Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

MAKE OR BREAK YEAR 2012:
Will Minson (number 1 or the road!)
Jarryd Grant (former number 5 draft pick has confidence problems. Sheesh!)
Brian Lake (much decorated but in 2011 won only the Matthew Newton award for professional attitude)
Ryan Hargraves (as a bard once wrote "gather ye rosebuds while ye may... what's that - there's none left?")
Nathan Djerrkura (he's got some of it: pace and strength but ball skills need a heck of a lot of work - I'm being polite)
Ayce Cordy (still the Ugly Duckling but AFL ain't Hans Christian Anderson, baby)
Ed Barlow (well, he looks like a footballer but... More kindly, he plays like the Concorde: always takes off in a woosh but needs a lot of runway to pull up.)

GONE:
Lindsay Gilbee

Anyone who puts an 's' on the end of Hargrave has no credibility here

[Maddog37]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

Bit harsh SS.

[Bulldog4life]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

Anyone who puts an 's' on the end of Hargrave has no credibility here

Wouldn't say that. Heck I'm still seeing Smorgon spelt Smorgan from regular posters.
We don't want to discourage the newbies from contributing.

[Dancin' Douggy]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

Not sure if he's in the 'make or break' category but I would hope that Tom Williams has a very big year.
And starts contributing substantially week in week out. Maybe even a brownlow vote and one or two BOG's wouldn't hurt.

[Mantis]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

Not sure if he's in the 'make or break' category but I would hope that Tom Williams has a very big year.
And starts contributing substantially week in week out. Maybe even a brownlow vote and one or two BOG's wouldn't hurt.

When did Tom become a midfielder?

They're the only players who can get a vote in said award.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

Bit harsh SS.

Yeah, probably was.

Over-reaction to the Matthew Newton remark about Lake.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

Hill's an interesting one. A sleeper there on the list with no one really talking about him anywhere.
Has he got the talent? He's just a big mystery to me.

I think he has got talent. In the limited times I saw him last year he showed glimpses. One thing I did notice a couple of times, perhaps to his detriment, is he seems to have a bit of a temper. He blew up a couple of times at team mates (Zeph and other young forwards) for seemingly innocuous mistakes.

Looking forward to seeing his progression this season if he can stay fit. Seems he'll have a fair bit of competiton in the tall-KP area down forward, even if Panos plays regular seniors.

[Mantis]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

I would include Skinner into this group.

Was shown to be a fair way off last season and one would think he would need to be a big improver to earn a new contract.

[F'scary]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

Yeah, probably was.

Over-reaction to the Matthew Newton remark about Lake.

For Newtons or for Lakes?

[mjp]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

For Newtons or for Lakes?

Lake was INJURED.

Why is everyone so determined to say he was unprofessional in 2011? If he truly was just 'messing about', his team-mates would not have been defending him in interviews all season long. Everyone I heard said he was doing it 'tough' and post-season there has been a big 'get Brian back to his best' response from the playing group.

As for what Montgomery said, that was a frustrated coach who was under pressure and wanted his best player back...

[Sedat]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

Lake was INJURED.

Why is everyone so determined to say he was unprofessional in 2011? If he truly was just 'messing about', his team-mates would not have been defending him in interviews all season long. Everyone I heard said he was doing it 'tough' and post-season there has been a big 'get Brian back to his best' response from the playing group.

As for what Montgomery said, that was a frustrated coach who was under pressure and wanted his best player back...

THIS.

He went stride for stride with Scarlett from 2008 to 2010 (some would say he surpassed Scarlett in 2009-10) and was regularly one of our best finals performers in that time (only behind Griff). His 2011 was frankly crap, which started all the way back to his pre-season and the bunch of surgeries he had after the PF in 2010. But at peak fitness he is in our best 3 players on the list and is probably our most vital player structurally. We are so much better with him fit and in form it isn't funny.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

I would include Skinner into this group.

Was shown to be a fair way off last season and one would think he would need to be a big improver to earn a new contract.

I agree with this.

Skinner is a player that may need 4 years of development before you make a realistic judgement, but we don't have 4 years to 'play around' with like a Collingwood/Geelong.

Also depends how many players are delisted/retired. At a guess - Gilbee, Mulligan and Hooper are the three most likely to be moved on. Skinner and Addison would be next. Moles would want to be injury free.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

For Newtons or for Lakes?

Lake was mis-diagnosed.

After 3 lots of surgery and no pre-season, Lake knew something was still wrong with his body.

The doctors said he was OK but he knew he wasn't. He tried to play anyway, despite telling them he wasn't right. He was told to toughen up (he was having injections to train, FFS).

Later in the year they find out Lake was right all along and he goes in for another lot of surgery.

Attitude my arse. He tried to play hurt and physically couldn't do it.

[Dancin' Douggy]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

Lake was mis-diagnosed.

After 3 lots of surgery and no pre-season, Lake knew something was still wrong with his body.

The doctors said he was OK but he knew he wasn't. He tried to play anyway, despite telling them he wasn't right. He was told to toughen up (he was having injections to train, FFS).

Later in the year they find out Lake was right all along and he goes in for another lot of surgery.

Attitude my arse. He tried to play hurt and physically couldn't do it.

I am firmly in Brian's corner.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Make or Break year - Who's potentially out of favour?

The media ran with this all season .
Lake's unhappy he's certain to be traded!
Make or break for the following
Addison ( lucky to be retained)
Mulligan( see above)
Moles( a fringe player only)
Cordy ( who? ) needs a good run at it
Minson ( seven seasons, number one gig and no more excuses)
Higgins( needs to be more consistent, and more intensity)
Hargraves( oops sorry!) another injury plagued year, Shaggy's goneski)
Gilbee ( really needs a lift, looks cooked)
Honarable mentions Sherman , DJ and Vezspremi.
Going to be intrigued whether or not some will survive the new regime.