Mega Thread 2024 Media & Miscellaneous Thread

[DragoDelph]

 

[King Huskii]

 

[Silversurfer]

Just merge norf and saints

Nah...merge Carlton and Collingwood or Hawks and Bombers...just for laughs.

 

[Joao]

Merge the "big 4" into one team. That would be for the laughs.

 

[Dale147]

Clarky

 

[Purpletown]

Clarky

I must admit to not being 100% convinced Clark was worth the trade price we paid but he put together a solid first season at Freo.

His form varied a little after a flying start to the season but he was excellent towards the end of the year. He still has upside too.

His attitude as per that article is encouraging to say the least.

 

[theGav56]

I must admit to not being 100% convinced Clark was worth the trade price we paid but he put together a solid first season at Freo.

His form varied a little after a flying start to the season but he was excellent towards the end of the year. He still has upside too.

His attitude as per that article is encouraging to say the least.

Yeah he showed that he is easily best 22 and a nice point of difference. Look forward to see more of him scything his way down the ground to create some goals.

 

[Mr Cheese]

So sportsbet have Freo at $1.91 to make the 8, $4.00 to make the top 4 and $15.00 to go all the way.

Merits of this aside (the 8 feels like money for jam, top 4 is enticing), they're identical odds to the Bullies who, despite gaining pea-heart, one-armed Lobb, have lost Dunkley, severely depleting the defensive end of their mid (which was pretty loose last year anyway). I can only assume they've looked at last year's finals up to 3/4 time and thought "meh, they're about the same".


On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[gaskin]

So sportsbet have Freo at $1.91 to make the 8, $4.00 to make the top 4 and $15.00 to go all the way.

Merits of this aside (the 8 feels like money for jam, top 4 is enticing), they're identical odds to the Bullies who, despite gaining pea-heart, one-armed Lobb, have lost Dunkley, severely depleting the defensive end of their mid (which was pretty loose last year anyway). I can only assume they've looked at last year's finals up to 3/4 time and thought "meh, they're about the same".


On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app

It is because nobody knows what our forward line is going to look like and how well it is going to function.

 

[freo_leo29]

So sportsbet have Freo at $1.91 to make the 8, $4.00 to make the top 4 and $15.00 to go all the way.

Merits of this aside (the 8 feels like money for jam, top 4 is enticing), they're identical odds to the Bullies who, despite gaining pea-heart, one-armed Lobb, have lost Dunkley, severely depleting the defensive end of their mid (which was pretty loose last year anyway). I can only assume they've looked at last year's finals up to 3/4 time and thought "meh, they're about the same".


On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Dogs also made a GF the year before and have some exciting youngsters who are only gonna get better (Darcy, Jamarra) + people seemingly rate the Jones pickup (I don't at all)

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Dogs also made a GF the year before and have some exciting youngsters who are only gonna get better (Darcy, Jamarra) + people seemingly rate the Jones pickup (I don't at all)

The Carlton bias in full effect with Jones but also just how bad their KPDs are. Still kinda shocked they seemingly made no play for Logue whatsoever, maybe priced out by Roos

 

[Mr Cheese]

Dogs also made a GF the year before and have some exciting youngsters who are only gonna get better (Darcy, Jamarra) + people seemingly rate the Jones pickup (I don't at all)

Yeah, I'm with you on Jones. I think they're going to lose games in the middle, got almost no depth. Can have great talls but they're going to look s**t down back if you can't defend out of the middle and s**t up front if you can't get them the ball. If any of Bont, McCrae or Libertore go down for any great period of time, they're ****ed. Conversely, we could cover the loss of one, possibly two of our A-Graders reasonably well (depends how accurate reports of Erasmus and Johnson are).

On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[King Huskii]

Yeah, I'm with you on Jones. I think they're going to lose games in the middle, got almost no depth. Can have great talls but they're going to look s**t down back if you can't defend out of the middle and s**t up front if you can't get them the ball. If any of Bont, McCrae or Libertore go down for any great period of time, they're ****ed. Conversely, we could cover the loss of one, possibly two of our A-Graders reasonably well (depends how accurate reports of Erasmus and Johnson are).

On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Both Eurasmus and Johnson have been excellent during match sims. IMO we have coverage and JOM easily replaces Mundy as he has been exceptional during sims.

