I’ve decided to focus on players who’ve played 50 games or less on our list at the start of the year, and whether or not they’ve improved from where they were at the end of 2008.

They say the first 50 games are your formulative games, and where the most improvement leaps and bounds can be made.

The following players had played 50 or less at the start of this year:

Bail,Bartram,Bate,Bennell,Blease,Buckley,Cheney,Dunn,Frawley,Garland,Grimes,Jett

a,

Johnson,Jones,Jurrah,Maric,Martin,McNamara,Meesen,Morton,Newton, Petterd,Strauss,Warnock,Watts, Wonaeamirri

Of those Bail, Bennell, Blease, Jetta, Jurrah, Strauss and Watts were not on our list thus have no history to be judged on, I’ll leave them out of this exercise.

I’ve categorised them into:

Improved (shown definite career progression, via a combination of: improved skills, game impact, confidence or x factor)

Stagnant (have not progressed in any of the above criteria to be considered improved)

Not Improved (Gone backwards, or not looking likely to get back to a past benchmark they’d personally set).

This is how I see our crucial developing players:

Improved- Cheney, Frawley, Grimes, Meesen, Warnock

Stagnant- Bartram, Bate, Dunn, Garland, Maric, Martin, Morton, Newton, Wonaeamirri

Not Improved- Buckley, Johnson, Jones, McNamara, Petterd

Feel free to debate this, I’ve left Garland and Wonaeamirri in the middle group simply because they’ve played 1 and 0 games thus have not had the chance to move.

This collective group is crucial if we are to make the step up and be competitive in the next 3 years, and to me there’s just too many who have not shown enough improvement. Too often this year our best players have consisted primarily of Davey, Green, Bruce, Sylvia and Moloney, the expectation is some of the younger guys need to be stepping up on a more regular basis.

Also, when you look at our total games played is 2361 (including last weeks games). If list management goes as expected, and we lose to retirement McDonald & Whelan, and a possible delisting of Robertson & Wheatley we could potentially lose another 726 games of experience leaving us very light on for experience.

Outside of the Under 50 gamers, players like Sylvia,Moloney and Davey have made pronounced improvements this year, so it is still possible later on in your career, but the converse of this is always the decline or stagnancy of players in their mid 20s who should be continually getting better, not on diminished returns, such as Miller and Rivers.

Which of these young players can make the leap up to be an elite player for us? Apart from Grimes and Frawley who are most likely. the other possibles for mine are Morton and Garland,

Your Thoughts?

Put a couple of gun mids in the team and Bate will improve dramatically as will Morton who will eventually spend a bit of time forward.

I’ve left Garland and Wonaeamirri in the middle group simply because they’ve played 1 and 0 games thus have not had the chance to move.

If that's the case, then surely Buckley should also be in that, having only played 1 match this season?

Too keep it really simple and to put our current position into some kind of perspective I've listed the players on our list who are either good enough or have the "potential" to be good enough to play in our next premeirship side.

Watts

Grimes

Morton

Garland

Frawley

Martin

Bennel

Maric

Wonaeamirri

Strauss

Davey

Sylvia

Blease

Rivers

Bate

Warnock

Jones

Jurrah

Scully (he's pretty much on the list!}

Pick 2 (also on the list)

Pick 18 (maybe)

That's 21 players we have on our list who could be good enough to win us a premeirship

In a line up looks like this

F:Wonaeamirri Pick 2 Maric

HF:Jurrah Watts Davey

C:Morton Grimes Blease

HB:Strauss Frawley Bennel

B:Rivers Warnock Garland

R:Martin Scully Sylvia

INT: Bate, Pick 18, Jones,

Now I realise that this won't be "the team" as we have a few more drafts and some players will improve whilst others won't. The fact that does stand out however is that as 22 - 27 year olds this would be a pretty tough team to beat. Now I think we should give Bailey the time and space to develop this team.

Throw Jetta in there and your spot on 100%. (Wonder how many people are on the same wave length?)

I missed the Brisbane game, my one & only for the year & had to watch the game on TV. Even with Fox footy there's nowhere to hide from your errors. As miserable as I felt I had to feel for the players that were genuinely trying to do their best...like James Frawley. Up close on TV monitors he looked like he was really hurting when play didn't go his way and most importantly at the end of the game when the team walked off..he looked shattered, so he should, I was too. I'm pleased he showed his pain & I want him to make that work favourably for him. We don't want to keep losing, we want to keep working towards not losing, towards winning

Simon Buckley has the potential i recon. The dees rated him when he first started i remeber reading an article readin g born to wear red n blue. I hope he can get him self right i want to see more of the kid.

In a line up looks like this

F:Wonaeamirri Pick 2 Maric

HF:Jurrah Watts Davey

C:Morton Grimes Blease

HB:Strauss Frawley Bennel

B:Rivers Warnock Garland

R:Martin Scully Sylvia

INT: Bate, Pick 18, Jones,

So you're pretty set on a KPF as pick 2? Interesting to see how it looks if we were to go for Morabito or Trengrove.

