Richard Douglas

[Jetta_Myers]

Hi everyone,
I apologize if I have done the wrong thing and started a new thread, however, I was reading the paper the other day and noticed a reporter suggest according to him that Douglas would be leading your BnF. I was wondering if you all think this would be close to accurate as I do not see many Adelaide games?

I ask as I am a big Douglas fan as I knew him in the under 18's during his time at the Cannons and would like to know what his form is like.

By the way, I always hoped that he more than anyone would 'make it' in the AFL as he worked so hard all the time and was an absolute champion of a person with no sense of arrogance whatsoever.

Anyway, good luck to both teams this weekend as I hope it is a good game to watch!

 

[cammo6556]

Mate he would have to be close. Breakout year in terms of output and consistency. A rare shining light in a pretty dark season.

 

[Bockchoy67]

Having a breakout season thus far.

Up until now he would show glimmers on his talent but would always make an error straight after. Showed a distinct lack of confidence - didn't help that he was being played out of position in a forward pocket as well.

During the summer he set himself up to break into the midfield and develop a much improved tank. As such he is now brimming with confidence, is having a much more consistent output throughout games and elements of his game that were strengths in his junior days - his agility, pace and clearance work - are now all on show for the fans to see.

Dougy has copped a lot from Crows supporters but you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who has been unhappy with his form so far this year. Would be in our top 3 in the BnF.

 

[Mismatched]

His form in the first 6 games of the year was nothing really to write home about, however in the past 7 games he has really come of age. Is stepping up into that A-grade midfielder he's shown glimpses of over his time at Adelaide. Hopefully he can keep the improvement up over the rest of the year, as our midfield is in drastic need of another 2-3 genuine A-graders. Thompson and Vince (when his head's in the right space), currently aren't enough, we need the likes of Douglas, Mackay, Dangerfield and co to step up.

 

[Southerntakeover]

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=721678

Poll taken a week ago.

Should give a decent indication of how we feel about his season.

 

[Coopers]

Goodwin is leading the coach's votes thingy... so Dougie will be a bit behind.

A lot of footy left though.

 

[Crows1505]

Loving him this season, consistently impacting games

 

[Sekaj]

Loving Dougie's form in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, coming out of contract at the end of the year. Hope we keep him. There's no way we should let him go now.

 

[King Elvis]

He's been awesome, and it's great to hear that he's a fantastic bloke as well.

Seka - we apparently told him we'd trade him last year, if he wanted to seek other opportunities. He refused, saying he wanted to prove he was up to it here.

 

[lunacy]

Just on Richie and dont kill for this just purely talking in hypertheticals and putting it out there. What would his trade value be now? He is 23 yrs old I think having a break out year.

We have Douglas, Thompson, Vince, Reilly, Symes, Otten and Van Berlo all in our midfield rotations. None of which have great pace or are incredibly damaging maybe except Vince and Thompson at their best.

Whilst we need as many midfielders as we can, the only players with reasonable trade value would be Vince, Thompson, Otten and Douglas.

Thompson gives us the real big bodied tough in and under midfielder,
Vince is the polished accumulator,
Otten is a young utility who I wouldnt think of trading
This leaves Douglas who has had a good year but isnt really a stand out in any one area.

I think it is more risky to trade a Bock or Rutten who are proven key defenders and are hard to find. Especially when we dont have the proven young KPP to step up. Except maybe Davis but I'd like the freedom of allowing him play forward/Back on a needs basis.

Whilst you have to take risks imo at trade time. Douglas is less risk whilst still offering value.

I havent thought about it too much but we have many midfielders of the same ilk.

Thoughts?

 

[crowman86]

Spend 5 years developing the kid, as soon as he works out his best position and cements a spot in the side, possibly leads our BnF will have 6+ years of great footy ahead of him and you want to trade him out? Crows offered him a trade last year and he refused. There is no way in hell it is going to happen.

