yeah i got that wrong as well, thought he was 22. He was born 69 and joined us in 89 (I thought it was 91 for some reason).
He played 24 games in 89. Average disp of 18.3.
Just saw that his first number was 4? I assumed he was always 13.
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and won their B&F
A surprise (to me), but good luck to Jake!
He has the raw skills in all the right areas to be successful at AFL level. It just needs to come together for him. All along with Jake I’ve said I’ve based his projections on what I saw of him as a kid at state u16 level (he pretty much missed all his u18 seasons due to school/injury) where he was easily in the best 15 players in the country.
Factoring in that this will be his fourth year but he missed 2 years of junior footy it’s realistic to gauge his development of that of a second year player at this point. So if you were to say that he has played 3 senior games in his first 2 years then this 3rd year seems about right.
Jake just needs to improve on poise really, to know when to go and when not, last year he was told to play on as much as he could. I’m sure this year he will now look at the balance of that. He is quick, he has elite lateral movement and is well into the top half of our list with disposal by foot. Plus he goes hard at the ball.
I still hold confidence that we will see at senior level what I saw back at those u16 champs.
He is still one of the youngest ever kids to debut at senior level in the NTFL for St Mary’s. when you consider some of the great names that have come from that club that has to count for something.
If we had picked him up as a 20 year old which a lot of clubs are now doing with top end talent no one would be perplexed by this signing
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Appreciate it
I liked the glimpses we saw in 2016 against GC and fc.
Feel that he’ll player better on bigger grounds with better players around him where the play overall is a bit cleaner.
That said I’m surprised he’s been upgraded. He’s going to struggle to push his way in unless he dramatically improves his output at VFL level.
hmm, interesting how this applies to jake and not lav.
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I think Antrobus had 13 when Longy arrived.
Antrobus had been 2 but swapped over when Daisy left (the first time).
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Was definitely biting off a bit too much on some plays this year.
He is the type of player that makes you go, “Wow… Great… really good… oh ■■■■” all in the one piece of play.
What’s his tank like? Would love him to blossom into brad Hill type
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Lav didn’t miss his 17 and 18 year old junior seasons
Go on?
Injuries limited him to playing about 50 games between 96 and 2001, not sure that’s much of a late peak?
I’ve said this before but its worth repeating: he won a SANFL B&F and named all-Australian at 18, as well as 2 x NTFL flags, then came to Melbourne, won the VFL best first year player at 19, played every game bar 1 in a prelim side, having the 5th most possessions, kicked 4 in one of the finals, 3rd most Brownlow votes for Ess that year.
That’s an outstanding resume before you hit 20.
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4 was Norm MacDonalds from way back when right?
Fingers crossed he makes it.
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The more I think about the Long upgrade the more I see logic:
- He’s got a 1 year deal so it makes little difference if that’s rookie or main list given the rule changes for cat A rookies.
- Upgrading to the main list means we can downgrade next year if we see he is a slow developer.
- He’s on a 1 year contract which means if we want flexibility with downgrading or delisting next year we have it.
- A 30/60 chance new < 23 year old recruit will get a 2 year deal. This means we potentially need to get rid of someone else to accommodate the super draft next year.
- He’s wiry and will take a bit longer but is quick
No doubt circumstances and the Long name have worked in his favour though.
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wing sounds about right - at his best - I could see him a bit like a Caracella on the wing and HFF
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Way back when = before me
Col Hebbard was my first
And it shouldn’t be a surprise based on the fact that we were told he was a long term prospect, the day we drafted him.
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I agree with this. It’s interesting that in that article about him they talk about him as a wing or halfback. I would have thought his best chance of getting a game is to take Green’s spot
Along with about 3 or 4 others… Stringer, Smith. Begley…
There will be a lot of pressure on Green to perform next season, with lots of players waiting in the wings, or on them.