News Ablett's loss may be Varcoe's gain

[Pure_Ownage]

Dont read too much into that. It was a left of centre comment.
I was more thinking about using him around stoppages. Without the restriction of having to guard a forward.

He could actually do the defensive forward role.

Agree. That's not the worst idea I've ever heard. In fact it's one of the better ones.

What I know is JHunt maybe good enough for our best 22 (though he's probably fringe when we have no injuries) but he's not a small defender, and I've never thought of him as such. Long term, either Guthrie, THunt (though he's probably wasted there) or Weston will be, the question is what we do until they're ready and it will be interesting to see how we structure up next year.

 

[meto]

Like to see Varcoe and Mackie as our wingers, both offer an alternative, one is 182 and the other 192, both can run, and like to carry the ball.
Would like to see how they get on.

 

[bobbycatsfanme]

not to mention Gary did not like the hard stuff and seemed eager to notify an umpire whenever he could
Can't wait till those piss ant Gold Coast boys try to give him some protection against Chappy, Selwood, Jimmy and Mooney when given the chance

Gary is gonna find it too be a whole different ball game up there but hey it's all about the money these days isn't it

 

[meto]

Could also be Hogans gain, sometimes undervalued, potentially a high possession winner, just needs to want it this year.

Had 50+ possessions in an AFL game last year, and even in his sparsial oppearances in the seniors seemed to know how to get possessions.
He's got the talent, has he got the desire??

 

[Turbocat]

Replace Ablett with Hogan? If thats the case I can not see us worrying too many other clubs with his addition. Hogan is a good VFL player and will accumulate possessions at that level but I don't see the natural football ability which will enable him to play and perform for us at the next level. Hope he prooves me wrong but as it stands Id much rather give games to Christensen or THunt.

 

[The rabbi]

Replace Ablett with Hogan? If that's the case I can not see us worrying too many other clubs with his addition. Hogan is a good VFL player and will accumulate possessions at that level but I don't see the natural football ability which will enable him to play and perform for us at the next level. Hope he proves me wrong but as it stands Id much rather give games to Christensen or THunt.

The Poodle has the pace and he has a reasonably good physique at his age. I personally see him as the best bet for breaking the lines. That may be in the center or half back, but I cannot see anyone else who has the potential to break lines, and to at least some extent fill Gazza's role.

 

[The rabbi]

Looks like Trav has put his hand up for Gazza's former job.

According to the Geelong Addy.

 

[Vdubs]

Looks like Trav has put his hand up for Gazza's former job.

According to the Geelong Addy.

We've just gone back to the opening post. Deja-vu all over again

 

[The rabbi]

We've just gone back to the opening post. Deja-vu all over again

It looks like the Addy has resorted to AFL.com to drum up stories in the off season.

 

[dazbroncos]

I think TV may blossom nicely in the midfield. His opponent in there would not be what GA drew - obviously their best player - that will go to Selwood or Jimmy now so its likely to see a bit of a possession decline because of the increased attention - but if TV can get his fitness high enough I think he could be a major benefactor from the move to the MF.

He has the skills and just needs the tank and strength and the chance. I dont see him being too much as an inside MF but certainly a receiver type to break the ball from clearances etc and best use his pace to break free / away. I think he wold be a total asset in the turnover battle with his defensive pressure also...

As for Josh Hunt, I would be all for him getting a chance as a small forward type ala Chappy...

He has the strength to create a contest and his kicking should be top notch. His obviously can defend and would exert good forward pressure. I think the downside would be the pace perhaps but he has a good burst for a lead etc... but maybe his engine is a bit short for it....

I would happily see Stokesy take a week off , throw TV in the middle, move JH to the FP and add Taylor Hunt in the backline...

Cant hurt in the preseason can it?

Go Catters....

off topic...but what is B Johnsons injury he is carrying?

 

[meto]

Varcoe do Abletts job?

Nothing about Varcoe tells me he could fill GA's old role within the structure, his is and will always be an outside type of player.

