Play the kids

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
41

i think also people forget that in 2016 we played all our kids and found some and lost some.

So really the only kids we haven’t played are from the 2016 and 2017 draft.

McGrath and Begley are in the team as we speak.
Mutch, Ridley and Clarke are banging down the door.
and you assume the 2017 crop isn’t ready because of the nature of this draft.

So really the only kids that aren’t getting a go are the ones who didn’t grab their chance in 2016. But in saying that Langford is playing and I assume Laverde won’t be far off.

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42

Geelong are doing it again with Fogerty they throw him straight in and Mutch is still waiting.

I understand he’s injured this year but last year he should’ve played every game Howlett and Hocking did.

We are too conservative when it comes to this stuff.

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43

I can’t believe that @Paul_Peos didn’t take the opportunity to explain that’s because sydney and geelong are full of players with Big Bodies® who can Protect The Kids™.

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44

Is Tim Kelly that 6th grader that’s taller then the phys Ed teacher?

45

It certainly was a missed opportunity.

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46

The only ‘not young’ players from the weekend that you could argue could be replaced with untried youth are dea and brown, who both deserved to be selected on prior form and the need for strong, mature bodies.
Brown had a shocker and Blitz selects a team for the future in hindsight. We’re not tanking (yet). We’re picking best 22 each week. Begley is a kid and Langford still plays like one. McKenna, McGrath, Parish are all young. As soon as Lav is ready he will be straight in. We already have 5 or 6 places filled with a mix of kids and inexperienced players. Redman and McNeice are both physically ready but neither plays 2s in a way that demands AFL selection.
If we go 5-10 then we can start gifting games to younger players who are performing just ok in the 2s.

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47

Alot has been said about Geelong, Hawks, swans mixing in 2~3 kids on a weekly basis but does anyone know if these kids are “banging down the door” prior to selection.

Or is Essendon just taking a real conservative approach… like really really conservative

48

I’ve watched quite a bit of VFL over the last few years but would be keen to hear from others. The only young player who was ‘knocking down the door’ consistently was Walla. And that was from before he was even rookied.

I am not including McKernan and others with solid AFL experience who can look a class above at times.

Redman for a few quarters as the rebounding defender last year screamed ‘play me’ but it wasn’t consistent. Francis had his VFL highlights but not too many. Zerrett always looked classy but didn’t dominate.

Happy to defer to more seasoned watchers but to your point and the point of the article. Maybe we need to identify some 100 game players and give them some games at some stage without them winning the VFL B&F first.

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49

I also watched a fair bit of the VFL last year and couldn’t agree more. People were calling for Francis to come in every week and yet watching the twos he clearly didn’t deserve a call up. We now know that there were reasons as to why he wasn’t at his best although we really dont know what his best looks like.

I haven’t seen anything in Mutch, Clarke or Redman that suggests that they are deserving of a game or would cope at the level. Ridley gives me the impression that he can play but is raw and if I had to pick one with the biggest upside and hope it would be Draper. The rider being that I haven’t seen them play this season and taking into account that some improve greatly when they step up. Play the kids doesn’t work if the kids are not ready or not deserving.

50

VFL can hinder progress at times IMO. Some players perform better the higher they play. We definitely need to be looking at a couple ASAP

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51

We take not playing kids to a whole new level as well, We don’t even play them in pre season games.

52

Exactly
Don’t think everyone needs to be banging down the door to be selected. Sometimes you just have to give the kids a run and see what they can show at the highest level

53

Paul Roos’ comment on “On the Couch” last night were interesting. Basically saying that you play your best 22. If a kid, regardless of where they were picked, isn’t ready, then they play in the VFL.

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54

Play the kids? We don’t have any other kids worthy of playing to be honest.

Of recent drafts, only Parish, Begley and McGrath are worthy, and they are playing.

The rest, Francis, Redman, Clarke, Mutch, Ridley, Zerk-Thatcher, Long and Draper for various reasons, aren’t ready, deserving or up to it at the moment.

Fairly sad state of affairs really for our list, that we don’t seem to have any pushing for selection.

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55

Totally agree. I’m very critical of the drug penalty year and last year that we didn’t do it enough. We should have at least 5-10 games into Francis, Redman, Mutch, Clarke.

This year we need to have an answer or Mutch, Redman and Clarke. Give them big jobs and see how they progress.

Jerrett even lacked games in the penalty year. We was semi experience quick and a good user, we should have put him in the middle as an inside mid and either made him learn the hard way or fail. At least we would have known and either had a player or a free list spot.

