" The Overview "

[Walsh Bay]

As happy as I am with the footy department, I have to say

I don't trust our ability to engineer a good trade. Trading gets you burnt. That's why the amount of quality trades is decreasing year by year.

 

[Sedat!]

I don't trust our ability to engineer a good trade. Trading gets you burnt. That's why the amount of quality trades is decreasing year by year.

I'd agree with you if Newport and Rohde were still steering the ship. But we now have some hard-nosed negotiators at the club who could mastermind favourable trades. Trading only gets you burnt if you do not identify players that add value to your club and address specific weaknesses, and also when you pay over the odds for questionable talent. We were guilty as charged on both counts in 2003.

 

[Knackers]

I'm not impressed with the softly, softly approach the club has taken with our taller players, I don't fully buy into the "Talls take longer to develop" argument. Quality kids show their talent no matter what size they are, our problem is that very few quality tall kids have been drafted (other than Harris and Minson).

There are good reports on Wells and Tiller, however the club should be playing Walsh, Wight and Williams (allowing for injury) as much as possible....now. We must test out these blokes and blood them with the seniors. We will soon see if they can cut it or not.
Clubs can't afford to waste too much time developing players with the short lists and spots at a premium. The idea is to draft, assess, develop (2 years max), blood, re-assess. If there is any doubt after this process then they must be moved on. Premierships are passing us by every year while we cling on to hope that those in our ranks will grasp the moment.
Trade or draft for talent, either way we must learn to assess players more efficiently and make tough calls, some will pay off, others won't. I'm afraid that if you don't take some risk you won't come out on top. We've had fifty years trying to find the right mix of players to take us to a premiership, we can't be that unlucky, I believe the club has been guilty of cutting our players too much slack.

 

[scooter600x]

I'm not impressed with the softly, softly approach the club has taken with our taller players, I don't fully buy into the "Talls take longer to develop" argument. Quality kids show their talent no matter what size they are, our problem is that very few quality tall kids have been drafted (other than Harris and Minson).

There are good reports on Wells and Tiller, however the club should be playing Walsh, Wight and Williams (allowing for injury) as much as possible....now. We must test out these blokes and blood them with the seniors. We will soon see if they can cut it or not.
Clubs can't afford to waste too much time developing players with the short lists and spots at a premium. The idea is to draft, assess, develop (2 years max), blood, re-assess. If there is any doubt after this process then they must be moved on. Premierships are passing us by every year while we cling on to hope that those in our ranks will grasp the moment.
Trade or draft for talent, either way we must learn to assess players more efficiently and make tough calls, some will pay off, others won't. I'm afraid that if you don't take some risk you won't come out on top. We've had fifty years trying to find the right mix of players to take us to a premiership, we can't be that unlucky, I believe the club has been guilty of cutting our players too much slack.

Nope.

 

[brother fish]

I'm not impressed with the softly, softly approach the club has taken with our taller players, I don't fully buy into the "Talls take longer to develop" argument. Quality kids show their talent no matter what size they are, our problem is that very few quality tall kids have been drafted (other than Harris and Minson).
The idea is to draft, assess, develop (2 years max), blood, re-assess. If there is any doubt after this process then they must be moved on. Premierships are passing us by every year while we cling on to hope that those in our ranks will grasp the moment.

So by the age of 20/21 a player should be thrown to the scrap heap....???
While there is the occasional player who bursts onto the seen, a la riewoldt. Others are bound to take longer to develop, and talls will take longer to physically mature / fill out (aong with the skinny midfielders a la mcmahon). There football might be up to it, but will the body take the early pounding.
Not every player on the list is going to be a star and most will take different lengths of time to be at there peak.
I guess the important thing is to weed out those with really no ability, but just because someone has talent doesn't neccessarily mean they can play senior football at 20.

 

[Knackers]

So by the age of 20/21 a player should be thrown to the scrap heap....???
While there is the occasional player who bursts onto the seen, a la riewoldt. Others are bound to take longer to develop, and talls will take longer to physically mature / fill out (aong with the skinny midfielders a la mcmahon). There football might be up to it, but will the body take the early pounding.
Not every player on the list is going to be a star and most will take different lengths of time to be at there peak.
I guess the important thing is to weed out those with really no ability, but just because someone has talent doesn't neccessarily mean they can play senior football at 20.

You've misunderstood, I don't expect all tall players to be ready to play regular senior football by 20/21. What I do expect is by the age of 20/21 to show some clear signs of being worthwhile developing further.
If they haven't shown much, ala Walsh, then it's worth the risk turning the player over and use that development (resources and costs) into a future player who may turn out to be a senior player. Eventually one will surface, turnover of lists is continuous and a necessity, in my opinion we are too patient with some of our unproven players. More recently Wiggins, Walsh, Bowden, Bandy and McGuiness come to mind as examples.

 

[brother fish]

You've misunderstood, I don't expect all tall players to be ready to play regular senior football by 20/21. What I do expect is by the age of 20/21 to show some clear signs of being worthwhile developing further.
If they haven't shown much, ala Walsh, then it's worth the risk turning the player over and use that development (resources and costs) into a future player who may turn out to be a senior player. Eventually one will surface, turnover of lists is continuous and a necessity, in my opinion we are too patient with some of our unproven players. More recently Wiggins, Walsh, Bowden, Bandy and McGuiness come to mind as examples.

ok, makes a bit more sense, but I think Walsh is still too early to judge, he's almost 2 yrs younger than McGuiness for example, and with the injuries on top of that. Bowden , Bandy and Mcguiness I'm more tempted to agree with. I guess the tricky one is balancing the number of average squad players you have (who might have a bit of experience and maturity) as opposed to bringing in more youngsters. I guess we have a few too many 'average' talls!