On 10/09/2017 at 08:03, binman said:

its funny you should say that Macca. When he was drafted my recollection is that many on here said that in fact was his greatest attribute - ie a natural footballer who leads well, attacks the ball in the air and can take a good pack mark. this was seen to be mitigation against the fact he din't play much (any?) TAC because of his ankle injury  

Yeah bm ... there's a lot of over-the-top comments made about schoolboy footballers.  I take it all with a grain of salt. 

The first thing I noticed about the lad (when he first played in the seniors) was that he was trying to take chest marks instead of having his hands outstretched in front.  

At AFL level,  a KPF has got to be trying to mark the ball at it's highest point.  Hogan & Tommy Mac can do it, Watts doesn't. 

The Weed is better now but he's still a ways off.  Because of where he went in the draft, he'll get more time.  Also, the MC will know more than we could possibly know.  

  On 10/09/2017 at 08:15, Macca said:

Yeah bm ... there's a lot of over-the-top comments made about schoolboy footballers.  I take it all with a grain of salt. 

The first thing I noticed about the lad (when he first played in the seniors) was that he was trying to take chest marks instead of having his hands outstretched in front.   At AFL level,  a KPF has got to be trying to mark the ball at it's highest spot.

He's better now but he's a ways off.  Because of where he went in the draft he'll get more time.  Also, the MC will know more than we could possibly know.  

I also think that the way we move the ball forward is terrible for tall forwards. We don't seem to have grasped the notion of "kicking it to advantage" or "kicking it to your teammate's side of the contest".

And we seem to discourage them from leading, either because we can't hit them when we do, or it's coaches' instructions to bomb the ball on to their heads. When we get the ball in the middle of the ground, it's far too easy for oppo defenders to predict what we're going to do. So they don't get drawn away by anybody who leads or who's on their own out wide. They just double- or triple-team Hogan or Watts or Weid or whoever, and defend the high bomb with ease.

One-on-one, Hogan is one of the best contested marks in the comp. Two-on-one or three-on-one, he's got just as little chance as everybody else. Weid's got no chance until we start to move the ball better.

  On 10/09/2017 at 08:35, Akum said:

I also think that the way we move the ball forward is terrible for tall forwards. We don't seem to have grasped the notion of "kicking it to advantage" or "kicking it to your teammate's side of the contest".

And we seem to discourage them from leading, either because we can't hit them when we do, or it's coaches' instructions to bomb the ball on to their heads. When we get the ball in the middle of the ground, it's far too easy for oppo defenders to predict what we're going to do. So they don't get drawn away by anybody who leads or who's on their own out wide. They just double- or triple-team Hogan or Watts or Weid or whoever, and defend the high bomb with ease.

One-on-one, Hogan is one of the best contested marks in the comp. Two-on-one or three-on-one, he's got just as little chance as everybody else. Weid's got no chance until we start to move the ball better.

You're right Akum ... speed of movement is key too.  When we move the ball quickly with confidence & purpose, we can mix it with any team. 

But for whatever reason, we often revert back to moving the ball too slowly.  Teams are adept at flooding back so the initiative is therefore lost.

We could do with a couple more speedsters like Hunt.  I'm happy with the Frost re-signing for the same sort of reason.

  On 10/09/2017 at 08:35, Akum said:

I also think that the way we move the ball forward is terrible for tall forwards. We don't seem to have grasped the notion of "kicking it to advantage" or "kicking it to your teammate's side of the contest".

And we seem to discourage them from leading, either because we can't hit them when we do, or it's coaches' instructions to bomb the ball on to their heads. When we get the ball in the middle of the ground, it's far too easy for oppo defenders to predict what we're going to do. So they don't get drawn away by anybody who leads or who's on their own out wide. They just double- or triple-team Hogan or Watts or Weid or whoever, and defend the high bomb with ease.

One-on-one, Hogan is one of the best contested marks in the comp. Two-on-one or three-on-one, he's got just as little chance as everybody else. Weid's got no chance until we start to move the ball better.

The weid has little chance full stop. Has no impact at vfl level let alone senior level. 

  On 10/09/2017 at 06:48, dazzledavey36 said:

Spencer is by far the biggest waste of space on a AFL list I can ever remember. And to think we've already offered him a 1 year deal shows we still have issues managing our list.

You have a short memory there Dazzle! 

Some here should go back over the first part of Josh Kennedy's career. Early on he was getting games at Carlton, but doing very little with them (5 goals in his first season, 6 in his second ...).

It wasn't until his 4th season that he started averaging 2 goals a game, and his 6th before he exceeded that. 

Weideman has time on his side.

(though also confirms how good Hogan is ...)

  On 09/09/2017 at 23:05, Vineytime said:

Explain how that is Weidemans problem

I will feel sick if Weideman doesn't kick on next year because we will be reminded of this for years to come. We've had too many [censored] ups in our past recruiting regimes FML if this is the result.