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Craig Bird

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Agree on what you say Robbie but by all reports Bird is about the best midfielder in this draft. Every club tries to draft potentially top midfielders every draft, so if he is right at the top of the group we should just take him while we can, and particularly at our last selection he is a steal.
 
mj23 said:
well Lenny Hayes is clearly the better player thats what i mean and he's from the home state. St kilda even said they couldn't believe there luck with hayes they thought they would have Bolton, Bolton being a saints supporter correct me if im wrong.
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Bolton was a Saints supporter if anybody else hasn't mentioned it before. :thumbsu:
 
nico said:
Agree on what you say Robbie but by all reports Bird is about the best midfielder in this draft. Every club tries to draft potentially top midfielders every draft, so if he is right at the top of the group we should just take him while we can, and particularly at our last selection he is a steal.
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Not sure that reports label him as just about the best midfielder in the draft. no doubt he's had a super carnival but the question over him would be over his scope for further improvement. Kevin Sheehan's comments on him were interesting - ie at u18 level he uses his strength to almost bulldoze players aside. At AFL level he won't have that physical advantage so it remains to be seen how his other strengths (clearance ability, clean hands) stand up.

There was the normal little snippet on Fox Sports News yesterday about the Swans talking about this week's game with some brief footage of training. I saw Bird in one of those drills so I guess there's some chance he'll run out with the twos this week as a top up - so long as he has physically recovered after two U18 games in the past 10 days. If he plays, it will be our first chance since early in the season to directly compare him to some of our other midfield youngsters. He was named in the best in one game a few months ago. How will he look compared to Monty and Moore?
 
I saw him play against Tasmania in the National Under 18 Champs. He won the medal. His upside is that he is outstanding at stoppages, he has all the skills, has a football brain and he is from NSW. The downside is that he is small and strongly built and doesn't have a body that can be physically built upon. The closest physical description I can think of is Greg Williams and his speed is similar. He can be drafted number 3 and in this draft he is excellent value.
 

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bigswan said:
I saw him play against Tasmania in the National Under 18 Champs. He won the medal. His upside is that he is outstanding at stoppages, he has all the skills, has a football brain and he is from NSW. The downside is that he is small and strongly built and doesn't have a body that can be physically built upon. The closest physical description I can think of is Greg Williams and his speed is similar. He can be drafted number 3 and in this draft he is excellent value.
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Lets hope he makes it and is half as good as Greg Williams was.
 
From the newspaper I read, Roosy said that, body-wise, Bird is ready to play in the senior side for next season. Roosy told us to expect to see some new faces in the Swans round 1,2,3... games. Could he mean that Bird will be one of them? I'd like that. :)
 
mj23 said:
well they say he's awesome around clearances got best in under 18 carnival they say a younger version and not as injury prone luke ball. woulb be nice to get daniher as well.
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he was best in division two at the carnival, yes? not sure how different that is from division one, but i think bird was captain of the nsw team
 
nico said:
Agree on what you say Robbie but by all reports Bird is about the best midfielder in this draft. Every club tries to draft potentially top midfielders every draft, so if he is right at the top of the group we should just take him while we can, and particularly at our last selection he is a steal.
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the first time i read about bird, midway through the year, he was being mentioned as a potential top 10 draftee, but that the swans had claims on him so it wouldn't matter where he went
can anyone else confirm that?
 
rancidpants13 said:
he was best in division two at the carnival, yes? not sure how different that is from division one, but i think bird was captain of the nsw team
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Yes. He was the best player in the best team which is a good sign for the Swans. It was also nice to see NSW/ACT win that tournament as it means both NSW and ACT have some good young talent coming through.
 
mj23 said:
yeah but we still took Fosdike (sa) and Bolton(vic) in front of homegrown Lenny Hayes a few years ago SILLY he was a massive swans fan to.
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My sentiments exactly buddy. Iv'e been on this one for some time now.

As for Bird, he played in the Swans reserves premiership this year. He will fit in extremely well. Looking forward to seeing him play in the red and white next year.
 

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He was available to all clubs in last year's draft, no?
And nobody picked him even as a rookie?
And was AA U18 last year too.
One scout told me he was deemed a bit gutless which was why the clubs would not take him. Egg on their faces this year, eh? Can't ignore him 2 years in a row ...
 