 

[Mr Cheese]

Both Eurasmus and Johnson have been excellent during match sims. IMO we have coverage and JOM easily replaces Mundy as he has been exceptional during sims.

I trust you implicitly KH, and thank you for the excellent reports, glad to see JOM is settling in well. I'm really bullish on us this year, I think we've got the capacity to play either sling-shot, utilise aerial dominance or simply overpower teams in the midfield and I trust that JL and JG will have the forwards working well. Got a good feeling.

On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[King Huskii]

I trust you implicitly KH, and thank you for the excellent reports, glad to see JOM is settling in well. I'm really bullish on us this year, I think we've got the capacity to play either sling-shot, utilise aerial dominance or simply overpower teams in the midfield and I trust that JL and JG will have the forwards working well. Got a good feeling.

On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app

I hope so

I've put myself out there this preseason. Time will tell and Freo will have its ups and downs. I think we have genuine depth. I'm not 100% sure if Freo youngster's are up for it every week this season but medium to long term yes they will.

 

[pK75]

I trust you implicitly KH, and thank you for the excellent reports, glad to see JOM is settling in well. I'm really bullish on us this year, I think we've got the capacity to play either sling-shot, utilise aerial dominance or simply overpower teams in the midfield and I trust that JL and JG will have the forwards working well. Got a good feeling.

On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app

IMO JOM is our biggest recruit of the off-season, he isn’t a like for like Mundy replacement, I think he’s more like Brayshaw in the way he plays, which makes our mid combinations much more versatile, he picked up the entire Hawks team and plonked them on his shoulders and gave us an almighty scare last year at Optus. It was almost peak Fyfe.

If Andy gets a hard tag this year, we can afford to have him run decoy and go and rest forward or the wing to take the tag out of the equation while Brodie, JOM and Serong get to work in the middle.

It also releases Aish to play predominantly Wing.

 

[freo_leo29]

The Carlton bias in full effect with Jones but also just how bad their KPDs are. Still kinda shocked they seemingly made no play for Logue whatsoever, maybe priced out by Roos

Definitely priced out, Logue was either staying here or going to the Roos on a bonkers contract, noone else stood a chance

 

[Dockeroo]

Anyone have access to this article?

 

[UncleChipsy]

Anyone have access to this article?

WAFL star Samuel Stubbs has been forced to fight for Fremantle AFL opportunity​

Being dropped for a grand final due to fitness concerns was a wake-up call for Samuel Stubbs. The 25-year-old ‘natural footy player’ is now vying for an AFL dream, writes ELIZA REILLY.

Eliza Reilly

@ByElizaReilly

7 min read
January 28, 2023 - 9:00AM

Sam Stubbs is ready to make the most of his opportunity at Freo. Picture: Fremantle FC
At Mount Gravatt, they called it the Samuel Stubbs pocket.
The city end of Dittmer Park in the southern suburbs of Brisbane is where he did his best work.
“It was right near where the coach’s box was,” former Vultures coach Troy Moncur says.
“It was his corner.
“He’d stand on someone’s head but before you had time to put your drink down and give him a clap, he’d already snapped the goal.”
That was back in 2017, the year Stubbs won the QAFL Rising Star award, made the league’s team of the year and kicked 57 goals to finish third behind former Brisbane Lion Bryce Retzlaff in the Ray Hughson Medal.
Now, Stubbs is closing in on an AFL list spot at Fremantle.
The now-Perth power forward is in the midst of a training block at the Dockers. A rookie contract is up for the taking if he can impress the right people by the pre-season supplemental selection period’s February 15 cut-off.
And Stubbs has brought his pocket with him.
Given a run-up opposite Fremantle’s stifling defenders, the 25-year-old soared above several.

Only those fans seated on the grass embankment opposite the Dockers’ training facility had the perfect view of the peerless hanger.
But the moment and subsequent goal drew cheers from all corners of Victor George Kallis oval, none louder than the pocket Stubbs has now stamped.
If Stubbs ends up on Fremantle’s list, it’ll be through no shortage of hard work.
Once overweight and dropped for a grand final, Stubbs is now defying gravity.
*****
It was an easy decision at the time but one former Palm Beach Currumbin QAFL coach Chad Owens has questioned ever since.
“I’m probably not Sam’s favourite person,” Owens concedes.
In 2016, Stubbs managed 39 majors from 19 matches in his second year of senior football at the Lions.
But he was dropped from Palm Beach Currumbin’s grand final side and watched from the sidelines as opponents Labrador won by 53 points.
“It’s all part of footy I guess. When they’re young and disappointed, they don’t know how to deal with it and so he left the club the next year,” Owens says.
“I often read about him now and think, ‘Far out, did I get that wrong’, but when you go back, at the time we made the right call.
“He’s making me look like an idiot now but at the time he wasn’t ready.”