At some point you have to just have faith in the kids.

56

I would like to see Long given a run. The odd minutes he has played seniors I’ve liked what I’ve seen. Kicked the winning goal in the JLT off 20 minutes of game time and according to the VFL blitz team was one of the better players on the weekend.
Give him a run

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57

Play the kids?

I’ll have a go at that.

B Tex Wanganeen, Mason Fletcher, Curtis Barnard,

HB Mara Lovett-Murray, Lenny Solomon, Taitum Dempsey,

C Noah Caracella, Josh Misiti, Ricky O’Donnell,

HF Tom Hird, Thomas Caracella, Alwyn Davey Jnr

F Koby Bewick, Jacob Lloyd, Edward Mercuri,

On Ball Luca Alessio, Aidan Ramanauskas, Darcy Denham

Bench Will Hamilton, Connor Stanton, Taj McPhee, Harlan Ryder

*Great names… Some of these kids just need to fill out a bit.

Edit. List of names.

JHA - Acceleration Group
Player Age Father/Designation
Daniel Hanna 18 Next Generation Academy
Jaxon Neagle 18 Merv Neagle
Ismail Moussa 17 Next Generation Academy
Mason Fletcher 17 Dustin Fletcher
Kyle Gillard 17 Next Generation Academy
Jack Firebrace 17 Next Generation Academy
Ricky O’Donnell 17 Gary O’Donnell
Darcy Denham 17 Sean Denham
Kurtis Barnard 17 Paul Barnard
Tom Hird 16 James Hird
Lachlan Johnson 16 Next Generation Academy
Max Fletcher 16 Dustin Fletcher

JHA - Flight Squad
Player Age Father
Josh Misiti 14 Joe Misiti
Nwayi Moore 14 Nathan Lovett-Murray
Alwyn Davey Jnr 14 Alwyn Davey
Jayden Davey 14 Alwyn Davey
Alex Hird 14 James Hird
Tex Wanganeen 14 Gavin Wanganeen
Luca Alessio 13 Steve Alessio
Luke Barnard 12 Kurtis Barnard
Will Hamilton 12 Paul Hamilton
Alex Alessio 11 Steve Alessio
Noah Caracella 11 Blake Caracella
Alijah Davey 11 Alwyn Davey

JHA - Baby Bombers
Player Age Father
Mara Lovett-Murray 8 Nathan Lovett-Murray
Aidan Ramanauskas 9 Adam Ramanauskas
Logan Daniher 9 Chris Daniher
Taj McPhee 9 Adam McPhee
William Hird 9 James Hird
Koby Bewick 9 Darren Bewick
Max Alessio 8 Steve Alessio
Thomas Caracella 8 Blake Caracella
Taitum Dempsey 7 Courtenay Dempsey
Cove McPhee 7 Adam McPhee
Lucas Ramanauskas 7 Adam Ramanauskas
Rylan Johnson 6 Mark Johnson
Noah Peverill 6 Damien Peverill
Lenny Solomon 5 Dean Solomon
Jacob Lloyd 5 Matthew Lloyd
Cruz Davey 4 Alwyn Davey
Connor Stanton 4 Brent Stanton
Harlan Ryder 3 Paddy Ryder
Bohdi McPhee 3 Adam McPhee
Edward Mercuri 3 Mark Mercuri
Aiden Stanton 2 Brent Stanton
Mekhi Dempsey 1 Courtenay Dempsey
Henry Mercuri 1 Mark Mercuri

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58

Couldn’t disagree with this more. And yes I’m both more knowledgeable and accomplished than Roos

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59

Fair go, we are in a rebuilding phase right now and our materials are good quality, but we have no right to expect that we should be fully functional yet.

We are integrating Smith, Stringer, Saad and Begley into the team, McGrath in a new position. Langford is being given a go and we are supposed to have the best under 25 list in the comp.

Mutch, Ridley and Francis will be given a go but need to be fit and ready. Laverde is in line when fit enough too, but is competing with other players of a similar or younger age for a position.

Long needs to be given a good look in at senior level, this might spark Joey up too.

Truth still is we need a star big bodied mid in the guts to get our team balance right (Ollie Wines pretty please) and Gleeson back in for Dea when fit, and hopefully Ridley, Francis or Mutch covering for him sooner than that.

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60

All good points. Hawks appear to have rejuvenated quickly however from their backline, Kaiden Brand is in his 6th season, James Sicily is in his 5th season, Tim O’Brien in his 6th season and Blake Hardwick in his 3rd season. It generally doesn’t happen overnight.

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