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McVee & Laurie vs Baker

Cranky Franky
in Melbourne Demons

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I'll be interested to see how the 3 go for the game & season. I watched Casey last year & thought Baker the better player by a mile. I thought the fact that he only got 1 senior game in 2 years showed poor judgement by our coaches.

Good luck to all 3.

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    35 minutes ago, Action Jackson said:

    The games I saw I felt he butchered the ball a lot.

    His kick to advantage was lacking but I often wondered if at least some blame lay with the receivers. When selected at AFL level a few years back he didn't get much of the ball and had little impact.

    Thought he deserved selection last year when Langdon was injured

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    I didn't mind Baker, but he wasn't really banging the door down at Casey last year.

    That said, neither McVee or Laurie has actually found the door yet, so are very lucky to be playing this week.

    Good luck to all three.

     

     

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    9 minutes ago, poita said:

    I didn't mind Baker, but he wasn't really banging the door down at Casey last year.

    That said, neither McVee or Laurie has actually found the door yet, so are very lucky to be playing this week.

    Good luck to all three.

     

     

    Sorry if this has been asked/answered elsewhere, but do any 'Landers know, with authority, who is on the selection panel and what the relative weights of their inputs are? At Round 1, with no 'real' match form to go on, the selections of 'My Boy' McVee and 'Bill' Laurie suggest a body of attributes being seen in them, by possibly a range of informed perspectives, over the preseason's training routines, simulations, etc.

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    12 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

    Sorry if this has been asked/answered elsewhere, but do any 'Landers know, with authority, who is on the selection panel and what the relative weights of their inputs are? At Round 1, with no 'real' match form to go on, the selections of 'My Boy' McVee and 'Bill' Laurie suggest a body of attributes being seen in them, by possibly a range of informed perspectives, over the preseason's training routines, simulations, etc.

    Not with authority no, but from what some posters here say, I'm pretty sure whichever player has incriminating photos of Goody gets to select themselves.

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    1 hour ago, Cranky Franky said:

    I'll be interested to see how the 3 go for the game & season. I watched Casey last year & thought Baker the better player by a mile. I thought the fact that he only got 1 senior game in 2 years showed poor judgement by our coaches.

    Good luck to all 3.

    Not known for his quality disposal and he was vying for a spot in a midfield that had widely-acknowledged ‘forward connection’ issues.

    The dogs are perhaps less worried about ‘how’ he gets it in there (because they’ve got so many marking options)?

    Hope it works out for him - from round 2 onwards, of course.

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    1 hour ago, Action Jackson said:

    The games I saw I felt he butchered the ball a lot.

    Came down from NSW and went to the Grand Final and explained to my daughter that Oscar missing kicks by 10 metres in a VFL game (albeit a Grand Final) would make the transition to an AFL side where it is quicker and more intuitive harder.

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    19 minutes ago, #11-TonyAnderson said:

    Came down from NSW and went to the Grand Final and explained to my daughter that Oscar missing kicks by 10 metres in a VFL game (albeit a Grand Final) would make the transition to an AFL side where it is quicker and more intuitive harder.

    Thats pretty unfair. While his disposal wasn't elite it clearly improved & was as good as several on the senior list.

    Also the Grand Final was played in shocking wet conditions & almost every player miss kicked the ball that day.

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    1 hour ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

    Sorry if this has been asked/answered elsewhere, but do any 'Landers know, with authority, who is on the selection panel and what the relative weights of their inputs are? At Round 1, with no 'real' match form to go on, the selections of 'My Boy' McVee and 'Bill' Laurie suggest a body of attributes being seen in them, by possibly a range of informed perspectives, over the preseason's training routines, simulations, etc.

    An excellent question Timothy, I too would like to know more about the selection panel.

     

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    In short, I think it was decided Baker didn’t have enough AFL traits (as opposed to VFL traits), and the others either do show those traits or there’s faith they will develop enough of those traits.

    Baker is 24 and I he’s probably pretty much peaked as a footballer. He’s fast, but aside from that I’m not sure what else would set him apart at AFL level. He mostly blasted the ball forward, not much finesse.

    The acquisition of Hunter put him one player further away from a senior game on the wing, but ironically meant the Bulldogs needed a wing. With Howes and likely Woewodin also competing for depth at wing (and Jordon who was preferred in 2022) that’s just too many wingers to keep.