Stubbs’s prodigious talent wasn’t always going to be enough. Picture: Jerad Williams
The reason for Stubbs’ omission was simple.
“We were certainly a team of hard workers and Sam wanted to survive on talent which unfortunately didn’t get him very far,” Owens says.
“I think he’d admit it himself as well but he was overweight. He was a prodigious talent but he didn’t do the extras and he didn’t push himself to exhaustion at training. He was just a natural footy player.”
Hiding behind his deficiencies, Owens could see potential.
In his first year of QAFL football, the then 18-year-old took just three quarters to kick seven goals before being rested in the last with hamstring tightness, earning a Rising Star nomination in the process.
What Stubbs lacked in repeat efforts he made up for at full-forward, using his body expertly to protect the drop of the ball and exploiting what strength he had on the lead.
“It was a big responsibility for him to be trying to play as a key position player at that age,” Owens says.
“But he loved having the ball in his hands. If we needed a goal, he wanted to be the person to kick it. At that age, that was pretty admirable. He was never nervous.
“He could kick a goal from anywhere. I reckon he could kick the footy 60 metres over his head and still kick a goal. If he was having a shot, you knew it was going to kick it. Eight out of 10 would go through.”

Stubbs had the ability to ‘kick a goal from anywhere’. Picture: Jerad Williams
But the penny never dropped and Palm Beach Currumbin won the next two premierships as Stubbs landed at a rival.
“I thought if he ever got serious, he might be a gun SANFL or WAFL player but AFL is a whole other level,” Owens says.
“Looking at him back then as a teenager, I was thinking second tier. I never thought he could crack the AFL to be honest based on his work ethic.”
*****
Moncur was a nurturer by nature.
He too knew that if Stubbs was going to get the best out of himself, it would have to involve some hard work.
But instead of an honest conversation, Mount Gravatt relied on their culture.
“Like anyone, when you find a spot where you feel welcomed, valued and respected, you want to work harder and put 100 per cent of effort into it,” Moncur says.
“We tried to provide a place where people felt good about attending and putting in the work for each other. He bought into that.”
Despite still residing on the Gold Coast, Stubbs didn’t miss a session, braving the perilous two hour round-trip commute on the M1 several times a week.
“He started to get rewarded from the consistency of turning up to training. He trained harder and got fitter as the year went on,” Moncur says.
“It was critical for him.
“Once he started proving himself and the boys saw he had sticky hands and he was a danger up forward, they looked for him.
“He wasn’t just a lead up forward. That was probably 30 per cent of his game.
“If he kicked six, two of them were probably set shots, two were probably snaps and two were dribble kicks. That was his asset, the ability to turn nothing into something.”
Stubbs was ruled out of the Vultures’ finals campaign with a broken hand but finished the 2017 season with 57 goals and a swag of accolades.
The following year, he kicked 33 goals in nine games after spending the first half of the year in Victoria under former PBC coach Daryn Cresswell at the Wodonga Raiders.
And in 2019, Stubbs finished with 42 majors, the QAFL’s leading goal-kicker award and a spot in the league’s team of the year.
“He’s always had that flair and confidence about him. Some people think it’s arrogance but you’ve got to straddle that line,” Moncur says.
“I think the way the game is going, we’re not going back to the (Tony) Modra, (Tony) Lockett and (Jason) Dunstall days but I think there’s a hybrid version of that and I think that’s Sam.
“If Fremantle or another club took him on and gave him an opportunity, at least a full pre-season, I think he could go to another level.
“He certainly had the skills, the assets and the confidence but finally he’s gotten the opportunity. The next part of the story is up to him.”

