14 hours ago, DubDee said:

Just a general vibe 

The ‘castle defence’ 😉

37 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Gawd he looks a bit like Gomer Pyle! 

He’s a lot better looking than Gomer.!!!

Gomer Pyle was a fictional character but boy could Jim Nabors sing.

If Kyah could play football as good as Jim Nabors could sing we have a winner.

3 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I'm fully behind the recruitment of Category B players, but I'm not sure about the economics argument. All category B's are highly speculative. But, taking great risks can reap great rewards. It makes me wonder about success rates with category B rookies. I'd count Joel Smith as a success. Who else have we had as a category B that's made it? (I recognise that if this scheme had existed when Jim Stynes and Seam Wight joined us, they would clearly be categorised as a success.)

Looking at DD's feedback and thinking on Cat B players.
What do clubs or these players lose by them coming in via the regular draft. I guess you lose an element of surprise on the other clubs, but that has to be increasingly slim too. 

I guess then why have rookie spots at all?  Given most clubs seem to dump older players in it at the end of their career, not exactly rookies.  

Just have a primary list, let these players nominate for the draft and be done with it.... simple. Doesn't stop us from seeking these guys out to put onto the list from other sports or international (at the end of the draft)
 

I know it's laughable to make any comments off photos but....... his kicking action in that photo looks like someone who knows how to kick a footy. While he might look skinny from my point of view he also looks pretty cut for an 18 yr old. Skin folds already look pretty good. He doesn't look like he's coming in from a zero base like some other Rookie B's I've seen. 

For those that are wondering why Kyah didn't play for Casey yesterday?

Kyah will be playing at lower level in the Coates Talent League level for Dandenong Stingrays. 

He was named in his first game today but not sure how he went.

Dazzle, you may well be correct about plans for him regarding the rest of the year, but he's clearly in the photo of the Casey match report. So unless its a photo from some other game against the Dogs, he must have had some game time in the VFL yesterday

2 hours ago, EMDE said:

Dazzle, you may well be correct about plans for him regarding the rest of the year, but he's clearly in the photo of the Casey match report. So unless its a photo from some other game against the Dogs, he must have had some game time in the VFL yesterday

Mate he didn't play.. I watched the whole game yesterday. The photo is from the previous week against the doggies I the practice match.

He played for Dandenong Stingrays today.

Kyah played for the Dandenong Stingrays today in their 5 goal loss to Geelong Falcons. He kicked a goal, had 3 kicks, 4 handballs, 1 mark and 5 tackles. He had 11 hit outs. These stats compare favourably with Geelong’s ruckman except in hit outs where the opponent had 21 hit outs. All in all, promising for what was essentially his first game.

1 hour ago, KC from Casey said:

Kyah played for the Dandenong Stingrays today in their 5 goal loss to Geelong Falcons. He kicked a goal, had 3 kicks, 4 handballs, 1 mark and 5 tackles. He had 11 hit outs. These stats compare favourably with Geelong’s ruckman except in hit outs where the opponent had 21 hit outs. All in all, promising for what was essentially his first game.

Did they drop Verrall too? or is he injured.

KFW will play for St Bede's Mentone in VAFA B Section so he can get more game time in the ruck.

Rivals watch Saint, free agency switch floated, Hawk's trigger 

 

On 21/10/2022 at 20:54, cantstandyasam said:

Love the lateral thinking by the club. We now have 2 A grade rucks, a soon to be developed ruck in Faris-White and a future father son in Kalani White. We also could pick another in this year's drafts or even next year. very happy with this selection.

Hope Kalani is ours in 2025 draft.

19 hours ago, Nascent said:

KFW will play for St Bede's Mentone in VAFA B Section so he can get more game time in the ruck.

Rivals watch Saint, free agency switch floated, Hawk's trigger 

 

This is a truly excellent decision, and one that is long overdue. SBMT is my local club where my son plays in the juniors, and I look forward to reporting on Kyah's progress this season.

19 hours ago, Nascent said:

KFW will play for St Bede's Mentone in VAFA B Section so he can get more game time in the ruck.

Rivals watch Saint, free agency switch floated, Hawk's trigger 

 

Shades of a certain big Irishman's stint at Prahran.

Look how that turned out 😊

Kyah Faris-White played his first game with St Bedes Mentone in the VAFA on Saturday. They lost to Old Haileybury by 53 points with KFW featuring in the best players and kicking a goal.

St Bedes Mentone Best Zac Calvez, Matthew Lehpamer, Josh Cowan, Benjamin Murphy, Jack Ferraro, Kyah Farris-White.

Meanwhile, Old Haileybury’s Casey list ruckman Jack Bell was picked to play for the Demons but saw vey little action.

On 21/10/2022 at 18:54, Balance Demon said:

The recently retired Stef Martin had basketball background.

