Toast Tommy Sheridan

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Steinfreo said:
I'll probably regret saying this but taking this year as a microcosm isn't really fair.

Maybe take teams that won their last premiership before starting to slide because their list was old, and your stats may look less alarming. I'm talking about teams like Brisbane and Geelong in the last years they won flags.

No doubt about it, this year is it so in a way its sort of an outlier year in itself.
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You're right. Of the 12 total games played by our youth in their entire careers, 8 of them have been this year, all by Alex Pearce.

Still only 12 in total though.

(Although to be completely fair, both Viv Michie and Josh Simpson played a game each also in the St Kilda tank game, and 1 more each as sub. But I didn't count them as they aren't on our list).
 
go_the_dockers said:
In fairness to Ross, which players have we drafted that are worthy of selection.

Simpson played a game or two, Apeness, Tanner Smith and Duffy haven't set the world alight. A lot of this comes down to a draft failures and drafting tall, not RTB lack of playing youth.
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Actually Duffy and Simpson were both amazing in the one chance they have been given.

Then they got dropped again.
 

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ydraw said:
I think you're confusing 2 different arguments.

Not using Sheridan as an example of youth. I was pointing out that plenty of 22 year olds have played more than 30 games. Players are mostly developed by the time they are 22. Sheridan is not a "young bloke" any more. He's close to the average age of an AFL player (around 24 years old is the average age of senior listed players in the AFL).

Fremantle have the oldest list in the AFL and the least amount of games for players born 1994 or later of any team in the AFL. 12 games total, 2 to Apeness and 8 to Alex Pearce. 1 each to Tanner Smith and Craig Moller in the St. Kilda tank game. And it's fair to say that Alex Pearce wouldn't have debuted at all yet were it not for the injuries to Dawson, Silvagni and Johnson.

Here's the rest of the top 8:

Total Games played by players born in 1994 or later:

Fremantle: 12
Hawthorn: 47
Sydney: 42
West Coast: 50
Richmond: 108
Western Bulldogs: 200+
Adelaide: 85
North Melbourne: 58

As I'm sure must be incredibly obvious to anyone who can read, Fremantle is a massive outlier in the competition in terms of how unwilling it is to play youth.
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This table backs up my last point. The top teams are full of older players. From our 22 on the weekend I can see 3 going in the next 2/3 years, Sandi, Pav and Mac. Our 22 year olds will be in the ' premiership age bracket' with Fyfe,Hill in their absolute prime. If Zarke is still with us, so will he. With APearce doing so well to replace Mac, our only obvious hole is the one left by Pav. Ross only plays youth when he needs to, given that injuries always come, they will always get their chance. Why have Eagles and payed youth? Injury or form? Sydney debuted Heeney who is no longer in the team. I don't follow the Hawks closely but I would imagine that most of their youth has come in due to be injury, I remember they had a lot of injuries last year, so maybe this contributed? Our list management is A1, it's frustrating, but effective.
 
raffrox said:
On the Simpson bandwagon again I see.

Duffy is also predominantly a small forward, high forward. Who out of Ballas, Walters, Crozier or even Mayne should have been dropped?
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Duffy played as the sub in both games he played. Just like Crozier did in most of his earlier games.

First game he kicked 2 goals in a quarter and almost got us over the line.

2nd game he didn't come on until about 7 minutes to go in the match.

Then he was dropped and has never played since.
 
ydraw said:
Duffy played as the sub in both games he played. Just like Crozier did in most of his earlier games.

First game he kicked 2 goals in a quarter and almost got us over the line.

2nd game he didn't come on until about 7 minutes to go in the match.

Then he was dropped and has never played since.
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You didn't answer my question. Who should be dropped for Duffy?
 
Still don't rate him. Got a touch of Brett Peake about him at the moment. Tuck it under, run, as fast as possible kick, turnover.
 
raffrox said:
You didn't answer my question. Who should be dropped for Duffy?
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De Boer or Suban. Not necessarily for Duffy, but for any one of 4 young blokes who have been tearing it up all year at Peel.

De Boer and Suban have shown over 100 ish average games each that they aren't AFL quality. These other guys should be given a chance to show if they are or not.
 

