Midfield options

[Eagle87]

Don't forget he was only drafted 3 years ago.. He spent his first two years developing the fitness base required to play in the midfield, not to mention we still had Cuz and Judd dominating in that area. To establish himself in the senior side at half-back so early in his career is actually a big achievement.

Had Bones not recklessly dived into his shin early last year, I think he would've spent a lot more time in the midfield. Damn shame.. I think he missed out on some vital development.

I think your comments on Hurn are spot on.

Year 1 - 6 games.
Year 2 - 24 games (including 2 finals in which he averaged over 15 possessions)
Year 3 - first 6 game and then out for the season.

I mean he has shown a bit without ever dominating but we really have only seen him for 2 seasons....

 

[adagio]

Yeah I think people definitely associate early physical development with quick results at senior level. It's resulted in very high expectations for him ever since he arrived. Not saying those expectations are misplaced, but it's very easy to forget the guy hasn't even played 50 games.

I think the same is happening now with Mitch Brown. A lot of the man-love going around for him is just in good fun, but I think there is an underlying expectation around here for him to play every game this year and kick 50+ goals.. He's played 5 games, and none for over a year. I think 25 goals would be terrific effort.

 

[GO EAGLES]

Priddis had a great 07 especially in the 2nd half - got better and better as theyear progressed and sometimes dominated and could get the hard ball easily in a pack.

Dont know what happened in 2008. That could be said for all players except 2 and a half.

but thats okay - the Eagles could not avoid that.

What happened to them caused by vultures will be written in books in the future.

 

[illegaleagle]

Players who i think will play more in the middle this year, not counting Kerr, Priddis, Butler
and A Selwood hopefully replacing stenglein, braun, fletcher

Hurn - needs a run in the midfield this year. He is definately not a small defender in which woosha played him last year (remember when he played on goodwin against the crows and got something like 5 kicked on him). He is strong enough and has a good boot, and hopefully his endurance has improved, his desire to win the ball is what i worry about, but hopefully he can prove me wrong this year.

Masten - Has bulked up a bit and gotten over his injuries. Has good foot skills and hopefully improved his stamina and is a great tackler. I think he is a good replacement for braun or fletcher in the middle as a close in handball type.

Ebert - Was very good in his first year. I see him as a winger playing the free role, kind of like a young Embley, pushing forward on occasion.

Houlihan, Butler, Shuey, A Smith, Rosa - Theres probably only two spots out of these on the bench and whoever puts in the best wafl form should get the nod.

Staker - play him on the wing in the Richo mould and give him free reign and push forward as well, would be a good combo with ebert on the other wing.

 

[Frodo]

First of all GWS Why are you still calling yourself a eagles supporter when you openly stated on the Tigers page that you are defecting to tiger land???
Secondly Priddis is there for the pressure he applys inside the pack, he creates turnovers and is a quick thinker, most of his turnovers are due to the fact he is inside a pack of 6 players trying to get the ball out to our players to break free. Not a bad thing.

Staker has Never been a pure midfielder.
He is either a Half Forward Flaker or a Rebounding Defender but Not a midfielder, he just want more midfield time.
I would put him in the same compacity Lynch.
Embley is and always has been a wingman.
A.Selwood is a Tagger
S.Selwood is a Midfielder

Weve adapted these players to fit into the team as we lack specific positions, eg another small defender ergo we play players like Hurn, Selwoods, Davis and Embley in these roles.
Alot of the kids that we saw last year we wont see again this year (hopefully) as they played because we had inexess of 15 injuries last year at 1 time.
Its highly unlikely that will happen again.
The players that we are likely to see in small doses are:
B.Ebert
C.Masten
McNamara
McGinnity
Houlihan

these will only play when 1 player has been dropped or gets injuried.
These are the players that will be infront of them to get picked.
A.Selwood
S.Butler
M.Priddis
D.Kerr
T.Stenglein
S.Hurn
C.Fletcher
M.Rosa
A.Embley
Then we have the part time mids in:
Waters
Staker
Lynch
Nicoski
B.Jones
LeCras
Not including
Brown
Kennedy
McKinley
Hunter
Wilkes
Glass
Cox
Seaby
a Total of 23 players there.
WCE have always shown faith in the older players and have bleed the rookies slowly, I dont think they see this as a rebuilding year but more as a rebounding year.
we wont see too many 1st year players unless we have another spate of injuries.

