James Sellar

[Whispering_Jack 29,801]

One or two swallows don't make a summer or even an autumn for that matter and while, I remain unconvinced, perhaps there might just be something to this Sellar bloke after all.

He came out of the 2006 AFL National Draft which contained a good crop of players, many of who have had disappointing careers and failed to live up to the pre draft hype of the time. The number one pick, Bryce Gibbs has taken a long time to establish himself as a top line player with the Blues but, for one reason or another, many of the KPP's (and there were quite a few around that year) have struggled. Selected in the first round of the draft were:-

■Scott Gumbleton (Essendon) - pick 2

■ Lachlan Hansen (North Melbourne) - 3

■ Mitchell Thorp (Hawthorn) - 6

■ Ben Reid (Collingwood) - 8

■ Nathan Brown (Collingwood) - 10

■ James Frawley (Melbourne) - 12

■ Jack Riewoldt (Richmond) - 13

■ James Sellar (Adelaide) - 14

■ Mitchell Brown (West Coast) - 16

Ruckman Matthew Leuenberger was another tall taken early by Brisbane at 4. The Crows also picked up Kirt Tippett at 32 while Geelong did OK by getting Tom Hawkins as a father/son for pick 41.

These days, most of the early picks are mids. In 2006, Travis Boak went at 5 and Joel Selwood at 7!

The selection of Sellar at 14 was something of a surprise at the time because his junior sporting career was outstanding.

According to Wikipedia, he "represented Australia in the International Rules Youth Test between Australia and Ireland, and has also represented Australia in volleyball, in the Under-19 Internationals in Taiwan. He was named best player at the national Under 16 Championships in 2005 and also played in the Under 18 national championships in 2006."

Whatever went wrong from the time he was the best under 16 to the time he was delisted by Adelaide at the end of the 2011, he must have had something that impressed his former coach Neil Craig to convince the club to draft him at 54 in the 2011 AFL Draft. He would need to consistently produce the sort of form he displayed at Renmark and do it against better opposition to convince most of us. I'm sure we'll be watching him closely today.

[Apocalypse XXXI 243]

A good performance today definitely puts him the team for round 1 barring injury.

It would really be a good story if he could raise the bar and live up to the promise of years ago to finally become a top line player. Good for him and good for us.

[Tatu 416]

Nobody needs to calm down munga, because nobody is going over the top. He is currently borderline best 22, and yesterday may have put him in front of pedersen.

Sellar is the next Wayne Carey...... Surely....

[jnrmac 20,055]

Whatever went wrong from the time he was the best under 16 to the time he was delisted by Adelaide at the end of the 2011, he must have had something that impressed his former coach Neil Craig to convince the club to draft him at 54 in the 2011 AFL Draft. He would need to consistently produce the sort of form he displayed at Renmark and do it against better opposition to convince most of us. I'm sure we'll be watching him closely today.

Similar story to Lucas Cook ... good junior. Coudn't make the leap ...

[CBDees 3,167]

Similar story to Lucas Cook ... good junior. Coudn't make the leap ...

I think that he is well ahead of Lucas Cook. At least he is playing AFL and improving all the time. I was most impressed with his last NAB Cup efforts.

[rjay 24,887]

Having Leigh Brown who had a similar footballing history, high draft picked struggled to establish him self made good at Collingwood, would not hurt him either.

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

Pedersen is a small ruckman. I think he's around 193cm.I don't know why her its being tried in the role?

I was under the impression, rightly or wrongly, that he was picked up mainly as a utility to be used as a stop gap forward or back. Only to be used as a pinch hitting ruckman when things turned ugly with our main rucking options or to rest them if we only had one main ruckman in the team etc. Pretty sure this is how North used him. Also, with the new "no contact" rule coming into effect this season, his lack of height will be easily exploited by other taller/higher leaping opponents IMO, taking away one of his weapons in the strength dept (eg., prior to the bounce being able to out jostle/ out position his opponent). I also don't think he'll be alone here and that the big Russian and players in his style/ilk might also suffer at the centre bounce against certain opponents as a result of this rule change.

There was some evidence of this on Sunday (albeit very minor in terms of time spent in this position i realise) when we started losing the ruck duals and centre contests once he came on to replace Spence. I'm not saying Spence was totally dominating or winning most of them either, maybe 50/50 or so, but we went from being about 25 points up to almost losing the match in the space of about 10 minutes after he was brought on. I wont put this down to being solely as a result of this move alone, but i think it was a major contributing factor and a poor move by the FD at the time. Ok to experiment when in a definite winning position but not sure why you would want to kill momentum that we had with a change like that at this point in the match. With 5 minutes to go and 25 up maybe. But not with 15 minutes to go and only 25 up.

The FD obviously has its reasons though. I'm just an armchair amatuer.

Edited March 9, 2013 by Rusty Nails

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

Sellar is the next Wayne Carey...... Surely....

Lol tatu. A fair degree of skeptisicm never went astray. I agree, 1 match doesn't make a season or a champion. One thing i would like to comment on about Sellar though, old fashioned as he seems. He knows how to position himself well against his opponent, in many cases out bodying them. He also reads the flight of the ball extremely well. All that hard work and effort won't amount to much though if you can't take a grab and/or win your fair share of the one on ones if the ball hits the deck.

I'm not sure he's that good when the ball goes to ground, but in many ways he doesn't have to cover this side all that often. This bloke sure knows how to hang on to the Sherrin once he gets his body/hands near it.

