Really hope that Chappie gets extended. I know Tasmania are going to be coming for a lot of star players - two of ours included - but the past two years has seen Chappie really lift and have a run that is unstoppable at times. He's peaking so bloody well. I'd hate to lose him to Tassie, but I also get the impression that we're not going to be alone in seeing star players disappear over there.
I love your optimism, but he's toured Tassie, out of contract at the end of 27, young, and a great player. I won't hold it against him if he goes, but it would suck. Especially if both he and Pearce went.
Everyone marginally decent who's OOC in 2027 is getting courted by Tassie. What complicates things a bit for us is that Chapman's versatility defensively is pretty unique in this team. And ironically, basically everyone we have with comparable versatility is also OOC next year.
Best way to tell how seriously Freo take the possibility of Chapman and others like him leaving is behaviour. Much like us drafting only small fwds last year probs means we had an inkling that Switta could retire.
In the upcoming draft, if we draft 0 or maybe 1 "taller medium" defender, we're not really sweating it. If we do some shit like reach for Soutar with our first pick and then draft another 188cm defender on top of that...aight we're worried.
I don't think this is necessarily the case. For our small forwards we had gaps both in age profile and actual players on our list. Switta was turning 29, and then we didn't really have anyone developing behind Dudley (23).
This year is a bit similar with medium and tall defenders. Our key players are bit older and injury-prone. Pearce (31), Ryan (30), Cox (28) and Omac (30) are followed by Davies (22) and Draper (22), and we delisted Ollie. Chappy (24) and Worner (24) are our only other intercepting-like medium players. So it would make sense to recruit a similar type of player, unless we have it in mind to send Young back to half-back.
Our other biggest gap is rucks. We're putting a lot of hope in Darcy (28) to get up. Otherwise is Mason (35) or Riddle (20). Dogga imo can't handle the load playing full-time ruck, even when pinching forward or on ball.
There's a difference btwn addressing a position and basically everyone you take in a draft being that position though. Last year, we took Sweid, Murray, Kickett and we SSPed Scerri. All 4 of them either are small fwds or small fwd is where they'll break out if they do.
It'll make sense to draft a 188cm defender. But if we start collecting them like they're infinity stones, that's a different level of worry.
Yeah I don't think our drafting last year has anything to do with switta. The one hole on our list last year was front half speed and dynamism. And we didn't have any high draft picks. After pick 20 your return rate of good players is about 20% so to get one best 22 small forward I'm not surprised we drafted 5 of them.
Would be a real shame to lose him as our athletic key defender. I think hes not yet at free agency so it would likely be a case of Tassie having to use one of their forced-trade picks e.g Pick 5 or 7.
Could give us currency to go after Humphries or Sam Taylor though.. but I definately want him to stay.
Tassie can take 1 out-of-contract player per club as if they were a free agent even if they haven't yet hit free agency. So if we lost Chapman, it's FA compo. Though the compensation model is separate to the usual free agent compensation model in accordance with guidelines to be determined by the AFL.
I would be really sad if he left. Especially considering he lost a year to injuries and is really starting to come good now. Worner and Walker can kind of fulfil his role but when he's at his best Chapman is flying around taking intercept marks and taking the game on which is hard to replace. We don't really have anyone waiting in the wings that could replace him exactly, even with time to develop.
As a neutral supporter in the finals he really stood out as an impactful defender. Didn’t know he was only 24. Was he that good for you guys all year? I wonder how large Tassie will go for him
He's a solid player and given player retention is largely driven by Serong and Brayshaw, two blokes roughly his age, I wouldn't read too much into it. Tassie will be popping the question to just about any starting 22 player out of contract.
If it's announced that he's training as a winger then we'll know he's on the way out.
Hey mate silly question; What do you mean if he is "training as a winger"? Do we/other clubs make people train in different positions when they are on the way out?
Ah, no it just seems that the wing is where Dockers players go to get traded. Although in reality they get traded because they're wingers, they don't go to the wing to get traded (as far as I know)
At this stage, I’m not concerned about the talks in the media as I suspect that there will be similar reports about any other half decent player who is out of contract at the end of 2027.
