Tac/u18 Thread

Considering the Western District is a recognised region between the Wimmera and the Hampden, that wouldn’t be suitable, but I’d be happy with Western Victoria.

Not sure if its been canvassed in another thread lately, but Cassidy Parish is a 190 cm inside mid who gets a fair bit of contested ball but whose kicking is not at all good as at round 7 of the TAC cup.

Based on the experience with Dylan Clarke in 2016, it looks like Cassidy may drop to the 40s or 50s or even 60s

Do we want to take another chance on an inside mid with a question mark around their kick?

Last time we got the less-feted younger brother we ended up with Zerrett

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Was Zach Merrett less feted than Jackson? I always thought that Zach was rated quite highly?

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As far as I’m aware Zac flew under the radar somewhat as Cricket was his thing but I don’t think there were to many knocks on his game though.
I personally wouldn’t use him as an argument to pick someone with poor kicking skills, especially if it doesn’t improve much over the season.

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190 already,…?? Really? I thought they were all around Dashers height.

No one really knew. He’d played Cricket etc, and they didn’t get to see a lot of him footy wise.

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I remember HM stating fitness was the question (no pre-season).

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I take it you’ve never seen them.
Every one of them is/will be a different height.

Nice of the AFL to allow 20yr old Adam Sambono to play for the Allies in the Champs - not sure whether that is a recruiter driven selection or possibly just to see how he fares in an elite environment.

Plenty of risk involved, but if he is keen to have a crack at AFL, I’d like us to be the one to take the chance as he is an absolute freak. Probable very late to rookie at this stage if anybody is prepared to gamble - though I expect that’ll change if he performs well in the Champs.

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Height doesn’t matter, he comes from a good family and might be a future leader… :grin:

Who is he?

Question on the AFL site
What are the chances of Cassidy Parish joining his brother at Essendon? Is this the kind of player Essendon would be looking for? A lack of a youthful dominant big bodied inside mid seems to be an issue this season. If not Cassidy - who would be a good fit?

Cal Twomey
It’s a chance because the Bombers really need some young, big bodied midfielders and Cassidy is that. he needs to continue to improve his kicking and spread, but his ball-winning is elite and he continues to post great numbers. I don’t think he fits in the really top bracket at this stage like Darcy was throughout his draft year, but Cassidy’s improvement has been encouraging.
May 18 2017 11:40 AM

On Darcys last interview they asked him about his brother, he said he is a fair bit bigger than him, and would love him to get a chance at the AFL and he is working hard.
I guess it depends on where our picks lie, could be a second round or third round pick?
Sounds like Clarke - needs to tidy up his kicking.

In the TAC Clarke was also a proven stoppage ball winner, but dropped down to a speculative Pick 63 in spite of rating high in the combine kick tests and having elite endurance. The kicking in games was the big knock on him. Question is will Cassidy fall that low because of his kicking? Right now he is rated by some in the mid second round, which is around our probable second pick.

Yeah watched the NT thunder v GC Suns reserves the other day. FREAKSHOW.
Looks like he weighs about 45kg though, surprised he’s that old.

Scharenberg was similar and wasn’t even drafted. Amateur draft watchers seem to overrate contested beasts with poor kicking.

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Everyone knows two (or more) children of the corn is scarier than just one.

I believe he is 65 Kg . 188 cm. Plays like a forward pocket but can take a mark.Great snap , great in front… Great mover. Getting some mentoring from ex AFL players and was bought down to Nyah Nyah West last year to show him what a Vic winter was like. Non drinker / no drugs. Comes highly recommended by Longy and Raf Clarke. Sure that Jackets knows all about him.

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So, gf broke up with me last weekend, so I thought that catching some u18s might be a reasonable way to while away a bit of the time between now and my inevitable lonely death and the discovery of my manky and rat-nibbled corpse 3 weeks later by a door to door salesman. Anyway, bear in mind that this was the first u18 game I’ve been too this year, so reports won’t be too precise until I’ve been to enough that I can start recognising blokes.

The u18 champs practise matches were on at princes park today, I caught most of the first one before having to run off to attend other chores. The games were VC vs Allies, followed by Vic Metro vs Other Allies - I get the strong impression that these games were being used as a final selection hit-out by all concerned. Top liners from all sides did not play - no Hayes, Garner, Stephenson, Worpel, Clark, Spargo, Ballenden, De Koning, etc. It was all about the blokes lower in the pecking order.

So I think it was enlightening that Cassidy Parish played, I reckon it says a bit about where he’s viewed in the draft pecking order. He played his usual sort of game. Got a stack of it, won a bunch of clearances. One thing he did which i haven’t seen from him prior is to find space across half-froward and present as a switching option around the 50m arc. Of course, maybe the reason he was in space is cos the allies didn’t worry too much about manning him up cos they aren’t worried about being hurt by his footskills. Kicking a big, big issue with Cassidy. Off-hand handball not great shakes either, tbh. Shaping as a late pick type I think - his kicking was a weakness last year and it doesn’t seem to have improved much…

Other country boys who showed a bit were Wellings (who was quick, energetic and beautifully clean across hb) and Schumaker, who seems to be a sort of slightly awkward-looking utility quasi-mid who really started imposing himself late in the 2nd and into the 3rd with smart intercepts, hard running, and quality disposal. Worth watching. Benson and Handley also prominent in the midfield - Benson quicker and so got involved more, Handley with arguable better quality possessions. Masterton and Henness a bit marginal in size for kpp backs at AFL level (192/193) but did well against taller opponents, despite being under a lot of early pressure.

I paid less attention to the Allies, cos they had two sides playing on the one day so there was bound to be less quality in each, and because 90% of their players are reserved special playthings of the AFLs spoiled pretty princesses up north anyway.

I liked Dawson’s run off half-back, he and Bailey combined well, overlapped well, and had a real system and understanding going with the rest of the Allies mids which VC didn’t come close to matching until things clicked later on in the game. But the Allies just fell down up forward again and again, and VC were able to draw away. Bowie always looked dangerous and put some really good pressure on, but he was more of a case of LOOKING dangerous rather than progressing to actually BEING dangerous. Last year’s Allies’ (and AA?) ruckman (and Dawks scholarship kid) Olango spent a lot of time as a sole marking target, and just didn’t make a dent. Sambono and Lane did a few good things but needed to have more sustained impact. but I suspect this is one of the first time the Allies kids have all played together, so they’ll probably improve as their understanding improves.

Not a high-quality game on the whole, a lot of skill errors, probably more on the VC side. But in the end they just had more contributors and avenues to goal.

Champs start 10 June, as far as I know…

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