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ydraw said:
De Boer or Suban. Not necessarily for Duffy, but for any one of 4 young blokes who have been tearing it up all year at Peel.

De Boer and Suban have shown over 100 ish average games each that they aren't AFL quality. These other guys should be given a chance to show if they are or not.
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No one should be re placed by Duffy he's injured.
 
Getting back to Sheridan.......at whatever age he debuted....... I am beginning to see RTB has so much time for this kid. I can't see being an outright star but he looks a very good b grader. Can see him playing 150 games+.
RTB is influenced by the Sydney/Geelong method.........Takes longer for the young players to get a consistent game but when they do they are physically and mentally ready to play our structures and game plan. If we were in rebuild mode the young guys would obviously be played earlier.
 
aussieviking said:
Getting back to Sheridan.......at whatever age he debuted....... I am beginning to see RTB has so much time for this kid. I can't see being an outright star but he looks a very good b grader. Can see him playing 150 games+.
RTB is influenced by the Sydney/Geelong method.........Takes longer for the young players to get a consistent game but when they do they are physically and mentally ready to play our structures and game plan. If we were in rebuild mode the young guys would obviously be played earlier.
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I agree with this. I can see Sheridan being a James Kelly type player.
 
aussieviking said:
Getting back to Sheridan.......at whatever age he debuted....... I am beginning to see RTB has so much time for this kid. I can't see being an outright star but he looks a very good b grader. Can see him playing 150 games+.
RTB is influenced by the Sydney/Geelong method.........Takes longer for the young players to get a consistent game but when they do they are physically and mentally ready to play our structures and game plan. If we were in rebuild mode the young guys would obviously be played earlier.
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The numbers that the new kids on the block are getting are unbelievable, for some of the older posters on here, they can remember
some of the dud picks, I have never seen stats that good, consistent, at that age bracket, playing wafl.
On a side note can a Freo aligned player win the Sandover medal?
 
Sorry, but ydraw is talking absolute rubbish. Ross played 2nd year players Sutcliffe and Neale in a GF and Sheridan also played in finals that year.

If the players are ready, they will get games.

Youth is subjective. Anyone less than 25 years old could be classified as young as they still have 6-8 years left in the system. Then we can through Hill, Fyfe, Walters, etc. into the list and would have the best crop of "youth" in the AFL.

It's all about list management. We have gun 23/24 year olds in Fyfe, Walters, Hill. We have good 22 year olds in Neale, Sutcliffe, Sheridan and Crozier. We have very promising 18-20 year olds in Pearce, Blakely, Weller and Langdon.

When the 18 year olds are ready to play, then they will, like Neale, Sutcliffe and Sheridan in 2012 and 2013.

As I said earlier, Sheridan is developing beautifully. Ross knows how to develop players, no one can argue that. If Sheridan was gifted too many games in 2012/13, he may have developed some bad habits and not ironed out his deficiencies.

Also, people like ydraw were banging on about Michie not getting games and there were similar calls about Michie not getting games because Ross doesn't play youth. Can someone tell me how Michie is going at Melbourne?
 
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I for one am happy we are playing a young bloke in Sheridan over an old bloke in Mzungu. Sheridan is basically keeping Mzungu out of them team.

If we're going to drop Suban or De Boer you need a like for like replacement. None of the draftees can currently offer the level of hardness that those blokes bring to our midfield, as they are too small right now. The only one I can think is possibly Ballard, but I trust the match committee when they make the assessment that Suban and De Boer offer more at AFL level than Ballard.

Having said that however, now Clancee is apparently out we may see a new bloke come in as the sub this weekend, and move De Boer in to the starting 21.
 
Centurions said:
You take your FF, CHF and CHB out of any team and they will struggle plus Bird is also a very handy player.
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I do agree, but they made Sydney's mids look second rate, something I've always said WCE were, quite funny last year we were all saying how bad WC disposal is, yet this year it's been elite. Bird has been available and hasn't been selected, Mitchell has effectively replaced him.
 
my avatar picture says it all, Sherrys hitting the town tonight with a 'comfortable' Ibbo.

Connections watch out!!!..
 
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