Is it bye bye for Witts and Cloke??

[inxs88]

Very small sample size I know, but we seem less predictable from a forward line perspective without stress head Travis. Insofar as Witts is concerned, he is just too slow and cumbersome with no tricks to be a forward line presence. Allowing Grundy some Ruck relief coincided with Brodie today three times "leaping" massively at the hit out stage as opposed to being lead footed to the ground.

With no first round draft pick this year it may be over to Hine to weave some trade magic, lower some salary cap space and reconfigure this part of our list. Would love to see Travis bounce back though.

[On the March]

No - I suspect that the best things for us in next years draft are a couple of familiar names

[inxs88]

[Wokko]

Travis may be just about done, I hope not but when big men start their decline it's fast and hard. One minute their busting packs and kicking bags, the next you wonder why they're pulling donuts.

Witts I think is still a project player. Really sizeable rucks can take a long time to develop and then give about 5 years service. We've decided to grow our own so we should stick with him. Took Sandilands a good 6 years to show what he was.

[inxs88]

Project player?? He has been there since 2011. It's become a THESIS!

[On the March]

[DopeyDipper]

Why is everyone always so quick to write Witts off and want to trade him? Gawn for Melbourne has just become good at the end of last year and he was recruited in 2009.

Big men always take some time and there is no harm in waiting for Witts to improve, if Grundy gets a serious injury we have to play Moore or Cox full time ruck and I would much prefer Witts to do that.

[swoop42]

So to play devils advocate for a second if Cloke was traded with 1 year to go on his lucrative contract we wouldn't have to include him in our salary cap for next season would we?

If he was delisted or retired because of injury it would be different is my understanding.

So while we are far from the point of making that call we could potentially open up an additional 1 million in salary cap space with Swan either set to retire or play on for far less also.

Still unless we make a play for a banned Essendon player like Hurley we wouldn't have the trade currency this season and might be better off with Cloke seeing out his contract and making a big play for someone like Hogan next year.

[Jezza]

Need to persist with Witts. I find him frustrating but ruckman take ages to develop, but ultimately I still think Grundy will be our number 1 ruckman for the next decade.

Cloke is at the crossroads, but there's still hope if a stint in the reserves is the wake up call he needs to recapture his old form. I still believe along with a slow inevitable decline, he has suffered under the Buckley game plan which has caused his form deterioration.

Jason Dunstall's statement last year that we should have considered trading Cloke during the off-season is starting to gain more credibility with each passing day. Many within the club ridiculed his opinion but I never thought it was illogical to consider it at the right price and frankly will Cloke ever return to the heights of 2011-2013?

[jackcass]

Yeah, that's clearly the take out of 1 game of 1/2 reasonable footy, a guy who preseason was our clear best ruckman and who at 23 has clearly peaked, and the guy who remains our best forward have been surpassed...

[inxs88]

[jackcass]

[mackasmatt]

Dont understand any talk about getting rid of Witts. We need a slightly reliable option in the VFL capable of stepping up against the big guns and being serviceable.

Look at Freo. Both Clarke and Griffen have hung around for an eternity to back up Sandilands.

Griffen:
30yo 80 games, 2004 rookie drafted
16 hitouts/game, 0.4 goals/game, 27 marks/game
Debuted in 2007 for Adelaide. 48 career WAFL games.
Best return of 16 games in a season.

Clarke:
26yo 90 games, 2008 national draft
12.7 hitouts/game, 0.5 marks/game, 3.8 marks/game
54 WAFL games.
Best return of 21 games in a season.

You can't expect much more from a second string ruckman. On the topic of Cloke I fully support trading him for a first round draft pick. We are going to potentially lose a very attractive selection to GWS this year and I would like some presence in the first round.

[Pies4shaw]

[Invigoration]

Witts will get offloaded at the end of the year, Cloke will be back in the AFL side in a week or two.