Points that need to be answered.

[Dxmxgxd]

1. Seems to me that over the past 5 years the pies have gone for agility and athleticism over hard bodied players and its starting to show as we are starting to mature with the other top sides. Start getting some 18 year old's that are natural footballers with big bodies instead of the the blokes who are athletically gifted first and footballers second.
Sinclair, Yagmoor, Elliot, Gault, Keefe, Wood, Ugle, Seedsman. All so gangly and skinny. Get these boys in the gym!

2. Should have played Young last night he has played enough at senior VFL level and a handful of senior games to warrant selection over Yagmoor, Sinclair and Seedsman. He doesn't get knocked around and he is smart with a big boot.

3. Wood really needs to do something this year or oust him. How long has he played as second string unreliable soft ruck.

4. Why didn't Buckley play? He is strong, tall and can kick the ball long which is what killed us going the other way last night. Buckley should play as a designated kicker like Hurn from West Coast just look how effective he is.

5. It seems we are missing that medium sized spark player around the forward line without Didak. All the top teams have them, Geelong (Johnson), Hawthorn (Rioli) West Coast (Le Cras) Carlton (Walker). Adelaide (Porplyzia). Should have re-drafted Medhurst this year.

6. Our depth is a massive worry. 2010 we were lucky we had zero injuries. 2011 our lack of depth hurt us big time and I have a feeling unless we are injury free and those that are injured now can play 15 plus games before finals we are going get exposed come finals.

 

[jonny_d4]

Geeebus, the sky is falling.....

 

[speedytiger]

1. Seems to me that over the past 5 years the pies have gone for agility and athleticism over hard bodied players and its starting to show as we are starting to mature with the other top sides. Start getting some 18 year old's that are natural footballers with big bodies instead of the the blokes who are athletically gifted first and footballers second.
Sinclair, Yagmoor, Elliot, Gault, Keefe, Wood, Ugle, Seedsman. All so gangly and skinny. Get these boys in the gym!

2. Should have played Young last night he has played enough at senior VFL level and a handful of senior games to warrant selection over Yagmoor, Sinclair and Seedsman. He doesn't get knocked around and he is smart with a big boot.

3. Wood really needs to do something this year or oust him. How long has he played as second string unreliable soft ruck.

4. Why didn't Buckley play? He is strong, tall and can kick the ball long which is what killed us going the other way last night. Buckley should play as a designated kicker like Hurn from West Coast just look how effective he is.

5. It seems we are missing that medium sized spark player around the forward line without Didak. All the top teams have them, Geelong (Johnson), Hawthorn (Rioli) West Coast (Le Cras) Carlton (Walker). Adelaide (Porplyzia). Should have re-drafted Medhurst this year.

6. Our depth is a massive worry. 2010 we were lucky we had zero injuries. 2011 our lack of depth hurt us big time and I have a feeling unless we are injury free and those that are injured now can play 15 plus games before finals we are going get exposed come finals.

Point 1. We have finished top 4 for a while now, not many ready made stars left in the draft. Go look at your own list and see where we have been recruiting from because of this. Scholarships galore.

2. Young will get a chance soon. He might not be as good a kick as you think.

3. I agree

4. Buckley makes terrible decisions, and yes he can kick it long and high but that's about it

5. You mean someone like Mcaffer or Krakour??

 

[Dxmxgxd]

Geeebus, the sky is falling.....

We are still a top 4 but ain't much splitting the top. Don't want to become the Bulldogs of the past 5 years. The nearly there team.

 

[Nicco_jj]

Point 1. We have finished top 4 for a while now, not many ready made stars left in the draft. Go look at your own list and see where we have been recruiting from because of this. Scholarships galore.

2. Young will get a chance soon. He might not be as good a kick as you think.

3. I agree

4. Buckley makes terrible decisions, and yes he can kick it long and high but that's about it

5. You mean someone like Mcaffer or Krakour??

Or Fasolo or Paine....

 

[OniAu]

ugle seemed to go alright in the vfl ? chance there for him ?

i dont know much about him

 

[Swooop]

OP - watching the VFL, both Young and Buckley have a fair way to go to be good senior players.

Young gets the ball quite a bit but decision making and disposal is still a work in progress and Buckley, who I used to be more a supporter of than most, looks to have gone backwards at a rate of knots this year - workrate wise especially, but also with decision making a bit too often.
His disposal can be fabulous, but also can be veery ordinary sometimes, which would be a real problem in the AFL.

Seedsman looks a real prospect to me btw

 

[Blessed]

Why does everyone go after Cameron Wood? He was very good for us last season. We only lost one game when he played. He beat Cox in the West Coast game mid season.

