Our veteran quandary

[think positive]

^this

i was waiting for the april fool joke!
cmon guys, get real!!!

someone knocking Mitchell? would we have 2023 without him?

you need experience and cool heads, and all three of sidey, Pendles and Howe would walk into any team in the competition

gees, chill!!

no one can take 2023 away from us, we fuxcking earned it, and im still over the moon!

I stood there with Jezza and my daughter in the rain for a 67 minute final quarter for the year, and i would not have missed it for the world!

GO PIES!!!

BRING ON 2025!!

[jonmac1954]

REALLY???

Sidebottom tore that Melbscum hack Viney several new ones in the final round and Pendles worst is still equal with most AFL players best.

Forget about the mindless media and their orchestrated slash and hack tactics - without our unbelievably sustained injury run we would have been playing finals - probably top 4 finals.

[qldmagpie67]

Dad's army confirmed for 2025...

Third Collingwood veteran confirms future

• Scott Pendlebury

• Jeremy Howe, and now

• Steele Sidebottom

https://www.zerohanger.com/third-collin ... re-154366/

Take note, we got Titch Mitchell
...but revitalised Hawthorn in top 4 for the finals!!! I rest my case.

Interesting that Sidey wanted to play on and made that clear most of the season yet the club has taken basically until after the last game to get a deal done
Ever wonder why ?
Little birdie told me it was to do with a clause his management wanted in the contract that would basically guarantee him that he wouldn’t be demoted to VFL (on form obviously) so he could reach the 350 game milestone
The club wouldn’t agree to it
The word is this was Wright’s last act as list manager to basically say sign the deal the way it is or play elsewhere in 2025.
I get the premise of a veteran player not wanting to fade out in the VFL. That’s understandable but you would have hoped his management would have had more faith in the players ability to maintain the necessary form to warrant AFL selection each week.
Based on the last month Sidey hasn’t been bad and done a good job with the run with role.
I doubt we will employ such a role next season given we will have Mitchell JDG back in the midfield so we would assume we are backing our players to win the ball more often.
Finding Sidey a role each week may be harder if we have a full list of players but it doesn’t mean the coaches won’t find a role most weeks.
You would hope that there is pressure on Sidey as well as Howe and Pendles and all the older players from the younger ones each week.
Personally I think a slight mindset change is required for next season.
In times past if there was a decision that was like 50/50 between promoting a kid or playing a older player the club will go with the kid as it’s preferred option where in the past they’ve leaned towards experience

[think positive]

Geezus fricken Christ, did he have an affair with your mother? Do you watch the games? He will finish in a reasonable position in our votes, andthe club best and fairest, he was brilliant on Friday.

He could double Nicks stats and you’d whinge he forgot to tuck his shirt in or clean his teeth!

Your hate for him is almost unhinged! I don’t get it!

[dalyc]

Dad's army confirmed for 2025...

Third Collingwood veteran confirms future

• Scott Pendlebury

• Jeremy Howe, and now

• Steele Sidebottom

https://www.zerohanger.com/third-collin ... re-154366/

Take note, we got Titch Mitchell
...but revitalised Hawthorn in top 4 for the finals!!! I rest my case.

Rest your case on what? They’ve won SFA. Come back when they’ve won something and when they haven’t had the easy draw.

[dalyc]

Your hate for him is almost unhinged! I don’t get it!

He’s beyond help and reason.

[Mr Miyagi]

I reckon we keep all our veterans. And get Hawkins, Dusty, Heppell to play for us next year.

[thesoretoothsayer]

If we're retaining veterans for 2025, then I think a Premiership isn't out of the question. Clearly that will be the aim from the powers to be.

I suppose that's the silver lining in the club keeping the veterans around.
The coaching group must genuinely believe we're a chance in 2025.

[lazzadesilva]

I’m certain that with a full list with no significant injuries, we will most definitely be in contention for the flag. (I also think competent umpiring will be a huge bonus). I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t beat the final eight clubs at the MCG. If all the planets align along the conditions above, I would be confident of winning the flag.

[Big T]

Both need to be prepared to steer the vfl team to a finals berth - and there’s nothing wrong with that. Our lack of competitiveness in the vfl has been a disgrace and hindered our development.

[Mr Miyagi]

^
Yep total agree. Need to see hunger to play on the big stage from the kids. We can moan all we want about too many old timers in the team, but the VFL needs to step up to push them out. Can’t just expect games just because.

[piedys]

Pendles and Sidey will probably retire at the end of next year.

In an ideal world, they might have retired after the Premiership ...

And then... as we finish the 2024 season 9th, guess what would have spewed from this forum:
"Oh, ya know, if Pendles and Sidey had played on like they should have, we would have made the eight easy..."
Which in itself wouldn't have been an outrageous observation, as hypothetically we'd effectively had no midfield all season,
with Pendles and Sidey removed, along with JDG and Mitchell largely absent for significant weeks.