Stubbs has his eyes sit on a rookie contract. Picture: Fremantle FC
*****
By the time Stubbs arrived back home in Western Australia to link up with the Demons, he knew the AFL clock was ticking.
Some fitness concerns remained in his first season and a global pandemic did Stubbs no favours, hitting the park just five times in 2020.
But in the past two years, under the guidance of Demons coach Garry Moss, the penny finally dropped.
“In the past 24 months, he’s invested everything he could in trying to get an opportunity at AFL level,” Moss says.
“We worked with him pretty closely but I think the main thing was he realised he was at an age where it’s a matter of now or never.
“He does a lot of his own stuff in terms of recovery and gym work. I think he’d even admit he’s got a way to go with his fitness but it’s come a long way.”
With time, the Demons thought Stubbs could be effective as a pinch-hitting midfielder.
But he was so efficient in attack, Moss was reluctant to lose his best weapon.
“I think the difference between 2021 and 2022 was he used to be a mark the ball and kick the goal type player,” he says.
“In 2022, his ground level stuff was outstanding. He added another dimension to his game.”
It coincided with Stubbs finishing the season as Perth’s leading goalkicker with 23 goals from 12 games.
It also almost earned him an AFL opportunity.

Stubbs hopes to be able to make an impact in the Freo forward line. Picture: Fremantle FC
Fremantle had done their homework before the mid-season draft. As had Greater Western Sydney.
But Stubbs injured his knee three days before selections were made, costing him a chance that went to WAFL rival Sebit Kuek.
Off-field, Stubbs is an inspiration to his community and an influencer online.
A proud Wangkatha man, Stubbs is currently a Tackling Indigenous Smoking co-ordinator at the WA Aboriginal Health Council.
And on TikTok, Stubbs is sharing his culture through dance.
Since joining the platform he has amassed more than 131k followers, 2.7 million likes and his most-watched video had been viewed by nearly 9 million people.
His feed is filled with videos of him kicking goals for the Demons, trick shots and most importantly, dance.
Stubbs started ‘shaking a leg’ when he noticed a gap in Indigenous content and now he’s one of the most popular Indigenous content creators on the app.
He even had a contract to head to Sydney for a marketing opportunity in December before Dockers’ list manager David Walls invited him to train.
“He’s really strongly connected to his culture and it’s a strong part of who he is,” Moss says.
“He designed our Indigenous jumper last year and he made a point of leading the club during NAIDOC round.
“He also helped lead the other Indigenous boys in our side. He’s a leader in our community and I think Fremantle are probably as invested in that as they are his footballing ability.”
And after kicking three goals during match simulation on Friday, Fremantle are close to franking their investment.
“The improvement he’s made since playing in Queensland has been remarkable. But in a full-time program, I think he can make it at AFL level,” Moss says.

 

[theGav56]

WAFL star Samuel Stubbs has been forced to fight for Fremantle AFL opportunity​

Being dropped for a grand final due to fitness concerns was a wake-up call for Samuel Stubbs. The 25-year-old ‘natural footy player’ is now vying for an AFL dream, writes ELIZA REILLY.

Eliza Reilly

@ByElizaReilly

7 min read
January 28, 2023 - 9:00AM

Sam Stubbs is ready to make the most of his opportunity at Freo. Picture: Fremantle FC
At Mount Gravatt, they called it the Samuel Stubbs pocket.
The city end of Dittmer Park in the southern suburbs of Brisbane is where he did his best work.
“It was right near where the coach’s box was,” former Vultures coach Troy Moncur says.
“It was his corner.
“He’d stand on someone’s head but before you had time to put your drink down and give him a clap, he’d already snapped the goal.”
That was back in 2017, the year Stubbs won the QAFL Rising Star award, made the league’s team of the year and kicked 57 goals to finish third behind former Brisbane Lion Bryce Retzlaff in the Ray Hughson Medal.
Now, Stubbs is closing in on an AFL list spot at Fremantle.
The now-Perth power forward is in the midst of a training block at the Dockers. A rookie contract is up for the taking if he can impress the right people by the pre-season supplemental selection period’s February 15 cut-off.
And Stubbs has brought his pocket with him.
Given a run-up opposite Fremantle’s stifling defenders, the 25-year-old soared above several.

