Almanac Footy: Mid-season footy club reviews (a bit late, but…) – Part 2

 

School holidays are great! So much time, and such a backlog to get rid of. Here’s Part 2 of my mid-season reviews, in between reviewing papers, updating members lists, etc. Today, from Freo to the Dees.

 

Fremantle

As expected, Freo have improved. The key to their improvement has been the development of their tall-mediums aged 22-24yo – Young, Sharp, O’Driscoll, Worner, Walker (with Sturt out with long-term injury).

 

I still think they’re overly tall for the MCG in September. At the end of the season, I’d be looking to retire their aging smalls – Walters & Switkowski – and draft some talented junior smalls, even if it means trading a talented junior tall.

 

Geelong

Well, we were right about age change at Geelong, and about Bailey Smith moving into a midfield role.

 

Regarding age change, the Geelong defence has seemingly replaced the aging Kolodjashnij with the junior O’Sullivan, while a replacement still needs to be found for the aging Stewart.

 

The disappointing news is that talented junior ruckman Toby Conway still hasn’t played a VFL game yet, considering his injury was in 2024.

 

As expected Geelong are up there, and given how many AFL administrators are Geelong supporters, and that Dangerfield is a protected species (especially when he hits others), Geelong can go all the way on their day.

 

Gold Coast

Much of list management is about having the confidence to back your recruiting decisions. Gold Coast have incurred their share of major losses this season. However, with depth in their list, they’ve managed to cover these.

 

E.g.1, Ballard goes down with a long-term injury. Not a problem, we’ll give 23yo Joel Jeffrey a go. Whoa, Jeffrey succeeds!

 

E.g. 2, Elliott Himmelburg goes down with a long-term injury. Not a problem, we’ll give 20yo Jed Walter a go. Whoa, Jeffrey succeeds!

 

E.g. 3, Malcolm Rosas goes down with a medium-term injury. Not a problem, we’ll give 18yo Leo lombard a go. Well Lombard hasn’t succeeded yet, but we’ll give him time.

 

Compare this to the conservatism of some other clubs. Gold Coast are improving because of those risks.

 

GWS

GWS has been a list that I have got wrong. The data was clearly there, and I misinterpretted it.

 

I thought the exits from the club would adversely affect them. In reality, a strong listing of juniors, especially in the smaller and medium sections have seen GWS maintain its top 8 position from last season.

 

The 22 is largely the same 22 as set down at the beginning of the season. However the changes have seen the development of Angwin, 22yo, as an additional running defender; and, Madden, 21yo, a talented understudy to Briggs. Bedford is now the club’s best tackler. His challenge is to build more aspects to his game.

 

Stringer’s goal a game average still keeps him in consideration, as football history tells us, some players are only meant for big games.

 

Numbers in their list indicate that GWS will develop more in the future.

 

And we remember, Adam Kingsley is an ex-Richmond coach.

 

Hawthorn

Well, aren’t those trade deals for Battle and Barrass worth the value of fort Knox, now? Last season, the Hawkers had holes in their two defensive key positions. Now they are strengths! The Hawks look in the mix but are still yet to prove themselves a dominant team within the finals grouping.

 

(Did you hear that Jack Gunston’s new nickname is Tree? Because, he just goes on and on and on.)

 

The good news is that Mitch Lewis is back in the Magoos and averaging over 3 goals a game.

 

The list has plenty of juniors, so one might suspect that the happy team will seek an additional mobile tall (key forward/ruck) and an additional midfielder in the coming trade period.

 

Melbourne

At the risk of repeating myself, the Melbourne list is split into two parts, the remnants of 2021 and the future. Melbourne need not look to its past, it can build a very good future.

 

Now is the time to recruit their next Max Gawn. They could take a short term view and knab Moyle from GWS; or maybe a long term view to a Cooper Duff-Tytler, Lou Emmett, or some other. (Remember, Gawn took 5 years to click.)

 

Other than that, the Dees just need to give the developing and junior players they have a fair go and keep recruiting wisely.

 

For more detail, please refer to https://www.ozfootylistmanager.com/2025-lists-new.html

Of course, more to come.

 

 

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