CHF ( which is where I believe he started) is the hardest gig of the lot so they didn't do him any favours, and unfortunately he isn't the first player at Alberton to show promise and then fall away badly under the current regime.
Yes, it’s all the clubs fault that he can’t get a kick these days.
They're picked at 18 in general when it's largely a guess how they'll develop. The great majority are dropped from the system, I think the average career is 3 years (heard that from a commentator the other night, Richo?).
You can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig. You can try and pour 500ml of water into a cup but if it's a 350ml cup the effort is wasted. And so on. For some players the effort is worth it but only over time. From today's players Lachie Jones played really well vs Brisbane and at 21 has clearly improved since he was drafted. Others are depth players like Dumont and Clurey. EDIT: and Evans.
Good SANFL teams (most of them in any year) are plenty fast, tough and skilful. And one huge advantage they have over the Maggies and the Crows reserves is they have a full club structure where they can promote/drop players from their reserves. That's something we can't do anymore, we have to play everybody on the AFL list, then whatever contracted players we have, and as last resort* there seems to be a ring-around amateur league clubs to field a team.
Back to my earlier points, the AFL-listed player is not automatically better than the SANFL one. The AFL-listed player who can't get or keep a game at AFL level is more worthy of being called a mug. The AFL-listed player who trains multiple times a week with copious resources and doesn't develop to AFL level is more worthy of being called a mug.
Right now he is a poor footballer. He's a poor footballer because the club has spent the last two years systematically crushing his spirit. If I'd been ignored for gametime when I was by far the best ruck option on the list as often as Hayes has been since 2022 I'd have given up too.
This, but unironically.
Very underwhelming!
Chris Dalkin good memory, he came to us in 1987 complete flop stayed 1 year.
As distinct from the many who've developed and thrived at Alberton under the current regime. Or in other words a football club.
You are the bloke that thought Jonas played well yesterday right?
I don't know if that's true or not now but I know it DEFINITELY wasn't true when he just played 7 pretty decent AFL games.
5 disposals. 0 marks.
He looked ok actually and I'm by no means a fan.
It’s imperative that any professional athlete, no matter what discipline or background, must be able to self motivate themselves if they are ever going to progress in their chosen field. It doesn’t matter how badly Sam might have been managed over the years, he has to rise above that adversity & prove the doubters wrong.
Explain why he isnt
And the ruck.
