THE 2024 SEASON

I see that Jack Hayes is out for 6 weeks for a knee injury surgery. My guess is that he will be d-listed at the end of the year, and maybe retire. If he comes back to us, I fear that it will be as a "broken" player.

Nah Jack will be fine and heading our forward line in 2025 with Mitch Hardie, McNeil, Rowe a maturer Pat Weckert, Ballenden and maybe Charlie West. Bring it on !

Premiers wrote:Nah Jack will be fine and heading our forward line  in 2025 with Mitch Hardie, McNeil, Rowe a maturer Pat Weckert, Ballenden and maybe Charlie West. Bring it on !

Maybe even Tsitas at a stretch!

[quote="Premiers"]Nah Jack will be fine and heading our forward line  in 2025 with Mitch Hardie, McNeil, Rowe a maturer Pat Weckert, Ballenden and maybe Charlie West. Bring it on !

I only know of Charlie West i doubt I've spoken to him unless I'm wrong but he's been told who im last year.

That is not to admit we also need a tall rebounding CHB or convince Thommo to go another year, or better, both.

Luke Beecken off to Brisbane

Titan2 wrote:Luke Beecken off to Brisbane

At least not a AFL team here

Note that this pick was just before Adelaide's second pick who subsequently passed. Clearly this meant that Adelaide were planning to take Beecken but Brisbane unexpectedly cut their lunch.

Congratulations Luke.

Sorry to see you leave but glad that you get an opportunity at a team besides Adelaide or Port so you don't have to play against us!

That's the wrap - MacKay and Weckert not selected.

"...at a team besides Adelaide or Port so you don't have to play against us!"

Agree totally.

Looks like SANFL doesn't have any of interest to AFL. Only harm done was to Eagles. Typical.

Well done Luke but this AFL greed needs to be stopped. Pick them
at seasons end. Sauce and Co should be able to cover this but we need a reshuffle
and attitude adjustment if we are to be a threat in this feeder comp

The negatives
- We lose one of the few players in our team who can deliver the ball with precision
- We lose our only player who provides run and dash.
- We lose a player that helps make the side watchable given the flair he plays with
- We have no way to replace him

The positives
- Great exposure and recognition of the club
- Potential recruits know that AFL clubs have high regard for our club with multiple players being taken from us across last few years i.e. if you want the best chance to get drafted come to WWT
- Provides proof to late blooming players that if you stick around dedicate yourself to getting better you will get drafted i.e. a reason to stick around rather than heading to country clubs or amateurs.

Other considerations:

- gives WWT a voice at Brisbane (through Luke) who can help talk up the club to Brisbane players and steer them in our direction if they want to test themselves in the SANFL

- In the event Luke does get delisted at some point he is less likely to stick around locally (as he would if he was playing for a Melbourne club) and more likely to return to South Australia and back to our club!

Does anyone kno if Luke B is a beach bunny? He may as well get some fun being up north, playing footy in outback Qld

Titan,
Re the "other considerations" that you raised above, I'm ignorant of Luke's situation whether he has a partner but what can always go against a delisted WWTFC player returning is when they pick up an interstate partner or job opportunity opens up or, in the case of Qld, the climate and surfing lifestyle appeals.
I agree that we can't replace the talents of Luke Beecken playing off the HB flank but I would rather lose a HB flanker than a key forward, key back ( if we had one), midfielder or ruckman ( if we had one!). We can recover by "patching" over the loss and getting better in the positions around his. ( Unfortunate that Wehr won a GWS extension of 2 years because he would have been the perfect answer. Would a ! Could a Should a !)

[quote="Titan2"]That's the wrap - MacKay and Weckert not selected.

I've said to a member of this forum on messenger that McKay wasn't going to be picked up on Sunday during the game so how right am i. Believe it's the pace and age. He had a poor game on the weekend.

[quote="Premiers"]That is not to admit we also need a tall rebounding CHB or convince Thommo to go another year, or better, bot
h.


Jordy Moore has been a good pickup for us playing at CHB keeping McBean quiet so give him some credit where it's due.

whybother wrote:I see that Jack Hayes is out for 6 weeks for a knee injury surgery. My guess is that he will be d-listed at the end of the year, and maybe retire. If he comes back to us, I fear that it will be as a "broken" player.

Maybe less intensive training will help him survive.

A fit Jack Hayes would be invaluable.

wimpy wrote:

whybother wrote:I see that Jack Hayes is out for 6 weeks for a knee injury surgery. My guess is that he will be d-listed at the end of the year, and maybe retire. If he comes back to us, I fear that it will be as a "broken" player.

Maybe less intensive training will help him survive.

A fit Jack Hayes would be invaluable.

He's a champion. Would be amazing to have him finish his career at the Eagles, but I genuinely hope he gets another good run at AFL level. He hardly missed a game because of injury for us.

Well done Luke Beecken. Very well deserved. Another huge loss, but that is the way it goes. As Titan mentions, there are positives to go along with the negatives for the club.

Beecken played well in his first game for Bris VFL side - 20 disposals.

Tsitas will never get into the Gold Coast side again with their talented young midfielders. While I don't think he'd come back to SA he may also be another to keep an eye on.

And one other forgotten name - Poulter. Would be lucky to be offered another contract with the Bulldogs. Last time around he had a strong reason to stay in Melb with his 'influencer' GF not at all keen on Adelaide. They are no longer together so will be interesting to see how entrenched he is in the Melbourne lifestyle.

Whereas Tsitas is expected to return to Melbourne, he is a very football driven and, if he decides that his best footy was played at the Eagles, it wouldn't surprise for him to return to the Eagles.
I was surprised to read that Caleb Poulter was considering returning to WWT before getting another contract with Bulldogs. ( how long is his contract? )

A mid season rating on the Eagles is: Good Pass.
We are ahead (6 wins 3 losses) of what we could have hoped at the start of the season. Have we enough in the pipeline to push ahead in 2025? My concern is the first ruck position. Much of our improvement is that this year, we haven't been destroyed at the rucking contests. Redden is unlikely to continue, Brinker-Ritchie's injury clouds his future plus he's a long way from Redden's standard, and there's absolutely no-one else. I hope the WWTFC is out looking out for ruckman talent across country SA, Vic, Tasmania, Riverina NSW because we don't want to be caught out again like we did in 2023 when we knew by mid 2022 that Reddo was retiring (1st time round).

Talking to Luke's mother, she said Luke was given second best for Brisbane VFL's team.

Premiers wrote:A mid season rating on the Eagles is: Good Pass.
We are ahead (6 wins 3 losses) of what we could have hoped at the start of the season. Have we enough in the pipeline to push ahead in 2025?  My concern is the first ruck position. Much of our improvement is that this year, we haven't been destroyed at the rucking contests. Redden is unlikely to continue, Brinker-Ritchie's injury clouds his future plus he's a long way from Redden's standard, and there's absolutely no-one else. I hope the WWTFC is out looking out for ruckman talent across country SA, Vic, Tasmania, Riverina NSW because we don't want to be caught out again like we did in 2023 when we knew by mid 2022 that Reddo was retiring (1st time round).

Actually our rucks look in the seconds saw Boyd for the first time can get better when fitter Lucak looked great . Redden is good but needs to do more than tapping to the other teams players they’ve worked him out imho .
I asked yesterday at the game why aren’t we playing 1 of our seconds ruck and resting redden in the forward pocket let our chf play chf

Respectfully, disagree with all 4 points that you make (above), Mickj. (but interesting, other opinions)