The thing that impressed me most about Vandenberg is not the goals and run which are good, but he seems to have good awareness and releases some quick hands and hits targets in close.

Lets see how he goes when the tempo steps up another notch in the H&A season. So far he hasn't disappointed.

Vandenberg was good against Freo as well.

He is versatile, clean, and he lowers his eyes - which is a rare thing at this football club.

I love that he pushes forward and kicks goals, he looks very capable and already on the level.

His is an interesting case for our perennial natural talent verses "it's all about their development"debate. This guy is mature but has been playing NEAFL up in Canberra, I believe. He does three months preseason and has already gone past some our elite, early draft pick talents who have had 3 years or more of AFL level development.

His is an interesting case for our perennial natural talent verses "it's all about their development"debate. This guy is mature but has been playing NEAFL up in Canberra, I believe. He does three months preseason and has already gone past some our elite, early draft pick talents who have had 3 years or more of AFL level development.

Our development makes players worse. They lose confidence terribly. Dean Terlich was a great example. He needed to tidy up his kicking from his first year and he needed to work on his defensive game. But last year in a team that was still anaemic in attack he lost his belief in his run and carry and started making even worse decisions. Same goes for his defensive work.

Vandenberg doesn't spend it before he has it, he actually backs himself to get the ball, then he runs forward and tries to get it to an open target.

Watching him closely he's got a bit of work to do in making sure he's motors at the right level both defensively and on the spread, but if we coach the talent out of this bloke like we have so many others then I'll be sick.

OK, I admit I seem to have been wrong about vandenBerg. He's come on much more quickly than I anticipated and seems to be fitting in to the AFL pretty nicely. Great effort on his part. I think at this point he's clearly leading the pack when it comes to the rookies and probably gets the first promotion. He could easily be playing round 1.

His is an interesting case for our perennial natural talent verses "it's all about their development"debate. This guy is mature but has been playing NEAFL up in Canberra, I believe. He does three months preseason and has already gone past some our elite, early draft pick talents who have had 3 years or more of AFL level development.

It makes me wonder where he was before. We know he dominated in Canberra last year, but where did he fit in the scheme of things as a 16-21 year old? A midfielder of his size would have stuck out like dog's balls at junior level if he'd been any good.

Something must have changed drastically in recent years for him to just suddenly appear on the radar now I reckon.

Vandenberg doesn't spend it before he has it, he actually backs himself to get the ball, then he runs forward and tries to get it to an open target.

Great point.

It makes me wonder where he was before. We know he dominated in Canberra last year, but where did he fit in the scheme of things as a 16-21 year old? A midfielder of his size would have stuck out like dog's balls at junior level if he'd been any good.

Something must have changed drastically in recent years for him to just suddenly appear on the radar now I reckon.

Maybe this is one of those famous "breakout years" Gnasher.

A welcome bit of versatility. Height, speed, size, skills, composure, defensive ability.

It makes me wonder where he was before. We know he dominated in Canberra last year, but where did he fit in the scheme of things as a 16-21 year old? A midfielder of his size would have stuck out like dog's balls at junior level if he'd been any good.

Something must have changed drastically in recent years for him to just suddenly appear on the radar now I reckon.

He had troubles with interest and fitness. And the odd injury.

He is originally from Tathra on the South Coast of NSW and Ainslie brought him up 4 years ago and it took him a couple years to show something to get noticed with. He was overweight and interested in other things aswell as footy.

How it relates to these teenagers that he has 'gone past' that we took in the draft is that he was well away from prying eyes when he had his issues with his footy.

He had troubles with interest and fitness. And the odd injury.

He is originally from Tathra on the South Coast of NSW and Ainslie brought him up 4 years ago and it took him a couple years to show something to get noticed with. He was overweight and interested in other things aswell as footy.

How it relates to these teenagers that he has 'gone past' that we took in the draft is that he was well away from prying eyes when he had his issues with his footy.

I assume "other interests" aren't flattering ones, but it doesn't really matter. He's probably lucky that he is from coastal NSW and not Melbourne, then.

I wonder how many kids get lost to the system because they're distracted during their developing years. I'm glad nobody was looking at how focused I was when I was 18.

It's a good story in pulling one's finger out, by the sounds.

Ok, so Everyman and his dog knows we will promote VandenBerg for the Trengove LTI,

so who is the other rookie promotion for Petrecca?

White, Harmes or King??

from what I have seen/heard, maxy king is not ready yet.

know naff all about white.

which leaves Harmes (who I have also heard next to bugger-all about)

His is an interesting case for our perennial natural talent verses "it's all about their development"debate. This guy is mature but has been playing NEAFL up in Canberra, I believe. He does three months preseason and has already gone past some our elite, early draft pick talents who have had 3 years or more of AFL level development.