His possessions will be crap and he'd most likely get injured, and early on at that.
He needs to be outside to get his chances.

Turbo, about Hogan being a good VFL player, whoever gets 50+ possessions even at VFL level, which is still pretty hard footy. I'm sure as a senior benchwarmer he got into the mid twenty possessions in a few appearances.
So how could THunt be preferable, since his only experience is HB, unless that's his new role, and Christiensen hasn't even played a senior game, I think plays FP for the magoos, doesn't he?

Anyone know how bad Ben Johnson is, hoping he's another Pods for us?

 

[Turbocat]

Turbo, about Hogan being a good VFL player, whoever gets 50+ possessions even at VFL level, which is still pretty hard footy. I'm sure as a senior benchwarmer he got into the mid twenty possessions in a few appearances.
So how could THunt be preferable, since his only experience is HB, unless that's his new role, and Christiensen hasn't even played a senior game, I think plays FP for the magoos, doesn't he?

You are quite correct that we have seen limited amounts TH and none of Bundy , to my mind we need to replace Ablett with a guy who can play inside and outside , someone who shows some sort of feel for the game and has therefore potential to grow into the role of being more than last picked type guy.

TH , showed us enough in his games to indicate, to me at least, that he should be persisted with. Nice goal on the run , some tackles , nice pass on the run ( of which Varcoe is the almost the only master in our side). He has a body that looks built to bang ,and will only get harder and with games under his belt Im sure he could be more than a handy 22'nd player picked.

Bundy obviously has done nothing at AFL level , he may get a chance this year we will see. At Jr level , what appealed to me was the way he was willing to hold on to the ball , draw the defender , setup the player in the chain. This was an Ablett trade mark early on. It also looked like he had a footballers brain , in the same manor as Selwood.It wouldn't surprise me if he was a far better player in the A's with quality around him.I watched in the V's and looked like he lacked fitness ,again another Ablett comparison, so we will see later this year.

No doubt on occasion Hogan has done some nice things. The mark and goal against the Hawks comes first to mind. Personal bias perhaps , I just don't see the upside in him that I have seen in several of our other kids. Hogan was drafted in 06. As a mid , if he was going to be a player for us , he probably should have pushed his way more into the side and been able to hold his place by now. In 2011 , he will now have his big chance. Different coach , no pre conceptions. Do it this year or he will be over run by the abundance of quality young mids that we brought to the club.

 

[Big Nasty]

Varcoe do Abletts job?

Nothing about Varcoe tells me he could fill GA's old role within the structure, his is and will always be an outside type of player.

His possessions will be crap and he'd most likely get injured, and early on at that.
He needs to be outside to get his chances.

Turbo, about Hogan being a good VFL player, whoever gets 50+ possessions even at VFL level, which is still pretty hard footy. I'm sure as a senior benchwarmer he got into the mid twenty possessions in a few appearances.
So how could THunt be preferable, since his only experience is HB, unless that's his new role, and Christiensen hasn't even played a senior game, I think plays FP for the magoos, doesn't he?

Anyone know how bad Ben Johnson is, hoping he's another Pods for us?

Hogan's decision making is deplorable at AFL level.

 

[meto]

Read every word Turbo, seriously great response post to my critic of your original.
I very much like the idea of creating THunt into a strong midfielder with dash.

I very much liked this kid from the draft videos when we first picked him last choice, seemed to have that run through the lines courage that appealled to me.
And hasn't he proved his toughness in the limited opportunities he's had!!!!!!!

Do believe we have other candidates for the HBF positions, so yeah! would love to see him be handed responsibility to fill a big hole with help from Joel and Jimmy I think you're on a winner.
I just hope they do it.

 

[Vdubs]

Varcoe do Abletts job?

Nothing about Varcoe tells me he could fill GA's old role within the structure, his is and will always be an outside type of player.

His possessions will be crap and he'd most likely get injured, and early on at that.
He needs to be outside to get his chances.

