On 18/12/2020 at 10:50, dworship said:

I don't believe so, although many people do and I thought so too, for a period of time. I think his reputation for encouraging, communicating and developing indigenous, as well as other ethnic background players is part of why he is so well regarded in developing young talent.

Yes he has.

Great to see Dees giving Kobe the opportunity with the group.  It would be a great story for the Dees if he could make it.  
The Wiz is one of my favourite players ever.  Such a talent and so entertaining.  

Kobe might not become as good as his Father however that is ok He would have to be special if he was to be as good. 

If Kobe happens to be half as good then he will turn out an excellent player for our club. 

I am hoping  that we pick him and lock him in and within time he will get bigger and we just might have something. l am sure he has good footy genes.  A Farmer running around at the Dees would be something special.

  On 18/12/2020 at 10:22, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

Does Williams have indigenous heritage himself and/or has he got a good track record of understanding and getting the most out of players with an indigenous background? 

I'm genuinely interested.

No none at all

Pleased he had been invited to train with our group.
The fact that he was not father son listed by either club. Nor selected by any other club in the draft. In fact did not rate any mention I could see. 
Raises concerns about his ability,but at least this way we can make our own determination. So no regrets. Maybe he is young or too lite for the moment but might develop at a later age. We should have a relationship at least. 
The Wiz was far too good not  to try !

Best of luck Kobe!!!! Hope you can make it and earn a spot out onto the ground for a game or a 150.  

  On 18/12/2020 at 10:14, dworship said:

Bit of Choco magic wouldn't go a stray.

One of the first things I thought of with the Williams appointment was how attractive we might look for a few young indigenous players. Not that I think we have done badly in that area previously just that it might be the cherry on top.

Are you making this up as it doesn't make sense to me.  I don't think any Club or coach is better than another one at developing Indigenous players.

Surely the skills are in developing young players regardless of their backgrounds. 

 

I would love the kid in the list. His dad was an enigma and one of the most exciting players to watch. His game against st Collingwood at the G was magnificent. All the best Kobe

  On 19/12/2020 at 01:23, 640MD said:

Pleased he had been invited to train with our group.
The fact that he was not father son listed by either club. Nor selected by any other club in the draft. In fact did not rate any mention I could see. 
Raises concerns about his ability,but at least this way we can make our own determination. So no regrets. Maybe he is young or too lite for the moment but might develop at a later age. We should have a relationship at least. 
The Wiz was far too good not  to try !

Amazing punctuation.

Thought you were writing a haiku. 

Agree with the sentiments.

Father started playing with us at the same age....

  On 19/12/2020 at 06:48, pitmaster said:

Amazing punctuation.

Thought you were writing a haiku. 

Agree with the sentiments.

Never was good at English or expression 

could only add up !   

 

The Kobe Farmer story has been shrouded in a bit of mystery from my perspective. A few months ago, the word was that he was likely to go to Freo as a father/son or NGA ahead of Melbourne. Then he suddenly appears here in early December, nominates for the draft and misses out entirely.

Our romantic side tells us it would make a great story. The return of the prodigal son of one of our legends is here to mesmerize us with the same magical exploits of his father. I hope it happens but a couple of things do bother me — why have the Dockers fallen off Kobe and by the way, did I miss something else like his measurements? 

It took a bit of searching but I eventually found these statistics from the Peel Thunder site. They appear to be recent and, if correct, put him at 2cm shorter than Kozzie. The stats suggest he has an uphill battle to make the grade. Caleb Daniel at 168cm is the only player in the AFL shorter than him and even Brent Daniels is taller at 170cm but they are both extremely accomplished players. Anyway, good luck to him!

It would be nice to see Kobe make it. The father-son thing is always full of sentiment and even romance. The surname provides a sentimental connection to player and club. Ablett, Viney, Daicos, Rioli, Daniher, the list goes on and on. And now Farmer. 

However, it is unrealistic to think that Kobe will be another Wiz who had freakish skills and ball sense. 

The list of father - son connections to a club is a long one. The Demons have had lots of them and generally the son has been a disappointment 

I hope that the Club has done its homework and think that he has the capacity to be an AFL player and not been influenced by his surname.  Hopefully, the club has taken a thoroughly professional and objective view of its invitation to train. 

We now have a number of pacy smalls that seem to fill our need for this type of player. I don’t  really see where Kobe would fit in and it would be surprising to see him jump ahead of our current crop of small pacy types. 

Let’s hope the club sees development opportunities that others don’t. 