Good post.

Only diff is that I think we'll see a lot of Masten, Jaymac and Ebert, and SS will probably end up as our small defender.

 

[bodazoka]

Priddis is older than 31 players on our list, he will be 24 when the season starts, in 2 years he will be older than Kerr is now and he is only a year younger than Judd..... why does he need 2 more years to develop? He will be 26 by then?

Of mids on our list, the following are younger (some 5 full years younger) and have, in my opinion more talent:

Butler
Hurn
Masten
Ebert
Swift
Shuey
Selwood

I have left out other younger guys who may be better but arent necessarily so or may not be mids: Cockie, LeCras, Waters, Rosa, McNamara, Houlihan, Davis, Smith....

Add in guys like Kerr & Selwood and, as I said, Priddis isnt good enough to start in our enxt top line midfield....

Hard work, integrity and effort will only take you so far. He can get the ball at AFL level, everything after that scream WAFL player.

Fletcher played in the 2006 GF at a level that Priddis will never achieve. He was very good that day, arguably his best game since 2005.

Thats fine, I respect your opinion and you may turn out to be right. Ive got faith in the guy though and can see some continual improvement in him. If he tightens his game up that 15% over the next few years the rest will take care of itself, and I know he might be older but age does not correspond to years within the afl system, Priddis will be 24 throughout the 09 season and 25 (the expected peak of players) in 2010 Fletcher did not start playing to his highest level untill he was 24. Priddis is yet to reach the peak of his game.

Too answer your post directly Its very harsh to compare Priddis to Judd and Kerr they are both super freaks, and he will be 26 in season 2011 which is 2 whole seasons away. As stated by 2010 when Priddis is 25 and during his 4th season playing games at the club we will see exactly how much he can achieve. For the list of Mids..Butler, Hurn, Masten, Ebert, Swift, Shuey, Selwood Theres allot of potential in all of them and A. Selwood (in his capacity as a tagger) is the only one who has delivered anything comparable to what Priddis has the past two years. So if we are allowed to rate potential, then why cant we see the potential upside in Priddis? FWIW I dont really rate Butler that highly anyway but thats a discussion for another day.

 

[Anjahads]

Not sure why you were referencing GWS in a response to my post but I can absolutely guarantee that you havent been to more games than I have. That said, a lot of blue haired old dears go every week and have buggar all idea.

"Priddis is a quality midfielder" ... compared to what?

I will give you a list of mids and tell me which ones our Matty is better than:

Judd
Cousins
Kerr
Ablett
Bartel
Corey
Ling
Joel Selwood
Cooney
Griffen
Black
Power
Brent Harvey
Wells
Sewell
Mitchell
Bateman
Lewis
Thompson
Edwards
Hayes
Montagna
McVeigh
Deledio
Foley
Cotchin
Swan
Kirk
Murphy
Gibbs
Palmer
Van Berlo
Goodwin
Cassisi
Burgoyne
Burgoyne
Dal Santo
etc etc........

Which of these would you knock back in a straight up trade for Priddis??

But he is a "quality" midfielder - just not in the Top 40 or so mids in the comp....

Priddis is doing a good job for the Eagles at the moment.He is not a star by any means but he gives 100% every game and he has a solid dip and that is all you can ask of a player.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Bottom line regardless of what all our opinions are I think Priddis will start in the midfield in 2009. My only point about all of this was that if we are looking to build our next Premiership midfield I don't think he will be in it.

 

[bodazoka]

Not sure why you were referencing GWS in a response to my post but I can absolutely guarantee that you havent been to more games than I have. That said, a lot of blue haired old dears go every week and have buggar all idea.

"Priddis is a quality midfielder" ... compared to what?

