SA Footy

whufc wrote:Appears we didn’t go out to the market which is a bit surprising but very happy to land Edwards

Love that he has jumped across at first opportunity, obviously has a mission to complete here.

What a fantastic appointment From cdfc with Greg Edwards Replacing the great man Kris Grant.

Looking forward to next season

whufc wrote:Appears we didn’t go out to the market which is a bit surprising but very happy to land Edwards

Love that he has jumped across at first opportunity, obviously has a mission to complete here.

We have been negotiating with him for a while now, Kris wasn't going to officially announce his retirement until Greg was 100% committed, so it appears like a sudden move but it wasn't.

Brendan Dew has been moved on according to f/book.

Wtf ???

UK Fan wrote:Brendan Dew has been moved on according to f/book.

Wtf ???

Wouldn't be surprised to see a large exodus from those 'mid range' players who have been at the club now for 3-5 years. There at a point where they can probably see we are still another 3-5 years away from being a genuine finals teams whilst they are also at a point where they can demand peak money to go play country/ammos.

Will be interesting to see what the likes of Connor McLean, David Haydon, Nick Gillard, Marcus Barreua do this upcoming season.

For me though im not to fussed who goes out and far more concerned with what we can get in.

What does success look like for the Dogs in 2022...…..

At the beginning of this year my expectation was that we would be better than in 2020 but probably just miss the finals with a return to finals footy in 2022.

Sadly I think we have gone significantly backwards, the losses of experienced players such as Goodrem, Jenner and Boyd hurt the side more than we could have anticipated. Ill go as far to say to their experience was a major reason the 2020 team didn't check out in the same fashion the 2021 side did.

We did get the opportunity to blood a lot of youth but barring a couple not many really took their chances and look likely to be A grade SANFL footballers. The one in particular that did Leek is a big chance at making it to the AFL which does nothing to help us.

Sadly my hope that 2022 might see us return to finals footy is a massive long shot and hugely dependant on 4-5 gun recruits minimum lifting the standards of the lesser likes who are performing roles above their current capabilities. Our track record of recruiting in recent years though suggests I have more chance of winning the lotto in 2022. Getting Fort back would be a massive start though and would almost be a 2 in 1 type recruit in that it would free up his brother.

For mine a good 2022 would be if we could recruit a few blokes that we could envision being in our next premiership team, we win between 7-8 games and finish a credible 6th-7th with a few younger blokes looking like they will consistently make the grade.

Worst case scenario we only win 4-5 games again, the recruits are just plodders and serious question marks hang over the head of the coach, a club legend which puts everyone in a crap position. Could you imagine if Greg Edwards has to make a call on Thommo in his first year, that has full club implosion written all over it.

Was the Thomas appointment a comprehensive search for the best coach, or was it Thommo is available?

Booney wrote:Was the Thomas appointment a comprehensive search for the best coach, or was it Thommo is available?

Given how quick he was appointed after Andrews was 'sacked / resigned' they clearly didn't go out to the market at any great level. Was hired within 2 weeks....?????

In fairness though Thommo would have been a very strong candidate at any SANFL club and most likely would have been the best man for the job given his onfield and Adelaide Crows / Henley High credentials.

My biggest concern was not that Thommo was appointed but the reasons why I believe he was appointed...….for me Andrews made the 'clubmen' feel uncomfortable. I know as 100% fact he had planned and requested to move on the assistant coaches and bring in his own. There are other reasons floated around for his sacking but I only know them as rumours and they have always come from third parties.

For mine the Thommo appointment was very much a boys for the job appointment albeit he may have been the best man. The dominos started to fall in place when Thommo was made redundant by the Crows and was given a coaching role at club against the plans of the current coach. At that point Andrews would have been able to see the inevitable ending.

I really don't know where the club goes if Thommo isn't 'the man'. I'm sure the club will give him much more time than they would ordinarily give a coach, they did this with Jonas which proved to be a gold club defining decision, they also allowed Lairdy to stay on which ultimately didn't prove to be as successful.

Its only early days but nothing I have watched on digital pass of the Dogs suggests that Thommo is the messiah, we had one week of new coach honeymoon, a plan that clearly didn't suit the cattle, and the blokes checked out with a few weeks to go in the season. You could count on one hand the amount of 23-27 year old players who improved significantly on what they have shown over the last couple of years, obviously there was some 'natural' improvement from the young 18-21 year old brigade.

He did a little bit of cleaning out in year 1, Menzel x 2 and Boyd. This will be his second off season and expectation around him keeping the decent players and bringing in some quality will be high.

As for players moving on i would think Barreau would continue he showed improvement this year the others mentioned may not be and there will be others.