Turbo, about Hogan being a good VFL player, whoever gets 50+ possessions even at VFL level, which is still pretty hard footy. I'm sure as a senior benchwarmer he got into the mid twenty possessions in a few appearances.
So how could THunt be preferable, since his only experience is HB, unless that's his new role, and Christiensen hasn't even played a senior game, I think plays FP for the magoos, doesn't he?

Anyone know how bad Ben Johnson is, hoping he's another Pods for us?

Disagree with TV's possessions being crap if he played mid. He has enough acceleration to break away and create dangerous stats. Body strength improves every year. Don't think anybody expects anyone to replace Ablett. Not possible. But Ablett's departure DOES open the doors for other players previously on the fringe to show their stuff.
Hogan maybe as a tagger.
Varcoe as a creative mid.
Selwood, Kelly, Bartel, Corey to rotate through as the hard ball getters.
Mackie as winger/mid maybe swapping with Wojo.
T Hunt as a HBF, taking over Wojo's role
J. Hunt as Dew type HFF.
Who knows about Bundy, Menzel, Duncan?
Pretty exciting prospects, BUT NOBODY WILL OR CAN REPLACE ABLETT, which is not the end of the world.

 

[Gaz_Brownlow]

Disagree with TV's possessions being crap if he played mid. He has enough acceleration to break away and create dangerous stats. Body strength improves every year. Don't think anybody expects anyone to replace Ablett. Not possible. But Ablett's departure DOES open the doors for other players previously on the fringe to show their stuff.
Hogan maybe as a tagger.
Varcoe as a creative mid.
Selwood, Kelly, Bartel, Corey to rotate through as the hard ball getters.
Mackie as winger/mid maybe swapping with Wojo.
T Hunt as a HBF, taking over Wojo's role
J. Hunt as Dew type HFF.
Who knows about Bundy, Menzel, Duncan?
Pretty exciting prospects, BUT NOBODY WILL OR CAN REPLACE ABLETT, which is not the end of the world.

People are very quick to write off players at the moment.

Simon Hogan will continue to improve. Yes his 2010 was below expectations but with more opportunites he will come good. Jimmy Bartel, James Kelly, Gary Ablett and Stevie Johnson all had adjustment periods too you know!

I like the thought of Mackie playing around the ground...I really think he has got it in him. Good athlete, good decision maker, great mark and has the potential to be a game breaker....think he could get a new lease of life under scott.

TV will play midfield and will continue to improve. He will take time to get use to the harder approach and will take time to get used to having a more direct opponent...an exciting prospect nonetheless.

The Josh Hunt thing? Not so sure about it....maybe, but i would just like Hunt to work harder on becoming a solid back pocket player i.e. not get easily beaten by the likes of Milne! He is still a wonderful asset to have with his kicking and the fact is he gets more time to use that left foot if stationed behind the play kicking up the ground.

 

[vinum coupe]

The Josh Hunt thing? Not so sure about it....maybe, but i would just like Hunt to work harder on becoming a solid back pocket player i.e. not get easily beaten by the likes of Milne! He is still a wonderful asset to have with his kicking and the fact is he gets more time to use that left foot if stationed behind the play kicking up the ground.

Sorry to pull a part of you post out.
But I agree with this bit, but it isn't working anymore.

We could not get out of back 50 last year. Just watch any high pressure game. Hunt is not a loss in that area.

And I think he was a luxury, not a backman.

 

[meto]

Would like to see say a Josh Hunt be given an altogether new role within the team, just to see what his potential would be.
FP, HFF, the forward line is in dire need of a make-over, a bit more grunt down low will assist the talls to break the shackles and grab a few more in the air as well.

That's why I'd try JoshH, Ling, Menzell, Duncan, guys that are sizable to assist Pods and Mooney and win ground hardball but can still take marks.

Last year the little fwds let the ball out to easy for the amount of times we went inside our 50, was just to much wastage going on.
Hope they play around with this NAB Cup.

 

[you pick one]

Would like to see say a Josh Hunt be given an altogether new role within the team, just to see what his potential would be.
FP, HFF, the forward line is in dire need of a make-over, a bit more grunt down low will assist the talls to break the shackles and grab a few more in the air as well.