I will give you a list of mids and tell me which ones our Matty is better than:

Judd
Cousins
Kerr
Ablett
Bartel
Cooney
Brent Harvey
Black
Corey - 132 more games than Priddis
Ling (27)
Bateman (27)
Power (28)
Kirk (32)
Goodwin (32)
Cassisi (26)
Burgoyne (30)
Burgoyne (26)

Hayes (28)
Edwards (32)


Dal Santo - 100 games more
Mitchell - 89 games more than Priddis
McVeigh - 61 more games
Swan - 56 more games than Priddis
Griffen - #3 Draft pick
Deledio - #1 Draft pick
Wells - #2 pick 79 more games
Sewell - 40 more games
Lewis - 40 more games
Thompson - 54 games more
Montagna - 54 games more
Foley - 26 more games
Van Berlo - 32 more games, equates too 2 seasons more
Cotchin - #2 Draft pick
Palmer
Joel Selwood
Murphy - #1 Draft pick
Gibbs - #1 Draft pick
etc etc........

Which of these would you knock back in a straight up trade for Priddis??

But he is a "quality" midfielder - just not in the Top 40 or so mids in the comp....

Could you pick any more top 10 selections and brownlow medalists to compare Priddis too. Bolded (top list) are the brownlow medalists, in the top list are all the players who are between 2 and 10 years older than Priddis the bottom list are players who are around the same age as Priddis but are all 2-3 seasons ahead of him the bottom Bolded selections are the only ones you can draw a fair and reasonable comparrison with Priddis too and there all pretty much top 10 draft picks of the last few years!

Now relating your above post too your last post where you listed our "cream" midfielders.

Butler, Hurn, Masten, Ebert, Swift, Shuey, Selwood

Id swap everyone of them for one of the midfielders in your above list. With the exception of Ebert and mabye Masten, but Selwood/Butler/Swift/Shuey would be traded in a heart beat.

I could write up the same list about Lynch... There are less KP forwards then there are midfielders in AFL but you get the point.

Burton
Brown
Bradshaw
Fevola
Lucas
Lloyd
Pavlich
Franklin
Roughead
Richo
Riewoldt
Kosi
Hall
Goodes (forward)
Croad
Hale
Rocca
Cloke

Its not one of your better posts.

 

[bodazoka]

Priddis is doing a good job for the Eagles at the moment.He is not a star by any means but he gives 100% every game and he has a solid dip and that is all you can ask of a player.

Not in Priddis case apparently. If you give 100% at the age of 23 and lead the entire teams midfield in the absence of more "gifted" players in a team who finishes 15th is wracked with injuries and more senior players down on form than you get hung out to dry.

 

[bodazoka]

In hinsight I probably should of picked Priddis as a player sponsor.... I seem to like him.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Not in Priddis case apparently. If you give 100% at the age of 23 and lead the entire teams midfield in the absence of more "gifted" players in a team who finishes 15th is wracked with injuries and more senior players down on form than you get hung out to dry.

I think Bodazoka that everyone is giving Pridda the credit he has earnt. Most have acknowledged that no one works harder than him, he is a ball magnet and spills his guts for the side week in week out.
Maybe most have said it wrong or we have been interpreted wrong, his skills are below par of that of a top line midfielder. At his age it is unlikely his foot skills are going to change a hell of a lot.
It is most peoples understanding we are in a rebuilding stage to open our next premiership window. If that is the case then I like some others don't believe he will be a midfielder in that window. But as I said before I think he would make an ideal tagger like Ling at geelong.

Selwood to become a midfielder in his own right.
Priddis to take on the tagging role.
Stinga to become a permanent Back pocket or backman.

Invest in the kids like you mention to develope the next gun midfield group, Masten, Kerr, Butler, Rosa, Macnamarra, Ebert etc etc.

Not many on here have said they don't like Pridda. How can you not like anyone that pours their heart into their football.

 

[larrikin]

I think we should discuss Priddis again - it always turns out well...

