Opinion Cameron Guthrie

[iameviljez]

here's his game yesterday, as you can see, was below usual standard but not as bad as the OP makes him out to be.

Where do you get these clips - are they available through the AFL site?

 

[Jon Douglas]

Reckon some fans are a bit hard on young players.

People were calling for Hawk to be traded, Varcoe to be dropped, that Motlop was not hard or good enough - and there are more examples.

It does not mean all young players because GFC/Wells picked them will make it - but time has to be given to them to see if they can develop into good players.

Guthrie has not been outstanding but has made decent progress for a player that is young and has less than 30 senior games.

I would say so far so good. Not great but shown enough to keep giving time to.

My guess is he will make it and be a good player for us. He seems to be an incremental player and will over time just slowly get better and better.

We will know what the MC think when players come back as thenh we probably cannot carry JHunt and Guthrie in the same side.

 

[flatcat]

One thing people have gotta take into account with Guthrie and others in our backline is with us playing high risk attacking football through the centre, when we turn it over we can leave guys like Guthrie very exposed. i.e. he is not necessarily standing next to his man, or is left one on one alone, or is even in a two on one situation. This also goes for our zone when the opposition are bringing it out of defence, which pulls backmen up the ground and can leave the last backline players pretty exposed if they slice through our zone. Sometimes it results in intercept marks for us, sometimes it puts the last backman standing in a pretty awkward position. These features of our gameplan have definite advantages and I think the team accepts the risks, given the advantages. But supporters should not hang the last guys in the backline out to dry because whoever is left holding the can in the last line when things don't come off will get goals kicked on him.

Overall I think Guthrie's doing really well and growing in confidence every week.

 

[Partridge]

Reckon some fans are a bit hard on young players.

People were calling for Hawk to be traded, Varcoe to be dropped, that Motlop was not hard or good enough - and there are more examples.

It does not mean all young players because GFC/Wells picked them will make it - but time has to be given to them to see if they can develop into good players.

Guthrie has not been outstanding but has made decent progress for a player that is young and has less than 30 senior games.

I would say so far so good. Not great but shown enough to keep giving time to.

My guess is he will make it and be a good player for us. He seems to be an incremental player and will over time just slowly get better and better.

We will know what the MC think when players come back as thenh we probably cannot carry JHunt and Guthrie in the same side.

The bolded part cannot be stressed enough. It's amazing how short the memories are. Apart from Selwood, and perhaps Scarlett, every single player in our premiership teams took a long time to get going at senior level. Corey was soft, Ling was an utterly useless key forward, Rooke was a failed back pocket (remember the game when Robertson kicked 7 and they won by less than a kick?), Ablett a promising but not brilliant small forward. And on and on and on. Lonergan's early efforts as a defender were horrifying. And Hawkins' first 70-odd games had everyone scratching their heads at times.

But guess what, the club knows more than we do. They persevered. They made adjustments. Unlike what a lot of clubs do, they showed patience. Players got bigger, and that little bit faster. With better skills. All improved between 50-100 games, which seems to be statistically the magic area to get to. Importantly, they didn't make rash calls after 20 or 30 or 50 games. For good reason.

On to Guthrie, there's no young player on our list I've got more confidence in. He oozes calmness, composure and a cool head under pressure. His disposal is already very good (did anyone see the pass to Corey across goal in the last quarter? Ridiculously risky but pulled it off effortlessly). He needs to improve areas like all players do. But he is going to be around for a long, long time so get used to him.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

It's Dream Team/Supercoach. That's the only explanation. I honestly have no idea how anyone could have a problem with how Guthrie is playing, besides that.

 

[burto]

The bolded part cannot be stressed enough. It's amazing how short the memories are. Apart from Selwood, and perhaps Scarlett, every single player in our premiership teams took a long time to get going at senior level. Corey was soft, Ling was an utterly useless key forward, Rooke was a failed back pocket (remember the game when Robertson kicked 7 and they won by less than a kick?), Ablett a promising but not brilliant small forward. And on and on and on. Lonergan's early efforts as a defender were horrifying. And Hawkins' first 70-odd games had everyone scratching their heads at times.