But unfortunately I am not allowed to defend him.

He should have played last night. Dawes is not a ruckman and we have to play both Jolly and Wood.


it would be a huge advantage to us. Jolly could spend time forward and we still don't lose the clearances.

 

[SuperSub17]

Why does everyone go after Cameron Wood? He was very good for us last season. We only lost one game when he played. He beat Cox in the West Coast game mid season.

But unfortunately I am not allowed to defend him.

He should have played last night. Dawes is not a ruckman and we have to play both Jolly and Wood.


it would be a huge advantage to us. Jolly could spend time forward and we still don't lose the clearances.

We did only lose 3 games for the year...

 

[Shellz]

Why does everyone go after Cameron Wood? He was very good for us last season. We only lost one game when he played. He beat Cox in the West Coast game mid season.

But unfortunately I am not allowed to defend him.

He should have played last night. Dawes is not a ruckman and we have to play both Jolly and Wood.


it would be a huge advantage to us. Jolly could spend time forward and we still don't lose the clearances.

He would have played but he is returning from an injury

 

[half_back_flank]

I don't mind Young but i wouldn't call him a smart footballer.

 

[Jabso]

1. Seems to me that over the past 5 years the pies have gone for agility and athleticism over hard bodied players and its starting to show as we are starting to mature with the other top sides. Start getting some 18 year old's that are natural footballers with big bodies instead of the the blokes who are athletically gifted first and footballers second.
Sinclair, Yagmoor, Elliot, Gault, Keefe, Wood, Ugle, Seedsman. All so gangly and skinny. Get these boys in the gym!

Wood's got the right body shape now (and has pretty much since he's come to a club, he's no athlete). Keeffe was always a project player. Yagmoor is in his first year and was selected for his kicking ability, not that skinny. Elliot another first year player and once again selected for his Medhusrt like ability as a small leading forward. Ugle is nuggetty. Keeffe, Seedsman and Sinclair are probably the only players that fit this description fairly. Gault is a first year ruckman and a bloody rookie pick FFS.

You probably would have wrote the same about Pendlebury and Thomas first year or three. Fasolo, Sidebottom, Beams, Blair, Paine are all examples of stronger purer footballers that we've drafted. Hard bodied players that can play get drafted early. Later in the draft you've got to start picking players with certain flaws and questions surrounding them and hope it pays off.

2. Should have played Young last night he has played enough at senior VFL level and a handful of senior games to warrant selection over Yagmoor, Sinclair and Seedsman. He doesn't get knocked around and he is smart with a big boot.

Maybe over Yagmoor and one of Sinclair/Rounds (but not both as we needed someone forward). Seedsman had a good nab cup and warranted selection. Young didn't have that great a NAB cup, was probably behind Yagmoor who indicated he may be able to hold down a permament position in the backline while Young was inconsistent and never got going.

3. Wood really needs to do something this year or oust him. How long has he played as second string unreliable soft ruck.

He does need to show something but he also needs the opportunity. Wait until he gets that first.

4. Why didn't Buckley play? He is strong, tall and can kick the ball long which is what killed us going the other way last night. Buckley should play as a designated kicker like Hurn from West Coast just look how effective he is.

Probably a coin flip between him and Marty Clarke. I'm not a Simon Buckley basher and thought he should have been given an opportunity. However it would have been in the place of Marty Clarke.

5. It seems we are missing that medium sized spark player around the forward line without Didak. All the top teams have them, Geelong (Johnson), Hawthorn (Rioli) West Coast (Le Cras) Carlton (Walker). Adelaide (Porplyzia). Should have re-drafted Medhurst this year.

Didak medium sized? Not really. If you're talking about a small who can lead and take a mark Fasolo played that role well. The Medhusrt call is way off. Don't forget Macaffer was probably in line to play this role.

6. Our depth is a massive worry. 2010 we were lucky we had zero injuries. 2011 our lack of depth hurt us big time and I have a feeling unless we are injury free and those that are injured now can play 15 plus games before finals we are going get exposed come finals.

There's depth and then there's depth. The depth that wins you premierships is having very capable AFL footballers at say ranking 18-28 of your list. Which means that the bottom 10 players can be switched out with another 10 or so players and still have a good team (obviously not all at once). Not having 5 guys outside your best 22 who can replace 5 of your best 10 or so and have no problem beating a top 4 team. No one has that depth.

