Toast Welcome Blake "Sherrif" Acres

[Purple_Turtle]

I have to admit that Acres has been more impressive than I was expecting but I wasn’t expecting much at all. I’d seen games where he shirked the hard ball at both WP and Saints so I’m not a fan. But,...so far he’s been ok and I agree with others that he’ll be serviceable at best.

Getting seriously overrated on this board though.

Not a change from the Saints board.

It's far from a certainty, but there's a number of steak-knives players who struggle at one club, but take off somewhere else. Jarrod Lyons at Brisbane had an incredibly solid season (Neale gets a lot of love obviously but Lyon wasn't an insubstantial part of Brisbane improving massively) after getting delisted by the Suns.

If Acres can put out what he has at the Saints and in our preseason during the regular seasons he'll be a solid acquisition. If he improves than that's awesome.

 

[FreoRicci]

Exactly my point. Quoting those 3 as support for Ross being able to get the best out of players is not a good strategy.

I’d say Clancee Pearce, De Boer, Crowley as good examples. Hard working, huge work rate and adapted to Ross’ game plan. Mayne and Ballas too. Wouldn’t get anywhere close to finals with the team we had, that’s true, but Sheridan and Sutcliffe weren’t required B22. Crowley on the other hand was pivotal so was De Boer in helping the grunt work of the midfield

 

[Yeti]

Not a change from the Saints board.

It's far from a certainty, but there's a number of steak-knives players who struggle at one club, but take off somewhere else. Jarrod Lyons at Brisbane had an incredibly solid season (Neale gets a lot of love obviously but Lyon wasn't an insubstantial part of Brisbane improving massively) after getting delisted by the Suns.

If Acres can put out what he has at the Saints and in our preseason during the regular seasons he'll be a solid acquisition. If he improves than that's awesome.

Jarry Lyons was the exact same player he was at the Gold Coast as he is at Brisbane, the only difference is they play him every week.

They cut him for some unknown reason, he hasn't improved. He was "delisted" with a year to run on his contract, it was a bizzare situation.

Acres is likely to be a player in the 18-25 bracket of players, as he has been for his whole career and should get pushed out by 2022 as our younger talent gains experience.

I never rated him prior to the trade and I can't see how the move here is going to turn him from an 18 touch a game player to a "midfield Bull" or our most important mid after Fyfe & Mundy.

It baffles me that he is being seen as an important part of our midfield going on instead of the foot soldier that will likely average 17 average touches a game.

 

[One_Wing]

Jarry Lyons was the exact same player he was at the Gold Coast as he is at Brisbane, the only difference is they play him every week.

They cut him for some unknown reason, he hasn't improved. He was "delisted" with a year to run on his contract, it was a bizzare situation.

Acres is likely to be a player in the 18-25 bracket of players, as he has been for his whole career and should get pushed out by 2022 as our younger talent gains experience.

I never rated him prior to the trade and I can't see how the move here is going to turn him from an 18 touch a game player to a "midfield Bull" or our most important mid after Fyfe & Mundy.

It baffles me that he is being seen as an important part of our midfield going on instead of the foot soldier that will likely average 17 average touches a game.

He was getting quite a few touches during the pre season game

 

[Purple_Turtle]

It baffles me that he is being seen as an important part of our midfield going on instead of the foot soldier that will likely average 17 average touches a game.

Isn't it slightly more than 17 when you take into account the games he was used as a 3rd tall and a ruck for?

 

[CapitalA]

Yeah I am hoping Blacres carries on his form from march community series game 1. He was our best player along with Lobb (Fyfe and Walters out due to all stars) with 31 disposals and 6 clearances if he does he would be a very nice set of steak knives.

 

[dont bowl there]

He was getting quite a few touches during the pre season game

30 from limited game time. If he plays midfield he will be very good for us. Just don’t play him as a tall forward/backup ruck.

 

[Dockeroo]

We picked up Aish pretty cheaply too, surely one of Acres or Aish will become a solid best 22 player... every team who wins premierships have key players that were picked up for peanuts. If that’s our ultimate aim, we are going to need some of these long shot trades to work out.

 

[Docker82]

It’d be so St Kilda to trade us Acres for peanuts only for him to be very very good for us. I’ve got a strong feeling he’ll be seen as worth far more than what we paid tbh.

Aish was a salary dump by Collingwood. They had to get rid of someone half decent to fit in the contracts of Grundy, De Goey and Moore, who are ultimately pretty damn close to their three most naturally gifted players. They weren’t going to make real salary cap by dumping Joe Bloggs who’s played 10 AFL games - in fact even Aish probably wasn’t enough by himself. I doubt you get Aish for pick swaps under normal circumstances.

