Western Bulldogs steal a bargain in AFL national draft with Michael Talia

[GVGjr]

While Dahlhaus has come on leaps and bounds in twelve months. He had the worst disposal efficiency in the under 18's in the year he got drafted.

Nice stat but I think it was more to do with the way that the Falcons used him but it's also the reason why he didn't get selected at the National Draft.

[Remi Moses]

Daniel Cross has been working on it for 12 years, is a manic trainer and still struggles.

Very rarely do you see players improve their kicking once they get in the system, you either have it or you don't.

On the flip side Stewart Loewe says Hello.

[GVGjr]

On the flip side Stewart Loewe says Hello.

He didn't actually play in the midfield and have a couple of opponents putting pressure on him. Once he marked it he had a lot of time to prepare for his kick.
Lets not confuse improved set shots % to disposal efficiency in the midfield.

[Remi Moses]

He didn't actually play in the midfield and have a couple of opponents putting pressure on him. Once he marked it he had a lot of time to prepare for his kick.
Lets not confuse improved set shots % to disposal efficiency in the midfield.

No pressure in set shot kicking ? I'm merely making the point that footballers can improve their skill set . Not saying for a minute that Smith has a leg like Luke Hodge or Mckenzie. Some here condemning a kid who hasn't played annoys me to be honest.

[Remi Moses]

[QUOTE=gogriff;251482]Strange comment, Clay Smith is rated as an athlete from his beep test and Talia is athletic for a KPD. Not being able to kick well is a hallmark of athletes and not footballers.

I'm making the point that the Dogs have had a policy of picking up athlete project types under Clayton . Hardly a strange perception

[GVGjr]

No pressure in set shot kicking ? I'm merely making the point that footballers can improve their skill set . Not saying for a minute that Smith has a leg like Luke Hodge or Mckenzie. Some here condemning a kid who hasn't played annoys me to be honest.

Where did I say that? It's just vastly different.

The big difference for the guy taking the set shot is he has plenty of time to compose himself. Your example of Loewe improving his kicking is also skewed by the fact that he was moved a lot closer to goal when big Tony moved north. He was never a good kick but his conversions improved because he was moved closer to goal. He got better he just didn't become good.

I've seen Cross use the ball efficiently during training sessions etc but it often desserts him when the pressure is on and especially when he has opponents right at him. By the way I still like him as a player but surely I can (we all can) acknowledge that he isn't a good kick without others throwing the stigma that someone has bagged him?

Regarding Smith, you're reading too much into what people are saying.
He isn't a pristine kick and that has been called out and he's hardly been bagged about it.
I think we should be placing a high emphasis on elite kicking skills and right at this moment Smith will have a lot of work to do before he is regarded as an elite kick.
I'm excited that Smith is in the side because he brings some excellent skills around the contested ball but if I challenge why the club chose that skill set over pace and skills surely it doesn't mean I'm bagging the player.

[Sedat]

I'm excited that Smith is in the side because he brings some excellent skills around the contested ball but if I challenge why the club chose that skill set over pace and skills surely it doesn't mean I'm bagging the player.

Presumably our game plan under BMac is going to favour a high level of contests and stoppages, hence why ir appears that he favours the skills set that a Clay Smith has over some of the more athletic prospects. We do have Griffen, Cooney (when fit), and Tutt as potential designated 'outriders', so it isn't as if we are completely bereft of outside run and carry. Having said that, I definitely would have liked to see an athletic, pacy runner added to the mix.

I found it interesting that we hesitated for quite a while before selecting Talia. Normally Dalrympie doesn't hesitate for even a second before making his selections, so he must have been surprised that Talia drifted down to pick 39. I'm personally happy that we've added a noted one-on-one key defender to our list - there are dangerous key forwards in almost every team that requires the unique talents of a natural defender, which Talia appears to be.

[Doggy]

I was speaking to my brother in law last night whose boys played with both Daniel and Michael at Greenvale. He said that Michael's kicking was atrocious but had improved dramatically over the last couple of years.

He also believes Michael is the better of the two.