Only those fans seated on the grass embankment opposite the Dockers’ training facility had the perfect view of the peerless hanger.
But the moment and subsequent goal drew cheers from all corners of Victor George Kallis oval, none louder than the pocket Stubbs has now stamped.
If Stubbs ends up on Fremantle’s list, it’ll be through no shortage of hard work.
Once overweight and dropped for a grand final, Stubbs is now defying gravity.
*****
It was an easy decision at the time but one former Palm Beach Currumbin QAFL coach Chad Owens has questioned ever since.
“I’m probably not Sam’s favourite person,” Owens concedes.
In 2016, Stubbs managed 39 majors from 19 matches in his second year of senior football at the Lions.
But he was dropped from Palm Beach Currumbin’s grand final side and watched from the sidelines as opponents Labrador won by 53 points.
“It’s all part of footy I guess. When they’re young and disappointed, they don’t know how to deal with it and so he left the club the next year,” Owens says.
“I often read about him now and think, ‘Far out, did I get that wrong’, but when you go back, at the time we made the right call.
“He’s making me look like an idiot now but at the time he wasn’t ready.”

Stubbs’s prodigious talent wasn’t always going to be enough. Picture: Jerad Williams
The reason for Stubbs’ omission was simple.
“We were certainly a team of hard workers and Sam wanted to survive on talent which unfortunately didn’t get him very far,” Owens says.
“I think he’d admit it himself as well but he was overweight. He was a prodigious talent but he didn’t do the extras and he didn’t push himself to exhaustion at training. He was just a natural footy player.”
Hiding behind his deficiencies, Owens could see potential.
In his first year of QAFL football, the then 18-year-old took just three quarters to kick seven goals before being rested in the last with hamstring tightness, earning a Rising Star nomination in the process.
What Stubbs lacked in repeat efforts he made up for at full-forward, using his body expertly to protect the drop of the ball and exploiting what strength he had on the lead.
“It was a big responsibility for him to be trying to play as a key position player at that age,” Owens says.
“But he loved having the ball in his hands. If we needed a goal, he wanted to be the person to kick it. At that age, that was pretty admirable. He was never nervous.
“He could kick a goal from anywhere. I reckon he could kick the footy 60 metres over his head and still kick a goal. If he was having a shot, you knew it was going to kick it. Eight out of 10 would go through.”

Stubbs had the ability to ‘kick a goal from anywhere’. Picture: Jerad Williams
But the penny never dropped and Palm Beach Currumbin won the next two premierships as Stubbs landed at a rival.
“I thought if he ever got serious, he might be a gun SANFL or WAFL player but AFL is a whole other level,” Owens says.
“Looking at him back then as a teenager, I was thinking second tier. I never thought he could crack the AFL to be honest based on his work ethic.”
*****
Moncur was a nurturer by nature.
He too knew that if Stubbs was going to get the best out of himself, it would have to involve some hard work.
But instead of an honest conversation, Mount Gravatt relied on their culture.
“Like anyone, when you find a spot where you feel welcomed, valued and respected, you want to work harder and put 100 per cent of effort into it,” Moncur says.
“We tried to provide a place where people felt good about attending and putting in the work for each other. He bought into that.”
Despite still residing on the Gold Coast, Stubbs didn’t miss a session, braving the perilous two hour round-trip commute on the M1 several times a week.

“He started to get rewarded from the consistency of turning up to training. He trained harder and got fitter as the year went on,” Moncur says.
“It was critical for him.
“Once he started proving himself and the boys saw he had sticky hands and he was a danger up forward, they looked for him.
“He wasn’t just a lead up forward. That was probably 30 per cent of his game.
“If he kicked six, two of them were probably set shots, two were probably snaps and two were dribble kicks. That was his asset, the ability to turn nothing into something.”
Stubbs was ruled out of the Vultures’ finals campaign with a broken hand but finished the 2017 season with 57 goals and a swag of accolades.
The following year, he kicked 33 goals in nine games after spending the first half of the year in Victoria under former PBC coach Daryn Cresswell at the Wodonga Raiders.
And in 2019, Stubbs finished with 42 majors, the QAFL’s leading goal-kicker award and a spot in the league’s team of the year.
“He’s always had that flair and confidence about him. Some people think it’s arrogance but you’ve got to straddle that line,” Moncur says.
“I think the way the game is going, we’re not going back to the (Tony) Modra, (Tony) Lockett and (Jason) Dunstall days but I think there’s a hybrid version of that and I think that’s Sam.
“If Fremantle or another club took him on and gave him an opportunity, at least a full pre-season, I think he could go to another level.
“He certainly had the skills, the assets and the confidence but finally he’s gotten the opportunity. The next part of the story is up to him.”

