Cousins

[mdc]

Opti, you're focusing on completely the wrong players. Try Cousins in for Ben Johnson and then get back to me.

No, he wouldn't have dragged us over the line yesterday, but he would have without question made us a better team assuming he had stayed clean.

The important thing to note is that just because he's had a successful year doesn't mean the same would have happened at Collingwood, or that the reward would have outweighed the original risk.

It's a bit like ruing not having put all your money on the horse that just came in first.

As for Jurrah, meh. He's been great for Melbourne, and I know a few Demons supporters who now watch games purely because of Jurrah (or near enough), but I'm not sure he'd be best 22 for us.

 

[shawthing09]

Spin? dont start

When Didak, davis, swan, pendlebury, obree were all in form you couldnt stop our midfield anyway. Is cousins really necessary there? no not really

Has cousins been the extraction machine he was of years previous or more a link up gut runner? (another link up gut runner great we can replace swan, and add another reason not to play wellingham)

Do you seriously believe cousins would have dragged us over the line yesterday? i dont

The problem is when Pendles O'Bree and Swan are up and going we are winning the ball and the others shine. Didak and Davis aren't good enough at consistantly winning their own ball around the stoppages which means the workload and pressure is placed on those 3.

Is Cousin's necessary. No. Would he still improve our side. Yes.

His gut running has always been his number one asset but his still decent at finding the footy for himself. His experince, physical conditioning and ability to will himself to a contest means his always going to win his fair share of ball and more then Davis or Didak or JOHNSON so hence he improves our side.

Having more players of that quality always improves your group it makes it impossible for teams to tag all the players who can break the game open.

As for Wellingham if he is going to run foward of the ball and not apply defensive pressure then he doesn't deserve to play finals. More importantly there is the issue of Sidebottom not being ready to have an impact at AFL level this year. J Mac playing underdone and Johnson in the side.

Would he have dragged us over the line probably not, would we have been closer probably. Would we be in a better position to face Adeliade and until Pendles comes back absolutely.

 

[Optimax]

Opti, you're focusing on completely the wrong players. Try Cousins in for Ben Johnson and then get back to me.

No, he wouldn't have dragged us over the line yesterday, but he would have without question made us a better team assuming he had stayed clean.

You really think having cousins in the side would mean BJ doesnt play? turn it up

Tarx, BJ, Obree, will all play. Wellingham/clarke/beams/sidebottom/barham/McCarthy will be the ones that missed.


Teak i also disagree Cousins is as fast or as good a kick now as he was 2 years ago with west coast.

 

[Frankie23]

I don't want to start any rumours or anything but I catogorically know that he IS NOT over his addiction, I have seen it with my own eyes i.e last week.

It's time to get over it, we didn't get him and there are reasons for that....As for Liam Jurrah getting through our hands, that is what i want to know...

 

[Optimax]

We have seriously watched a different cousins, i see a hard running wide receiver that likes one two handball games.

He isnt the one funneling the ball out which is what we need now pendlebury is injured, and he isnt turning games or even keeping richmond in games

 

[smiddaz123]

As for Jurrah, meh. He's been great for Melbourne, and I know a few Demons supporters who now watch games purely because of Jurrah (or near enough), but I'm not sure he'd be best 22 for us.

Would've been more than useful early in the season when we had half our forward line out though. Athletic, clever, and takes his chances in front of goal.

Jurrah would be providing some good depth and competition for spots, and in all probability would be a quality best 22 player for us in the future.

Takes his chances in front of goal when he gets them, athletic freak, clever. Pity we didn't end up with him considering how much he would've cost us.

 

[Teak_Pies]

Yeah I agree how did we not get Jurrah

 

[Teak_Pies]

Does anyone actually no why we didn't get Jurrah

 

[mdc]

You really think having cousins in the side would mean BJ doesnt play? turn it up

Should? Yes. Would?No idea. But then again I have no idea why an unaccountable outside receiver with awful disposal is still getting a game even sans-Cousins.

Wellingham/clarke/beams/sidebottom/barham/McCarthy will be the ones that missed.

Even if that were the case, I'm not sure it's a good argument. I personally would be happy to keep a young player in the VFL for a year or 2 more if it makes us a better team.

But anyway, as I said, none of us really know the risks associated as well as the club, which is why I was always happy to back the board's decision on this one.

 

[Optimax]

Does anyone actually no why we didn't get Jurrah

He went home during the VFL season

We were unsure about his application and the likeliness of Homesickness, given we had many other forward options (dick, caff, davis, didak, thomas, medhurst etc) we decided it wasnt worth the risk.

In hindsight trading for corrie as cover and letting Jurrah slip was silly

 

[shawthing09]

Regardless of how you see it he is still comfortably in our best 22 and as such would have improved our chance at a flag. Like I said the decision is either marketing based or based around the fact we didn't really see ourselves as a real threat this year and more then likely a combo of the two.

I said when this issue came up at the start of the year whether he is over his addiction or not the club that draft him and the AFL will do there best to make sure his return is a succesful one and he retires a hero and not an outcast. Even if it means buying a few big rugs to sweep everything under.

 

[smiddaz123]

I believe the reason the club officially gave was that we wanted to focus on youth instead, which is weird because our final two picks in the draft were used on Leigh Brown and Anthony Corrie.

 

[Optimax]

We had a PI follow him around FFS, there were reasons we didnt draft him and even if he made us slightly better he would not have brought us a flag.