Personally I doubt that Robbo will be delisted, I know he has been frustrating at times this season, however delisting him would mean our most experienced forward would be gone. In regards to where our forward line is at, at this point in time I just can't see it happening.

Personally I doubt that Robbo will be delisted, I know he has been frustrating at times this season, however delisting him would mean our most experienced forward would be gone. In regards to where our forward line is at, at this point in time I just can't see it happening.

The decision may be between giving Robertson another year or Dunn another chance.

List management is tough but Robbo is either in his ultimate or penultimate season.

Our forward line will move on sooner (2010) or later (2011).

Simon Buckley has the potential i recon. The dees rated him when he first started i remeber reading an article readin g born to wear red n blue. I hope he can get him self right i want to see more of the kid.

Agree totally. I was really looking forward to seeing him take the next step this year. I rate him a lot higher than some of the other guys that have his spot at the moment and hope that he can get it together next year.

I would say that Martin has improved. We know that he at least is a quite capable defender. He's shown improvement for mine.

I agree that Buckley should not be in the negative, he's played one game, he is under 'stagnant' if anything. Really, really want him to play a few games this year and then kick on and play 20 next year and show what he's got.

I would say that Martin has improved.

Yes he has but not in the kicking department.

I wish more of our players could kick.

So you're pretty set on a KPF as pick 2? Interesting to see how it looks if we were to go for Morabito or Trengrove.

Not at all. I'll trust the club to make that decision.

As for Buckley. I'd love to see him improve his skills and become a player, same goes for jetta

I’ve left Garland and Wonaeamirri in the middle group simply because they’ve played 1 and 0 games thus have not had the chance to move.

But McNamara, 0 games, and Buckley, 1 game 2009 after good development in 2008, are in the bottom group?

McNamara has not stepped up and played senior football, thus has been a failure. He hadall of last year on our list, and this year has not improved, in terms of playing senior football being his goal. I dont buy injuries as an excuse this year, he was fit and playing and not in the seniors.

As for Buckley, he played pre-season and failed to excite, and couldnt work his way up from Casey before the groin injury he succumbed to. Maybe he was suffering from that all along I dont know his story, so yes perhaps a bit harsh on him...

McNamara has not stepped up and played senior football, thus has been a failure. He hadall of last year on our list, and this year has not improved, in terms of playing senior football being his goal. I dont buy injuries as an excuse this year, he was fit and playing and not in the seniors.

I reckon McNamara was building up to senior selection prior to that injury, so to say that injury has no role in it is a bit unfair on him. His form at Casey would have meant he would have come under consideration. They've played Watts, Bell and Petterd based on worse form that what McNamara was in a month ago.

Having said that, it's been 18 months now and he's still on 0 games. Doesn't bode well for a new contract if he stays like that. But I think there's a good footballer in McNamara. One of those guys that needs a bit of time to get going. Maybe.

I thought McNamara was very stiff not to get a game earlier this year. He certainly was in the mix for several weeks prior to his injury.

McNamara has not stepped up and played senior football, thus has been a failure. He hadall of last year on our list, and this year has not improved, in terms of playing senior football being his goal. I dont buy injuries as an excuse this year, he was fit and playing and not in the seniors.

As for Buckley, he played pre-season and failed to excite, and couldnt work his way up from Casey before the groin injury he succumbed to. Maybe he was suffering from that all along I dont know his story, so yes perhaps a bit harsh on him...

McNamara was consistantly in the best Casey, Peter Germans reports suggested he was making huge inroads in his development. As mentioned above, he was definitely thrown about at selection meetings.

In 12 months he's gone from VFL seconds to playing some very good senior VFL football, I wouldn't call that a failure in the slightest.

McNamara has not stepped up and played senior football, thus has been a failure.

Incorrect. As a bottom age recruit with alot of filling out to do he's going just fine, injuries aside. I'd be surprised if the football department weren't planning a role for him. The backline will probably lose Martin so the spot exists for him if he's good enough.

I'd debate the call on Morton being stagnant.

Thought he showed a good deal of improvement earlier this year. His last month hasn't been as great but he has also been played as a defender during this time.

He is still very young and has a slight build and reckon he is looking a little tired lately. He also needs to toughen up a bit with his attack on the pill. Expect some inconsistency.

That said, I would say that he has improved, though there is a lot more potential improvement there, it will come.

Gotta think about this, confidence is a prized possesion in this game, give them some and our list would be much higher up the ladder, their kicking isn't lack of skill but lack of confidence in themselves and that plays on the mind.

.........................................

