Richard Douglas

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Not to re-hash old ground, but it's more of the latter surely given that we're going so badly compared to last year?

 

[Southerntakeover]

Is there any way in which making that statement wont lead to a repeat of the discussion we already had?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Is there any way in which making that statement wont lead to a repeat of the discussion we already had?

Probably not! In hindsight let's leave it alone.

 

[KUNG FU]

@ the last three posts

 

[lunacy]

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.

Exactly. Our midfield needs improving and they are all one paced (barring Dangerfield). Yes I know people will say Douglas isnt that slow, yes I agree but we is not really quick or super skilled either.

Yes we need to improve our midfield. Hopefully we can do this in the draft anyway. But gees all I'm saying is if the right deal came our way, I'd more be more than happy to trade Douglas as a package deal or something for another midfielder that brings different qualities to our midfield than our current stock.

 

[lunacy]

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.

I trade Douglas for Varcoe in a heart beat. Their in different leagues.

 

[Cap]

they are also different players

 

[Allbetsroff]

I trade Douglas for Varcoe in a heart beat. Their in different leagues.

No thanks, I'd rather a bloke that gives his all over a front runner.

 

[marvin]

I trade Douglas for Varcoe in a heart beat. Their in different leagues.

Stylistically, they are different.

Statistically, they are very, very similar over their careers. And accepting that Douglas is now a midfielder, a comparison of their 2009 stats when they were both small forwards, and Douglas was copping weekly abuse on this board from some quarters also reveals very little difference.

Varcoe for Douglas is a trade I might make. But I'd think about it for a while first.

 

[Jetta_Myers]

Hi everyone,

Wow! I logged on tonight and to see all the feedback is amazing - thank you all so much for your input, I appreciate it!

Great to hear he is doing so well, like I said, an absolute top bloke. Wouldn't matter if you were a coach, player or trainer, he always had time for eveyone and better than that; he always treated everyone with so much respect! After each game, i'd say: "good game Dougo" and he always appreciated it and never had a big head about it!

I always wanted Essendon to draft him because, i'm not sure if this is a feature in his game at AFL yet, but in the TAC his ability to mark overhead against a bigger body was second to none. Also, his leadership, I will never forget in one game during a finals series, that he was captaining by the way, Cannons needed a goal to win the game with about a minute left and Dougo took the mark about 45m out from goal and cooly went back and slotted it and won the game - he took the responsibility and I have never heard a local under 18 match crowd errupt like that!

Anyways, thanks for the feedback everyone, I hope I can return after the game this week to discuss it with you all without being told to go away!

Good luck!

 

[Allbetsroff]

Hi everyone,

Wow! I logged on tonight and to see all the feedback is amazing - thank you all so much for your input, I appreciate it!

Great to hear he is doing so well, like I said, an absolute top bloke. Wouldn't matter if you were a coach, player or trainer, he always had time for eveyone and better than that; he always treated everyone with so much respect! After each game, i'd say: "good game Dougo" and he always appreciated it and never had a big head about it!

I always wanted Essendon to draft him because, i'm not sure if this is a feature in his game at AFL yet, but in the TAC his ability to mark overhead against a bigger body was second to none. Also, his leadership, I will never forget in one game during a finals series, that he was captaining by the way, Cannons needed a goal to win the game with about a minute left and Dougo took the mark about 45m out from goal and cooly went back and slotted it and won the game - he took the responsibility and I have never heard a local under 18 match crowd errupt like that!

Anyways, thanks for the feedback everyone, I hope I can return after the game this week to discuss it with you all without being told to go away!

Good luck!

Nah you'll be fine mate, we're happy to have other team supporters come in here and have a chat.

 

[Jetta_Myers]

Nah you'll be fine mate, we're happy to have other team supporters come in here and have a chat.

Thanks mate!

 

[King Elvis]

Great to hear he is doing so well, like I said, an absolute top bloke. Wouldn't matter if you were a coach, player or trainer, he always had time for eveyone and better than that; he always treated everyone with so much respect! After each game, i'd say: "good game Dougo" and he always appreciated it and never had a big head about it!

I backed him to the hilt until the last few games of last year, and the first couple this year.