Maybe a pinch hitting forward? Especially early in the season as we await the return of Clarke and to provide much needed support/decoy work/rest time for Dawes (assuming he's good to go ). Maybe a permanent forward depending on how he performs. Possibly a similar role as last year down back as soon as Clarke returns i would think. It will be interesting to see how he goes and where he goes that's for sure.

[Deeoldfart 8,005]

I was very skeptical when we drafted James, but he surprised me a bit as the season progressed, and clearly did enough to earn a spot on our list for 2013. At worst he should be a versatile and tall 'depth' player for the next couple of years, but he may surprise and play more than a 'bit part' role in our rise up the ladder. It would be a credit to him and the MFC if he becomes a 'regular'.

[ashdemons22 235]

Pencil him in for round 1.

Wiill Play as 3rd tall for M Clark if fit and C Dawes.

That makes Howe as the 4th tall.

Sellar also will pinch hit in the ruck when Jamar has rest.

Pederson back will start in VFL, will be good, he will have to earn his spot

[rjay 24,887]

Pencil him in for round 1.

Wiill Play as 3rd tall for M Clark if fit and C Dawes.

That makes Howe as the 4th tall.

Sellar also will pinch hit in the ruck when Jamar has rest.

Pederson back will start in VFL, will be good, he will have to earn his spot...

...and that's how it should be, he is not a walk up start.

[Sir Why You Little 36,983]

Sellar was ok ok yesterday...he is getting better with confidence. I think he should be perservered with up forward at this point.

He will not gain from playing VFL.

[stuie 7,374]

Sellar was ok ok yesterday...he is getting better with confidence. I think he should be perservered with up forward at this point.

He will not gain from playing VFL.

I have a feeling he'll be a guy who will get a lot better with improved fitness. He always looked like he was struggling last year and it effected his skills, whereas so far this year, with better fitness, his hands are A LOT better as are his skills overall. Can't see him being in the fwd line once Clark and Dawes are back, but will be a more than handy depth player.

[Pates 9,660]

Ok so Sellar kicked a further 3 goals today, from the sounds (and looks of it) he's been one of the form players of the pre-season for us.

But where can he fit in? The good thing about his form is it hopefully makes it easier on the coaching staff to give Mitch more time to recover as he's shown he can fill the void. Is he ahead of Pederson on selection pecking order as a ruck/forward?

[DeeSpencer 25,477]

You'd think Dawes is good for round 1 so it's a matter of whether we go with pedersen and sellar or just one. If its just one I'm going with sellar but i wouldn't be surprised at all if Neeld goes for both Sellar (ff) and pedersen (Ruck/forward) as well as Dawes.

[Fitz Fitzpatrick 886]

what if the No. 14 draft pick from a few years ago has suddenly found himself?! Maybe being a bit optimistic but imagine if we have jsut stumbled across a late bloomer KPP first round draft pick. As, a depth player, we may look back and realise we were selling Sellar short!

Optimism guys!

[stuie 7,374]

Ok so Sellar kicked a further 3 goals today, from the sounds (and looks of it) he's been one of the form players of the pre-season for us.

But where can he fit in? The good thing about his form is it hopefully makes it easier on the coaching staff to give Mitch more time to recover as he's shown he can fill the void. Is he ahead of Pederson on selection pecking order as a ruck/forward?

Geez I hope he's ahead of Pedersen... I haven't seen today's game, but he hasn't exactly set the world on fire has he?

[angrydee 842]

As I reported this time last year - he is over the personal issues that were stuffing up his life, and only needs fitness and confidence to find his form once again, It might take a little time, but I reckon he will end up as a Dyer good ordinary footballer - a good 3rd tall forward. He turns 24 in a week and has only played 37 games, and for a bloke who's 196cm tall - he could well be worth the wait. I hope so.

[pitmaster 3,513]

He is a lock for the 22. With a fully fit crew he would be on the bench to be used at both ends or in the ruck or some combination of the lot.

His versatility is unusual and for this reason he will be among the first 12 picked each week the way he is travelling.

[CBDees 3,167]

Ok so Sellar kicked a further 3 goals today, from the sounds (and looks of it) he's been one of the form players of the pre-season for us.

But where can he fit in? The good thing about his form is it hopefully makes it easier on the coaching staff to give Mitch more time to recover as he's shown he can fill the void. Is he ahead of Pederson on selection pecking order as a ruck/forward?

I would be more than happy to see Sellar start alongside Dawes and Clark for Round 1. Also happy to see Pedersen pressing for selection. Three strong talls plus Howe(provided he lifts a bit on yesterday) is a good basis for our 2013 forward structure IMO.

[CBDees 3,167]

what if the No. 14 draft pick from a few years ago has suddenly found himself?! Maybe being a bit optimistic but imagine if we have jsut stumbled across a late bloomer KPP first round draft pick. As, a depth player, we may look back and realise we were selling Sellar short!

Optimism guys!

I don't think anyone would disagree that there is more chance of a No. 14 pick finding himself than a certain No. 4 pick of a few seasons age!

[Vagg 2,439]

He is a lock for the 22. With a fully fit crew he would be on the bench to be used at both ends or in the ruck or some combination of the lot.

His versatility is unusual and for this reason he will be among the first 12 picked each week the way he is travelling.

I didn't see anything yesterday to disagree with you, Pitmaster. His versatility is a big plus. I hope he continues to develop into what his early draft pick promised when he was first taken by Adelaide.