The one that got away

[DeeVoted 583]

Been keeping tabs on this bloke for awhile. Any interest? anyone?

Details:

Hgt: 183cm Wgt: 82kg

Position: Onballer/Forward

Natural foot: Right

Honours:

Victoria Country

All Australian

TAC Coaches Award

Centre in TAC Team of the Year

National Draft Camp Invitee

TAC Stats:

Previous year : 17 games, 28 goals, 21.9 PPG.

Current year : 18 games, 21 goals, 25.4 PPG.

Player Profile:

Now here is one exciting prospect and will be a star at AFL level. The youngster was solid last year, but was outstanding in Victoria Country. He is basically a barrel-chested midfielder who can do everything, but just as impressive is he ability to go forward, be the go-to man and dominate. He could play anywhere from centre to a flank to forward pocket at AFL level no worries at all.

It was well known that he carried osteitis pubis for a lot of the year, and this meant he spent perhaps more time up forward than he would have liked. Despite this, he still had the ability to win games on his own. He is one of those players who will see a game isn't going the way he likes and will just take it by the scruff of the neck and drag his way.His kicking is excellent. Can kick a long way, and is very accurate with the weighting of his passes. Not afraid to use his left, which is adequate. Tends to prefer to dispose by foot than hand, and if I did have a query it is his handballing, can miss targets.

His marking ability for his size is simply incredible. He had the highest vertical leap of ANY player at draft camp. The guy is capable of winning the car one year, that's how good a grab he is. Is also unbelievably strong in the hips - he loves to work one-on-one with someone in a marking contest, keeps his feet really well.Does all the team things and is hard at the footy - 111 tackles including 13 in a game give you some idea of his work ethic.

He is super competitive and even when he is struggling with injury still gives his all. Is usually poised and calm in traffic as well. The list of achievements as long as your arm gives you some idea how good he was this year.I saw him play a full game in the midfield early in the year and he was awesome. I think once he gets over his OP he will be a superb player. Definite top selection for mine.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

This has been done before

[jumbo returns 6,741]

Is this Colin Sylvia?

Poor pick in a very poor draft.

[rjay 24,919]

Been keeping tabs on this bloke for awhile. Any interest? anyone?

Details:

Hgt: 183cm Wgt: 82kg

Position: Onballer/Forward

Natural foot: Right

Honours:

Victoria Country

All Australian

TAC Coaches Award

Centre in TAC Team of the Year

National Draft Camp Invitee

TAC Stats:

Previous year : 17 games, 28 goals, 21.9 PPG.

Current year : 18 games, 21 goals, 25.4 PPG.

Player Profile:

Now here is one exciting prospect and will be a star at AFL level. The youngster was solid last year, but was outstanding in Victoria Country. He is basically a barrel-chested midfielder who can do everything, but just as impressive is he ability to go forward, be the go-to man and dominate. He could play anywhere from centre to a flank to forward pocket at AFL level no worries at all.

It was well known that he carried osteitis pubis for a lot of the year, and this meant he spent perhaps more time up forward than he would have liked. Despite this, he still had the ability to win games on his own. He is one of those players who will see a game isn't going the way he likes and will just take it by the scruff of the neck and drag his way.His kicking is excellent. Can kick a long way, and is very accurate with the weighting of his passes. Not afraid to use his left, which is adequate. Tends to prefer to dispose by foot than hand, and if I did have a query it is his handballing, can miss targets.

His marking ability for his size is simply incredible. He had the highest vertical leap of ANY player at draft camp. The guy is capable of winning the car one year, that's how good a grab he is. Is also unbelievably strong in the hips - he loves to work one-on-one with someone in a marking contest, keeps his feet really well.Does all the team things and is hard at the footy - 111 tackles including 13 in a game give you some idea of his work ethic.

He is super competitive and even when he is struggling with injury still gives his all. Is usually poised and calm in traffic as well. The list of achievements as long as your arm gives you some idea how good he was this year.I saw him play a full game in the midfield early in the year and he was awesome. I think once he gets over his OP he will be a superb player. Definite top selection for mine.

...and that is the key that should have alerted recruiters.

[Whispering_Jack 30,036]

It's not as if a player like him has escaped the notice of all 18 clubs and given that he played for Gippsland Power and even had a game for the Casey Scorpions, our own people would certainly have seen enough of him to make the decision as to whether he was on their short list. Despite the wraps in the above pen picture, there must be other things in his make up that caused him not to be taken.

I recall a player in the mid to late 1990s who was a star forward for Vic Metro in the Under 18 Championships, a solid key forward named Quinn. He kicked a bag of four or five goals in one game and many (myself included) believed he would go top 10 in the national draft. He wasn't even rookied. He ended up at Sandringhsm but I don't think he lasted long at that level.

