Trav Varcoe

[Eudes]

Good stuff. Really like trav & wanna see him do well. Hopefully he can have a break out year

 

[Renegade]

After a poor Grand Final he'd better have a big year. Outstanding in the Prelim, and a passenger in the GF. This is his year to show Geelong that he can be a dependable member of the starting 22.

 

[Turbocat]

With his speed and skill , he should kick more "on the run " goals. Do this and he would be an auto selection in our side.

 

[Catsace]

Hopefully he sort of reflects in what Rioli did in the Grand Final and see what needs to be done to be a successful player. Travis has the speed, the agility and the talent, he just needs the belief and the will to make things happen. If he can do that it would add a hell of a lot to our game, both in a midfield role and as a crumbing forward.

After a long time stewing over things in the summer, i am confident that Geelong can get where they need to be this season, and just execute their skills better when they need to in the crunch. I am confident also our forward line will be crisper and will more capitalise on the quality midfield supply it will recieve during the year. Travis will play an important role there with his speed and ability to break lines.

 

[themuddy#3]

absolute spud

 

[Knife Wrench]

absolute spud

 

[Cohzee]

absolute spud

Righteo.

 

[OldStyle2007]

Re: Travis Varcoe shines for the Aboriginal All Stars

I'll put my hand up - I'm very, very fecking bitter about his GF game. He was rubbish and went missing on the biggest possible occasion. In case people have forgotten, we lost the Grand Final we should have won, and the non-existent forward line was directly responsible for it. So I'll refrain from exhibiting gerbil-faced optimism about 2009 just yet. Thompson might not be blaming individuals, but I am. Because it's true.

However, he wasn't quite the worst (Stokes took that honour), and he wasn't the only one. And Varcoe did absolutely play a great game in the prelim final. The question now is how he responds. If he has a ripper pre-season, he deserves a spot in round 1. But for me, out of Varcoe, Stokes and Byrnes there's only room for one. Because Lonergan makes way for Hawkins, and someone else has to make way for Gamble.

I agree Varcoe played badly in the GF. But in my opinion he was the key to us even making the GF in the first place by way of his play against the Bulldogs

Logic said that Bomber couldn't have gone into the GF with all of the injured Kelly, Chapman, Varcoe and Stokes. I would have been happy with any of those 4 missing the GF for Wojo

But hubris prevailed over common sense and they all played. We can't blame Varcoe for that kind of stupidity. He probably should have missed through injury but they picked him and others worse affected anyway

So I say: Don't blame Varcoe for losing the GF, but praise him for getting us there in the first place. The PF performance is what he will bring regularly to the table as he gets more experience and confidence

 

[hamG]

Re: Travis Varcoe shines for the Aboriginal All Stars

I agree Varcoe played badly in the GF. But in my opinion he was the key to us even making the GF.

So I say: Don't blame Varcoe for losing the GF, but praise him for getting us there in the first place.

You speak as if he kicked 8 goals in the PF. He didn't. He has a long way to prove his importance to the team because lets be honest, a few quiet games will see him replaced by a bloke who really wants it like Shannon.

I think I've said this before but take Varcoes talent and combine it with Shannon's drive you have a great player.

 

[Jef Costello]

Bit tricky. l actually like the thought of him rotating through the middle almost because he doesn't do quite enough. l think he needs to be involved more, as he can get lost down in the pocket. Would suit his handballing, evasive skills and tackling which are the best elements of his game.

 

[Partridge]

Re: Travis Varcoe shines for the Aboriginal All Stars

I agree Varcoe played badly in the GF. But in my opinion he was the key to us even making the GF in the first place by way of his play against the Bulldogs

Logic said that Bomber couldn't have gone into the GF with all of the injured Kelly, Chapman, Varcoe and Stokes. I would have been happy with any of those 4 missing the GF for Wojo

So I say: Don't blame Varcoe for losing the GF, but praise him for getting us there in the first place. The PF performance is what he will bring regularly to the table as he gets more experience and confidence

Since when was Varcoe injured for the Grand Final? He looked pretty good to me. Stop making excuses and acknowledge he played a shit game. As I mentioned in my post, he was not the only one, nor was he the worst, but he was absolutely one of the main culprits.

