Michael Newton

[DemonTraveller 0]

Hello all,

For those of you who remember me, its been a long time! Gday Finks, Whispering, Barry, Scoop etc etc

I have come back to post about something which i find particularly perplexing.

Last year Michael Newton played all year in the sandy 2's and kicked over 100 goals for the year (im pretty sure he did, if not he was close.....)

This year Michael has finally cracked it into the senior line up at Sandy and has continued his prodigious output in the forward line and midfield.

Yet the team with the worst performing forward set up in the afl (yes there have been injuries, all the more reason to give him a go!) sees no need to elevate him into the seniors. Despite his excellent form, he is not mentioned by Daniher in any speeches to the media or even placed on the emergencies list.

We are going to lose this kid shortly if we don't give him a chance. I have heard rumors of attitude problems and a laconic style. I don't understand how a laconic player with attitude problems dominates like he does........

If its a personal issue with Neale.........well personal issues should not come into selection considerations, should they...after all its supposed to be a professional game?

The time for Newton to be given an extended crack in the seniors is looooong overdue.

[sylvinator 96]

anyone who has played competative football (or any sport for that matter) would know that the coach always picks the side based on the way he sees the team.

for example, if there's a number of players at a similar level, the coach will always have a soft spot for a certain player, or prefer a certain characteristic or workrate of a certain player. if often happens that better players for some reason aren't getting picked because the caoch has a certain view of them.

this is particularly evident in daniher. we joke about his love children (godders, ward...) and wonder how they get in the team over others, but the reality is that they will always get in the team over players of similar standard, because they have a quality that the coach likes.

unfortunately for some (ARMSTRONG) this means that certain players simply don't get a go, and would probably do better under a different coaching stuff.

i have a feeling this will happen to Newton. he has never been mentioned as one of our up and coming players, and all the others have been mentioned (except for neville, weetra and bode who are so far off the radar its rediculous)...i have a feeling its because of his attitude that daniher isn't a big fan of him.

at the end of the day, daniher will always prefer Neitz, Dunn, Robbo and Miller as tall forwards before him. there is no room for a fifth forward...some players just werent meant to stick it under the daniher regime.

anyways i hope he gets his go very soon

[Gorgoroth 12,947]

on sen wed morning ND said he was close but i too agree its going to be armstrong all over and to a lesser degree CJ

[brey9186 102]

neale only mentioned him because andrew maher read my sms that i sent through out to him!!!

[Gorgoroth 12,947]

i sent one too but he didnt read it exactly as i wrote so there must have been a few of us that did

[deanox 9,912]

i'd like to hear the opinion on some of the guys who get to sandy every week on this. from what i can tell he has had 2 great weeks in a row but hadnt done much before that this year. he went missing in the preseason games. he only just turned 20 (like last week). that makes him very young, even in football speak, for a tall forward. he could debut next season at the age of 20. this is his 3rd year on the list, and while he has obvious talent maybe he isnt as mature as some of the other guys. if the club is waiting for all aspects of newton to be ready for the pressures of afl footythen this might be a good thing. if he is being held back for another reason i'd like to know as well...

[emubitter 0]

very disapointed.

love neil but why didn't this kid get named on the extended bench just to let him know he's in the mix.

same goes with cj.

chip gets a gurnesey after a qtr in the 3rds.

obviously the coaching staff know more than me, therefore i don't understand.

someone please explain.

who here talks to neil?

i'm as curiuos as hell.

[71 Molloy 266]

His time will come, make the boy work his arse off for it.

[Melon22 174]

His time to get selected was against Sydney, with Neitz and Dunn back from injury he is much further away from being selected.

[Jaded No More 68,905]

I don't think you'll find a bigger advocate for playing the kids, than myself.

However, I don't see how a forward line consisting of Neita, Miller, Dunn and Newton is going to work better. That is too many talls in an already disfunctional forward 50.

This means that in order for Juice to get a game, you need to drop one of Miller or Dunn, and neither of them deserve to be dropped at this stage.

I too find it concerning, this lack of media talk by Daniher about Newton, but at the moment we just can't fit him into the side. If he was a small forward, or a crumber, he'd be getting a game. If one of Neita, Dunn or Miller go down injured (lets hope not!) or if the last two are down on form, then I'm sure they will be forced to consider Newton.

I hope for the club's sake that he sticks around and develops into a very good AFL player. Maybe the thing to do, will be to sign him before the end of the season as a vote of confidence... that is, if the club does have confidence in his ability to make the transition from VFL to AFL. After all, we have no idea what goes on behind closed doors.

