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Toby Bedford, Kade Chandler and Bailey Laurie…


Paulo

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1 hour ago, Winners at last said:

I haven't seen anything from Bedford or Chandler to suggest that either will make the grade.

FWIW Lockhart showed more than these guys, but was shown the door. (I know he played a different position.)

Haven't seen anything of Laurie at all. 

 

Makes you wonder why professionals, whose careers depend on such decisions, elected to cut one and keep the others.

Jokes.

Lockhart was cut because he wasn't AFL level, as evidenced by the fact another ub didn’t pick him up.

Bedford and Chandler ARE AFL level. As evidenced both are close to getting into the starting 22 of a premiership side.

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59 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

In what way?

Not being critical but he hit up Port players on three occasions which is highly unusual for Jake.

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I enjoy the discussion on our youngsters as I don’t get to see them live, Bedford, Chandler, Laurie and Baker have all been impacted by Covid and our newbies are only 2 games into their potential careers. I am also curious why we aren’t seeing any big numbers from the kids even though we are winning games, are they being coached more as role players rather than accumulators and could this be effecting Dunstan as well??

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6 hours ago, binman said:

No, would be my view.

Bedford and anb are not really small forwards as such - not in the traditional definition of a crumbing, goal kicking small forward.

Both play that high half forward role that involves running up and down the ground all game. Nibbler is only behind langdon in kms coveted each game.

Laurie is a mid or half back. I don't think he has ever played as a forward, either in his junior career or at Casey.

Spargo and kozzie also both do a fair bit of up and down the ground running  but are certainly more the traditional crumbing small forward.

But you need coverage for both, so two playing tbst role at casey

Chandler is a forward, but is also being trialled as a mid  But can cover them.

And AMW is the other.

The reason I say we have to many small forwards is because of the lack of medium forwards we have

I understand they all have different skills and roles but they are all small and will mostly play forward if in the team, none of them can cover Fritta if he goes down, how many genuine medium forwards do we have on the list    2 , one who happens to be our best forward in Fritta, and the other being Melksham who will be retired by the end of the year . 

We actually have 3, tracc  but he just happens to be a dominant midfielder aswell

We need another natural medium forward who kicks goals imo 

Howes ? Wing or HF

The club certainly has had some gems over the years, fritta, jarrah, robbo, green, jacko  

Thoughts ?

 

 

 

 

 

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Out of the three originally mentioned it is still Bailey Laurie who excites me the most.

He had a bit of bad luck in his first year with injuries and COVID-19 lockdowns curtailing his season in 2021.

However, he has the most upside. Just needs to get stronger, fitter and impact games more.

Flashing in and out of games kicking 2 goals isn't enough. He needs to put in consistent 4 quarter efforts.

Once he gains enough experience at VFL level at the Casey Demons he will eventually get his chance at AFL level with the Melbourne Demons.

His side-step, ball use, decision making, pace and kicking skills are excellent. As can be seen in the highlights video from his draft year (shown below). Bailey just needs to get used to playing against bigger bodies in the VFL for a while. Either way, there is no rush on him to play AFL straight away. Let him develop his craft in the VFL for a while.

 

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6 hours ago, Redleg said:

Players in good clubs who can't get games, but play ok, are seen as targets by other clubs. 

Some of our boys not making it into the 22, will be seen by the club as tradeable.

This improves ours draft position and helps add further layers of talent to the list, while giving the players the chance to play senior footy.

Bang on.

These players become assets that we should exploit.

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6 hours ago, Lil_red_fire_engine said:

Not dimissing him at all. I just think if he is playing mid forward they will want to see him get to more contests, work harder defensively and attract more than single figure possessions before he is considered in what is an area of the ground we have kept most stable over the last 18 months. He has some serious tools but I suggest they are playing him in that role at VFL as this is best for ours and his development for when he is ready. I just dont see it being this season. Another pre season and a year playing mid against mature bodies and he will be well tooled to play high half forward at AFL level. 

That may be true LRFE but the post was who had the most upside and we seem to be in agreement that Laurie is the most thought of fir the future. 
I am simply saying that playing mid and forward will give him a great chance to develop quicker.  
we don't know how he will snd at what speed. He has had very little footy in the 12 mths at the Club and running around on the ball will help him develop his skills  at a greater pace. 
Chandler snd Bedford definitely also deserve our support as they are doing  all they can to get in the AFL team and are not far off it. 

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22 minutes ago, 58er said:

That may be true LRFE but the post was who had the most upside and we seem to be in agreement that Laurie is the most thought of fir the future. 
I am simply saying that playing mid and forward will give him a great chance to develop quicker.  
we don't know how he will snd at what speed. He has had very little footy in the 12 mths at the Club and running around on the ball will help him develop his skills  at a greater pace. 
Chandler snd Bedford definitely also deserve our support as they are doing  all they can to get in the AFL team and are not far off it. 

If the question is who has the most upside it’s Laurie. If the question is who is least ready to play AFL It is also I Laurie.

I am super impressed in the attributes he is showing and really want him to get a full year of VFL mid forward and another big preseason until he is considered in the picture. 

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1 hour ago, Paulo said:

The reason I say we have to many small forwards is because of the lack of medium forwards we have

I understand they all have different skills and roles but they are all small and will mostly play forward if in the team, none of them can cover Fritta if he goes down, how many genuine medium forwards do we have on the list    2 , one who happens to be our best forward in Fritta, and the other being Melksham who will be retired by the end of the year . 

We actually have 3, tracc  but he just happens to be a dominant midfielder aswell

We need another natural medium forward who kicks goals imo 

Howes ? Wing or HF

The club certainly has had some gems over the years, fritta, jarrah, robbo, green, jacko  

Thoughts ?

