The problem I see at the moment is that he simply does not get a touch. In all the games I have seen him play he barely gets a possession. He kicks out after a point and that is about it. If he wants to show his elite kicking he needs to get more of the ball.

He does seem top have bulked up though and hopefully with a full season without injury he may show more and develop the ability to find the ball more often, if he doesn't he may well enjoy many a windy day out at Casey.

I know the club sees his accurate kicking as a real plus down back, but from my point of view i think at the moment he makes just too many clangers (eg the tap to the boundary rather than uncontested marking against Essendon which resulted directly in their getting back in front)at this stage of development. I also don't think he is anything like as hard at it as we need, in the way that frawley or even McDonald are. too often he is beated one on one which should not be acceptable. I would rather see Tapscott down there who is just as good a kick if not better, and looks like a real hard nut. Mind you in junior ranks Tapscott had a reputation as having not high levels of possessions but devastating with the ones he had. Mind you that was in the forward line in the main which gives him more room to be damaging directly i guess.

In the absence of Frawley and Morton for the first round, i'd play the following backline:

FB: Bartrum Warnock Rivers

HB: Tapscott Garland McDonald (interchange) Bennell

Having grown up as a country boy from a family with limited means, that was fortunate enough to spend his final 3 years of schooling at Scotch, I've found your posts amusing. Campbell Brown was the school captain whilst I was there and I can assure you he was very much a part of the pomp and privilege that can go on at private schools. He was also a very handy football player. Just like anywhere in life, Jika, you will find good blokes, bad blokes. Hard at it blokes, and blokes that shy away. If you are trying to say that private schools nurture their students into living into a fluffed up world where they are not challenged, then you are wrong. The main differences I noticed between my public school education and my private schooling as a boarder was the opportunities available to me, if I was willing to make them happen. The atmosphere of a school like scotch is incredibly competitive, in grades and in sports. Strauss is a very talented footballer who is yet to make his mark at at AFL level. His schooling has had nothing to do with this. If anything, the experiences of such a competitive environment like scotch will have only been of benefit to him in his past 2 seasons on Melbourne's list.

Sometimes draftees just don't make it. Even high pick draftees(thorp). Blaming it on what school his suburb was in is ridiculous.

Excellent post. It doesn't take much research to look through the lists of private schools in the APS system and see the numerous champion footballers who went to them. Just as there are many from country schools.

Jika throws up Stynes and Jurrah in a desperate attempt to cloak his prejudice in credibility.

Right.

Here's Jim Stynes making a similar point, albeit without the joking:

'Second-year player James Strauss, 19, was officially on the trip as the Demons' second emergency for the Port Adelaide match, but Stynes says the underlying motivation is because his background - growing up in Canterbury, educated at Scotch College - is so fundamentally different from Jurrah's and Wonaeamirri's.

''That's been something that we've focused on as a board, to say, 'How can we support the development of these footballers and make them better citizens?' because they can get wrapped in cotton wool and then leave the system at 24 or 25 and have the shock of their life, because it's been so easy for them,'' he says.'

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/reaching-out-20100604-xkrf.html

You're a deceptive little thing aren't you?

You know damn well that you have taken what Jim has said out of context - making his point about all the players leaving the system having this aura of 'cotton wool' to those at private schools...

It's disappointing you are so eager to bastardise the words of Jim Stynes to suit your bitter little pill.

Edited March 19, 201114 yr by rpfc

You're a deceptive little thing aren't you?

You know damn well that you have taken what Jim has said out of context - making his point about all the players leaving the system having this aura of 'cotton wool' to those at private schools...

It's disappointing you are so eager to bastardise the words of Jim Stynes to suit your bitter little pill.

You seem to be taking what is a very uncontroversialobservation about social geography very personally. Perhaps you are JamesStrauss?

If so and having received a blue-chip education, it is maybe somewhat superfluous of me to point out that class and social geography havebeen a phenomenally powerful feature of Australian football for a long time.

The rivalry between Melbourne and Collingwood was of coursebased on class and the geographic juxtaposition of upper and working classsuburbs. And of course clubs drafting from zones around countryVictoria once provided no end of regional rivalry through social geography.

