Why ? You guys make statements like “talls take longer to develop “ , which has no basis in fact.
Players develop depending on many things, and you could argue that Dustin Fletcher developed quickly because Sheedy gave him the hard jobs from just about day one.
Nik Cox should be put at full back and left there to develop.
No basis in fact because you can name a few exceptions? There’s far more examples of talls taking time to find their feet than not. Especially extremely tall, extremely skinny ones.
Fletch had the benefit of an amazing team and still had some massive bags kicked on him.
Imagine Blitz/Media/Social media if he was playing FB conceding 6/7 goals some weeks. We’d destroy him.
It goes both ways. Some players take longer than others, independent on height.
Talls are generally still growing at 18, and for most tall skinny youngsters it’s actually difficult to put on weight as well and thus be able to compete against men
And they often aren’t wanting to try anyway too much because can end up with stress fractures.
Whereas a lot more young mids are better developed physically and able to impact immediately/sooner
then why are they playing him as a mid ?
why recruit a KPD and then play him on a win at afl level, just cos he does some time trials well in preseason ?
why has he neither been picked solely as a backman or as a forward in any of the games he’s played ?
people keep running with, he didnt’ play as a midfielder, then why was he picked as a midfielder and now being played as one ?
You are a smart guy. Not sure needs explanation but anyway….
Patently obvious isn’t it?
He didn’t/doesn’t have anywhere near the body to hold down key position yet at AFL level. Nor was there any opportunity to (if we had to play him out desperation) with far more physically mature options available at both ends.
And yet the opportunity was there to get games into him on a wing however, we had limited options
Langford locked in. But then Cutler/Ham /Guelfi who had shown nothing much … McGrath starting there at times also but not really his thing.
So opportunity allowed it and yes his running capacity meant he was in the frame to play there. Wingers having to clock up huge k’s in modern game.
And he did it with a reasonable degree of success such that was in rising star conversation. Tiring though as year went on and Durham came in mid season draft to eventually take a wing latter part of season.
With Martins progress and when Langford returns be interesting to see what happens with Cox. May end up being played in kpd/3rd tall def role in VFL latter part of year.
Gawn, Grundy however
We’re not sure who Nik Cox is as a player or what he’ll become tbf. He takes his football seriously and to me beats himself up too much when he feels he’s buggered up. Go back to Anzac Day last year … he was really good and that tackle on Sidebottom was a massive highlight for me. He announced himself that game.
We were good 12 months ago. We were together as a team. I’m glad Truck has him in on Monday because I believe in him. He’s young, angular and has the skills. Where he ends up positional wise we’re not sure. But he’ll find that spot and dominate.
Max Gawn is an interesting comparison to Sam Draper. He had many injuries in his first. 4 seasons as he was learning the game, poor kick, didn’t work hard around the ground, few marks, but dominated hit outs, though with average direction. He at age 30 is playing as well as any ruckman I have ever seen.
Just goes to show that all players are different and development comes at differing pace.
Interesting similarities here, copied from a Bulldogs Thread.
However we’re talking about Pick 8, they’re discussing Pick 1.
“ However we need to be expecting\demanding more of others, particularly JUH. The occasional cameo style appearance is simply not good enough. He walks around seemingly lost half the time, and badly misses too many shots at goal for a player who get it so rarely. The conditions were tricky but his miss early in the last was a pretty pathetic effort for a professional specialist forward.
I don’t know what sort of personality Marra has and how he handles criticism but some how he needs to take some personal responsibility for delivering much more value to the team than he has so far. An extended stint in the VFL could be imminent.”
Jamarra has been okay in flashes.
And yes, a high percentage of players from the 2020 and 2021 draft should be spending more time at VFL level than AFL level.
I think people forget that 2020 had very limited under 18s games played. The 2020 flatten the curve lockdown and the Vic lockdown meant some of these youngsters relied on ‘personal perseverance’ to keep their fitness levels up to decent levels but really didn’t get any competitive game time experience.
2021 was pretty much the same. Both under 18s and VFL were so restricted, then the lockdowns again meant that under 18s were effectively ‘on their own’ again and VFL players would only be training with the seniors but getting no competitive match games at all.