[beelzebub 23,349]

However, I don't see how a forward line consisting of Neita, Miller, Dunn and Newton is going to work better. That is too many talls in an already disfunctional forward 50.

take out Miller,

play Neeta and Juice upfront with maybe Ooze in the leftfooters pocket. Dunn at CHF. with Neeta leading out .. Juice can hang around providing a tall target that can not only mark....but kick straight.. Ooze can play the missed grabs etc

but we all know Newton wont get a crack... he's not even on the radar !!

[Jaded No More 68,905]

take out Miller,

He's had one bad game this year, and we're 0-6 so he can be excused.

If Miller gets dropped just so we can debut someone who is untried and raw, that will achieve absolutely nothing.

Nobody is advocating dropping experienced players who are playing alright, for the sake of playing the kids. If Miller gets injured, or if his form drops, then you can talk about taking him out of the side.

As it stands, Miller gets preference over Newton and so he should.

[beelzebub 23,349]

Id simply have Newton in place of Miller for the exact reasons alluded to earlier.. he's ( miller )one too many.. and quite frankly, he'd be the less dangerous to the scoreboard. As a forward..I reckon that counts a bit :-)

Untried...he'll always be untried...until....yep...he's played. Sort of a catch 22 isnt it !!.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

i'd like to hear the opinion on some of the guys who get to sandy every week on this. from what i can tell he has had 2 great weeks in a row but hadnt done much before that this year. he went missing in the preseason games. he only just turned 20 (like last week). that makes him very young, even in football speak, for a tall forward. he could debut next season at the age of 20. this is his 3rd year on the list, and while he has obvious talent maybe he isnt as mature as some of the other guys. if the club is waiting for all aspects of newton to be ready for the pressures of afl footythen this might be a good thing. if he is being held back for another reason i'd like to know as well...

Juice didn't go missing in the pre-season games. He went missing in the ONE intra we had.... severley missing by all accounts. But in the Sandy pre-season he trucked along in much the same fashion he is now. As there wasn't much to see in the red and blue I went down to Sandy every weekend in the weeks leading up to round 1. By the second or third week I was mostly turning up t watch Juice play. Talent galore, and exciting to watch go about it out of the square.

His time to get selected was against Sydney, with Neitz and Dunn back from injury he is much further away from being selected.

However, I don't see how a forward line consisting of Neita, Miller, Dunn and Newton is going to work better. That is too many talls in an already disfunctional forward 50.

Well, first of all, you're right. THAT many talls at once would be a problem. But I will say that Juice can EASILY play as a career CHF in some years. If he was to give Miller a chop-out, or a week in the 2s he might just go ok depending on his opponent, which brings me to my next point.

Perhaps one of the reasons ND has been so gunshy with him is that he wants him to play when our most dangerous forwards are out there bearing the brunt of the opposition defence. If he has to deal with a Scarlett, or Rutten, or Cornes on his first day, it may set his fragile confidence back too much.

I think the opposite of what people are saying is true. I think they'll wait until Robbo, Neita and Miller are all back to their punishing best before introducing Juice. Better to have him ease his way in with 1 or 2 goals than to be given a job that could mean the difference between 4 points. I don't necessarily agree with it, but it may be the cause.

[occo 2]

on sen wed morning ND said he was close but i too agree its going to be armstrong all over and to a lesser degree CJ

Its scary. I dont like CJ all that much however i too dont want to lose him. Just an example, Brad Sewell a bloody good player this year arrived as a rookie, has taken 3-4 years to mature and find his way to seniors. We must remember players mature at different times...we got him at 17 years (i think but perhaps im wrong) and he has shown some glimpses. For us to treat Newton and CJ that way would be...well i cant discribe what i would do. I would certainly be asking for whos decision it was to be chopped and made sure he never comes close to melb again.

[PriorOpportunity 0]

I'd hate to think this could turn out to be another Chris Lamb situation.

I'm eager to have a look at Newton but not at the expense of a senior player who despite everything is still have a crack.

If he is any good his time will come. Hopefully soon. Its just good news to know there is a likely key forward talent emerging. Its a priority and can hopefully allow us to forget the disappointments of Smith, Rodgers and Molan.

[Don24 103]

I dont see what the fuss is?!