But guess what, the club knows more than we do. They persevered. They made adjustments. Unlike what a lot of clubs do, they showed patience. Players got bigger, and that little bit faster. With better skills. All improved between 50-100 games, which seems to be statistically the magic area to get to. Importantly, they didn't make rash calls after 20 or 30 or 50 games. For good reason.

On to Guthrie, there's no young player on our list I've got more confidence in. He oozes calmness, composure and a cool head under pressure. His disposal is already very good (did anyone see the pass to Corey across goal in the last quarter? Ridiculously risky but pulled it off effortlessly). He needs to improve areas like all players do. But he is going to be around for a long, long time so get used to him.

Could not agree more. He is the dependable, no frills, solid footballer of our young guys. Never panics, always does the 1 percenters, good disposal and he gets better with each game. He was a midfielder when drafted as well, but is happy playing in defence because its what the team needs.

 

[hbk_aus]

Good player. Quite odd-looking but that's irrelevant.

 

[kilgour]

Can someone help me i dont see anything in him.is there something i dont see?

Not sure whether your problem is poor eyesight but Cam shows plenty
Excellent balance of speed, strength in legs over the ball, good hands, plays well above his head and is tough
Dont forget he gets given a nullifying role each game
his only problem is that he is ahead of his time, he is our new Enright and at times there is not the need for both
Will be a gun

 

[kilgour]

Can someone help me i dont see anything in him.is there something i dont see?

Not sure whether your problem is poor eyesight but Cam shows plenty
Excellent balance of speed, strength in legs over the ball, good hands, plays well above his head and is tough
Dont forget he gets given a nullifying role each game
his only problem is that he is ahead of his time, he is our new Enright and at times there is not the need for both
Will be a gun

 

[iameviljez]

Good player. Quite odd-looking but that's irrelevant.

Camerons who look odd are a speciality of this club!

 

[hbk_aus]

Camerons who look odd are a speciality of this club!

Not sure exactly what it is - may be his head. He seems to have a massive head. I am talking almost Brett Ebert proportions.

 

[KingOfIthaca]

Putting my reputation on the line here, I think he will be a 200 game "enrightesque" type of player. Stuffs up occasionally but the reason for that is he has the guts to make aggressive rebound 50 kicks, for a young player it takes time to read a game of AFL.
And most of the time when he makes a decision, it's daring and it works. Just how Geelong want to play footy.

 

[HappyChappy35]

A quality attribute of Guthrie's that I think goes unnoticed a lot is how well he reads the play. More often than not he'll be the first of our defenders to float across half back and intercept forward entries from the opposition. What makes him even more capable in this department is his good overhead ability, smarts, and composure with the footy. Was particularly evident in the Port game yesterday.

Couple that with his improving ability to contest and very good disposal and he'll be a very valuable defender in years to come. Possesses a lot of the qualities you typically see in good defenders- smart, composed, level-headed, able to contest, good overhead ability, and an effective rebounder.

 

[RegHickeyStand]

Bart Cummings - "Patience is the cheapest commodity in sport. But it is often the least used."

 

[S for September]

Thought he played quite well on Saturday, showed some good signs. Will start to get more involved with experience and opportunity.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Reckon some fans are a bit hard on young players.

People were calling for Hawk to be traded, Varcoe to be dropped, that Motlop was not hard or good enough - and there are more examples.

It does not mean all young players because GFC/Wells picked them will make it - but time has to be given to them to see if they can develop into good players.

Guthrie has not been outstanding but has made decent progress for a player that is young and has less than 30 senior games.

I would say so far so good. Not great but shown enough to keep giving time to.

My guess is he will make it and be a good player for us. He seems to be an incremental player and will over time just slowly get better and better.

