Cowan to debut

[Pure_Ownage]

Interesting, as I always have rated Kelly as a smooth mover and very classy, but not overly quick. He's near impossible to tackle. What about non Cat players? Somebody said a Bit Like Andrew Swallow. I see a lot of him and he's a gun player. Any likeness?

Yeah Kelly's much better in making and evading tackles than Cowan (as you'd expect) but I do see some similarities generally.

I can definitely see the Swallow comparison, they both share the innate ability to hunt the footy and find heaps of it, and aren't very fashionable but are quite effective.

 

[vinum coupe]

I thought Cowan was a bit more Leigh Tudor / Byrnes like?

I will have a think about it tonight. Like I said I haven't seen much of him and I made the call on one appearance that he won't make it. Will re-evaluate.

 

[darren forssman]

I made the call on one appearance that he won't make it.

you werent the only one...us arm chair critics dont always get it right.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I thought Cowan was a bit more Leigh Tudor / Byrnes like?

I will have a think about it tonight. Like I said I haven't seen much of him and I made the call on one appearance that he won't make it. Will re-evaluate.

Kids that size (Cowan was drafted at about 70kg I think) you simply can't make the call on for a couple of seasons until they've put size on. Same for Motlop and other lighter kids. Duncan and Menzel were physically men when they were drafted, Cowan wasn't.

 

[vinum coupe]

Yeah I know. It was about the way he seemed to have no time at all when he had the pill. Like I said. Might have been nerves.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Yeah I know. It was about the way he seemed to have no time at all when he had the pill. Like I said. Might have been nerves.

Nerves possibly but that's body size too, you panic when you know or think you're about to be tackled because you know you won't have the strength to stand up in the tackle so you feel you've gotta dish off quick, and rushing leads to the wrong option. A lot of the seniors are prepared to take their time, in the full knowledge that if tackled, they've got the body strength to stand up in the tackle and offload.

I did see a bit of 'deer in headlights' with Cowan last year and at times early this year but as his body has developed more there's been less of it. I watched him in the curtain raiser before the North game (not sure whether you were there) and it was noticeable how hard he went in and took some big hits and showed more composure when under physical pressure, so he's developing and has earned a debut game.

 

[Turbocat]

We wouldn't have won a flag without Taylor so we need to rate 07 in that context. We also need to rate it against the quality of that draft overall, which was weak...look at what WC got from their Judd picks, not much.

Scott Simpson McKenna and Donohue were late picks and it's not our fault the latter 2 lacked real guts and passion. My only regret from that draft is not taking Scott Thompson with our 2nd pick when we knew other clubs were interested...maybe we didn't want to take key defenders with our first 2 picks (but then again we did take McKenna later, who incidentally Hawthorn were going to take had they not taken Dew), but when you look at our lack of key defender depth after Scarlo retires, I wish we had. Lonergan coming on has helped plug that hole for the medium term, but I still would have liked Thompson. But other than that there's not much else we could have picked, that draft was a poor one.

As for 08, it's quite good. Taylor Hunt looks like he'll be a 150 game player out of p49, Motlop was drafted off a shoulder reco as a bottom ager so was always going to be a project as was the skinny Brown, and both have shown more than enough to say they'll be very good AFL players if their bodies hold up. Gillies is the only real concern from that group IMO.

But yeah, no doubt we've smashed the 09 draft. We got some help from WC passing on Duncan twice in the 20's, but when you remember Wells traded pick 33 for 40 (Bundy) 42 (Vardy) and 56 (Cowan), we did really really good work there.

Yep so 07 was nothing special and the jury is still out on 08 ( although it looks promising). If we get two players to 50 games then Id say its a good draft.

 

[meto]

Kids that size (Cowan was drafted at about 70kg I think) you simply can't make the call on for a couple of seasons until they've put size on. Same for Motlop and other lighter kids. Duncan and Menzel were physically men when they were drafted, Cowan wasn't.

Spot on evaluation PO! he's learnt from the best and is still doing his apprenticeship, I've noticed how they've put some size on him since last year, so I think playing the Suns is a great first upper for him.

The early pace might surprise him, so I hope he's in the side proper and gets time to adjust, not just in as the sub.

 

[ize_]

Played a lot of juniors with Josh in Daylesford and his ability to find the ball and disposal by foot were always a huge class above. Was always slight, even against blokes his age in lower leagues, but certainly not soft. Goes in hard and has that see ball-get ball quality. I remember one U18s game in the wet when he was only 15, had 30 touches to half time.

