Scott appears to choose the side he considers most likely to win every week.
He thought Reid now with no further development was better than Lav.
That is a very good sign that if Reid can get over the injuries regardless of the lost development he will still be an AFL quality level player.
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Hmm, players and player injury in a highly aerobic full contact sportā¦ In retrospect, what would Blitz have decided to do with the below perennially injured player?
James Hird was recruited to the AFL by Essendon from the 1990 AFL Draft; however, due to a serious hip injury along with other injuries in his junior football career, he was not selected until pick number 79, Essendonās seventh pick and one of the last in the draft.[17] Due to injury, Hird missed out on playing for most of 1991, his first season with the club. At the end of the season, a vote was held on whether to delist him. The majority (4ā2) voted in favour of Hird being delisted, but coach Kevin Sheedy, sensing a promising future for the young Hird, voted to keep him. Ultimately, Hird remained with the club.
ā¦ A series of injuries restricted Hirdās appearances during the remainder of the 1990s. He played only seven games in 1997, and, although he was named captain in 1998 (a position he held until the end of 2005), he was restricted to thirteen games that year due to injury-related issues. An even worse year followed in 1999, with stress fractures in his foot keeping him to only two games.[18]
ā¦ The year 2002 then saw Hirdās worst injury, a horrific facial injury sustained in a match against Fremantle when he collided with teammate Mark McVeighās knee, fracturing several bones; Hird was in hospital for a week and missed several weeks of the season.[20][18][19]
In 2003, despite again missing many games through various injuries (eight games in total), Hird tied with Scott Lucas for the best-and-fairest award.
ā¦Hird continued to be an outstanding performer in his utility role when fit, but age was forcing him to miss games through injury with increasing frequency. He suffered broken ribs and a calf strain during his 200th and 250th games, respectively.
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Now feature Scott Gumbleton!
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Scott Gumbleton was drafted by Essendon with the second selection in the 2006 AFL Draft. Prior to the Draft, Gumbleton was widely seen as one of the top key position players for his age groupā¦
ā¦Gumbletonās 2007, 2008 and 2009 seasons were all plagued by injury and he played only five AFL games in first three seasons,[3] all of which were in 2007. However, the 2010 season saw much improvement for Gumbleton, having a full pre-season, playing 17 of the first 18 games and being re-signed by Essendon, after showing much improvement.[4] Gumbleton suffered yet another injury in round 18, with broken ribs and a punctured lung, ruling him out for the remainder of the 2010 season.[5] Scottās 2011 season was again plagued by injury and he failed to play any games at AFL level. At the end of 2011 Scott had back surgery to repair a disk. It was hoped the surgery would fix his chronic hamstring issues. In 2012 Scott played his first senior game in nearly two years when he returned against Port Adelaide in round 16, booting three goals. He finished the 2012 season having played six games kicking 11 goals. Despite having long-term offers from rival clubs at the end of 2012 Gumbleton showed his loyalty to Essendon agreeing to a new one-year deal to remain at the club until at least the end of 2013.
In October 2013, Gumbleton was recruited by Fremantle, who traded the 55th selection in the 2013 AFL Draft to Essendon.[6]
After failing to play a senior game in his one season at Fremantle, Gumbleton announced his retirement in September 2014.[7
So sad.
I remember the Scott Gumbleton āSteakā thread.
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First paragraph, fine, injury riddled first couple of years, fair enough, reasonable comparison. The ellipsis leading the second paragraph before 1997 is eliding the following:
1992 - 4 senior games, reserve premiership
1993 - 16 games, premiership player
1994 - 20 games, Crichton Medal ā Reid is here
1995 - 24 games, Crichton Medal, All Australian
1996 - 24 games, Crichton Medal, All Australian, Brownlow Medal
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So Reid has played less games than Gumby had at the same stage?
Itās hard to imagine why anybody would have any doubts on himā¦
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Hilarious comparison.
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All very true, Hird was brilliant. The best Iāve seen play in the red and black.
I only posted excerpts of Hirdās horrific run with injuries and asked how Blitz would retrospectively post about such, particularly his first injury plagued years.
Weāre talking Reid, his run with injury and the latent ability the young man has. So, just a comparison on injury and potential.
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Heās looking like Gumby mark II at this stageā¦ 4 years at the club for a total output of 9 senior games, or an average of 2ish games a seasonā¦Trade or delist
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During the 1997, 98 and 99 season, Blitz and social media (if running the way it does today) would be ā ā ā ā ā ā ā and moaning about the Hird injury problems.
For comparison, Fantasia was tracking very well by the end of 2017. By 2019, he was an injury liability. Yet played 28 games in those two years.
I wouldnāt compare either to the Reid treatment. He has barely played so the majority donāt know what he is capable of. At this point, a Gumby type career is more likely than not.
A lot of things were tolerated back in the 90s because people had less of a voice. I point to Fletcherās debut year being owned by almost every full forward and Tim Watson getting games in 1993 as points where loud voices would be critiquing the club because it had been 8 farking years since Grand Final victory. How about Fletch being owned by an NFL punter every Anzac Day? And the clear Essington moments of 1996 when we lost to Brisbane in a final because spud Wanganeen hit the post from a shot in the goal square and the Essington moment of Tony Lockett kicking a point on the siren when we had the game won. And if Essington couldnāt get any worse it popped up in the 1999 Prelim again. We had to go through six farking years of Essington rubbish to reach that point. And the board had no spine back then and bowed down to Sheedy when he should have been sacked. Let him get to Sydney, they were a basket case back then.
Itās now become a bigger part of sport and the media feeds off it.
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This is what I donāt get. So many are hyping up Reid so much, when I have seen nothing to suggest he is a star.
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EFC. Hird was wonderful. Bulldogs, West was wonderful, so is Bont and heās still going. Zach is still carrying a team. Rattle tins vs gather sponsors. Weāre nothing until we get to the pointy end in competitive form. Sorry, is this the Lid on Gumbleton thread?
Unless youāre at the club watching him, you would have no idea what heās capable of.
He came through U18s in covid, so his best junior year was a whitewash. Heās been injury riddled his whole career.
All we have to go by is that two coaches have seen him and tried to get him into the AFL as soon as possible because they both loved what they saw. Not just the head coaches, but also the assistant coaches.
Whatever he does at the club, impresses the coaches. Even the players say positive things about him.
But as fans weāve barely seen anything. Both at AFL level and VFL level.
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Heās worryingly injury prone, but this wasnāt a recurrence of the hamstring/back and when fit he doesnāt look as physically restricted as Gumby became thanks to his injuries.
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Another comparison could be Jayden Laverde. From 2015 - 2020 he played 9,9,5,7,10,6 games.
Since then he has copped a heap of knocks but has played 23, 22 & 19 games and heās one our most durable players.
Maybe Reid should change his number?
I think the reason the club and most supporters are willing to persevere with Reid is that we were expecting him to take some time anyway since he was so tall and skinny. Even if he was played only expect his output to be about the same as that of Cox - doing ok but hardly setting the world on fire.
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I think a better comparison is actually McKay, who only played 4 games in his first 4 seasons but once he got a proper run at it, has turned into a pretty good KPD
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McKay played a bunch of VFL games though.
The issue is Reid has had not much continuity at any level since 2019
draft position number is the only real difference.
pick 10 buys you a ā ā ā ā ton of grace, despite barely playing, and will still have him ahead of hayes.
hayes, what in his second year has pretty much been the lone hand down back in the vfl, aquited himself damn well all things considered, but because not a first round and high draft pick, doesnāt even remotely look likely to get a senior game.
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