Reece Conca

[tunksy]

Probably jumping the gun a bit but I see him as part of our 'Fab 4' midfield quartet - Deledio, Cotchin, Martin and Conca. In a few years, this could be the best midfield in the comp

not at all jumping the gun, shoed heaps of class int e 40 min hit out vs norf. i can see conca taking a huge step this year comming off a good uniterupted pre season.

when he moved into the middle last year his game rose another notch. the kid is quality

 

[TigerTime88]

Not really sold on Christensen and a few others like Fasolo. Surrounded by stars they get to play their own game and be relatively unaccountable. Noted both of these guys have been ordinary in the preseason when surrounded by other rookies.

Seems to be biased towards players that get on the tv a lot. EG. Goalscorers.

Your comments are spot on. These guys are no where near as good as they are talked up, they just look good playing in premiership sides.

SPOT ON!

 

[_RT_]

I reckon Conca is rated about where he should have been. Did he star last year? No he didn't. What he did show though was that he has a long and successful career ahead of him. He won't be getting the high praise that the 'names' get but he will be one of the first names that gets put onto the team sheet in years to come.

As others have said guys like Fasolo and the Geelong boys get rated highly because they are surrounded by stars and aren't asked to step up and do the jobs that Conca and Batchelor were asked to do at times last year.

As we get better over the next few years the media/opposition fans ratings of some of our kids will go through the roof as they get to play in sides where the stars take a fair bit of pressure off them and they are able to go about playing their natural games. Much like Fasolo Menzel Duncan & Christensen are allowed to do.

 

[RichoLedio]

Very excited to see how he goes this year

 

[blxx]

Conca will kick more goals when they run him thru the middle more. hard to kick goals from the backline unless of course you can roost it 90m+

 

[Bird Man]

You reckon he will play wing or half back like he did last year?

was he good in the chb?


Had a disruppted preseason last year and a bit of injury during it and now he has had a full preseason should come out guns blasing round one and one of the things i saw when we played hawks and north was he put on some mussel

 

[Calcium Man]

Conca will kick more goals when they run him thru the middle more. hard to kick goals from the backline unless of course you can roost it 90m+

Well I'd hope so. But I don't think it's his game either. He kicked 5 points no goals last year and I remember 2-3 of them very gettable goals that I was disappointed when he missed

 

[Goldust]

I reckon Conca is rated about where he should have been. Did he star last year? No he didn't. What he did show though was that he has a long and successful career ahead of him. He won't be getting the high praise that the 'names' get but he will be one of the first names that gets put onto the team sheet in years to come.

As others have said guys like Fasolo and the Geelong boys get rated highly because they are surrounded by stars and aren't asked to step up and do the jobs that Conca and Batchelor were asked to do at times last year.

As we get better over the next few years the media/opposition fans ratings of some of our kids will go through the roof as they get to play in sides where the stars take a fair bit of pressure off them and they are able to go about playing their natural games. Much like Fasolo Menzel Duncan & Christensen are allowed to do.

I agree, RT. Conca was solid without being spectacular. Showed some real glimpses of ability and was even 'very good' in a few games, but also had his quiet games and was given a pasting once or twice, which is to be expected. He was solid and did enough to suggest he'll be with us a long, long time.
I for one ain't too fazed by thes erankings ..... the second year will sort them all out. The dreaded 'second year blues' will hit a lot of these kids, while a few will elevate themselves. Just hope Conca and batchelor ar among thsoe who kick on and don't stagnate.
I also take into consideration that opposition supporters would be just as high on their players as we are on Conca ... mainly as they see them each week, as opposed to two or three times a year!

 

[Madison]

I think one of the reasons we rated Conca so high was his performance in the psyche tests wasn't it?

That leads me to believe he won't suffer second year blues, and will get the most out of his career.

I agree with the consensus here, he won't reach Cotchin's level, but will be just that step below. Will be a very, very, fine footballer. Will be AA level, but not Brownlow level.

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

I think one of the reasons we rated Conca so high was his performance in the psyche tests wasn't it?

That leads me to believe he won't suffer second year blues, and will get the most out of his career.

