 because he was forced too with our list turnover, but now wants ‘consistency’ to get some ‘stability’ in the best 22. If you don’t have ‘stability’ then you can’t execute his ‘process’, so if you are still learning this ‘process’ then you’ll only get games due to injury.

This kind of thinking is fine at the backend of a season as you’re prepping for finals, but ideally you’ve been able to rotate through at least 30 guys in the earlier rounds so anyone can just come in and fill a role. There’s no need for stability to execute the process in earlier rounds, especially when the team is performing so poorly; this should be when you’re experimenting with which players can execute that process the best come the backend of the season and finals.

 

[CrowinNT]

We've played dogshit football for 5/6 rounds for a team that was gunning for finals. How many unforced changes have we made where those players omitted haven't been back in within a couple of weeks?

View attachment 1971205

This is damning imo. Recycling of the same players within a short time frame. Shows reactiveness and lack of direction.

Add to that our three (glaringly) worst players (Murphy, McHenry and Smith) either cannot be dropped or have only gone out with injury.

Horrible stuff

Disgusting
Those looking for AFL experience must be so disillusioned

 

[SugarShane]

I think this the salient point

I think Curtin, Dowling, Taylor and Ryan will all get a game or 2.

But nothing more than that

It's a tale as old as time with us. Senior players are awarded chance after chance because "continuity and consistency are critical". Rookies on the other hand get 1 game to prove themselves and if they don't set the world on fire they're turfed back to the 2s.

 

[BACCS]

 

[Scorpus]

And how many first round picks did each of those clubs select at the 2023 draft?

Carlton - 1 (pick 29)
Port Adelaide - 0
Essendon - 1 (pick 10)
Brisbane - 0
Adelaide - 3 (pick 8, pick 21, pick 27)

 

[NSolis]

It’s like Nicks debuted a heap of players in 2020 and 2021 because he was forced too with our list turnover, but now wants ‘consistency’ to get some ‘stability’ in the best 22. If you don’t have ‘stability’ then you can’t execute his ‘process’, so if you are still learning this ‘process’ then you’ll only get games due to injury.

This kind of thinking is fine at the backend of a season as you’re prepping for finals, but ideally you’ve been able to rotate through at least 30 guys in the earlier rounds so anyone can just come in and fill a role. There’s no need for stability to execute the process in earlier rounds, especially when the team is performing so poorly; this should be when you’re experimenting with which players can execute that process the best come the backend of the season and finals.

Yeah. Stating the obvious, but Nicks has approached this season differently based on the idea that this was the season to play finals. After the reasonable start last year where we sat in the 8 for a good portion of the year they began actively focusing on making finals, and then after the genuinely unlucky finish plus all the narrow losses they very publicly put this year down as the finals push. The only improvements to the starting team that have been discussed or pursued were more midfield opportunities for some of the young players they already had (largely Rankine) and some effort to upgrade the backline given the loss of Doedee and Murray (attempting to trade Petty, looking to draft a KPD).

I don't think there was much of a plan if that initial approach did not work out, and the expectation was that as the list continued to mature it was just going to come together. Last year's team plus more mature bodies equals a continued rise up the ladder.

I think it's still salvageable in light of the youth of the team (3rd youngest in the AFL last week behind North and GC), but they obviously need to re-calibrate expectations in light of those facts - its a young side with improvement still needed, not a finished product, which does mean making some hard calls. Unfortunately I suspect the club is internally thinking they've had a really tough draw and some poor fortune and things are turning around. There's obviously some truth to that, but the issues run deeper.

The ins this week are individually fine but there are certainly some more outs to pursue, and I think in previous seasons either Ryan or Dowling would have come in this week for sure. The really hard call the selectors have to make is Laird for me, and that feels a long way from happening.