AFC Internals: Change Ahead?

[Stiffy_18]

Ironic then that my "link" at the Crows tells me that yes he has settled now, but really struggled for 2 years with being here and when he signed his extension it was very touch and go. This would have affected his development and his attitude to the game, so therefore has delayed his impact. My initial point was that this should have been factored into the equation earlier.

He has not been outstanding at Norwood and he certainly didn't do all that much (albeit with limited game time) in his AFL duties this year. A player who is fully focused, would understand that he needs to tear apart the SANFL games to get his chances, as it was his AFL appearances were not really based on merit, but more on hope.

I hope the kid comes good, but he has certainly not yet delivered on the promise he has shown.

So really what you are saying is that homesickness is not an issue today?!


How is Meesen different to any other interstate kid when it comes to homesickness?!

Reilly was a mess in his first 2 years here. Knights, pretty much the same. Even van Berlo admitted to homesickness in his forst couple of years here.

How can you factor homesickness into it. A classic example I can come up with is Reilly and Watts. When drafted Reilly was in tears, not wanting to leave Victoria. Watts on the other hand couldn't wait to get over to Adelaide and start being an AFL footballer even declaring himself as being a crow for life. Fast forward and Watts is back in Victoria and Reilly is a player who doesn't even look like going back home. How do you predict that or factor that?!

I think its easy to point the fingers at this but no one is yet to come up with a solution on how to see it and then how to handle it. People say we should have picked Woods because he is a local. OK, I can see the logic, but then we pick up Sellar the next year and people are questioning whether that has been the right decision, I mean seriously, I would LOVE to hear your solution to all this.

The easiest thing to do is point the finger but thats pointless if you don't have a suggestion or solution to the problem.

And just on Meesen, I thought he had a VERY good year last year and really there were times when he really earnt an AFL game but never got one. This year he suffer a major injury in his first 5 minutes of NAB Cup game and missed 2/3rds of the season.

And do people seriously think that Cameron Wood would have played as many games at AFC as he did in Brisbane if we drafted him instead of Meesen?! I just cannot see it. Wood got games because there was no one else to challenge his position while Meesen has had 5 other ruckmen to contend with his entire AFL career.

Players develop at different rates. VB came in and played a number of games in his first year for a minor premier. Reilly struggled for years only to come good in the last couple of years. Was drafting Reilly a mistake?! I wouldn't have thought so.

Give these kids some time and to me Meesen has shown enough in 3 years to suggest that he has a bright future in the AFL. He is not there by any means but he is not as bad as people make him out to be. I still think he will be the best ruckmen of all the other ruck prospects on our list and he is now starting to put it all together. When he does, it will be well worth the wait.

 

[afc9798]

So really what you are saying is that homesickness is not an issue today?!


How is Meesen different to any other interstate kid when it comes to homesickness?!

Reilly was a mess in his first 2 years here. Knights, pretty much the same. Even van Berlo admitted to homesickness in his forst couple of years here.

How can you factor homesickness into it. A classic example I can come up with is Reilly and Watts. When drafted Reilly was in tears, not wanting to leave Victoria. Watts on the other hand couldn't wait to get over to Adelaide and start being an AFL footballer even declaring himself as being a crow for life. Fast forward and Watts is back in Victoria and Reilly is a player who doesn't even look like going back home. How do you predict that or factor that?!

I think its easy to point the fingers at this but no one is yet to come up with a solution on how to see it and then how to handle it. People say we should have picked Woods because he is a local. OK, I can see the logic, but then we pick up Sellar the next year and people are questioning whether that has been the right decision, I mean seriously, I would LOVE to hear your solution to all this.

The easiest thing to do is point the finger but thats pointless if you don't have a suggestion or solution to the problem.

And just on Meesen, I thought he had a VERY good year last year and really there were times when he really earnt an AFL game but never got one. This year he suffer a major injury in his first 5 minutes of NAB Cup game and missed 2/3rds of the season.

And do people seriously think that Cameron Wood would have played as many games at AFC as he did in Brisbane if we drafted him instead of Meesen?! I just cannot see it. Wood got games because there was no one else to challenge his position while Meesen has had 5 other ruckmen to contend with his entire AFL career.

Players develop at different rates. VB came in and played a number of games in his first year for a minor premier. Reilly struggled for years only to come good in the last couple of years. Was drafting Reilly a mistake?! I wouldn't have thought so.

Give these kids some time and to me Meesen has shown enough in 3 years to suggest that he has a bright future in the AFL. He is not there by any means but he is not as bad as people make him out to be. I still think he will be the best ruckmen of all the other ruck prospects on our list and he is now starting to put it all together. When he does, it will be well worth the wait.

