Toast Craig Bird

[BarneyBent]

To say that Bird is a part of our "bottom half" is a massive thumbs up to our recruiters and list management. I feel like I repeat myself every year but yet again we are proving we easily have the best recruiters and list management in the competition. Bird, Smith, AJ, Parker, Pykey & McGlynn are great examples of guys in our team which have stepped up above the level they have often been given credit for in the past. I have noticed a bit more respect given to Bird and most certainly Parker the last few weeks. Before that however they were "pretty good" or not mentioned at all. We all know what they mean to our team and we don't need all the "experts" massaging our egos and telling us we have some superstars. We already knew that. Then again, a bit of recognition every now and then is a nice difference from the norm. Particularly for a guy like Bird or Smith who work hard week in week out for not much recognition even when they light it up.

It almost seems our strategy is to go for "moon-shots" in the early rounds, players that are far from guarantees but hugely talented, safe in the knowledge we'll be able to pick and develop some great players from the later rounds if they early picks fail. Think Jed Lamb (hugely talented, inconsistent and injury-prone) being picked before Luke Parker and Alex Johnson, Lewis Johnston before Hannebery, Veszpremi before Bird. More recently, Towers has been an odd choice for a first round pick, but was followed by the more solid selections of Harry Marsh (who may or may not make it, seems highly regarded by coaches but not quite putting it together) and Tim Membrey (who looks the goods). And that's not even considering the rookie picks.

 

[Tuco]

Interesting thing about Bird was he always played his role but team balance was his enemy, then came injury. But with the guard changing it's now his time. Should have a place if he wants to re-sign I'd guess.

 

[RainMachine]

Hopefully we do sign him up. But from Mitchell's perspective, would open up a spot for him (Not suggesting that we do let Bird go btw)

 

[Swansujelly]

you would think his signing is imminent. We were waiting on the AFL to announce it's new "measures" before we signed anyone else.

 

[bungee]

Bird is a gun. McGlynn goes down. Bird gives Ablett a look to say "if you think that lets you off the hook little Gaz ....."

Gets a head in the face. Bounces up like the Indian rubber man. Another super game.

Did I mention Bird is a gun ?

 

[Ed_Gein]

To be honest, he plays a role, but is a very vanilla player. I think he looks better because of the players around him, i reckon he'd struggle to stay in the best 22 at a lot of other clubs