We will know what the MC think when players come back as thenh we probably cannot carry JHunt and Guthrie in the same side.

i think he has done extremely well considering what point of his career he is at

im not so concerned about how many posessions a game he gets, what im looking for in a 20 year old or any young player is poise, skills, decision making, and that little bit something, bit of an art or signature of their own you often see the better players of the AFL posess as a younger player, asthey get older you just see it flourish

gaz junior when he was young by absolute no means was a huge ball winner, heck i think it took him something like 5 years to have his first 30 posession game! bartel was no star in his first 3 years either

but everytime ablett or bartel got it, even if u were watching from a mile away, u could pick straight away which it was almost solely on the way they moved about the ground

guthrie to me has a lot of skill and ability, is quite daring and attacking off HB, very smart and skilled footballer, he will be an AA in 5 years time

 

[bulletproof]

He is good in the air and a nice user of the ball. I think he lacks a bit of confidence, often in crowded situations he seems to hold back and wait, expecting Macke or Enright to sort it out. He is not an insticintive player like that. When he is one out he is better.

There is a fair bit of room on the spectrum between completely hopeless and the next Corey Enright. I am in the middle.

Josh Hunt had a good career at Geelong without ever being a star, I'd say Guthrie might be similar.

 

[vinum coupe]

You're coming along nicely BP.

In only 75 days or so you've gone from this disheartening appraisal

As I have said on other threads I think he is struggling.

He's fortunate that he is in position that we don't have a lot of his type but I think we'll probably still play the more talented players like Smedts, Caddy, Murdoch, Motlop, Horlin-Sith and ask Corey or Kelly to fill in at half back.

He is not a midfielder.

I think we'll be pretty keen to get Josh Hunt back in after a couple of games from Guthrie.

To this.

He is good in the air and a nice user of the ball. I think he lacks a bit of confidence, often in crowded situations he seems to hold back and wait, expecting Macke or Enright to sort it out. He is not an insticintive player like that. When he is one out he is better.

There is a fair bit of room on the spectrum between completely hopeless and the next Corey Enright. I am in the middle.

Josh Hunt had a good career at Geelong without ever being a star, I'd say Guthrie might be similar.

Give it another 75 days and you might have caught up to the rest of us

 

[geelong_crazy26]

wow that first quote he said about guthrie couldnt be further from the truth about an extremely tallented footballer :|

 

[bulletproof]

Ha, you got me there vinum coupe however, I think earlier in that thread someone said that Guthrie was a mile ahead of Motlop which is more of a shocker.

Guthrie is no star, I'll stand by that and I love a good half back flanker. I think Thurlow has more ability in his little finger.

 

[catempire]

Hey bulletproof, there's always "when the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do sir?"

 

[vinum coupe]

Ha, you got me there vinum coupe however, I think earlier in that thread someone said that Guthrie was a mile ahead of Motlop which is more of a shocker.

Guthrie is no star, I'll stand by that and I love a good half back flanker. I think Thurlow has more ability in his little finger.

That was SJ
I was the one that said he will end up as an elite midfielder.

I'm liking Thurlow too. They'll be very different players though.

 

[Hoffy95]

Doesn't make many mistakes this kid. Can't remember having watched any game recently where I've cursed his name, nor have I seen one where I've wanted to single him out and sing his praises.

As a defender if you're not making mistakes you're halfway there and if supporters aren't finding too much to criticise you over then you are probably doing a pretty good job.

Cam's doing a very good job for mine and is a lock in our back six.

 

[footscore]

yep, Guthrie will become an absolute gun midfielder, in fact, he has a lot of Kelly about him with his ability to play a similar role as Kelly was a utility-type when he first began who later became a permanent midfielder.

Love how the MC are developing him in the backline, flying well and truly under the radar (even amongst a few of our supporters) but this is going to pay off big time in 3 years time.
Looks much stronger this season as he's able to break the tackles but also able onto hold his opponent in one-on-one contests.
Will get caught out from time to time but it's to be expected from a 25 gamer.

 

[vinum coupe]

Hoffy95 The only real thing he isn't doing is being damaging. But that could just be what they have told him. i.e. we need you to learn the lockdown role. Don't bother with trying to exploit your opponent.

I see him ball watching a lot.
And it's like he wants to go and get it but he holds back to cover his man.

And occasionally his opponent can burst away on him due to this.
Guthrie has pace, but in no way is he lightning. So if you are playing a reactionary role you can be caught out. So he can be exploited a bit right now.

Hats off to him that it isn't happening very often.
I think we'll see him slide into the midfield rotations but he'll have developed a mindset that doesn't allow him to get get smacked by his midfield opponent if it doesn't work out his way on any given day.