Saying Strauss won’t make it because he has been too busyponcing it up in Canterbury and at Scotch is of course absurd. But that doesn’tchange the power of social geography on conceptions of player capability – evenwithin current conceptions of MFC’s playing list. I have often seen aroundfootyblogs the hardness of Strauss and Watts being questioned, both of whom arewell-known as products of the elite private education system. Contrast them withsome of the ‘hard nuts’ of the team who come from much more working-classareas: Grimes (Calder), McKenzie (Geelong), Jones (Mornington peninsula),Bartram (western coast), Frawley (Ballarat), Trengove (Naracoorte).

I am not saying social geography is the determiner ofplaying potential. I am saying that much as our Scotch graduates here mightwish otherwise, social geography plays a strong role in popular conceptions of playercapability precisely because historically it has had a strong influence on theway players play the game as well as the tribalism of supporting one team or another.

The possibility that James Strauss is having troubleadjusting to AFL standard football because the circumstances of his socialgeography meant that he has faced less setbacks and had to struggle less to geton an AFL playing list is not absurd, nor even particularly challenging.

Not that this is even relevant, but as a reckless, hot-headed youth, myself and a couple of old mates from the Prahran flats got into a brawl with some Scotch fellas once. Cleaned 'em right up. Despite them being bigger and more muscular than we were.

Just saying.

FLAME AWAY!

Edited March 19, 201114 yr by Doggo

Not that this is even relevant, but as a reckless, hot-headed youth, myself and a couple of old mates from the Prahran flats got into a brawl with some Scotch fellas once. Cleaned 'em right up. Despite them being bigger and more muscular than we were.

Just saying.

FLAME AWAY!

You hard arse.

You seem to be taking what is a very uncontroversialobservation about social geography very personally. Perhaps you are JamesStrauss?

If so and having received a blue-chip education, it is maybe somewhat superfluous of me to point out that class and social geography havebeen a phenomenally powerful feature of Australian football for a long time.

The rivalry between Melbourne and Collingwood was of coursebased on class and the geographic juxtaposition of upper and working classsuburbs. And of course clubs drafting from zones around countryVictoria once provided no end of regional rivalry through social geography.

Saying Strauss won’t make it because he has been too busyponcing it up in Canterbury and at Scotch is of course absurd. But that doesn’tchange the power of social geography on conceptions of player capability – evenwithin current conceptions of MFC’s playing list. I have often seen aroundfootyblogs the hardness of Strauss and Watts being questioned, both of whom arewell-known as products of the elite private education system. Contrast them withsome of the ‘hard nuts’ of the team who come from much more working-classareas: Grimes (Calder), McKenzie (Geelong), Jones (Mornington peninsula),Bartram (western coast), Frawley (Ballarat), Trengove (Naracoorte).

I am not saying social geography is the determiner ofplaying potential. I am saying that much as our Scotch graduates here mightwish otherwise, social geography plays a strong role in popular conceptions of playercapability precisely because historically it has had a strong influence on theway players play the game as well as the tribalism of supporting one team or another.

The possibility that James Strauss is having troubleadjusting to AFL standard football because the circumstances of his socialgeography meant that he has faced less setbacks and had to struggle less to geton an AFL playing list is not absurd, nor even particularly challenging.

Hypothetical:

You win a couple million dollars. Do you send your son to a private school or a public one?????

Say you chose a private one.

Will he be a "hard" player because he is an offspring of you and your public education?

Or,

He is "soft" because he spent a couple years of his life in a private institute?

Soft hack public school players:

C Judd

C Brown

C Rioli

J Hendry

P Brown

T Cordner

D Cordner

D Cordner

To name but a few through the ages - cream puffs the lot of them!

My brain is dying after reading the [censored] posted in here.

jikajika, please off yourself

Not that this is even relevant, but as a reckless, hot-headed youth, myself and a couple of old mates from the Prahran flats got into a brawl with some Scotch fellas once. Cleaned 'em right up. Despite them being bigger and more muscular than we were.

