Collingwood Almanac 2014

[Snoop Dog]

It depends on your view of our ruck stocks.

At the moment I see Witts and Grundy as still too young to win with and White I don't regard as AFL quality.

I'd be looking to start the season with Witts and Giles as our ruck combo with Giles more the relief ruckman playing mostly forward.

Grundy having seen Fraser/Kreuzer/Leuenberger/Naitanui all struggle with injury as early draft rucks exposed at AFL level too early I'd be inclined to give another development year or two at VFL level with the occasional tastes at AFL level if Witts/Giles need a rest/have a form slump/miss with injury or suspension.
That and Giles I'd be inclined to say is a better ruckman in combination than Witts and Grundy at this stage with Grundy particularly still not as adept in the front half as someone who seems to kick more goals through the ruck than he does in the front half.

As for squeezing guys out. There are a number of depth guys I'm not fussed if we had to let go of - Armstrong/Oxley/Sinclair/Dwyer/Blair/White/Ramsay/Macaffer. If they stay, they stay, but I don't see any of them as overly important pieces to winning going forward as surplus depth guys.

I'd be surprised if a mature age guy ends up on senior list but could be wrong.

I still don't know why they haven't tried Keefe in that dual role. I saw him play some VFL games as a ruck and thought he went ok. He also played fwd in some games and did well enough to suggest with time he might get there.

As it stands though I thnk they will persist with Reid fwd. He didn't really get a go at it last year and they spent a lot of time training him up for it. If Brown, Frost and Keefe were all available I'd have him fwd and at least give it a go.

 

[wednesdaywarrior]

That's totally awesome KM. I love the fact that you're trying to translate your passion into a career and going about it in a logical, methodical way, thats exactly the right approach and I would bet on you getting there in the end. One thing 20 years of full time work has taught me is that the ideal job is the one that you do because you love it. Very few of us get to do that. You obviously have an exceptional analytical mind and I'm sure stacks of us on BF would love to see you using it inside a club environment. Personally I'd love to see you working at Collingwood!

We must PM a bit about the writing/publishing caper some time soon. I know this is a busy time of year for you. Good luck mate.

On the draft front, I love your call on McCartin, he would be an absolute boon for us if it came off. With the tall defenders I'm just wondering if it needs to be about working out how much superior they will be to Keefe? The more immediate need for me might be a utility of Laverdes calibre, I get what you're saying about him in comparison to Bont. But he does seem to still offer great versatility which would be a plus going forward. You just hope he'd be a little more toward the Fyfe end of the spectrum and a little less toward the Goldsack - though no disrespect to the Sack, he has his charms but you want a little more from your pick 5 I think!

 

[Knightmare]

I'd be surprised if a mature age guy ends up on senior list but could be wrong.

I still don't know why they haven't tried Keefe in that dual role. I saw him play some VFL games as a ruck and thought he went ok. He also played fwd in some games and did well enough to suggest with time he might get there.

As it stands though I thnk they will persist with Reid fwd. He didn't really get a go at it last year and they spent a lot of time training him up for it. If Brown, Frost and Keefe were all available I'd have him fwd and at least give it a go.

I think you are right that we will (or I think we should not go for another ruckman this offseason). Clark and Giles (Dean Cox also would have been terrific but he was never going to come back) would have been the guys I would have gotten. Other than those guys, maybe Sam Grimley or Luke Lowden who also were respectable, I'm inclined to pass. The rucks in this draft are unappealing and not adding depth. As a development project we have Mason Cox, so no one through the draft is adding anything we don't have to our ruck stocks.

Keeffe for me I'm pretty settled on as a defender, he was poor through the first half of the season but I liked what he offered late season and I feel he is on the improve and probably of our key defenders may even all things said and done be the best of the lot if he isn't already as he doesn't have the limitations of Frost/Brown who are negating only types. Keeffe the forward particularly I find just horrible to watch. He is immobile, and as tall as he is he isn't even a marking threat, let alone a ground level threat. He just doesn't have front half talent and isn't a threat to hit the scoreboard or do anything of usefulness. I'd be playing Elliott/Fasolo at full forward if Cloke and Reid were missing before I would Keeffe. In the ruck I can't recall even seeing him go through there but as a light body and not super bouncy or special covering the ground I'm not seeing the point of different through the ruck either.

