VIC Metro vs WA on Fox Sports - Wednesday July 9th

[deanox 8,707]

13 mins to go in the last quarter, WA are mounting a bit of a fightback.

VIC 78 WA 56

good to hear from you ash, its been a quiet season from you?

[Ash35 425]

good to hear from you ash, its been a quiet season from you?

VIC 92

WA 63

2 mins to go

Yeah, been busy deanox. Hopefully I can contribute a bit more in the coming weeks.

[rusty_kingswood 0]

At the moment Vic Metro 65 WA 28 mid third term

For me, Rich clearly looks the best player of the potential No.1's at the moment. Has fantastic skills, ball-winning ability and work ethic. The only question I would have about him is speed, but I don't place huge importance on raw speed for inside midfielders like him. But I wouldnt be at all disappointed if we picked him No.1

Naitanui is playing quite well. He has unelievable potential as everyone says. His first two tap-outs straight were breath-taking. He has an amazing leap, speed and agility. As good as he is in the ruck, I'd love to see him play up forward. Obviously still has a bit to learn, but I can't see how we will overlook this guy. He could be anything, even if he has a few chinks right now. Also, we are screaming out for exactly what he offers; a ruckman, a marketers dream and a player with unlimited versatlity.

Liam Pickering commented before the game that he would take Watts with the Number 1 pick. I can't see that happening. He's a full forward, Looks a good prospect and has a great set shot, but there's no way we'd pick him over Natanui. Also, a player called Vickery? has kicked 3 goals for VM today and looked just as good a target.

Iam wathcing the game myself at the moment, and couldnt agree more. This is the first time I have seen Watts play. And still for me ( see other thread ) Natitanui. His rucking is one thing but the way in which he wins the ball is unbelivable. He has amazing agility, is super quick, and has amazing commitment. Remember he has been in the U18 comp for 2 years now.

HOwever, antother player who I saw for the fisrt time today is Tom Lynch. Very strong mark and good shot on goal. Played a really good dame today and ended up with a couple of goals. Def worth a look i would ahve thought.

[dazzledavey36 48,977]

tom lynch trained with us as part of the ais program where they send players to train at afl clubs

[LeBron James 41]

Very hard choice for the number 1 pick... (if we get it)

Watts, Naita, Rich... Could really go either way.

[Gorgoroth 12,331]

Watts still played well enough, he played second sometimes 3rd forward to McKernan and vickery, still shows a lot in terms of positioning and competes very well, Rich looked good until they put some one on him and then he got sod all, 1 poss in the 3rd, Nat is interesting to watch but not sold on him.

Zaharakas was a decent player as was number 1 for VM, his name escapes me but I think he was BOG.

[The Emblem 1]

Watts still played well enough, he played second sometimes 3rd forward to McKernan and vickery, still shows a lot in terms of positioning and competes very well, Rich looked good until they put some one on him and then he got sod all, 1 poss in the 3rd, Nat is interesting to watch but not sold on him.

Zaharakas was a decent player as was number 1 for VM, his name escapes me but I think he was BOG.

Mitchell Banner?

[Wolfmother 182]

Even though Rich probably looked the best out of the three.... I don't think we take him as our midfield is not the greatest concern. With Brock, Jonsey, Cale, Grimes coming through I think it is a race between Nat and Watts.....

Although I think Nat is the best possible pick aka buddy I think we would go safe with Watts which is what I heard from the club they are pretty impressed with him (although that doesn't mena much)

[Geddy Lee 582]

I think it's out of Rich and Watts personally. Rich is a freak.

[Yze_Magic 3]

Well, now that I have seen Natanui play a full game I pray to the almight Lord Jesus Christ that we finish dead last. Amen!!

Natanui is quite simply the man. He reminds me of a panther the way he cruises around the turf, hunting his prey. His leap at the centre bounces was amazing, and he would have tapped it down Daniel Richs throat about 10 times.

It was a thing of beauty. There were two times when he led from theforwad line, the ball fell short, and he took possession then turned is opponent inside out, spinning on a sixpence. And he is 200cm! One one of these occassions he turned te oppoennt inside out, took off on a quick burst, and kicked a goal. Also took a huge contested mark on the wing. And I havent even mentioned his second efforts, tackling, shepherds.. wow. Ive never seen a player like him!

Daniel Rich was sensational, and I wont complain if we take him with pick 2 or 3, if Natanui is gone.

Jack Watts was quiet, but he has what it takes. He did show a bit.

Michael Hurley is a real intersting one, a legitimate Full Back who rarely gets beaten. He already has the body of an AFL footballer.

My top 5 for the draft.

