Jon Douglas
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- Jan 8, 2013
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I thought in the end Fred it was agreed on this Board that Chappy was offered a contract but at much reduced amount and fewer games. And he rejected this. Is that wrong ?
Review AFL Round 4 autopsy - Geelong defeats West Coast by 75 points
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Jon Douglas
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I thought in the end Fred it was agreed on this Board that Chappy was offered a contract but at much reduced amount and fewer games. And he rejected this. Is that wrong ?
I'm tending to support this.
I absolutely love what he can bring but he is a senior player now and must become more consistent and average more disposals than the low teens.
It's not as if he's stuck in a pocket , he's far enough up the ground and around the footy to get high teens as a minimum.
We are a power Club and our standards must be adhered to , else we slip back to the pack .
The young guys are coming along so everyone needs to lift else make way
- Aug 2, 2012
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I don't know whether it's right or wrong, JD.
I only know that the best - indeed, as far as I'm aware, only - publicly available evidence does not say it's correct, and strongly suggests the contrary, ie that it never got to the formal contract offer stage.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-10-03/well-be-mates-forever
PAUL Chapman's departure from Geelong came after the 31-year-old was told he would play just a handful of games next season if he stayed on.
Chapman parted ways with the Cats on Thursday afternoon, but he fronted up at the club's best and fairest count that night and received a standing ovation after addressing the 1500-strong crowd.
Prior to the function, the three-time premiership player gave some insights into the talks he had with Geelong after coming out of contract at the end of the season.
"If I happened to get a contract for next year, they couldn’t guarantee any more than eight games or anything like that, because they want to play young kids and get them a taste of AFL footy," Chapman explained.
"I totally understand what they're talking about, and a 10-game thing or anything like that is not something that I'm up for.
"Playing VFL footy is not how I want to end it either. I'm just looking forward and hopefully I can keep playing footy."
Cats coach Chris Scott confirmed that the negotiations between the club and Chapman centred around the 2009 Norm Smith medallist becoming a fringe player.
"It wasn't really a matter of us offering him a role, necessarily," Scott said.
"It was a conversation he and I in particular had, along with the list management committee, about what that role would probably look like and whether he could accept that.
"My view was that it was a little bit disrespectful for us to ask him to play a bit-part role, which was possible, and he agreed with that.
"So, at the end of the day, while Chappy would like to play on under perfect circumstances with us, it really was a mutual decision."
Chapman was interviewed by Geelong great Bill Brownless at the best and fairest function, and he made a special effort to thank the Cats' supporters.
"I'm disappointed and I'm glad they're a little bit disappointed too," Chapman said.
"Their support that they've given me – I think there was a petition or something that went out on Facebook or something like that. I've loved their support.
"I love that they love me, and the support that they've given me has been great.
"I just need to thank them for what they've done. If they could've made a different I'm sure that they would've."
Chapman also praised the way Scott handled the talks that led to his departure.
"You realise that clubs need to move on and keep developing young players, and we've got a lot of good young players at Geelong and they deserve their opportunity," he said.
"If I was in their shoes I'd be expecting a chance myself."
- Aug 2, 2012
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I'm tending to support this.
I absolutely love what he can bring but he is a senior player now and must become more consistent and average more disposals than the low teens.
It's not as if he's stuck in a pocket , he's far enough up the ground and around the footy to get high teens as a minimum.
We are a power Club and our standards must be adhered to , else we slip back to the pack .
The young guys are coming along so everyone needs to lift else make way
You don't understand how this works with Varcoe, do you F2G?
Critic: He doesn't get enough of the ball.
Apologist: Trav's not a high possession player.
Critic: Well yeah, that's the problem.
Apologist: Trav's not a high possession player. He's good at chasing players who do get the ball.
Repeat ad infinitum, until the apologist starts with the scattergun ad hominem attacks on meto, or on any other critic, often with something like "You just don't know anything about football".
I hope that's helpful.
I'm tending to support this.
I absolutely love what he can bring but he is a senior player now and must become more consistent and average more disposals than the low teens.
It's not as if he's stuck in a pocket , he's far enough up the ground and around the footy to get high teens as a minimum.
We are a power Club and our standards must be adhered to , else we slip back to the pack .
The young guys are coming along so everyone needs to lift else make way
Nothing at all wrong with what you've said, but good luck waiting for it to happen. There are unfortunately some players that Scott simply will not drop no matter what their form, and it looks like Varcoe is one of them.
- Aug 2, 2012
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Couldn't agree more, Vealesy, neither he nor the club wanted him playing in the 2nds, so let's cut off the mythology before it becomes entrenched doctrine, and move on.
Maybe someday we could have one of those South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission thingies; we could invite, inter alia, Blakey, GAJ, Thommo, Prismall, Chappy, and anybody else you'd like, and find out the real facts.
Couldn't agree more, Vealesy, neither he nor the club wanted him playing in the 2nds, so let's cut off the mythology before it becomes entrenched doctrine, and move on.
Maybe someday we could have one of those South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission thingies; we could invite, inter alia, Blakey, GAJ, Thommo, Prismall, Chappy, and anybody else you'd like, and find out the real facts.
For I think three of them the facts are straightforward:
Blake - good tap ruckman, obsolete when the sub rule was introduced. Simple as that.
Ablett - wanted more, much more, money. Nothing more, nothing less.
Prismall - would have been a great player. Just ask him.
- Aug 2, 2012
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You don't understand how this works with Varcoe, do you F2G?
Critic: He doesn't get enough of the ball.
Apologist: Trav's not a high possession player.
Critic: Well yeah, that's the problem.
