Shultz Shines

[Wrenny]

Promising young key-position player, Jay Schulz, is a strong chance to be recalled to the Richmond side for the big Easter Monday clash with St Kilda following an eye-catching display with the Coburg Tigers in the VFL last weekend.

Schulz, who turns 19 later this month, played in Richmond's opening round victory over Collingwood, but had limited game time. With Mark Chaffey returning from suspension in Round 2, the Tigers were forced to make one change to their line-up for the match against Melbourne, and it was Schulz who made way for the reliable defender.

But Richmond's No. 1 choice in the 2002 National Draft responded in impressive style. Although the Coburg Tigers were soundly beaten in their opening round VFL clash with Sandringham last Sunday, Schulz was a standout at centre half-forward.

"Schulzy was very good, particularly early on. He took four or five contested marks in the first quarter and had a real impact," said Richmond's Football Operations Manager, Greg Hutchison.

"Late in the game he copped a 'corky', but he should come up okay. He'd have to be a pretty good chance of pushing up this week, depending on what the coaches feel they need for the St Kilda game."

Another Tiger 'tall' in former Adelaide premiership player, Ben Marsh, also was in fine form for Coburg, until suffering a slight groin injury, which is expected to sideline him for a week.

"Marshy was going really well, but he got injured just before quarter-time and that impacted on the structure of the side a bit. They (Sandringham) kicked a few goals just before half-time when Marshy had gone off," Hutchison said.

Two other Richmond-list players who pressed their claims for senior selection this week were Simon Fletcher and Luke Weller.

"Simon played pretty well on-ball and got a fair bit of the footy. Luke Weller was solid at full-back -- he competed really hard," Hutchison said.

Justin Blumfield and Rory Hilton, both on the comeback trail after injury problems, got through the game with Coburg okay, but will need more match fitness before coming into senior contention.

"Justin played the second half and he did a pretty good job, but he's still a couple of weeks away from the seniors because he just needs to play some more football.

"Rory finished the game fairly strongly. It took him a while to pick up the tempo, but he finished off quite well," Hutchison said.


Match details

Coburg Tigers: 2.3 5.6 7.9 7.12 (54)
Sandringham: 1.3 8.10 9.12 14.14 (98)


Coburg player stats

W. Carlyle: 3 kicks, 2 handballs, 3 marks
E. Kuret: 6 kicks, 8 handballs, 1 mark
A. Isailovic: 15 kicks, 3 handballs, 6 marks
L. Carlson: 10 kicks, 8 handballs, 4 marks
K. Pettifer: 13 kicks, 5 handballs, 3 marks
D. Talbot: 10 kicks, 9 handballs, 7 marks
M. Dragicevic: 11 kicks, 12 handballs, 1 mark
R. Hilton: 6 kicks, 1 handball, 1 mark
J. Blumfield: 2 kicks, 1 handball, 2 marks
L. McDonald: 1 kick, 0 handballs, 0 marks
B. Marsh: 5 kicks, 4 handballs, 6 marks
R. O'Connor: 5 kicks, 6 handballs, 6 marks, 1 goal
S. Tuck: 15 kicks, 6 handballs, 2 marks
T. Roach: 8 kicks, 2 handballs, 4 marks
D. Jackson: 1 kick, 3 handballs, 0 marks, 1 goal
J. Schulz: 10 kicks, 1 handball, 9 marks, 2 goals
L. Weller: 8 kicks, 1 handball, 6 marks
S. Fletcher: 14 kicks, 7 handballs, 5 marks, 1 goal
A. Raines: 8 kicks, 1 handball, 1 mark, 1 goal
K. Moore: 9 kicks, 3 handballs, 3 marks
T. Jorgenson: 4 kicks, 2 handballs, 2 marks
A. Houlihan: 15 kicks, 12 handballs, 8 marks, 1 goal

 

[Wrenny]

What a great article. Cant wait for shultzy to come in this week. I wish that houlihan and pettifer racked up those stats when playing AFL. Good to see dragga in the thick of it and tuck having a good game.

