News Sam Blease retires

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Seeds said:
If he was doing that at geelong it would be light years ahead of what Blease did for us. We have an ordinary midfield and he is a walk up start in a much better midfield.
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And on the flip side if we still had T.Hunt, Gregson and Lang would be a year behind in development.
 
Van_Power said:
And on the flip side if we still had T.Hunt, Gregson and Lang would be a year behind in development.
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Some players also just really need the change in environment, too. John Barnes and Ted Richards are two really good examples, Eddie Betts is another. Sometimes the kick in the arse of having to prove yourself all over again, and being somewhat at last-chance saloon with a chance to refresh is what a player really needs and it has helped Taylor Hunt.

If he had been at Geelong this year, he wouldn't have played more than four games. That's not the club's fault, sometimes it just happens and the club has the runs on the board wiht regards to player development.
 

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Biggy_Boy said:
Really? I think Hunt had shown plenty. Certainly more than Blease.

And Hamling was a young KPD who we knew would take time to develop. Geelong's three senior talls were also pretty good, so it was a hard side for him to break into. Not persisting with him after the few years of development was odd, especially given the lack of young tall backs coming through. Those years in the Geelong system are now paying off for the Dogs.
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If Hamling stayed, I think we'd be seeing Mackie move on this year. And that would have been a lot cheaper. It really annoyed me that we let him go after developing him - and he's proven his capabilities in spades.
 
Catman said:
We might use the free spots to elevate rookies to the senior list - Read, Delaney, Luxford. The first two are highly rated while the latter has tasted senior footy this year.
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Not sure Read is highly rated. He is a kid who performed fairly ordinarily this year (as you would expect for a "recovering from illness" 18 yo). He has very sticky fingers. Good size and shape. Perfect rookie for next year.

Delaney played two games more than expected. in those games he showed why he was taken. He can play. The medical staff will have this call. If they say he has overcome his main injury he could be elevated. North are probably sniffing around too.

Luxford is interesting. He is on a learning curve but not nearly as steep as Blicavs has enjoyed. Another year to improve his tank (as he did last summer) could see him play a role as depth. Being a rookie of the non football variety (can't remember what they are called) he could stay on the rookie list.... If we can fill the list with better options.

Bates has the x factor. If he could double his possession count at VFL level you would have to say he would be a good AFL prospect. Beautiful left foot kick. he played the last 2/3 of the season uninterrupted by injury. if we don't have a better state league player in mind he could be elevated, otherwise he stays on the rookie list IMO.
 
sauron256 said:
Blease has been advised not to play contact sports due to his head knock.

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Thanks Sauron.
Just read the article on the AFL site in which he said he got some enjoyment for the game back during his time at the GFC- that's great to hear he's gone out on a good note but I hope his head recovers from the knock. He's got a lot of living ahead of him yet!
 
catswhiskers said:
Not sure Read is highly rated. He is a kid who performed fairly ordinarily this year (as you would expect for a "recovering from illness" 18 yo). He has very sticky fingers. Good size and shape. Perfect rookie for next year.

Delaney played two games more than expected. in those games he showed why he was taken. He can play. The medical staff will have this call. If they say he has overcome his main injury he could be elevated. North are probably sniffing around too.

Luxford is interesting. He is on a learning curve but not nearly as steep as Blicavs has enjoyed. Another year to improve his tank (as he did last summer) could see him play a role as depth. Being a rookie of the non football variety (can't remember what they are called) he could stay on the rookie list.... If we can fill the list with better options.

Bates has the x factor. If he could double his possession count at VFL level you would have to say he would be a good AFL prospect. Beautiful left foot kick. he played the last 2/3 of the season uninterrupted by injury. if we don't have a better state league player in mind he could be elevated, otherwise he stays on the rookie list IMO.
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Cat B rookie is the term you're looking for :)

It's interesting to see these players develop- basketballers, runners, etc. You'd expect a basketballer to have good hands and quick reactions, and we've already seen how good a runner can be as far as endurance goes (obviously a sprinter would be a different kettle of fish) but being able to rookie these players is great- they don't take up any list room or a lot of the SC and, sometimes, you just get lucky, don't you?
 
Van_Power said:
I cant see all of Kelly, Enright and Mackie retiring regardless as our depth while be shot down back.

My opinion (no basis for it) is that we will nab maybe two of those players you mentioned, therefore will have five draftees.
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Mackie isn't going to retire. I see Kelly as 50/50, and Enright to make his own decision.
 
Sad way to go out, but not completely surprised with Blease missing the last 5 games of the VFL season.

Wish him well in retirement and hope he suffers no permanent, long term effects from his head knock. I don't remember him being one to suffer many concussions (I could be wrong), so this is should act as another wake up call to the afl and players that it doesn't need to be a series of head knocks that have a lasting impact on ones health.
 

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There's a slight difference in emphasis from Blease and the club.

Blease : it's a shame it's ended due to concussion.

Hocking : Sam was unfortunate this year as he was only able to be selected for 12 games in total across both our teams due to a variety of injuries.
 
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