I don't think the club would be holding off on our account.Don’t have a great feeling about Murph unfortunately
I personally believe the club is making sure the fans adjust to his absence before announcing the worst. Happy to be wrong.
I watched the game he was good. Remembering of course that JC was playing an entirely different position so direct comparison wasn’t possible.
I think this highlights really well the need for patience on some guys coming through. Let’s take Demattia and your suggestion he’d be groomed to replace Crisp long term. That’s 4 different roles he needs to learn, a different mindset within each role and different movement patterns. The versatility of Crisp is insane (Yeo being the only other I can think of that offers it) and it means the badger will take time to transition into a mid role if he even gets there. It also probably sheds some light on why we’re seeing so much growth in Frampton’s game this year. It’s possible he wasn’t cut out to get the best out of himself across multiple roles and needed that stability to thrive.
It isn’t and I wouldn’t be getting too caught up in it anyway. Long right now if he were on our list might sit somewhere around 30 on the depth chart, he’d be behind Macrae who’s struggling to get a look in, we haven’t seen Demattia yet and he’s not one I’d be banking on to have a long term career. Get around him if he makes it on to our list, but like Hutchinson I wouldn’t bother getting too attached to him for now.
Called it..... unfortunately. Best wishes, Murph. You will forever be a premiership player for the Mighty Pies!I have a feeling we have seen the last of Murph....
Not so sure.
I’m not so sure it’s the minority. I think his supporters and detractors are vocal with the ebb and flow of his career. The supporters are vocal at a time such as this when he’s outside the best 23 and detractors vocal usually after his senior performances when he hasn’t done much.
We don’t, but that doesn’t mean he’s any more or less likely to make it at the top level. Take Mitchell these days a good, not great, stoppage player at AFL level. If he were playing VFL footy he’d average 15 clearances a game. Fin’s brother is now a rotation mid and was absolutely dominant at VFL level a few weeks back. The step up for these guys is massive which is why it takes time, but Fin’s not going to be able to rely on a strong VFL stoppage game at the next level because it’s not enough.
Carmichael will make it as a forward or not at all.
Good to hear about Mr & Mrs Cox's arrival.. because yes, Mason typically does have good games when they're in attendance.Nigel on FB Side by Side page...
TRAINING THURSDAY 18th APRIL:- A rather cool morning for training today. Around 15°, overcast and a gentle breeze. Training got underway at 9.30am. Just the usual players in rehab which were Nathan Kreuger, Josh Eyre, Dan McStay, Harry Di Mattea and Jakob Ryan. As expected there was no sign of Oscar Steene. Kreuger was moving very well and must be getting close to resuming playing. Harry did a few of the drills and actually played on the match sim although he was wearing the blue cap which means no tackling. Hopefully he will resume playing in 2-3 weeks. Good news was Pendlebury completed the full session including the whole match sim and he looked fine. He did do a short test but nothing major before rejoining the main group. I guess they will see how he pulls up but I would expect him to be playing on a Saturday. He was doing some midfield drills at the end of the session so I’d expect that is where they intend playing him rather than half back. Interesting that Harvey Harrison was in the black jumper today. He could be a chance to play but Fly wasn’t giving much away in his press conference so not sure about that. The players went into a huddle at the start of the session and I think it was a happy birthday for someone. They seemed to be quite pumped up when the started the session. There were the usual exercises followed by handballing drills. And once again they all took part in the handball and tackling exercise in the 30m x 10m area in teams of 8 players. I thought Nick Daicos, Tom Mitchell, De Goey and Bobby Hill were the best in the handballing while Mitchell, Beau McCreery and Harvey Harrison laid some awesome tackles. They also practiced bringing the ball out of the backline quickly then a long kick to players on the spread. That looked really good so let’s hope they bring that to the game on Saturday. After a short break there was a match sim with 2 AFL umpires officiating. Most in the black team were the regular seniors but included Harvey Harrison, while the white team had (from memory) Quaynor, Lipinski, Cox and Fin Macrae. I was really impressed with Tew Jiath’s game. He is really starting to show he has what it takes. Ned Long was very good again. He’s big and strong and knows how to win the ball. Unless the recruiters have their eye on another player in the mid-season draft that we don’t know about, let’s hope we can pick Ned up. Joe Richards had another good game too. He’s very clever and reads the play well. Just wish he was a bit bigger. Darcy Cameron took a couple of strong pack marks. And so did Darcy Moore. De Goey featured prominently as usual and Josh Daicos too. Pendles played in the midfield and got quite a bit of the ball. After the game most players had goal kicking practice while the entire midfield of about 10 players practiced different set moves. They are really going to need to be on their toes on Saturday against Port’s midfield. Players had mostly left the field by 11.30am. It was a very good session overall. I don’t think there will be any changes this week from the Hawthorn game. I notice Mason Cox’s parents arriving with their suitcases at the end of training. They are staying for the ANZAC game which is good because we have a good winning record when they are here. Coxy usually has a good game too when they are in the stands. Go Pies.
I think he can get stuck up forward some games so I’d like him to rotate through the middle more.
They will get their chance next year, this year we still have our legends playing for one big tilt again. Fin will benefit just as much from a block in the VFL. They don't just turn up and play VFL like they do in the bush, they will have instructions and expectations with every VFL game they play
We as supporters might not, but the coaches will be watching his stoppage work closely at training when he's playing with and against quality AFL mids.