Possible side for this week vs saints?

 

[DirtyDogTiger]

agreed

Originally posted by wrennyboy
I wish that houlihan and pettifer racked up those stats when playing AFL. Good to see dragga in the thick of it and tuck having a good game.

Absolutely agree.

It's really important to the side that Hools, Fletcher Nicholls, Pettifer Dunc, Rogers, marsh and these sorts of players put pressure on the guys in the senior team.

The seniors say; " hey ! so and so has been killing them and can't get into the team...so I have to make sure i keep my spot or else it'll be me killing it in the reserves for a month or so"

It's these guys pushing their performances hard that stretches a club out of its previous best efforts into its next best efforts.

 

[Wrenny]

Absolutely agree.

It's really important to the side that Hools, Fletcher Nicholls, Pettifer Dunc, Rogers, marsh and these sorts of players put pressure on the guys in the senior team.

The seniors say; " hey ! so and so has been killing them and can't get into the team...so I have to make sure i keep my spot or else it'll be me killing it in the reserves for a month or so"

It's these guys pushing their performances hard that stretches a club out of its previous best efforts into its next best efforts.

One man to thank for this pressure is greg miller. With good recruiting it will make richmond a hell of a lot better

 

[Wally Matera]

Ahhhh... just what l thought. The article was written by Greenberg.

We got flogged in both games... supporters need some hope... lets write an article about a white-knight that kicked two goals to keep them at bay.

 

[Crumden]

You know we've had a shocker when the week before when they have to find a player in the seconds to write about.

 

[Coach Required]

maybe Richmond should try something totally unexpected and tell Shulz that this week he will be tagging Reiwoldt for the entire match.

You never know, if the kid is in form we may even negate the saints talented player, that way it could fee up gaspar and andy K on the other 2 saints fwds in gehrig and hamill leaving Ty or Chaffey to tag Milne

Its something Sheedy or Malthouse would try, but I think its way past Danny's way of thinking. He will play Shulz off the bench waste this promising kids ability then drop him back to coburg next week.

If it doesnt work then it doesnt work, but I think it would ge nice to see something totally unexpected for a change and would make us less predictable.

what do you guys think?

 

[WilliamPowell]

Beat me to it CR.

I would promote Schulz and have him play on Reiwoldt for the entire game. I think body on body Jay would be able to compete so it is worth punt. And can you imagine the confidence gained by an 18 y.o. if he breaks even or beats one of the supposed "up and coming" stars of the competition? If he gets beaten he will learn alot.

But please oh please can (if he was to get beaten) can people not bag the coach about it (eg why did you leave him there?) because we need these kids to play as much footy as possible - isn't that what most of us want?

 

[Fishfinger]

Good idea cr, it might work. Andrew Kellaway played his first game on Garry Lyon. Lyon laughed at him at the start of the match and then got totally outplayed by him.
As good as Lyon was I think Riewoldt is better, even at this early stage of his career, and will rise to Royce Hart-like status. I think a lot of other Saints players will have to be kept quiet to curb his effectiveness.

 

[Wally Matera]

Great post CR!

Much better idea than sending the clueless Hall down there. If we're going to play Hall, put him in the forward line... he's best (only) asset is his kicking for goal!

 

[oxx]

I like the idea CR.

It'll be good for the kid.

 

[CJH]

Spud has tried a few left-of-field matchups before; some have worked and some haven't. Examples are Zantuck on Lloyd (win), Fleming on McLeod (win) and Hall on Hird (big loss!).

Hall's best position is as an around the ground follower, something that he may do this week following Blake. What cannot be disputed is that Hall is very mobile and very quick for his size. Just doesn't seem to be able to read the ball coming down into defence.


Here is a left of field matchup...

Hall to run with Nick Dal Santo!