Michael Boland – 22, 196, 80, VFL (Casey) – Ruck/Forward – 4 games for Casey. The guy I was referencing in Milham‘s entry. Good leap and is very mobile, but needs another year at VFL level before I think he might be draftable.
Ex Cranbourne player..... Only his first season at Casey, and does need to bulk up a bit
Good bloke
Jason pongracic ,cant believe he didn’t get taken last year .solid at frankston this year and would develop quikly into a very good inside mid at afl level.i reckon he will be available late in the draft as a bargain
Jason pongracic ,cant believe he didn't get taken last year .solid at frankston this year and would develop quikly into a very good inside mid at afl level.i reckon he will be available late in the draft as a bargain
Hi Jason.
Jason pongracic ,cant believe he didn't get taken last year .solid at frankston this year and would develop quikly into a very good inside mid at afl level.i reckon he will be available late in the draft as a bargain
Had a disappointing TAC top year in 2012 after looking impressive in his underage year, I was a bit surprised nobody rookied him, but he was never anything remotely resembling a sure thing. He had some injury troubles, but looked to be getting by on body size, perhaps lacked a little pace, and never quite nailed down that #1 inside midfielder role at the Stingrays that he needed to.
I haven't been following him in the VFL since then particularly though.
Jason pongracic ,cant believe he didn't get taken last year .solid at frankston this year and would develop quikly into a very good inside mid at afl level.i reckon he will be available late in the draft as a bargain
Had a disappointing TAC top year in 2012 after looking impressive in his underage year, I was a bit surprised nobody rookied him, but he was never anything remotely resembling a sure thing. He had some injury troubles, but looked to be getting by on body size, perhaps lacked a little pace, and never quite nailed down that #1 inside midfielder role at the Stingrays that he needed to.
I haven't been following him in the VFL since then particularly though.
If I may take this one mate
Jason started off the year in the ones but looked way off the pace in the opening game against a rampaging Casey Scorpions. Ws given opportunities inside the square but blew up very quickly and looked off the pace. Worked hard on his game and eventually picked up the pace. Looked like he was learning to use his body a lot more later in the year after a brief stint in the twos mid year after some poor performances in the seniors.
Im not sure how, or even if he could translate it to AFL level. Would like to see him impact the contest a bit more for next season and then he could be spoken about a bit more.
thanks yoda,i work with his bro and have followed him for a few years I know strength and decision making are not a probiem or attitude .I am just looking for bargains and if and I suspect he will have a break out year in the vfl he wont be a bargain buy the following year
Last year's thread is still stickied, so I'll continue on here for season 2014 rather than waste precious electrons starting a new thread. Blitz goes sustainable!
Season starts this week with Metro teams playing each other in the traditional half-round to kick things off. Game at Highgate on Saturday,, and a double header at Pricefixer Park on Sunday if anyone's interested - just remember that if you buy anything at the PP kiosk/cafeteria the $ go towards helping Carlton. Spend your money wisely, people...
As is also traditional, the TAC site (which has been taken over by Fox Sports this year, ugh) is completely useless at the moment and hasn't got team lists up yet, which makes it a bit hard to do a season preview! Geelong is probably the unbackable favourite based on last year, they've got two top-10 tall prospects in Goddard and McCartin, and Maishman is a ver promising midfield type. Cannons look strong in the talls department with Lever down back, Kovacevic in the ruck and Wright up forward, while Oakleigh is always solid via their private schoolboys (I think Pies f/s Darcy Moore will play for them), and Eastern have last year's 7-goal-GF man Petracca coming back as a top-ager. Much more detail than that I can't really go into - I really lost interest in the TAC last year once Vlad announced we would't have a draft pick ealier than six billion for the next few years for the heinous crime of ... something that nobody's really detailed adequately yet. Whether or not I get into the u18s more this year I'm not quite sure, but I'm away for the first two weeks of the season anyway, so if it happens, it won't be happening soon!
