Players who should have been persevered with

One player that I thought was hard done by was Ricky Mott. Only played 2 games for Carlton and was, I think, hard done by. Never thought he was going to be a world beater but I think our coach at the time - Denis Pagan - made it clear he didn't want him. His first game for Carlton was against St Kilda in Round 10, 2004 (I looked it up as I couldn't remember). I do clearly remember, though, that he seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time on the bench.

It seemed pretty obvious that Pagan was against him being on the ground. I was sitting high in the stand behind him the bench and, if I recall correctly, he spent much of the second half there and when he came off he never returned that day (looking up the game information I note that that game was also the one where Brendan Fevola spent much of the first quarter at full back being given a lesson in forward play by Fraser Gehrig).

I looked it up and he played again the next week against the Crows in Adelaide and only played 21% of game time. He was no world beater but surely he deserved more game time when the alternative rucks were De Luca, Norman, Prendergast, Whitnall and, I kid you not, Kade Simpson in his fourth game (and first game in which he got a kick - Kade's stats were 6 kicks, 3 marks, 3 handballs. Kicked 1.1 and yes that hit out).

Pagan was like that. We picked up a young ruckman called Lindsay Smith from North. The kid could play a bit. Was really raw, but talented. I remember David Schwarz saying how the kid had towelled up the Demons in the ressies once as a 17 or 18 year old and had a great leap.

Anyway, we trade him in and the following season, we brought in Pagan. I think Smith didn't even last the season.
 

BigBreakfast

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Been mentioned already but, Kennedy as far as output after he left. I don’t remember him then but I have heard he was out of shape and idolised Fev. Enough said.
 

agro

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Jun 7, 2003
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Pagan was like that. We picked up a young ruckman called Lindsay Smith from North. The kid could play a bit. Was really raw, but talented. I remember David Schwarz saying how the kid had towelled up the Demons in the ressies once as a 17 or 18 year old and had a great leap.

Anyway, we trade him in and the following season, we brought in Pagan. I think Smith didn't even last the season.



Agree - I thought his treatment by the club was very puzzling.

:think:
 
he was one of the few players I can say I went to a game with a specific intention of watching - he was a beanpole and all I can recall is a ridiculous leap.....

I actually see a bit of TDK in Smith. Similar build, big leap, raw.. Pagan bemused me sometimes.
 

GapInIkonPark

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Nov 22, 2015
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Oliver is one of the few that didn’t kick on elsewhere at AFL level that I have regrets for.

Showed his ability one day against West Coast when Spading or Kernahan was injured early.

In another match he was left on the pine for the whole match.

Handful of games, then back to the country.
 

Opine

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Aug 30, 2018
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Without doubt, we should have persevered with Daniel Gorringe. His resolute and steely nature is something we failed to harness. We stuffed up
 

slowhand clape

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Jeremy Davies. Remember the day when he kicked 3-4 in the last qtr against the pies.

I also feel bad that Brad Fisher was stranded on 99 games.
Always rated him. Although he’s the only player I’ve ever seen not paying attention on the field! The ball came towards him one day at Docklands and he was just standing there staring into space!
From memory, he did his acl in the pre season, had LARS as he knew it was his last chance, played one game where we were flogged but wasn’t the worst, then dropped and never played again.
 

andrew cuthbert

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Jul 10, 2018
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Jeremy Davies. Remember the day when he kicked 3-4 in the last qtr against the pies.

I also feel bad that Brad Fisher was stranded on 99 games.
Always rated him. Although he’s the only player I’ve ever seen not paying attention on the field! The ball came towards him one day at Docklands and he was just standing there staring into space!
From memory, he did his acl in the pre season, had LARS as he knew it was his last chance, played one game where we were flogged but wasn’t the worst, then dropped and never played again.
You' ll see Fish at AFLW games , one of Harf's assistant coaches

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I don't mean to poo-poo this thread, but I think we tend to glorify how good some players might have been when they get the chop. Of the names mentioned, I am not sure how many would have made it at AFL level with another year or two under their belt.

I used to think <insert player here> showed some signs and were let go too early. But then very few of them kick on at AFL level elsewhere or even impress at state level. Having said that I understand the extra development at AFL level might have changed the course of history.

Now that I have said this is a pointless exercise, my top suggestions would probably be Nick Holman (showed a bit), Blaine Boekhorst (actually started putting the pieces together right before he was delisted), Jeremy Laidler (showed enough to deserve the time to bounce back from injury - and not as a fwd), Andrew McIness (don't know how bad his injuries were, but though he deserved more time), Setanta (was actually kicking 1.5-2 goals a game and some relief rucking by the end).

But we fast forward and Holman is a bit player at GCS. Doesn't get enough of the ball to be a mid, doesn't kick enough goals to be a fwd, Boekhorst's papers were stamped and maybe he was just too soft, Laidler played some decent footy at Syd, McIness disappeared and Setanta played just a handful of 'mature body' games at GWS. Maybe call that 1.5/5. And these were among the better options....

I don't expect kids to be Sam Walsh in year 1. Kids need time to develop. But if they haven't shown strong signs of making it by year 3 or 4, there's not a great chance they will make it by year 5 or 6.

When in doubt, turf em out. I think you're better off giving that last spot to the next Honey or Gibbons than clogging up the list with 'it might all click in a few years'.
 
I don't mean to poo-poo this thread, but I think we tend to glorify how good some players might have been when they get the chop. Of the names mentioned, I am not sure how many would have made it at AFL level with another year or two under their belt.

I used to think <insert player here> showed some signs and were let go too early. But then very few of them kick on at AFL level elsewhere or even impress at state level. Having said that I understand the extra development at AFL level might have changed the course of history.

Now that I have said this is a pointless exercise, my top suggestions would probably be Nick Holman (showed a bit), Blaine Boekhorst (actually started putting the pieces together right before he was delisted), Jeremy Laidler (showed enough to deserve the time to bounce back from injury - and not as a fwd), Andrew McIness (don't know how bad his injuries were, but though he deserved more time), Setanta (was actually kicking 1.5-2 goals a game and some relief rucking by the end).

But we fast forward and Holman is a bit player at GCS. Doesn't get enough of the ball to be a mid, doesn't kick enough goals to be a fwd, Boekhorst's papers were stamped and maybe he was just too soft, Laidler played some decent footy at Syd, McIness disappeared and Setanta played just a handful of 'mature body' games at GWS. Maybe call that 1.5/5. And these were among the better options....

I don't expect kids to be Sam Walsh in year 1. Kids need time to develop. But if they haven't shown strong signs of making it by year 3 or 4, there's not a great chance they will make it by year 5 or 6.

When in doubt, turf em out. I think you're better off giving that last spot to the next Honey or Gibbons than clogging up the list with 'it might all click in a few years'.

I agree in theory with not kicking on elsewhere, but then I think about the likes of Andrew Carazzo, Ed Curnow etc that were given another chance.
 
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