I don't think there's a better example of how posters on this website over-hype young players unseen at senior level than Maric yesterday. I'm not bagging the kid - that double play where he took the ball from half back, passed, ran by for the second possession looked good - until his over-hit handpass missed Colin Sylvia by a couple of metres.

And he looked terrific running through half forward and sighting up the goals - until his eyes widened too much and he mis-kicked in his excitement.

Give him another go, sure.

But let's wind back the BS about how Jack Watts is already in our best 22, and how an 18 year old kid, free of high school next year is going to instantaneously fix our forward line.

It is naiive to think he can do it for more than a handful of relatively low pressure games - which I hope he will do at times next year but when the heat is really on we can't expect first and second year kids to carry us.

So simmer down folks.

And hope Bate can find some form because he is good overhead and he is a more reliable kick than Robbo. Bate found space several times yesterday but his leads went unheeded by his team mates who were intent on handball practice.

And hope Newton can learn to kick in front of crowds of more than 30 people and a couple of kelpies because he routinely takes several contested grabs and he will straighten us up.

And while I am on the subject; yes Robbo straightened us yesterday and beat Scarlett but he was still wasteful and showed a couple of trademark bits of selfishness. Over the long journey Robbo has been a terrific entertainer and second forward. He is not a long term number one forward prospect.

We have tolerated lousy kicking and worse from Robbo, and he still racked up 400 big ones. Congrats to him and more perserverence to Newton.

I don't think there's a better example of how posters on this website over-hype young players unseen at senior level than Maric yesterday. I'm not bagging the kid - that double play where he took the ball from half back, passed, ran by for the second possession looked good - until his over-hit handpass missed Colin Sylvia by a couple of metres.

And he looked terrific running through half forward and sighting up the goals - until his eyes widened too much and he mis-kicked in his excitement.

Give him another go, sure.

But let's wind back the BS about how Jack Watts is already in our best 22, and how an 18 year old kid, free of high school next year is going to instantaneously fix our forward line.

It is naiive to think he can do it for more than a handful of relatively low pressure games - which I hope he will do at times next year but when the heat is really on we can't expect first and second year kids to carry us.

So simmer down folks.

And hope Bate can find some form because he is good overhead and he is a more reliable kick than Robbo. Bate found space several times yesterday but his leads went unheeded by his team mates who were intent on handball practice.

And hope Newton can learn to kick in front of crowds of more than 30 people and a couple of kelpies because he routinely takes several contested grabs and he will straighten us up.

And while I am on the subject; yes Robbo straightened us yesterday and beat Scarlett but he was still wasteful and showed a couple of trademark bits of selfishness. Over the long journey Robbo has been a terrific entertainer and second forward. He is not a long term number one forward prospect.

We have tolerated lousy kicking and worse from Robbo, and he still racked up 400 big ones. Congrats to him and more perserverence to Newton.

Great post, well said. I was nodding my head with agreement until the part about Bate, the only space he finds is no mans land, Otherwise a fantastic post !!

Great post, well said. I was nodding my head with agreement until the part about Bate, the only space he finds is no mans land, Otherwise a fantastic post !!

+1.

Agree but why would his team mates look for him when he routines makes errors when he has the ball. I am a big wrap for Bate but at the moment he's very down on confidence and needs a run in the magoos!

Post of the month, and maybe the season.

Over at 'ology te wise heads are calling for JMac, Bruce and Green to be gotten rid of as soon as possible. Fans these days think youth, youth and nothing but youth is the answer. Recruiting a lot of kids is the right way to go, I think we all agree, but that's nothing without some seniority to guide them and take the heat off them in their first 50 games. In fact I reckon the club has been forced to hang on to too few senior players, and only really JMac (on his last legs) Bruce (great player, but no leader), Davey and Green have fulfilled that role. Thankfully some of our younger guys fly the flag, like Rivers, McLean and Jones... Otherwise we'd be smashed by 100 points every week. This is one of the reasons I hate it when you can smell a Y_M or some other pimpled pip-squeak getting a boner over some 17 year old who gets 2 handballs in his first game... and then cracks it when senior players miss a couple of shots on goal.

I don't think there's a better example of how posters on this website over-hype young players unseen at senior level than Maric yesterday. I'm not bagging the kid - that double play where he took the ball from half back, passed, ran by for the second possession looked good - until his over-hit handpass missed Colin Sylvia by a couple of metres.

And he looked terrific running through half forward and sighting up the goals - until his eyes widened too much and he mis-kicked in his excitement.

Give him another go, sure.

But let's wind back the BS about how Jack Watts is already in our best 22, and how an 18 year old kid, free of high school next year is going to instantaneously fix our forward line.

It is naiive to think he can do it for more than a handful of relatively low pressure games - which I hope he will do at times next year but when the heat is really on we can't expect first and second year kids to carry us.

So simmer down folks.

And hope Bate can find some form because he is good overhead and he is a more reliable kick than Robbo. Bate found space several times yesterday but his leads went unheeded by his team mates who were intent on handball practice.

And hope Newton can learn to kick in front of crowds of more than 30 people and a couple of kelpies because he routinely takes several contested grabs and he will straighten us up.

And while I am on the subject; yes Robbo straightened us yesterday and beat Scarlett but he was still wasteful and showed a couple of trademark bits of selfishness. Over the long journey Robbo has been a terrific entertainer and second forward. He is not a long term number one forward prospect.

We have tolerated lousy kicking and worse from Robbo, and he still racked up 400 big ones. Congrats to him and more perserverence to Newton.

I agree great post mate!!!!

