List Mgmt. Free agent: Geelong signs Sam Blease as a delisted free agent

[TheHonestyPolicy]

If we frontload the contract as north did with jacobs newton will get to 47 without much trouble.

Like your thinking there. Newton and Blease at least theoretically offer some mature age cover for losing Christensen and Varcoe if it happens.

Pick 10 should yield a quality player and factoring in draft pre-selections picks 55 and 60 are more like 49 and 54 working that out roughly as live picks.

All in all Clarke anywhere near his best is an exciting prospect next to Hawkins and Stanley offers depth with our injury riddled talls currently.

Given the challenges that faced Geelong heading into this trade/draft period there are emerging signs here we are developing a workable strategy.

 

[Turbocat]

I'll tell you what I think.
I think he needs to replace Duncan as the run down the (wing) boundary and receive type player.

Duncan can be used in the middle.
Other than that, I can't find a place for him yet.

Somewhere in the mid field. I saw him play a game in the VFL where he took the ball away from clearances , didn't get to cute on disposal but occasionally got past a player and kicked it into the 50. Something like that i feel where he is reading on instinct rather than too much time to think.

 

[vinum coupe]

Somewhere in the mid field. I saw him play a game in the VFL where he took the ball away from clearances , didn't get to cute on disposal but occasionally got past a player and kicked it into the 50. Something like that i feel where he is reading on instinct rather than too much time to think.

He is a jet in the midfield at VFL level.
They can't put a glove on him.

 

[Turbocat]

He is a jet in the midfield at VFL level.
They can't put a glove on him.

I know its a different level , just the role he played is his best chance imo.

 

[thejester]

He is a jet in the midfield at VFL level.
They can't put a glove on him.

I'd like to see him get a sustained run in the midfield at VFL level and then get a crack there in the seniors based (hopefully) on form. We could stick him in a forward pocket for 20+ games next season and he'd be effective, but it's basically conceding that Pick 15 is now a role player. Think he could be much better than that.

 

[OzeSparky]

Just let him get a full preseason and be injury free, and he will surprise.

 

[Pivo]

I'd like to see him get a sustained run in the midfield at VFL level and then get a crack there in the seniors based (hopefully) on form. We could stick him in a forward pocket for 20+ games next season and he'd be effective, but it's basically conceding that Pick 15 is now a role player. Think he could should be much better than that.

It is why he'll always be a bit of a polarising player.

I think everyone can see he should be a very handy player.

But too often we're left scratching our heads.

Being part of the Ablett compo hasn't done him any favours either.

 

[GIF Reactions]

From AFL.com.au today...

GEELONG is interested in securing former Melbourne speedster Sam Blease as a delisted free agent.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-10-23/blease-may-please-cats

Thoughts on this?

Not too keen on it myself. But he is quick, I guess, and an ok size at 184cm/80kgs. Suspect he is too similar a player to Murdoch, albeit a little shorter, to really get a place in the team from what I've seen. Playing VFL at Melbourne all year isn't exactly a glowing endorsement either...

 

[Lana]

I'd like to see him get a sustained run in the midfield at VFL level and then get a crack there in the seniors based (hopefully) on form. We could stick him in a forward pocket for 20+ games next season and he'd be effective, but it's basically conceding that Pick 15 is now a role player. Think he could be much better than that.

Being put in the forward line(no one plays like a traditional forward pocket anymore) for 20+ games doesn't necessarily make him a role player, it depends on his output. If Murdoch was kicking 2 goals a game no one would be calling him a role player. If Smedts could is kick a goal and half a game and getting close to 20 touches a game like Bartel does now, he would have his niche. For him it could be a stepping stone to a more important role, like Guthrie starting in the back line. He just needs to stay on the park, he has almost missed as many games from injury as played at both AFL and VFL level combined.

 

[thejester]

Being put in the forward line(no one plays like a traditional forward pocket anymore) for 20+ games doesn't necessarily make him a role player, it depends on his output. If Murdoch was kicking 2 goals a game no one would be calling him a role player. If Smedts could is kick a goal and half a game and getting close to 20 touches a game like Bartel does now, he would have his niche. For him it could be a stepping stone to a more important role, like Guthrie starting in the back line. He just needs to stay on the park, he has almost missed as many games from injury as played at both AFL and VFL level combined.

Yep, absolutely - but he's already spent a fair chunk of a season playing as a forward pocket in 2013. I think if you kept him in that role he'd put up numbers that could keep him in the seniors, but it'd be a waste of his talent. At some point they need to get him into midfield, either by turning him into a Bartel-style half forward as you suggest or simply putting him there full time.