And let's not exaggerate, he played a fantastic game in the prelim, but he wasn't BOG or anything. To me the defence won us that game, they kept the Bulldogs to their lowest score of the season.

 

[scottydeewah]

Re: Travis Varcoe shines for the Aboriginal All Stars

So we should cut him because he had a shit GF? Well we should start another thread entitled

"Where are we going to get a FF, CHF and Ruckman from" because Loners, Mooney and Ottens were pretty shit in that game.

As usual there are a bunch on the board who are willing to sacrifice a player before he is even developed. The bloke is 20, with something like 35 games his name. His main problem is consistency, which, funnily enough is probably the main problem with most junior players. I think he has shown glimpses that he can play and too me he doesnt have any real problems with any of the technical aspects of the game.

Kicking is good
Pace is good
Reading the play is ok
Marking is ok - Marking will improve as he gets stronger.
Strength is poor

To me his strength and endurance are his main problems. Even sometimes when he gets caught out wrong at a contest I have noticed it is because he arrives late or is sucking wind at the time.

Good luck to the bloke. Could be a handy winger in years to come.

 

[hbk_aus]

Re: Travis Varcoe shines for the Aboriginal All Stars

Since when was Varcoe injured for the Grand Final? He looked pretty good to me. Stop making excuses and acknowledge he played a shit game. As I mentioned in my post, he was not the only one, nor was he the worst, but he was absolutely one of the main culprits.

And let's not exaggerate, he played a fantastic game in the prelim, but he wasn't BOG or anything. To me the defence won us that game, they kept the Bulldogs to their lowest score of the season.

Cant agree with this at all. How can a 2nd year player having a quiet GF be one of the "main culprits"? The main culprits were our senior players who had been to the big one before so knew about what to expect, etc. and still didnt perform at all.

 

[Partridge]

Re: Travis Varcoe shines for the Aboriginal All Stars

So we should cut him because he had a shit GF? Well we should start another thread entitled

"Where are we going to get a FF, CHF and Ruckman from" because Loners, Mooney and Ottens were pretty shit in that game.

As usual there are a bunch on the board who are willing to sacrifice a player before he is even developed.

We shouldn't cut him. But Gamble has to come in, and one of Varcoe or Stokes has to make way. Simple as that. Until their form warrants a return - like all players. And yep I'd be sending Lonergan with him.

I don't think Mooney had a shit game - he at least got the ball, but kicked like a *******. It's still better than not getting it. Ottens missed one sitter, but dominated the hitouts, which funnily enough is a ruckman's job.

Trust me, after the Grand Final I'd be tempted to sacrifice the entire forward line - they did after all cost us a PREMIERSHIP.

 

[OldStyle2007]

Re: Travis Varcoe shines for the Aboriginal All Stars

Since when was Varcoe injured for the Grand Final? He looked pretty good to me. Stop making excuses and acknowledge he played a shit game. As I mentioned in my post, he was not the only one, nor was he the worst, but he was absolutely one of the main culprits.

And let's not exaggerate, he played a fantastic game in the prelim, but he wasn't BOG or anything. To me the defence won us that game, they kept the Bulldogs to their lowest score of the season.

He was injured, there was heaps of talk about it in the week leading up to the GF about whether he might miss. Right foot/ankle I believe suffered late in the Prelim.

If you admit he played a 'fantastic game', then my comment that he was a key to us getting into the GF can't be that far off the mark. He was a big part of us moving the ball down into the forward line and setting up goals and also forward line pressure.

I maintain that someone out of Varcoe, Kelly, Chappy and Stokes had to miss for Gamble and Wojo. The match committee didn't have the balls to make the right call in 2008. This was disappointing given that they got the King/Blake 2007 call right

 

[THE CAT WRANGLER]

Happy with Varcs development

 

[Cattery]

Re: Travis Varcoe shines for the Aboriginal All Stars

Travis has played 34 AFL games.