    Laurie and McVee were not competing for the same spots as Baker. Laurie is clearly more highly skilled than Baker and is a forward. McVee also appears more highly skilled and more capable as an actual defender. Sure they got nowhere near as much ball as Baker in the VFL, but James Munro and Mitch White also get more of the ball in the VFL. Laurie and McVee are also 4 and 5 years younger, so more scope to develop and improve than Baker.

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    Respectfully I’d hope. Can’t imagine there would be any bad blood.

    Edited by Vipercrunch

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    20 hours ago, The Jackson FIX said:

    Not known for his quality disposal and he was vying for a spot in a midfield that had widely-acknowledged ‘forward connection’ issues.

    The dogs are perhaps less worried about ‘how’ he gets it in there (because they’ve got so many marking options)?

    Hope it works out for him - from round 2 onwards, of course.

    Should have been tried as a small defender to replace Nev Jetta - had pace, aggression & overlap running.

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    5 minutes ago, Dingo said:

    How do we react if he kicks a goal?

    I'd like to think fans wouldn't bat an eyelid on delisted players such as Baker who hasn't even played an AFL game for 2 years..

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    He didn't walk out on us. Deserves respect and good luck.

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    • Demonland changed the title to McVee & Laurie vs Baker
    20 hours ago, Cranky Franky said:

    Thats pretty unfair. While his disposal wasn't elite it clearly improved & was as good as several on the senior list.

    Also the Grand Final was played in shocking wet conditions & almost every player miss kicked the ball that day.

    Sorry but this is just wrong. His disposal barely improved in several years on the list - he's a real butcher. As in, was the worst kick on our list. It was not close to anyone else on the list aside from maybe our lumbering rucks. 

    He's a busy, high metres gained player and maybe the dogs are pleased with that. But ultimately he will need to hit targets in this game, another, or crucial finals and he'd be close to the worst amongst all starting 22s at doing so.

    He may have improved over the dogs off season and I wish him well (not too well against us!). But it was the right time to move him on.

    Edited by fr_ap

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    30 minutes ago, fr_ap said:

    Sorry but this is just wrong. His disposal barely improved in several years on the list - he's a real butcher. As in, was the worst kick on our list. It was not close to anyone else on the list aside from maybe our lumbering rucks. 

    He's a busy, high metres gained player and maybe the dogs are pleased with that. But ultimately he will need to hit targets in this game, another, or crucial finals and he'd be close to the worst amongst all starting 22s at doing so.

    He may have improved over the dogs off season and I wish him well (not too well against us!). But it was the right time to move him on.

    Agree.

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    I watched a fair bit of Casey last year, and thought that Baker was serviceable, but that his game wouldn't transfer to VFL level. Taking the extra step, kicking into F50 but the forwards having to stop under the ball, little impact around contested ball etc... Having said that, I thought the same about McVee. 

    I am really glad Laurie got a game, even if he hasn't show the goods very often yet. If he can't get past Spargo and Chandler for a spot in the 22, I reckon we lose him at season's end to a team that needs a small forward with his skill set. Too good to flounder in the VFL. 

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    23 hours ago, Cranky Franky said:

    I'll be interested to see how the 3 go for the game & season. I watched Casey last year & thought Baker the better player by a mile. I thought the fact that he only got 1 senior game in 2 years showed poor judgement by our coaches.

    Good luck to all 3.

    Baker clearly had the better VFL year last year as you would expect from a 24 year old vs a 19 year old first year player and a 20 year old small requiring development. That a 24 year old wingman was not getting an AFL game for s probably says where we thought his AFL skill set was at and explains why he was delisted and to young kids were given more time to develop. Based on their inclusion in our round 1 side they clearly have over the preseason.

    Best of luck to all three tonight. 

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    3 hours ago, fr_ap said:

    Sorry but this is just wrong. His disposal barely improved in several years on the list - he's a real butcher. As in, was the worst kick on our list. It was not close to anyone else on the list aside from maybe our lumbering 

    and he'd be close to the worst amongst all starting 22s at doing so.

     

    Absolute gobbledygook. Not sure where u dreamed this up from. I watched every Casey game in 2022 & Oskar's disposal was fine.

    Maybe you have some objective facts about disposal efficiency.

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    On 3/17/2023 at 5:50 AM, Cranky Franky said:

    I'll be interested to see how the 3 go for the game & season. I watched Casey last year & thought Baker the better player by a mile. I thought the fact that he only got 1 senior game in 2 years showed poor judgement by our coaches.

    Good luck to all 3.

    We probably should've trialed him at full forward over Weideman, in hindsight

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    Was there a brief altercation between Baker and some of his former teammates?

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