Messiah said:
He was available to all clubs in last year's draft, no?
And nobody picked him even as a rookie?
And was AA U18 last year too.
One scout told me he was deemed a bit gutless which was why the clubs would not take him. Egg on their faces this year, eh? Can't ignore him 2 years in a row ...
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The 2 scouts (different clubs) I spoke to were concerned about his lack of height and pace, had the most hard ball gets in the Aust champs in 06 and was right up there again in 07.

Most clearances in 07.

Dont know what games the scout you spoke to was watching?

He will get in and have a go and certainly isn't gutless.

Extraction from contests is his forte'.
 
I wouldn't be too worried about his size. He's Sam Mitchell class when it comes to winning the hard footy in close. He is an absolute ball magnet, and he knows how to use the pill too. Also knows how to push forward and find the big sticks.

Will be a great player for you fellas for a decade no worries.
 
Interesting Diablo, the Cats are one club that should have secured him through the NSW scholarship scheme for their 3rd round pick.

Were made well aware of him.
 

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From what ive heard about this guy he sounds like a great get

- Best player in Devision 2 U-18's Championships
- In U-18's AA team

Does anyone else think that Paul Roos may even give Bird a run in the seniors straight away. I would like to see him in the side come Round 1 next year.
 
After all the horse trading, we will get Craig Bird with pick # 60, which is an absolute steal.

From all reports he could be in our side come round 1 and play a major part in the team.

DST
:D
 
DST said:
After all the horse trading, we will get Craig Bird with pick # 60, which is an absolute steal.

From all reports he could be in our side come round 1 and play a major part in the team.

DST
:D
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yes.....fantastic....with him, 06 draftees currie, o'keefe and white, the development of barlow, schmidt and laidlaw, and new chums mattner and playfair (if he lifts) and with kennelly and LRT back and fit, and hall (hopefully) back to being barry hall, not anthony rocca, we can start getting excited again
but can we stop all the sooking about schneider...please
 
Messiah said:
He was available to all clubs in last year's draft, no?
And nobody picked him even as a rookie?
And was AA U18 last year too.
One scout told me he was deemed a bit gutless which was why the clubs would not take him. Egg on their faces this year, eh? Can't ignore him 2 years in a row ...
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Everybody gave Craig Bird a miss at last years draft and PS draft. He couldn't be rookie listed because he wasn't 18 by 31/12/06. He was born on 21 st January 1989 and he had finished school, so he missed out on both fronts.

I saw him play a game in 2006 for NSW/ACT and was impressed and just before the draft the Age ran a story on him, said he was a Port fan and his father had played for Port in the SANFL getting to reserves level. I was hoping that our recruiters would give him our 2nd NSW scholarship but your guys signed him up on 21st December last year a week or so after the PSD and rookie draft. At pick 60 the kid is great value and I reckon he will prove to be the steal of the 2007 draft.
 
RussellEbertHandball said:
I was hoping that our recruiters would give him our 2nd NSW scholarship but your guys signed him up on 21st December last year a week or so after the PSD and rookie draft.
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There was an article about Bird a couple of months back (around the time of the U18 championships). According to that, about 4 clubs courted him as a potential apprentice immediately after last year's draft and I think it said that Port was one of them. He chose the Swans simply because it meant he could remain living close to home and pretty much train full time with the club.

For those expecting him to come in straight away and make an impact, don't get your hopes up too high too quickly. He does look a prospect but in the games I saw him play for the reserves late in the season, Moore looked far more AFL ready than Bird and we all know that Moore's not been able to break into the team. Bird was good in the ACTAFL GF (Moore didn't play that one) and was deservedly named amongst the best. But that was as much for his work drifting forward and kicking three goals as it was for anything he did in the midfield.
 
liz said:
There was an article about Bird a couple of months back (around the time of the U18 championships). According to that, about 4 clubs courted him as a potential apprentice immediately after last year's draft and I think it said that Port was one of them. He chose the Swans simply because it meant he could remain living close to home and pretty much train full time with the club.
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If he was born 22 days earlier I would like to think we would have rookie listed him. If he had a choice between a swans or a port NSW scholarship it just wouldn't have made sense to take port's offer even if he barracked for the club. Being able to train with, and play for, the swans reserves is a lot better than 3 or 4 trips to SA over a 12 month period.
 

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