Luring that Key Forward?

[NakedDeadGuy]

Been a big fan of Egan for a couploe of years, really hope he's one we pick up in the draft. I guess they are having a good look at Greaves as well. One bloke who may be worth some consideration is Brad Smith from Subiaco, whose old man played a few games with us way back. 25 years old and has kicked 80 odd goals this year in the WAFL.

 

[nananana catman]

Smith does a little rucking, but he isn't really a ruckman, is merely a midfielder who spends a bit of time there filling in.

I think they play Jeff Smith in the wrong possie, hes not a CHF a FF or a ruckamn. Hed be better suited to playing on the ball or the wing, something like that.

And i think you've overestimated the speed that Blake will develop at. Maybe late next season he might get a go, but definetely not at the start. Hes too light and way too soft for AFL atm.

 

[Robin Hood]

We have one, his name is Luke Buckland.

I know Bucky is playing good football but is he the player that will be around in 10 years? The chance of success on the Rookie list is slim. You can't bank all your money on a Rookie listed kid.

 

[nananana catman]

Lets get the best kid in the draft. Buy the seed , sit back and wait for the harvest.

Nows not the time to be sentimental. The reality is we are quite possibly a good forward away from winning a Grand Final, whether they Trade for that or go through the draft who knows? But the choice they make with their first round pick this year could be a very very important one.

 

[Robin Hood]

Nows not the time to be sentimental. The reality is we are quite possibly a good forward away from winning a Grand Final, whether they Trade for that or go through the draft who knows? But the choice they make with their first round pick this year could be a very very important one.

I agree I dont know if we have time to wait for the seed to harvest - KPPs take a few years, I would definitely be in favour of trading our first pick and possibly a midfielder for a quality KPP.

 

[holdencaulfield]

The biggest mistake that Gary ayres made as coach was his obsesion with useing high draft picks on ruckmen (Brockman and Street) when we already had one of the best young ruckmen in King. King is now one of the top rucks in the afl and Mark Blake is aparently a very good up and comer. The one thing i would say to the club is don't use our 1st pick on a ruckmen.
Our biggest weakness is key forward.Paul Johnson Would be a good option and i think he is out of contract. My opinion though would be to see what Carlton want for Lance Whitnel. I know this won't be popular . I see Lance as better suited to full forward rather than centre half forward.

 

[Robin Hood]

The biggest mistake that Gary ayres made as coach was his obsesion with useing high draft picks on ruckmen (Brockman and Street) when we already had one of the best young ruckmen in King. King is now one of the top rucks in the afl and Mark Blake is aparently a very good up and comer. The one thing i would say to the club is don't use our 1st pick on a ruckmen.
Our biggest weakness is key forward.Paul Johnson Would be a good option and i think he is out of contract. My opinion though would be to see what Carlton want for Lance Whitnel. I know this won't be popular . I see Lance as better suited to full forward rather than centre half forward.

If you could pick up Lance at a decent price I'd take him.

 

[Turbocat]

The biggest mistake that Gary ayres made as coach was his obsesion with useing high draft picks on ruckmen (Brockman and Street) when we already had one of the best young ruckmen in King. King is now one of the top rucks in the afl and Mark Blake is aparently a very good up and comer. The one thing i would say to the club is don't use our 1st pick on a ruckmen.

The biggest mistake Ayres made? Struth, were do we start?The reason we have King is because we used a high pick on a ruckman.Im not of Brockman but Street was around 17, not excactly a real early pick.(probably a bit like this year).Our drafting in recent years has been good, its the reason we have our current side but the effort it has taken to get there is because the player stocks were so low(Thank you Mr Ayres).Just because we have King now doesnt mean we have no ruck requirements.Even if Blake comes up , I dont want him to be a lone hand like King has been to often.

Our biggest weakness is key forward.Paul Johnson Would be a good option and i think he is out of contract. My opinion though would be to see what Carlton want for Lance Whitnel. I know this won't be popular . I see Lance as better suited to full forward rather than centre half forward.