That's why I'd try JoshH, Ling, Menzell, Duncan, guys that are sizable to assist Pods and Mooney and win ground hardball but can still take marks.

Last year the little fwds let the ball out to easy for the amount of times we went inside our 50, was just to much wastage going on.
Hope they play around with this NAB Cup.

I understand what you are trying to achieve and agree our forward pressure wasn't up to scratch. remember we were the highest scoring team 2010 though, that's was achieved by playing attacking football and you do get hurt on the turnover with players streaming down the ground.
As for Josh and the Pink Pig there already playing in there best positions and if they can't hold them there in big trouble.

With Ablett gone I expect to see Burnes and Stokes spend some time on the ball rotating off the bench,this will open up a spots for Duncan,
Mendel or some one else, your wright on the money there.

In short we all have a fair idea what our 100+ gamers can do and where they could probable pinch hit,I rather yous the NAB to see what the under 10 gamers have to offer.
Just off the topic I'm more worried about our back line and game plan coming out of defense especially from kick ins, just woefully last year.
But im bullish top 4 finish again.

 

[winty]

I see a midfield of Jimmy and Corey doing the inside grunt, Selwood being the everywhere man and Trav being the jet that we try and dish off to on most occasions. Without meaning to play aboriginal player lookalikes, he does remind me a bit of a young Andrew McLeod - especially with his delivery skills and obvious pace. Hopefully he can fill a midfield sweeping role....i think he plays better with the play in front of him and has been slightly out of position in the forward line.

Add Cameron Ling, Mitch Duncan, Taylor Hunt, Wojack and Simon Hogan to the rotations (incl. wing) and we have got ourselves a very versatile core group....but my suprise tip this year will be Andrew Mackie playing Wing in the Matthew Richardson type role...C'mon Scott give it a go!

Where's Kelly fit in? I remember when he, Ablett and Bartel all came onto the scene in 2002 Kelly was viewed as the best midfielder of the three. It was only a broken leg in 2004 and the emergence of Selwood which made him have to play roles both back and forward in the interim. Surely he needs to be put back in the guts, or at the very least part of the midfield rotation.

Disagree with TV's possessions being crap if he played mid. He has enough acceleration to break away and create dangerous stats. Body strength improves every year. Don't think anybody expects anyone to replace Ablett. Not possible. But Ablett's departure DOES open the doors for other players previously on the fringe to show their stuff.
Hogan maybe as a tagger.
Varcoe as a creative mid.
Selwood, Kelly, Bartel, Corey to rotate through as the hard ball getters.
Mackie as winger/mid maybe swapping with Wojo.
T Hunt as a HBF, taking over Wojo's role
J. Hunt as Dew type HFF.
Who knows about Bundy, Menzel, Duncan?
Pretty exciting prospects, BUT NOBODY WILL OR CAN REPLACE ABLETT, which is not the end of the world.

Totally agree with the bolded part. Just have to look at his game against the Pies in Round 19. He had a hand in five of our first six goals that night, was one of the catalysts for our 2nd quarter comeback and some of his goal assists were 55m bombs through the middle onto the chest of players running back towards goal with an opponent right on their tail. Disposal is the least of Varcoe's problems if you ask me.

 

[Turbocat]

Probably not alot to do with Varcoe or Ablett but he goes.

I have at times over his career , thought Kelly would be a player we could use as trade bait. We had numerous mids and he always just seemed to be surplus (harsh) or perhaps just a luxury that we could use to upgrade another area of deficiency.Not sure if he lost pace post "leg" but he seems to over rely on clever side steps when in heavy traffic and on occasion can get caught trying to do too much.He seems to have a nice kick on him but does he try for a little too much with it sometimes?Not super strong overhead but not weak either.

But Kelly is so flexible , he is probably the most obvious candidate to fill an area of immediate weakness. How often has played his best games on the ball when some one was missing from our normal group. His role in 09 as a fill-in backman was immensely important , his cool in play assessment of options nearly always improved the inball situation for us , his role in the GF in such tough game showed him as a quality player, certainly tougher than I gave him credit for.Kelly has the skillset that Corey does not , if he remains fit he could easily move into the backiline on a more permanent basis.

