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Academy Watch

  • Thread starter Thread starter irel
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Judge said:
Not really, apart from what's in the public domain.

Just seems to be the case that Keays and Wagner are clearly the first two Academy boys in the draft queue for the Lions at this early, pre-carnival stage.
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The Lions are screaming for some key talls. Wylie Buzza is a standout tall being 198? (6'6), 100kg, mobile, athletic, only played for 3 seasons and in the u18s QLD side. Are the Lions looking to develop him, and does that involve drafting him?
 
tigernova said:
The Lions are screaming for some key talls. Wylie Buzza is a standout tall being 198? (6'6), 100kg, mobile, athletic, only played for 3 seasons and in the u18s QLD side. Are the Lions looking to develop him, and does that involve drafting him?
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The more you mention him, the more he sounds like the Lions' prototypical rookie candidate.
 
I don't care if he can't play. With a name like Wylie Buzza, he is a must.
 

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tigernova said:
The Lions are screaming for some key talls. Wylie Buzza is a standout tall being 198? (6'6), 100kg, mobile, athletic, only played for 3 seasons and in the u18s QLD side. Are the Lions looking to develop him, and does that involve drafting him?
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Despite all the talk of us being short on KPP's, we actually have a quite a few.

Forwards : Freeman, McStay, Close & Hammelmann
Backs : Clarke, Andrews, Gardiner & Beasley

We need more experienced players now, we have plenty to develop. A key forward and a key back would be top of our list. Might look to grab a rookie ruck who can also play forward.
 
tigernova said:
The Lions are screaming for some key talls. Wylie Buzza is a standout tall being 198? (6'6), 100kg, mobile, athletic, only played for 3 seasons and in the u18s QLD side. Are the Lions looking to develop him, and does that involve drafting him?
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I have no particular thoughts on Buzza's prospects, but we're stocked to the brim with project talls (Close, Freeman, McStay, Andrews, Smith, Hammelmann, Paine). What we don't have is established talls. Buzza may be a better development prospect than the above (the buzz on Smith this year has really faded from last year), but I'm not sure that we'd be prioritizing new tall development prospects.

That said, I'd be surprised if we weren't looking hard at the top end U18 KPP kids for use with our first pick, since that is something we don't have a lot of.

EDIT: Eons seemingly got there several minutes before me. I'm happy to treat this as an homage to his good post.
 
Do we have any category B rookie spots?

I'm guessing Bourke will free one up.
 
Hipwood and Buzza would be getting a long hard look. Yes we have some young forwards on our list but they have not been setting the world on fire although there has been odd good games. If they look like they are a chance I am sure we will grab them. I am liking that Buzza has been kicking goals and he is a big physical target that we could use. Hipwood has not kicked a lot of goals this year but every time he has gotten a chance with the reserves he has kicked a couple which often academy forwards have trouble with given that the listed guys tend to look for the listed forwards first, second and third. The Champs I think will be very important for both those guys.
 
The first big board with Chol on it has appeared courtesy of Skippos with him having him at 42, Dennis at 43 and Wagner at 62.

Second time in the last week or so his name has come up.

Info on Chol for those interested.

Skippos said:
198/78 so not as bad - these Sudanese kids often are stringbeans at that age and bulk up through the 20s. Mabior is a Sudanese KPF/Ruck with some real athleticism and a surprisingly high footy IQ given his background in the game. He's very draft able for mine - has that extra height on the Daw types but also better leading patterns. 198cm is the perfect height for modern day key forwards too - they're tall enough to often be a relief ruck if needed and physically dominant against most comers and not too tall that their mobility suffers as a result. It also leaves the option of being converted to a KPD with the 6'6 key defenders the 'in' thing at the moment - especially ones with athleticism. If Chol doesn't make the grade as a forward he's a good shot of making it as a back; he's certainly got everything Aliir Aliir has (who I think is going to make the grade) and more - height/skills the big one. I'm very bullish about Mabior - in fact j should probably have him higher.
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tigernova said:
The Lions are screaming for some key talls. Wylie Buzza is a standout tall being 198? (6'6), 100kg, mobile, athletic, only played for 3 seasons and in the u18s QLD side. Are the Lions looking to develop him, and does that involve drafting him?
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Tigernova, if you're asking me whether I have any information one way or the other about Buzza the answer is that I haven't.