If you want to play it that way you would have delisted Scarlett after 34 game because he got creamed early in his career.

Jimmy Bartel would have been shown the ass, his first 34 games were average.

Ling also gone.

Yeah, Ablett gone (Travis after 34 games averaged the same amount of disposals per game at the same stage as ablett after 34.)

Milburn? Gone

Chapman? Gone


My Point? How can you judge someones potential on 34 games. This is the only club board on bigfooty where a player will get bagged after playing a good game.

Can't argue with the main thrust of your argument, 34 games is not a lot to judge someone on, but regarding those other players you mention,without checking I'd still be willing to bet London to a brick on that all of them showed steady improvement during those 34 matches whereas Travis IMO has actually gone backwards.

Reckon he played his best and most consistent footy early in 07 and since then has been very hot and cold, mostly cold unfortunatly.

Travis is one of those players that sit on the borderline at the club. He has potential and talent, but is yet to show any consistency in his game at AFL level. Therefore, he puts himself in that section of Geelong players open to those feral Cats supporters who think that bagging him is their god given right.
The only problem with baggers is that none of them have ever played AFL level football, but yet they seem to know more about it than anyone else. Their opinions are more valuable (they would like us to think) than even the coaching staff of the club (who actually know our players inside and out).

Guess you could say the same thing about the other side of the same coin, Geelong supporters who think that as soon as a player pulls on the blue and white hoops he's automatically a future champion.

It's pretty hard, impossible in fact, to argue with your statement about the coaching staff knowing the players better then the supporters, but that hasn't stopped them [ coaching staff ] making some momunental stuff up's over the years; knowing the players better doesn't always equate to having better judgement.

The footy pundits often say that a player doesn't hit their straps until 50+ games at AFL level. Travis has played 34 sometimes inspiring and sometimes disappointing games. He has talent, no one can deny it. He just needs more consistency and be more of a play maker.

As I said above, that's true as well, but 34 is certainly enough to gauge a player on and to be able to make a pretty reasonable assessment of where he's headed.
Certainly agree he has talent, which makes it all the more frustrating, rather then just needing consistancy I think he needs to show "steady" improvement, something he's not doing at present.

let's hope Travis has a break out year in 2009. Then I am sure all his baggers will be claiming they always knew he would make it and they had never said any bad thing about him. Stoopid people!

No arguments from me about hoping he has a break out year.

While I don't consider myself a bagger I have serious reservations about him ever amounting to anything more then a fringe player, having said that I hope I end up with egg on my face and he delivers on the potential many see in him, I'll be more then happy to say I was wrong.

 

[Partridge]

Re: Travis Varcoe shines for the Aboriginal All Stars

No arguments from me about hoping he has a break out year.

While I don't consider myself a bagger I have serious reservations about him ever amounting to anything more then a fringe player, having said that I hope I end up with egg on my face and he delivers on the potential many see in him, I'll be more then happy to say I was wrong.

Very well said. Same here.

But, that doesn't mean he's immune from criticism either. The gap between his best and worst is still huge. He fully deserved the plaudits he got after the Prelim Final, and equally he fully deserved the knocks after the Grand Final too. He should be treated like any other player, I get the distinct impression on these boards he's not.

My view is that all the players who failed in the GF have to be really, really lucky to get selected for round 1. Simple rationale, they failed when it counted. I'm not willing to forgive them instantly and think they'll make it all better. That is a very minority opinion but I don't care. Gamble has already given an indication as to why he has to come into the side. He actually kicks goals.

 

[Asty]

Trav is 20 and has a lot of upside. Over the next few years the draft will be thin (goldcoast) and the cats will stick with him so get used to seeing him around the club and in the team - I hope he continues with the form he has shown this year as is a lot harder in the contest thus far.

Players you should be bagging are DJ, tenace, byrnes etc these guys have all been around the club for a while with more experience and developed bodies yet haven't cemented a spot as anything more than fringe players. They will be the 1st lot cut from the squad.