1. Nicholas Natanui

2. Daniel Rich

3. Jack Watts

4. Michael Hurley

5. Chris Yarran

[rusty_kingswood 0]

Does anyone know what award WATTS won today. The sound was off!

[Geddy Lee 582]

My top 5 for the draft.

1. Nicholas Natanui

2. Daniel Rich

3. Jack Watts

4. Michael Hurley

5. Chris Yarran

Heard of a kid called Hartlett?

He might kick Nat or Watts out of the Top 3.

[Anders 14]

Heard of a kid called Hartlett?

He might kick Nat or Watts out of the Top 3.

Nah.

[Yze_Magic 3]

Heard of a kid called Hartlett?

He might kick Nat or Watts out of the Top 3.

yes I have.

And yes he can easily go top 5, but fat chance he will go higer than Natanui.

[Geddy Lee 582]

Nah.

Great input Anders but if Melbourne have #1 and don't pick Watts then Hartlett or Hurley will be in the Top 3 at the expense of Watts IMO.

[rusty_kingswood 0]

For anyone interested Watt won the Hurt medel, for Best player for the carinval.

[Demons 32 235]

My mind is made up.

Don't know what pick we will get but this will be top 6 I reckon.

1. Natanui (more to grow, but his speed and ruckwork are outstanding. An AFL coach will teach him what he needs, will be a SUPERstar)

2. Rich (ready made player, will be playing round 1 next year)

3. Watts (Wish we could get him as well as Naitanui. Any top 3 pick will be extremely welcome)

4. Hurley (could get pushed lower on draft day due to being a full back, but will be a good, reliable player)

5. Hartlett (alot of skill, just gets the ball)

6. Yarran (alot of skill, I actually rated a few other boys higher from todays effort but I don't know how consistent Zaharkaras/Banner/Wallace etc are)

But to sum up, I want Naitanui even more than I did.

All I could think today was jesus give this kid a pre-season of skills work and your looking at a champion.

[Eastie Boyz 0]

Some notes from the games:

South Australia vs NSW/ACT:

SA pummeled the Rams and apart from a short period in the 3rd quarter were in complete control.

Better players

- H Hartlett (SA). Bit been said about him already in the thread but he does look very good

- C Hall (SA). Might be considered a bit small for AFL (179cm and 65kg) but seems a similar type player to Hartlett

- L Johnston (SA). Kicked a few and looked very impressive. Needs to work on 1% type parts of his game but is a talent

- L Tapscott (SA). Solidly built forward pocket player who knows where the goals are

- K Klemke (NSW). Spent a bit of time on Johnston in the last and although severely undersized did a reasonable job. Him and the other half back in the last (can't remember who it was) looked good and both had excellent kicking skills

- M Wilson (NSW). Solid ruckman who seemed to show good leadership and didn't mind throwing his weight around. Needs to have more of an influence outside of stoppages though and height (197cm) might not be tall enough at AFL

- B A'vard (NSW). Played in the backline, judged the ball well and took a few strong grabs in the second half. Suspect disposal biggest worry

Tasmania vs Vic Country

Comfortable win to VC

Better players:

- S Sidebottom (VC). Has the name and the ability to back it up. Looks a very classy flank type player

- J Butcher (VC). Played up forward and took a few good grabs. Awkward kicking action but it seems effective enough

- J Roughead (VC). Absolutely dominated in ruck and although he didn't do heaps around the ground took a couple of good contested grabs

- M Robinson (TAS). Had a heap of it in the 1st quarter and looked like he could take the game apart but was rarely sighted after 1/4 time.

- B Symmons (TAS). Little rover who looked quick on his feet and used the ball well

Vic Metro vs WA

Only saw the first 1/4 before I had to leave but Metro were up comfortably

Player notes

- Jack Watts (VM). Didn't do a great deal but leads well, has excellent disposal and also managed to bulk around 5 or 6 WA opponents showing great agility for a 6'4" key forward

- S McKernan (VM). If his hair was any darker he'd be a dead ringer for his brother. Got beaten by Naitanui in the ruck but looked to have him covered around and ground and got a bit of the ball. When he gets on his bike surprisingly quick

- M Hurley (VM). Was up the other end of the ground but he looked to have good closing speed and during the warm up was very vocal and kicked the ball as well as any other player

- S Blease (VM). From out my way, played through the middle and half forward. Not sure whether it was just because he was kicking to the end where I was sitting but he seemed to have about half of Metros inside 50s, all of which were put to advantage

- T Vickery (VM). Started up forward and took a couple of really strong marks before going into the ruck

- D Rich (WA). Was a bit concerned in the warm up that he seemed pretty lazy (wasn't pushing through in the sprints etc) and was carrying a bit of weight. Definitely looks a player but his fitness level looks like it could do with a boost

