Games Played

[Calcium Man]

As always after a loss the world is about to come to an end around here, so I thought I would just give a friendly reminder to just how inexperienced we are and how far ahead of where we should be we actually are. This us the total fir before the dogs.

0-30
Helbig - 4
Batcherlor - 6
Grimes - 6
Conca - 7
Nason - 22
Martin - 28
Rance - 29
Vickery - 30

Now if these guys have no injuries apart from nason I think they can play 150-200 games for the club. That means they are luck to have played 1/5 of their football careers and even less. That is over a third of our team from Sunday.

31-60
Houli - 34
Nahas - 41
Graham -41
Cotchin - 49
Grigg - 50

These guys are still very inexperienced but starting to move into that next level. We have our next captain and at least 3 guys who could play 150-200 games if not more. They are all still well and truly into the first quarter of their careers (we hope) added with the group above more than half our team are still babies in the AFL world.

60-100
King - 63
Riewoldt - 75
Mcguane - 76
Edwards - 76
Jackson - 90
Foley - 95

These are the guys that we are relying on to take the next step. But they are still a bit inconsistent (especially Edwards) most are only 22-24 and still learning but are our leaders.

100+
Deledio- 136
Miller - 138
Newman - 186

Our captain, our best player and an experienced Rookie keeping a spot warm. Let's not forget Newman had a day to forget on Sunday as well. To get as close as we did and to come back the way we did shows a lot of character and heart.

For the record bulldogs had 11 guys play over 100 games and another 4 over 50 and were preliminary finalist last year.

 

[Tiger Titus]

I take your point, but it's a bit of a cop out - and it's a bit subjective.

Games played is not a consistent measure of how good a player is vs. how good they can become. Age is another factor, but once again it is not a consistent measure.

It could be argued that Nahas has played 41 games despite being only 7 months younger than Deledio because he is not good enough to have played more. Same deal with Jake King, Luke McGuane, Angus Graham etc.

I'm not saying they are all useless no hopers, I'm just saying that listing names and numbers does not make losing a winnable game any more palatable. At some point we've got to draw a line and stop saying "We're not good enough, but in 30 games we'll be better!" Some of those players may not necessarily get any better.

Also:
Tom Liberatore 6
Callan Ward 45

Those blokes apparently have the same excuse as our blokes, and they played their guts out.

 

[Calcium Man]

I'm not using it as an excuse and there are players in that list who I don't think will make it. I'm just reminding everyone who got caught up in the 3 previous weeks (including myself) we are very very inexperienced and will have ups and downs especially when we are so young and inexperienced across the board. Its easy to point put libba and ward but having guys like Murphy, Gilbee, Boyd, Cooney, Griffen and co around makes it much easier.

This season is about pumping as many games into as many young kids as possible while winning enough to be encouraging. Would we better off short term if Thursfield, Morton, tuck were in ahead of Grimes, Helbig and nason but in the long term it won't help us and we are gunning for a premiership not a short term flurry from the Wallace era.

 

[Bazzar]

Combination of Games, and Pre-seasons in the gym and on the track is where i reckon its at. Look at the Pies, young, hard and very experienced.

Lots of footballers start to get it going after 3 pre-seasons, they are starting to get fit and hard, but most clubs dont throw their kiids head first like we have, so the players below will be very advanced when getting up to the 100 and over mark.

Imagine another 3 preseasons and 60+ games to these players plus natural culling and future drafts, we should be in our best shape since 1980.
Helbig - 4
Batcherlor - 6
Grimes - 6
Conca - 7
Martin - 28
Rance - 29
Vickery - 30
Houli - 34
Nahas - 41
Graham -41
Cotchin - 49
Grigg - 50
Jack - 75
Edwards - 76

 

[Rodney Dangerfield]

I take your point, but it's a bit of a cop out - and it's a bit subjective.

Games played is not a consistent measure of how good a player is vs. how good they can become. Age is another factor, but once again it is not a consistent measure.

It could be argued that Nahas has played 41 games despite being only 7 months younger than Deledio because he is not good enough to have played more. Same deal with Jake King, Luke McGuane, Angus Graham etc.

I'm not saying they are all useless no hopers, I'm just saying that listing names and numbers does not make losing a winnable game any more palatable. At some point we've got to draw a line and stop saying "We're not good enough, but in 30 games we'll be better!" Some of those players may not
necessarily get any better.



To be fair I don't think the op was looking for an excuse merely pointing out that across the board we are very inexperienced.

It is quite right to say that at this particular point of this lists development
they are playing some very good footy at times.

I think the stats put into perspective the ups and downs of Rance and Vickery
in particular.Very inexperienced talks who really aren't going all that
badly.Much easier to have an impact as a small.Using your two examples I'll
trump your Ward with a Cotchin and play your Liberatore with a Conca for a draw.

We tend to forget that Jack had only played 70 odd times,Martin in the 20's,Cotchin under 50 and these guys are universally considered to be in our
top 5 players.

Look at premiership sides or even those in the mix and you will have a large core of 100-150's,quite a few 150 plus and even a few 200's with a few under
50.Add to that the size development.

Using the formula of 100 eg195cm-95kg we don't have many there yet and some are miles off.Check out Geelong.

So yeah I think the Op makes a lot of sense,and the biggest reason for inconsistent form is lack of experience.

 

[nut]

If we are ever going to be pushing for top 4 in the next 2-3 years then we will be competing hard against the Suns.
They have consistently being playing with more games experience then us.....

Experience is extremely important.