Reid I agree should stay up forward. Cloke struggled terribly without him. There just in Reid's absence wasn't last year another big who could adequately draw the second man, take the big marks inside 50 or take the pressure off Cloke. While Reid's career best play was at CHB in 2011, he just seems to have lost that precision long, low, bullet of a kick so I'm not seeing him being decidedly better even than Keeffe in that back half, with Reid's usefulness down back no longer what it was. I can only imagine all those calf/ankle/hamstring and whatever other leg injuries he has had has taken that kick away from him.

That's totally awesome KM. I love the fact that you're trying to translate your passion into a career and going about it in a logical, methodical way, thats exactly the right approach and I would bet on you getting there in the end. One thing 20 years of full time work has taught me is that the ideal job is the one that you do because you love it. Very few of us get to do that. You obviously have an exceptional analytical mind and I'm sure stacks of us on BF would love to see you using it inside a club environment. Personally I'd love to see you working at Collingwood!

We must PM a bit about the writing/publishing caper some time soon. I know this is a busy time of year for you. Good luck mate.

On the draft front, I love your call on McCartin, he would be an absolute boon for us if it came off. With the tall defenders I'm just wondering if it needs to be about working out how much superior they will be to Keefe? The more immediate need for me might be a utility of Laverdes calibre, I get what you're saying about him in comparison to Bont. But he does seem to still offer great versatility which would be a plus going forward. You just hope he'd be a little more toward the Fyfe end of the spectrum and a little less toward the Goldsack - though no disrespect to the Sack, he has his charms but you want a little more from your pick 5 I think!

I'm happy to take any opportunity at any club but Collingwood would obviously be terrific with the quality of recruiters and draft experts at the club to learn off.

With AFL recruiting the pay is lousy, I've had it explained to me that the usual process is you start off as a part timer, and you may initially only earn $1-2k a year, so I'm happy to continue doing other work and if eventually I end up in clubland, do it part-time until I progress and am deemed as worth having in a full time capacity and then look at dropping my other work.

The process concepts come from both my chess play, looking for new ways to improve and from being a sportsperson/athlete myself in my youth and more recently critically analysing those athletes who achieve the best results and how they do it, what their processes are, and applying those similar concepts to the things I do so that I can objectively look at my own performance and find those new ways to take the next step in whatever it is I set my mind to.

I'll definitely be going down the path of the job I love. That's why I'm going for it. Having worked full time, myself I get it, and I'd prefer to go for what I most enjoy over the additional earning capacity I would have in my field (marketing/marketing research). And similarly with my marketing research work specifically those analytical practices are very much transferable to talent identification with interpreting stats etc, so I'll look to integrate that into what I do some more.

Laverde is on my shortlist and if we don't go tall, he is probably the guy I'm leaning towards. Langford also really intrigues me as a tall flanker who can move terrifically well, take grabs overhead at will, hit the scoreboard in bunches and also his possibly even better scope to develop even than Laverde as a late year birthday who is improving strongly - similarly story to Bontempelli though without the obvious at this stage midfield talent. Weller could be our Aish equivalent as a versatile outside type with pace/skill. Pickett for his linebreaking is terrific and would be another fit. So I'll be spending more time over the coming month on who we should be looking at and make a final decision closer to the time of the draft, as I'm still really finalising my rankings.

Lever I'm confident will be better than Keeffe. He is terrifically productive and is a guy I can see really leading a back half - which in the absense of Maxwell we could do with. He can beat his guy - which Keeffe at times has struggled with but also provides more reliable rebound. Also although I'm yet to have it 100% confirmed he is said to now be 194cm rather than 192cm which while it doesn't swing my evaluation is a neat bonus if correct.

*From December I should be available if you're still looking to write that book. Happy from then to get involved in that as I should have some more time on my hands then.

 

[wednesdaywarrior]

Thanks mate. Looking forward to your considered thoughts on who we should take at 5 and why. I remember this time last year you were starting to show a real interest in Bontempelli and Freeman, if I remember rightly, before many other people!

I've heard tell chess is great for sharpening the mind, whenever I've tried playing my mind feels like Swiss cheese, but I admire those who play the game well.

