Shane Kersten

[GoodOne]

Aren't we too?

Who's our mid-sized forwards - McDonald and? Taylor? Morton?

We shouldn't take a player just for the sake of it. I would think most clubs would be keen to bolster their midsize forward list as they're hard to find. Kersten went at #34 in a weak draft. Maybe that tells us something. Let's wait and see how he progresses before making harsh judgements.

 

[TigerMasochist]

Cats also have Mitch Brown, Menzel, Josh Walker, and Billie Smedts as 'options' for their forward line....

Apart from Menzel the others have as much experience as the newbies they picked up last night. Some may fill their needs some may not, they're obviously going to be very thin up forward soon and are looking to build their next forward line.
Midfield is still o.k. and they'll be looking to fill backline holes soon, or perhaps some failed forward prospects may suit down back.

We're still very inexperienced across all areas of the ground and look to have bolstered a few areas with honest hard workers with decent skills who look likely to be adaptable. Probably not much more to be expected from midrange picks this year.

 

[mld]

Let's wait and see how he progresses before making harsh judgements.

First time for everything, I guess.

 

[Eat the rich]

Apart from Menzel the others have as much experience as the newbies they picked up last night. Some may fill their needs some may not, they're obviously going to be very thin up forward soon and are looking to build their next forward line.
Midfield is still o.k. and they'll be looking to fill backline holes soon, or perhaps some failed forward prospects may suit down back.

We're still very inexperienced across all areas of the ground and look to have bolstered a few areas with honest hard workers with decent skills who look likely to be adaptable. Probably not much more to be expected from midrange picks this year.

That's the beauty of having a side balanced , deep and good enough to win 3 premierships in the last 5yrs. They've got a side they can build on. OK, they creamed it with the F/S picks Ablett, Scarlett, and Hawkins. Their 2001 draft was amazing for the club, and by having Ablett reserved for them @40, enabled them to take Bartel @8. Who knows what the draft order would have looked like if they had to spend their first pick on Ablett? would they have then gone on to pick up Kelly@17 and Stevie J @24? Same in 2006. Hawkins would probably have gone @1 but they get him @41 and took Selwood @7. So in a sense, they had the 'royal flush' of hands to play.

Having said this, Geelong have not squandered their opportunities, and have set the bar with list management and player development. Their PD is thorough as they don't have to play kids in the seniors straight up because their list management has been so good. Nobody picked Smedts last year, played as a forward mainly, and apparently they're grooming him as a running backman. They took their oppurtunity with Kersten and murdoch being available, and will put some time into them to get them seniors ready. Succession planning. A luxury we don't have unfortunately. Geelong and Collingwood are the leaders in this, and you can quickly fall apart if you don't - Saints. Look for the Suns and Giants to model themselves on Geelong, and with the size and talent of their lsits, they have the opportunity.

 

[Lennox Street]

Having said this, Geelong have not squandered their opportunities, and have set the bar with list management and player development.

They also know what works for them. Hamling (Broome), McCarthy (Bordertown) and Murdoch (near Mt Gambier). They have targetted country kids who they know will thrive in Geelong and kids from Broome or the south coast of SA are likely to quite enjoy their lifestyles at Torquay. Not too many Eastern Ranges or Dandenong kids at the Cattery. Sometimes it pays to specialise.

 

[Eat the rich]

They also know what works for them. Hamling (Broome), McCarthy (Bordertown) and Murdoch (near Mt Gambier). They have targetted country kids who they know will thrive in Geelong and kids from Broome or the south coast of SA are likely to quite enjoy their lifestyles at Torquay. Not too many Eastern Ranges or Dandenong kids at the Cattery. Sometimes it pays to specialise.

Too true. A mate of mine charters a surfing/fishing boat up off PNG, and Lingy, Otto, Kelly, scarlo and the rest of the gang are regular customers. must be nice to be 15mins from work living on some of the nicest coastline in the world.

 

[TigerMasochist]

That's the beauty of having a side balanced , deep and good enough to win 3 premierships in the last 5yrs. They've got a side they can build on. OK, they creamed it with the F/S picks Ablett, Scarlett, and Hawkins. Their 2001 draft was amazing for the club, and by having Ablett reserved for them @40, enabled them to take Bartel @8. Who knows what the draft order would have looked like if they had to spend their first pick on Ablett? would they have then gone on to pick up Kelly@17 and Stevie J @24? Same in 2006. Hawkins would probably have gone @1 but they get him @41 and took Selwood @7. So in a sense, they had the 'royal flush' of hands to play.