Either way Hawthorn are a team we have trouble with even with a full strength team. They are a very good team. However we can beat them and nearly did with only really Pendlebury dragging us over the line. The side we had was good enough to beat the side Hawthorn had, but our senior players and match winners didn't fire on the day and only really Blair from the mid range category stood up to fill in the gaps.
Depth or no depth your stars need to fire to win. Even more so when injuries and other circumstances leave some holes in your team.

 

[Jabso]

We are still a top 4 but ain't much splitting the top. Don't want to become the Bulldogs of the past 5 years. The nearly there team.

We won't. We will be like Hawthorn. Won a premiership early when our stars only started to hit their peak. It's up to us not to peter our like Hawthorn have since then and make the most out of our tilts at the flag over the next 3-5 years.

 

[daics cousin]

Lets not worry just yet guys.

The hawthorn game,we lost we had no backline,and we still nearly rolled them minus 9 experienced players missing,plus the loss of the krak and the caff does hurt but we still have to blood some kids to build that depth.

My prediction is players like Paine,Rounds,Clarke,even ugle,Keefe maybe if josh thomas,Buckley can get on the park these guys will be our depth players at seasons end.Yagmoor and the rest of the newbies will stay in the reserves and develop.

Our starting 22 when fit are a strong bodied side don't worry about that,but we must plan our attack.

The likely inclusions of Tarrant and Maxwell with Beams will add more depth to our side against Richmond.

The following week against Carlton we may ease Johnston and Wood in as well and a certain starter is Wellingham,all of a sudden we look quite strong.We don't have to use all our fuel this time around, all we have to do is grind out wins against all comers just to get the 4 points and keep in the top 4.

The mission is to win games,blood some youngsters,and manage the seniors through the year.come round 17 we should be ready to go hard and steam into the finals with hopefully all hands on deck then destroy all comers over the finals.

 

[wicksy]

Anyone seriously suggesting Simon Buckley as an inclusion into our senior team is just plain ****ed in the head!!! </thread>

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

Don't see why not.

I've seen far worse players given more opportunity to get consistency than Buckley.

 

[wicksy]

Don't see why not.

I've seen far worse players given more opportunity to get consistency than Buckley.

He shows plenty of consistency in my opinion.... Hence the reason I never want to see him in our senior team again!

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

He shows plenty of consistency in my opinion.... Hence the reason I never want to see him in our senior team again!

Even the best players struggle without consistent game time. All footballers (with very few exceptions) need consistency in being given game time.

In the last decade, we've given players far worse than Buckley the opportunity to do that:

Chris Egan, Richard Cole, John McCarthy, Danny Stanley, Ryan Cook, Sam Iles et al.

All these players, I personally would have below Buckley and yet they all got more chances ot play multiple games in a row and try and get some consistency.

Buckley hasn't really been given that chance, and neither has Goldy for that matter. This is why I'm harsher on some players than others.

 

[wicksy]

Even the best players struggle without consistent game time. All footballers (with very few exceptions) need consistency in being given game time.

In the last decade, we've given players far worse than Buckley the opportunity to do that:

Chris Egan, Richard Cole, John McCarthy, Danny Stanley, Ryan Cook, Sam Iles et al.

All these players, I personally would have below Buckley and yet they all got more chances ot play multiple games in a row and try and get some consistency.

Buckley hasn't really been given that chance, and neither has Goldy for that matter. This is why I'm harsher on some players than others.

Agree on the others but these two were the complete opposite. Never got more than 1 or 2 games in a row to ply their trade.

 

[carnthepies19]

Buckley should be gone at the end of this season I'd say, I think that I'd rather give a game to Yagmoor than Buckley, purely because Buckeys about 26 (I think) and if we give him a game and he doesn't produce then that's going to affect the development of the youngsters.

We do have good depth, outside our best 22 injury free, which would be:

Backs: Toovey Reid Shaw Johnson Tarrant Maxwell O'Brien Goldsack BROWN KEEFFE
Mids: Pendlebury Thomas Sidebottom Swan Ball Wellingham SINCLAIR CLARKE
Forwards: Didak Cloke Dawes Krakouer Beams Blair Fasolo MACAFFER PAINE
Ruck: Jolly WOOD WITTS

The players in caps are the capable depth players for each line. The rest of the list aren't mature enough (body wise) for AFL level, or their skill levels aren't up to scratch so they are in the VFL.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

Agree on the others but these two were the complete opposite. Never got more than 1 or 2 games in a row to ply their trade.

Pretty sure they did. Especially McCarthy more so than Stanely. I don't know if I've seen Buckley even string 2 games together.

Don't get me wrong, he may turn out to be utterly worthless, but it's hard to know if he's not given the chance to prove otherwise.