From an EFC point of view, f/s kids Tom Wallis (tall inside.outside midfielder who is very highly rated) and Harvey Daniher (kpd type who was a state rep for NSW last year) will both play for Calder this year, though neither are draftable until 2015. There may also be one or more Neagles (Nathan and Matthew are the relevant ones I think, I believe Matthew - a small forward/mid - is the more hyped but he will also be underage) going around for Murray, though to the best of my knowledge the Neagle family home situation is very far from ideal at the moment and meeting the demands of TAC footy might be one more hardship that they don't need right now. Time will tell. The big mystery is Jake Long, who is draftable this year and who was an NT state team member last year (broke his arm and didn't play any games though), but I've heard mixed reports about whether he'll choose to play TAC Cup, and have no idea which team he'll line up for if he does. Again, time will tell.
I think Wallis is the one to keep an eye on even though he won’t be eligible to draft until 2015 as you said HM. Hopefully he becomes a star for us.
Hoping Jake Long slips under the radar as I have heard good things about him and I think he is the type of player we really need.
At least we have a sort of first round pick this year, and you know exactly where it will be. (By 'at least' I don't mean we should be happy/grateful/anything but fuming)
Humongous amount of F/S possibilities going around this year...Sandy Dragons alone have sons of Paul Roos, Peter Matera, Matt Rendall, Paul Dear, Scott Clayton on their list. Offspring of Brett Lovett and Dean Rice are also on TAC lists this season.
Source: Paul Amy
Amy also states that there are also sons from Mark Brayshaw, Peter Freeman, Craig Stewart and Steve Pirrie on TAC lists, but personally I've never heard of them.
Mind you, if a marginal kid is a potential f/s pick he's a fair bit more likely to get/stay on a TAC Cup list than he would be if his dad was an accountant. There's a certain amount of favouritism in play, if for no other reason than f/s kids are more likely to get drafted than son-of-nobodies, and TAC clubs get $ for each one of their kids that gets drafted.
There was a reasonable number of father/son kids going around last year who didn't get drafted. Quite aside from Neagle, there was one of Justin Madden's I think, and Darcy Bailey (who I don't think qualified for the f/s rule, but who was still a name)
Good that Wallis is 2015 if he's as good as they say so there is no uncertainty about our sanctions affecting draftability.
How’s Goddard been?
How's Goddard been?
I haven't been to any games this year (holidays, family weddings, and illness) but from the stats he's kicked 3 goals in his one TAC game to date. Presumably he played for the Academy against the Pois 2s last weekend, not sure how he went.
Just curious as he trained with us over the preseason didn’t he? Might slip to us
Just curious as he trained with us over the preseason didn't he? Might slip to us
dunno really. I know Lever and Wright from the Cannons trained with us in the preseason. Goddard is a Falcons boy, and they usually do their training with the Cats, but maybe the family connection made the difference.
The draft would have to go significantly different from what is currently expected for Goddard to slip to our pick unless we do some significant uptrading though. I've heard him talked about as top 5, and while I reckon that might be an overstatement (he's not even the best kpp at Geelong this year...) he's still a very good prospect.
dunno really. I know Lever and Wright from the Cannons trained with us in the preseason. Goddard is a Falcons boy, and they usually do their training with the Cats, but maybe the family connection made the difference.
The draft would have to go significantly different from what is currently expected for Goddard to slip to our pick unless we do some significant uptrading though. I've heard him talked about as top 5, and while I reckon that might be an overstatement (he's not even the best kpp at Geelong this year...) he's still a very good prospect.
First forward picked will be Peter Wright unless his form goes into a tailspin or he gets injured. If you're talking pure forwards (Wright is a ruck/forward), I rate Pat McCartin ahead of Goddard.
Nobody in Boyd's league I don't think. McCartin was the kpp at Geelong better than Goddard i was alluding to, strong-marking 195cm type who can genuinely play both ends (Goddard hasn't quite got his strength/mongrel). Wright is this year's 200cm beanpole who can ruck a little, showed some real glimpses last year but I haven't seen him this year yet, his pace/leap will be likely the only possible doubts on him. Moore has been talked up big, but he's a pies f/s pick and while I haven't seen him play I've heard some queries on him too, but he's started the season well There's a couple of interstaters I won't see til the champs, blokes like Watchman, Hayes and Ah Siu.
Cameron Conlon is the forgotten man of course, but he hasn't played yet this year, not sure why, but given his injury history it's a big worry.