Our biggest weakness if a tall forward in the AFL. BG is good but will be gone in 3 years, KK .....enough said.Is a player who is not in the WC side going to step straight into ours?Whitnall would be an improvement over KK but I wouldnt pay the price that they would ask.1st round+Wojo+Rooke.
Too much!!

Nows not the time to be sentimental. The reality is we are quite possibly a good forward away from winning a Grand Final, whether they Trade for that or go through the draft who knows? But the choice they make with their first round pick this year could be a very very important one..

I agree, my point was if Im sick of us chasing players that are out of contract , having convince them of our merit.If Lance or who ever comes to us saying theyd love to play for the Cats, no messing around then It might be different, OK let do a deal for todays needs but mostly the system in place these days mean a team doesnt recruit for todays needs , it more tomorrows.If somehow we had done a deal last year with Rawlings we would miss on Tenace for Ten years plus for 2 maybe with Rawlings.If we get a Kirkby or whoever in the draft he could be OUR player for the next decade and the that side is just as important as todays.

 

[nananana catman]

I agree, my point was if Im sick of us chasing players that are out of contract , having convince them of our merit.If Lance or who ever comes to us saying theyd love to play for the Cats, no messing around then It might be different, OK let do a deal for todays needs but mostly the system in place these days mean a team doesnt recruit for todays needs , it more tomorrows.If somehow we had done a deal last year with Rawlings we would miss on Tenace for Ten years plus for 2 maybe with Rawlings.If we get a Kirkby or whoever in the draft he could be OUR player for the next decade and the that side is just as important as todays.

Yeh i agree, its is bad to see every trade week, Geelong has expressed interest in...Hacks more often than not. Psychologically also I would think other clubs would believe they could push a bargain with us bevause we are so "desperate" for a forward.

 

[Tweak Talent]

Fair Point, infact I heard Cook say something similar on KROCK on Sat.He said that the three areas that we could boost , were "Tall Forward" , A key Backman as we dont really have a replacement for Scarlo/Harley and I think the third was a running Half Back like a Milburn type.
Im not convinced about Spencer from what Ive seen,he's big but he's a bit leaden of foot for any real comparison to S & H. I d be more happy if we had that Egan bloke on our list , he looks to have little bit of talent with agility.

Would Joel Smith fit the role of the running half back?

 

[Robin Hood]

Would Joel Smith fit the role of the running half back?

I think the consensus is for a younger player than Joel Smith that would develop over the next couple of years.

 

[Tweak Talent]

Maybe a couple of the local geelong falcons boys:
Tim Sherringham
Jordan Lewis

 

[Turbocat]

Maybe a couple of the local geelong falcons boys:
Tim Sherringham
Jordan Lewis

Sherringham would be another adition to our whiper sniper group. Guys like Byrnes,Tenace can hit targets and Sherringham is another who could come in and develop into a player like Byrnes.If he is still there grab him as a Rookie for sure but Running half back , a Milburn type NO
However
Lewis could be, this kid depending on the draft camp could go anything from early R1 to R3.Really like him.Heard Turner say "If this kid is not another Ling or Sadington , he be very suprised"
He cleaned up sombody in the U18 Champs , Wood I think, which shows he likes contact.Would fit well with the likes of Moloney and Milburn, even Bartel He also has the height to play the hard running half back.Has the foot skills to deliever, so from that he would have an edge over the likes Rooke. Big Green Light !!!

I like the idea of picking Falcons and Rookies.Does anybody know the Ave. rate games played by draftees V draftees from local areas. I would think Geelong has hardly had any failures from Falcon picks

 

[BigCat1]

None of the established players really stick out to me. They all seem to be on the wrong side of 26 and are injury prone. Ottens, Petrie and Fevola would be the only ones I'd go hard to get but the chances of getting one of these guys is very minimal. Fevola would be a sensation in our team I reckon. I know some can't stand him but the Carlton midfield do him no favours. He is still very young too. He'd be like Barry Hall Mark 2 at a strong club like us. I'd throw the kitchen sink at Carlton and try and get them in a moment of weakness. I've heard Scarlo say he is one of the hardest guys to beat when the balls kicked in quickly.

