Wow.

You need to watch a few more casey games. Strauss has shown some skills down at casey and has been injured.

Isacc showed very little and was rarely injured.

An opposition recruiter would lick his lips if we tried to put him on the rookie list.

Because to do that he has to be delisted first.

He has shown skills but not much else. Struggles to make decisions, read the play, stop a man. Hey but he's a nice kick. Strauss is being rated by many based on draft position and not on output. If he had been drafted at 60 there would be no debate.

He has shown skills but not much else. Struggles to make decisions, read the play, stop a man. Hey but he's a nice kick. Strauss is being rated by many based on draft position and not on output. If he had been drafted at 60 there would be no debate.

There is no point saying 'if he was drafted at 60...' Because he wasn't.

Kids who are drafted at pick 60 are the one's who haven't had a such a good junior career.

His draft position is based on his junior career. Which was good. He has shown nothing at the higher level yet, but has not had a substantial run without injury.

I'm not saying he will make it. He will have to stay injury free next year. But de-listing such a promising junior because he hasn't shown much yet is silly.

In past years when the general standard of depth at Deeland was not what it is now the likes of Strauss etc would have their places without as much scrutiny. The bar is higher, we have a fair smattering of talent, some still to get on the paddock and as such Straus wants to get a wiggle on. More draftees and rookies to come. We don't carry passengers on this freight train !!

We carried Bartram for long enough. Strauss is a great kick and reads the play well. Has had a number of injuries in his past two years.

His endurance is quite good. Next year I reckon he will play some good football.

He has shown skills but not much else. Struggles to make decisions, read the play, stop a man. Hey but he's a nice kick. Strauss is being rated by many based on draft position and not on output. If he had been drafted at 60 there would be no debate.

This argument is so wrong, every time it's used. It's a fallacy to say that if he was drafted at 60 nobody would bother - a player drafted at 60 would have much less upside than Strauss, and that lack of upside would be why nobody would bother. But we "bother" about Strauss because of his massive upside potential.

Some of his kicking is jaw-dropping. Some of his kicks at Casey have split the opposition & created direct scoring opportunities from deep in defence. Though to be fair there have been turnovers too, usually because he's been over-ambitious and just missed the target from 50m or so. IMO if he's been encouraged to just go for it if he sees an opportunity 50m away and thinks he can hit it, that's exactly what I'd want him to learn to do, even at the cost of occasional turnovers.

If he can overcome his defensive flaws, and fine-tune his kicking skills, he'll be a potent weapon and very hard to counter. But if he can't overcome his flaws, he's not worth a place in the team. With Strauss, it really is one extreme or the other, and at the moment it's impossible to tell which way he'll go. Hence the "debate".

God I hope he makes it.

God I hope he makes it.

x2

If we can get him up to speed on the other areas of his game we'll have one of the most damaging playmakers in the game. THat's the reason to stick with him for a few more years.

x2

If we can get him up to speed on the other areas of his game we'll have one of the most damaging playmakers in the game. THat's the reason to stick with him for a few more years.

I think the FD are of the same opinion. Brad Green was a bit the same early on in his career and they slowly got him used to the defensive aspects and welcoming body contact. Strauss can learn a lot from him.

Hird, I believe was available as a F/S selection, but they didn't take him as one.

Beams looks ok on the field, but so did Martin Pike.

He has issues.

Beams has been an oustanding pick up- will develop into an elite midfielder. To compare him with Pike - is like most of your posts- a joke.

We carried Bartram for long enough. Strauss is a great kick and reads the play well. Has had a number of injuries in his past two years.

His endurance is quite good. Next year I reckon he will play some good football.

exactly my point..Barty was lucky to not be surrounded by quite so many. Strauss is..he needs to start showing..something or there will be 2-3 knocking him over in the rush to take a shot at wearing the Red and Blue.

Bartram can consider himself pretty fortunate as to timing

Gotch dropped him because he decided to miss the VFL finals to have surgery before the end of the season to give him the best chance of having a full season. Will be his last game for the year before going under the knife from the advice of Connolly.

Hold tight and we'll judge next year how about it!

Gotch dropped him because he decided to miss the VFL finals to have surgery before the end of the season to give him the best chance of having a full season. Will be his last game for the year before going under the knife from the advice of Connolly.

Hold tight and we'll judge next year how about it!

exactly my point..Barty was lucky to not be surrounded by quite so many. Strauss is..he needs to start showing..something or there will be 2-3 knocking him over in the rush to take a shot at wearing the Red and Blue.

Bartram can consider himself pretty fortunate as to timing

Bartram with Strauss' kicking and decision-making, would be an instant All-Australian.

Beams has been an oustanding pick up- will develop into an elite midfielder. To compare him with Pike - is like most of your posts- a joke.

He has serious character issues - what don't you understand about that?

I know you often miss the point, but this is an easy one...

He has serious character issues - what don't you understand about that?

I know you often miss the point, but this is an easy one...

would that be quadriple premiership player martin pike or a different one

would that be quadriple premiership player martin pike or a different one

It's not rocket science.