- M Walters (WA). Fast aboriginal who got a bit of the ball and used it well

- C Pearce (WA). Played in the backline and looked good rebounding the ball out of defence. Looks bigger than the 183cm he's listed at

- N Naitanui (WA). Did both some extremely stupid things and some extremely good things. In the warm ups absolutely sprayed a couple of kicks then made the mistake of picking up the ball, running 5 metres, having a bounce, then running another 5m straight in Vickery. Capped it off by baulking straight into him and getting pinned for holding the ball. Rucked the first half of the quarter and didn't look like losing then went up forward and set up a nice goal with a handball and shepherd. Then went and place lose man in defense and got a touch but his kick was largely ineffective.

He's certainly a freakish athlete who can tap the ball quite well to advantage and is also quick around the ground but he doesn't seem to have any idea where to run. He was playing lose in defense and was the closest played to Metro's goal (which I thought was a bit odd). I went with a half dozen friends and we all agreed he looked a bit lost out there. Having said that I'm sure if he had quality players around him instructing what to do he could be a good player

[Guest unstable punt]

For anyone interested Watt won the Hurt medel, for Best player for the carinval.

watched it very closely and still don't know who would be best, Nat has a long way to go but does look good, Watts didn't do much today but obviously looks the goods. Like someone said earlier it all depends if we get Robbie Warnock, if we do Watts is the go.

[deanox 8,707]

- N Naitanui (WA). Did both some extremely stupid things and some extremely good things. In the warm ups absolutely sprayed a couple of kicks then made the mistake of picking up the ball, running 5 metres, having a bounce, then running another 5m straight in Vickery. Capped it off by baulking straight into him and getting pinned for holding the ball. Rucked the first half of the quarter and didn't look like losing then went up forward and set up a nice goal with a handball and shepherd. Then went and place lose man in defense and got a touch but his kick was largely ineffective.

He's certainly a freakish athlete who can tap the ball quite well to advantage and is also quick around the ground but he doesn't seem to have any idea where to run. He was playing lose in defense and was the closest played to Metro's goal (which I thought was a bit odd). I went with a half dozen friends and we all agreed he looked a bit lost out there. Having said that I'm sure if he had quality players around him instructing what to do he could be a good player

this is the most important part for me. can he tap the ball to advatange enough that he becomes a clear advantage over other sides? is he able to use his leap to clearly win the ball and tap it down players throats, allowing the mids to get clearances?

if yes, then i am very keen on him. but if he is just another (super) athletic ruckman who doesnt have any real effect on where the ball is going (like most of the ruckmen going around now) well im not sure an athletic ruckman is what we need...

it would be interesting to see how his physical attributes translate to playing afl against the elite players who are bigger stronger and jump higher than you're average tac player...

[Guest unstable punt]

watched it very closely and still don't know who would be best, Nat has a long way to go but does look good, Watts didn't do much today but obviously looks the goods. Like someone said earlier it all depends if we get Robbie Warnock, if we do Watts is the go.

hopefully one of the other blokes will get down to 17-18, Blease and Banner looked alright, and Vickery could do a bit.

[LeBron James 41]

For anyone interested Watt won the Hurt medel, for Best player for the carinval.

Larke medal

[Guest unstable punt]

this is the most important part for me. can he tap the ball to advatange enough that he becomes a clear advantage over other sides? is he able to use his leap to clearly win the ball and tap it down players throats, allowing the mids to get clearances?

if yes, then i am very keen on him. but if he is just another (super) athletic ruckman who doesnt have any real effect on where the ball is going (like most of the ruckmen going around now) well im not sure an athletic ruckman is what we need...

it would be interesting to see how his physical attributes translate to playing afl against the elite players who are bigger stronger and jump higher than you're average tac player...

thats it, we've had White for years and this bloke plays the same as Whitey IMO.

[Tex 68]

Just got back from the game.

Hurley by far and a way the best and most complete player on the ground. Absolutely dominated the back half. Reminds me of Chris Landford. Such a complete package. Solid, attacking, skillful and clean.

Watts showed glimpses of his undoubted talents, but was given terrible supply.

Vickery went alright. Solid mark and mobile.

Rich was all skill. Plenty of pace and grunt. Gret great user of the ball.

Natanui - overrated. Has plenty of potential. But was quite sluggish around the ground.

Zaharakaris was also very lively.

[Whispering_Jack 28,021]

I suppose making this prediction doesn't take a great deal of courage but I'm prepared to make it anyway.

Daniel Rich will win at least one Brownlow Medal at some stage during his career.