Yes I like him a lot. If Emmett hadn't put his hand up I would think his best chance of getting a gig would be at half forward. I prefer him to Sturt tbh. I don't see him displacing Fyfe until he retires and JOM offers several points of difference that are hard to ignore.
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there is a WCEs supporter asking about him on another thread - I think it's where Ras will eventually end up, and they will claim that he wanted to get out (which we all know is not the case).
wakojako
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You are right, he isn't a small forward but a midfielder. I would say he ranks 6th in the pecking order of midfielders (assuming JOM is a half-forward this season):
1. Darcy
2. Fyfe
3. Serong
4. Brayshaw
5. Johnson
6. Switta.
Therefore, as the 6th man he needs to offer more than what he currently does. Otherwise he is keeping out talent that we should be developing such as Simpson.
Erasmus is out of contract in 2025.
Fyfe will mostly likely retire end of 2025 (Erasmus will be best 22 then) and JOM the year after (hopefully we address lack of wingers then).
Trading Erasmus would be a disaster imo. Hopefully enough is done to convince him he has a long term future at the club. He should be straight into the side when a mid is injured and also sub quite often when he’s not in the 22.
Fyfe will mostly likely retire end of 2025 (Erasmus will be best 22 then) and JOM the year after (hopefully we address lack of wingers then).
Trading Erasmus would be a disaster imo. Hopefully enough is done to convince him he has a long term future at the club. He should be straight into the side when a mid is injured and also sub quite often when he’s not in the 22.
wakojako
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We don't know what the future holds for Fyfe and his availability over the next two seasons. Assuming best case scenario that Fyfe plays half/majority of games you can be sure Ras isn't waiting on the sidelines until Fyfe's retirement and nor should he. We have three first rounders, future picks and we can use Ras and other players for draft capital to bring in a midfielder if we need one. I would prefer to retain Ras but it wouldn't be a disaster if we lose him.
On a side note Chad's contract ends 2025 which is the same year as Ras. If we can land him that's a premiership side.
Serong Fyfe Brayshaw, young, O'Meara and or Brodie, Johnson, Erasmus with Jackson and Switta going through occasionally. More then enough, infact, one will miss out entirely
Purple Jesus
not jess
No Young?
As much as i agree about Erasmus, the reality is that teams vying for the flag will inevitably lose talented young players who want a greater opportunity elsewhere. i hope it doesn't happen but Ras may end up as one such player. Especially with Simpson looking legit.
I’d say we are more likely to lose Brodie and Sturt.
Especially if they don’t get many AFL games.
Brodie would offer more to a WC, etc, than Erasmus. They need experience
to lead that young midfield, who in time will be good.
Simpson is a younger version of what JOM was going to be. I’d expect him
to play forward for a few years, to add size before playing midfield.
By then we would of lost Fyfe, Walters, JOM, Banfield, Hughes, spots will balance
out naturally.
This year by the sounds of it we will use first rounders to add a missing piece?
If it is McDonald does Treacy go?
For the last few years we have lost players that you wouldn’t of guessed would
leave, how is this year going to be different?
Really hope Sturt is backed in. He proved at the end of last year he’s an AFL quality player. He needs to play 20 games this season. He’s a natural goal kicker. We don’t have many. Guys like Switta, Freddie and possibly even Emmett based on the weekend, need 7 or 8 goal scoring chances to kick 3 or 4 goals. They are all nice players but That level of efficiency is not sustainable against good teams and our scoring consequently suffers. I feel like Sturt can kick 3 goals from maybe 4 chances, more often than those other guys. More efficient and clinical.
I reckon he looked off a step. He did have a limited pre-season.
JL still talking him up with the group of players for the forwardline so I think he's close and will get his chance.
Agreed he looked a bit off on Saturday but there is over 2 weeks still to R1 and longer term, we have to assume the exposed form he showed at the end of last season in AFL games will be a better reflection of what he can do for us in 2024
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I’m the loudest Sturt supporter you’ll hear on here and still believe he’s in our B22, but even I can see he’s in a race to be ready for round 1, will need to show a lot more against Port, if he gets to play.
It may have been a decent topic for discussion, but O'Meara is starting best 22 after that match sim. He showed class and versatility, both qualities that make us better.
wakojako
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I'm not denying he did, but it was against the pigeons. Idc what our starting b22 I just want players to be held accountable and to earn their spots.
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100% should be best 22 when fully fit but he will be in a race to get there by round 1, the limited preseason will hurt him.
Still did some classy things Saturday (that kick to Amiss in the square was perfect) but did look off the pace
I tend to think JOM and Erasmus are fighting for the same spot with JOM ahead. Injury or form drop for JOM will see Ras slot in.
Or the sub role that Banfield had last year.
Shadow Man
Premiership Player
He looked like he was running on the wing for a little while and was impressive...
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Ras was most used Sub last year, Banfield was 2022, likely the change from injury sub to tactical sub changed our thinking about how to select a player to be Sub, or just Ras has overtaken Bailey
If WC make him an offer he can't refuse, and offer us a trade we also can't refuse, then that pooh may hit the fan. But I struggle to see why Erasmus would move from a club on the rise to a club which is going to be in the swill for a long time.
As a competitive beast he should be backing himself to force his way into our best side. And I'm happy to be optimistic about Fyfe, but I hope our season isn't based on him being available for every available game. if not because of injuries, I am in the camp that thinks we should manage him as our trump card. That equals opportunity for Erasmus. And if Sturt continues to look lacklustre there could be an opportunity forward too.
In the sim we rotated midfielders to the wing. Sharp is clearly our best runner, but is he a better option than us going with a midfielder rotation in that position? Is NOD welded in place?
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Not in my book.
He's possibly the one player that I'm no where near as positive on as other Freo supporters.
I still think our wings are up for grabs. Sharp obviously will be given every chance, but apart form that, I'd be more than happy to rotate some mids through there until someone is deemed worthy. JOM/Johnson/Brayshaw are all candidates to spend time there.
The problem (for us) is they're accountable to the coaches, who as we've discussed previously measure and value different aspects to the "eye test" we apply as fans.
Where as we more often care about the individual and how they looked, the coaches should be measuring and rating against what they do for the team, whether very visible or not.
Which means there are players that stay in the team that become whipping boys, and others that are 'unfairly' left out.
Coaches favourites exists for a reason, and probably not the they love the guys (or their pearls) as we like to complain about.
Snuffaluphagus
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