Sam Blease

[btdemon 482]

We can all see that Blease will be very good but I honestly don't think he's ready for the big time just yet. I'm worried about this selection.

I hate to say "I told you so" but.......

this was not the game to try out another lightly built youngster who is not yet accustomed to the tempo of senior footy at AFL level. Especially when we are playing so many other lightly built and inexperienced players.

[Jaded No More 67,626]

I hate to say "I told you so" but.......

this was not the game to try out another lightly built youngster who is not yet accustomed to the tempo of senior footy at AFL level. Especially when we are playing so many other lightly built and inexperienced players.

Please, we lost nothing by playing him. He did more than Bennell to be honest.

Was good to give him a taste and to say he isn't ready is just silly. Who is every truly ready to play their first game, come on as a sub, and then have to play in a team getting smashed?

One very small positive out of today is that Blease got a taste and made it through after 2 tough years. Honestly the last thing on my list of problems/worries/complaints.

[Lil_red_fire_engine 10,836]

I hate to say "I told you so" but.......

this was not the game to try out another lightly built youngster who is not yet accustomed to the tempo of senior footy at AFL level. Especially when we are playing so many other lightly built and inexperienced players.

He had 5 touches in 32% game time. He did not look out of place. Who would you have played ahead of him?

[Striker475 696]

That kick he made to Sylvia was sensational.

[drdrake 3,118]

I hate to say "I told you so" but.......

this was not the game to try out another lightly built youngster who is not yet accustomed to the tempo of senior footy at AFL level. Especially when we are playing so many other lightly built and inexperienced players.

What a load of rubbish, he came on we were getting smashed and got his hands on the footy. It is hard enough to debut but to be brought on as a sub would be extremely difficult. I was happy with Blease, same as Strauss he did a good defensive job tonight, I have no idea why Bailey didn't put Strauss on the G Banger.

[Captain Jack Jordan 32]

He will be good .Ran too far .Lucky not to get pinged .No one else could run 15 metres

[DeeSpencer 24,686]

What a load of rubbish, he came on we were getting smashed and got his hands on the footy. It is hard enough to debut but to be brought on as a sub would be extremely difficult. I was happy with Blease, same as Strauss he did a good defensive job tonight, I have no idea why Bailey didn't put Strauss on the G Banger.

After years of giving kids tough jobs and seeing them stand up, it now seems strange that Bailey is unwilling to throw a few of the next brigade some tougher assignments.

But I do understand the Morton playing tall on the likes of Barlow and Grant and Garland locking down on Gia. It would have been my initial move as well. Possibly next week Strauss can have a tougher assingment, and Morton can not be playing.

[Sir Why You Little 36,602]

Sam Blease will make it. He did alright tonight.

Some others were not so fortunate. And yes we were crucified by the Umps...i hate to use that excuse but tonight via the TV there were some shockers

Trengove, early WTF!!!

[Guest lambtotheslaughter]

I only saw the game on TV but it looked like Sam really wanted to be there

Hard at it for a tacker

Let's hope that he's another Grimes without the injury issues

[Bobby McKenzie 2,321]

He will be good .Ran too far .Lucky not to get pinged .No one else could run 15 metres

I loved his run and the way he scrapped it out in the packs. Not scared this kid. Mind you coming on as a sub, he hardly had time to show us his all-round ability which he certainly has. Hope he gets a full game next time.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,012]

Funny to see this level of positive feedback. I was quite disappointed.

I agree that he made a couple of good plays, but I found his work rate sadly lacking, especially for a player coming in late in the game. I'll highlight one passage of play that really annoyed me.

Sam's opponent got the ball in the Dogs' defesive 50, passed it off and ran on down the wing. Sam chased him to around the def. 50 line, then stopped and jogged slowly through the middle. His man kept running around the boundary and took a mark inside 50 for a shot on goal. At this point Sam was about halfway down the ground with his hands no his knees. How is it that a guy who was drafted for his ability to run and who had played less than half the gametime of his opponent was outrun so comprehensively?

