No way…
Morris is a role player, and plays the role well.
He will never be a marquee forward, but he certainly has smarts in the role
It’ll be interesting to watch how he develops. The same way that you can’t write off a kid after one season in the system, you also can’t anoint a future star after one year.
The way I tend to judge these things (you can make your own mind up if I’m wrong or not)… a 191cm kid projects as more of a medium forward. They’re not always going to be able to impact aerially so they need to have a more diverse skill set than just marking the footy. They need to be able to front and center crumb, they need to be clean below their knees, need to be stronger than a pure key tall at defensive stuff and pressure acts.
Its one of the reasons why I was confident with Nate Caddy. He’s a little shorter than you’d ideally like, but at junior level he was skilled and agile enough to play as a midfielder for stretches. He’s got a lot of strings to his bow.
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Wouldn’t be unhappy if we went with Shanahan with our first pick. Judging by his VFL games it looks like it wouldn’t take him long to play senior footy and I think him, Caddy with Kako in our forwardline next year could develop into something nice! Having said that another elite small forward is also attractive to me so if we took Joe Berry and Kako we would be set. It looks like they have complementary skills and with Caddy and Draper as the talls with Langford plus Gresham and say Perkins or Guelfi I think our forwardline would look way more mobile. Davey twins would be on notice too.
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I love Caddy. Flies for everything. Runs all day. One grab mark too. Has a few areas to sharpen up (timing his leads so he’s not running under the flight and set shots can be improved) but I think he’s going to be a star…
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My only question for you is, do you think you would still be so gung ho on drafting Shanahan if you hadn’t seen him play well in the red sash?
We’re all prone to bias. I shifted him up substantially in my own rankings on the back of that VFL stretch, which I hope is mostly an objective judgement on what he showed in those games, but I know that at least some part of it will have been seeing him help my team win games of footy and spark a strong run of form for the VFL team.
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No way what? I make plenty of calls in that post 
I just don’t think its any coincidence that of all the team forums I frequent, this is the only one that’s flat out obsessed with Shanahan, and there are other teams that need key forwards as much as we do.
And we’re not obsessed with Harry Armstrong, who most rate just as highly as Shanahan. No, we’re obsessed with the guy that played for our VFL team.
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Definitely something in that, and I’m not wedded to anyone in particular fwiw, I’m speaking broadly about backing yourself in, when Kinnear Beatson bid on Rowston he was questioned by the media as to why he bid on such a bolter at that stage, he laughed and said ‘Bolter, because of some phantom drafts’ he was actually pretty annoyed at the question from memory haha.
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Yeah but Kinnear Beatson is almost as cantankerous as I am.
Great list manager though.
Actually he’s being pushed aside at Sydney for the next generation up there, we should make him an offer he can’t refuse.
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I love him, he’s great.
The impressions i got from the footage that I watched of the tier 2s and tier 3s…
For discussion and interest in the post season thread we are condemned to live in during finals, and not to be taken as if I can form informed opinions…
Comments should be considered in the context of the observation about how unbalanaced our list is.
Taj Hotton has a ball drop like Parish which makes me very nervous.
Luke Trainor is a backman so not a need even if he is best available at our pick
Xavier Lindsay looks like a great package for the wing or HB, or even BP. Would be happy with him.
Murphy Reid is another small mid who doesnt appear to have outstanding pace, skills or strength, and given we have Caldwell and Durham already, he isnt a need.
Harvey Langford reminds me of Jordan Lewis. Projects as a left footed commander in the middle. Beware overlooking him based on combine numbers. Would be happy with him, but it would guarantee the likes of Hobbs surplus to need. Maybe not a positional list need, but certainly a leadership and presence list need.
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The only thing there I disagree with is your comment on Murphy Reid. I think he’s one of the most highly skilled players in the draft pool.
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No love for Harry Armstrong?
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One thing to consider with him though is that his games with us were against the bullants/coburg/GC, and of those only the suns are decent (kicked 2.3)
Like I remember Gown kicking bags in his draft year (can’t remember if he played VFL tbf) and then as soon as we drafted him he had constant issues with production in the VFL
I’m not opposed to taking a KPF but definitely depends on who’s there at our pick, wherever that ends up. Would feel a lot better about it if we could somehow trade back into the 1st round/early 2nd after Kako, and then take a first before him
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I think there are a few ways we could acquire a pick in the 20s to use on one of Faull, Whitlock or Gerreyn.
FIrstly, we have a problem with matching Kako, which will use up any pick we might get before our current 28, or 28 itself if we don’t acquire another pick.
So, I see a few players who we could trade out in a way to help.
Firstly, Stringer - Stringer plus 28 would get a significant upgrade on 28 (similarly, Hobbs, maybe Shiel, definitely Cox could also be traded this way)
Secondly, Wright - he should represent good value to any team wanting a KP forward, and there are a few (Collingwood, Melbourne, Richmond). He has shown his best, if you can get him to produce it, is very good, and he has the valuable attribute of being a superb kick. I see him like Brown was when he went to Melbourne, but without the knee issue. Another potential pick in the 20s, maybe package him with a F3 or something if needed.
Two picks in the 20s should get it done, one used up on Kako matching, the other on one of the KP forwards.
Fair call for sure. Im just watching the clips on youtube and only get interested once our season finishes, so any comment I make is entirely underinformed.
Murphy looks like he’s involved in everything on field so that is definitely something. If we went with him, where do you see him playing on our AFL side?
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He’s fine. To me he’s like the other key forwards in the pool… very strong when things go his way but enough flaws to be concerning, and at this stage I prefer Shanahan.
Armstrong has three things that he does really well. He can lead into space, create separation and take a mark. He can pick up the flight of the ball quickly, protect the space of the drop zone and then lunge late to take the mark. And thirdly he’s a dead eye ■■■■ with his set shots.
Outside of those three things I’m concerned. He just can’t hold onto contested marks through contact and that’s a worry. It might improve with increased strength but its a big risk. He doesn’t take pack marks really, unless he gets a free run and drifts across the front ala Harry Jones but he’s not as athletic as Jones. He’s below average when the footy hits the ground. He doesn’t often bring a strong intent to chase and pressure.
I have him in the same talent “tier” as the other talls like Faull, Jack Whitlock, Sims etc - early 20s to mid 30s.
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Logan Morris being top 10. I think he looks good because he’s playing in a highly functional forward line.