 

[S for September]

Was very good tonight, a good game to be introduced in to. Hopefully he can do the same in the big matches. Great goal too!

 

[alfy!]

Great debut, would love to see him get a full game in the oncoming weeks.

 

[LifeSpan-Void]

Kicked that goal off a step outside 50. Definitely some potential there

 

[thejester]

Great debut. By the end it was a blowout but when he came on it was still tight - had a nice shot at goal that just hit the post and loved his little shimmy to give the handball to Stokes.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Showed good skills and composure. Give him a full game next week.

 

[InnocentBystandr]

Very impressed with him tonight. How do we fit Bundy and Mitch Duncan into the side?

 

[isen river]

I was pretty impressed with the young fella tonight, he looks like a mini Scarlo with that hair. Vardy also improved from last week and overall our kids are showing that they can play.

 

[Selective Retention]

I liked him when I saw him in the VFL last year. I thought he was poor in the pre season games this year. Played a very tidy quarter and a bit tonight. I suppose it will come out in the media tomorrow but I'd love to know how the hell the sub and interchange infringement went down. The guy on tv said that we subbed Hawkins off for Cowan when Hawkins was still on the ground WTF.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Very impressed with him tonight. How do we fit Bundy and Mitch Duncan into the side?

Drop some underperforming senior players.

 

[oozeboss]

Drop some underperforming senior players.

Precisely that.

Mr Scott's press conference has virtually assured him of selection next week. He, like all of the other 'kids' who played tonight, certainly performed better than a lot of far more senior players. And will stay in as a consequence.

 

[meto]

Very impressed with him tonight. How do we fit Bundy and Mitch Duncan into the side?

Easy! Duncan's a walkup and Bundy displaces the out of form Varcoe.

Josh handled the pressure and was not intimidated, he will play again, might get next week at home, not his time yet but he's penciled himself in for the future IMO.
Wish we could wave the majic wand over him to find that extra 5- 7kg of hard body weight, but it'll come.
Our youth all seem to have plenty of courage at the ball, Josh displayed that last night.
How does he kick the ball so far with those skinny legs? great goal Josh.

 

[S for September]

Easy! Duncan's a walkup and Bundy displaces the out of form Varcoe.

Josh handled the pressure and was not intimidated, he will play again, might get next week at home, not his time yet but he's penciled himself in for the future IMO.
Wish we could wave the majic wand over him to find that extra 5- 7kg of hard body weight, but it'll come.
Our youth all seem to have plenty of courage at the ball, Josh displayed that last night.
How does he kick the ball so far with those skinny legs? great goal Josh.

mckenzie kicks the ball a mile and he's not a big guy either, all about technique and control I guess. They should study this more!

After watching his draft video I liked the look of him, but he has turned into a much different player then I was expecting.

 

[RegHickeyStand]

Drop some underperforming senior players.

Yes. But I'd put it differently: rest some tired players.

I'd give Chappy 2. One for pure rest, the next to prepare.

 

[The Casey Cat]

The kid can play. His goal as said come from a huge kick off one step outside 50. Would like to see more of him if possible but will depend on other injuries.

 

[Gaz_Brownlow]

I have been totally suprised by how committed Vardy and Bundy have been. Totally blew me away as i thought both were very unlikely to play seniors at the start of the year. I can now add Cowan to that list....sometimes you can just tell, and boy, he looked every bit of an AFL player. Will be interesting to see how he copes on the stronger bodies of other teams, but there is a lot to like about his endeavour, skills and decision making!

 

[Turbocat]

It seems to happen oh so often.

Others clubs get high picks and play them asap. Obviously talented kids are sometimes too hard to leave out of the side but sometimes it seems political. These picks get the attention of the media , the stocks of the clubs seem to rise on the back of the expectation of future glory.

Geelong rarely gets a high attention pick , they get kids "they" like and almost put them to sleep in their system. Then when the time is right they bring them in. Time after time the media seem amazed with a new kid for Geelong that can play , mind you players that we have all know since the day they came to the club. How many media types would really know the first kid we picked up for GA?

Menzel, Duncan, Hunt, Guthrie, Bundy, Vardy and now Cowan. Nearly every one has spent a substantial time in our system before being asked to step up. They are prepared so the task is not beyond them. They have been developed the Geelong way so they so often just fit in our team like they were meant to be there. So I look forward to the others like Schroder , Hyphen and Brown when its their turn.

As I have said before , the others get the picks - we make the players. They pick the names - we make the names.. and long may it be so.