I agree with the consensus here, he won't reach Cotchin's level, but will be just that step below. Will be a very, very, fine footballer. Will be AA level, but not Brownlow level.

I'm of the same opinion......

 

[santa claws]

He's right on one thing though, it's a ridiculously strong list.

To have basically 3 tlal forwards hold down a spot all year, 2 in finals sides; 2 tall backs hold down spots (1 in a finals side); a ruck and about 12-15 smalls hold down spots all year makes for a bloody deep field.

There have been plenty of years when a year like Conca had would put him 2nd/3rd.
Just that many guys came in and had a big impact.

i actually thought that draft ran pretty strong to around pick 40. one rreason why i wanted us to activate the tambling pp straight away.
if we had opted to go this way we had options galore. key defenders promising mids and promising ruckmen all available to us.
i make no bones about the fact i wanted heppell at 6 lycett pp at 28 and one of mccarthy or parker or hallahan farmer at what would have been 31. i still strongly believe batchelor would have been there at 47. heppell lycett mccarthy and batchelor would have been a great draft for us.

is conca worth pick 6 well thats way too early to call. despite the criticism of where we took players conca looks to be a good pick. is he worth pick 6 well how do you measure that. thorp salopek myers yarran dowler rohan conca wingard williams bradley in the last 10 yrs. while a valuable pick id say it hasnt been used well by most clubs maybe conca is the exception.

 

[Madison]

is conca worth pick 6 well thats way too early to call. despite the criticism of where we took players conca looks to be a good pick. is he worth pick 6 well how do you measure that. thorp salopek myers yarran dowler rohan conca wingard williams bradley in the last 10 yrs. while a valuable pick id say it hasnt been used well by most clubs maybe conca is the exception.

Haha. What an average list of players for such a high pick.

I don't know how people can still doubt Conca, he has everything you could possibly want in a modern footballer.

Great disposal, great decision maker, very smart player, tough and a good leader.

The only thing I would add is height/size. Then he would be Pendlebury.

 

[Infamy]

i still strongly believe batchelor would have been there at 47

Can't remember the details but I thought it was reported that Collingwood were going to take him and he'd have been gone before our next pick. Haven't looked it up though.

 

[Livonski]

Others doubt him because he hasn't done anything yet.
I could argue (Madison) on disposal (5 points, no goals, and easy shots) and decisions, well he made one very bad one a month ago. And as you say he's short.

But we know he's got that something about him that will drive him to the top. He'll become a great decision maker/disposer. And you're right on leadership, this boy has good character.
He'll be fine.

 

[Madison]

Agreed on his goal kicking. Not sure why it's so bad. Like Cotchin. Both beautiful kicks who struggle with the set shot.

Hopefully it's a nerves issue.

 

[Bird Man]

Heppel remains to be the better player

 

[Calcium Man]

i actually thought that draft ran pretty strong to around pick 40. one rreason why i wanted us to activate the tambling pp straight away.
if we had opted to go this way we had options galore. key defenders promising mids and promising ruckmen all available to us.
i make no bones about the fact i wanted heppell at 6 lycett pp at 28 and one of mccarthy or parker or hallahan farmer at what would have been 31. i still strongly believe batchelor would have been there at 47. heppell lycett mccarthy and batchelor would have been a great draft for us.

is conca worth pick 6 well thats way too early to call. despite the criticism of where we took players conca looks to be a good pick. is he worth pick 6 well how do you measure that. thorp salopek myers yarran dowler rohan conca wingard williams bradley in the last 10 yrs. while a valuable pick id say it hasnt been used well by most clubs maybe conca is the exception.

Swings and roundabouts Santa. We use the PP last year and we don't get Elton this season. Hard to know if he will be better than Lycett but he looks pretty good so far and one of the major knocks on him pre draft was competitiveness but the rumour from training is he has been very impressive in that area and surprised a few people. We also managed to squeeze another top 30-40 pick this year in another deep draft. Drafting is not an exact science but maybe we end up with elton and a batchelor type instead of just Lycett.