Why was Andrew’s sacked?
Plenty of rumours but can anyone confirm?
Surly the legal proceedings with it have ended?

amber_fluid wrote:Why was Andrew’s sacked?
Plenty of rumours but can anyone confirm?
Surly the legal proceedings with it have ended?

I have no idea why, but we were told at a CDFC function that the club could not disclose the reason. I think everyone at the function assumed from what was said that there was some substantial reason for ending his contract so abruptly, not related to upsetting the club hierarchy, and with some sort of non-disclosure agreement. The club has not revealed anything more for a year, so I think we'll probably never know.

amber_fluid wrote:Why was Andrew’s sacked?
Plenty of rumours but can anyone confirm?
Surly the legal proceedings with it have ended?

Supposedly he didn't do enough/borderline promoted some poor behaviour standards that happened at the club. (Behaviour that no club would tolerate)

There very well could be some truth to it but on a personal level I've only heard it from people that heard it from someone else. I haven't heard either Andrews, Kris Grant or any of the players confirm or deny it.

Supposedly there was going to be mass exodus if Andrews stayed. Funnily enough though the 2 Menzel's left which was in part to what role Andrews had them taking on in 2021 not being guaranteed by Thommo. The other big name to leave was Boyd who apparently was leading the 'if Andrews stays I go charge'

Personal opinion is Andrews was always going to struggle to stay once Thommo become available especially given the well documented issues between Andrews and the coaching panel who weren't his choice.

whufc wrote:

amber_fluid wrote:Why was Andrew’s sacked?
Plenty of rumours but can anyone confirm?
Surly the legal proceedings with it have ended?

Supposedly he didn't do enough/borderline promoted some poor behaviour standards that happened at the club. (Behaviour that no club would tolerate)

There very well could be some truth to it but on a personal level I've only heard it from people that heard it from someone else. I haven't heard either Andrews, Kris Grant or any of the players confirm or deny it.

Supposedly there was going to be mass exodus if Andrews stayed. Funnily enough though the 2 Menzel's left which was in part to what role Andrews had them taking on in 2021 not being guaranteed by Thommo. The other big name to leave was Boyd who apparently was leading the 'if Andrews stays I go charge'

Personal opinion is Andrews was always going to struggle to stay once Thommo become available especially given the well documented issues between Andrews and the coaching panel who weren't his choice.

I know of a junior who left once Andrews got the DCM and now has played a full season of "State league" footy interstate.

Not saying he would've been a world beater at SANFL level this year but would've added to your depth.

Now that Laird has had a couple of years off I wonder if him returning recharged would be an idea. You don't win that many premierships and have nothing to offer.

whufc wrote:

UK Fan wrote:Brendan Dew has been moved on according to f/book.

Wtf ???

Wouldn't be surprised to see a large exodus from those 'mid range' players who have been at the club now for 3-5 years. There at a point where they can probably see we are still another 3-5 years away from being a genuine finals teams whilst they are also at a point where they can demand peak money to go play country/ammos.

Will be interesting to see what the likes of Connor McLean, David Haydon, Nick Gillard, Marcus Barreua do this upcoming season.

For me though im not to fussed who goes out and far more concerned with what we can get in.

Like yourself there would be easily 10-12 players in this seasons squad Who I’d be happy to never see in a doggies guernsey again.

Dew wasn’t one of them. He has Serious talent.

He was our runner when injured this season also. So not sure what kind of “clubmen” We are looking for moving forward.

Another talented player wasted imho. We have had to many over the last x-amount of years imho

Booney wrote:Was the Thomas appointment a comprehensive search for the best coach, or was it Thommo is available?

Thommo was first choice the season before when Andrews was appointed.

Thommo couldn’t apply due to the crows going thru an internal review at the time we needed to make an appointment.

Then Thommo lost his role due to covid Cutbacks same as Mattner at Sturt.

It was a bit of weird situation tbh. But the coach is a non-issue atm.

I doubt we’d be playing finals if we had Andrews/Laird/Clarkson coaching instead of Thommo.

The real issue is our squad. We have happily let many talented players leave over the last Decade and simply haven’t replaced them.

I struggle with the club stating “we’ll be playing finals” at the start of the season and hope this year has been the wake up call in regards to how far off from a flag we actually are.

Greg Edwards replacing Kris Grant will hopefully rectify most of the above issues.

Fingers crossed anyway.

UK Fan wrote:

Booney wrote:Was the Thomas appointment a comprehensive search for the best coach, or was it Thommo is available?

Thommo was first choice the season before when Andrews was appointed.

Thommo couldn’t apply due to the crows going thru an internal review at the time we needed to make an appointment.

Then Thommo lost his role due to covid Cutbacks same as Mattner at Sturt.