I'm pretty sure that Quigley is right though, they'll take a good look at the talls during the carnival and make decisions from there.

You'd think that only one of Buzza or Hipwood is a chance of being taken by us in the ND, with Hipwood having the inside running at the moment, but early days....

Wagner would appear to be the Lions equivalent of Liam Dawson this year, he'd have to start going backwards from here to miss out being taken somewhere along the line.
 
Would I be right in saying there seem to be more potential academy picks this year. I know it is early and names can drop away but there do seem to be more being seriously discussed than the last couple of years. e.g. Keays, Hipwood, Dennis, Wagner, Allison, Chol, Buzza.
 

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WhiteLionFeva said:
Would I be right in saying there seem to be more potential academy picks this year. I know it is early and names can drop away but there do seem to be more being seriously discussed than the last couple of years. e.g. Keays, Hipwood, Dennis, Wagner, Allison, Chol, Buzza.
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I can't speak on behalf of everyone WLF but from a personal standpoint I agree. My memory could merely be failing me but I only remember 3-4 each year being seriously discussed whereas this year there are 5-6. I feel like Wagner has been discussed every year though. Am I correct in saying that Wagner has been playing for the reserves since maybe 2013?
 
WhiteLionFeva said:
Would I be right in saying there seem to be more potential academy picks this year. I know it is early and names can drop away but there do seem to be more being seriously discussed than the last couple of years. e.g. Keays, Hipwood, Dennis, Wagner, Allison, Chol, Buzza.
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Allison is only 17 this year, so he's part of the 2016 draft cohort.
 
WhiteLionFeva said:
Would I be right in saying there seem to be more potential academy picks this year. I know it is early and names can drop away but there do seem to be more being seriously discussed than the last couple of years. e.g. Keays, Hipwood, Dennis, Wagner, Allison, Chol, Buzza.
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I think that every year there will be more draftable kids and of higher quality. I'm only guessing but I imagine some of these kids would have been in the academy from a very young age compared to years gone bye.

You're right, last year there was Andrews, Dawson and Hammelmann. This year there could potentially be 6.
 
Eons said:
I think that every year there will be more draftable kids and of higher quality. I'm only guessing but I imagine some of these kids would have been in the academy from a very young age compared to years gone bye.

You're right, last year there was Andrews, Dawson and Hammelmann. This year there could potentially be 6.
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There was also Uebergang
 

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Judge said:
Tigernova, if you're asking me whether I have any information one way or the other about Buzza the answer is that I haven't.

I'm pretty sure that Quigley is right though, they'll take a good look at the talls during the carnival and make decisions from there.

You'd think that only one of Buzza or Hipwood is a chance of being taken by us in the ND, with Hipwood having the inside running at the moment, but early days....

Wagner would appear to be the Lions equivalent of Liam Dawson this year, he'd have to start going backwards from here to miss out being taken somewhere along the line.
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For me Buzza needs to be doing more as an over ager. (19 years old now) 12 months or more older is a huge advantage over the other younger boys who still have time to develop their body into something more mature. Hipwood (18months younger than Buzza) played as an over ager in the 16's carnival last year and absolutely dominated. For me, Buzza needs to be doing something similar. The carnival will be the real test.
 
Forward We Go said:
For me Buzza needs to be doing more as an over ager. (19 years old now) 12 months or more older is a huge advantage over the other younger boys who still have time to develop their body into something more mature. Hipwood (18months younger than Buzza) played as an over ager in the 16's carnival last year and absolutely dominated. For me, Buzza needs to be doing something similar. The carnival will be the real test.
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Buzza needs to hold more marks for me, spills to many
 

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