 

I vaguely heard something similar about Scott Pendlebury

10 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Kyah Faris-White played his first game with St Bedes Mentone in the VAFA on Saturday. They lost to Old Haileybury by 53 points with KFW featuring in the best players and kicking a goal.

St Bedes Mentone Best Zac Calvez, Matthew Lehpamer, Josh Cowan, Benjamin Murphy, Jack Ferraro, Kyah Farris-White.

Meanwhile, Old Haileybury’s Casey list ruckman Jack Bell was picked to play for the Demons but saw vey little action.

Based on those names, St Bede's has great ethnic heritage diversity.

10 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Kyah Faris-White played his first game with St Bedes Mentone in the VAFA on Saturday. They lost to Old Haileybury by 53 points with KFW featuring in the best players and kicking a goal.

St Bedes Mentone Best Zac Calvez, Matthew Lehpamer, Josh Cowan, Benjamin Murphy, Jack Ferraro, Kyah Farris-White.

Meanwhile, Old Haileybury’s Casey list ruckman Jack Bell was picked to play for the Demons but saw vey little action.

I was wondering what happened with Jack Bell, I thought he was pretty filthy to be dropped from Casey

10 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Kyah Faris-White played his first game with St Bedes Mentone in the VAFA on Saturday. They lost to Old Haileybury by 53 points with KFW featuring in the best players and kicking a goal.

St Bedes Mentone Best Zac Calvez, Matthew Lehpamer, Josh Cowan, Benjamin Murphy, Jack Ferraro, Kyah Farris-White.

Meanwhile, Old Haileybury’s Casey list ruckman Jack Bell was picked to play for the Demons but saw vey little action.

Having played in the VAFA A and B (and a few other) leagues, I can tell you this is miles off the pace of AFL footy - particularly the fitness levels required.  Im not getting too excited about this.

KFW was among the best again for St Bedes Mentone although the team was easily beaten.

Thanks WJ, it is a great starting point for Kyah and shows that he is mastering the basics of the game, small steps but positive ones.😁

14 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

Thanks WJ, it is a great starting point for Kyah and shows that he is mastering the basics of the game, small steps but positive ones.😁

Am I jumping to conclusions by anticipating that this is another  "Jimmy to Prahran and back" situation evolving front of our eyes.

Edited May 19, 20241 yr by Wizard of Koz

Who knows if it will work out as well as that, but it is the right thing to do and it will give him some confidence and some knowledge of the game.

I watched the second half of the SBMT game against Old Camberwell. OC are a mid range Premier B side, and led 64-17 at one point before easing off in the last 1.5 quarters to win by 33 points. A couple of disclaimers - (1) SBMT have lost a lot of talent and experience and will likely be relegated at year end and (2) Kyah is the only player on the team with any height, so basically rucked the entire second half between the arcs against multiple opponents. He may have been one of the team's better players, but that is not really saying much.

The SBMT players were very supportive of Kyah, encouraging him before every contest and urging him to keep working. He would benefit from some greater size and experience in the team to share the load and educate him, but he is certainly getting all the work and game time he needs.

I was disappointed by Kyah's seeming lack of fitness. A player with multiple AFL pre seasons behind him should be able to run out a VAFA game comfortably against part timers. He doesn't provide second efforts after an initial contest and regularly was stationery after the ball moved on. He then had to sprint to get to the next ball up, and was probably lucky that the umpire waited for him on multiple occasions. Clearly he needs to spend more time watching Max's videos.

When Kyah is given time and space to run and jump at the football, including in the ruck, you can see the raw talent. Unfortunately a decent ruck will take away that space and he doesn't have the strength or game understanding to adjust. One of the (very young) boundary umpires was really struggling with his throw ins and Kyah was repeatedly caught miles behind his opponent. He has just missed out on so much match day education over the past two years, and the move to give him regular game time should have happened at least 12 months ago. OC's main ruck (Milham) was taller and heavier, and did a great job of taking away Kyah's leap.

Kyah looked quite likely when he could find some space, particularly when the game opened up in the last quarter. He is quite agile for his size and was able to get involved in a few attacking moves. He took one mark inside 50, and hit the behind post from about 35m on a reasonable angle. His kicking definitely needs work, as does his decision making with ball in hand. Again the lack of strength was hurting him in pack situations.

All in all, this wasn't a great standard of football and, if I wasn't a Melbourne supporter, I wouldn't have given Kyah's game a second thought. He will improve by playing regularly, but I don't see anything resembling an AFL player at this time. Far better for us to focus on recruiting a seasoned backup to Max.

As an aside, Jay Kennedy-Harris was playing for Old Camberwell. I only saw him get one touch in which he delivered a pin point kick across the half forward line while simultaneously seemingly pinging his hamstring.

14 minutes ago, poita said:

He doesn't provide second efforts after an initial contest and regularly was stationery after the ball moved on.

You're saying he's pencil-thin?