 

 

 

 

 

Paulo if Van Rooyen is really only 193cm (6.4) then he would be considered medium in todays terms, Howes is 191cm (6.3) could be another not sure who else could fill the bill.

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2 hours ago, Paulo said:

The reason I say we have to many small forwards is because of the lack of medium forwards we have

I understand they all have different skills and roles but they are all small and will mostly play forward if in the team, none of them can cover Fritta if he goes down, how many genuine medium forwards do we have on the list    2 , one who happens to be our best forward in Fritta, and the other being Melksham who will be retired by the end of the year . 

We actually have 3, tracc  but he just happens to be a dominant midfielder aswell

We need another natural medium forward who kicks goals imo 

Howes ? Wing or HF

The club certainly has had some gems over the years, fritta, jarrah, robbo, green, jacko  

Thoughts ?

Yeah, that's a fair point.

We don't have an obvious replacement for fritter.

I suspect a medium size forward with the skill set of fritter is not an easy player to find.

Back in rhe day there were plenty such players, but the days of such specialisation ate probably largely gone.

I wonder if rosman could be an option?

 

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Chandler's game against Willy was pretty decent i thought.  Will probably need to kick the door down to get another look though me thinks after his very ordinary first up performance in Rnd 9 vs the Blues last season.

I liked Bedford's first up game this year.  Looked more switched on to the high end tempo of AFL and brought some serious pace and reasonable finish at the highest level.  However, he pretty much only played half a match so would need to see a chunk more and playing a large part of a match before being convinced he is ready.

Laurie i haven't seen enough of of late at VFL level to say.

If i had to pick one who is more ready out of the three i'd probably say Bedford but not with a high degree of confidence.

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Bedford and Chandler certainly are on the edge of selection. Spargo is ok and gives enough but his spot is still one that Bedford or Chandler could grab in my opinion.  
 

Laurie is in a development year. I agree he is more half forward than midfielder.  We have plenty of small forwards so he’ll need to find some more tricks or pace to get an opportunity. 

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10 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Let them all play 50-60 games at Casey. 
We all know what happens when kids are played to early. 
 

Jake Bowey is the exception 

50-60 games is 3 seasons (or 5 if you count 2020 - no games - & 2021 - 9 games). Jake Bowey is not the exception. Luke Jackson, Kossie Picket, Trent Rivers, James Jordon, Tom Sparrow... I agree you shouldn't play kids too early but as long as you don't introduce too many at a time and as long as they're integrated into a successful team they don't need 50-60 games, 15-20 is more like it. If they're key forwards of course they're likely to need longer but not 3 seasons!

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3 hours ago, Lil_red_fire_engine said:

If the question is who has the most upside it’s Laurie. If the question is who is least ready to play AFL It is also I Laurie.

I am super impressed in the attributes he is showing and really want him to get a full year of VFL mid forward and another big preseason until he is considered in the picture. 

I agree entirely. He and Bowey were basically rated at the same level by the  Club at the 2020 draft and due to injury/covid last year he hardly played (how many games? 3 or 4?). So he has now played a total of say 8 games so clearly has enormous scope for improvement.

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14 hours ago, Lil_red_fire_engine said:

Bedford is good next up for Koz, ANB and Spargo but they have him covered at present. I dont rate Chandler highly. Laurie is playing more mid forward than forward. He shows some serious footy iQ and skill and will be a quality future player but needs a full season of development at Casey in 2022.  

totally agree 100%

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2 hours ago, binman said:

Yeah, that's a fair point.

We don't have an obvious replacement for fritter.

I suspect a medium size forward with the skill set of fritter is not an easy player to find.

Back in rhe day there were plenty such players, but the days of such specialisation ate probably largely gone.

I wonder if rosman could be an option?

 

I understand what you are saying but as Goody says it is all about Team balance and if means that other players in the 22 change around to cover a position then there is always other players to fill the void. A classical example is Gus moving to the HB while JJ covers the Wing position - which he did with class last week.

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11 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Let them all play 50-60 games at Casey. 
We all know what happens when kids are played to early. 
 

Jake Bowey is the exception 

What about Rivers, Jackson and Pickett? What about Sparrow and Jordon? What a silly statement. 

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Bailey Laurie is the one out of the three mentioned. Chandler and Bedford may make it at AFL level, but more likely at another club, which is still great. 
 

Laurie was rated higher in the draft than Bowey and possesses the same skill with ball in hand and ‘footy IQ’. The club don’t waste top picks anymore. After an interrupted season last year, Laurie is only going to get better and his class has been on show in his 3 VFL games so far.

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7 hours ago, Supreme_Demon said:

Out of the three originally mentioned it is still Bailey Laurie who excites me the most.

He had a bit of bad luck in his first year with injuries and COVID-19 lockdowns curtailing his season in 2021.

However, he has the most upside. Just needs to get stronger, fitter and impact games more.

Flashing in and out of games kicking 2 goals isn't enough. He needs to put in consistent 4 quarter efforts.

Once he gains enough experience at VFL level at the Casey Demons he will eventually get his chance at AFL level with the Melbourne Demons.

His side-step, ball use, decision making, pace and kicking skills are excellent. As can be seen in the highlights video from his draft year (shown below). Bailey just needs to get used to playing against bigger bodies in the VFL for a while. Either way, there is no rush on him to play AFL straight away. Let him develop his craft in the VFL for a while.

 

Always sketchy on these highlight packages but that side step he's got is sublime.
Certainly looks like he can play.


 

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