James Mulligan - A victim of too many tall players?

[GVGjr]

As I reported from yesterday's game, Mulligan made some positive strides in the reserves in particular with his marking. You would like to think that a rookie who was promoted to the senior list would be rewarded with a good game by being selected in the senior line-up however, upon a further review I'm not sure if there is a spot for him.

We have Markovic and Faulks commanding the key defenders spots. Tiller and Boumann taking the next tallest opponents leaving Mulligan the odd man out.

Boumann is probably the most versatile player capable of moving forward but at the moment I think he plays his best footy in the back half.

To make the problem even worse for Mulligan is that Jones now commands a key forward spot along with Matt Little and we will soon have Ayce Cordy back playing primarily as a forward. Grant is also a possibility to return some time down the track.

Mulligan isn't really a ruck option but the list does appear to be top heavy and there is a logjam for spots in the senior Williamstown side. We certainly lack some quality but we are top heavy for tall players.

Any thoughts on how we could reward Mulligan for a good game in the magoos?
Playing off the bench in the seniors would not be as good for his game than playing the full 4 quarters in the 2nds in my opinion.

[LostDoggy]

Re: James Mulligan - A victim of too many tall players?

As I reported from yesterday's game, Mulligan made some positive strides in the reserves in particular with his marking. You would like to think that a rookie who was promoted to the senior list would be rewarded with a good game by being selected in the senior line-up however, upon a further review I'm not sure if there is a spot for him.

We have Markovic and Faulks commanding the key defenders spots. Tiller and Boumann taking the next tallest opponents leaving Mulligan the odd man out.

Boumann is probably the most versatile player capable of moving forward but at the moment I think he plays his best footy in the back half.

To make the problem even worse for Mulligan is that Jones now commands a key forward spot along with Matt Little and we will soon have Ayce Cordy back playing primarily as a forward. Grant is also a possibility to return some time down the track.

Mulligan isn't really a ruck option but the list does appear to be top heavy and there is a logjam for spots in the senior Williamstown side. We certainly lack some quality but we are top heavy for tall players.

Any thoughts on how we could reward Mulligan for a good game in the magoos?
Playing off the bench in the seniors would not be as good for his game than playing the full 4 quarters in the 2nds in my opinion.

Not sure what we could do but IIRC i have heard that he is very quick for his size, Could he play as a tall wingman? I have never seen him play so not sure. Maybe play Boumann can play wing and Mulligan play down back.

On a side note i think the recruitment of Markovic was a mistake as he is taking a key spot and from what i have seen is way too slow for AFL. Think that late in the draft better off going for a smokey

[Rocco Jones]

Re: James Mulligan - A victim of too many tall players?

Any thoughts on how we could reward Mulligan for a good game in the magoos?
Playing off the bench in the seniors would not be as good for his game than playing the full 4 quarters in the 2nds in my opinion.

You raise some great points, I think both our list and our team selection are top heavy. I would also prefer him to play out a game in the 2nds in a valuable role than off the bench filling in gaps.

In terms of reward as fans we are obviously limited to what we see and hear, so team selection how we see players like Mulligan being rewarded. I think we need to reward him by Eade and co. making it clear that they are pleased with his performances and that him playing in the Willy 2nds is not a reflection of what we think of him, just that it's what's best for his game atm (not doubting we are doing any different).

I think elevating him onto the senior list despite him spending the vast majority of his time in the Willy 2nds is a decent reward and sign of how highly we rate him.

[GVGjr]

Re: James Mulligan - A victim of too many tall players?

You raise some great points, I think both our list and our team selection are top heavy. I would also prefer him to play out a game in the 2nds in a valuable role than off the bench filling in gaps.

In terms of reward as fans we are obviously limited to what we see and hear, so team selection how we see players like Mulligan being rewarded. I think we need to reward him by Eade and co. making it clear that they are pleased with his performances and that him playing in the Willy 2nds is not a reflection of what we think of him, just that it's what's best for his game atm (not doubting we are doing any different).

I think elevating him onto the senior list despite him spending the vast majority of his time in the Willy 2nds is a decent reward and sign of how highly we rate him.

I think it sends a mixed message to him. He was promoted to the senior list instead of being maintained for another 12 months as a rookie because we thought he has a lot more to offer and we hadn't seen the best of him. Fair enough. Now he plays a good game in the reserves and yet we have no spot for him in the seniors.

It's got to be a hard sell for him to accept because the only way we will know for sure how he is progressing is by seeing how he performs in the Williamstown senior side.

We run the risk on having him on our list for 3 years and not really knowing if he can perform for Williamstown seniors which is far from ideal.

I'm not knocking the alignment arrangement we have because we all knew that anyway but for a player like Mulligan he might get held back because our list isn't as well balanced as it possibly should be.

I suppose if there were as many injuries with our talls as there is to our mid sized players I wouldn't have started the thread.

[LostDoggy]

Re: James Mulligan - A victim of too many tall players?

He may have to be elevated to the seniors next week as i believe Roughead may have aggravated his shoulder, meaning Minson will be back in anyway on his performance yesterday. He might be our only ruck option!!

[chef]

Re: James Mulligan - A victim of too many tall players?

Not sure what we could do but IIRC i have heard that he is very quick for his size, Could he play as a tall wingman? I have never seen him play so not sure. Maybe play Boumann can play wing and Mulligan play down back.

On a side note i think the recruitment of Markovic was a mistake as he is taking a key spot and from what i have seen is way too slow for AFL. Think that late in the draft better off going for a smokey

I agree, drafting someone like a Daw would have been a better option IMO.

[GVGjr]

Re: James Mulligan - A victim of too many tall players?

He may have to be elevated to the seniors next week as i believe Roughead may have aggravated his shoulder, meaning Minson will be back in anyway on his performance yesterday. He might be our only ruck option!!

He hasn't been used much as a ruckman either so it would be a huge test for him.

[Bornadog]

Re: James Mulligan - A victim of too many tall players?

I would pick the best player for the role and drop the other player. If Mulligan is playing better than say Markovic, then he gets his spot. Pretty simple really.