There have been some outliers. Errol Gulden looks like a gem from the 2020 draft. From last year’s draft, it’s pretty much only Daicos that is excelling (JHF has the tools, but needs to be developed more). The rest are still being developed through VFL or AFL.
The other thing that is forgotten is the AFL game is so different to U18s. The defensive structures and running abilities mean the forward 50 (and the stoppages) can be very crowded. This does not happen as often at U18s level nor at VFL level and it takes time to get used to the pace of the game and the sheer numbers around the ball and forward targets.
Jamarra will be fine. He looks more comfortable when he’s outside 50 than inside 50. He’s actually a very good kick. It’s not the loopy type kick that some youngsters have, he has more of a punch type kick that does cover distance very quickly.
He is athletically pretty good. But he’s lacking in a bit in strength. And that’s where he’s having trouble. He’s being easily pushed off the ball or out of the contest by players who have more experience than him. Even his tackles aren’t sticking at times.
He needs time to add some strength to his frame, but to also learn how to use that strength to his advantage on the footy field. I recall when David Hille was coming up. He was stick thin and struggled for strength against the bigger ruckman of the time. He put on some muscle, but took another few years to learn how to play with it, because he was still pretty timid. Then he got to a point where he could at least he compete with Dean Cox around the ground and in the ruck.
Buddy wasn’t Buddy until his third year. Even that year wasn’t exactly great, but he became someone to worry about in the Hawthorn forward line. And he pretty much played every game in those first few years. Then the 4th year, he made a big leap to being the Buddy we’ve pretty much seen since then.
Nine times out of ten, a player has shown enough by their 50th game, to give a good understanding on how good they are and whether they can actually reach their potential. It’s a lot tougher to gauge in 20 games. Especially for a taller player who needs to add strength, read the game and apply additional strength to the way they play.
It takes time and patience.
Something fans lack so much.
None of which I disagree with.
It’s more that you could perfectly swap the names Cox & JUH in fan forum posts, and no one would know the difference.
(Except there’s more ■■■■■, mention of cannons, and abuse re our overall drafting strategy in the Cox Posts)
So perhaps I’m suggesting that if certain posters are driven to distraction & despair by Nik Cox, they should ask themselves how they’d feel if it was Pick 1 they’re talking about.
I went to the Bulldogs v Crows game, and watched Jamara with great interest.
Its very clear he is physically underdeveloped at this point. He got himself to the contest numerous times, but did not have the physical presence to be the key player to determine the outcome of the contest. A few times the ball did not go his way, a few times he fumbled, a few times he over ran the ball in what appeared to be almost skirting the contest.
Sounds very familiar.
Jamara moves beautifully and I think will be a very good forward for the Doggies. Perhaps not the main man in the f50, but certainly a dangerous player capable of setting the game on fire.
Re Cox, the kid can play football. My opinion is he will end up being an exceptionally good wing/hf and just needs the time to settle and believe.
Buddy kicked 31 goals from 14 games in his second year and then kicked 73 goals in his third year.
He kicked 100 in year four.
The Nik Cox thread seems to have become entirely NOT about Nik Cox.
Maybe about a few other Cox though.
He also played in an era where there were still stay at home forwards around. For memory, there was still Gehrig, Lloyd and Fev. He was one of the first of his kind to be mobile enough to play further up the ground and still be fit enough to kick goals nearer to goal.
Now that’s your more normal forward.
It’s such a different game now.
He developed pretty well in seniors. But that sort of leans towards the 50 games in a Hawthorn team provides more development than 50 games at Essendon.
These same posters are already doing this in the Andy McGrath thread.
Gawn obviously put in a heap of work off field and looks like he had some good guidance along the way too, hopefully Sam is prepared to eliminate his deficiencies and we help facilitate it.
Gawn and he are both weird units too
The coaching staff have to release the shackles off this guy. He’s play such a safe, risk averse game, much like the team in general. They have to tell him to take it on more. Back his footskills in (a big attribute that was spruiked when he was drafted), take on some corridor kicks, look to be pro-active.