I hope you find the right pathway. I'll be in touch re: the book, still undecided whether to follow throu on it next year. But in any case, it would be good to discuss ways of getting your own notes more widely circulated from a marketing perspective.

Anyway, I'll stop as I'm taking up valuable space in the Almanac and I'm sure many other punters have questions to ask you. Take care mate.

 

[pugsville]

Giles I would shave thought unlikely to come to colligwood because who would shave been third ruck. He's moving for opportunity so other clubs would be more attractive.

Chess. I was a competition player myself (though more less your average cub hack, just didnt have the obsession to go further ) Always thought serious Chess study was good in development of one's mental processes, systematic thought. I feel one key aspect of Chess was the study of your own decision making process, why you make decisions and whole to either change it or make the most of it. So did you play seriously?

 

[Schraderbrau]

Keeffe for me I'm pretty settled on as a defender, he was poor through the first half of the season but I liked what he offered late season and I feel he is on the improve and probably of our key defenders may even all things said and done be the best of the lot if he isn't already as he doesn't have the limitations of Frost/Brown who are negating only types. Keeffe the forward particularly I find just horrible to watch. He is immobile, and as tall as he is he isn't even a marking threat, let alone a ground level threat. He just doesn't have front half talent and isn't a threat to hit the scoreboard or do anything of usefulness. I'd be playing Elliott/Fasolo at full forward if Cloke and Reid were missing before I would Keeffe. In the ruck I can't recall even seeing him go through there but as a light body and not super bouncy or special covering the ground I'm not seeing the point of different through the ruck either.

I was very disappointed Keefe's development as a defender last season. He was exposed terribly a few times as a defender and was a huge liability when isolated. Either he doesn't have the body strength or he doesn't know how to use it. It also looked like it could be a bit psychological in the sense that when caught 1v1 he would make silly mistakes (i.e. give away cheap freekicks) which demonstrates to me that he has little faith in his own ability beat opponents who are usually smaller than him in the marking contests. If he doesn't think he can beat them in a contest then he needs to work on playing off the body and coming in from the side which he should be able to do with his height and reach (kind of like what Fletcher used to do)

On the flip side he did show that quite a bit of potential as a rebounder. He's a beautiful long kick and whilst he he made some decisions making errors I'd chalk it up as experience more than anything else. I went to the Collingwood v North game earlier on this year and thought he was close to bog with the rebound and defensive work he provided that day. The problem is for every good game he has played there have been just as many where he has been comprehensively beaten by his opponent. He won't amount to much as a player unless he can improve on what he provided this season imo.

 

[mike123]

I was very disappointed Keefe's development as a defender last season. He was exposed terribly a few times as a defender and was a huge liability when isolated. Either he doesn't have the body strength or he doesn't know how to use it. It also looked like it could be a bit psychological in the sense that when caught 1v1 he would make silly mistakes (i.e. give away cheap freekicks) which demonstrates to me that he has little faith in his own ability beat opponents who are usually smaller than him in the marking contests. If he doesn't think he can beat them in a contest then he needs to work on playing off the body and coming in from the side which he should be able to do with his height and reach (kind of like what Fletcher used to do)

On the flip side he did show that quite a bit of potential as a rebounder. He's a beautiful long kick and whilst he he made some decisions making errors I'd chalk it up as experience more than anything else. I went to the Collingwood v North game earlier on this year and thought he was close to bog with the rebound and defensive work he provided that day. The problem is for every good game he has played there have been just as many where he has been comprehensively beaten by his opponent. He won't amount to much as a player unless he can improve on what he provided this season imo.

He was exposed more because without Brown he had to play on opponents that didn't suit him, like Jenkins. With Brown taking the full back role Keeffe will be much better.

 

[Schraderbrau]

He was exposed more because without Brown he had to play on opponents that didn't suit him, like Jenkins. With Brown taking the full back role Keeffe will be much better.

tbh I don't have Brown in our best 22 for 2015. A lot of it will be subject to how Keefe goes but I don't like the idea of Brown and Frost playing together and at the moment I think Frost is a better negating defender. I can't remember but I guess Frost must of been playing on Walker in the Adelaide game.

 

[mike123]

tbh I don't have Brown in our best 22 for 2015. A lot of it will be subject to how Keefe goes but I don't like the idea of Brown and Frost playing together and at the moment I think Frost is a better negating defender. I can't remember but I guess Frost must of been playing on Walker in the Adelaide game.

