Should we now play the kids and TANK?.....

[kaos theory]

Our list has degraded over the last 4 years. We have only blooded 9 new players over this period while clubs like the lions blooded 23 and the pies blooded 21.

This year will be one of the last drafts to pick up some extra quality before the new teams come in and things get much harder.

If we forget finals this yr, then putting games into young players like stevens, greay, amro, mcenvoy, howard, eddy, allen, etc will mean that some of our key senoir players will miss out, it will also means we start getting beaten more easily, which damages the confidence of the group overall, and the club image, and frustrates some of the senior players....

But the benefit is that the young players get some grounding for 09, and we get the (last) chance to pick up a couple of quality young players.

We can then reload for a big push from 2009 through to 2011... I don't think we need a lot of players, just some quality & speed through the mids.. Ideally we need about 3 more pacy & quality mids. Ideally a selwood, a cyril rioli and a lovett-murray type would be good (but they are not that easy to find...).

We will lose harvs, so hayes, dal, ball (hopefully next yr he gets better) and monty need some quality support to lift us out of our rut. We need to have up to 10 players that can be ball carriers, providers and goal kickers through the midfield...Armo, geary, stevens, howard need to get games into them through midfield roles to accelerate development, and we need to have them supported by exicting new talent through the draft/trade...

Hopefully kosi can come good, if not, we have lost two key forward (g-train & kosi) and we fall back in the pack for our forward scoring power.

Our defense is a worry too, we will lose maxy in couple of years, and Goose is no certainty he will come good, or has the pace for the modern game....

Big challenges & decisions for the coahing dept. for the rest of the year...

[fonz_#15]

if we take the tanking option i would like to be notified as i would burn my membership..i live and breathe this club, but why would i waste time, money and energy on a team that won't give their best for me.

tanking pisses me off, and we have bagged carlton for so long for doing it so it is not an option imo.

[Eastern]

We are not completely out of this years finals race yet. We are currently in a delicate position where we need to balance performance v list management !!

[matrix]

if we take the tanking option i would like to be notified as i would burn my membership..i live and breathe this club, but why would i waste time, money and energy on a team that won't give their best for me.

tanking pisses me off, and we have bagged carlton for so long for doing it so it is not an option imo.

no matter how pissed off i am or frustrated....
i agree 100% with the fonz here.
tanking is not an option.....

[SainterX]

somehow i doubt melbourne and essendon will win the 6 games needed for us to get the first pick even if we lose every other game.

[Winmarvellous]

Get it out of the barracks NOW. We play five of the bottom eight (Freo twice) so we can do some damage to their chances of finishing below us if we continue the manner we've been playing so far this season. I actually thought we'd been tanking already

[kaos theory]

if we take the tanking option i would like to be notified as i would burn my membership..i live and breathe this club, but why would i waste time, money and energy on a team that won't give their best for me.

tanking pisses me off, and we have bagged carlton for so long for doing it so it is not an option imo.

I don't disagree with you. Reality is we wont tank. Just asking the question in a general way. I think we do need to look to the future, and we need to balance the short & long term objectives.....it won't be easy...

[midas_touch]

Our list has degraded over the last 4 years. We have only blooded 9 new players over this period while clubs like the lions blooded 23 and the pies blooded 21.

This year will be one of the last drafts to pick up some extra quality before the new teams come in and things get much harder.

If we forget finals this yr, then putting games into young players like stevens, greay, amro, mcenvoy, howard, eddy, allen, etc will mean that some of our key senoir players will miss out, it will also means we start getting beaten more easily, which damages the confidence of the group overall, and the club image, and frustrates some of the senior players....

But the benefit is that the young players get some grounding for 09, and we get the (last) chance to pick up a couple of quality young players.

We can then reload for a big push from 2009 through to 2011... I don't think we need a lot of players, just some quality & speed through the mids.. Ideally we need about 3 more pacy & quality mids. Ideally a selwood, a cyril rioli and a lovett-murray type would be good (but they are not that easy to find...).

We will lose harvs, so hayes, dal, ball (hopefully next yr he gets better) and monty need some quality support to lift us out of our rut. We need to have up to 10 players that can be ball carriers, providers and goal kickers through the midfield...Armo, geary, stevens, howard need to get games into them through midfield roles to accelerate development, and we need to have them supported by exicting new talent through the draft/trade...

Hopefully kosi can come good, if not, we have lost two key forward (g-train & kosi) and we fall back in the pack for our forward scoring power.

Our defense is a worry too, we will lose maxy in couple of years, and Goose is no certainty he will come good, or has the pace for the modern game....

Big challenges & decisions for the coahing dept. for the rest of the year...

I can't fathom why you would make such a cowardly statement. Maybe you should consider whether or not you should be going for the St Kilda Football Club.

[Cairnsman]

Oops! I thought we were tanking already.

Certainly looks that way.

I actually believe we are. How do you explain what is going on at the moment othewise.

[hotdish]

Right now can we win the GF?

NO.

So tank away...its better to finish 9th than 8th, I don't give a rats where we finish, as long as we start 'rebuilding'

[ratismeat]

What would we do with Naitanui anyway?

[midas_touch]

Right now can we win the GF?

NO.

So tank away...its better to finish 9th than 8th, I don't give a rats where we finish, as long as we start 'rebuilding'

You can rebuild without tanking, i.e. Brisbane, Collingwood. Also, having the draft picks at your disposal is only one part of the process, the recruiting staff play an arguably bigger role in getting the right players at the club, with the picks at their disposal. Its not just about the picks, but the recruiting.

[bobmurray]

What would we do with Naitanui anyway?

Confuse him,dishearten him,make him pine for home....

[groupie1]

Tanking doesn't mean the players not playing, fonz_#15, or the coaching staff acting on game day in such a way as to orchestrate defeat, it is selecting teams that won't win, with longer term goals in mind.

Picking 3-4 kids this year would neither be tanking, or even if it was, wouldn't be the 'headline tanking' or 'game day tanking' that you're thinking of.

In fact, one could even argue that selecting Blake, Dempster, L Fisher, Fiora, C Gardiner instead of, say, Steven, Armo, McEvoy, Allen, Geary Howard etc IS a form of tanking - choosing players who will ensure we don't lose by too much, but also ensure we SURE AS s*** aren't gonna win