Freo welcoms future forwards

[Kickett Punches Read]

really good read on the afl website

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/87667/default.aspx

if these two boys bulk up and perhaps grow a couple more cm's each we could have our future key forwards right there then if shepherd and roberton come along we may also have our backs... future looking good

 

[free at last]

really good read on the afl website

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/87667/default.aspx

if these two boys bulk up and perhaps grow a couple more cm's each we could have our future key forwards right there then if shepherd and roberton come along we may also have our backs... future looking good

im excited.a forwardline boasting fyfe,houghton,mayne, ballantyne ,the great man,ruffles. so stoked!

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

im excited.a forwardline boasting fyfe,houghton,mayne, ballantyne ,the great man,ruffles. so stoked!

yes that forwarlinecertainly warms the heart

 

[Sailor]

I think we are certainly on the right track. Forget the doomsayers - and we have heaps of them on this site - but I also don't discount Hamish Shepherd who I thought showed a bit of promise last year with East Perth.

Also Bucovas and Sibosado whom I haven't seen but both spent much of the year recovering from injury. If they can develop then competition starts to create its own momentum.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

I think we are certainly on the right track. Forget the doomsayers - and we have heaps of them on this site - but I also don't discount Hamish Shepherd who I thought showed a bit of promise last year with East Perth.

Also Bucovas and Sibosado whom I haven't seen but both spent much of the year recovering from injury. If they can develop then competition starts to create its own momentum.

unfortunately im on the glass half empty side for next season and maybe the season after, however i do agree with you on shepherd, i think he could be a backline option. in fact i hold more hope on shepherd than on sibosado. i think with the last three drafts coupled with the enxt two we should really be able to create a team capable of sustained success

 

[Scham]

I doubt Sheppard will make a defender. More a key forward who can pinch hit in the ruck IMO.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

I doubt Sheppard will make a defender. More a key forward who can pinch hit in the ruck IMO.

really? does he not play in defence in the wafl? i thought he started his career as a full back

 

[FD2646]

Bit of a swingman, but seemed to play his best footy up forward for those dirty Royals last year.

 

[Dormammu]

Bit of a swingman, but seemed to play his best footy up forward for those dirty Royals last year.

Settle down

 

[Scham]

really? does he not play in defence in the wafl? i thought he started his career as a full back

No, started his league career as a key forward for the Royals then finished the season as purely their second ruckman.

 

[JungleMuffin]

I cant see us not winning more games than we did last year. Some of those close losses will now be wins. Some of the average losses will now be close, etc.

I think on the injury front, odds are well get a better go this year, which believe it or not makes a huge difference.

Add Palmer + Morabito to last years "Kidfield", then another pre season, and then McPharlin back, Pavlich forward, and things instantly look a hell of alot better.

Pav to FF/CHF, alone, makes us a 3 goal better side.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

I cant see us not winning more games than we did last year. Some of those close losses will now be wins. Some of the average losses will now be close, etc.

I think on the injury front, odds are well get a better go this year, which believe it or not makes a huge difference.

Add Palmer + Morabito to last years "Kidfield", then another pre season, and then McPharlin back, Pavlich forward, and things instantly look a hell of alot better.

Pav to FF/CHF, alone, makes us a 3 goal better side.

hard to argue with any of that, although im wary of getting hopes up. i still feel a bulk of the work will be left to the kids and that alone is inherintly risky.

amazing that so much can weigh on a 20 year olds shoulders, but a massive part will be decided on how rhys returns from the knee injury

kudos on the "kidfield" terminology btw... i like that. no doubt it will be stolen by hackdorn or someone of the like throughout next year

 

[Selggad]

I think we are certainly on the right track. Forget the doomsayers - and we have heaps of them on this site - but I also don't discount Hamish Shepherd who I thought showed a bit of promise last year with East Perth.

Also Bucovas and Sibosado whom I haven't seen but both spent much of the year recovering from injury. If they can develop then competition starts to create its own momentum.

Sibo played most of last year in the magoos and improved steadily before getting a couple of runs in the seniors. IIRC he was only out for the last 3 or 4 weeks.

While I think we are on the right track IMO we are still at least three years away from being a strong team in the comp. Even though we have a lot of good kids they are only kids and don't have the experience to play consistently good footy week in week out. Palmer is a future star but he has only played one season of AFL. Ditto Mayney, who looked great when he came back last year, but still only has one season under his belt. Same for Hill and Suban. Balla started to show his class at the end of the season but he needs more time playing with the big boys to understand the requirements of the game at that level. Remember he got destroyed by O'Brien against Collingwood because he couldn't get away with his WAFL tricks. Houghton and Fyfe haven't even played a game and both are twigs at the moment. Mora is going to be on a huge learning curve for all this year, and probably the next.

Some of these guys will be jets and hopefully all will be solid AFL players but give them time guys. A few years to get the strength, endurance and knowledge required to be consistently good players.

 

[free at last]

unfortunately im on the glass half empty side for next season and maybe the season after, however i do agree with you on shepherd, i think he could be a backline option. in fact i hold more hope on shepherd than on sibosado. i think with the last three drafts coupled with the enxt two we should really be able to create a team capable of sustained success

yep i agree we are still a couple of years away from having a crack at the top 8.is this taz's last year at freo?