As someone else said I'd take Whitnall but only on the cheap.

As stated the chances of landing a big name is minute and I really do think we need a developing tall forward so that only leaves the young guys. Maybe try and steal a Jarrod Brennan, Fergus Watts, Schultz, Matt Maguire or Troy Chaplin. What about Tim Walsh from the Dogs? Is he still injured? Surely at the right price he'd be gettable.

Blokes like Hansen, Perrie, P Bowden and Paul Johnson are no better than the current crop of OK talls we've got and I think we should stear clear.

That's my take on it anyway. At pick 16-19 we wont be getting any gun talls in the draft so package up the pick plus Spriggs and Rooke and go fishing for our future

 

[Seb]

The replacement or back up of Scarlett and Harley is an interesting point. It looks as if Geelong are reasonably interested in Matty Egan, thus getting him on the senior list at the end of the year.

I think i remember reading he has a close relationship (or friendship) with Matthew Spencer - the man mountain in our defense. I'll be honest, i'm a big fan of Matty Spencer, but he has been rather disappointing in the patches i've seen him play. He has enormous courage, but just seems to lack that extra spice.

It is important for a big guy to be relatively quick, especially in a defensive position...Not every fully forward is as slow as Fraser Gehrig after all. And speed is definitely Spencer's main concern, along with his tendency to handball rather than kick the bloody thing.

I know it's only his first season, and coming from interstate definitely hasa strange effect on some players psychologically, which leads to poor performances in the VFL and whatnot. I don't know if he has managed to fit into the side and town perfectly, but we have to give him a bit of time to do so.

Other than Spencer, i've noticed Tom Lonergan playing spurts in the defensive half of the ground. I think last weekend against the Bendigo Bombers, when Keplar Bradley was toweling up Matty Egan, Tom was moved onto him, and actually did a reasonably good job negating him. Perhaps Tommy is being tried as a defender as much as a forward?

Further, there's a guy named Henry Playfair who has had a shocking run with the coaching pannel. He has struggled to get games on a consistent basis, it must be so frustrating for the poor bloke. I mean, yes, it is good for the club, in terms of the fact that everybody has to put in and play exceptionally well to get a game. But guys like Henry and Charlie (Gardiner) are in and out of the side, which is detrimental for their confidence and probably stunts their development as players. Yet, guys like Kingsley continue on their merry way kicking a dirty goal each week. McCarthy is another player who has suffered the same treatment, however he has finally been given a game, and looks to be shaping up okay.

Getting back to Playfair, he unquestionably could play a defensive role. In fact, i thought he did a rather good job on Hack-Holland (Melbourne) and in patches on Tough-Guy Hamill. He just needs a bit of confidence and direction, and we could have a cross between Scarlett and Harley.

Cheers.

 

[Robin Hood]

I would like to see McCarthy as a key defender he has all the assests bar the kicking and could be decent at CHB. I think it would be worth a try, really what have we got to loose by giving him a quick go at CHB against Adeliade or Hawthorn.

 

[Fall Out Boy]

McCarthy's best talent is his ability to take a contested mark. That talent is suited to the forward line, rather than defence.

 

[Turbocat]

The replacement or back up of Scarlett and Harley is an interesting point. It looks as if Geelong are reasonably interested in Matty Egan, thus getting him on the senior list at the end of the year.
....

If the Cats decie to go for Egan , what pick would we have to use on him.Thurley has done nothing but play VFL and he was a low 20's pick, too early Would we get Egan with our P3 around 50 odd?.Would others try to grab him earlier?If Thurley was worth earlyR2 then MEgan is worth a late R2.