You might have one or two clubs whose recruiting teams that get things wrong (and don't we know it?) but all 18?

[CBDees 3,167]

Use him to increase the depth of Casey to cover our inevitable injuries.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

Perfectly illustrates how full of S all these self-proclaimed experts are. I'd like to read the equivalent one about Morton.

[nutbean 8,838]

Perfectly illustrates how full of S all these self-proclaimed experts are. I'd like to read the equivalent one about Morton.

I look at it a different way.

I think the reviews that these experts give are correct but are only a snapshot in time. They are describing what these players are like at TAC level. A competition that is age limited with little emphasis on defense.

The experts get it fairly close on who will go at what pick - again - the snapshot in time.

Where the S comes in is they have little idea on how it will translate into an AFL career, whether the players will step up, whether they will progress, whether the strengths will stay a strength and weaknesses ironed out.

All you need to do is a retrospective draft analysis of the last 10 drafts to figure out that the experts have no idea on how these kids will actually go in the big league.

[Moonshadow 17,676]

Got away. Luckily.

[DeeVoted 583]

Is this Colin Sylvia?

Poor pick in a very poor draft.

AKA - Just needs one good Pre Season under his belt. Refer to Freo for updates. It isnt meant to be another Col Sylvia bashing thread.

The above post I deleted references to Colin Sylvia, it wasnt meant to trick anyone. Now refer to Curry & Beer, and Nutbean nailed where I was going with this.

[DeeVoted 583]

I look at it a different way.

I think the reviews that these experts give are correct but are only a snapshot in time. They are describing what these players are like at TAC level. A competition that is age limited with little emphasis on defense.

The experts get it fairly close on who will go at what pick - again - the snapshot in time.

Where the S comes in is they have little idea on how it will translate into an AFL career, whether the players will step up, whether they will progress, whether the strengths will stay a strength and weaknesses ironed out.

All you need to do is a retrospective draft analysis of the last 10 drafts to figure out that the experts have no idea on how these kids will actually go in the big league.

Congrats Nutbean, you managed to pickup where this was intended to go. Let's take it a bit further.

Firstly the above could have been written about any promising young player, using Sylvia just highlights how pear shaped it all could go.

We cant blame Col, he didn't do the write up. Perhaps he read what was said about him, not just this write up just any that described his talents and it went to his head. If it was his own personal CV, then he could expect to be torn to shreds.

The point of the post is, we continually get seduced with high draft picks and the writeups. As you pointed out, they may be standouts in a TAC comp. We read the writeups and without them playing a senior game, we expect them to walk right in and be champions ,when they don't they then get labelled as a dud or wont make an AFL player. Its no different this year with 'the tractor" and Brayshaw. Some have them in their best 22, and they have yet to get through a pre season. They may look great in a NAB Cup game, but if they start to cause havoc on the scoreboard in a game for the 4 pts, indirectly or directly you can bet the opposition will send one of their more seasoned bigger body player to do a shutdown role. They are no longer up against kids their own age.

Roos setting a tough training session, (when the new kids were due to have their 1st run), was planned. I'm betting he was making a point, one to knock out any cockiness in them and bring them back to earth,also make it know just how hard they need to train.

Some of the best players have come to the club way down the draft, without all the fan fair, ie Junior Mac. is one.

So believe all the hype at your own peril if they dont succeed, don't put the blame back on the player if you are disappointed. Let the kids enjoy being drafted, then judge them after 50 games, 100 games. History will determine if they were champions. Not some clips of the best passages of play or some glossy writeup. In the meantime, they look promising, but no guarentee they be 200 game players.

If I had of inserted some kids name using Cols' wrtite, most would be drooling at the prospect. And we all know how it turned out with the above example.

[IvanBartul13 2,564]

Congrats Nutbean, you managed to pickup where this was intended to go. Let's take it a bit further.

Firstly the above could have been written about any promising young player, using Sylvia just highlights how pear shaped it all could go.

We cant blame Col, he didn't do the write up. Perhaps he read what was said about him, not just this write up just any that described his talents and it went to his head. If it was his own personal CV, then he could expect to be torn to shreds.

The point of the post is, we continually get seduced with high draft picks and the writeups. As you pointed out, they may be standouts in a TAC comp. We read the writeups and without them playing a senior game, we expect them to walk right in and be champions ,when they don't they then get labelled as a dud or wont make an AFL player. Its no different this year with 'the tractor" and Brayshaw. Some have them in their best 22, and they have yet to get through a pre season. They may look great in a NAB Cup game, but if they start to cause havoc on the scoreboard in a game for the 4 pts, indirectly or directly you can bet the opposition will send one of their more seasoned bigger body player to do a shutdown role. They are no longer up against kids their own age.

