Can he Conca?

[MightyTiger]

Like what ive seen so far from Conca and looks like a future player but in saying this at the time when he was drafted i was spewing that we took him over Heppel. But seeing what Conca can do i believe he is the type player we need going forward. Even if he is not as good as Heppel he will suit us a lot more than if we got Heppel.

I'm not to sure what all the fuss is about in regards to Heppell, from what I have seen of him so far his skills aren't that good bit of hit and miss and is very lightly framed.

Conca has gone under the radar this off season, he hasn't had much of the TV coverage that Essendon has had because of being knocked out in the first round, but from what I have seen with the limited game time he has played.

He looks cleaner below the knees
Far better Footskills
Smooth and Calm in heavy traffic
Takes the right option 90% of the time
Great linkup work through the middle
Deceptively quick due to his footy smarts allowing him time and space

And just looks like an all round better player IMO.

 

[Rayzorwire]

IMO we chose Conca because we believe he'll evolve into a similar type to Martin - strong body, good size, wins his own footy in contested situations, long penetrating kick, good footy sense.

He's not as forward in development as Martin was, but these type of players are our priority when it comes to building a solid midfield core which can take us through the next decade and beyond.

Totally agree with Hag, B+ is a win even from a no.1 draft pick. If over the 15 year playing cycle of blokes like Deledio, Reiwoldt and Cotchin, we can add another five 'A's' and another 7-8 'B's' from our first rounders, that's when we'll be a perpetual power club constantly amongst the finals action.

We haven't seen much of Conca, but there's plenty to like in the glimpses so far.

I can't wait until the day when our midfield is dominating, Conca has the ball in the centre with space and options, and Dennis says 'Richmond are forming a Conca line through the centre, dancing all over Collingwood tonight...'

Oh, definitely. Riewoldt was a special player from day 1.

I thought so Wallaby, his talent was screaming at full volume even before the junior carnival as far as I was concerned, many people were hung up on irrelevancies like the fact that he ran like a duck - couldn't see his footy brain and eye.

There's some classic archival stuff here and over at PRE regarding Reiwoldt when he was drafted.

 

[Tetley Tigers]

It was widely recognised that Gary Ablett Junior wouldn't have gone Top 10. Look where he sits now, one of the best players in the land. We still get sucked into the number at which a player is taken.

I think we need to trust the club to have made the best decision. Since 2006 we have pretty much got it right in my opinion.

From what I have seen so far, he certainly belongs out on the football field, which is a great start. Seems to have time and composure and can hit a target. If he ends up being a B+ and plays 150-200 games, that's a great win.

Only time will tell...re-open thread at Round 11 and Round 22

 

[Azzleberry]

Reminds me of Steele Sidebottom and what he went #11 in an uncompromised draft, so you put the 17year olds back into this draft and we are about right...
Too early for anyone to make a call on the kid. I think it was more a 'safe' pick rather than looking for a genuine 'star'. Pretty sure we went into the draft thinking that we have Deledio, Cotchin, Martin, Riewoldt and a few others and that we needed to draft a quality kid who uses the ball well and may not star but will be consistantly good for a long period..
Just my opinion.

 

[a_fighting_fury]

Let's wait till he plays an AFL game. Ask again after Rnd22.

 

[The Rusty Trombone]

Another dirty Ranga . Conka , Jackson and Reiwoldt should all be traded to Geelong where they belong. What's with drafting another Fanta Pants.

 

[Rustof]

Another dirty Ranga . Conka , Jackson and Reiwoldt should all be traded to Geelong where they belong. What's with drafting another Fanta Pants.

They can only have one mayor at a time.

 

[Rayzorwire]

You need to get more fanta action happening for the FTF Troy...you're missing out on the traditionally most frequent customers AND the all night stayers.

 

[folester41]

conca will be a good player, not the level of deledio, cotchin or martin, but a very good player. has the brain and the skills to succeed, is the type of player you want in your team, he will be a player that stands out when the times get tough

 

[Tigerland]

This thread is laughable. The kid has yet to play one game of senior AFL football, let alone 20, 50, or 100 and is being dubbed everything from ball magnet, composed, smart, future star, average and not a force straight away.
Give the kid a go first.
I’ll reserve comment until we get some games into him!

__________________________________________________

Yep what he said. Ridiculous to question his drafting at this stage.

Add to that Heppel is essentially a half back flanker. Think we have enough of them.
Conca has sublime skills. Pretty handy in modern day football. He's an outside runner to compliment the inside Cotchin and Martin.

 

[Drunken Wookie]

The way he holds himself, moves, seems like he's on holidays in the Bahamas while he has the pill in his hands - kind of reminds me of one J Bowden at this ridiculously early stage.

 

[Crow-mo]

wasn't long ago the experts were saying Stephen Hill or Dale Thomas were late first round picks too, who suddenly and shocking shot up to the top of the draft.

truth is, much like with Conca, your experts aren't very expert.

 

[santa claws]

Reece Conca, relative draft unknown, a few days out from the draft rumor escapes he is being looked at by Richmond for pick 6. All of a sudden the unknown player previously pegged to go around 17-25 is being talked up by Emma Quayle as the great hidden talent of the draft, despite previos appraisals being nowhere near as glowing. Richmond picks Conca at 6.

I've spoken to blokes that played against him at state level who believe he is average.

I've spoken to a recruiter at a club who, along with his club, thought the Conca rumours were a joke.

That same recruiter had Heppel number one in the state no questions asked.

I'm not unhappy we've chosen him as, by all accounts he's an upstanding bloke good for the culture however from what i've 'seen' so far, he doesn't seem to have that 'special' trait that defines an A grader in the ilk of Riewoldt or Cotchin. I know it's early days but he looks like a B to B+ and hey, keep in mind, we're all here to harmlessly speculate.

