Our veteran quandary

[Jezza]

I think some veterans mentioned there have a future past this season if properly managed. Too many retirements in a single season will hurt short-term and medium-term performance of the team.

Agree, it's a balancing act.
Cut too deep and you end up like North Melbourne. If you're not proactive in phasing out a reasonable number of veterans in due course, you end up like West Coast.
You could argue the process has already started inadvertently with Taylor Adams being offloaded to the Swans at the end of last year.

[Newelly]

^

We can see the management already happening this year with Mitchell given a spell in week 2 and Sidebottom managed this week - week 4 - against Brisbane.

[Greening gold]

Might be the time to start preparing for 2025 when we are going to face the same problem that Hawthorn had when Hodge, Mitchell and Roughead all retired, and the Australian cricket team when Lillee, Marsh and Greg Chappell all gave it away.
With 9 players over 30, we are going to face a reckoning next year. Predicting Pendles, Sidey, Cox, Mihocek, Elliott and Howe will not line up in 2025. Also note that Crisp and WHE are now 30. Time to start identifying the future.
I think there were good reasons for Richmond to let go of Markov and for Footscray to release Lipinski. Both very lucky to get a premiership medal but I don't see them as part of our future. Lipinski lacks heart and Markov lacks brains. Ash Johnson has done nothing. Takes a speccy every so often but drops chest marks regularly.
I think we were lucky to get through the window and it has now closed.

[The Black and White Lion]

Yeah I’m not so sure about the management yet. Play 1 miss 1 at the start of the season. We didn’t even bring in a young player with fresh legs to blood them in the system. Macrae should have been in already.

I like Fly and the coaching team but this is a blunder for me. Loyalty be damned you have to get better and that means trying something different when the primary approach ain’t working. Fly and the coaches firmly think the issue is energy based, well that’s what they’ve said publicly. Find that hard to believe the way we’ve played through the defence and middle.

Will be interesting to see where we sit by round 10. Early form is usually affirmed or naturalised by then.

[Culprit]

3 games in and ready to euthanise a few players. The older I got playing the more it took a few games to be 100%. At this level they know if it's time. I would give them to at least round 6. What we have is celebrating a flag in another dimension and it's a complete cluster. We can turn it around and in saying that we simply have to go with what the coaches say. 0-6 and it won't matter.

[David]

Seems like dropping Sidebottom and moving Crisp to sub was a masterstroke last week. The question is, does McRae keep "managing" some of these older players, or do they come straight back in to the 22?

I certainly don’t think Sidebottom should be the scapegoat for our poor performances early. But I think this selection problem very much is ongoing, and merely managing one senior player on a rotating basis (as we were already doing in rounds 2 and 3 with WHE and Mitchell) isn’t going to be enough to address it I suspect.

[Newelly]

Might be the time to start preparing for 2025 when we are going to face the same problem that Hawthorn had when Hodge, Mitchell and Roughead all retired, and the Australian cricket team when Lillee, Marsh and Greg Chappell all gave it away.
With 9 players over 30, we are going to face a reckoning next year. Predicting Pendles, Sidey, Cox, Mihocek, Elliott and Howe will not line up in 2025. Also note that Crisp and WHE are now 30. Time to start identifying the future.
I think there were good reasons for Richmond to let go of Markov and for Footscray to release Lipinski. Both very lucky to get a premiership medal but I don't see them as part of our future. Lipinski lacks heart and Markov lacks brains. Ash Johnson has done nothing. Takes a speccy every so often but drops chest marks regularly.
I think we were lucky to get through the window and it has now closed.

Pendles - Plays a low impact game hence a lack of injury accumulation has allowed him to play long past the average retirement age so it is not a given he will retire next season and while past his peak he still has something to offer.
Sidey - similar to Pendles in some ways but his body seems to get a little more of a beating so he might struggle to get up for one more season.
Cox - He was a late starter to AFL so this likely means his body hasn't had the typical accumulation of injuries you would expect from a footballer his age who started at 18 years of age.
Mihocek - sure if Kruger and maybe Eyre step into this role otherwise we need to find a way for another go-around for him. McStay looks injury prone so expecting a full season from him might be foolish.
Elliott - another season in him if managed. What he does best is kick accurately and cleverly lead into space and take a contested mark without a huge bodily impact.
Howe - has copped some bad injuries lately so would be surprised if he has another season in him.

[Piesnchess]

At seasons end, I fully expect, all of, Sidey , Pendles, Howie, Crisp, maybe even Cox, to all retire, so we will go from being an old side, -the footy scribes love saying that, how bout the Cats and Deeees ?) to a pretty young team. THIS is why we must blood more kids this season, when we can. its vital, and I am sure Fly knows that too.

[RudeBoy]

I guess I beg to differ to a few of my fellow Nicksters, when it comes to 'managing' our veterans. I think we should simply pick the best team each week, regardless of age or reputation. The youngsters need to smash the door down to senior selection on the basis of standout VFL form.

[uuuuu..... The LoneSTAR]

Our veterans are guns who for the most part were very important players in the finals series a few short months ago. I know the cliff can be steep for some, but lets not write them off just yet hey?!?!
Its important to manage them individually as required, to ensure their performance and longevity is optimised. If that means resting and getting games into players that might not really deserve it then so be it. Of course, on the proviso that we're winning enough.
The group knows they can do it - They have already done it! We don't need to win every single week. We must plan to launch from a good overall position come September.

[Newelly]

At seasons end, I fully expect, all of, Sidey , Pendles, Howie, Crisp, maybe even Cox, to all retire, so we will go from being an old side, -the footy scribes love saying that, how bout the Cats and Deeees ?) to a pretty young team. THIS is why we must blood more kids this season, when we can. its vital, and I am sure Fly knows that too.

It will risk 3-4 years of being in the bottom 4. If we look at WCE, Adelaide, North we are seeing teams struggling to rebuild lists in the modern era.

[Piesnchess]

^

Not really, our VFL team does have some very promising kids for the future now, Demattia, Richards, McCrea, that young Sudanese kid, McInnes, and Begg is coming along well plus others.. That with some canny recruiting, of some experienced players from other teams, say like a Howe or Mitchell type, entice them over. I have faith in Graham Wright, for us to have a quick rebuild.

[Pies2016]

There’s only two things more important than giving the young blokes a chance. That’s selection integrity and selecting the the best available combination of players to secure a win. Once you’ve satisfied those two priorities, by all means, play as many kids as you like.
Anything less and you compromise the very fabric of your football club.

[Newelly]

Yes, very true

[DT]

The list looks in bad shape to me - I think we will face a very tricky next 5 years. I also think we need some fresh ideas around the club - Hyne should move on and we need to get a gun recruiter of young talent