Loading up the bottom end of the list

[bergholt]

Pretty obviously the last two years have involved getting players in who might get good later. I'm counting that as anyone who's played less than fifty games, but more than zero; or anyone who's played zero but who is 21 or over. Here's the progression of the last six years and a projection for next year.

2007 (12): Gram (32), L Fisher (25), R Clarke (22), McQualter (17), Rix (11), Ferguson (8), Brooks (8), Watts (6), Gwilt (5), Attard (5), Gilbert (2), Jones (0; 23yo)

Four of those twelve - Gram, Gwilt, Gilbert, Jones - came through to be solid players. Raph was close though he's probably at the end of his run now. Plenty of failures there.

2008 (12): L Fisher (46), R Clarke (30), Rix (28), Attard (25), McQualter (23), Gilbert (20), Gwilt (13), Ferguson (10), Jones (6), Armitage (3), Howard (2), Miles (0; 21yo)

A similar number here, and once again plenty of failures - eight out of twelve never became regulars for various reasons.

2009 (14): R Clarke (41), Gilbert (39), McQualter (35), Begley (29), Gwilt (26), Jones (26), Armitage (16), Dawson (14), Eddy (13), Geary (10), Allen (4), Howard (2), McEvoy (1), Miles (0; 22yo)

We were about to have a massive year and a lot of that came from these guys. Seven who started out on this inexperienced list played a lot of games: McQualter and Jones 24, Dawson 23, Gilbo 22, Raph 16, Gwilt and Geary 15. Five of these guys played in a grand final. That's a great return from a big group of "kids".

2010 (11): Gwilt (41), Dawson (37), J Smith (27), Geary (25), Eddy (23), Armitage (19), McEvoy (12), Allen (4), Steven (1), Miles (0; 23yo), Walsh (0; 21yo)

Another massive year but less coming from this group. Gwilt played 26, Dawson 20, Geary and McEvoy 19. Apart from that Eddy played 10, Armo 9, Steven 8, Stanley also popped up for 7. But obviously we're contending and so there are less inexperienced players on the list - as would be expected.

2011 (10): Geary (44), McEvoy (31), Armitage (28), Gamble (24), Eddy (23), Steven (9), Stanley (7), Heyne (3), Lynch (1), Walsh (0; 22yo)

This is where it shrinks all the way down, once again that's not surprising because we're still contending. McEvoy, Armo and Steven play a lot of games, Geary's injured but still plays a few. Apart from that not much - but we see eight debutants across the year.

2012 (13): Steven (30), Wilkes (23), Stanley (9), Siposs (5), Cripps (4), Ledger (2), Simpkin (2), Winmar (2), Archer (1), Dunell (0; 21yo), Milera (0; 24yo), Saad (0; 22yo), Shenton (0; 22yo)

And then this year Watters and Pelchen start to grow this group again.

2013 (16): Wilkes (33), Simpkin (21), Stanley (21), Dennis-Lane (19), Saad (16), Siposs (16), Milera (15), Hickey (12), Newnes (7), Ledger (6), Dunell (5), Winmar (2), Ross (1), Andreoli (0; 21yo), Lee (0; 22yo), Shenton (0; 23yo)

...and then grow it even further for next year. (A couple of these will probably be gone, but there might be one more semi-mature ager in the draft.)

Let's hope that they can put together a group as productive as Ross did in 2009, because that was really the basis of our ultimately unsuccessful streak. But it's also interesting to note that the closest thing to a true A-grade player in any of these lists is probably McEvoy. Apart from that we've had very few stars come through in the last six years. The 2013 group has to include some real A-grade quality, otherwise it'll be a long time until we contend again.

[saint3d]

Interesting analysis. I think of the 2013 group, Simpkin, Stanley, Saad, Siposs and Hickey could become A-graders. Possibly Lee too, although he may be 'just' a very good player in the right place at the right time, and made to look like an A-grader.

I know I'm looking through red white and black coloured glasses, but I haven't seen anything to suggest they can't become stars.

[bergholt]

Interesting analysis. I think of the 2013 group, Simpkin, Stanley, Saad, Siposs and Hickey could become A-graders. Possibly Lee too, although he may be 'just' a very good player in the right place at the right time, and made to look like an A-grader.

I know I'm looking through red white and black coloured glasses, but I haven't seen anything to suggest they can't become stars.

Yeah, right. Unfortunately the same probably applied in 2007 to Watts, Raph, L Fisher, Brooks, McQualter, maybe even Ferguson and Attard. Not to mention Jarryd Allen was about to start playing pretty well in the twos. But that whole bunch gave us very little...