Kangaroos surely go all in on him you’d think?
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GWS got the best of everything:
- Academy zone that reaches into AFL heartland (how many academy kids did GC get?)
- Arguably better draft crop and start up kids (e.g Cameron).
- Better coaching staff.
My thoughts on Myers are well known here. The jizzz fest over his customary one good game every 6-7 weeks is way over the top for a 29 year old crab with the turning circle of the queen Mary.
The last thing we need is another bog average smaller crab like Wallis. I admire his ability to get ba k after that horrific injury, was there the night he did it and will never forget the screams of pain that could be heard from the Medallion Club immediately after he sustained the injury. Whether it’s a direct result of that injury but his disposal isn’t that good especially by foot. He’s a good, honest, hard working terrier but we need someone who has some polish too.
Unfortunately those players don’t grow on trees, you generally have to draft & develop them and I feel we will ultimately end up doing so unless we can somehow pry a Shiel loose from GWS. I feel Parish offers is exactly what Wallis does and would like to see what Clarke & Mutch could offer at senior level before bringing in Wallis. Clarke has really come on this year and I think he’s treading the Langford path of development from 2017. Looking for a big 2019.
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Yuck
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He just calculatedly misses pass for his team to win.
He’s bog average.
Would be worth just to make the Dogs look like idiots again
Get Dodoro another jacket
We should also get Dom casisi out of retirement
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Last thing I need are my bulldog mates trying to gloat about us getting spuds.
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Wallis is a current day Lonergan
I get the attraction for Brodie given he was in consideration for our No.1 pick but 2 years on is there any reason to believe he’s still that valuable? I just haven’t seen enough to make me think he’s worth giving up our future 1st pick even if we back ourselves. Not being able to establish a place in that side surely has to reduce his value.
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You mean like Devon Smith? Couldn’t get a game for GWS so that means he’s no good right?
Nobody I’ve read has suggested Wallis is a superstar, nobody has suggested he’s a franchise player what he is is firstly available & secondly playing in role we need to improve at (inside mid). NO idea what sort of money he might be looking for but if we forget about that for second is there any better inside mids we could get as a free agent? Is there better inside mids we can trade for & get. If so then great, no sleep lost over Wallis.
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Devon Smith was in their best 22 every single time he was fit. And their leadership group.
Only time he wasn’t selected was in a high pressure prelim final where he’d been returning from a long layoff knee injury and had no match fitness so was decided too big of a risk 1st game back.
The “couldn’t get a game” call is garbage
Wallis continually dropped from Dogs team despite fact Libba is out with an ACL and that big bodied inside mid role he supposed to excel at isn’t actually doing a good enough job of.
He is an ok footballer for sure. But we have plenty of the exact same type already, and those who have more upside. Literally no need for him IMO
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Better zone, certainly, but the poorer results from the GC academy are at least partly due to poorer development. One reason I think the AFL were reasonably comfy with the GC zone is that they had a few Qld kids coming down the pipe who everyone knew were going to be guaranteed guns. You know, household names like Rex Liddy and Jack Bowes. [crickets] These guys were talked up to the skies before being drafted, but the GC just didn’t manage to make anything out of them
GWS certainly had a better set of 17yos, though, Getting Shiel Treloar and Cameron is a massive leg-up. But while GC were unlucky with Josh Toy from a health perspective, Matera and Shaw and even Weller were seriously talented underagers who they got for free, and NIcholls and Smith showed a lot early too, and Thompson has been good for them. However, I’d actually rate GCs initial draft above GWSs on pure talent. Swallow has been unlucky with injury, but he was crushing the VFL as a 17yo when most blokes his age were still flapping about in the TAC Cup. Bennell remains one of the two most sublime talents I’ve ever seen at underage level, and the Suns ■■■■■■■ ruined him. as they did with the other one - Jack Martin. Damn near makes me cry to think of what these blokes could have become. And then there’s Lynch of course, and Prestia. No shortage of talent.
What really strikes me about the Suns has been their ability to turn gold into lead. They get all this talent in and it either stagnates or tails off. The number of blokes who’ve had a good first year at the GC and then faded into blehness is pretty scary. Remember what Trent McKenzie looked like in his first year or so? Some of them have done better once they’ve gotten out into other clubs, others have never regained what they once were. whether it’s bad coaching or lack of mentorship or incompetent medical staff or inadequate training facilities or getting on the ■■■■ and pills all night or a combination of all of these things, GC is a club where talent goes to die. No doubt the expansion clubs have been hit really hard by the new ‘contract, what’s that?’ ethos of trade week, but GC have had plenty of chances. And remember that in a just world where the AFL wasn’t offering Hird as a sacrifice to protect them they’d have lost two years of draft picks like we did - can you imagine the shape they’d be in if that had happened?
I actually want the GC to become a going concern as a club, but there’s only so much sympathy you can have for a mob that continually punches themselves in the danglies and then complain about their bits hurting.
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Huh long layoff? Smith played round 23 2017 after playing 8 of the last 9 rounds of the season. I accept that saying he couldn’t get a game is simply a throw away line buts its the same trying to say that for Wallis, he’s been dropped once after 20 disposals 10 tackles & is now back in the side. Again if you have a better option I’m not suggesting Wallis is a must have, I’m merely pointing out right now he is the best “known” available to address our needs.
Not recruiting any known leaders to help mentor their prodigious young talent and subsequently having one of the poorest off-field cultures is the main culprit I’d say.
Gary Ablett
Jared Brennan
Jared Harbrow
Campbell Brown
Nathan Bock (didn’t play a game)
Michael Rischitelli
Carmichael Hunt
A group hardly known for their leadership/mentor-ship ability, and most of them in the wrong age bracket to be around to enjoy in any success. Then you have reports of a divided playing group (Party boys vs choir boys). Compare them to the players GWS targetted, all youngish (~23yo) who had demonstrated playing and leadership abilities; then surrounding those recruits with future coaches with experience in successful environments and people wonder why they have a better culture than their coked up northern neighbours.
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Regarding Wallis…
Well you have to participate in the free agent system or you fall behind…so if he’s cheap $-wise, I can accept it.
If we had an injury now to say any of Heppell/Myers/Langford/Stringer, I reckon Wallis would be straight into the senior team. In a couple of years, Myers could be finished.
And, I know everyone wants Clarke/Mutch brought in…but I must say…as the season has gone on, I have cooled on these guys. A combination of concerns about speed, disposal polish…I just have growing doubts…
I still have some fingers crossed for Begley as a possible midfielder, but he’d be a bit slow as well…oh, and Laverde, yeah nah.
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Yep, very keen. More likely than not will happen.
Edit: not a star but will be a great and under player (and eventually replace Myers).
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If anyone would take Eddie these days I can see hawthorn trying to replace Rioli
Anyone still think Laverde might turn out to be a decent player? I still did until recently
With the greatest of respect Bennell was a broken alcoholic when he arrived at the Gold Coast, and remains so today. Yes he had talant and would have been taken by any club in the league, but pinning his injury on the Gold Coast is a bit rich.
On some of your other conclusions it is amazing how other clubs can have a high draft bust and that is just poor picking or bad luck. Gold Coast does it and it somehow comes down to the club. Some haven’t kicked on at all, some have gone elsewhere and done ok. Caddy for example was ok at the GC, really didn’t improve at Geelong, and plays a role at Richmond. You can’t say that he has improved much despite being in two of the better clubs for the last few years.
I don’t think they covered themselves in glory, but it would be interesting to see how the AFL’s prescrived development path for the juniors played a role.
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