Rookies to be elevated

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Rookies to be elevated

Were we at risk of losing Campbell if we had not drafted him? Isn't it 2 years on the rookie list?

While we could have offered him a rookie list spot for another year, he would be under no obligation to accept it. Any other team could promise to draft him if he nominated.

[F'scary]

Re: Rookies to be elevated

Not sure I agree on Dahlhaus and Higgins - I think they will spend more time in the midfield in 2013.

Gia and Dickson are very clever small forwards (Even though you want Gia gone, it will be interesting to see how he goes).

Sorry about Gia but I look at the list changes Collingwood (currently riding high in the top 8), has rung in, that is 13 to our 10 and I think that we should have gone a bit harder. The players who just hung on (and I count Gia in this group because of age-related fitness issues that are only going to get worse) can consider themselves pretty lucky given our relative ladder position to Collingwood. But... maybe Gia can make a recovery and enjoy a year like 2011 again. Great for the side if he can. Just got to get Kosi to run across his path.

[jeemak]

Re: Rookies to be elevated

Sorry about Gia but I look at the list changes Collingwood (currently riding high in the top 8), has rung in, that is 13 to our 10 and I think that we should have gone a bit harder. The players who just hung on (and I count Gia in this group because of age-related fitness issues that are only going to get worse) can consider themselves pretty lucky given our relative ladder position to Collingwood. But... maybe Gia can make a recovery and enjoy a year like 2011 again. Great for the side if he can. Just got to get Kosi to run across his path.

Collingwood's position has no relevance to ours. They have a deeper spread of talent than we do, and they are in a better position to cut dead wood than we are right now too.

If you look at the age profile of our list, and consider we've still got Murphy, Boyd, Cross and Giansiracus running around for us, we have turned ourselves into the third youngest in the competition since the end of the 2012 season. I'm not sure whether there'd be value in cutting deeper than we have, especially if we've determined we can source the required amount of talent in the draft to keep us going.

Melbourne were completely bereft of leadership over the last two seasons. Cutting players like Gia (after trading out Lake) would only take us a step closer to being in their shoes.

[Ghost Dog]

Re: Rookies to be elevated

Collingwood's position has no relevance to ours. They have a deeper spread of talent than we do, and they are in a better position to cut dead wood than we are right now too.

If you look at the age profile of our list, and consider we've still got Murphy, Boyd, Cross and Giansiracus running around for us, we have turned ourselves into the third youngest in the competition since the end of the 2012 season. I'm not sure whether there'd be value in cutting deeper than we have, especially if we've determined we can source the required amount of talent in the draft to keep us going.

Melbourne were completely bereft of leadership over the last two seasons. Cutting players like Gia (after trading out Lake) would only take us a step closer to being in their shoes

Not sure I agree. Baby Bombers? It is possible to build a core side around young players. Depends how you do it. We have Addison, Dickson, Boyd, Cross, Murphy, Glove - Vezpremi. That's your spine right there. How may more older blokes do you need? What does Gia do that Dickson can't?
Melbourne had all sorts of issues that make them a poor example of how to get a young side firing.

[Cyberdoggie]

Re: Rookies to be elevated

Not sure I agree. Baby Bombers? It is possible to build a core side around young players. Depends how you do it. We have Addison, Dickson, Boyd, Cross, Murphy, Glove - Vezpremi. That's your spine right there. How may more older blokes do you need? What does Gia do that Dickson can't?
Melbourne had all sorts of issues that make them a poor example of how to get a young side firing.

If Boyd wasn't there, Gia probably would of been the captain. He's certainly the best public speaker other than Murphy, and is obviously very highly thought of amongst the group. If it wasn't for his ageing/slowing body and perhaps the role he plays up forward he would of been chosen.

If you lose anyone with experience and leadership it hurts the development of your group.
The less of these players you have the less influence they have over the group.

[jeemak]

Re: Rookies to be elevated

Not sure I agree. Baby Bombers? It is possible to build a core side around young players. Depends how you do it. We have Addison, Dickson, Boyd, Cross, Murphy, Glove - Vezpremi. That's your spine right there. How may more older blokes do you need? What does Gia do that Dickson can't?
Melbourne had all sorts of issues that make them a poor example of how to get a young side firing.

You mean that side that had Tim Watson, David Grenvold, Chris Danniher, Mark Harvey and Paul Salmon running around?

I suppose what Gia can do that Dickson can't is lead through experience as an AFL veteran on the field and around the club. I'm not saying Dickson won't be capable of doing that at some stage, though Gia has 12 more years on a senior AFL list than he has.

I agree that Melbourne had all sorts of issues. Many would argue that a major one was their lack of senior leaders to assist in the development of their younger players.

Anyway, this thread is about Rookies. I'm glad JJ got elevated, as I really liked his composure in patches at the highest level.

[Dry Rot]

Re: Rookies to be elevated

2012 rookies Alex Greenwood, Jack Redpath, Mark Austin and Lin Jong will remain on the rookie list for a second year in 2013.

Anyone else wondering if we should have kept all four?

We've done relatively well out of our rookies, so maybe some new blood would have been worth a go?

[GVGjr]

Re: Rookies to be elevated

Anyone else wondering if we should have kept all four?

We've done relatively well out of our rookies, so maybe some new blood would have been worth a go?

To me Austin and Jong make a lot of sense. I didn't see enough in Redpath to think he is worth sticking with and Greenwood is line ball.

I'd probably prefer to have kept two spots open.

[azabob]

Re: Rookies to be elevated

To me Austin and Jong make a lot of sense. I didn't see enough in Redpath to think he is worth sticking with and Greenwood is line ball.

I'd probably prefer to have kept two spots open.

To be fair to Greenwood apparently he came on quite well later in the year. JJ would've been line ball, if not below the line in his first year.

Im happy to keep all of them on.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Rookies to be elevated

My issue with Greenwood is that he is very lightly built both in height and weight and yet he is predominately an inside midfielder. We've got some strong talent already on the list, so I can't see how he replaces them.

He did improve and his skills are neat, but I would have liked to pick up another rookie. Redpath was 50/50 for mine - happy enough to keep him on.

[GVGjr]

Re: Rookies to be elevated

Sorry about Gia but I look at the list changes Collingwood (currently riding high in the top 8), has rung in, that is 13 to our 10 and I think that we should have gone a bit harder. The players who just hung on (and I count Gia in this group because of age-related fitness issues that are only going to get worse) can consider themselves pretty lucky given our relative ladder position to Collingwood. But... maybe Gia can make a recovery and enjoy a year like 2011 again. Great for the side if he can. Just got to get Kosi to run across his path.

Ha, your talking about a younger Gia there. Even Kosi would need to be stationary for Gia C2012 to bump/tackle him. In all honesty Gia would have difficulty catching and tackling a witches hat on a breezy day unfortunately, even then only if he could manage somehow to keep on his feet.
As to young Greenwood, folks should cut the kid a little slack. For heavens sake he has not even had a pre season at all yet. He spent most of his only one with his foot in a moon boot. That pretty much equates to him being a kid straight out of high school playing against men. Give him a proper pre season, and another year in the system, then start to consider if he has what it takes or not.
The final match aside, he seemed to be developing quite nicely as the season went on. I don't know if anything has changed, but B Mac seemed quite enamoured of the kid before the season got under way.