 

[lunacy]

Spend 5 years developing the kid, as soon as he works out his best position and cements a spot in the side, possibly leads our BnF will have 6+ years of great footy ahead of him and you want to trade him out? Crows offered him a trade last year and he refused. There is no way in hell it is going to happen.

Fair enough. To get something you have to give up something. Considering so many of our midfielders are so similar, I reckon we can trade one for a different type.

I know what you're saying, but we dont have many tradeable players.

I suppose we dont have to trade, but If we do we might have to be prepared to give up something. He has improved but gees he's no judd.

Obviously I'd only consider it if we got what we want in return.

Gees I didnt say delist. Its not just giving him away.

 

[lunacy]

Spend 5 years developing the kid, as soon as he works out his best position and cements a spot in the side, possibly leads our BnF will have 6+ years of great footy ahead of him and you want to trade him out? Crows offered him a trade last year and he refused. There is no way in hell it is going to happen.

1. Yes it did take a long time for him to show anything didnt it

2. No guarantees

 

[KUNG FU]

Just on Richie and dont kill for this just purely talking in hypertheticals and putting it out there. What would his trade value be now? He is 23 yrs old I think having a break out year.

We have Douglas, Thompson, Vince, Reilly, Symes, Otten and Van Berlo all in our midfield rotations. None of which have great pace or are incredibly damaging maybe except Vince and Thompson at their best.

Whilst we need as many midfielders as we can, the only players with reasonable trade value would be Vince, Thompson, Otten and Douglas.

Thompson gives us the real big bodied tough in and under midfielder,
Vince is the polished accumulator,
Otten is a young utility who I wouldnt think of trading
This leaves Douglas who has had a good year but isnt really a stand out in any one area.

I think it is more risky to trade a Bock or Rutten who are proven key defenders and are hard to find. Especially when we dont have the proven young KPP to step up. Except maybe Davis but I'd like the freedom of allowing him play forward/Back on a needs basis.

Whilst you have to take risks imo at trade time. Douglas is less risk whilst still offering value.

I havent thought about it too much but we have many midfielders of the same ilk.

Thoughts?

Sheer lunacy.

Our KPPs are well stocked. Proven talent: Rutten, Bock, Tippett, Stevens. Close enough: Walker, Otten. Getting there: Sellar, Davis, Young, Talia, McKernan, Thompson. In addition we have a good number of tall flankers such as Gunston, Shaw and Dangerfield.

In addition our greatest weakness is A-grade midfield talent. Thompson has had his issues with disposal, injury and off-field dramas. Who knows where Vince is right now. Dangerfield has absolutely zero outside game and despite managing the weakness much better now, his disposal isn't great. Mackay is yet to fully impose himself on a game and has had significant injury concerns as well. Behind this vulnerable list of 4 we have Douglas, van Berlo, Reilly, Jaensch, Martin, Sloane and Cook, who are able a step behind or have yet to reach their potential. Especially considering that the midfield is the most crucial area on the ground, I think we are still a little lacklustre. Douglas has finally shown what his ceiling is and if he can put together some consistency, then we may have a genuine A-grader on our hands.

 

[KUNG FU]

Considering so many of our midfielders are so similar

Really? Other than Vince, I don't see any genuine inside/outside mids in our team.

 

[King Elvis]

And Douglas is quicker than he looks.

More importantly, we're going to need all of the big bodied midfielders we can get our hands on over the next couple of years.

Goody, Edwards, Doughty all gone or going soon.

 

[marvin]

I remember when Douglas first broke into the side, this board went into near meltdown, particularly over what he did in the 2006 final against Fremantle, when he went off under the blood rule and came charging off the bench at 3Q time to rally the team.

I wonder if the opinion of Douglas' performance over the past few years since then hasn't been clouded a little bit by the disaster that was the drafting and rapid delisting of Darren Pfeiffer?

Although at the time it seemed a blow to lose Fergus Watts back home, the thought that we had 2 1st round picks to work with that year gave some cause for optimism. When Pfeiffer got an early booting, all of a sudden the hopes that we had for our 2 1st round picks got dumped completely on Douglas - who was developing at a normal rate into a good player, but who we suddenly wanted to develop at a rapid rate into a great player.