Also after all the pissing and moaning early this year as to why leigh brown was playing and not reid and wellingham etc i find it strange that people wouldnt mind any of beams/sidebottom/Mccarthy/wellingham to stay in the seconds

 

[Optimax]

I believe the reason the club officially gave was that we wanted to focus on youth instead, which is weird because our final two picks in the draft were used on Leigh Brown and Anthony Corrie.

This is me being a smart ass

both are younger then ben lol

 

[1970]

I don't want to start any rumours or anything but I catogorically know that he IS NOT over his addiction, I have seen it with my own eyes i.e last week.

It's time to get over it, we didn't get him and there are reasons for that....As for Liam Jurrah getting through our hands, that is what i want to know...

That shouldn't start any rumours. But our show is basically based on rumours so that'll do. Cheers for that.

You should be hearing from someone from the press within a few hours. Dare I say that a fleeting dalliance with fame beckons.

Cousins not going to Collingwood made our show much funnier so I'm happy we don't have a proven finals performer on our list in our quest for a flag!

The scenes with Mick and Eddie would have been rubbish if Ben was with the Pies!

 

[mdc]

Also after all the pissing and moaning early this year as to why leigh brown was playing and not reid and wellingham etc i find it strange that people wouldnt mind any of beams/sidebottom/Mccarthy/wellingham to stay in the seconds

You're strawmanning it up.

People were moaning and whining about Leigh Brown earlier in the year because he was playing like garbage. Picked it up since half-way though the year and has played some good footy for the most part, and most people have acknowledged as much.

 

[Optimax]

You're strawmanning it up.

People were moaning and whining about Leigh Brown earlier in the year because he was playing like garbage. Picked it up since half-way though the year and has played some good footy for the most part, and most people have acknowledged as much.

no it was we must play youth, it didnt help he was playing poorly but the youth card was the one that kept getting played

I also disagree people acknowledge Leroy has played good football of late.

But leigh was one example, all year ive read we havent played enough kids which seems a total **** to me given half our bloody team is under 23

 

[didaka]

Unsure about how much truth this has to it, but I heard that a certain member of our recruiting team didn't want to touch him due to application.

Eddie McGuire apparently responded by saying "If you get this wrong, you'll lose your job."

 

[Optimax]

Unsure about how much truth this has to it, but I heard that a certain member of our recruiting team didn't want to touch him due to application.

Eddie McGuire apparently responded by saying "If you get this wrong, you'll lose your job."

Yes i have heard this aswell

Reckon he is currently packing his undergarments?

 

[shawthing09]

I must of missed most of the moaning about youth. Leigh Brown got it because he was useless before coming to collingwood and playing useless football at collingwood and for most parts people couldn't see how a younger player could do any worse then him.

If your serious about a flag tilt and an older player can do a better job thats the way it goes.

It's almost a certainity that he would have made us a better side in some capacity for season 2009.

Would he have kept clean unknown, Could we have kept it out of the press if he couldn't I'd (almost) garuntee we've (probably) done it before.

Would it have gotten us a premiership, unlikely but it almost certainly would have helped our cause and what if's are a terrible thing.

 

[alfiiee]

Absolute freak.. Would have made a huge difference to this year.
His leadership is outstanding and we seem to lack a bit of that on field. The kids would be in awe of him, he could teach them so much. Didak and Leon could play forward more. Unbelievable around clearances something we also lack. Highly skillful, something we also lack.
Experience..
We played 10 players under 23 on the weekend. Not anywhere near mature or experienced enough to beat saint kilda or dominate a finals series for that matter..
Even after he would have retired probably the same time as Mick, he would have left so much in those younger players.

Pretty angry about this considering he would have cost us nothing..
Of course though at the start of the year nobody knew he was going to have this kind of impact at Richmond.

Hope he plays on for 2 more years. Love watching him.

 

[reggie]

If I saw Cousins in black and white I would have spewed!

 

[1eye]

All people mentioning Beams and Sidebottom have to be realistic. Beams has been great this year Sidebottom good for a first year player but has had minimal impact. Meanwhile Ben Johnson is still getting a game. Ben Cousins would have improved out chance at winning a flag without a doubt and we would not be feeling the effect of missing Pendles quite as much if we had him in our midfield.

That said the choice to avoid him suggests A) that we prefer to be safe a marketable and B) We didn't realistically think we were a shot this year.

This is a clever poster

 

[Vampire013]

I watched a couple of Richmond games this year where Cousins changed the momentum of the game off his own boot.
No point in pretending that having him would not have make us a better side.
He was and still is a gun player. He would easily be in our best 22.
His gut running got West Coast over the line in their Grand Final win over Sydney.
Too late now and no point of having this discussion.
I was annoyed we did not pick him up, but the brains trusts want to be moralists and not successful.
Martin Pike was a d*i*c*k*h*e*a*d, but Brisbane was smart enough to pick him up and he starred.
Cousins is a waste of talent at Richmond.

 

[1eye]

I watched a couple of Richmond games this year where Cousins changed the momentum of the game off his own boot.
No point in pretending that having him would not have make us a better side.
He was and still is a gun player. He would easily be in our best 22.
His gut running got West Coast over the line in their Grand Final win over Sydney.
Too late now and no point of having this discussion.
I was annoyed we did not pick him up, but the brains trusts want to be moralists and not successful.
Martin Pike was a d*i*c*k*h*e*a*d, but Brisbane was smart enough to pick him up and he starred.
Cousins is a waste of talent at Richmond.

I played Basketball with this guy just before he went to Brissy. I asked him pikey why don't you have a go at coming over to the pies and he said "I have and they don't want me"