Thought its worth giving this mature first year afl player his own thread..
In line with many players from of VFL system we picked another in Tom Atkins.. going back to Matty Egan , maybe earlier we have been giving chances to those who were showing enough on the VFL field to suggest they have been missed. Egan became AA and it franked the idea of it can deliver good players and occasionally quality. Pods , Stewart .. and others .. some working well and others not working , the VFL pathway is worthy of exploitation and so although he was worthy of his shot , I was more thinking that its another player who fits in the values of being due his chance. A s much as him , it supports our VFL pathway and gives hope to those who have missed chances and encourages them to sign on the Geelongs VFL
So to me , drafting Tom A as a Rookie was no great head shake but no huge expectation thing either.. maybe the grass is always greener ..and the grass under our nose was a little under appreciated in my eyes..
And then the PreSeason noises started.. the verve the kept coming that Tom was impressing all..that he will be strongly pressing for best 22. Yes , yes , sure , sure ..this was keeping the mental hope of the fringe players up , but really ..unless we have a truck load of injures ..I doubt he pushes too hard for a spot. Maybe a game or two in the JLT ..like Constable last year..and he then slips back into a best support role for the best 22. Maybe a game in the middle of the year somewhere. Others more credentialed , others who have already played will demand selection
And then he played JLT. Very quickly he changed the frame of those thoughts ..this guy is not looking out of place.. from being a bit new in the setup but he was obviously ready to play. He tackled and chased like he enjoyed it , like it was not a task that he did cause he had to but with more the look of him being a wild cat hunting yet another slow bit of prey. This guy is going to get games and be best 22 for the first couple of games at least.
And he got those early games ..and has he looked back and put his feet up with the contented wild cat with a full stomach? Not at all.. in 7 games he has secured his spot even more tightly. I dont see him being replaced by anyone. From wondering where he would fit , perhaps someone who could add tackle pressure to a FP ..to now seeing him playing like a someone who is very comfortable trusting his mature body he can handle the heat of afl bodies , he is now seeing he can bust his way thru a tackle like more higly credential players , he can charge thru a tackle like a Bull even if he is more Bullant in his frame. He must have great core strength..and there is more to him than tackle and core strength. What I didn't really appreciate is he is he is a fine field kick..he finds his man more often than not and is not adversely affected by congestion , he makes mostly good choices. He has gone from being only FP pressure to be a very handy midfield cog in our midfield wheel. There is a lot of up side is this mature but young player.
I heard on the rado this morning ... other should clubs start to look at players like Sydney Stack and our Tom Atkins and throw some serious coin at them.. OOC at years end.. not sure what he would be on .. but the he is playing , the average wage of the afl is mid 300's and hed be worth that . although Id doubt we would have calculated him being worth more so quickly. Nice problem to have I guess but for the short term , I suspect he is just reveling in showing why ..he should have been picked earlier. Crameri was a nice story but really .. its obvious now Atkins should have been doing this 12 months ago.
In line with many players from of VFL system we picked another in Tom Atkins.. going back to Matty Egan , maybe earlier we have been giving chances to those who were showing enough on the VFL field to suggest they have been missed. Egan became AA and it franked the idea of it can deliver good players and occasionally quality. Pods , Stewart .. and others .. some working well and others not working , the VFL pathway is worthy of exploitation and so although he was worthy of his shot , I was more thinking that its another player who fits in the values of being due his chance. A s much as him , it supports our VFL pathway and gives hope to those who have missed chances and encourages them to sign on the Geelongs VFL
So to me , drafting Tom A as a Rookie was no great head shake but no huge expectation thing either.. maybe the grass is always greener ..and the grass under our nose was a little under appreciated in my eyes..
And then the PreSeason noises started.. the verve the kept coming that Tom was impressing all..that he will be strongly pressing for best 22. Yes , yes , sure , sure ..this was keeping the mental hope of the fringe players up , but really ..unless we have a truck load of injures ..I doubt he pushes too hard for a spot. Maybe a game or two in the JLT ..like Constable last year..and he then slips back into a best support role for the best 22. Maybe a game in the middle of the year somewhere. Others more credentialed , others who have already played will demand selection
And then he played JLT. Very quickly he changed the frame of those thoughts ..this guy is not looking out of place.. from being a bit new in the setup but he was obviously ready to play. He tackled and chased like he enjoyed it , like it was not a task that he did cause he had to but with more the look of him being a wild cat hunting yet another slow bit of prey. This guy is going to get games and be best 22 for the first couple of games at least.
And he got those early games ..and has he looked back and put his feet up with the contented wild cat with a full stomach? Not at all.. in 7 games he has secured his spot even more tightly. I dont see him being replaced by anyone. From wondering where he would fit , perhaps someone who could add tackle pressure to a FP ..to now seeing him playing like a someone who is very comfortable trusting his mature body he can handle the heat of afl bodies , he is now seeing he can bust his way thru a tackle like more higly credential players , he can charge thru a tackle like a Bull even if he is more Bullant in his frame. He must have great core strength..and there is more to him than tackle and core strength. What I didn't really appreciate is he is he is a fine field kick..he finds his man more often than not and is not adversely affected by congestion , he makes mostly good choices. He has gone from being only FP pressure to be a very handy midfield cog in our midfield wheel. There is a lot of up side is this mature but young player.
I heard on the rado this morning ... other should clubs start to look at players like Sydney Stack and our Tom Atkins and throw some serious coin at them.. OOC at years end.. not sure what he would be on .. but the he is playing , the average wage of the afl is mid 300's and hed be worth that . although Id doubt we would have calculated him being worth more so quickly. Nice problem to have I guess but for the short term , I suspect he is just reveling in showing why ..he should have been picked earlier. Crameri was a nice story but really .. its obvious now Atkins should have been doing this 12 months ago.
, fantastic balance.
