He played plenty in juniors.
He is perfectly capable and competent doing so. Gets thrown forward in VFL all the time.
When we talk about cover, if Stringer and then Stewart weren’t playing he would adequately do so.
Hooker has switched end to end as required. Brown does so continually.
from what ive seen of him he drifts forward and makes an impact when required, but only in short bursts.
from what i saw of him in 2016/17 when playing predominately as a forward, his leading patterns were bad, and his marking was nowhere near as apt
the way he reads the play in the backline simply does not translate to the way he would need to read the play as a forward. and the way he reads it in defence is absolutely elite. I said it few posts ago, but itll be exactly the same as playing hurley forward.
i appreciate he may have played there as a junior for a bit, but i dont see it
For one. When players play forward it is always far more difficult as you have a defender or two on you. As opposed to floating in 3rd man in.
Players always “look” better in defence as they get more ball, have more space, aren’t having to make the play themselves.
As for his 2016/17 he was not anywhere near fit enough to be playing AFL level football. Which was part of reason was getting games fwd as would have been liability in defence.
But only need to look at the first quarter vs Pies on Anzac Day that game where he had a clear impact. Then he ran out of gas very quickly.
His versatility is a strength and I expect we will see him at either end many times over his career.
Hurley has a terrible vertical leap, not much pace to get separation on the lead and not even close to marking ability of Francis.
Regarding Sloane…the good news of this is that there is no FA compensation. Our picks are 1 earlier than they looked like being.
fair enough. I accept that fitness was a major issue in 2016/17 so itd be interesting to see what he could do up forward in 2018 with a bigger tank.
having said that, still dont want it to happen.
but who knows, if it means he plays senior footy then it may be worth it.
Begley?
Very obscure, you’ve certainly come out of your shell…and down from your ivory tower
Why would we want another KPD? We’ve got Francis, Zerk, and Hartley is 24. Plus we’ll probably rookie Mason Fletcher, so even more KPD depth.
Let’s not forget, Ben McKay supported us a kid…
Scrimshaw might fit that criteria.
Ok, I actually think I read a bit about him relatively recently on Big Footy. A crows supporter was talking about him. From what he said he’s very much in a Stewart position, although the fact Fogarty jumped right ahead of him would be concerning.
If the club rated him, he’d be a cheap KPF option. But might be better to get a youngster with more upside and keep Brown in the interim.
Thinking about this more, I’ve considered what you’ve said and changed my mind. Your points regarding Wallis playing forward this year impacting his midfield stats, and Myers injury AGAIN on the weekend are definitely contributing to the change. It would be only if he’s willing to come at the risk of being depth, as when our guys don’t get injured mid-game we’ve been winning or breaking even on clearances recently anyway. Obviously he can’t be on huge money or terms either.
Although I would like to see Clarke given time for some of the rest of the year, as if it turns out he’s not far off Wallis/Myers levels then maybe we pass.
There’s a lot of guys people are suggesting who’d only be recruited for depth. Exception obviously is inside mids.
Even another ruck would need to have it explained, that unless he can run around the ground Grundy-style, he’s going to have to knock Belly out of the team.
And I suspect players recruited for depth are going to have to be picked up late in the draft.
Given how well the 2016 draft is performing, and how well we consider some of the guys from that draft are performing in the VFL, I’d be looking for other club’s equivalents of Ridley/Mutch/Clarke - i.e. young players from the 2016 draft doing very well in the VFL but can’t crack the seniors due to body/opportunity/etc.
Looking at the draft list, I therefore hope the club would be monitoring the performance of Brodie, Scrimshaw, Galluci, Shai Bolton, J. Atley, Drew, and J. Williams. All went before Mutch in the draft, and most haven’t had too many AFL games to my knowledge.
Galluci is especially interesting given the strength of the Crows midfield and their good drafting record. He is also from Melbourne and a top 20 pick. A goal kicking midfielder with speed. That said, I do think he’s now played a handful of games, but don’t know if that would hold if Adelaide didn’t have any injuries? Might be the one to chase if he’s not contracted.
Edit: Ok, Gallucci has played 9 games this year so far. So he might not qualify.
I think Drew has been injured all season. Marty Gleeson’s cousin from Koroit.
Who’s J Williams?
A Tim Membrey type would be good.
Everything for me is a cost v return equation. Would I trade a decent draft pick for Wallis - no. Would I trade a young player I thought had a future - no. Would I use a free agency pick- yes. Would I give him a 5 year deal worth 3.5mil - NO. I have absolutely no idea what sort of money he might be asking for let alone what our cap situation is but assuming we have the cap space & it didn’t impact other targets we might be looking at then it looks to me like a chance to improve our best 22 without compromising our draft position. That makes it worth considering (all other factors unknown).
I agree 100% that Clark be given every possible opportunity to cement a spot but at this stage he’s a long way off that so factoring him into our list calculations isn’t really prudent yet. Absolute best case scenario is we get Wallis & Clark goes past him. If had a midfield where Wallis was depth (assuming fitness & form) then we’d have a very strong group.
I’d rather we played an extra small forward or even a midfielder rather than play a mediocre 3rd tall.
And Stewart has played his best footy as, and is most certainly, a mobile 3rd tall. It was playing behind Daniher and Hooker that he was contributing the most to the team. He struggled playing as the 2nd tall with Daniher then got worse when McKernan replaced Joe. Doesn’t really know how to play at CHF, which is what they appear to be trying to teach him in the VFL currently.
He’s just scratching the surface.
Generally good key position forwards go very high in the draft so I thought Disco did some very astute business in getting Stewart across for basically nothing.
I wouldn’t be opposed to going down that route again and any currency we have in terms of high draft picks should go towards midfielders.
I like Hartley, but he’s been problematic at times. I’m not an Ambrose fan (particularly his size), even though he’s far exceeded my expectations.
Francis I see more in the lose intercept defense role, the one Hurley wishes he can do and Goddard definitely can’t anymore.
Zerk is probably still a couple of years off being able to handle any monsters 1on1, and Fletcher definitely is.
Outside Hooker and now Hurley being more defensive minded, I’d be looking at them as a possible upgrade and challenge to Hartley/Ambrose. Not the #1 priority, but if the price is right.