I don't care about his kicking at the moment, but if he gets another run this year I'll want to see a hell of a lot more effort out of him.

[Jaded No More 67,626]

Funny to see this level of positive feedback. I was quite disappointed.

I agree that he made a couple of good plays, but I found his work rate sadly lacking, especially for a player coming in late in the game. I'll highlight one passage of play that really annoyed me.

Sam's opponent got the ball in the Dogs' defesive 50, passed it off and ran on down the wing. Sam chased him to around the def. 50 line, then stopped and jogged slowly through the middle. His man kept running around the boundary and took a mark inside 50 for a shot on goal. At this point Sam was about halfway down the ground with his hands no his knees. How is it that a guy who was drafted for his ability to run and who had played less than half the gametime of his opponent was outrun so comprehensively?

I don't care about his kicking at the moment, but if he gets another run this year I'll want to see a hell of a lot more effort out of him.

Absolutely.

How dare he make a mistake in his first quarter of AFL footy.

I'm sick and tired of these bloody first gamers, with their fancy shoes and their fluro green vests prancing on the ground like they don't know what they are doing, not adapting to the speed, losing their man and generally not winning us matches. It's just an absolute disgrace, and they are to blame for everything that is wrong with our club.

Lack of skills? first gamers. Lack of leadership? first gamers. Poor coaching? bloody first gamers.

For mine, it's straight to GWS in exchange for pick 98 for young Blease. You tried your best son, gave us one hell of a quarter, but it's time to move on.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,012]

Absolutely.

How dare he make a mistake in his first quarter of AFL footy.

I'm sick and tired of these bloody first gamers, with their fancy shoes and their fluro green vests prancing on the ground like they don't know what they are doing, not adapting to the speed, losing their man and generally not winning us matches. It's just an absolute disgrace, and they are to blame for everything that is wrong with our club.

Lack of skills? first gamers. Lack of leadership? first gamers. Poor coaching? bloody first gamers.

For mine, it's straight to GWS in exchange for pick 98 for young Blease. You tried your best son, gave us one hell of a quarter, but it's time to move on.

Geez, you'd hate to overreact and miss the point entirely at the same time, wouldn't you?

I'm talking about the effort he put in. I can excuse poor judgement, poor skills or being outplayed. But he just gave up and let the guy run off. He knew where he was supposed to be. He started to chase and then just gave up and let the guy go. That's an attitude problem, and for a guy getting his first sniff at a spot in the senior side that is not acceptable. Compare this to Howe's first game. He was involved in everything and giving 100% the whole time. When he wasn't going to get the ball he was blocking and sheparding for teammates, running hard and constantly presenting. He played like he was desperate to cement a spot in the side. I am very disappointed that Blease didn't.

[Guest Artie Bucco]

I think you've actually missed the point, Ralph.

[QueenC 74]

To further than only Gold Coast and Richmond are younger than us. Gold Coast by only 1 year and Richmond by some 10 days. Richmond have blooded 4 players with minimal age this week and dropped Brad Miller though, so last week we were in fact the younger team..

Tough lessons learned at Punt Road by a few of their youngsters this week.......

[H_T 3,032]

I think you've actually missed the point, Ralph.

He may have missed the "over the top" response and it's point. But his own observation re: Blease is valid. First gamer or no first gamer. Accountability for your own man is essential. I'm sure Sam will be made aware regardless.

[The Big Ticket 94]

First time our first three picks from the '08 draft class have played together.

[drdrake 3,118]

First time our first three picks from the '08 draft class have played together.

Wait till Darwin, injury permitting we should see our first three picks form '08 and our first 4 picks from '09, its a shame that our 3 early picks '07 are either injured Grimes or playing rubbish Morton or playing at Casey Maric. Maybe we should start calling Craig Cameron, Meatloaf.

Edited July 4, 2011 by drdrake

[Allus Monk 568]

Maybe we should start calling Craig Cameron, Meatloaf.

You took the words right out of my mouth Dr.

[Rogue 585]

Absolutely.

How dare he make a mistake in his first quarter of AFL footy.