Well I have Brown as a lock. Frost is a good athletic negator, but struggles on the bigger bodies. Brown last year was only really beaten by Cameron and Tippett. IMO Frost needs to add more stings to his bow like size, rebounding ability, third up spoil, intercept marking. And has to improve kicking and desicion making. Brown's kicking and decision making isn't that good either but he's a safer player to have the ball in hand than Frost. I really don't like the combination of Brown and Frost as they are both poor rebounders and only pure stoppers. I'd have Brown ahead of Frost because he can handle guys like Roughead, Hawkins and Jenkins and only bring Frost in against teams that have really tall forward lines like Sydney and Brown doesn't have to stand 5 metres behind his opponent. Frost has better closing speed than Brown but Brown can body his opponents and is allot better 1v1. Also when we have players like Langdon third man up marking and spoiling Brown is someone who can body his opponent and keep him on the ground weather Frost has stand 5 metres behind to get that run and jump at his opponent which allows his opponents to jump also making it harder for guys like Langdon to third man up.

 

[Knightmare]

Chess. I was a competition player myself (though more less your average cub hack, just didnt have the obsession to go further ) Always thought serious Chess study was good in development of one's mental processes, systematic thought. I feel one key aspect of Chess was the study of your own decision making process, why you make decisions and whole to either change it or make the most of it. So did you play seriously?

I'm a 1600+ standard, 1500+ blitz online player (on chess.com) if that means anything to you. I used to play at a national level back in my school days and still play occasionally online. I find it's beneficial for everything - work/education/sport so I do while on and off try to get some games in online when I can. I'm just someone who strives to improve in everything I do and get obsessed in everything I do, so the whole process of learning and assessing yourself I really enjoy and along with all the principles learnt in chess I have been able to successfully apply to other areas of my life which has been hugely beneficial.

I was very disappointed Keefe's development as a defender last season. He was exposed terribly a few times as a defender and was a huge liability when isolated. Either he doesn't have the body strength or he doesn't know how to use it. It also looked like it could be a bit psychological in the sense that when caught 1v1 he would make silly mistakes (i.e. give away cheap freekicks) which demonstrates to me that he has little faith in his own ability beat opponents who are usually smaller than him in the marking contests. If he doesn't think he can beat them in a contest then he needs to work on playing off the body and coming in from the side which he should be able to do with his height and reach (kind of like what Fletcher used to do)

On the flip side he did show that quite a bit of potential as a rebounder. He's a beautiful long kick and whilst he he made some decisions making errors I'd chalk it up as experience more than anything else. I went to the Collingwood v North game earlier on this year and thought he was close to bog with the rebound and defensive work he provided that day. The problem is for every good game he has played there have been just as many where he has been comprehensively beaten by his opponent. He won't amount to much as a player unless he can improve on what he provided this season imo.

I agree largely with your assessment of Keeffe and his season. In 2013 Keeffe looked terrific beating guys 1v1 when he looked beaten just getting an arm in from nowhere for the spoil. This year he has struggled 1v1 and really struggled in the first half of the season but as the season has progressed looks more comfortable and improved as a rebounder and added that side to his game. I've also found his footskills sound, not super penetrating but he hits his targets consistently.

tbh I don't have Brown in our best 22 for 2015. A lot of it will be subject to how Keefe goes but I don't like the idea of Brown and Frost playing together and at the moment I think Frost is a better negating defender. I can't remember but I guess Frost must of been playing on Walker in the Adelaide game.

I'm also with you on Brown outside our best 22. Brown and Frost is horribly negating and we don't have the rebounding smalls either. For balance reasons Keeffe is required and Frost's improvement I feel puts him past Brown, he looked like a better, more athletic Brown in that stopping role.

Well I have Brown as a lock. Frost is a good athletic negator, but struggles on the bigger bodies.

You are right that at times Frost has struggled against the extra big bodied but so does Brown who mostly plays at a light weight. Frost is still young and still adding size to his frame, he has the type of frame where he can continue adding more size and strength so I think possibly as soon as next year or if not in the near future that Frost may actually cope better v the bigger forwards.