Stubbs has his eyes sit on a rookie contract. Picture: Fremantle FC
*****
By the time Stubbs arrived back home in Western Australia to link up with the Demons, he knew the AFL clock was ticking.
Some fitness concerns remained in his first season and a global pandemic did Stubbs no favours, hitting the park just five times in 2020.
But in the past two years, under the guidance of Demons coach Garry Moss, the penny finally dropped.
“In the past 24 months, he’s invested everything he could in trying to get an opportunity at AFL level,” Moss says.
“We worked with him pretty closely but I think the main thing was he realised he was at an age where it’s a matter of now or never.
“He does a lot of his own stuff in terms of recovery and gym work. I think he’d even admit he’s got a way to go with his fitness but it’s come a long way.”
With time, the Demons thought Stubbs could be effective as a pinch-hitting midfielder.
But he was so efficient in attack, Moss was reluctant to lose his best weapon.
“I think the difference between 2021 and 2022 was he used to be a mark the ball and kick the goal type player,” he says.
“In 2022, his ground level stuff was outstanding. He added another dimension to his game.”
It coincided with Stubbs finishing the season as Perth’s leading goalkicker with 23 goals from 12 games.
It also almost earned him an AFL opportunity.

Stubbs hopes to be able to make an impact in the Freo forward line. Picture: Fremantle FC
Fremantle had done their homework before the mid-season draft. As had Greater Western Sydney.
But Stubbs injured his knee three days before selections were made, costing him a chance that went to WAFL rival Sebit Kuek.
Off-field, Stubbs is an inspiration to his community and an influencer online.
A proud Wangkatha man, Stubbs is currently a Tackling Indigenous Smoking co-ordinator at the WA Aboriginal Health Council.
And on TikTok, Stubbs is sharing his culture through dance.
Since joining the platform he has amassed more than 131k followers, 2.7 million likes and his most-watched video had been viewed by nearly 9 million people.
His feed is filled with videos of him kicking goals for the Demons, trick shots and most importantly, dance.
Stubbs started ‘shaking a leg’ when he noticed a gap in Indigenous content and now he’s one of the most popular Indigenous content creators on the app.

He even had a contract to head to Sydney for a marketing opportunity in December before Dockers’ list manager David Walls invited him to train.
“He’s really strongly connected to his culture and it’s a strong part of who he is,” Moss says.
“He designed our Indigenous jumper last year and he made a point of leading the club during NAIDOC round.
“He also helped lead the other Indigenous boys in our side. He’s a leader in our community and I think Fremantle are probably as invested in that as they are his footballing ability.”
And after kicking three goals during match simulation on Friday, Fremantle are close to franking their investment.
“The improvement he’s made since playing in Queensland has been remarkable. But in a full-time program, I think he can make it at AFL level,” Moss says.

That's a keg full of accolade.

 

[Swiggy]

Has anyone got this?

 

[Dockeroo]

WAFL star Samuel Stubbs has been forced to fight for Fremantle AFL opportunity​

Being dropped for a grand final due to fitness concerns was a wake-up call for Samuel Stubbs. The 25-year-old ‘natural footy player’ is now vying for an AFL dream, writes ELIZA REILLY.

Eliza Reilly

@ByElizaReilly

7 min read
January 28, 2023 - 9:00AM

Sam Stubbs is ready to make the most of his opportunity at Freo. Picture: Fremantle FC
At Mount Gravatt, they called it the Samuel Stubbs pocket.
The city end of Dittmer Park in the southern suburbs of Brisbane is where he did his best work.
“It was right near where the coach’s box was,” former Vultures coach Troy Moncur says.
“It was his corner.
“He’d stand on someone’s head but before you had time to put your drink down and give him a clap, he’d already snapped the goal.”
That was back in 2017, the year Stubbs won the QAFL Rising Star award, made the league’s team of the year and kicked 57 goals to finish third behind former Brisbane Lion Bryce Retzlaff in the Ray Hughson Medal.
Now, Stubbs is closing in on an AFL list spot at Fremantle.
The now-Perth power forward is in the midst of a training block at the Dockers. A rookie contract is up for the taking if he can impress the right people by the pre-season supplemental selection period’s February 15 cut-off.
And Stubbs has brought his pocket with him.
Given a run-up opposite Fremantle’s stifling defenders, the 25-year-old soared above several.

