Issac Conway
DOB 29/5/95 Ht 183 Wt 85
Okay it’s time for a good old fashion rant. I am absolutely disgusted with the Lions and the way they have handled Conway this year and the Academy in general. The Academy should be the Lions’ biggest competitive advantages instead it is an afterthought. We should be pouring money into getting the really good coaches involved, training up the local coaches and getting the kids as often as we can to work on their games. At the moment we are underinvesting in local talent and the academy with the effect being that we are flushing the money we do spend down the toilet. If you are going to do something do it right you clowns. This year there was not one top aged Academy kid who showed improvement in the skills that would get them drafted. NOT F@$%&G ONE. That is a not a co-incidence and is an indictment on those heading up the Academy. The way Conway was handled is a prime example of how appalling the development of these kids is being handled.
As strange as it may sound to supporters of other teams the Lions have a weak recruiting presence in Queensland. Our recruitment and list management team are based out of Victoria, WA and SA and the Queensland guys are a very quiet voice at the table or alternatively are a tougher judges than the guys in other States. Year afte year Collingwood pluck the best talent from under our noses and year in year out we do nothing about it. For years too the best way to avoid being drafted has been to play for the Lions reserves team. The Lions are a prime example of the saying that familiarity breeds contempt. We play kids out of position and have the listed players ignore them on the field and wonder why they don’t perform.
This year the brilliant minds that make up our Academy (and by default coach the Qld team) decided it would be a great idea to play Conway as a back pocket sometime HBFer. WTF??? You realise he is one of the better inside mids in the upcoming draft with a relatively poor outside run and kicking skills? Apparently not. So the kid toes the line plays in the backline for Qld and regularly in that role for the Lions reserves. He plays about as well as expected but as a consequence he shows nothing of the inside game that will get him drafted. If the Lions are trying to hide him away then I would still have a problem but I would understand but the Academy morons must have forgotten to tell the recruiting geniuses because they decide to overlook him based on exposed form. Toward the end of the season he works out that the Lions are not looking out for his best interests and goes back to Aspley. He plays the last four games of the season and all the finals all the way through to the GF. From memory he was in the best every game playing in the middle of the ground and some time down back to rest. In the GF he DOMINATED the first half against the Lions reserves and was comfortably BOG. He faded in the second half but imagine what he could have done if the Lions development gurus had had an ounce of common sense and actually developed his game this year in the position he actually is likely to play in. MORONS!!!! The Lions recruitment team taking their usual approach of ignoring anything Queensland related subsequently overlook him when they are likely to get him very cheaply. IDIOTS!!! Expect a team like Collingwood to grab him the Lions supporters to ask for years why we were asleep at the wheel.
For all the Academy kids out there what is the moral of the story?
1. Do not rely on the Lions having your best interests at heart.
2. Do not rely on the program provided to you by the Lions coaches to actually improve your game.
3. Do not agree to play out of your natural position for “development” or any other reason.
4. Play for your local club in the NEAFL and stay the hell away from the Lions Reserves team especially if the Lions are going to play you out of position.
Anyway onto Conway. Conway is an inside midfielder who I think would have not been too far behind Crouch had he been handled appropriately this year. At the Champs last year I had him rated behind only Crouch of the inside mid group. Conway is a very solid unit for a junior footballer and would be as strong over the ball as anyone in this draft. He holds his feet in the contest and is very difficult to tackle with excellent strength through the hips that makes him difficult to get to the ground even in senior company. Against the Lions in the GF he flicked and stepped through a few tackles that should have seen him brought to ground.
In clearance situations what he should have been working on this year was attacking the contests. His best work is done he gets in and chases the ball but too often he concentrates on finding his man and sitting with them looking whilst things develop. He should have been instructed to just get in there and chase the ball and let the opposition worry about finding him. By taking a passive approach he was negating his biggest advantage. When he does get the ball his hands are pretty clean and his handballing in close is solid without being elite.
Playing at the back I thought Conway did surprisingly well defensively. He reads the ball in the air very well and takes quite a lot of intercept marks but reading it better than the forward he is on or dropping off to get to the dangerous hole. He is very strong through the body and handled small forwards easily in this regard. He is also composed at the back and does not get flustered which is an advantage given the forward pressure exerted nowerdays. He does not have the pace though or the skills to play as a small forward at AFL level.
I haven’t seen his test results but I would expect him to not be particularly quick over the 20m but I would be surprised if he tested slower than Crouch and Cripps who are two of the best inside mids this year and I expect to be highly drafted. I would also expect him to go faster than Bontempelli who tested surprisingly slowly.
Endurance is probably a justifiable concern for Conway. Last year I thought he looked pretty good from an endurance point of view but this year he seems not as good for some reason. Any sensible development program for him this year should have had him fining down and running plenty of miles to build his tank. Unfortunately if results are any indication it seems the opposite is true. When he is in the midfield his spread is quite poor and he fades out of games too much. I liked that he ran himself into the ground in the first half of the GF and if he maintains that kind of approach his endurance base and gut running ability will increase.
Last year his skills were poor but this year I think there has been a noticeable improvement particularly with his kicking. There is still quite a bit to go but he pinpoints a lot more passes now than at this time last year and he has flattened out his kicks. He is still prone to the occasionally loopy pass but he has cut down on these a lot and is heading in the right direction. His kicking at this stage is better than Crouch’s.
Overall I think Conway can feel justifiably aggrieved with the way he has been handled this year. I hope a team picks him up as I think he has a lot of potential as an inside mid.