I've categorised them into:

Improved (shown definite career progression, via a combination of: improved skills, game impact, confidence or x factor)

Stagnant (have not progressed in any of the above criteria to be considered improved)

Not Improved (Gone backwards, or not looking likely to get back to a past benchmark they'd personally set).

This is how I see our crucial developing players:

Improved- Cheney, Frawley, Grimes, Meesen, Warnock

Stagnant- Bartram, Bate, Dunn, Garland, Maric, Martin, Morton, Newton, Wonaeamirri

Not Improved- Buckley, Johnson, Jones, McNamara, Petterd

Feel free to debate this, I've left Garland and Wonaeamirri in the middle group simply because they've played 1 and 0 games thus have not had the chance to move.

This collective group is crucial if we are to make the step up and be competitive in the next 3 years, and to me there's just too many who have not shown enough improvement. Too often this year our best players have consisted primarily of Davey, Green, Bruce, Sylvia and Moloney, the expectation is some of the younger guys need to be stepping up on a more regular basis.

Also, when you look at our total games played is 2361 (including last weeks games). If list management goes as expected, and we lose to retirement McDonald & Whelan, and a possible delisting of Robertson & Wheatley we could potentially lose another 726 games of experience leaving us very light on for experience.

Outside of the Under 50 gamers, players like Sylvia,Moloney and Davey have made pronounced improvements this year, so it is still possible later on in your career, but the converse of this is always the decline or stagnancy of players in their mid 20s who should be continually getting better, not on diminished returns, such as Miller and Rivers.

Which of these young players can make the leap up to be an elite player for us? Apart from Grimes and Frawley who are most likely. the other possibles for mine are Morton and Garland,

Your Thoughts?

This is an interesting exercise. Just looking at it I reckon I could have a totally new category because we have eighteen players who I believe can not be measured at this point.

Not Measurable ATM-

Bail, Rohan

Bennell, Jamie

Blease, Sam

Buckley, Simon

Cheney, Kyle

Garland, Colin

Grimes, Jack

Jetta, Neville

Jurrah, Liam

Maric, Addam

Martin, Stefan

McNamara, Tom

Meesen, John

Newton, Michael

Petterd, Ricky

Strauss, James

Watts, Jack

Wonaeamirri, Austin

This is because these all have less than 1 season of games into them. The most games played by 2 individuals in this list is 21, not even a complete seasons worth of games.

Seeing improvement over two years with an injury reducing total games played by half is harder because you need to factor in recovery from injury, weight loss, conditioning and match fitness before your a player is back into their groove.

I believe after 50 games you sort of have an understanding about where a players is at in regards to playing AFL football. Prior to that I really could not say. So I know I would find it hard to judge something like this and I don't envy the people who have to make the decision to delist players.

Too keep it really simple and to put our current position into some kind of perspective I've listed the players on our list who are either good enough or have the "potential" to be good enough to play in our next premeirship side.

Watts

Grimes

Morton

Garland

Frawley

Martin

Bennel

Maric

Wonaeamirri

Strauss

Davey

Sylvia

Blease

Rivers

Bate

Warnock

Jones

Jurrah

Scully (he's pretty much on the list!}

Pick 2 (also on the list)

Pick 18 (maybe)

That's 21 players we have on our list who could be good enough to win us a premeirship

In a line up looks like this

F:Wonaeamirri Pick 2 Maric

HF:Jurrah Watts Davey

C:Morton Grimes Blease

HB:Strauss Frawley Bennel

B:Rivers Warnock Garland

R:Martin Scully Sylvia

INT: Bate, Pick 18, Jones,

Now I realise that this won't be "the team" as we have a few more drafts and some players will improve whilst others won't. The fact that does stand out however is that as 22 - 27 year olds this would be a pretty tough team to beat. Now I think we should give Bailey the time and space to develop this team.

I reckon you could add Jetta & Moloney to this list. Jetta because we haven't seen enough of him and I reckon what I have seen with extra strength and conditioning he will be a solid player. Moloney will still only be 27 in 2011 and in IMO I reckon he will continue to improve if he can remain uninjured.

Just a thought about KPP's

KPP's are needed in certain roles but I reckon you need more players who can play anywhere on the field to assist with your match-ups and game day tactics. Having a players that can adjust to dampen the effectiveness of the oppositions most damaging players is becoming increasingly more important in today's game.

Anyway its just a thought, it might not be a good one but it's mine.

I wouldn't have Morton and Maric in the middle group. Morton had a great debut year and we expect too much of a second year player that is built like a twig. I think Maric has been ok this year. He only played five gmaes last year and i think this year has been an improvement.

I wouldn't have Morton and Maric in the middle group. Morton had a great debut year and we expect too much of a second year player that is built like a twig. I think Maric has been ok this year. He only played five gmaes last year and i think this year has been an improvement.

I'd agree with this. Morton has been very impressive for a second year player, lacking muscle and Maric has shown enough glimpses to suggest he'll be a good player in years to come.