Sorta. Its a Yes, because he is 'not bad and has positive traits'. I never said he wasn't, and acknowledge that.
Let me pose this question to you.
Was it goof for Melbourne to recruit Grundy? Grundy is good, perhaps the 2nd best ruck in the game. Did it improve Melbourne though? Could they have used his $'s better elsewhere?? 12 months later answered the question was answered for all of us. Not a knock on Grundy in all of that. Just not the best fit at the time....and Dees didn't benefit from it.
Same same, but different.
You asked your question, you got answers you dont like, and accepting that people dont share your opinion is the next logical step.
Doubling down to try and convince people because they havent considered your point of view is not the appropriate response, its an agreement to disagree.
As i said above, its not about me liking it or not, its about how people are justifying it, its shows a misunderstanding of the question, or its intent.
People think i'm attacking Florent and they are defending him. You don't need to defend him, he's not under attack.
I think a lot of people are answering your question with a...
"Yes, it was well worth it."
Sorta. Its a Yes, because he is 'not bad and has positive traits'. I never said he wasn't, and acknowledge that.
Let me pose this question to you.
Was it good for Melbourne to recruit Grundy? Grundy is good, perhaps the 2nd best ruck in the game. Did it improve Melbourne though? Could they have used his $'s better elsewhere?? 12 months later, the question was answered for all of us. Not a knock on Grundy in all of that. Just not the best fit at the time....and Dees didn't benefit from it.
I worry about the comprehension of some people. I really do.
I'm not shooting bambi.
I'm asking a question.
I'm not saying Florent hasn't done everything we've asked of him. I'm not saying Florent doesn't deserve a spot in our side.
I've had Florent in my best 23 since before the season started.
What i am asking is.....given the position he is playing, and given the other players playing a similar position in the 2's...and given how little cover we have in other areas.....could his list spot (and contract $'s) be better spent elsewhere?
Its the same logic i had when we recruited Fantasia. I understood why we got him, the experience, the energy levels etc....but at the end of the day, did our overall list structure suffer as a result?
You've gotta sacrifice something to get something. People around here don't want to sacrifice anything, but still want everything.
Happy with Florent but calm down Saad was All Australian.
exactly was. a long time ago.
Has he forgotten how to play?
As i said, i'm not suggesting he is better than Florent. I'm not suggesting Charleson is better than Florent......or Ollie Hollands.
But given the contract that we gave Florent....years and $'s....does he offer us that much more than the others. Could that money be better used elsewhere given his age on top of that?
Put it this way.....Recruiting someone like Marshall would improve our side (like Florent) but is there a long term benefit to that? Would that recruitment simply keep Reidy and Riley from getting a game.....potentially Pittonet as well.....to the point where another club could poach him leaving us worse off long term. Similar to what is happening with Ollie Hollands now, asking him to look elsewhere. So its possible to be a good addition, that is not really in our best interests long term.
Could we potentially have banked the Florent $'s and throw them at King to really fill a hole? Or perhaps Butters who has more football left.
A few years ago we had: Lachie Fogarty Jack Martin Jesse Motlop Cotrell Owies
As our small forwards
Now we have Hayward Byrne Evans Ainsworth
So much more fight in our new group. Tbh Motlop will be flat out in the reserves next year.
Motlop is hard done by.
He got starved up forward, but when he got time in the middle he lifted his game. Similar to Ainsworth, Evans and Hayward who all get time up around the middle.
Jack Martin has kicked more goals for the cats this year than he ever did with us. 22 from 17 games thus far. If we knew how to use him (and not break him) he'd still be worthy of a gig.
Fogarty was 'Mr Pressure', that i didn't rate because he made no impact on the scoreboard. Now we have others who have pressure AND can make an impact on the scoreboard, no surprises there.
Owies managed 33 goals for us in his final season and should not be undervalued either.
Cottrell is still playing, just more up the ground.
Hayward is the big difference maker from the changes.....and we all knew that beforehand.
I'd take the new group over the old group, but i don't think its as dominant as people make out. If we had Charlie there this year, the current group wouldn't look 'as good' because Charlie would get all the focus.
There was many an argument about 'replacing charlie' in the off-season. Goal wise, you will always get more from others to help cover the loss somewhat, my main issue was having a genuine target who could be your focal point. Have a look at how the VFL team went on the weekend and our entries inside 50 went to the opposition more than us because we tried to play Moir as a key forward simply because of lack of other options.
Its similar to when Fev left. We 'replaced him' with small forwards who got more goals as a result. In the semi final when we went deep to the goal square in an attempt to win the game.....we had Walker (who deserved a free!) as our target. If we had Fev there (or a genuine KPF) then we win that game and are off to the prelim. Its not just about replacing goals of an outgoing coleman medalist, its about replacing a team structure.
Our boys have picked up the slack, but are we a more dangerous forward line? Not sure about that.
Not saying i disagree, but do we not have 2 other options who have essentially not been used this year?
Yeah and Saad is coming to the end of his career. You harp on about not doing any planning for the future and then we actually recruit one in Florent and he’s been a jet and you question it??
Charleson is on the list ready to go but we havent played him.
Point I'm making is. Is florent taking the spot of a kid....charleson. If the kid doesnt work out, weve got saad as senior backup.
Technically weve also got ollie hollands as back up currently as well. He will most likely leave as a result not getting a game.
What has florent bought that we couldnt get from either saad or charleson?
Florents knock is his kicking. Saads knock is his kicking. Charleson has been borderline getting a game a but this year. Without florent, he would most likely got a gig by now.
Florent has been solid without being spectacular, he didn't come cheap though. Could we do without him?
Florent makes quick decisions and goes, and most importantly, he breaks lines and links up with others.
I think it is the running play of Florent and Wilson that has revolutionised our game style. Once those two start running, Cerra, Walsh, Smith, Cripps et al get on their bike as well and the wave commences. Our style is now unrecognisable compared to the dump kick to the wing that was the only way we could get out of D50 earlier this year. I should add Cerra's amazing improvement in kicking as well.
I thought Wilson and Florent were on the podium for BOG yesterday.
Not saying i disagree, but do we not have 2 other options who have essentially not been used this year?
What has florent bought that we couldnt get from either saad or charleson?
Florents knock is his kicking. Saads knock is his kicking. Charleson has been borderline getting a game a but this year. Without florent, he would most likely got a gig by now.
Florent has been solid without being spectacular, he didn't come cheap though. Could we do without him?
If Dees beat dogs, we play Pies in the wildcard. If Crows beat Giants, we will stay in Melbourne and play either the pies (as above) or Dees should the dogs win.
Basically, we want Crows to win more than anything, then the dees dogs game result doesn't matter, we'll be in Melbourne either way.
Ollie Hollands very unlucky not to get either a mark or a free kick. 20 seconds to go before 3/4 time, would've made a huge difference before the siren!
I'd love to go back to the first 9 weeks and compare the skills by foot.
Night and day.
We were lucky if our foot made contact with the ball early days, now we've got everyone, including Acres kicking worm burners, lace out to the leading forward.