 

[Dockeroo]

It’d be so St Kilda to trade us Acres for peanuts only for him to be very very good for us. I’ve got a strong feeling he’ll be seen as worth far more than what we paid tbh.

Aish was a salary dump by Collingwood. They had to get rid of someone half decent to fit in the contracts of Grundy, De Goey and Moore, who are ultimately pretty damn close to their three most naturally gifted players. They weren’t going to make real salary cap by dumping Joe Bloggs who’s played 10 AFL games - in fact even Aish probably wasn’t enough by himself. I doubt you get Aish for pick swaps under normal circumstances.

So are you saying Aish is a actually a very good player and should easily make and hopefully improve our best 22? We have been raped by Collingwood in so many trades over the years that it would be nice to actually have a win in return for once.

 

[Freomaniac]

Colyer? You’re joking? Ross did try to get the best out of him. He is what is he is, a B Grade at best fast winger. Other then that, he has terrible below the knee handling and doesn’t offer much if he’s not getting tackles and scoring goals at his height.

We overreached with Sheridan, a great runner with meh skills. Sutcliffe was developed to the maximum and Crozier was never going to be anything great. A half back flank... we got maximum of those every draft.

Acres is different. Something about him, returning home and getting dumped in a steak knife trade will change him, IMO. Just chuck him in the middle and never change. St Kilda never did that with him

I dont mind Coyler being A B-grade mid. Even if your a B-Grader your still solid.


Acres is a different player. The guy has the Talent to be Good. Richardson didnt know what to do with him.

Look at his stats, That should tell you what he is capable of. He has had games where 30 disposals and 1 goal in a game. Yeah its only 3 times but the Saints won all 3 games. That has to tell you something.

I will back J-Lo to play Acres to his strengths. 2020 is most likely to be a wasted year due to the Corona Virus Outbreak. I still say Fyfe, Acres and Mundy all playing well in the guts of the middle is a force to be reckoned with on a good day

 

[Freomaniac]

We picked up Aish pretty cheaply too, surely one of Acres or Aish will become a solid best 22 player... every team who wins premierships have key players that were picked up for peanuts. If that’s our ultimate aim, we are going to need some of these long shot trades to work out.

Aish was a top 10 pick when he got taken by Brisbane.

Aish gets traded to collingwood for pick 26 and a 2016 2nd rounder. So a couple of 2nd rounders.

Aish plays 50 games in 4 years. We gave get Aish, Pick 69 and a future 3rd. We offer a future 2nd and future 3rd. Not the best trade, not the worst trade. Not like we put all out eggs in one basket in this trade.

I look at Freos trades in the last 10 years, The only trade where I have seen freo traded a lot of eggs in one Basket is the Jesse Hogan trade.

It’d be so St Kilda to trade us Acres for peanuts only for him to be very very good for us. I’ve got a strong feeling he’ll be seen as worth far more than what we paid tbh.

Aish was a salary dump by Collingwood. They had to get rid of someone half decent to fit in the contracts of Grundy, De Goey and Moore, who are ultimately pretty damn close to their three most naturally gifted players. They weren’t going to make real salary cap by dumping Joe Bloggs who’s played 10 AFL games - in fact even Aish probably wasn’t enough by himself. I doubt you get Aish for pick swaps under normal circumstances.

I think you got to look at the Situation much closer. Saints had a spare 1 million in the cap as they stuggled to use the bare minimum 90 percent of the cap by front loading some key players contracts.

Saints got Paddy Ryder, Dougall Howard, Brad Hill and Zac Jones..... All of them are on some decent wages.

They also traded out Jack Steven, Alex Bruce and Blake Acres.

No Doubt the saints were busy in the trade period.

The one thing that suprised me about the Acres trade, was that despite playing 75 games in 6 seasons, he was out of Favour at the Saints. Again, this what scratches my head as he was originally under contract at the saints until 2020, which makes it his 7th season. Why would the saints want to get rid of him after 6 years?

This is partially the reason I want free agency to reduce from 8 years to 6 or possibly 5 years.

 

[Joao]

So are you saying Aish is a actually a very good player and should easily make and hopefully improve our best 22? We have been raped by Collingwood in so many trades over the years that it would be nice to actually have a win in return for once.

Aish is comfortably B22 for us based on his last 18 months at the Pies.

 

[theGav56]

I like Aish and think he is a decent player. He isn't spectacular in almost any way, but better than solid, and I think he is a good get for us. I think he will sit within our 10-15 range in terms of players. My only concern is about how he will go on the wing. Again, I expect him to be decent enough but we have been spoilt with BHill roaming the field.

