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- Oct 9, 2002
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For anyone that doesn't visit demonland.com here is a post by Craig Cameron on our new rookie players;
"Just a few word on the selction of our rookies.
Brendan Van Shaik
We were always going to rookie a ruckman. Brendan was highly rated before his knee injury last season, playing U/16 rep football for Vic Country. He played the second half of this year and showed he is an aggressive tap ruckman who has a huge frame and still needs some time to grow into his body. 203cm players don't come around often and when they do they take a bit of time. This is why the rookie draft is perfect for someone like Brendan.
He is good in all areas of ruck work and can take a strong mark. He needs to polish his kicking skills a bit and will have the opportunity to do that with us.
Matthew Warnock
Matthew completed his second preseason with us. He is 192cm and very quick. At his height and athleticism the club believed it was time to give him a year in an elite program to develop his football nous. Pace is a rare commodity in 192cm players so we thought Matthew well worth the punt.
There wre some financial restraints on us this year which is the reason for only 2 rookies and also the reason that no interstate rookies were considered. I'm unsure whether the same restraints will apply next year. However, I do know that Steve Harris and the Commercial Operations side of the club are working extremely hard to balance our books and raise more revenue so that the Football Department is fully resourced in the future.
It is fair to say that I didn't rate any of the running midielders that were left when it came to our selections. I think this year was lacking in that area. While our recruiting looks unbalanced for 2004, I think, our list is looking better balanced than it has for a while. More midfielders and small forwards will definitely be targetted next year."
"Just a few word on the selction of our rookies.
Brendan Van Shaik
We were always going to rookie a ruckman. Brendan was highly rated before his knee injury last season, playing U/16 rep football for Vic Country. He played the second half of this year and showed he is an aggressive tap ruckman who has a huge frame and still needs some time to grow into his body. 203cm players don't come around often and when they do they take a bit of time. This is why the rookie draft is perfect for someone like Brendan.
He is good in all areas of ruck work and can take a strong mark. He needs to polish his kicking skills a bit and will have the opportunity to do that with us.
Matthew Warnock
Matthew completed his second preseason with us. He is 192cm and very quick. At his height and athleticism the club believed it was time to give him a year in an elite program to develop his football nous. Pace is a rare commodity in 192cm players so we thought Matthew well worth the punt.
There wre some financial restraints on us this year which is the reason for only 2 rookies and also the reason that no interstate rookies were considered. I'm unsure whether the same restraints will apply next year. However, I do know that Steve Harris and the Commercial Operations side of the club are working extremely hard to balance our books and raise more revenue so that the Football Department is fully resourced in the future.
It is fair to say that I didn't rate any of the running midielders that were left when it came to our selections. I think this year was lacking in that area. While our recruiting looks unbalanced for 2004, I think, our list is looking better balanced than it has for a while. More midfielders and small forwards will definitely be targetted next year."
) sounds like a taller version of Mark Jamar, in that his skills seem to be the main stumbling block. Russian has developed quite well so as long as we give this kid some time, he could be in a position to step into Whitey's boots in a few years time.