I think i remember reading he has a close relationship (or friendship) with Matthew Spencer - the man mountain in our defense. I'll be honest, i'm a big fan of Matty Spencer, but he has been rather disappointing in the patches i've seen him play. He has enormous courage, but just seems to lack that extra spice.
It is important for a big guy to be relatively quick, especially in a defensive position...Not every fully forward is as slow as Fraser Gehrig after all. And speed is definitely Spencer's main concern, along with his tendency to handball rather than kick the bloody thing.
....

Was Spencer previously a backman?.I thought the preamble was he was big bodied tall who had a good motor etc.When Ive seen him he looks too awkward,too unbalanced etc to be a modern backman however I dont think Ive seen him play up forward.Forwards can be less agile if they can mark strongly and have a half a reliable kick,is this Spencer?The best player Ive seen in the hoops got put on Dunstall one day down at KP.Even he looked poor at playing that position,the ball delievery always favours the forward and requires a certain mindset.FB and to lesser degree CHB is diferent set of skills but no less important.Scarlo is probably the best FB ive seen in the hoops and he can make it look easier than it is.

I dont think Spencer will make it as a backman, so a player like Egan or Lewis
or even Gilham at Port should be put higher than , "well we will see whats left etc".Our strength is our backline, it needs protection and support.
Lets go forward 12 months, If I say Scarlo has been out with "X" for ten games and Harley did "Y" in the preseason and has not played in 05.Do you think we would be in the top 4 in round 20.

We need a backman and we need him NOW

 

[Robin Hood]

McCarthy's best talent is his ability to take a contested mark. That talent is suited to the forward line, rather than defence.

Yeh but i think he could be a revelation across centre half back - its naive and silly to pigeon hole a player in one particular position his whole life - there is no harm in trying him down back.

 

[Fall Out Boy]

Not that he is being 'pigeon holed', but if he was, how would it be "naive"?

 

[Robin Hood]

Not that he is being 'pigeon holed', but if he was, how would it be "naive"?

Because your not exploring potential everywhere on ground.

 

[Fall Out Boy]

Because your not exploring potential everywhere on ground.

How is that naive?

But using your logic, we best give Steven King a run as a back pocket, and give Shannon Byrnes a run in the ruck, just to 'explore their potential'.

 

[GeeCat]

Because your not exploring potential everywhere on ground.

So why not try Scarlett at CHF Robin? Or even better Kent Kingsley at full back?

 

[Robin Hood]

So why not try Scarlett at CHF Robin? Or even better Kent Kingsley at full back?

I dont see why not - whats the real loss. Kingsley is playing average football so I would give it a try. Scarlett was tried a bit at CHF last year for a couple of qaurters as was Harley.

Phat your comments about Byrnes/King are completely silly and I dont think you see the point. Playing Mooney as a Ruck Rover would have been declared stupid 12 months ago but he should he did well there and many cats fans wouldnt knock Mooney at RR now.

If it fails after a quarter try again. Rooke was a Forward Flank when he came to geelong and now is a far better defender. I think you have to experiment and why not against Adelaide and Hawthorn.

 

[GeeCat]

I dont see why not - whats the real loss. Kingsley is playing average football so I would give it a try. Scarlett was tried a bit at CHF last year for a couple of qaurters as was Harley.

Phat your comments about Byrnes/King are completely silly and I dont think you see the point. Playing Mooney as a Ruck Rover would have been declared stupid 12 months ago but he should he did well there and many cats fans wouldnt knock Mooney at RR now.

If it fails after a quarter try again. Rooke was a Forward Flank when he came to geelong and now is a far better defender. I think you have to experiment and why not against Adelaide and Hawthorn.

Oh dear, honestly didn't expect you to actually agree with my Kingsley comment

Your logic was to explore player potential across the ground, so all Phat's doing is proving just how much sense your logic makes when putting it into practice.