Talking about young kids is just about pointless on here if only positive comments are acceptable.

No one that I can see is advocating potting young players but I'd much rather read some balanced observations of young players than the gushing praise that often accompanies young players (and the level of gush often seems positively correlated with a poster's penchant for potting said player down the track).

If someone thinks Blease's work-rate wasn't good then I want to read that just as much as someone talking up his willingness to receive the footy and go for a run.

[Bagdana 58]

I'd much rather read some balanced observations of young players than the gushing praise that often accompanies young players

Agree. And then the thread gets off-track as posters bicker.

BTW from what I saw I was neither impressed or disappointed. I would like to see him given an opportunity to start on the ground with and against other fresh players before the outcome has been pretty much determined.

Now that his "first game" (if that's what you'd call it) is out of the way, supporters and media should be less scrutinising and as such the pressure less considerable. There's an opportunity for a real run.

It's only a shame I have to wait two weeks for it! Get 'em Sambo!

Edited July 4, 2011 by Territory

[Jaded No More 67,626]

Talking about young kids is just about pointless on here if only positive comments are acceptable.

No one that I can see is advocating potting young players but I'd much rather read some balanced observations of young players than the gushing praise that often accompanies young players (and the level of gush often seems positively correlated with a poster's penchant for potting said player down the track).

If someone thinks Blease's work-rate wasn't good then I want to read that just as much as someone talking up his willingness to receive the footy and go for a run.

I don't think I heaped even a little bit of gushing praise on Blease, but I find it astounding that in a 10 goal loss, where our senior players were mostly rubbish, we choose to talk about Blease, who played for 1.5 quarters.

I'm not advocating that we always blindly support new players, but FFS I am sick and tired of reading crap about young players. Watts is shite, Strauss is soft, Scully can't kick etc etc... It's the same rubbish we heard about Frawley (terrible defender), Garland (soft and weak), and the list goes on. Just let these kids develop, don't expect them to be perfect from the first moment they step on the ground, accept that they'll take short steps, not chase hard enough, fluff some kicks. It happens, it happens to 10 year players too.

Let's stop focusing on stupid issues and worry about what is actually important.

It's far more upsetting that Green, our captain, has been MIA practically all year. What direction and leadership is a kid like Blease getting when his captain is not giving a yelp?

[Roost It 1,434]

I don't think I heaped even a little bit of gushing praise on Blease, but I find it astounding that in a 10 goal loss, where our senior players were mostly rubbish, we choose to talk about Blease, who played for 1.5 quarters.

I'm not advocating that we always blindly support new players, but FFS I am sick and tired of reading crap about young players. Watts is shite, Strauss is soft, Scully can't kick etc etc... It's the same rubbish we heard about Frawley (terrible defender), Garland (soft and weak), and the list goes on. Just let these kids develop, don't expect them to be perfect from the first moment they step on the ground, accept that they'll take short steps, not chase hard enough, fluff some kicks. It happens, it happens to 10 year players too.

Let's stop focusing on stupid issues and worry about what is actually important.

It's far more upsetting that Green, our captain, has been MIA practically all year. What direction and leadership is a kid like Blease getting when his captain is not giving a yelp?

Or we could live in the moment and discuss there current from as well as their future potential or lack there of. For mine I thought Blease showed us nothing to suggest he will either make it or not. His best run and carry should of been pinged for running too far. He was caught and got a fortunate free kick. He showed some good endeavour. He got 5 possessions, as you suggest, we should probably all wait until at least next week!

[jayceebee31 697]

Tough lessons learned at Punt Road by a few of their youngsters this week.......

Same as ours- Same as Carlton did in 2009- it's called development.One expects young players to be inconsistant but we are playing also without leadership.The senior players are the most inconsistant--in particular Green.Worst captain I can remember.

[sydneydee 684]

The senior players are the most inconsistant--in particular Green.Worst captain I can remember.

Unfortunately I agree with this.

Blease was just OK, I thought Nicko showed more and had a greater impact in his first game. I hope he gets a full game against Port so we can see how he can perform over 4 quarters.