Brown with all the knee and shoulder injuries seems to need to play at a lighter playing weight. With Frost while I'd like to see him remain lighter and more athletic I think he still could be able to put on that extra size still.

 

[RGpies]

Interesting reading about these chess posts knightmare, chess seemed to be a bit of a hit this year between some pies, especially between grundy and langdon and lumumba, I think I remember lumumba or grundy saying they believe it is mentally beneficial and they want more of the players to join in around the club

 

[Collingwood pro]

I'm a 1600+ standard, 1500+ blitz online player (on chess.com) if that means anything to you. I used to play at a national level back in my school days and still play occasionally online. I find it's beneficial for everything - work/education/sport so I do while on and off try to get some games in online when I can. I'm just someone who strives to improve in everything I do and get obsessed in everything I do, so the whole process of learning and assessing yourself I really enjoy and along with all the principles learnt in chess I have been able to successfully apply to other areas of my life which has been hugely beneficial.



I agree largely with your assessment of Keeffe and his season. In 2013 Keeffe looked terrific beating guys 1v1 when he looked beaten just getting an arm in from nowhere for the spoil. This year he has struggled 1v1 and really struggled in the first half of the season but as the season has progressed looks more comfortable and improved as a rebounder and added that side to his game. I've also found his footskills sound, not super penetrating but he hits his targets consistently.



I'm also with you on Brown outside our best 22. Brown and Frost is horribly negating and we don't have the rebounding smalls either. For balance reasons Keeffe is required and Frost's improvement I feel puts him past Brown, he looked like a better, more athletic Brown in that stopping role.



You are right that at times Frost has struggled against the extra big bodied but so does Brown who mostly plays at a light weight. Frost is still young and still adding size to his frame, he has the type of frame where he can continue adding more size and strength so I think possibly as soon as next year or if not in the near future that Frost may actually cope better v the bigger forwards.

Brown with all the knee and shoulder injuries seems to need to play at a lighter playing weight. With Frost while I'd like to see him remain lighter and more athletic I think he still could be able to put on that extra size still.

Knightmare could you beat grand master Magnus Carlson and his insane ELO.

 

[Knightmare]

Interesting reading about these chess posts knightmare, chess seemed to be a bit of a hit this year between some pies, especially between grundy and langdon and lumumba, I think I remember lumumba or grundy saying they believe it is mentally beneficial and they want more of the players to join in around the club

I would have loved a shot at H, Brodie and whoever else at the club plays. Particularly a 2/3/4 board simultaneous v those guys for me would be fun.

I've found chess greatly beneficial for my sport back a long time ago when I did rowing/water polo/basketball. Just learning the game of chess and learning the principles behind the ideas you can play over the board. It can be translated into sport, studies, day to day life, AFL talent identification. Pretty much anything if you learn and understand it deeply enough. If anyone has the old chessmaster 10th edition/grandmaster edition games - go through the Josh Waitzkin tutorials. Terrific tool for self improvement and learning practical concepts that help your chess and in whatever endeavors you wish to improve in - as vast as the category for self improvement in everyone's case may be.

Knightmare could you beat grand master Magnus Carlson and his insane ELO.

Not a chance that I could beat Carlsen or specifically his ELO, his ELO is ridiculous. I could play 1000 games and lose each game to Magnus Carlsen. Any grand master for that matter is just another level of play entirely. It's like comparing an under 12s footy team to an AFL squad. The gap is that wide and I could dedicate every day for the rest of my life to mastering chess and I wouldn't come close to beating Carlsen or becoming a grand master. There are only 2-3 grand masters last time I checked some years back in Australia and there are so many more talented than myself.

 

[Collingwood pro]

I would have loved a shot at H, Brodie and whoever else at the club plays. Particularly a 2/3/4 board simultaneous v those guys for me would be fun.

I've found chess greatly beneficial for my sport back a long time ago when I did rowing/water polo/basketball. Just learning the game of chess and learning the principles behind the ideas you can play over the board. It can be translated into sport, studies, day to day life, AFL talent identification. Pretty much anything if you learn and understand it deeply enough. If anyone has the old chessmaster 10th edition/grandmaster edition games - go through the Josh Waitzkin tutorials. Terrific tool for self improvement and learning practical concepts that help your chess and in whatever endeavors you wish to improve in - as vast as the category for self improvement in everyone's case may be.