Only those fans seated on the grass embankment opposite the Dockers’ training facility had the perfect view of the peerless hanger.
But the moment and subsequent goal drew cheers from all corners of Victor George Kallis oval, none louder than the pocket Stubbs has now stamped.
If Stubbs ends up on Fremantle’s list, it’ll be through no shortage of hard work.
Once overweight and dropped for a grand final, Stubbs is now defying gravity.
*****
It was an easy decision at the time but one former Palm Beach Currumbin QAFL coach Chad Owens has questioned ever since.
“I’m probably not Sam’s favourite person,” Owens concedes.
In 2016, Stubbs managed 39 majors from 19 matches in his second year of senior football at the Lions.
But he was dropped from Palm Beach Currumbin’s grand final side and watched from the sidelines as opponents Labrador won by 53 points.
“It’s all part of footy I guess. When they’re young and disappointed, they don’t know how to deal with it and so he left the club the next year,” Owens says.
“I often read about him now and think, ‘Far out, did I get that wrong’, but when you go back, at the time we made the right call.
“He’s making me look like an idiot now but at the time he wasn’t ready.”

Stubbs’s prodigious talent wasn’t always going to be enough. Picture: Jerad Williams
The reason for Stubbs’ omission was simple.
“We were certainly a team of hard workers and Sam wanted to survive on talent which unfortunately didn’t get him very far,” Owens says.
“I think he’d admit it himself as well but he was overweight. He was a prodigious talent but he didn’t do the extras and he didn’t push himself to exhaustion at training. He was just a natural footy player.”
Hiding behind his deficiencies, Owens could see potential.
In his first year of QAFL football, the then 18-year-old took just three quarters to kick seven goals before being rested in the last with hamstring tightness, earning a Rising Star nomination in the process.
What Stubbs lacked in repeat efforts he made up for at full-forward, using his body expertly to protect the drop of the ball and exploiting what strength he had on the lead.
“It was a big responsibility for him to be trying to play as a key position player at that age,” Owens says.
“But he loved having the ball in his hands. If we needed a goal, he wanted to be the person to kick it. At that age, that was pretty admirable. He was never nervous.
“He could kick a goal from anywhere. I reckon he could kick the footy 60 metres over his head and still kick a goal. If he was having a shot, you knew it was going to kick it. Eight out of 10 would go through.”

Stubbs had the ability to ‘kick a goal from anywhere’. Picture: Jerad Williams
But the penny never dropped and Palm Beach Currumbin won the next two premierships as Stubbs landed at a rival.
“I thought if he ever got serious, he might be a gun SANFL or WAFL player but AFL is a whole other level,” Owens says.
“Looking at him back then as a teenager, I was thinking second tier. I never thought he could crack the AFL to be honest based on his work ethic.”
*****
Moncur was a nurturer by nature.
He too knew that if Stubbs was going to get the best out of himself, it would have to involve some hard work.
But instead of an honest conversation, Mount Gravatt relied on their culture.
“Like anyone, when you find a spot where you feel welcomed, valued and respected, you want to work harder and put 100 per cent of effort into it,” Moncur says.
“We tried to provide a place where people felt good about attending and putting in the work for each other. He bought into that.”
Despite still residing on the Gold Coast, Stubbs didn’t miss a session, braving the perilous two hour round-trip commute on the M1 several times a week.

“He started to get rewarded from the consistency of turning up to training. He trained harder and got fitter as the year went on,” Moncur says.
“It was critical for him.
“Once he started proving himself and the boys saw he had sticky hands and he was a danger up forward, they looked for him.
“He wasn’t just a lead up forward. That was probably 30 per cent of his game.
“If he kicked six, two of them were probably set shots, two were probably snaps and two were dribble kicks. That was his asset, the ability to turn nothing into something.”
Stubbs was ruled out of the Vultures’ finals campaign with a broken hand but finished the 2017 season with 57 goals and a swag of accolades.
The following year, he kicked 33 goals in nine games after spending the first half of the year in Victoria under former PBC coach Daryn Cresswell at the Wodonga Raiders.
And in 2019, Stubbs finished with 42 majors, the QAFL’s leading goal-kicker award and a spot in the league’s team of the year.
“He’s always had that flair and confidence about him. Some people think it’s arrogance but you’ve got to straddle that line,” Moncur says.
“I think the way the game is going, we’re not going back to the (Tony) Modra, (Tony) Lockett and (Jason) Dunstall days but I think there’s a hybrid version of that and I think that’s Sam.
“If Fremantle or another club took him on and gave him an opportunity, at least a full pre-season, I think he could go to another level.
“He certainly had the skills, the assets and the confidence but finally he’s gotten the opportunity. The next part of the story is up to him.”

