Senior Josh Battle

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Michaels said:
Josh is a great kid, played a bit of cricket with him a few years ago, very dedicated to his sport, very down to earth but has a good laugh as well.

coached against him when he played juniors at Narre South, he was always dominate and tough to stop. he loves the contest, anything physical he is all in for.

will be great to see him develop for you guys.
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Thanks for the insight Michaels... can't wait to see Josh in action
 
Mowman said:
Nothing could be further from the truth
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Well I did make it explicitly clear that its not my opinion, I have heard it from a few different people who I would say have varying degrees of knowledge of him and recruitment.

Do you know the guy personally? Is there any reason your opinion would be more correct than the people im paraphrasing?
 
phantom13 said:
Well I did make it explicitly clear that its not my opinion, I have heard it from a few different people who I would say have varying degrees of knowledge of him and recruitment.

Do you know the guy personally? Is there any reason your opinion would be more correct than the people im paraphrasing?
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There has certainly been a bit of talk on the D&T board that part of the reason he "slid" was that he either didn't interview well at many clubs and/or that he "tanked" his interviews, so there's definitely a bit of that talk going around.

The fact he trained with us last preseason certainly eases my mind though, as you'd think if there were any obvious issues there we would have noticed them during that time.

Mick Ablett was also extremely effusive in his praise of him during the draft telecast and he would have presumably worked closely with him in his role at the AIS Academy and you'd think if he was likely to be a problem he wouldn't have pumped him up so much.
 

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aussierulesrules said:
There has certainly been a bit of talk on the D&T board that part of the reason he "slid" was that he either didn't interview well...

The fact he trained with us last preseason certainly eases my mind though, as you'd think if there were any obvious issues there we would have noticed them during that time.

Mick Ablett was also extremely effusive in his praise of him during the draft telecast and he would have presumably worked closely with him in his role at the AIS Academy and you'd think if he was likely to be a problem he wouldn't have pumped him up so much.
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This, together with our apparent "no dickhead" policy, means I'm OK with it. It's really easy for rumours to start a character assassination of someone.
I think one of the reasons he possibly slid is because many teams are recruiting for the now, while we are in a good place with our KPFs and don't need him right away. I'm trusting the recruiters on this and am more than happy to grab another "slider."
 
Maybe it was because he was viewed as a medium forward and they tend to not go early. Most are looking for big gun key forwards or mids with their first rounders.
 
phantom13 said:
Well I did make it explicitly clear that its not my opinion, I have heard it from a few different people who I would say have varying degrees of knowledge of him and recruitment.

Do you know the guy personally? Is there any reason your opinion would be more correct than the people im paraphrasing?
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Yes I do know the kid, My daughter goes to school with him and are in the same classes, Played his jnr footy at my sisters sons footy club who is many years younger then josh and has had been through some rough times the way josh looked after him was very special.
 
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I don't get this whole no d!ickhead policy. I get the whole image thing, but look back over the premiers and each and everyone of them had a few questionable characters.

As long as he doesn't deter sponsors etc I really couldn't care less if the kid was a knob or not as long as he wins us a flag.

I'm sure the bulldogs aren't complaint about Boyd/Cordy whacking each other and Libba being off his nut half the time.
 
We have to understand the Battle selection in the context of the AFL landscape. There are so many clubs that need to be challenging next year, or, otherwise, there will be a massive clean-out. Obviously, there are some concerns about Battle's agility and scope for development in the AFL system. However, he is a highly rated talent (hence why he was invited to the draft). The main reason for his slide was that he will likely be at school next year, and will not be able to contribute immediately. Let's go through why each side didn't select him.

Adelaide - Don't need KPFs and are recruiting for the short-term future.
Brisbane - Good players still available at their selections and want to bring some Vic Country boys together immediately to prevent the go-home factor.
Carlton - SOS is delusional about the quality of Carlton's KPFs (I'm convinced Gillo is SOS) and is recruiting for his ego.
Collingwood - Recruiting for the next 12 months.
Essendon - Recruting players Dodoro can brag about in the next 12 months.
Fremantle - Recruiting for the next 12 months.
Geelong - Recruiting for an apocalypse before the 2018 season.
Gold Coast - Only had top 10 picks.
Greater Western Sydney - Matched bids on academy players early on.
Hawthorn - Didn't have a pick to select him
Melbourne - Didn't have a pick to select him.
North Melbourne - Norf.
Port Adelaide - Recruiting for the next 12 months.
Richmond - Recruiting for the next 12 months.
Sydney - Hawyard was best available and are recruiting for the short-term future.
West Coast - Recruiting for the next 12 months.
Western Bulldogs - Were in a position to take a punt on English.
 
hayes said:
Maybe it was because he was viewed as a medium forward and they tend to not go early. Most are looking for big gun key forwards or mids with their first rounders.
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Hey, that's not true! I mean, look at Jack Watts!...

... Never mind...
 

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DarkSaint said:
I don't get this whole no d!ickhead policy. I get the whole image thing, but look back over the premiers and each and everyone of them had a few questionable characters.

As long as he doesn't deter sponsors etc I really couldn't care less if the kid was a knob or not as long as he wins us a flag.