 

[fryzie]

So Wiseby compares Hurns playing style to be similar to Michael Voss and all of a sudden they will have identical breakout years? And this is "without a doubt?"

Hurn and Voss are two totally different people, in two totally different teams and in two totally different states. Your stats while very nice, mean as much as your very subjective opinion.

I apologise for being optimistic concerning one of our midfield prospects on a board expressly dealing with such a matter.

Of course they are different people in different situations and you can never predict how a player will turn out. However my subjective opinion was based on the objective, in depth analysis made by a football expert who felt that Voss and Hurn are similar enough in their build, playing style and development to state "That he is a definite AFL long-termer of quality, ultimately possibly in the Voss mould."

While the statement "Without a doubt" itself was indeed my subjective opinion and possibly should have been prefaced with an "In my opinion it is...", for the people on this board who struggle with the concept that this is in fact a forum for expressing personal opinions, I fail to understand how bringing up stats of Voss' progress in his early career based on a football expert's opinion that the two would be of similar styles and development would mean as much as my subjective opinion. Either you rate my opinion as highly as Wiseby's, or you don't rate Wiseby's. I simply used his opinion and those statistics as a basis for my argument. That's usually how one argues, with facts, expert opinions and statistics to back up bold personal statements made for effect.

However I digress, Wiseby also likened Hurn to Luke Hodge. Interestingly Hodge averaged 15, 13 and 15 disposals in his first three seasons and then went on to have a breakout year in his fourth season averaging 27 disposals.

Therefore, based on Wiseby's objective expert opinion that Hurn is similar in style and development of both Hodge and Voss' and the statistics of the aforementioned players' early careers at an AFL level, it is my optimistic and subjective opinion that without a doubt, Hurn's fourth season will be his breakout year. Bring on '09.

 

[worsfold]

so does any one have an opinion on schofield being part of the midfield?

 

[Crimson King]

Hey this thread is good for the draft game! Keep bringing up the midfielders!

 

[larrikin]

so does any one have an opinion on schofield being part of the midfield?

Long way back in the queue IMO

More likely to become a rebounding HB like Bones

 

[Double the Fist]

Why replace Selwood as a tagger. Great in his current role of SHUTDOWN KING! If he can keep damaging players quiet that will help. I just dont see him as a topline Mid. Too slight IMO

Priddis - another that can get his own ball, can run all day, keeps our other mids fresh with bench time. Re made as a tagger.dunno
GWS says - Bottom line regardless of what all our opinions are I think Priddis will start in the midfield in 2009. My only point about all of this was that if we are looking to build our next Premiership midfield I don't think he will be in it.
Sad, but I think true. If he can kick better then he may stay in, but gee, with the other kids showing some promise, he may slip to emergency. If Pridda is an emergency for WCE then we will be doing VERY VERY well

Would love to see hurn as a wreaking ball type player in the middle.

 

[bodazoka]

I think Bodazoka that everyone is giving Pridda the credit he has earnt. Most have acknowledged that no one works harder than him, he is a ball magnet and spills his guts for the side week in week out.
Maybe most have said it wrong or we have been interpreted wrong, his skills are below par of that of a top line midfielder. At his age it is unlikely his foot skills are going to change a hell of a lot.
It is most peoples understanding we are in a rebuilding stage to open our next premiership window. If that is the case then I like some others don't believe he will be a midfielder in that window. But as I said before I think he would make an ideal tagger like Ling at geelong.

Selwood to become a midfielder in his own right.
Priddis to take on the tagging role.
Stinga to become a permanent Back pocket or backman.

Invest in the kids like you mention to develope the next gun midfield group, Masten, Kerr, Butler, Rosa, Macnamarra, Ebert etc etc.

Not many on here have said they don't like Pridda. How can you not like anyone that pours their heart into their football.

Good post.
Agree with everything, I hope that he can tighten up his kicks and mabye learn the Kerr side step and take his game to a higher level. I guess we will see wether the other in and under kids can develope to a point where they overtake Priddis's ability to get the ball out before he can tighten up his kicking. If that happened id be more than happy to switch him to a tagger, I think he would make a pretty good defensive mid.