Not a chance that I could beat Carlsen or specifically his ELO, his ELO is ridiculous. I could play 1000 games and lose each game to Magnus Carlsen. Any grand master for that matter is just another level of play entirely. It's like comparing an under 12s footy team to an AFL squad. The gap is that wide and I could dedicate every day for the rest of my life to mastering chess and I wouldn't come close to beating Carlsen or becoming a grand master. There are only 2-3 grand masters last time I checked some years back in Australia and there are so many more talented than myself.

He is absolutely insane, but its funny how most of the grandmasters over the years have been Russians with about 330 or something. The Americans were the next closest with only 80.

 

[Jelly Bean]

Thanks mate. Looking forward to your considered thoughts on who we should take at 5 and why. I remember this time last year you were starting to show a real interest in Bontempelli and Freeman, if I remember rightly, before many other people!

.

If I recall, Knight was actually quite cool on Freeman, saying he thought he would tske 3ish years to bresk in. His best two of the draft outside of Boyd were Matt Crouch and Blake Acres.

 

[frizzle]

I'd be surprised if a mature age guy ends up on senior list but could be wrong.

I still don't know why they haven't tried Keefe in that dual role. I saw him play some VFL games as a ruck and thought he went ok. He also played fwd in some games and did well enough to suggest with time he might get there.

As it stands though I thnk they will persist with Reid fwd. He didn't really get a go at it last year and they spent a lot of time training him up for it. If Brown, Frost and Keefe were all available I'd have him fwd and at least give it a go.

Snoop, Keeffe can't play ruck because he can't get off the ground. His leap is near non existant & that continues to be his weakness with a high leaping opponent even when playing in defence.

 

[Yoda_]

I'm happy to take any opportunity at any club but Collingwood would obviously be terrific with the quality of recruiters and draft experts at the club to learn off.

With AFL recruiting the pay is lousy, I've had it explained to me that the usual process is you start off as a part timer, and you may initially only earn $1-2k a year, so I'm happy to continue doing other work and if eventually I end up in clubland, do it part-time until I progress and am deemed as worth having in a full time capacity and then look at dropping my other work.

The process concepts come from both my chess play, looking for new ways to improve and from being a sportsperson/athlete myself in my youth and more recently critically analysing those athletes who achieve the best results and how they do it, what their processes are, and applying those similar concepts to the things I do so that I can objectively look at my own performance and find those new ways to take the next step in whatever it is I set my mind to.

I'll definitely be going down the path of the job I love. That's why I'm going for it. Having worked full time, myself I get it, and I'd prefer to go for what I most enjoy over the additional earning capacity I would have in my field (marketing/marketing research). And similarly with my marketing research work specifically those analytical practices are very much transferable to talent identification with interpreting stats etc, so I'll look to integrate that into what I do some more.

Apologies for coming and intruding guys, knowing a couple of recruiters they started out as volunteer work and having built up enough credits over a number of years of voluntary ("scout") work they were deemed worthy of 'part time' payroll status. Only at said recruiters club did they have 2 full time recruiters/list management and they are the recognisable faces you see on TV.

Getting a payed position is perhaps harder than getting in with your local council I think. A long, tough road and one you need to be prepared to put in the hard yards for.

Someone like yourself bud should have no troubles proving your worth to an AFL club. Anyways mate, I speak on behalf of all of BigFooty that we all love and appreciate the endless hours you pour into informing us about the next generation of stars.

 

[Knightmare]

If I recall, Knight was actually quite cool on Freeman, saying he thought he would tske 3ish years to bresk in. His best two of the draft outside of Boyd were Matt Crouch and Blake Acres.

Early year last year I loved Freeman and was calling him for a period there the best mid in the draft but eventually cooled and had him outside my top 20 power rankings - just wasn't convinced in his inside or outside game. But while he sat out the season I've changed my evaluation on him and would have him around 15 if I was to amend my rankings from last year. With Beams and Ball gone, Swan not who he was, Freeman can play next year and probably establish himself as a regular. That can happen when the midfield falls away, but he'd struggle for regular games initially if we still had Beams/Ball and Swan playing the footy he was.