I thought he could be very good, but he just never seemed to get it together.

I'm absolutely stoked that he's doing well this year - and your post above makes me even happier for him personally.

 

[cmndstab]

The one thing you could never fault about Dougie is his endeavour, and I've always believed that endeavour can make up for most deficiencies if you have enough of it. Fortunately, Douglas has some other weapons that are finally on show this year


Jetta - we're always very happy to talk about how good our players are going If you want to come on and talk about Brian Donnelly on the other hand, it's an instant ban

 

[Allbetsroff]

The one thing you could never fault about Dougie is his endeavour, and I've always believed that endeavour can make up for most deficiencies if you have enough of it. Fortunately, Douglas has some other weapons that are finally on show this year


Jetta - we're always very happy to talk about how good our players are going If you want to come on and talk about Brian Donnelly on the other hand, it's an instant ban

You said the forbidden name

FORBIDDEN FORBIDDEN FORBIDDEN

 

[jackster83]

You said the forbidden name

FORBIDDEN FORBIDDEN FORBIDDEN

Can mods get red carded?

 

[Coopers]

Thanks mate!

Pretty much as long as threads don't start with "crows suxxors lolz!" you're golden.

 

[Jetta_Myers]

Pretty much as long as threads don't start with "crows suxxors lolz!" you're golden.

hahaha ok thanks for the heads up, i'll be sure to not do that!

cmndstab - thanks for the heads up - I embarrassingly don't know that footballer...

And King Elvis - i'm glad you liked the comment, I can assure you that there won't be anyone who works harder to ensure he gets the most out of himself and do everything possible to build a successful AFL career

 

[Vader]

cmndstab - thanks for the heads up - I embarrassingly don't know that footballer...

No reason why you should. He's our Irish Experiment. He's on the rookie list and has never looked like breaking out of the SANFL magoos. As a result, he will almost certainly be delisted at the end of the year.

 

[cmndstab]

Jetta - it's pretty safe to assume you'll never hear the name again, either

jackster - I'm tempted to fall on my own sword

 

[Mismatched]

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.

From what I recall, and the stats back it up, Douglas was play okay, did a couple of nice things, but nothing to suggest that if we had our best team on the park, that he'd be in it. I think it was round 7 against the Tigers, that he really started to show some good signs and then against Brisbane he suddenly just started playing out of his skin.

I backed him to the hilt until the last few games of last year, and the first couple this year.

I thought he could be very good, but he just never seemed to get it together.

I'm absolutely stoked that he's doing well this year - and your post above makes me even happier for him personally.

Yeah, I was a bit of the same, had always rated him, but you get to a point where the faith just runs out, well not runs out as such, but you just begin to accept the fact that he may just never make it. Still very pleased for him to be making me look silly for ever doubting him.

Hi everyone,

Wow! I logged on tonight and to see all the feedback is amazing - thank you all so much for your input, I appreciate it!

Great to hear he is doing so well, like I said, an absolute top bloke. Wouldn't matter if you were a coach, player or trainer, he always had time for eveyone and better than that; he always treated everyone with so much respect! After each game, i'd say: "good game Dougo" and he always appreciated it and never had a big head about it!

I always wanted Essendon to draft him because, i'm not sure if this is a feature in his game at AFL yet, but in the TAC his ability to mark overhead against a bigger body was second to none. Also, his leadership, I will never forget in one game during a finals series, that he was captaining by the way, Cannons needed a goal to win the game with about a minute left and Dougo took the mark about 45m out from goal and cooly went back and slotted it and won the game - he took the responsibility and I have never heard a local under 18 match crowd errupt like that!

Anyways, thanks for the feedback everyone, I hope I can return after the game this week to discuss it with you all without being told to go away!

Good luck!

You wouldn't say its a feature of his game because he doesn't generally find himself in too many contested marking situations, however when he gets the chance, he is rarely beaten. Certainly a great grab of the footy, I'm always confident when I see the ball kicked to him in such a situation.

 

[cmndstab]

Yeah, without ever really identifying it as a particular strength in his game, I usually feel pretty confident that he can mark a ball in a contested situation if given half a chance.