In most instances I would totally agree with you, But I watched Watts play for Casey on the weekend and I reckon he is already better than half our forwards

I don't think there's a better example of how posters on this website over-hype young players unseen at senior level than Maric yesterday. I'm not bagging the kid - that double play where he took the ball from half back, passed, ran by for the second possession looked good - until his over-hit handpass missed Colin Sylvia by a couple of metres.

And he looked terrific running through half forward and sighting up the goals - until his eyes widened too much and he mis-kicked in his excitement.

Give him another go, sure.

But let's wind back the BS about how Jack Watts is already in our best 22, and how an 18 year old kid, free of high school next year is going to instantaneously fix our forward line.

It is naiive to think he can do it for more than a handful of relatively low pressure games - which I hope he will do at times next year but when the heat is really on we can't expect first and second year kids to carry us.

So simmer down folks.

And hope Bate can find some form because he is good overhead and he is a more reliable kick than Robbo. Bate found space several times yesterday but his leads went unheeded by his team mates who were intent on handball practice.

And hope Newton can learn to kick in front of crowds of more than 30 people and a couple of kelpies because he routinely takes several contested grabs and he will straighten us up.

And while I am on the subject; yes Robbo straightened us yesterday and beat Scarlett but he was still wasteful and showed a couple of trademark bits of selfishness. Over the long journey Robbo has been a terrific entertainer and second forward. He is not a long term number one forward prospect.

We have tolerated lousy kicking and worse from Robbo, and he still racked up 400 big ones. Congrats to him and more perserverence to Newton.

Well said Maric has only had limited games at casey and i felt he needed another 2 weeks there but with our injuries mounting i feel bailey had to go with him personally i would have promoted valenti, but how many on ballers of his size can we keep playing in one team, on watts he is a class act but and i mean but

he is games maybe weeks away from even being close and if he stepped up against the cats his skinny frame would have been smashed, would have liked to see newton there yesterday to give another tall option as robbo yet small did give them an option and kept scarlett guessing and as for bruce he played last 3 qtrs in defence not his role manning up on johnson and co thought he did well in an unsuited role prefer him on a forward flank or wing oposite to cale

The speed difference between AFL and VFL is a huge gap. Maric showed this yesterday, one of his first disposals he thought he had more time and got caught, then he rushed every disposal and made skill errors. It is the same with Morton, some of his field kicking yesterday was the best I have seen since Trav, but he still he has many touchs under pressure and he pannicks which leads to skill errors.

Bate on the other hand is lazy and as soon as the ball hits the ground is out of the contest with no defensive pressure. He will be a good player when the team is up and running but I'm getting concerned that he may be a front runner, I hope he proves me wrong over the next 16 games because he does have ability.

Really good post pitmaster.

Playing the kids seems to give us an excuse for our inability to win, because it gives some supporters comfort, as they assume that the kids will automatically become better with experience.

Bell, Bate, Dunn, McLean, Sylvia and Jones are all 1st round draft picks who have failed to live up to expectations. However, that doesn't mean that we throw them all on the scrapheap. Our improvement needs to come from this group, not just the kids in their 1st and 2nd years. That will be the test of our coaching and development department.

Playing the kids seems to give us an excuse for our inability to win, because it gives some supporters comfort, as they assume that the kids will automatically become better with experience.

Are you saying that they won't?

Are you saying that they won't?

I'm not saying that, history says that some will and some won't. I hope they all do, but it's not a given, which is why we need to see development from the core group of players in the 21 - 25 age bracket, rather than just pinning our hopes on 1 - 2 year players and future high draftees (Butcher and Scully), that many are talking about.

And hope Bate can find some form because he is good overhead and he is a more reliable kick than Robbo. Bate found space several times yesterday but his leads went unheeded by his team mates who were intent on handball practice.

Superb post, save for this. Bate didn't get the ball because he didn't work hard enough, he was too slow to make some contests, and Geelong filled the gaps in front of him. And he isn't that good overhead.

The rest of what you said was good.

Great post. I went out to watch Maric a couple of times for Casey and definately think he was worthy of the promotion to senior level, think I actually noted it in another thread. The games I saw him play, his movement was fantastic. I still think his movement yesterday was exellent, but his disposal and desicion making showed he was overawed by the occasion. This will only get better with experience. Kids are most definately not a quick fix option, but they are building a foundation for future success so the more experience we can get into them, the better.

I don't think there's a better example of how posters on this website over-hype young players unseen at senior level than Maric yesterday. I'm not bagging the kid - that double play where he took the ball from half back, passed, ran by for the second possession looked good - until his over-hit handpass missed Colin Sylvia by a couple of metres.

And he looked terrific running through half forward and sighting up the goals - until his eyes widened too much and he mis-kicked in his excitement.

Give him another go, sure.

But let's wind back the BS about how Jack Watts is already in our best 22, and how an 18 year old kid, free of high school next year is going to instantaneously fix our forward line.

It is naiive to think he can do it for more than a handful of relatively low pressure games - which I hope he will do at times next year but when the heat is really on we can't expect first and second year kids to carry us.

So simmer down folks.

And hope Bate can find some form because he is good overhead and he is a more reliable kick than Robbo. Bate found space several times yesterday but his leads went unheeded by his team mates who were intent on handball practice.

And hope Newton can learn to kick in front of crowds of more than 30 people and a couple of kelpies because he routinely takes several contested grabs and he will straighten us up.

And while I am on the subject; yes Robbo straightened us yesterday and beat Scarlett but he was still wasteful and showed a couple of trademark bits of selfishness. Over the long journey Robbo has been a terrific entertainer and second forward. He is not a long term number one forward prospect.

We have tolerated lousy kicking and worse from Robbo, and he still racked up 400 big ones. Congrats to him and more perserverence to Newton.

Great post!!