beetham is a rising star

[StrengthThroughLoyalty]

well done to the young bloke on his nomination. he should be in the mix to win it by the end of the year as he will play most games, barring injury. as a midfielder he looks pure quality, he knows how to get the football and his explosiveness when he gets his hands on the footy is a pleasure to watch.

justin koschitzke will also be nominated some time this year. he has only played 3 games but has been extremely impressive. in fact if i was prone to making early rash predictions i would say that this bloke is going to be a super star. he is 196cm tall, athletic and reads the play extremely well. he is clean when he is gathering the ball, no fumbling, all one grabs. he is composed when he has the ball and has good disposal by hand and foot. if reiwoldt is as good a footballer as this kid then we will have 2 extremely gifted key position players of the future.

whats that i see way down the end of that long tunell?

light.

 

[BUBBALOUIS]

STL, i dont think there is any doubt the Saints are on the right track, i always believed you guys might struggle early this year as your recruits will take some time to settle and get used to Blightys game plan. Dont despair at your current results the Hawks had similar results when they first went down the track of recruiting quality young key position players, i have no doubt your time is coming

 

[FIGJAM]

I agree with both of you, recruiting high quality Key Position players is important in the rebuilding process.

This is where I think Collingwood may have failed. We have an over supply of good-high quality midfielders.

On the other side of the coin however, the weaker links at Hawthorn and St Kilda are their midfields. St Kilda's former stars are fading and while Chick & Crawf supply some resistance, the Hawks have a very beatable midfield rotation.

Maybe the Pies should talk to the Saint and Hawks at the end of the year for some mutually beneficial trading!

I reckon Koschitzke will be a fantasic footballer, but I am still glad the Saints picked him up. We already have one of these super mobile bigmen in Josh Fraser. And of course Guy Richards, who was predicted to go top ten, will be an awesome ruckman when he bulks up. Naturally we would have picked Riewoldt given the chance but Didak would have been our second pick, so I think we did pretty well!

 

[sainter]

Good call STL,

It's good to see some promising youngsters not only make their debut for the club, but already make a considerable impact to the side at this early stage.

I told a few people (and left a few messages on bigfooty) before the season started that Beetham was a certainty for the Rising Star Award. Now that we are 5 rounds into the season and have had a chance to see the many young players across the league start their careers, that may have been a tad premature.

Our recruitng manager, John Beveridge, actually rated Beetham the second best player in the 1999 draft behind Josh Fraser. JB was very surprised he was still available at number 9. Sure, players like Paul Haselby have jumped ahead of him at this stage of their careers but I think Beetham has a huge career in front of him.

As for Justin Koschitzke, I didn't think big men were supposed to step right into league football and look that comfortable. That's mostly why I'm such a huge wrap for Josh Fraser. It's funny you mentioned Fraser FIGJAM because I noticed the similarities between the two of them a few weeks ago. And for Riewoldt to be considered by all of the recruiting managers to be a better prospect than Justin, I can't wait for him to start his career.

FIGJAM,

I was happy we went for Koschitzke ahead of Didak because of their rarity of good quality key position players. Mind you I wouldn't have minded if we went for Didak. Picks 2 and 3 could have gone either way. Riewoldt, Koschitzke and Didak were clearly the best three credentialled players available.

You're probably right about our midfield. That's why it's so important that our young midfielders like Hayes, Moyle and Beetham can develop under the guidance of Harvey, Burke and Thompson.

------------------
Fortius Quo Fidelius

 

[Kobe]

No doubt the two Stkilda boys and Didak will be good players but No 4 pick Luke Livingston
has good credentials as a player and was easily the most impressive player at the draft camp. Daniel Kerr and Ryan" only the lonie" would seem good bargains considering they were not in the top ten picks.

 

[Savatage]

It must be said, however, Sticks that Riewoldt & Koschitzke only had limited input in the draft camp due to injury. Koschitzke had a groin injury & Riewoldt an injured hamstring.

Hopefully for Riewoldt all of his injury bad luck can be behind him in a few weeks & we can see him dominating for Springvale before getting a gig with the seniors.

 

[samm]

how did i guess that after being nominated for the rising star award, beetham would not do as well the next week!!

can he make up for it?

can we beat the hawks now aussie jones is out and more injuries????

 

[FIGJAM]

Originally posted by Sticks
No doubt the two Stkilda boys and Didak will be good players but No 4 pick Luke Livingston
has good credentials as a player and was easily the most impressive player at the draft camp. Daniel Kerr and Ryan" only the lonie" would seem good bargains considering they were not in the top ten picks.

I agree that Livingston will be a pretty good footballer.

But, despite our thrashing in the ressies on Sunday, it has to be said that Jason Cloke gave Livingston an absolute towling!

Clokey is said to be too slow for AFL, but given the reported pace of Livingston, how is it that Clokey came to issue Luke with a bath?

The reason is IMO that Jason Cloke has a fantastic football brain, which nowadays is overlooked. They prefer to look at beep tests and 20m sprint times from the draft camp.

Jason Cloke will be a champion in the Collingwood backline for the next ten years!

...oh yeah, have I mentioned how f*cken good Didak is yet??? Class above everyone else in the VFL match on Sunday!

 

[BUBBALOUIS]

Originally posted by Savatage
It must be said, however, Sticks that Riewoldt & Koschitzke only had limited input in the draft camp due to injury. Koschitzke had a groin injury & Riewoldt an injured hamstring.

Hopefully for Riewoldt all of his injury bad luck can be behind him in a few weeks & we can see him dominating for Springvale before getting a gig with the seniors.

Samm, i think your a big chance this week, my Hawks are due to fall, played pretty ordinary footy against Adelaide, Holland is out again, Hay will prolly be suspended, so we are ripe for the picking, but id still tip us.....just