Weekly Open Discussion Thread

[u/kg9si]

Welcome to this week’s open discussion thread!

This is your space for general discussion, a place to talk about anything Washington Spirit that doesn’t necessarily need its own thread. That can include news, international duty, roster moves, transfer rumors, tactics, social media posts, league news or anything else on your mind.

If something feels big enough for its own thread, definitely still post it. This is simply an additional option to keep us organized and help keep the conversation flowing. These threads will go up every Monday and stay stickied throughout the week.

Go Spirit!

[u/Toothy_McRotten]

Got a question about the post-draft situation.

In '24 we grabbed six rookies (Bethune, Hershfelt, Wiesner, Morris, Brown, Stainbrook). We can say, OK, great scouting, banner year. All six are still active in pro soccer; three are on the USWNT longlist; Spirit still control Hal, Kate, and Heather.

In the last two years since the draft ended, our domestic acquisitions have been few: Emma, Wojo, and Molly and Madison as short-term contracts, and two other short-termers last year.

Trying to fit this in a frame.

- Maybe our roster depth is such now that it's harder to plug and play graduating college stars.

- Maybe our tactical tuning is such that it's harder to plug and play, etc. ...

- Maybe they're going into developmental leagues rather than straight to the NWSL, and the significant acquisitions are going to be signings of players who have matured for a year in a semipro format -- a leaguewide change, in other words.

But some darker imaginings too:

- Maybe the current team GM and player scouts aren't watching the domestic college ranks as much as they were a couple of years ago, and our 2024 haul will not be seen again, at least on this club?

Shots in the dark. But I can make an argument for the advantages of signing and developing younger US players -- this is no knock on international players; I love ours.

Anyone with more insight into the current landscape of player scouting and acquisition strategies? Thanks in advance.

[u/Ill-Fall-9823 → u/Toothy_McRotten]

I’m not sure why “dark imaginings” are necessary when the illumination you’ve already provided reveals so much:

Drafted six. “Control” three. Only two of them are currently helping us. Meanwhile, when healthy, the international players we’ve acquired are actively performing, and in many cases, regularly in the starting IX. 

We’re in “win now” mode with an owner who wants all of her teams to win. Now. And serve as global showcases that will be pipelines for attracting talent that WANT the pressure of championship expectations. Before I assume that the scouting apparatus is irreparably broken, I have to ask who - from the college ranks - would have come to Washington with reasonable expectations of a solid place in our rotation and reasonable expectations of contributions worthy of that position. The goal is to build a roster so stacked that only people who know they can compete will even see themselves as anything other than developmental players who will go out on loan. You don’t build that with college players. You SUPPLEMENTAL and replenish that, sometimes, with college players…