 

[bodazoka]

so does any one have an opinion on schofield being part of the midfield?

The backline seems to be the place for Schofield, unfortunately for him we also have Brown (mabye), J. Jones, MacKenzie, Spangher and Wilkes who are all young KP backmen to compete against. Only one of them can be a third tall in the backline and that is usually only for match ups with specific teams (ie not 22 games with 3 talls), so they should be looking at knocking off Hunter who also has the flexability to play forward. Or they could look to taking over FB from Glass...

 

[Black Ball]

Could you pick any more top 10 selections and brownlow medalists to compare Priddis too. Bolded (top list) are the brownlow medalists, in the top list are all the players who are between 2 and 10 years older than Priddis the bottom list are players who are around the same age as Priddis but are all 2-3 seasons ahead of him the bottom Bolded selections are the only ones you can draw a fair and reasonable comparrison with Priddis too and there all pretty much top 10 draft picks of the last few years!


When did Ablett win a Brownlow?

 

[bodazoka]

When did Ablett win a Brownlow?

Good point. The guy missed out by like 1 vote gimme a break.

 

[Art OF war]

I apologise for being optimistic concerning one of our midfield prospects on a board expressly dealing with such a matter.

Of course they are different people in different situations and you can never predict how a player will turn out. However my subjective opinion was based on the objective, in depth analysis made by a football expert who felt that Voss and Hurn are similar enough in their build, playing style and development to state "That he is a definite AFL long-termer of quality, ultimately possibly in the Voss mould."

While the statement "Without a doubt" itself was indeed my subjective opinion and possibly should have been prefaced with an "In my opinion it is...", for the people on this board who struggle with the concept that this is in fact a forum for expressing personal opinions, I fail to understand how bringing up stats of Voss' progress in his early career based on a football expert's opinion that the two would be of similar styles and development would mean as much as my subjective opinion. Either you rate my opinion as highly as Wiseby's, or you don't rate Wiseby's. I simply used his opinion and those statistics as a basis for my argument. That's usually how one argues, with facts, expert opinions and statistics to back up bold personal statements made for effect.

However I digress, Wiseby also likened Hurn to Luke Hodge. Interestingly Hodge averaged 15, 13 and 15 disposals in his first three seasons and then went on to have a breakout year in his fourth season averaging 27 disposals.

Therefore, based on Wiseby's objective expert opinion that Hurn is similar in style and development of both Hodge and Voss' and the statistics of the aforementioned players' early careers at an AFL level, it is my optimistic and subjective opinion that without a doubt, Hurn's fourth season will be his breakout year. Bring on '09.

So you base your whole guesstimation on Wisbeys opinion? What about the 9 other clubs, with their team of recruiters who i am sure have their own expert and objective opinions, which picked before the WCE? Did you just look at 1 opinion and make your own assumption?

I'm glad your optimistic and truth be told I hope your right but to go around proclaiming Hurn will make it this year without a doubt is a bit simple. Look back at your diatribe to the first sentence of the second paragraph....That was the smartest thing you said

 

[bodazoka]

^^^ Geez it was some positive assumptions by a supporter about an Eagles player whats the issue AOW?

 

[worsfold]

The backline seems to be the place for Schofield, unfortunately for him we also have Brown (mabye), J. Jones, MacKenzie, Spangher and Wilkes who are all young KP backmen to compete against. Only one of them can be a third tall in the backline and that is usually only for match ups with specific teams (ie not 22 games with 3 talls), so they should be looking at knocking off Hunter who also has the flexability to play forward. Or they could look to taking over FB from Glass...

Thanks - I would of thought the same but WCE site says they think midfield would be his best fit, personnelly I think an embley type utility role would be for him.

Other options for the midfield this year will be cockie, Davis and stevenson going by the training reports, though unfortunately than means someelse would have to be injured for them to get a go. though i think they would be a litle bit in front of our new draftees on body size that is. it will be interesting at the end of the year which ones get promoted to the main list.