With Hunt. Has he ever given any indication that here is a forward inside that hulking frame trying to get out.Just like Ben Graham , for a guy with such an awesome kick , he seems to get all "Jelly and IceCream" when having a setshot. It makes me think , where the hell is his natural position cause I don't think its on the backline. Maybe its in the NFL.

Still I do think his has a bit going for him and until he got an appalling suspension for a "Mans Tackle" he was ,IMO,playing one of his best seasons.I could see a player like him appealing to Scott if he could do more of that. But after he came back it was like he lost confidence and then, those 15 minutes against Milne , blew his season out of the water. It was a poor match up but we were always devoid of a true small defender. Milne is a very cagey player like SJ that better defenders than Hunt have had trouble with.

Someone's idea of being a defensive mid does seem to be worth a go. If he could build to a Ling type fitness , he would have the strength around the ball to really "kill" a couple of the Jr on ballers going around. Then let him creep forward and he may be a dangerous option. Would he have the pace to keep up? Not sure but it would be worth a shot.

 

[Vdubs]

TURBO, like the way you write. But your initial comments about Kelly kind of prove how underrated he is even by us, and I'm sure you don't want it to sound like that. Or might be my interpretation. But as you have said later on about Kelly, your points are balanced. Have always loved Kelly and he did have that off time post serious leg#, but he has come back to be one of our best and strongest players, deserving a leadership role. He was important in 07 - 2010 and have high hopes he'll be one of our most critical extractors 2011 and beyond. He is very hard to tackle, and has some kicking flaws, nothing like Corey though, and I am very glad he was never traded.

On the other hand, at the time Melbourne got Moloney so we could get Ottens, they were very keen on Tenace, and our coaching panel thought Moloney was more expendable. Have been dirty about that a long time, but he (Tenace) is the one that should have been traded earlier. No point doing what-ifs, but I wonder how things would have been at Geelong with Moloney still on our list- we may never have got Selwood, or Prismall.

Anyway, like you , I've said nothing about Varcoe or Ablett, TODAY, anyway.

 

[Turbocat]

VeeDubs , perhaps I have underrated him. As others have mentioned I thought he was a standout in the dark rebuild days when he first debuted but he was over taken by Bartel and then Ablett. For some reason he seems to be less than what he is , maybe its score board impact of the other players. Not sure. Anyway , I'd be hoping for a big season for him in 2011. Perhaps it should be "Ablett loss will be Kelly's gain"

 

[Belisarius]

I think Kelly can walk straight into the mid-field and as he has done in the past be a very good player for us.

Varcoe I think would be better on the wing with Wojo on the other wing giving us plenty of speed and run and carry.

Adding to THunt to the backline would also add some pace and youth to the side.

Personally I think these moves are no brainers - and then all we need do is find room for Duncan and Menzel and we have made significant moves to add fresh legs and youth to an aging side.

If these 3 new players add some zip and Varcoe plays more mid-field - I cannot see why we would not make the finals and be in contention.

You cannot replace Ablett really - but Kelly is an excellent player that will mean we will not lose too much - if Kelly, Bartel, Selwood and Corey (if we are to believe his knee has come good) all play up to their usual high standards.

What we really need is Simpson and Brown to come good over the season - as with a gun forward and a good very tall mobile ruckman in 2012 - we could be a very hard team to beat.

Obviously either Gillies or Drum has to step as well - as when Scarlett does leave the backline may well have to be rejigged.

 

[Vdubs]

I think the way Bomber pushed Ablett forward a lot, away from the midfield, he was probably preparing us for a life of Ablettless midfield. Many of those changes Bel mentioned have already worked.

We have to find ways of getting those goals Ablett got, and that could be more the challenge. He could manufacture goals like his dad. I have no fears about our midfield stepping up to the challenge. Well, not many, anyway.