Acres has a chance to restart his career and discover another gear I reckon, and I think he can do it. There has been way too big a range between his best and worst in his career to date. I think the expectation for that range to reduce if he becomes less of general Mr Fixit in the team, and more defined in his role, is a reasonable expectation. We need some pressure off Fyfe and Acres can be a significant part in that.

 

[Freomaniac]

I’d say Clancee Pearce, De Boer, Crowley as good examples. Hard working, huge work rate and adapted to Ross’ game plan. Mayne and Ballas too. Wouldn’t get anywhere close to finals with the team we had, that’s true, but Sheridan and Sutcliffe weren’t required B22. Crowley on the other hand was pivotal so was De Boer in helping the grunt work of the midfield

I will Always enjoy Maynes 2 very good seasons of freo: Kicked 39 goals and 7 behinds in 2012 which was fanstastic set shot pecentage. 2013 when freo made the grand final, he played 24 games and kicked 35 goals and 10 behinds.

I did like Clancee Pearce and Matt De Boer when both had their 8 years here from 2009-2016. This is No disrespect to both of them, but both were picked up as rookies for a reason. Neither of them stood out talent wise in the draft. Neither of them were going to be brownlow medalists or getting All australian selections either.

I agree both blokes were hard workers and adpoted to Ross Lyons game plan. They also had the Ability to run out 4 quarters of footy which Ross Lyon likes in players too.

Neither of them were Huge Ball magnets. Matt Deboer most seasons was averaging 15 Disposals a game in most seasons. Clance Pearce was averaging 17-18 disposals a game in his better years. 2012 was easily Clancee Pearces Best season: averaging 19.5 disposlals a game and kicked 16 goals and 6 behinds. He got a few 25-30 disposal games mid 2012 too.

 

[FreoRicci]

Jarry Lyons was the exact same player he was at the Gold Coast as he is at Brisbane, the only difference is they play him every week.

They cut him for some unknown reason, he hasn't improved. He was "delisted" with a year to run on his contract, it was a bizzare situation.

Acres is likely to be a player in the 18-25 bracket of players, as he has been for his whole career and should get pushed out by 2022 as our younger talent gains experience.

I never rated him prior to the trade and I can't see how the move here is going to turn him from an 18 touch a game player to a "midfield Bull" or our most important mid after Fyfe & Mundy.

It baffles me that he is being seen as an important part of our midfield going on instead of the foot soldier that will likely average 17 average touches a game.

17 touches a week is pretty good for a maligned out of position player. Confident he ll take that next step up and be something for us

 

[Ge3ks]

He's done his calf now? Fair dinkum.

 

[Scham]

He's done his calf now? Fair dinkum.

Was he injury prone at the Saints?

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Was he injury prone at the Saints?

Yeah, missing games due to injury isn’t something new to him unfortunately

 

[Purple_Turtle]

 

[Outshined]

Very keen to see how he goes

Don't think you can judge his potential purely off his output under Richardson. He never got a clear run in a defined position that suited him, which JL seems keen to fix.

 

[Take my logue]

It’s so clear we promised him, if you come here we won’t stuff you around and make you play every position. Cause from memory he wasn’t initially keen.

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

As the video above showed, the exciting thing about Acres is the potential.

Unlike Aish where we knew we were getting at best a good player and at worst a bottom 6 role player, Acres could be truly elite or a bust

His high's have been really high and his low's really low.

If we are lucky, a lot of his inconsistency has been due to to having to play 4 different roles a game and with some better clarity and focus, he can live up to his potential

 

[freoextra]

As the video above showed, the exciting thing about Acres is the potential.

Unlike Aish where we knew we were getting at best a good player and at worst a bottom 6 role player, Acres could be truly elite or a bust

His high's have been really high and his low's really low.

If we are lucky, a lot of his inconsistency has been due to to having to play 4 different roles a game and with some better clarity and focus, he can live up to his potential

Yes very excited to see Acres in action. Great size for a wingman if he can do the required running.

Unlike you, I was sure we had a very good player in Aish. I would be surprised if he is not top ten in our B&F at the end of the year. His biggest issue has been staying fit for an entire year, his ability is exactly what we needed.

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Yes very excited to see Acres in action. Great size for a wingman if he can do the required running.

Unlike you, I was sure we had a very good player in Aish. I would be surprised if he is not top ten in our B&F at the end of the year. His biggest issue has been staying fit for an entire year, his ability is exactly what we needed.

Depends on your classification of good / very good which is a bit subjective and I tried to be careful with. I would classify good player as top 10 in a clubs bnf.

There is always risk with any player you bring in, regardless of how good they were at the last club, see Tim Kelly, that's all I meant by saying at worst he would be a role player for us