Just saying.

FLAME AWAY!

You are a complete goose

Too easy.

Too easy.

Oh, yes, the world is far too PC...

You can't tell stories of teenage beatings anymore??

What is the forum-world coming to?

Not that this is even relevant, but as a reckless, hot-headed youth, myself and a couple of old mates from the Prahran flats got into a brawl with some Scotch fellas once. Cleaned 'em right up. Despite them being bigger and more muscular than we were.

Just saying.

FLAME AWAY!

HaHaHaHa,, beeeeewdiful. Where you with Con? LoL.

It's a nice tease to give those upper crusts a little touchup. And some wore lippy.

Hypothetical:

You win a couple million dollars. Do you send your son to a private school or a public one?????

Say you chose a private one.

Will he be a "hard" player because he is an offspring of you and your public education?

Or,

He is "soft" because he spent a couple years of his life in a private institute?

Depends, if his dad wore high heels. LoL.

You went to Scotch? You poor thing!

nothing wrong with scotch

Too easy.

You asked

In my 22 years of watching the Dees I've never seen a youngster so out of his depth than Strauss. It seems like the only reason we picked him was on the back of that horrible 2008 when most of the list couldn't hit the target.

I think we stuffed this top 20 pick up. Saw the Essendon and Brisbane games and he hasn't improved an inch.

Trengove (Naracoorte).

Trengove went to Prince Alfred College Adelaide ya chump

nothing wrong with scotch

Especially after 10.00PM.

In my 22 years of watching the Dees I've never seen a youngster so out of his depth than Strauss. It seems like the only reason we picked him was on the back of that horrible 2008 when most of the list couldn't hit the target.

I think we stuffed this top 20 pick up. Saw the Essendon and Brisbane games and he hasn't improved an inch.

Please uppercut yourself and promise that you will stand by your comments once Strauss lights it up.

Please uppercut yourself and promise that you will stand by your comments once Strauss lights it up.

In the immortal words of the Velvet Underground...

"Cool it down"

Trengove went to Prince Alfred College Adelaide ya chump

Yes Roger.

Well done.

Before that he lived in Naracoorte and played for Kybybolite.

The point is not how the specific social geography of Jack Trengove might affect his chances of making it in the AFL.

The point is how the specific social geography of James Strauss might affect his chances of making it in the AFL.

Social geography is an interesting field, Roger. I think you would enjoy doing some reading about it.

Please uppercut yourself and promise that you will stand by your comments once Strauss lights it up.

I eat humble pie when the time comes. I wrote Frawley off when Corey Jones kicked 4 on him in 2007. I hope I get proven wrong here as well.

Yes Roger.

Well done.

Before that he lived in Naracoorte and played for Kybybolite.

The point is not how the specific social geography of Jack Trengove might affect his chances of making it in the AFL.

The point is how the specific social geography of James Strauss might affect his chances of making it in the AFL.

Social geography is an interesting field, Roger. I think you would enjoy doing some reading about it.

The point is you haven't got a clue you've most probably never met him it appears your sole purpose is to troll and spout your anti establishment bias. It's not wanted here so why don't you just take your hangups back to the general board on Demonology.

I'm sure that with the proper treatment you'll eventually get over whatever it was that made you so hateful towards the social geography of the private school system, either that or you'll just grow up and get on with your life.

In the meantime Strauss may well be another Maric and just be a late bloomer, or it may simply be he can't perform at this level and we made a mistake.

Edited March 19, 201114 yr by RobbieF

The point is you haven't got a clue you've most probably never met him it appears your sole purpose is to troll and spout your anti establishment bias. It's not wanted here so why don't you just take your hangups back to the general board on Demonology.

I'm sure that with the proper treatment you'll eventually get over whatever it was that made you so hateful towards the social geography of the private school system, either that or you'll just grow up and get on with your life.

In the meantime Strauss may well be another Maric and just be a late bloomer, or it may simply be he can't perform at this level and we made a mistake.

Speak for yourself RF. You don't speak for me. There will be, no doubt people who agree with you, and those who don't.