I'm sure the bulldogs aren't complaint about Boyd/Cordy whacking each other and Libba being off his nut half the time.
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But s**t he tells people he is 193 when he's 192 we can't have that kind of character at the club. Maybe we can trade him for a Gypsy Joker Rebel drug dealer next year.
 
I love this kid already. Big natural footballer with endurance. His flaw? Is what?? His confidence? Flare?? OH NO CALL THE FUN POLICE. Fair dinkum we aussies are PC w***ers. No wonder the workd laughs at us
I loved his video with him with his green it was funny and showed him being a happy confident kid whos got it all.
He wasnt being distasteful or putting anyone down he had many mates and was having a laugh enjoying life. If he tanked for us or other clubs thought he was arrogant then thats phenomenol for us what a bargain because he is top 15 easily, maybe top 10 in he draft skillwise. Elite by foot and hands and at 193cm? Couldnt be happier. I see a solid skilled tough foreard 200 gamer for us here
You can be agile and flash all ya like aka rageouloet or whatever geelong got but whats the point? Raguleuot wont play 50 games. You watch. He cant even kick or handpass properly
 
SaintsSeptember said:
But s**t he tells people he is 193 when he's 192 we can't have that kind of character at the club. Maybe we can trade him for a Gypsy Joker Rebel drug dealer next year.
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I know! And did you see that hairstyle? We need a good old fashioned world war to sort the men from the boys I rekon.
 
ChrisRyanSaints said:
I love this kid already. Big natural footballer with endurance. His flaw? Is what?? His confidence? Flare?? OH NO CALL THE FUN POLICE. Fair dinkum we aussies are PC ******s. No wonder the workd laughs at us
I loved his video with him with his green it was funny and showed him being a happy confident kid whos got it all.
He wasnt being distasteful or putting anyone down he had many mates and was having a laugh enjoying life. If he tanked for us or other clubs thought he was arrogant then thats phenomenol for us what a bargain because he is top 15 easily, maybe top 10 in he draft skillwise. Elite by foot and hands and at 193cm? Couldnt be happier. I see a solid skilled tough foreard 200 gamer for us here
You can be agile and flash all ya like aka rageouloet or whatever geelong got but whats the point? Raguleuot wont play 50 games. You watch. He cant even kick or handpass properly
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I think most people that whined about him were reacting to his school uniform mostly. If he'd been wearing a t shirt and jeans he would have seemed very level headed. Didn't come across as arrogant at all to me.

Then again, I have been out of the country for a while; maybe you all shave your heads, talk in hushed tones and drive black Holden utes these days.
 
ChrisRyanSaints said:
I love this kid already. Big natural footballer with endurance. His flaw? Is what?? His confidence? Flare?? OH NO CALL THE FUN POLICE. Fair dinkum we aussies are PC ******s. No wonder the workd laughs at us
I loved his video with him with his green it was funny and showed him being a happy confident kid whos got it all.
He wasnt being distasteful or putting anyone down he had many mates and was having a laugh enjoying life. If he tanked for us or other clubs thought he was arrogant then thats phenomenol for us what a bargain because he is top 15 easily, maybe top 10 in he draft skillwise. Elite by foot and hands and at 193cm? Couldnt be happier. I see a solid skilled tough foreard 200 gamer for us here
You can be agile and flash all ya like aka rageouloet or whatever geelong got but whats the point? Raguleuot wont play 50 games. You watch. He cant even kick or handpass properly
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Prehaps if you'd done your research before coming on here ranting about Australians in general you'd notice that Battle has exceptionally bad agility, no vertical leap to speak of and is too short to be a key forward with those traits. For evidence look at his combine results where he finished dead last for his two footed jump and bottom 10% for the jumps of either feet as well as the disparity between his 3k and beep test, further emphasising the complete lack of turning ability. The reason he slid is cos there is no place in the modern game for someone with his particular build and athletic traits no matter how skilled he is.
 
Crusty Undies said:
Prehaps if you'd done your research before coming on here ranting about Australians in general you'd notice that Battle has exceptionally bad agility, no vertical leap to speak of and is too short to be a key forward with those traits. For evidence look at his combine results where he finished dead last for his two footed jump and bottom 10% for the jumps of either feet as well as the disparity between his 3k and beep test, further emphasising the complete lack of turning ability. The reason he slid is cos there is no place in the modern game for someone with his particular build and athletic traits no matter how skilled he is.
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CALL THE FUN POLICE
 
Crusty Undies said:
Prehaps if you'd done your research before coming on here ranting about Australians in general you'd notice that Battle has exceptionally bad agility, no vertical leap to speak of and is too short to be a key forward with those traits. For evidence look at his combine results where he finished dead last for his two footed jump and bottom 10% for the jumps of either feet as well as the disparity between his 3k and beep test, further emphasising the complete lack of turning ability. The reason he slid is cos there is no place in the modern game for someone with his particular build and athletic traits no matter how skilled he is.
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Wasn't it mentioned somewhere he carried an injury through the combine testing?
 
Mav Weller came to us with rumours floating around that he was a big head tosser who struggled to fit into a AFL team environment at the Suns.
Couldnt be further from the truth with what he has shown at StKilda so far.
Im not gonna believe any rumours about Battle. His actions at our club will make my mind up about him.
Seems like a decent kid so far.
 
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