Im a Newton fan i think he has a lot of potential. But he has hardly dominated. He has played two good games in the last 2 weeks but before that he was certainly not knocking the door down for selection. Hes a young kid and i think he needs to be consistantly very good at VFL level before he gets promoted. Key forward role is hard to play for anyone let alone a 19/20 year old. I think danners is doing the right thing.

If he isnt dominating week in week out at VFL level hows is he going to play well week in week out at Senior level? He has to learn more before he is a senior player. Another couple of weeks with bags of 4 or 5 and he may get a go.

[Deemonic 7]

He's had one bad game this year, and we're 0-6 so he can be excused.

There in lies the issue. Miller has played ok an we are 0-6. He doesn't hurt teams on the scoreboard, can't take a contested mark, and we will never be more than a middle of the road team with him as a centre half forward. We simply have to be trying other options. We all admire his endeavour and if AFL football was simply about how hard someone tries then Godfrey and Miller would be two of the highest paid players in the league. He is either a defender or nothing. Newton may not be the answer but last week with another key forward other than Neitz we would have won.

[CURTIS 0]

AS i have watched all sandy games this year i can understand why juice isnt getting a game. He shouldnt be far off though. WHile he has played six good quarters in 2 weeks his other games have been fairly average. Especially in the close game against bendigo he really struggle under pressure.

I also manage to see the first qtr against coburg, as for frawly he really was only on for about 5 minutes, really not enough to judge, but im very surprised him getting selected even though he will not play.

I think this will hurt a few of our younger players like newton, and espescially buckley and hughes who have put in several good games for sandy yet are failing to get recognition.

[Jaded No More 68,905]

I think this will hurt a few of our younger players like newton, and espescially buckley and hughes who have put in several good games for sandy yet are failing to get recognition.

Maybe, or maybe they'll understand that Frawley is a key defender, which is something we are desperately missing, whereas the others play positions that we have covered at this stage. He was also a first round pick, and would have played Round 1 if he didn't get injured.

As for Hughes, he is a rookie so he's ineligible for selection regardless.

We will see Newton before the end of the year, I'm sure of it. But there are other key forwards who deserve selection ahead of him at this stage. No doubt the next injury is just around the corner, so I wouldn't worry too much <_<

[Jarka 767]

Maybe, or maybe they'll understand that Frawley is a key defender, which is something we are desperately missing, whereas the others play positions that we have covered at this stage. He was also a first round pick, and would have played Round 1 if he didn't get injured.

So, your argument is that it's ok to play Frawley immediately and not Newton because we desperately need a key defender.

Haven't we just discovered that without Neitz we have no key forwards so by going by your reasoning Newton should have already been playing.....

I understand what you're trying to say and I believe that Frawley should slip into the team as quickly as we can get him in, i'm not saying you're wrong there. I just think that we have some major issues in other areas and not just defence and key forwards is a pretty main one. Miller is a good average player, at best, and it's rare that teams win Grand Finals with those types of forwards.

[Finks 19]

I'd hate to think this could turn out to be another Chris Lamb situation.

Nah, Juice ain't fat. B)

...and all i'd have to say about the topic, is in Don24's post. Agree completely.

[Jarka 767]

Nah, Juice ain't fat. B)

...and all i'd have to say about the topic, is in Don24's post. Agree completely.

Completely?

Some players don't have to play consistently good football with Sandy to get a game but others do.

[Finks 19]

Completely?

Yep

[drdrake 3,163]

When we lost Neitz and Robbo in round two I wasn't a fan of bringing this guy in, I though we had other players that could step up and help fill the void left by our best 2 goal kickers being out. However, since watching our team over the past four weeks we missed a good leading forward which by all accounts this guy is. Also contested marks none of Green, Miller, Bate, Dunn take contested marks or are high markers, if you have watch Sandy Newton has an awesome leap and can take pack marks. The past two weeks my opinion has changed to include this guy, not because he is young and thats the way we should go but because he brings to the forward line the X factor like Robbo was a few years back before he found some consistancy.

This week against the Bulldogs would have been the ideal time to debut this guy, Neitz as your number 1 target out of the goal square with Newton as your secondary. You could of played Miller, Dunn and Miller this week all rotating CHF FP and bench we don't need to play three tall defenders because the dogs aren't that tall up forward so you could still have two spots on the bench for midfield rotations. Newton unlike Dunn and Miller can also play on a wing.

I want this guy to play only because I think he can help us to win, our forward line needs to be adjusted to enable us to kick enough goals to win and this guy is more capable of kicking 4-5 goals than Miller and Dunn.