I've never subscribed to the 'development theory'. In the past we plain and simply drafted the wrong blokes. When you don't draft footballers - you don't get footballers.

Even coming into the season this year, off limited vision of Vandenberg and hearing him rack up big numbers, my first thought was that this guy is a footballer.

Dom Tyson, pure footballer. Brayshaw = footballer. I think we've changed our drafting strategy, when it proves a success - people will claim it is because we've fixed our development. I guess we'll never know, but IMO we just picked athletic types in the past - when we should've been picking footballers.

Edited March 21, 201510 yr by KingDingAling

Given that nobody other than a small few had heard of Aaron Vandenberg an hour ago, I daresay you're going a tad early. I'd like to see him play, or at least train, first. And by the sounds of it, he's recovering from shoulder surgery anyway.

My money is on no rookie promotion for the first few rounds at least.

I'm sure the club will wait until you have had the chance to look at him Nash,,,,,

I'm sure the club will wait until you have had the chance to look at him Nash,,,,,

I trust you've taken note of when I posted that.

Ok, so Everyman and his dog knows we will promote VandenBerg for the Trengove LTI,

so who is the other rookie promotion for Petrecca?

White, Harmes or King??

from what I have seen/heard, maxy king is not ready yet.

know naff all about white.

which leaves Harmes (who I have also heard next to bugger-all about)

I think that they will hold off on the second promotion until it's needed. None of them are really ready for it but if we have a sudden run of injuries in one area then we'll see one of them promoted to cover it.

but seriously how good does Vandenberg look? Bloody good. Roos knows what hes doing getting big tall midfielders to the cub

vandenBerg is a monte to be upgraded in the next week or so and in time to play against Gold Coast.

Harmes is next cab off the rank but still a way back and then it's daylight to King and White.

At this stage, it's highly unlikely for the foreseeable future that we will upgrade more than one player unless we absolutely have to or a decision is made to give one of them a run late in the season.

He's almost too good to be true, this bloke. An undiscovered 23 year old playing in Canberra with who is a ball magnet with very good skills, excellent reading of the play, top 10 percentile speed, big, and hugely competitive. I'd be suspicious except for the fact that it's only remarkable because we are so youth obsessed. It leads to the false assumption that all quality is exposed by 18 years of age, and ignorance of the fact that people mature physically and mentally at different rates. As such, the senior footy codes country wide are a potential gold mine of talent. Let's hope he doesn't get infected by the seemingly perpetual inadequacy of our club, and instead heads up a change in our competitive psychology.

It leads to the false assumption that all quality is exposed by 18 years of age, and ignorance of the fact that people mature physically and mentally at different rates.

Exactly. I'm not that much chop at footy, but even if I was the second coming of Chris Judd, I would have been undraftable at 18. I had the body of a 14-15 year old. I reckon there's still talent to be found in the lower leagues, for sure.

He had troubles with interest and fitness. And the odd injury.

He is originally from Tathra on the South Coast of NSW and Ainslie brought him up 4 years ago and it took him a couple years to show something to get noticed with. He was overweight and interested in other things aswell as footy.

How it relates to these teenagers that he has 'gone past' that we took in the draft is that he was well away from prying eyes when he had his issues with his footy.

I think i read somewhere that as part of his contract at Ainslie, they provided him with a pushbike and told him to use it to get to and from training.

I think i read somewhere that as part of his contract at Ainslie, they provided him with a pushbike and told him to use it to get to and from training.

So you can imagine what they thought of his fitness levels...

I'd be suspicious except for the fact that it's only remarkable because we are so youth obsessed.

Youth obsessed?

On the Demonland banner, supposedly the cream of our team, 50% of the players depicted came recently from other clubs. Except for Dom Tyson, they are all over 26, three are over 28 and one is 32 next week.

They do provide the age and experience our 'youth obsessed' team from a few years ago desperately needed.

Youth obsessed?

On the Demonland banner, supposedly the cream of our team, 50% of the players depicted came recently from other clubs. Except for Dom Tyson, they are all over 26, three are over 28 and one is 32 next week.

They do provide the age and experience our 'youth obsessed' team from a few years ago desperately needed.

I was speaking generally, about the footy world. I actually think our trading in maturity has been a welcome sign of some sense.

Exactly. I'm not that much chop at footy, but even if I was the second coming of Chris Judd, I would have been undraftable at 18. I had the body of a 14-15 year old. I reckon there's still talent to be found in the lower leagues, for sure.

At 17 I was 163cm and 80kg. At 20 I was 185cm and 85kg. Some people develop late.

At 17 I was 163cm and 80kg. At 20 I was 185cm and 85kg. Some people develop late.

wow! that is [censored] incredible (unless you had a typo)

did you go on a paleo diet or visit mr danks?

Edited March 22, 201510 yr by daisycutter