He may have played in multiple premiership teams, but he was still a %&$@head.

If you don't get it, you don't get it. And I won't be surprised that some just don't get it.

Martin Pike delivered one of the best legitimate shirt fronts (it was

in a Final I think, in the forward pocket) I have seen in the last

twenty years. His opponent hit a brick wall.

I was sorry to see him go. Quality footballer.

Dare I say it; too good for the Club at the time.

I was sorry to see him go. Quality footballer.

Dare I say it; too good for the Club at the time.

He badly burnt his bridges at Melb.

A good footballer in the right place at the right time throughout his career. There have been many better players who dont get to play in flag let alone 4.

Perennial social menace with huge issues. Whatever Beams has is hperbolic compared to the litany of Pikes failings both during and post his career.

Hyperbole?

Let's just say that as good as Beams is, his character issues are enough for me not ever want him on our list.

If we were offered a straight up trade for Bell, I'd hope we said no.

Word here at Werribee is that both Jack Fitzpatrick and James Strauss are booked in for operations and we won't be seeing either of them again this year.

In Fitzpatrick's case, I believe it's the shoulder but that's unconfirmed.

Sam Blease was a no show as well today.

We carried Bartram for long enough. Strauss is a great kick and reads the play well. Has had a number of injuries in his past two years.

His endurance is quite good. Next year I reckon he will play some good football.

Imagine Bartrams defensive ability, tackling, running, competiveness with Strauss's kicking abilty....hmm seems like Bartram has a few more plusses to his name at this stage.

Why are we pressing Strauss to some on so quickly? So he can take Bail's spot? Bennell's spot? Trengove's spot? Scully's Spot? Watts' Spot? Grimes' Spot?

Strauss makes Chris Johnson look hard. He definately has talent, so I won't write him off yet, even though I'm tempted, but something needs to click big time with this guy. He lacks any intensity, which is my bugbear. I'm not overly fussed that he's not ready, but I am fussed when I see a player lacking intensity. His kicking could be elite, but I've also seen him turn it over quite a bit under pressure.

But the real reason I'm responding to your post is the premise that we may not have a position for him. We're crying out for a Lindsay Gilbee type running half back with elite footskills. Bartram, Rivers, Garland, Warnock and Bruce all regularly butcher the ball. I'm not a Joel MacDonald fan either. There's a great opportunity for Strauss to take a small back role if he can improve his defensive skills and other areas in which he's lacking. Bartram has had a good year, but the club would love to have a better kicking option coming out of defence.

best thing about Strauss is he has been able to debut....played the first two games. i thought he showed promise...what he lacked in his first game was proven confidence of the players around him...it wasn't until we beat the lions by 50 points had the players realised they had actually started to improve...

i would say strauss had the toughest debut of all...playing across our backline in round 1.

Strauss makes Chris Johnson look hard. He definately has talent, so I won't write him off yet, even though I'm tempted, but something needs to click big time with this guy. He lacks any intensity, which is my bugbear. I'm not overly fussed that he's not ready, but I am fussed when I see a player lacking intensity. His kicking could be elite, but I've also seen him turn it over quite a bit under pressure.

But the real reason I'm responding to your post is the premise that we may not have a position for him. We're crying out for a Lindsay Gilbee type running half back with elite footskills. Bartram, Rivers, Garland, Warnock and Bruce all regularly butcher the ball. I'm not a Joel MacDonald fan either. There's a great opportunity for Strauss to take a small back role if he can improve his defensive skills and other areas in which he's lacking. Bartram has had a good year, but the club would love to have a better kicking option coming out of defence.

Couldn't agree more ^. He has the speed and the foot skills to be damaging and take that small back role - as you say he must improve defensively.

You're right, it needs to click and the one thing in order for it to happen is "intensity" and desire to have some influence. Without it, Strauss will continue to tread water (or even sink).

matt burgan had this for pick 19 which was strauss' pick.

19 – MELBOURNE – JORDAN ROUGHEAD

North Ballarat, VIC, Ruckman, November 3, 1990, 199.7cm, 91.8kg

(Draft range: 8-26)

With Melbourne great Jeff White moving on at the end of the 2008 season, the Demons are eager to find a long-term ruckman. Having missed out on Robert Warnock via the trade period, expect Melbourne to pounce on a ruckman at No.17 or No.19. Roughead, Jarrad Redden or Shaun McKernan will all be in the mix. Roughead, the cousin of Hawthorn premiership player Jarryd, has attracted interest from Richmond, Sydney Swans, St Kilda , Geelong, Hawthorn and Fremantle.

even with jamar doing well I would have loved to have picked up this guy I think he has huge talent think he would have offered a lot more than strauss. Hindsight is a great thing.

Wow. That's constructive!

I'm not really worried about what we could have picked.

There's a million stories like that.

Jim Strauss just needs time.

Wow. That's constructive!

I'm not really worried about what we could have picked.

There's a million stories like that.

Jim Strauss just needs time.

I genuinely hope you are right- butI doubt if he will make it.I feel Cheney is a longway ahead at this stage as a substitute for Bartram.