It was a bit of weird situation tbh. But the coach is a non-issue atm.

I doubt we’d be playing finals if we had Andrews/Laird/Clarkson coaching instead of Thommo.

The real issue is our squad. We have happily let many talented players leave over the last Decade and simply haven’t replaced them.

I struggle with the club stating “we’ll be playing finals” at the start of the season and hope this year has been the wake up call in regards to how far off from a flag we actually are.

Greg Edwards replacing Kris Grant will hopefully rectify most of the above issues.

Fingers crossed anyway.

100% Thommo is definitely not the problem albeit I’m not sold yet that his also the answer

His lucky his not an AFL coach, at the start of the year he categorically stated the list was a top 3 one and that was his expectation. I hope he doesn’t actually think that and it was just words to hopefully create some anticipation for the season ahead.

I think the most disappointing part for me this year was that when hired Andrews we knew what we were getting. He was clearly a product of the AFL system and was coming in to implement an AFL style game plan....

When we hired Thommo I was really really hoping we were going to see a team coached in the manner he played. I was hoping to see a Centrals that played with speed, looked to create of half back playing a direct style of football, took the opposition on, took a risk even if it didn't always work, hit the contest with numbers and aggression. A team we could be sit back watch and say yep this is a Thommo team. To be honest a style like that would probably have suited our midget, lacking foot skills based squad at the moment moreso than what we are delivering at the moment.

Sadly an entire season on and im not sure anyone can truly say they can see a clear game plan coming through at the moment. To be honest I struggle to see what difference he has had on the style compared to what the Andrews side was playing.

We currently have no identity and I want one back even if it nots perfect.

whufc wrote:
When we hired Thommo I was really really hoping we were going to see a team coached in the manner he played. I was hoping to see a Centrals that played with speed, looked to create of half back playing a direct style of football, took the opposition on, took a risk even if it didn't always work, hit the contest with numbers and aggression. A team we could be sit back watch and say yep this is a Thommo team.
....

I think this is what Thommo is trying to promote. We are more attacking and direct and trying to move the ball on quickly from half back, with less swapping the ball from one side of the ground to the other, and less short passing and playing up the boundary. But we can't quite achieve it yet, and our reaction time when the opposition has the ball is dreadful as is our adjustment when we win the ball in the back lines.

I think we get there by very targeted recruiting and working harder with our current squad to build our skills, team play, and get some real physical strength and finals level fitness. We can't get more time out of the players because they all have work commitments, but we could employ some extra coaches in the pre-season and develop a top flight training schedule. I think Lange, Cannizarro, Pisani, East, Dew, Barreau, Weaver and others would really benefit (it worked for Spurr and Sibenaler), as well as all the under age players coming through.

I can understand doggie’s fan’s frustrations as from an outsider it looked like your team was building nicely last year but appears to have slightly regressed this year.

There’s a number of different opinions on here from dogs supporters who know far more about your team than I but from my own observations it does appear to be related to playing depth. I think players like the Schillers, Hoskin, Fort, Habel, Presbury and Grace are as good as any going around. Someone like Montgomery would probably be in this list but he seems to have been injured all year? And Leek is going to develop into a very good player for your club if he isn’t drafted. But then the talent drops right away. Given at least a couple of the above players would have been injured or suspended at any point in time it’s easy to see why it was a tough year.

I’m sure Thomas is fully aware of what the club needs to do but it will be interesting to see how he goes about it. From the outside looking in club needs a class onballer, a reliable ruckman who can take a grab around the game. a tall key forward and a tall defender as it’s most pressing needs. Then it needs to retain the entire group listed above and just put as many games as it can into whoever is the most talented individuals in your juniors. It will be a 2-3 year process but success can come faster than some expect.

I don’t reckon your club should target ex-AFL players unless they originally from your club and want to return. Too often they turn out to be expensive duds. It does feel like the best recruits to the SANFL competition in recent years are those players from other State Leagues who are in their early-mid 20s and have already played a few years at senior level.

Although $$ can play a factor in getting a player to a club I think it is only one tool at their disposal. It is well know that that getting a player a job is critical but relationships play another huge role. Connections to the club who are based interstate can be instrumental in pushing a player in your direction. Does the club stay in touch with ex-players and officials who might be able to assist? What about existing players? Does someone like Aidan Grace have any footy mates over in Tasmania from his old club that he can entice over?

goddy11 wrote:Now that Laird has had a couple of years off I wonder if him returning recharged would be an idea. You don't win that many premierships and have nothing to offer.

I've spoken to a board member recently, about getting Roy back to the club, maybe as the President.
If not that role, some other role maybe, having him back at the club I think is imperative.