As for Heppell no doubt he is quality but i'm kind of happy we didn't grab him. Essendon have been extremely underhanded lately, the Bomber Thompson saga, pretty obvious draft tampering with Kavanagh, the Caddy situation and how all clubs had question marks over Heppells groins but Essendon seemed to have full access to his medical files from their own club doctor. He wanted to get to Essendon and got there good luck to the kid but if the AFL world has any sort of Karma i hope it comes back to bite Essendon on the @rse.

 

[theflea]

Heppel remains to be the better player

imo i still see something special in conca. i may be wrong but as we know there is no guarantees. the same was said about rich from brissy.hepell is good but i just dont see an in and under mid.

 

[Damo80]

imo i still see something special in conca. i may be wrong but as we know there is no guarantees. the same was said about rich from brissy.hepell is good but i just dont see an in and under mid.

Geez, we write off players quickly... an average 2011 and he's the example of "we thought he was going to be a good player, but...". The whole Lions team had a 2011 to forget, but Rich has been a standout this pre-season for the Lions... I wouldn't be discounting him on the back of the "third year blues"

 

[NUFC Tiger]

imo i still see something special in conca. i may be wrong but as we know there is no guarantees. the same was said about rich from brissy.hepell is good but i just dont see an in and under mid.

I agree with you flea. Perhaps I'm an optimist but I still think the club got the right player for our needs at pick 6. We need more class in the middle and Conca looks like that guy. Not sure young Dyson will be as good a midfielder in the future.

Either way, its early to be making these calls.

 

[Boston tiger]

Haha. What an average list of players for such a high pick.

I don't know how people can still doubt Conca, he has everything you could possibly want in a modern footballer.

Great disposal, great decision maker, very smart player, tough and a good leader.

The only thing I would add is height/size. Then he would be Pendlebury.

The height size worries me abit. If their not big then I want to see some blinding pace or exceptional decision making. Haven't decided either way yet as haven't seen enough. But still se him as a exciting prospect if all goes well

 

[folester41]

Probably jumping the gun a bit but I see him as part of our 'Fab 4' midfield quartet - Deledio, Cotchin, Martin and Conca. In a few years, this could be the best midfield in the comp

i agree, the rankings mean nothing (although he should probably be atleast a few places higher), but those 4 as well as another in and under type will give us a really strong midfield group.

 

[Calcium Man]

The height size worries me abit. If their not big then I want to see some blinding pace or exceptional decision making. Haven't decided either way yet as haven't seen enough. But still se him as a exciting prospect if all goes well

Not sure why people are worried about his height. Officially listed at 185 everywhere i look which is the same as Cotchin. Thats over 6 foot. And don't worry decision making is exceptional

Besides these guys are all below 6 foot off the top of my head
Murphy
Zaharkis
James Kelly
Joel Selwood
Chapman
Schuey
Kerr
Gaff
Ablett
Mitchell
Rockliff
Ball
Boak

 

[smasha]

Swings and roundabouts Santa. We use the PP last year and we don't get Elton this season. Hard to know if he will be better than Lycett but he looks pretty good so far and one of the major knocks on him pre draft was competitiveness but the rumour from training is he has been very impressive in that area and surprised a few people. We also managed to squeeze another top 30-40 pick this year in another deep draft. Drafting is not an exact science but maybe we end up with elton and a batchelor type instead of just Lycett.

As for Heppell no doubt he is quality but i'm kind of happy we didn't grab him. Essendon have been extremely underhanded lately, the Bomber Thompson saga, pretty obvious draft tampering with Kavanagh, the Caddy situation and how all clubs had question marks over Heppells groins but Essendon seemed to have full access to his medical files from their own club doctor. He wanted to get to Essendon and got there good luck to the kid but if the AFL world has any sort of Karma i hope it comes back to bite Essendon on the @rse.

Very dodgy by the Bombers.

 

[theflea]

Geez, we write off players quickly... an average 2011 and he's the example of "we thought he was going to be a good player, but...". The whole Lions team had a 2011 to forget, but Rich has been a standout this pre-season for the Lions... I wouldn't be discounting him on the back of the "third year blues"

im not saying he cant be a good player but he had a great 1st year then has had 2nd and 3rd year blues. he will come back but on exposed form his last 2 years has been ordinary.