Having said this, Geelong have not squandered their opportunities, and have set the bar with list management and player development. Their PD is thorough as they don't have to play kids in the seniors straight up because their list management has been so good. Nobody picked Smedts last year, played as a forward mainly, and apparently they're grooming him as a running backman. They took their oppurtunity with Kersten and murdoch being available, and will put some time into them to get them seniors ready. Succession planning. A luxury we don't have unfortunately. Geelong and Collingwood are the leaders in this, and you can quickly fall apart if you don't - Saints. Look for the Suns and Giants to model themselves on Geelong, and with the size and talent of their lsits, they have the opportunity.

That's the beauty of having an unbeleivable gold mine with the F/S rule. Cats had a balanced list but to me are now in a similar situation as Brisvegas were after their finals run. Huge amount of club hero's coming to the end and plenty of experienced reserves players most likely unable to step up to grasp the mantle of senior leaders. On the back of this years retirements and those to leave end of next year they could be staring at a loss of 2000 to 2500 senior games experience. You don't replace that with mature magoos players that have recently had a sniff of seniors.
The true balance of their recruiting / list management / player development will show only if they transition from the old squad to the new squad with barely a hiccup, not much chance of that happening.
The old eras of Esserdum, Dawkthorn or even Wet Coke, Norf Melb, or Tiges and Carlscum from the age of legends spending long periods dominating the top of the ladder are virtually dead under the system in place now.
Nowadays clubs seem to be spending 3 or 4 years building and maturing a list, attacking the finals for another four or five years then sinking into oblivion and trying to rebuild again. Brisvegas, Port, Scumwood twice, Wet Coke, Sydanee, Cats, Dawks, Dogs, Crowbaits have all worked the list building system pretty well over recent years, had their crack at finals/flags then starting all over again.
The nuffers have spent most of the last dozen years wondering what the *smile* the secret is. Carlscum, Dees, even Tigerland seem to have cottoned on at last and look to have worked at a proper list build, keep the fingers crossed ;D. Not sure Esserdum or Norf have quite figured things out just yet, maybe it's my bias but I see them both bobbling around sixth to tenth for a year or two then maybe having another restart.

 

[Lennox Street]

That's the beauty of having an unbeleivable gold mine with the F/S rule. Cats had a balanced list but to me are now in a similar situation as Brisvegas were after their finals run. Huge amount of club hero's coming to the end and plenty of experienced reserves players most likely unable to step up to grasp the mantle of senior leaders.

Difference is Brisbane had to backload so many deals that they were still paying Voss after he finished. That gave them little room to move; compounded by chasing out blokes like Rischitelli, Brennan and Bradshaw in the Fevola fiasco. Plus some really bad trades.

Cats lost Ablett which gave them cap space for Selwood and compensation. Yes they have lots of veterans to replace but they also have Selwood, Hawkins, Varcoe, Vardy, Duncan, Menzel, T.Hunt, Christensen. They have 3 early picks in Smedts, Brown and Guthrie in the wings. They have 2 more first round compensation picks to come. That's before they get any value from the batch they just took.

 

[TigerMasochist]

Difference is Brisbane had to backload so many deals that they were still paying Voss after he finished. That gave them little room to move; compounded by chasing out blokes like Rischitelli, Brennan and Bradshaw in the Fevola fiasco. Plus some really bad trades.

Cats lost Ablett which gave them cap space for Selwood and compensation. Yes they have lots of veterans to replace but they also have Selwood, Hawkins, Varcoe, Vardy, Duncan, Menzel, T.Hunt, Christensen. They have 3 early picks in Smedts, Brown and Guthrie in the wings. They have 2 more first round compensation picks to come. That's before they get any value from the batch they just took.

Yep. The old Vossinator seriously took his pound of flesh out of Brisvegas. Insisted on two year deals with them until his last contract which was for three years when the body was already cooked, then cost them near a million in his last year when he couldn't even play. If that wasn't bad enough he then went out and got them a Fevinator to really mess things up.
Cats losing Ablett was a pure godsend for the club, took big dollars out ( could have been mega dollars ) just when the cap was seriously biting their arses. it also gave them some sweet early draft picks which they sooked about being insufficient. Pretty sure Cooky was involved with the initial drafting of the establishing guidelines for the new clubs ( perhaps he's smarter than everyone else realises ). Still an interesting watch scenario with the Cats over the next couple of years. If they've done it brilliantly they'll have a bounce year or two, lower eight , maybe miss then come roaring back. If they've done it similar to previous clubs then it'll be a slow agonizing slide to mediocrity. Doubt any Cats fans will complain though, last time they had four grannies for sweet F.A and were pretty content. This time they've had about seven finals series over eight years for three flags, can't get much sweeter.