 

[thejester]

Being part of the Ablett compo hasn't done him any favours either.

And the fact he got ridiculously overhyped on here in the 12 months between his drafting and his debut.

 

[Partridge]

It is why he'll always be a bit of a polarising player.

Let's face it, we can never have too many of those.

 

[Pivo]

Let's face it, we can never have too many of those.

Would make for a boring board.

 

[Tulip]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record... He didn't play well at Melbourne because he wasn't allowed to play his natural game, I think he will be at Geelong, and will flourish.
Happy to be wrong, even more happy to right, at pick 70 odd or whatever we will use... A draftee wouldn't do much at AFL level.

You sound like a broken record, but you're all off the mark here.

All he was asked to do was to get the ball more than five times a game and actually run backwards rather than going from the back 50 to the forward line and staying there.

Sam Blease is a good player - in theory.

 

[Vdubs]

I hope I don't use that term , along with poatoe etc ...its really a armchair expert type remark. Are any AFL player soft? Not really but some probably have a more normal range of understanding what causes pain and how much it hurts..yet its only rarely one gets highlighted. His foot skills look less than we usually like but are they worse than Byrnes or Wojo.. 1 and 1 , is there really much risk?

Wojo was wonderful in every way, 100% strike rate in GF's proves it.
Nothing negative to be said about that man please



even if he did spray the odd kick,

early on.

 

[Turbocat]

Wojo was wonderful in every way, 100% strike rate in GF's proves it.
Nothing negative to be said about that man please



even if he did spray the odd kick,

early on.

Its very rare that a player doesn't have something thats is some sort of weakness. Wojo's kicking was certainly not a strength yet he was still a strong player for us over a long period. Play to your strengths they say , and as another poster said Blease's strength were not what Roo's wanted. If he can work on his mental application of defence then he could be a good addition , very few players that are purely 1 way these days but we could do with what he does well speed running onto goal attempts. Its Motlop without the tricks

 

[fishman]

WHY?

Why not? Experienced half back who could be the gap between the Bews/Thurlows and the Enrights/Mackies

 

[Lana]

Why not? Experienced half back who could be the gap between the Bews/Thurlows and the Enrights/Mackies

Except he isn't a half back flanker.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Except he isn't a half back flanker.

Nor is Thurlow, I think he does best on the wing.

 

[Lana]

Nor is Thurlow, I think he does best on the wing.

I have nothing against putting Thurlow on the wing but why don't you think he can play off the HBF?

 

[rocker_oz33]

I'd like Duncan of the half back line but hes needed else where,same could be said for Guthrie.

 

[meto]

Its very rare that a player doesn't have something thats is some sort of weakness. Wojo's kicking was certainly not a strength yet he was still a strong player for us over a long period. Play to your strengths they say , and as another poster said Blease's strength were not what Roo's wanted. If he can work on his mental application of defence then he could be a good addition , very few players that are purely 1 way these days but we could do with what he does well speed running onto goal attempts. Its Motlop without the tricks

Let's face it, at Melbourne who does get the chance to show their offensive abilities and strengths, it's always in the backline or you're under constant pressure from poor delivery.
If he could add pace through the centre and forward forays with attempts at goal he might find a position for himself, much the same as Motlop.

 

[SleazySimon]

Wojo was wonderful in every way, 100% strike rate in GF's proves it.
Nothing negative to be said about that man please



even if he did spray the odd kick,

early on.

As soon as he wasn't picked for the 2008 GF I knew we would lose and I put $80 on Hawthorn to win

 

[speedybundy]

As soon as he wasn't picked for the 2008 GF I knew we would lose and I put $80 on Hawthorn to win

Could not for the life of me figure out why we were playing Stokes instead of him.... Was in very ordinary form. He was a crucial role player for us, very under rated.

On Blease, worth a crack as a DFA. Got potential and it's extremely hard to show your worth at Melbourne (eg Rivers, average player at Melbourne to top 20 backs in the comp IMO). Got pace which we are desperately lacking, worth a crack.

 

[SleazySimon]

Could not for the life of me figure out why we were playing Stokes instead of him.... Was in very ordinary form. He was a crucial role player for us, very under rated.

On Blease, worth a crack as a DFA. Got potential and it's extremely hard to show your worth at Melbourne (eg Rivers, average player at Melbourne to top 20 backs in the comp IMO). Got pace which we are desperately lacking, worth a crack.

Because they learnt the hard way not to pick out of form players. Blake, Rooke and Taylor were out of form too. History is littered with the best team choking on GF day. Those who never learn from history will repeat it. It was the worst choke since North in 98