If you look at the players drafted in the vicinity of Douglas at 16 (Varcoe 15, Dempsey 18) they've really only emerged at a similar rate to him.

Just a theory.

 

[Sekaj]

If you look at the players drafted in the vicinity of Douglas at 16 (Varcoe 15, Dempsey 18) they've really only emerged at a similar rate to him.

That really puts things into perspective. Looks like he may have even surpassed or equalled Higgins this year which is incredible.

 

[cmndstab]

His form in the first 6 games of the year was nothing really to write home about,

I've seen you say this a couple of times, my memory was that he's been pretty good all year. He's definitely got better as the year has gone on but I remember putting him in our top handfull almost every game in the first six. Perhaps my memory is wrong

Then again, "top handfull" in those first six games is no real mark of distinction anyway

He'd be in the top two or three of our B&F so far, I'd say.

 

[KUNG FU]

He probably would have been dropped after Round 2 game v Sydney if the team wasn't doing so poorly. Got a bit of the ball, but butchered it every time. Having said that, he was one of the few who actually had a go that game and I think was a starting point for his break out.

 

[srv23]

I remember when Douglas first broke into the side, this board went into near meltdown, particularly over what he did in the 2006 final against Fremantle, when he went off under the blood rule and came charging off the bench at 3Q time to rally the team.

I wonder if the opinion of Douglas' performance over the past few years since then hasn't been clouded a little bit by the disaster that was the drafting and rapid delisting of Darren Pfeiffer?

Although at the time it seemed a blow to lose Fergus Watts back home, the thought that we had 2 1st round picks to work with that year gave some cause for optimism. When Pfeiffer got an early booting, all of a sudden the hopes that we had for our 2 1st round picks got dumped completely on Douglas - who was developing at a normal rate into a good player, but who we suddenly wanted to develop at a rapid rate into a great player.

If you look at the players drafted in the vicinity of Douglas at 16 (Varcoe 15, Dempsey 18) they've really only emerged at a similar rate to him.

Just a theory.

Very good points there Marvin. Throw in the fact that we spent several years trying to turn a dead set midfielder into a small forward. What's also great with Dougie was the fact we apparently did offer to trade him last year after telling him he was no guarantee of being best 22 and he refused saying he wanted to work hard and earn his spot in our side is testament to his character. The fact that over the preseason he has done just that - worked hard, got the tank to play midfield and has now grabbed his chances this year with both hands is also a great sign.

Douglas' form this year, especially over the last month or 2 has really been the big shining light of this year.

 

[King Elvis]

He probably would have been dropped after Round 2 game v Sydney if the team wasn't doing so poorly. Got a bit of the ball, but butchered it every time. Having said that, he was one of the few who actually had a go that game and I think was a starting point for his break out.

That's about my memory of it.

I think the first game, he was woeful.

Second game, he was crap, but had a go.

From then on, he's improved every week, until he got to a level ~5(?) weeks ago where he's been very good.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Spend 5 years developing the kid, as soon as he works out his best position and cements a spot in the side, possibly leads our BnF will have 6+ years of great footy ahead of him and you want to trade him out? Crows offered him a trade last year and he refused. There is no way in hell it is going to happen.

A year (or less) is a long time in footy. Wasn't picked in the Collingwood final and now is odds on favourite for the B&F. He's either having the Mother of all Breakout Years or the 22 blokes who were picked ahead of him that night have gone backwards at pace.

 

[Vader]

A year (or less) is a long time in footy. Wasn't picked in the Collingwood final and now is odds on favourite for the B&F. He's either having the Mother of all Breakout Years or the 22 blokes who were picked ahead of him that night have gone backwards at pace.

A bit of both really.

 

[Southerntakeover]

A year (or less) is a long time in footy. Wasn't picked in the Collingwood final and now is odds on favourite for the B&F. He's either having the Mother of all Breakout Years or the 22 blokes who were picked ahead of him that night have gone backwards at pace.

Or both.