Hawthorn's youth

[Unique]

Now I know Dowler, Thorp, Muston, Moss, Kennedy etc have great potential but...

1. No more than half of our youth will actually ever play more than a dozen games because we can only play 22 players

2. Some will get restless that in any average side they would be in selection, some might want to be traded

Is this ok? Will the morale of the young be under threat?

[franny23]

Now I know Dowler, Thorp, Muston, Moss, Kennedy etc have great potential but...

1. No more than half of our youth will actually ever play more than a dozen games because we can only play 22 players

2. Some will get restless that in any average side they would be in selection, some might want to be traded

Is this ok? Will the morale of the young be under threat?


1. every side has the issues of only being able to play 22 week in week out. we have already blooded rioli/stokes, with tuck, murphy, ellis all stepping up into the senior squad, with muston very unlucky (injury) and morton not far off.

2. Our best 22 atm doesnt mean it will be the same come september. We are a 'top side' and with that are not going to take any passengers in 08, if a player can prove there worth and add something to the side there will be room for them. As a whole Box hill have struggled so far this year and players need to prove there worth there before taking the next step.

if it comes october and we have not succeeded to big Als expectations expect a few to be cut from the herd to make way for players that will take us to glory. who goes i dont know? its round 6, and for now we concentrate on the 08 season, and what these players can offer here and now.

ps. dowler and thorp to stay, they are the future!

[DiGwIt]

Yeah this is a very hard issue to decide on which players to cut.
Thorp and Dowler both have to stay (or at least one) because they will be very good players in the future.
One of them may have to change their game if they want to make the best 22 but because we have too many key forwards atm.

[Rev08]

Now I know Dowler, Thorp, Muston, Moss, Kennedy etc have great potential but...

1. No more than half of our youth will actually ever play more than a dozen games because we can only play 22 players

2. Some will get restless that in any average side they would be in selection, some might want to be traded

Is this ok? Will the morale of the young be under threat?

If we are good enough that guys with the potential of the above named youngsters can't get a game, then I don't think we will have too much to worry about!

But if you think that our current form will continue throughout the year, it won't! Players will have form slumps, injuries will happen, and then guys like Dowler and Thorp and so on will get there chance.

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

There's nothing to suggest from Dowler and Thorp's performances for BH this year that they would even get games at Melbourne. They're going nowhere.

[Boyler_Room]

This is one way in which a larger bench would be a great thing for us at the moment for helping us to keep some of our youngsters not currently getting a game.