Apologist: Trav's not a high possession player. He's good at chasing players who do get the ball.
Repeat ad infinitum, until the apologist starts with the scattergun ad hominem attacks on meto, or on any other critic, often with something like "You just don't know anything about football".
I hope that's helpful.
Thanks FredLeDeux - appreciate the advice of a fellow child of the 50's !!
Jon Douglas
Premiership Player
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I am lost a bit here. Are people not happy with Varcoe's efforts and performances this season ?
I would say they are much better than last season (and they needed to be).
From my viewings he has not been a weak link and has done enough to be in the side.
If he can play this well with Mots and Bundy in the team - look out. They will run down a few players, kick quite a few goals and seriously add to forward line. But this is just speculation I know - but I think it really could happen.
I would say they are much better than last season (and they needed to be).
From my viewings he has not been a weak link and has done enough to be in the side.
If he can play this well with Mots and Bundy in the team - look out. They will run down a few players, kick quite a few goals and seriously add to forward line. But this is just speculation I know - but I think it really could happen.
Kudos to the Club for this - so much competition from old and young for a limited number of spot raises the benchmark standard and keeps everyone on their toes. It can only be good for our competitiveness and ensures we maintain our impressive record.
Looks like we will be defying gravity once again in 2014 , those expecting us to falter may end up disappointed
Jon Douglas
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Looking at our best 22 when uninjured - I would have THunt, Murdoch and Burbury out before TV.
That would allow Bundy, Motlop and Smedts to come in if all were playing well enough to replace the guys listed above.
Personally I think Motlop and Bundy are best 22 for sure - while Smedts is only a possibility of being best 22 this year.
But we can dream can't we ?
Imagine a side that Varcoe, Bundy, Motlop, Guthrie and Smedts in it ? All capable of doing something special and would make us quite a quick side adding to potential pressure we could apply of the ball as well as when we have it.
That would allow Bundy, Motlop and Smedts to come in if all were playing well enough to replace the guys listed above.
Personally I think Motlop and Bundy are best 22 for sure - while Smedts is only a possibility of being best 22 this year.
But we can dream can't we ?
Imagine a side that Varcoe, Bundy, Motlop, Guthrie and Smedts in it ? All capable of doing something special and would make us quite a quick side adding to potential pressure we could apply of the ball as well as when we have it.
It's going to be interesting. Taylor Hunt is in a small group of players for us - more than 50 games and less than 100. He's been good this year, so I can't see him going out. Murdoch they love, I'll be amazed if he gets dropped. Burbury would be the likely one, but he's doing a very specialised role, and has been ok so far too.
- Aug 2, 2012
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I don't think any of these preferred young players are going to be dropped at any time (save after a long series of ultra-bad performances). Some will be rotated for a quasi-break in the 2nds and/or rested. If there are no injury spots available for them when they are wanted, older players will be rested.
There will be much wailing and gnashing of the teeth later this year, both before and after the season's end, as "renewal" really starts to bite.
Those 3 had a quarter of our teams tackles on Saturday............
- Mar 6, 2014
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I'm tending to support this.
I absolutely love what he can bring but he is a senior player now and must become more consistent and average more disposals than the low teens.
It's not as if he's stuck in a pocket , he's far enough up the ground and around the footy to get high teens as a minimum.
We are a power Club and our standards must be adhered to , else we slip back to the pack .
The young guys are coming along so everyone needs to lift else make way
I think Varcoe could easily have another 10 possessions per game if the players that he runs alongside of gave him the old one-two occasionally. Being a TeleVision watcher only, I obviously don't always see where he is running but he does come streaming through the middle a lot in support of the ball-carriers and I think (remember, this is MY opinion only!) that perhaps the MC may take note of this and not place so much emphasis on actual possession numbers. (no, I'm not going into 'virtual' or 'potential' numbers or even 'imaginary numbers' here)
Having said that, if we have another player capable of playing the role that Travis does, with better results, then I'd be happy to see him replaced until he can show that he is better than his replacement.
- Mar 6, 2014
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While quite exciting, all of those players are fairly light-framed and would get smacked about a bit by teams like the 'unsociable' Hawks. There are definitely games where we can load up with them but we may not have them all on the ground at once against teams with bigger bodies.
How do you think we should be utilising Taylor Hunt? He hasn't really found his positional niche as of yet, and unfortunately I've seen nothing to suggest we're any closer to finding a role in which he can be relied upon to perform at a reasonable standard week in, week out.
I prefer him playing as a defender to a tagger, but let's face it, that's not saying much.
SleazySimon
Club Legend
Doesnt Taylor Hunt get around the same amount of possessions as Varcoe? shouldnt he be dropped as well? if we follow the low possessions = must have been s**t logic
He's been good this year. Very content to leave him in defence at the moment, may not be the most spectacular but his errors are far less these days and he's become a pretty reliable performer.
His ball use has definitely improved over last season, which is a positive sign.
However, I still have serious reservations about his decision-making, reading of the game, and defensive positioning. I don't consider him a particularly intelligent footballer.
This year Taylor Hunt averages 14.7 touches a game. Varcoe averages 14.0 exactly. For what it's worth, here's all the younger midfielders / defenders, and their average disposals per game:
- Guthrie (16.5)
- Taylor Hunt (14.7)
- Caddy (15.0)
- Varcoe (14.0)
- Duncan (22.5)
- Horlin-Smith (18.0)
- Blicavs (8.8)
- Murdoch (14.0)
- Burbury (12.5)
Murdoch has really leapt off the page. Averaged 8.4 touches last year and up to 14. Pretty good effort.