As reality showed us, our own bathwater must be a decent drop to drink, as plenty of it was consumed from October 2023 to around July 2024...

[qldmagpie67]

And just like that, two of our three picks have just drifted out that little bit further. Add in NGA, F /S bids plus compensation picks and our first pick is CURRENTLY very close to # 40. We simply have to improve our draft hand first before we concern ourselves with trading anyone back in. You can’t have the oldest team in the comp and not go to the draft until the beginning of the third round.

This has been a concern all the way along
Our issue was always two fold
You either need high end draft picks planning for the future replacing your veterans or a younger list building for the future
We have neither. We went all in 2022/23 and I get why trying to give Pendles another crack before he retired. But after we got that we needed an immediate reset.
Wright knew this and wanted change at the end of 2023. We lost Adam’s which was a start but it should have been 1 more veteran. End of 2024 it should have been 2 more veterans.
Now trotting out the line oh the younger players aren’t forcing the veterans out.
Well we didn’t help them playing them constantly out of position and not giving them continuity of games to settle and prove themselves.
If you think this hasn’t played a part in the likely departure of Richard’s you’re kidding yourself. He was in and out in and out.
He watched veterans perform poorly and retain there positions.
Case in point was Sidey. He was moved from a wing because he couldn’t play the position any longer. Went to HBF didn’t work. Went back into the midfield didn’t work. Finally gave him a run with role which he did well at.
Looking forward we’ve shown our hand with looking at big bodied mids (Peatling Hobbs Davies) to go in and under and work along side Mitchell Crisp JDG Allan Nick and part timers Elliott Schulz and McCreery. This clearly means there likely won’t be a spot for Pendles or Sidey playing midfield.
Where do they go ? Pendles maybe HBF to replace Noble ? Maybe some time at HF ?
There won’t be a run with role each week so where do we play Sidey ?
Now Pendles is playing on looking towards the games record. Giving him a shot at that I get it’s something reachable but it’s a romantic dream. Why is Sidey playing on ? To get to 350 games ? Again I understand the significance of the milestone but playing 300 or 355 really is just a number.
Come the end of 2025 we will most likely lose Pendles Sidey Howe Cox and possibly another veteran. That’s a massive gulf in experience going out at one time.
So unless the club is planning to play either Sidey or Pendles in the VFL for extended periods in 2025 (which defeats the purpose of them playing on really and I doubt we will do) then how do we get games into Allan and the younger players again ?
This mess we are now facing now of our own creation and could have been partially avoided had we followed Wright’s original plan.
So now to improve our draft hand we are going to have to trade out players aged 24/28 to get draft picks we can hopefully bundle up and improve our draft hand.
Unlike Geelong who manage to bring in a decent kid or younger established player yearly while staggering there veterans departures we’ve done neither
Again I’ll say it
I have no faith in your current recruitment structure

[RudeBoy]

Sadly, I tend to agree with you QM67. My only hope is that Pendles will actually be a better player next year, having fully recovered from his bicep and rib injuries, which negatively impacted his performances in the 2nd half of the season. My worry is that I've never seen him play really well in any other position other than as a midfielder. His continued presence there is likely to limit the opportunities for Allan and DeMattia, which would be disastrous.

[Pies2016]

^^^
I’m not overly critical of our position …. Yet.
The end justified the means and we still are the reigning premiers ( soon to no longer apply )
Flags are bloody hard to win and it was only 12 months ago all that experience played a big part in a finals campaign made up of three ridiculously close finishes.
POTENTIALLY, my biggest concern will be if the club doesn’t give this quality draft the attention it deserves. It won’t take much at all to accumulate a very solid draft hand with the trading out of Noble ( Suns will pay overs ) and likely, Richards. Add in a strong chance they will do a pick swap with our F1 and there’s plenty to work with on draft night.
And that’s when the balancing act begins. How much of that improved draft hand do they invest in youth versus how much they satisfy with immediate needs. It’s easy to say 50 / 50 but if you think about it, that doesn’t make much sense because effectively your not maximising either of the directions you chose to pursue. It’s like half chasing next years flag as opposed to going all in.
The draft Is where you build the core of your list and I’m hoping they focus more on the draft than what the club would have us all believe. There’s plenty of positives that come from winning flags and one of them is that it buys you the time that other clubs don’t have. We can afford to make decisions based on the medium term for a bigger gain down the track. I just hope they don’t over shoot the runway and invest to heavily on the unlikely outcome of two flags in three years. By all means, trade in a young player or two to fill an immediate need but the club can’t afford to abandon the draft along the way.
Draft for dough, trade for show.

PS - as a doomsday scenario, picture the next few years on, when most other clubs had chosen to pick the bones out of the best draft in years, while we had chosen not to actively participate. Then add to that, all our quality elder players who have since retired and then imagine what that list would like.