Well I just hope the kid has as much upside as has been predicted. I agree that it's hard to gauge the "homesickness factor", but we seem to get more than our fair share of it, which indicates that there may be an issue with either our screening or with our program to settle these guys in.

There also still seems to be a major issue with how we develop our younger players as the AFC has been the most conservative of clubs in blooding new kids. Look at how many players other clubs exposed this year as compared to us, including those that weren't picked up as early draft picks. From Port alone, you have Gray, Westhoff & Boak, who all got significant AFL time.

 

[Vader]

Well I just hope the kid has as much upside as has been predicted. I agree that it's hard to gauge the "homesickness factor", but we seem to get more than our fair share of it, which indicates that there may be an issue with either our screening or with our program to settle these guys in.

There also still seems to be a major issue with how we develop our younger players as the AFC has been the most conservative of clubs in blooding new kids. Look at how many players other clubs exposed this year as compared to us, including those that weren't picked up as early draft picks. From Port alone, you have Gray, Westhoff & Boak, who all got significant AFL time.

To be fair, Tippett & MacKay missed most of the season with injury. Sellar played most of the season but was rarely fit.

Gill played pretty much as soon as he was fully fit - played the last 7 games of the year as a result.

Campbell is the only one who could feel miffed about lacking opportunity - injured early, had plenty of good games for Norwood but only got 1 AFL game before being dropped.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Well I just hope the kid has as much upside as has been predicted. I agree that it's hard to gauge the "homesickness factor", but we seem to get more than our fair share of it, which indicates that there may be an issue with either our screening or with our program to settle these guys in.

There also still seems to be a major issue with how we develop our younger players as the AFC has been the most conservative of clubs in blooding new kids. Look at how many players other clubs exposed this year as compared to us, including those that weren't picked up as early draft picks. From Port alone, you have Gray, Westhoff & Boak, who all got significant AFL time.

I partly agree with your 2nd paragraph! We need to improve the development of these kids but as far as debuts this year go, Tippett and MacKay missed pretty much a whole season through injury. Sellar played a few games but has never been fully fit this year.

As Vader said, Gill got into the side as soon as he got his fitness back and Campbell could be the only one that might ask a question or two despite some big injuries early on in the year.

 

[jackster83]

I agree that we do seem to have problems when it comes to our youngsters' inability to get into the 22 or even stay fit for more than 3 weeks in a row.

In the past we had Hart and Ricciuto who became AA quality players very quickly but were both pretty much shot at 30. Johnson and Johncock were both star players at an early age and atm we have Knights, Van Berlo and Porplyzia who have all shown to have class at a young age.

The problem lies with the other young players on our list: to have Meesen, Maric, Pfeiffer, McKay, Sellar, Tippett, Hinge, Vince and Jericho injured (when they havent been playing AFL) so frequently at an age where their bodies should be fresh is extremely alarming. Campbell and Gill (mature aged recruits) have also been injury ravaged but at least they showed more SANFL form than those mentioned above. It seems to be with us that the higher rated the young player is, the bigger dud he turns out to be.

Our development of the young players on our list is really crucial at this point in time because Mcleod, Edwards, Goodwin, Bassett and co. are not getting any younger and we really need others to pick up the slack. Maybe we need to change the way we train during the pre-season and between games because the rate of injuries to our young players is crippling their development and not giving them a chance to press for selection.

 

[- PC -]

The problem lies with the other young players on our list: to have Meesen, Maric, Pfeiffer, McKay, Sellar, Tippett, Hinge, Vince and Jericho injured (when they havent been playing AFL) so frequently at an age where their bodies should be fresh is extremely alarming. Campbell and Gill (mature aged recruits) have also been injury ravaged but at least they showed more SANFL form than those mentioned above. It seems to be with us that the higher rated the young player is, the bigger dud he turns out to be.

Not sure we are too focussed on our own because I recall injuries at other clubs...but couldnt name too many. Some of those injuries are impact injuries..its the soft tissue injuries I would be looking at.

 

[johnnypanther]

Our development of the young players on our list is really crucial at this point in time because Mcleod, Edwards, Goodwin, Bassett and co. are not getting any younger and we really need others to pick up the slack. Maybe we need to change the way we train during the pre-season and between games because the rate of injuries to our young players is crippling their development and not giving them a chance to press for selection.

what are you worrird about mate? - have you forgotten that just behind those aging stars you mentioned above that we have that large well renowned group ready to take over the leadership of the team - viz Shirley, Doughty, Bode, McGregor, etc etc