In saying all that Acres was always my pick at 10 and ahead of Freeman. Watch out for Acres possibly breaking out next season. I remain exceedingly confident in his talent as a tall mid who can play other positions. About the only knock I have on him is his sloppy work by hand, otherwise there isn't much not to like about his game. I also would have taken Aish at 6 as my slight preference to Scharenberg who I also feel is terrific. But not everyone going into the draft will have the same draft board..

Apologies for coming and intruding guys, knowing a couple of recruiters they started out as volunteer work and having built up enough credits over a number of years of voluntary ("scout") work they were deemed worthy of 'part time' payroll status. Only at said recruiters club did they have 2 full time recruiters/list management and they are the recognisable faces you see on TV.

Getting a payed position is perhaps harder than getting in with your local council I think. A long, tough road and one you need to be prepared to put in the hard yards for.

Someone like yourself bud should have no troubles proving your worth to an AFL club. Anyways mate, I speak on behalf of all of BigFooty that we all love and appreciate the endless hours you pour into informing us about the next generation of stars.

Cheers Yoda. I appreciate your comments.

I spoke to one of the Collingwood recruiters (Dom.M - 3rd in charge behind Dekka + Rendell) about how to get into the industry around the mid year mark so I'm just going to continue along the path and do what I have to, to get noticed and eventually work my way into the industry, however long it takes.
Just getting the opportunity to talk to Dom shows I'm making progress, so I just have to continue to work and look for ways to improve to work my way into the industry.

--

But anyway, enough on me.

Back to what this discussion thread is here for.

 

[wednesdaywarrior]

If I recall, Knight was actually quite cool on Freeman, saying he thought he would tske 3ish years to bresk in. His best two of the draft outside of Boyd were Matt Crouch and Blake Acres.

I think you may be correct there JB. However, my recollection was Knightmare being one of the first to make some noise around both players, Bontempelli because he was starting to show signs in underage and school footy that his scope and versatility was huge - which Km picked up from watching him and Freeman for his similarity to Dangerfield in starting speed.

From memory KM then cooled somewhat on them both as his thoughts settled closer to the draft, Freeman started to become more likened to Shuey and Bontemelli was still one of those with a tick but behind Acres, Crouch, Boyd as preferred options.

But KM was certainly ahead of the social media pack in identifying Freeman and Bont as top line prospects and I remember this clearly.

It will be fascinating in a few years time for us to compare the relative merits of players like Bont, Freeman, Crouch, Acres, Scharenberg and even Boyd to see how it all pans out. Boyd especially MUST be a star now for the Dogs. They have staked nearly everything on it. But I'd say theyve amde a good call.

 

[TheWing121]

Hi Knightmare on Darcy Moore, I know you have mentioned he is more of a negating defender when he has played CHB in TAC Cup. Is this more because of his playing style / ability or the fact he was playing on there number 1 tall? Reason I ask, can you see him playing games over the next few years as the 3rd tall? Or is he not athletic enough for that type of role

 

[TradeDraft]

Hi Knightmare on Darcy Moore, I know you have mentioned he is more of a negating defender when he has played CHB in TAC Cup. Is this more because of his playing style / ability or the fact he was playing on there number 1 tall? Reason I ask, can you see him playing games over the next few years as the 3rd tall? Or is he not athletic enough for that type of role

I think it was more on who he played on. He tried to take them out of the game and stop there influence. Even if it Takes him out of the game. Very Selfless by him.

When he played down back in the VFL where he was not 1 of the Main Defenders he did some Run and Carry from the Backline

 

[mike123]

Hi Knightmare on Darcy Moore, I know you have mentioned he is more of a negating defender when he has played CHB in TAC Cup. Is this more because of his playing style / ability or the fact he was playing on there number 1 tall? Reason I ask, can you see him playing games over the next few years as the 3rd tall? Or is he not athletic enough for that type of role

From what I've heard he's very athletic.

 

[Collingwood pro]

Hey Knightmare any Vic Private school kids shaping as possible draftees for the 2015 draft?

 

[TradeDraft]

From what I've heard he's very athletic.

Moore has Rare Athletism for a 199cm Player

 

[Prochard123]

Hey Knightmare any Vic Private school kids shaping as possible draftees for the 2015 draft?

Goddard Langdon ed willis, all from same school