DOB 29/5/95 Ht 183 Wt 85
Okay it’s time for a good old fashion rant. I am absolutely disgusted with the Lions and the way they have handled Conway this year and the Academy in general. The Academy should be the Lions’ biggest competitive advantages instead it is an afterthought. We should be pouring money into getting the really good coaches involved, training up the local coaches and getting the kids as often as we can to work on their games. At the moment we are underinvesting in local talent and the academy with the effect being that we are flushing the money we do spend down the toilet. If you are going to do something do it right you clowns. This year there was not one top aged Academy kid who showed improvement in the skills that would get them drafted. NOT F@$%&G ONE. That is a not a co-incidence and is an indictment on those heading up the Academy. The way Conway was handled is a prime example of how appalling the development of these kids is being handled.
As strange as it may sound to supporters of other teams the Lions have a weak recruiting presence in Queensland. Our recruitment and list management team are based out of Victoria, WA and SA and the Queensland guys are a very quiet voice at the table or alternatively are a tougher judges than the guys in other States. Year afte year Collingwood pluck the best talent from under our noses and year in year out we do nothing about it. For years too the best way to avoid being drafted has been to play for the Lions reserves team. The Lions are a prime example of the saying that familiarity breeds contempt. We play kids out of position and have the listed players ignore them on the field and wonder why they don’t perform.
This year the brilliant minds that make up our Academy (and by default coach the Qld team) decided it would be a great idea to play Conway as a back pocket sometime HBFer. WTF??? You realise he is one of the better inside mids in the upcoming draft with a relatively poor outside run and kicking skills? Apparently not. So the kid toes the line plays in the backline for Qld and regularly in that role for the Lions reserves. He plays about as well as expected but as a consequence he shows nothing of the inside game that will get him drafted. If the Lions are trying to hide him away then I would still have a problem but I would understand but the Academy morons must have forgotten to tell the recruiting geniuses because they decide to overlook him based on exposed form. Toward the end of the season he works out that the Lions are not looking out for his best interests and goes back to Aspley. He plays the last four games of the season and all the finals all the way through to the GF. From memory he was in the best every game playing in the middle of the ground and some time down back to rest. In the GF he DOMINATED the first half against the Lions reserves and was comfortably BOG. He faded in the second half but imagine what he could have done if the Lions development gurus had had an ounce of common sense and actually developed his game this year in the position he actually is likely to play in. MORONS!!!! The Lions recruitment team taking their usual approach of ignoring anything Queensland related subsequently overlook him when they are likely to get him very cheaply. IDIOTS!!! Expect a team like Collingwood to grab him the Lions supporters to ask for years why we were asleep at the wheel.
For all the Academy kids out there what is the moral of the story?
1. Do not rely on the Lions having your best interests at heart.
2. Do not rely on the program provided to you by the Lions coaches to actually improve your game.
3. Do not agree to play out of your natural position for “development” or any other reason.
4. Play for your local club in the NEAFL and stay the hell away from the Lions Reserves team especially if the Lions are going to play you out of position.
Anyway onto Conway. Conway is an inside midfielder who I think would have not been too far behind Crouch had he been handled appropriately this year. At the Champs last year I had him rated behind only Crouch of the inside mid group. Conway is a very solid unit for a junior footballer and would be as strong over the ball as anyone in this draft. He holds his feet in the contest and is very difficult to tackle with excellent strength through the hips that makes him difficult to get to the ground even in senior company. Against the Lions in the GF he flicked and stepped through a few tackles that should have seen him brought to ground.
In clearance situations what he should have been working on this year was attacking the contests. His best work is done he gets in and chases the ball but too often he concentrates on finding his man and sitting with them looking whilst things develop. He should have been instructed to just get in there and chase the ball and let the opposition worry about finding him. By taking a passive approach he was negating his biggest advantage. When he does get the ball his hands are pretty clean and his handballing in close is solid without being elite.
Playing at the back I thought Conway did surprisingly well defensively. He reads the ball in the air very well and takes quite a lot of intercept marks but reading it better than the forward he is on or dropping off to get to the dangerous hole. He is very strong through the body and handled small forwards easily in this regard. He is also composed at the back and does not get flustered which is an advantage given the forward pressure exerted nowerdays. He does not have the pace though or the skills to play as a small forward at AFL level.
I haven’t seen his test results but I would expect him to not be particularly quick over the 20m but I would be surprised if he tested slower than Crouch and Cripps who are two of the best inside mids this year and I expect to be highly drafted. I would also expect him to go faster than Bontempelli who tested surprisingly slowly.
Endurance is probably a justifiable concern for Conway. Last year I thought he looked pretty good from an endurance point of view but this year he seems not as good for some reason. Any sensible development program for him this year should have had him fining down and running plenty of miles to build his tank. Unfortunately if results are any indication it seems the opposite is true. When he is in the midfield his spread is quite poor and he fades out of games too much. I liked that he ran himself into the ground in the first half of the GF and if he maintains that kind of approach his endurance base and gut running ability will increase.
Last year his skills were poor but this year I think there has been a noticeable improvement particularly with his kicking. There is still quite a bit to go but he pinpoints a lot more passes now than at this time last year and he has flattened out his kicks. He is still prone to the occasionally loopy pass but he has cut down on these a lot and is heading in the right direction. His kicking at this stage is better than Crouch’s.
Overall I think Conway can feel justifiably aggrieved with the way he has been handled this year. I hope a team picks him up as I think he has a lot of potential as an inside mid.
. Good Rant. I think this echos the thoughts of many of us. I'm baffled when I try to understand why the two most promising prospects 12 months ago, weren't even nominated. I'll be spewing if our academy becomes a drafting source that benefits our competitors more than us.
and that's what hindered his influence in the second half, just FYI, Quigs.
