at one stage i was thinking 15 touches and 2 goals, are we happy with that performance, would we take it every week, but he finished with 20 touches, 9 marks and 3 goals 1 behind. a couple of strong marks and a goal that could've won it for us if we'd been smarter. we all seem to expect sylvia to be a star with the x factor to change a game but should we be happy with 20 touches and 3 goals? i suppose if he doesnt kick the 3 goals he'll need to get more of it. i noticed once or twice today when i thought he didnt go in hard, but maybe he wasnt quite in the right position too challenge the player with the ball...i thought today was one of his better games for the club though

are we expecting too much from sylvia? if he strings a few games like that together i'll be reasonably happy

I was really happy with him today. He worked really really hard, which was great to see.

at one stage i was thinking 15 touches and 2 goals, are we happy with that performance, would we take it every week, but he finished with 20 touches, 9 marks and 3 goals 1 behind. a couple of strong marks and a goal that could've won it for us if we'd been smarter. we all seem to expect sylvia to be a star with the x factor to change a game but should we be happy with 20 touches and 3 goals? i suppose if he doesnt kick the 3 goals he'll need to get more of it. i noticed once or twice today when i thought he didnt go in hard, but maybe he wasnt quite in the right position too challenge the player with the ball...i thought today was one of his better games for the club though

are we expecting too much from sylvia? if he strings a few games like that together i'll be reasonably happy

he had a great game today...what more can you want from a kid who hasn't had a proper pre season since he came to us..who has hardly played cos of injury..he is now getting his touch back and is getting better and better by the week

Sylvia is a finese type player. He is a hardnut, but not of the calibre of say Brock or Jones. He just looks so good when he has the ball and delivers it or is having a shot for goal. Easily his best AFL game today. He stood up and played like a true foward.

sorry i'll clarify myself...i wasnt saying i wanted him to be an out and out star this week. what i was saying was 'if he played like that every week, but was never the star with the x-factor who turns games' would everyone be contented? he has shown he can play, but he hasnt shown much magic at afl level.

He played well did young Col. If he can have regular returns like todays return, i would be very pleased.

Interesting to note that the #1 pick of that draft adam cooney has not been all that good lately. Colin was a good selection a pick 3, i will never question that move. The kid has a bright future, whether he is an future all australian or just a good footballer doesnt matter, what matters is that he is in red and blue and loving it.

He will give us a good 150+ games.

Expectations are a tad high for him, but he will develop and come close to meeting those expectations.

Good game from number 12 today.

I haven't been convinced on Sylvia - I was actually advocating playing him off Half Back to get him into the game and attack the footy. He still drops some marks that he has the ability to take and goals he should kick (maybe a concentration thing), but his mark in the last quarter was absolutely top shelf. You don't see too many better contested marks in any given week of footy.

Great game from him, really excellent.

He wanted it, and he was hungry and that is the best sign of all. Clearly he is still struggling with his groin, and the surface at TD would have only made it worse, but he fought it out and that mark in the last was just brilliant.

It was probably the first time today where he really looked pumped up and he ran beautifully and covered lots of ground.

I love him at CHF, as I said last week. It gives him the opportunity to kick goals and also make an impact further up the ground.

Well done Kid!

Expectations are a tad high for him, but he will develop and come close to meeting those expectations.

He was taken at number 3 in the draft, of course expectations are high. I think he'll be a good player for us, but not what our orriginal hopes were.

i think we picked him as a star midfielder, but i think we are realising now that he is going to be a midfield/power forward instead and are using him as such...

I admit I do have very high expectations with Col, but I have a lot of faith as well.

He will be a star, he can play midfield and forward, just have faith and let him get fit and play out the rest of the year.

He has and still does have the potential to be our no.1 player and seriously one of the elite in the competition.

sylvia had a great game, he will only get better and who knows he may become that x-factor. He almost won us the game with that great mark and goal. He was also a foward option today, which is very important. Our foward structure isn't looking good at the moment. Neita hasn't found his spark yet, miller, no offense to him, but he was useless again and Dunn was played up the ground. As you know he didn't have a proper pre-season and i reckon he will only get better.

Good luck next week, keep up the hard work and soon you'll reach the same level as brock. and who knows we may have 2 stars in the making

col was great today, a real shining light up forward for us with bate

yes a great game from sylvia. He ran hard, lead well, and went in hard all day. These are three elements of his game ive been critical of so i was very happy for him. The mark at the end was inspirational and i was disgusted at Jones and the midfield giving up the goal after that.

I was impressed with Sylvia today.

He is very strong over head for his height, good skills, runs hard when required and has that ferocity at the contest, that will to beat his opponent which is so hard to teach a player.

His ongoing management of OP may prevent him becoming a full time midfielder but as a strong marking tough goal kicking half forward who runs to the right spots and who can spend some time in the midfield he will still be a very important player for us.

i was disgusted at Jones and the midfield giving up the goal after that.

Don't be too hard on Jonesy, he's young and was just a bit overzelous with his tackling. He'll gain experience from this.

sorry i'll clarify myself...i wasnt saying i wanted him to be an out and out star this week. what i was saying was 'if he played like that every week, but was never the star with the x-factor who turns games' would everyone be contented? he has shown he can play, but he hasnt shown much magic at afl level.

Not every player needs to be an out and out game-turning star - you don't need that to win a flag.

If Sylvia turns into a player that is deserving of a best-18 spot at most clubs I'll take that.

I hope he can string some games together in the 1's after a good performance today.

a bit freaking hard on jones, yes it was a bad tackle but so were a dozen others and a million more things that happened

Not every player needs to be an out and out game-turning star - you don't need that to win a flag.

thats the answer to my question. does he need to be a star because of what we invested in him, or would you be happy with him being a good solid contributer in the team...

Sylvia played much better than last week. A good redemption match. That goal on the siren was a beauty.

thats the answer to my question. does he need to be a star because of what we invested in him, or would you be happy with him being a good solid contributer in the team...

Yeah, I understood what you were asking

I read an article in The Age recently about the stock market, and the question posed was 'what type of investor are you?'. Then two situations were outlined which basically asked whether you were less likely to sell a stock if it was lower than the price you'd paid for it. Fwiw the assertion was that if you said that you would be more likely to hang onto the stock because you would make a 'loss' you were making portfolio decisions for the wrong reasons.

Is it fair to be unhappy with Sylvia if he becomes a consistent best-18 player? That's tough considering more than half your list isn't in that position year-to-year and there's a relatively high turn-over each year.

Any chance somebody can detail the mark for me? I was too busy to go to the game today, I avoided the radio and set a tape, but the tape ran out mid-way through the third quarter!

his groin is stuffed, watching him in the last quarter from behind the goals, he spent the whole time streching and poking it, his face was in pain the whole time

seeing him like that, i wouldnt be suprised if he didnt play next week

his groin is stuffed, watching him in the last quarter from behind the goals, he spent the whole time streching and poking it, his face was in pain the whole time

seeing him like that, i wouldnt be suprised if he didnt play next week

They were working on him furiously in the last quarter. The trainer was rubbing his hamstrings and his groins as if they were searching for gold down there.

To his credit, he kept fighting and ran himself to the ground, which is a fantastic sign.

I hope you're wrong about next week. The thing that has killed his career so far, is not having a fluid run of matches. He needs to get a good, long, uninterrupted block of games to feel like he belongs and to get truly comfortable in the side.

He played very well, finally showing some of the potential that he has

I hope he plays more games and gets more comfortable playing for the MFC