Stubbs has his eyes sit on a rookie contract. Picture: Fremantle FC
*****
By the time Stubbs arrived back home in Western Australia to link up with the Demons, he knew the AFL clock was ticking.
Some fitness concerns remained in his first season and a global pandemic did Stubbs no favours, hitting the park just five times in 2020.
But in the past two years, under the guidance of Demons coach Garry Moss, the penny finally dropped.
“In the past 24 months, he’s invested everything he could in trying to get an opportunity at AFL level,” Moss says.
“We worked with him pretty closely but I think the main thing was he realised he was at an age where it’s a matter of now or never.
“He does a lot of his own stuff in terms of recovery and gym work. I think he’d even admit he’s got a way to go with his fitness but it’s come a long way.”
With time, the Demons thought Stubbs could be effective as a pinch-hitting midfielder.
But he was so efficient in attack, Moss was reluctant to lose his best weapon.
“I think the difference between 2021 and 2022 was he used to be a mark the ball and kick the goal type player,” he says.
“In 2022, his ground level stuff was outstanding. He added another dimension to his game.”
It coincided with Stubbs finishing the season as Perth’s leading goalkicker with 23 goals from 12 games.
It also almost earned him an AFL opportunity.

Stubbs hopes to be able to make an impact in the Freo forward line. Picture: Fremantle FC
Fremantle had done their homework before the mid-season draft. As had Greater Western Sydney.
But Stubbs injured his knee three days before selections were made, costing him a chance that went to WAFL rival Sebit Kuek.
Off-field, Stubbs is an inspiration to his community and an influencer online.
A proud Wangkatha man, Stubbs is currently a Tackling Indigenous Smoking co-ordinator at the WA Aboriginal Health Council.
And on TikTok, Stubbs is sharing his culture through dance.
Since joining the platform he has amassed more than 131k followers, 2.7 million likes and his most-watched video had been viewed by nearly 9 million people.
His feed is filled with videos of him kicking goals for the Demons, trick shots and most importantly, dance.
Stubbs started ‘shaking a leg’ when he noticed a gap in Indigenous content and now he’s one of the most popular Indigenous content creators on the app.

He even had a contract to head to Sydney for a marketing opportunity in December before Dockers’ list manager David Walls invited him to train.
“He’s really strongly connected to his culture and it’s a strong part of who he is,” Moss says.
“He designed our Indigenous jumper last year and he made a point of leading the club during NAIDOC round.
“He also helped lead the other Indigenous boys in our side. He’s a leader in our community and I think Fremantle are probably as invested in that as they are his footballing ability.”
And after kicking three goals during match simulation on Friday, Fremantle are close to franking their investment.
“The improvement he’s made since playing in Queensland has been remarkable. But in a full-time program, I think he can make it at AFL level,” Moss says.

Thanks that’s a good read by Eliza. Nice to see something half decent in the west still.

 

[DragoDelph]

Thanks that’s a good read by Eliza. Nice to see something half decent in the west still.

I thought that was code sports?

She must write for both.

 

[holybishop]

I thought that was code sports?

She must write for both.

Looks like she is employed by Code Sports and some of her articles are shared with The West

 

[greatgatsby]

Has anyone got this?

View attachment 1596783

"Fremantle Next Generation Academy graduate Josh Draper appears to be enjoying life as an AFL player.

The 197cm key defender already measures up to most of his teammates but for a first-year player, the former basketballer is building the size to complement his frame.

After missing the Under-18 National Championships with injury, Draper moved freely on Monday.

His athletic qualities were on full display as he soared for contested marks while Draper’s work ethic was also impressive during a defensive drill.

Draper joined fellow NGA products Eric Benning, Brandon Walker and Liam Henry on Fremantle’s list after being overlooked in the AFL draft."


Just signed up to CodeSports - will let you know if it's any good.