watched Shane Valenti's progress this year and believe that he has all the attributes of a strong, skilful and hard running rover. thought he was a bit stiff to get dropped. he contested pretty well considering his limited game time. i really believe that this kid will be very good player for us. should dunn and johnson been brought in at his expense??

Everyone seems to be whinging about this over at BigFooty; I'm personally very happy that guys in good form are being dropped for players in even better form in the 2nds and I hope this continues. I suspect big things of CJ and Yze this week.

Everyone seems to be whinging about this over at BigFooty; I'm personally very happy that guys in good form are being dropped for players in even better form in the 2nds and I hope this continues. I suspect big things of CJ and Yze this week.

that's because everyone was going to trade for him this week in their dream teams and supercoach sides... i wish he played one more game then got dropped so they all picked him up then had him sitting on the bench doing nothing...

i agree that him getting dropped was probably warranted... there are other people doing more to demand a spot, and Bailey has said that he will pick the best side available, regardless of age etc.

he will get his chance

Everyone seems to be whinging about this over at BigFooty; I'm personally very happy that guys in good form are being dropped for players in even better form in the 2nds and I hope this continues. I suspect big things of CJ and Yze this week.

good 2nds form often doesnt equate to good senior form. Valenti has shown that he is worth perservering with over a few of the others who have had plenty of chances. Like Nathan Jones he gets his own ball and is hard at the contest. Players like him will get you first use of the footy. Lynden Dunn and Chris Johnson have not been able to consistently do that in the seniors. How about Clint Bartram. Does his form warrant first 18 selection?

good 2nds form often doesnt equate to good senior form. Valenti has shown that he is worth perservering with over a few of the others who have had plenty of chances. Like Nathan Jones he gets his own ball and is hard at the contest. Players like him will get you first use of the footy. Lynden Dunn and Chris Johnson have not been able to consistently do that in the seniors. How about Clint Bartram. Does his form warrant first 18 selection?

Poor decision by the club IMO. Why not play the bloke while we can? Purely on form Valenti deserves a game ahead of Bartram and Bell. Not happy DB.

Poor decision by the club IMO. Why not play the bloke while we can? Purely on form Valenti deserves a game ahead of Bartram and Bell. Not happy DB.

Why ? Were Valenti's 12 possessions that much better than Bartram's 15 against Hawthorn ? And you were unimpressed with Bartram keeping McLeod to 12 touches in a tagging role the previous game ? Open your eyes.

That said, I would have preferred Valenti to stay in the team this week.

good 2nds form often doesnt equate to good senior form.

firstly how else do you judge on what players you bring into the side? Yze and Chris Johnson have been in the best sandringham players consistantly for the last month...

Valenti has shown that he is worth perservering with over a few of the others who have had plenty of chances. Like Nathan Jones he gets his own ball and is hard at the contest. Players like him will get you first use of the footy. Lynden Dunn and Chris Johnson have not been able to consistently do that in the seniors.

we know he gets his own ball, but he didn't do that for Melbourne... maybe it's because he wasn't getting enough time in the guts and it's not his fault, but when it comes down to it, there wasn't room in the side for him to play as that inside player... he was getting a lot of his posessions as an outside player... something which players like Johnson, Dunn and Yze are better at than Valenti...

Poor decision by the club IMO. Why not play the bloke while we can? Purely on form Valenti deserves a game ahead of Bartram and Bell. Not happy DB.

i agree on bell especially with Wheatley coming back in and the good form of our other backs... bartram is playing as a tagger, so this justifies his selection... has been solid the last 3 weeks or so... valenti couldn't tag i wouldn't think...

don't get me wrong, I'm a big Valenti fan... and was pleased to see he had the poise and composure at AFL level... he will learn to find the ball before too long, and he will get another chance... be patient, this will spur him on to go back to Sandy and work even harder...

watched Shane Valenti's progress this year and believe that he has all the attributes of a strong, skilful and hard running rover. thought he was a bit stiff to get dropped. he contested pretty well considering his limited game time. i really believe that this kid will be very good player for us.

Valenti has shown that he is worth persevering with over a few of the others who have had plenty of chances. Like Nathan Jones he gets his own ball and is hard at the contest. Players like him will get you first use of the footy.

I agree with these sentiments. One thing though, I am guessing that Valenti might have been told he would get 2 games. In an interview immediately after Hawks game (video on MFC web site), he speaks well, but repeatedly mentions "if I get a game next week" or something similar. Just after a game, I wondered whether he already knew his fate this week.

I do think he matches up with the St's mid-field pretty well though. And if Baker does his mongrel tag role, he might have been a good tag-the-tagger.

I'm disappointed, but maybe bigger plans are afoot - trying out/rotating players etc. And folks should remember, Valenti was not promoted in a hurry, even when a spot on the list was available. He was promoted only once it was known Nietz was retiring. So Valenti wasn't featuring that high amongst the coaching staff.

Looks as if he is becoming a supporter favourite - now he needs to convince coaches/footy dept.

... and was pleased to see he had the poise and composure at AFL level...

This is the thing that tells me he is the real thing. Some players just don't seem to 'belong' when they take the final step up.

Why would you tag Baker? I'd love it if he was the one who was getting the ball.

Why would you tag Baker? I'd love it if he was the one who was getting the ball.

Whoops, Baker isn't even in the St's side.

I do think he matches up with the St's mid-field pretty well though.

maybe this is the problem. he matches up very similar with st kildas midfield. dunn has height, CJ has a bit more pace. perhaps we are trying to mix it up to make it harder for the st kilda mid field to match up on us?