So I ask the wise, totally unbiased BigFooty masses, what do you think of this new recruit based off of what you've 'seen' rather than what you've heard.

being in wa i had him pegged late first round. im still dirty we didnt take heppell i thought gc made a mistake in not taking him top 3 and really did not expect him to slip at all. if you can call pick 8 slipping very far.

in saying this i reckon conca has many good attributes and if they have done due diligence and he turns out to be a very good player who can argue with it.

at the end of the day it does not matter who they pick. their job is to hopefully find a very good player with such a pick lets hope that due diligence has been done and they have found one. still think heppell a safer bet though and has that something about him.

 

[santa claws]

wasn't long ago the experts were saying Stephen Hill or Dale Thomas were late first round picks too, who suddenly and shocking shot up to the top of the draft.

truth is, much like with Conca, your experts aren't very expert.

the real worry is just that. our no1 expert used pick 8 on a bloke called oakley - nicholls. and despite what many posters think on this board some ordinary picks and decisions have been made since that blunder by both cameron and jackson.

 

[docko911]

Lets be fair i've seen more from Conca in pre-season then i ever saw from JON.

+ those experts did manage to pick Riewoldt up at 13 when everyone else had gone cold on him.

 

[santa claws]

Lets be fair i've seen more from Conca in pre-season then i ever saw from JON.

+ those experts did manage to pick Riewoldt up at 13 when everyone else had gone cold on him.

whos compared conca to jon i reckon you should read more closely.

and in case you have forgotten greg miller basically put his hand up for jack. despite trading out of pick 8 so we could get a dud and not believing he could slip so far.i suppose if you roll the dice often enough the odd winner will come up.

 

[peggles]

i think i heard from the footage on the RFC website from FTF night that Francis Jackson only came on for the 2006 season, which was the one which produced riewoldt, edwards, connors and collins (which turned into grigg).
JON was not a product of jackson's recruiting.

 

[DivideandMultiply]

Reece Conca, relative draft unknown, a few days out from the draft rumor escapes he is being looked at by Richmond for pick 6. All of a sudden the unknown player previously pegged to go around 17-25 is being talked up by Emma Quayle as the great hidden talent of the draft, despite previos appraisals being nowhere near as glowing. Richmond picks Conca at 6.

Maybe in the Age or HS.

He is/was well known to many WA footy fans and regular WAFL watchers.

Has been earmarked by quite a few as a top talent and was well regarded due to his psych testing at draft camp backing up what many already knew about his character and leadership traits.

I think some were surprised he went at 6, but don't make the mistake of colating lack of media exposure with the idea that he was an unknown quantity to recruiters or out west.

for me, conca is very much an all-rounder. he's pretty good at all parts of the game. but the thing i've seen via footage as well as in practice games is composure, he doesn't panic and is a smooth operator. He's quick without looking like he's in a hurry.

From what I've seen so far, the kid simply makes good decisions in traffic. Along with that, he has good disposal execution. These are the two things we are basing our drafting on. Apparently he has a very good head on his shoulders as well, mature and not the kind you'll be reading about in newspapers for being a jackass in a nightclub after 2am.

I'm confident he can very good for us, but more so in a Jimmy Bartel kind of way, rather than the high profile Luke Hodge/Chris Judd way. Will be very solid in a developing team, then will flourish down the track in a very good all round team.

I think there are some good points in both of these posts.

I rated him as a neatly skilled and composed allround mid going into the draft. Where he shines is with his attitude/smarts and his composure in traffic when he is on.

Also I understand Richmond taking Conca over Caddy due to already having Martin, but gee I hope you have some slightly patient supporters on the Richmond board because I think Caddy may start to look like a star early.

 

[Infamy]

whos compared conca to jon i reckon you should read more closely.

and in case you have forgotten greg miller basically put his hand up for jack. despite trading out of pick 8 so we could get a dud and not believing he could slip so far.i suppose if you roll the dice often enough the odd winner will come up.

Only you could be sticking the boot in over something that worked out for us

i think i heard from the footage on the RFC website from FTF night that Francis Jackson only came on for the 2006 season, which was the one which produced riewoldt, edwards, connors and collins (which turned into grigg).
JON was not a product of jackson's recruiting.

Sorry but you are wrong. Jackson was at the pre-draft night and discussed JON. He even joked that if JON worked out he was his pick but if he didn't he was Miller's. Not sure how that could have happened if he wasn't involved.

 

[peggles]

Only you could be sticking the boot in over something that worked out for us


Sorry but you are wrong. Jackson was at the pre-draft night and discussed JON. He even joked that if JON worked out he was his pick but if he didn't he was Miller's. Not sure how that could have happened if he wasn't involved.

ok then

 

[Reckoner Tiger]

So far, he has looked very good. Done some great things, and some not so great, but totally to be expected of an 18 year old that has been thrown into the bigtime, and especially in the last line of defence. Does anybody know the exact reason Dimma has him in the backline? Work on his defensive game? Not a big enough tank to go in the middle?

Of course, if he plays 22 games you can make a tentative judgement, and after he plays 3 years we'll definitely have some idea of who he'll be. But until then, I'll be sweating on the Conca > Heppell decision. The latter looks like he's going to be gold for the Dons, and we were in the box seat.

Hope he gets better and better and eventually is a great pick and superstar, just ever weary as always with Richmond's recruiting.

 

[MightyTiger]

I would think him playing in the backline has more to do about teaching a young kid about accountability.

 

[DoItForCaptBlood]

I would think him playing in the backline has more to do about teaching a young kid about accountability.

Can't that be done on the training track?

 

[MightyTiger]

Can't that be done on the training track?

Short answer, No.

 

[DoItForCaptBlood]

Short answer, No.

OK...they must only do fitness training at during the week these days!