Roos setting a tough training session, (when the new kids were due to have their 1st run), was planned. I'm betting he was making a point, one to knock out any cockiness in them and bring them back to earth,also make it know just how hard they need to train.

Some of the best players have come to the club way down the draft, without all the fan fair, ie Junior Mac. is one.

So believe all the hype at your own peril if they dont succeed, don't put the blame back on the player if you are disappointed. Let the kids enjoy being drafted, then judge them after 50 games, 100 games. History will determine if they were champions. Not some clips of the best passages of play or some glossy writeup. In the meantime, they look promising, but no guarentee they be 200 game players.

If I had of inserted some kids name using Cols' wrtite, most would be drooling at the prospect. And we all know how it turned out with the above example.

I don't get where you're going with this. The above couldn't be written about many players it was written about a gun junior footballer, one of the top 10 TAC cup players I've seen amongst thousands. The fact is Sylvia was a better TAC cup player and prospect than either Petracca or Brayshaw and a large part of the blame why he hasn't lived up to his potential is probably to do with his work rate and attitude and a fair portion is too do with injury. He has still put in a decent enough career and a fair bit better than that of Kane Tenace and Ryley Dunn who most on Demonland wanted us to draft. As far as I'm concerned you have just wasted 400 odd words and 5 minutes of my life I won't get back on a pointless drivel of a topic.

[Ron Burgundy 8,584]

Col always had the ability. Everyone knows that.

Should have done so much more with his AFL career.

Probably bagged a lot of chicks though. And I suspect those stats are pretty important to Col.

May come to regret that in a few years from now though.

What's Tony Modra up to these days?

[Ethan Tremblay 30,856]

Col always had the ability. Everyone knows that.

Should have done so much more with his AFL career.

Probably bagged a lot of chicks though. And I suspect those stats are pretty important to Col.

May come to regret that in a few years from now though.

What's Tony Modra up to these days?

He's a cattle farmer.

[Ron Burgundy 8,584]

He looked like a surfer.

[Axis of Bob 11,801]

Yep. Sylvia was a phenomenal junior footballer. They'd just kick the footy in his general vicinity and he'd beat everyone around him and win it, or make his opponents wish he had. And he'd take a hanger every week. Plus he did it all whilst playing with osteitis pubis.

The scribe of that pen pic was right to write so glowingly about him, as he could have been a proper champion footballer.

It's actually a testament to his enormous natural ability that he has been able to play 200 decent games despite not having any work rate.

If anything, what the OP should have been saying is that everyone is different and we should understand those differences when judging players. But unfortunately he took the opposite angle, which was a poor one.

[monoccular 17,426]

If anyone here has the time and resources, it would be 'interesting' to follow up on the experts' top 20 over the past 15 years or so - and to see how many made the grade and if certain clubs did better overall than others.

[rjay 24,919]

Col always had the ability. Everyone knows that.

I don't believe that but don't get me going again.

The write up actually points to Col's biggest fault and why he didn't make it.

[Axis of Bob 11,801]

I don't believe that but don't get me going again.

Really. You are arguing that Sylvia didn't ever have the ability?!?!?

Wow.

[beelzebub 23,352]

Really. You are arguing that Sylvia didn't ever have the ability?!?!?

Wow.

who cares...he was a [censored] !! are you arguing he want ?? wow

[Axis of Bob 11,801]

who cares...he was a [censored] !! are you arguing he want ?? wow

That isn't the argument.

The argument is the talent level of Sylvia.

[Sir Why You Little 37,034]

Without the desire the ability is a moot point...

[Axis of Bob 11,801]

Without the desire the ability is a moot point...

Yep, but it's still not the argument.

[rjay 24,919]

Really. You are arguing that Sylvia didn't ever have the ability?!?!?

Wow.

I have always said that he didn't have the ability to make it as the player many thought he should have been, he lacked some things needed to be a top grader. Leigh Mathews finally cottoned on a couple of years back.

It's been posted a number of times, some agree many don't. I reckon the proof is in the result, he's an ok player not a gun.

[Axis of Bob 11,801]

I have always said that he didn't have the ability to make it as the player many thought he should have been, he lacked some things needed to be a top grader. Leigh Mathews finally cottoned on a couple of years back.

It's been posted a number of times, some agree many don't. I reckon the proof is in the result, he's an ok player not a gun.

What was the the fatal flaw in his natural talent that would not have allowed him to be a top line player?