Player development is mostly down to the player.
Sure they got picked because they could play footy against other kids, but doesn’t mean they will continue to improve.
Doesn’t matter how good a coach is or how great the facilities are, some are just not going to make it.
Maybe but ours are ALL going backwards. Sydney and Hawthorn and others on the other hand have a record of turning ordinary players into champions, including some of our own.
But isn’t that a cultural issue?
Success breeds success.
We need to build a win at all cost mentality and stop thinking about draft picks.
Hmmm, maybe we are not talking about the same things.
Player development for me is about improving fitness, skills and footy smarts.
Hawks have been very good at getting players to suit their game plan and long term strategy. Blokes like Dew, Gibson, Burgoyne, Lake, that bald ruckman from Kangas.
Mitchell is different as he is just a gun.
They also have the ability to take average players and move them into a successful team.
Some won’t make it, but there are plenty that will look a hell of a lot better in a good side than an average one.
I’m not necessarily saying you’re wrong, but I will say that without comprehensive data on all other teams, claims like that are basically - rubbish, used for venting after devastating losses.
Realistically, only held his spot due to injuries to Green, Begley and Raz not being available. Would be shocked to see him survive again.
I maintain the theory he has been kept on the list as a better the devil you know, 1 year stop gap to the next draft. So we can go in with a big hand of picks. Taking another kid late in this years draft would have had us committed to an unlikely kid for 2 years.
I’d say little to no chance he plays seniors again. I agree it’s time to get more games into the younger guys…AND PERSIST. Don’t just drop them every other week.
We do hold onto our less gifted players longer.
Clarkson is ruthless, he kicks players out before their time. No offence mate, its about the team and the team’s constant development. He threw the dice at Vickery last year. Didn’t work, where is he this year? Gone. No second year to try to make it work, just made a mistake, your out the door.
Doing this allows you to run the net over more players, increasing the chances of success.
Re-reading what I wrote I can see I wasnt clear in what I meant. I didnt mean turned into champions, I meant developed to the extent that they could play a substantial role in a champion team.
This is what I meant when I said turn into champions.
To be fair, it is much easier to play a role in a team that’s flying when your taking the third or forth best who is has one eye on you and the other on helping his team mates with your jets. Des Headland at Brisbane comes to mind, looked like a million bucks at Brisbane, not so at the Dockers…
Vickery retired. They tried to trade him before that but lm not sure they would have delisted him if he didn’t. Schoenmakers has played one year less than Myers for 14 more games. Tim O Brien 6 years for 40 games. They hold onto some spuds too.
He retired, but do you think he did that without a fairly frank discussion with Clarkson about what the rest of his Hawks experience was going to be if he stayed?
Outs athe end of the year, Retire BJ, Bags, Try and trade or delist Looney, Smack, Langford,
Green, Myers, Jerrett,
Brown, Hartley,
I’d keep Hartley as backup, plus also do as others have suggested and try him forwardin the VFL
Yes I agree but not nearly the whole team. and why are our young players off the boil?
Not one of the players has said a word, yet; are they are sworn to secrecy or banned from media speak out. Or, have they all gone out in sympathy with each other?
Also look at how they went about not keeping Hartung.
Hawks, not happy with how he’s progressing, only offer him a 1 year deal, more than happy for him to leave, hence delisting him in the end.
Can you imagine Essendon drafted him? We probably would have given him 3 years, and he’d finish up with over 200 games.
Hartung has been good for nth this year. Clarkson wanted more contested ball so moved him on. But wasnt the argument that they were great at developing players as well. They also let Kennedy go when they weren’t giving him a game. Hits and misses. They are better than us by far but they make plenty of mistakes too.
Kennedy has been ■■■■■ at carlton, and Hartung has been basically the same at North but just looks less soft at North because he isnt around contested beast players 24/7