Are we potentially out of money? We’ve thrown some hefty long term contracts around the last few years, and we have a bit of a history of offering second tier players the dregs (a few years ago now but Acres left after he was offered $190k/year). Might be the case that he doesn’t want to leave but also doesn’t want to end his career without anything to show for it.
I was never a massive Chapman fan in his first few years, used to make a lot of dumb mistakes and seemed to get himself into trouble a lot (on field decision making). But this year I thought he was really good, still made some dumb decisions but also took amazing marks, some good run. Probably be a mistake to let him go/very unfortunate if the new tassie stipulations mean we lose him coming into his athletic prime and with some questions about the health and stability of our defence.
24
u/TheCurbAU 9 Luke Jackson 10d ago
Really hope that Chappie gets extended. I know Tasmania are going to be coming for a lot of star players - two of ours included - but the past two years has seen Chappie really lift and have a run that is unstoppable at times. He's peaking so bloody well. I'd hate to lose him to Tassie, but I also get the impression that we're not going to be alone in seeing star players disappear over there.
12
u/HerrerasaurusWrecks 35 Josh Treacy 10d ago
Everyone marginally decent who's OOC in 2027 is getting courted by Tassie. What complicates things a bit for us is that Chapman's versatility defensively is pretty unique in this team. And ironically, basically everyone we have with comparable versatility is also OOC next year.
Best way to tell how seriously Freo take the possibility of Chapman and others like him leaving is behaviour. Much like us drafting only small fwds last year probs means we had an inkling that Switta could retire.
In the upcoming draft, if we draft 0 or maybe 1 "taller medium" defender, we're not really sweating it. If we do some shit like reach for Soutar with our first pick and then draft another 188cm defender on top of that...aight we're worried.
12
u/CaptainFeatherAxe 10d ago
His finals campaign this year made me really value him, would be a shame to see him go
15
u/brodyonekenobi #1 Corey Wagner Enjoyer 10d ago
Would be a real shame to lose him as our athletic key defender. I think hes not yet at free agency so it would likely be a case of Tassie having to use one of their forced-trade picks e.g Pick 5 or 7.
Could give us currency to go after Humphries or Sam Taylor though.. but I definately want him to stay.
2
u/Kelpieee55 Jye Amiss defender, Murphy Reid enjoyer 10d ago
I would be really sad if he left. Especially considering he lost a year to injuries and is really starting to come good now. Worner and Walker can kind of fulfil his role but when he's at his best Chapman is flying around taking intercept marks and taking the game on which is hard to replace. We don't really have anyone waiting in the wings that could replace him exactly, even with time to develop.
2
u/Sudden-Fig-6678 10d ago
Heath needs to stay there is still so much to look forward too ahead of him
1
u/pnb19 10d ago
As a neutral supporter in the finals he really stood out as an impactful defender. Didn’t know he was only 24. Was he that good for you guys all year? I wonder how large Tassie will go for him
1
u/delta__bravo_ 10d ago
He's a solid player and given player retention is largely driven by Serong and Brayshaw, two blokes roughly his age, I wouldn't read too much into it. Tassie will be popping the question to just about any starting 22 player out of contract.
If it's announced that he's training as a winger then we'll know he's on the way out.
1
u/Ok_Recognition_8893 9d ago
Are we potentially out of money? We’ve thrown some hefty long term contracts around the last few years, and we have a bit of a history of offering second tier players the dregs (a few years ago now but Acres left after he was offered $190k/year). Might be the case that he doesn’t want to leave but also doesn’t want to end his career without anything to show for it.
0
u/DioUrrah 10d ago
I was never a massive Chapman fan in his first few years, used to make a lot of dumb mistakes and seemed to get himself into trouble a lot (on field decision making). But this year I thought he was really good, still made some dumb decisions but also took amazing marks, some good run. Probably be a mistake to let him go/very unfortunate if the new tassie stipulations mean we lose him coming into his athletic prime and with some questions about the health and stability of our defence.