 

The only successful father/son combos since I've been watching have bee  the Dullards & the Vineys.

Lots of fails - Burgmanns, Johnsons, Sullivans, Bourkes.

I wouldn't hold my breath on Farmer.

 

  On 19/12/2020 at 10:34, hemingway said:

It would be nice to see Kobe make it. The father-son thing is always full of sentiment and even romance. The surname provides a sentimental connection to player and club. Ablett, Viney, Daicos, Rioli, Daniher, the list goes on and on. And now Farmer. 

However, it is unrealistic to think that Kobe will be another Wiz who had freakish skills and ball sense. 

The list of father - son connections to a club is a long one. The Demons have had lots of them and generally the son has been a disappointment 

I hope that the Club has done its homework and think that he has the capacity to be an AFL player and not been influenced by his surname.  Hopefully, the club has taken a thoroughly professional and objective view of its invitation to train. 

We now have a number of pacy smalls that seem to fill our need for this type of player. I don’t  really see where Kobe would fit in and it would be surprising to see him jump ahead of our current crop of small pacy types. 

Let’s hope the club sees development opportunities that others don’t. 

 

I hope not to the fathers. 

Freo have a heap of small forwards, so I'm not surprised they told him thanks, but no thanks. It tells us he's not a walk up start and I'm happy the club will get a closer look at him. We're not risking anything with a training invitation.

A bit late to the party once again, but...

This is a FANTASTIC initiative from the club and my hat goes off to all those decision makers involved. In what was a compromised lottery-based draft where the young men truly lacked the ability to show their worth at the interstate level, this does wonders for our culture and ongoing support to those in the Melbourne family.

Of course, no one is going to get a free ride but we know that Kobe has some skill and I hope he puts his best foot forward and earns himself a spot and subsequent chance for a long career in the red and blue.

On the point of culture, it's been fantastic to see some of the interviews with old players that are "red and blue", e.g. Brent Maloney. This mild engagement (such as the support of Jeff Farmer and the interaction with Maloney) reminds me of the Wayne Bennett BBQ culture that formed a unity between past and present players under the brand of the club, which aided in the Brisbane Broncos dynasty that saw many premierships. Shame we can't emulate such simple culture building events in the wake of COVID-19.

 

  On 19/12/2020 at 10:34, hemingway said:

It would be nice to see Kobe make it. The father-son thing is always full of sentiment and even romance. The surname provides a sentimental connection to player and club. Ablett, Viney, Daicos, Rioli, Daniher, the list goes on and on. And now Farmer. 

However, it is unrealistic to think that Kobe will be another Wiz who had freakish skills and ball sense. 

The list of father - son connections to a club is a long one. The Demons have had lots of them and generally the son has been a disappointment 

 

 

Yep. You need to know your history to think of the sons that excelled.

Both Bob Johnsons rated, maybe junior was better; Barassi certainly bigger than his dad; John Lord the second was the superior player records suggest.

Jack Viney developing nicely but it's time we had another second generation to excell or at least match his high achieving Dad.. 

  On 10/12/2020 at 04:37, Wiseblood said:

He wouldn't be that bad, he's just obviously not in the best 80 odd players that got drafted this year. 

With the neck on the chopping block anticipating critiques unfair, I'd venture to say that he'd be one year off 'father and son' nomination and hopefully, with the Dees; furthermore, I'd also venture that he is going to be a gun - even if he is half as good as his father was at the game. For him, with physical and game development in mind, he may well be a brilliant asset for the Dees should we work hard for his future contributions. 

 

  On 19/12/2020 at 23:02, Deemania since 56 said:

With the neck on the chopping block anticipating critiques unfair, I'd venture to say that he'd be one year off 'father and son' nomination and hopefully, with the Dees; furthermore, I'd also venture that he is going to be a gun - even if he is half as good as his father was at the game. For him, with physical and game development in mind, he may well be a brilliant asset for the Dees should we work hard for his future contributions. 

 

nope, he's 1 month past any possible f/s nomination. he's now open market.

I think courage in a son is usually "born into", and that being the case, this is a laydown misère, with heaps of tricks.....

As he’s training with us do we have first dibs on him now?

  On 20/12/2020 at 01:49, Roost it far said:

As he’s training with us do we have first dibs on him now?

Yes can.list him  on the supplement list because he has nominated for the draft, and been overlooked.

Petracca looks like a ruckman next to Kobe. 

 

 

I the picture he looks not much shorter than Viney or Spargo