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

yep i agree we are still a couple of years away from having a crack at the top 8.quote]


rumour was that taz had asked to leave, however i heard somewhere since, may have been from the doig medal night, that he would be keen to re-commit to freo. so i guess it is up in the air. fingers crossed he tells the little lady that he is happy and wants to play another couple of years here at freo

 

[rgauci]

Sibo played most of last year in the magoos and improved steadily before getting a couple of runs in the seniors. IIRC he was only out for the last 3 or 4 weeks.

While I think we are on the right track IMO we are still at least three years away from being a strong team in the comp. Even though we have a lot of good kids they are only kids and don't have the experience to play consistently good footy week in week out. Palmer is a future star but he has only played one season of AFL. Ditto Mayney, who looked great when he came back last year, but still only has one season under his belt. Same for Hill and Suban. Balla started to show his class at the end of the season but he needs more time playing with the big boys to understand the requirements of the game at that level. Remember he got destroyed by O'Brien against Collingwood because he couldn't get away with his WAFL tricks. Houghton and Fyfe haven't even played a game and both are twigs at the moment. Mora is going to be on a huge learning curve for all this year, and probably the next.

Some of these guys will be jets and hopefully all will be solid AFL players but give them time guys. A few years to get the strength, endurance and knowledge required to be consistently good players.

Don't forget Ballantyne had no preseason. O'Brien is no slouch as a defender. But i'd expect Ballantyne to be much much more dangerous after a full preseason.

 

[Selggad]

Completely agree, rgauci. I just hate seeing the team get pumped up on the back of two potentially good drafts. There seems to be a growing expectation that first and second year players are going to be turning the team around very quickly. Most players need 3 - 5 seasons to be at their peak. If we start getting overly optimistic now we are setting ourselves up for a massive disappointment and then we'll start getting all the negative crap posted on the board again..

 

[JungleMuffin]

I dont think people are pumping themselves up for a tilt at the flag, moreso just appreciating the inevitable progression of our younger players. I think thats entirely reasonable

But yeah, while i see t8 as possible, itd have to be an almost dream run to make it to that stage. Perhaps if people think its a realistic possibility, theyre expecting a bit too much.

 

[free at last]

yep i agree we are still a couple of years away from having a crack at the top 8.quote]


rumour was that taz had asked to leave, however i heard somewhere since, may have been from the doig medal night, that he would be keen to re-commit to freo. so i guess it is up in the air. fingers crossed he tells the little lady that he is happy and wants to play another couple of years here at freo

cheers for that.jeez....it would be gold if taz played 2011,2012 seasons,for freo.

 

[Sman-21]

Our forward lines future and also midfield is looking fairly good.
Its our defense which i consider more important than forward line where the future isnt looking so good, which is why i would of liked to see another pick used to get another(Roberton sounds good) good defensive prospect.

Next draft we need to use a high pick to get best defensive option.

 

[Scham]

Our forward lines future and also midfield is looking fairly good.
Its our defense which i consider more important than forward line where the future isnt looking so good, which is why i would of liked to see another pick used to get another(Roberton sounds good) good defensive prospect.

Next draft we need to use a high pick to get best defensive option.

Who would you trade to get that high pick? Only joking we should get pick 7 (after the PP's) or so next year which should snare us a reasonable KPD.

 

[E Shed]

God lets have a bit of fun while we can. After the dawning realisation that Schwabolly had left us with half a dozen good players, some geriatrics and a great pile of list clogging crabs, it's exciting to look at a magnetic board with names like Palmer, Mayne, Ibbotson, Hill, Suban,, Broughton, Balla, Ruffles, Clarke, and now Morabito, Fyfe, Houghton etc. The last couple of years have been horrible and there is more pain to come. Nothing wrong with a bit of light hearted optimism in the off season.

 

[Sman-21]

def not seeing any doom an gloom here just saying our forward line is looking to have a fair bit of talent coming through which means there will be pressure for all to perform or they will lose there spot.
Same deal in midfield.

Just down in defense we have good players but only enough to do the job no real backups and pressure for spots.

So the pressure to perform for guys playing in midfield and forwrd will mean they cant just cruise along anymore an get picked every week.

But down back the likes of Mcpharlin, Grover Dodd can still cruise along without much fear of being dropped.
We have some very good talent down back Taz an Mcpharlin Hayden Broughton an the Duffman.
Just need Roberton to be as good as they say he is an then need another good one so that we have good backups and pressure on players to perform to keep their spots.

Fix that and every player on the team will try just that bit harder in the game , train/work on there game more than normal.
Which means we will see great improvements in every aspect.

The only pain i see next year is those first 4 games and how close we finish to top 8

 

[JungleMuffin]

Im not really phased about our KPD stocks atm. A bit of toe, 90kg/190+ and hey presto, youve got yourself a KPD.

Lets be honest, its not an overly technical position to play. If Taz can do it that well after never playing defense... i dont see a reason why someone else couldnt.

 

[theGav56]

Im not really phased about our KPD stocks atm. A bit of toe, 90kg/190+ and hey presto, youve got yourself a KPD.

Lets be honest, its not an overly technical position to play. If Taz can do it that well after never playing defense... i dont see a reason why someone else couldnt.

Well we seem to have quite a few who can't/couldn't including Drum, Murphy and Campbell. Add into that Johnson and Mundy, neither of which seem capable of holding down the positions of either FB or CHB but who fit your physical description, which are the areas we struggle in. Chuck in Bradley and Gilmore.