Sylvias permanent position

[Dee1987 277]

Forwardline without a doubt!! If he keeps playing the way he has the last 3 weeks he could soon turn into the next Scottty Thompson or Nathan Brown.

[Jarka 767]

At the moment he is our most dangerous forward but I really like his inside work up the ground. In an ideal world I'd like to see him play as an attacking midfielder.

[tess 19]

Forwardline without a doubt!! If he keeps playing the way he has the last 3 weeks he could soon turn into the next Scottty Thompson or Nathan Brown.

I would called Thompson more of a midfielder that kicks goals.

[45HG 1,539]

with bate and sylvia up there, and their marking ability, i think it's a good idea to play them both around the arc. what i also like is that if they're out of position they'll punch. too often yesterday i saw forwards i nthe middle of packs of west coast players trying to mark while we had midfielders running into the 50. perhaps there was no talk, evident with davey getting run down, but i like to see a forward who thinks about a play enough to punch the ball to ground, which will at least allow a 50-50 contest.

[Jaded No More 67,609]

Before the match they interviewed Daniher, who clearly said that Sylvia will not play midfield until he has plenty of game time in him, because of his history with OP.

That seems fair enough to me, and completely justified. The last thing we need is to push the kid too hard and have him spend another 3 years recovering on the sidelines. As it is, he finishes games with his legs, and groins iced.

Besides, I think that he is a unique CHF prospect who could really make our forward line dangerous and hard to match-up on. He just makes things happen up forward, much more so than when we saw him in the midfield.

[Pates 9,624]

I see him as a possible HFF who leads quite deep from inside the 50 but makes an option for the midfield. If he can kick 1-2 goals a game and get some inside 50s than i think his job is done.

[Yze_Magic 3]

Sylvia is one of the best 3 or 4 players at the club

The only reason we havent seen it yet is injury and the fact his big headed teammtaes like Bruce never pass the ball to him in fear that he will tear a game open and steal the limelight from them

[Rampaging Demons 1]

Just giving those that have been very patient with this talent a little sniff of what we can expect...

he dropped a couple of marks that he would normally swallow but he was running at pace.... but kicked the goals anyway...

i still think a midfielder that can play forward... is a damaging kick both for goal and also passing... and loves the physical contact - something tat we struggle at!!

[Pepe Dee Pew 0]

Until he gets fit he will play forward. He is yet to have a preseason. Bring in Robbo and we will have plenty of marking options who can play tough on the ground as well.

[praha 11,100]

Sylvia is one of the best 3 or 4 players at the club

The only reason we havent seen it yet is injury and the fact his big headed teammtaes like Bruce never pass the ball to him in fear that he will tear a game open and steal the limelight from them

lol you're great. true though...

haha

[davey_magik 1]

On pure talent I rate him no.1 at the club.

I like the way ND is using him, fair enough not playing him in the middle till he builds up a good fitness base.

Then, he will tear sides apart....

[Gorgoroth 12,697]

id love to see him swapped with green off a wing and Fprward pocket

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

The only reason we havent seen it yet is injury and the fact his big headed teammtaes like Bruce never pass the ball to him in fear that he will tear a game open and steal the limelight from them

Hmmm. harsh.

he dropped a couple of marks that he would normally swallow but he was running at pace.... but kicked the goals anyway...

Yeah. I don't think he's even CLOSE to 100% yet, in a number of ways. I texted a mate who just recently who, after a LONG time driving, refuelling, cleaning, polishing and insuring the Sylvia bandwagon, FINALLY threw his hands up in the air and said... "I'm sick of him." I was thrilled to text him with "Sylvia! The Kid has arrived!!!"

I was, of course, being over-exhuberant just to highlight a silly point. But I'm feeling quietly confident with him.

- He's still making mistakes and is probably only at 70% confidence. In fact, having never even come CLOSE to seeing what he really can do, for all I know he could be only running on 50% confidence.

- He's keeping his head down and bum up in terms of attitude, when he scores he approaches team-mates to include them and bring them together, he doesn't over-do it. Seems to be a genuine team-man who appears to have his mind on the ball. On foxtel-active we saw the demons rooms after the match, where the players were looking ready to slit their wrists. Now I realise Col had played a good one, but he was up and about, approaching players and trying to keep their spirits up, even the older ones like Ward who were probably feeling like the end was just around the corner. It was the first time I've seen Col take a match day quite so seriously.

- In terms of fitness, he's certainly not up to scratch in those terms, but is getting closer all the time. I was concerned because he went off and warmed the bench at about 3/4 time, and after the game had a BIIG ice-pack on his groin. If he can play like this under the duress he's under... Just imagine...

As far as where he plays, he MUST be persevered with as a forward MOSTLY. The thing I like about him is that yes he can play the HF line, and yes he can play deep as a pocket or out of the square, and yes he can play sweeping down a wing or in the guts. But in the forward line he fits so many roles it's hard to count... And what I mean by that is that there are different "styles" of players in any given position who can make the position their own. For example a HFF like O'Keefe plays entirely differently from a HFF like Bate, or Pickett. A FP like O'Loughlin plays a completely different game than Robbo. Where Sylvia is exciting is that he can stand almost anywhere within 70 metres of goal and approach any situation in a number of ways. He can tackle like no-one else, can mark contested or otherwise, at the top of the fifty or on the boundary, he can attack a loose ball and you're always confident he'll at least come out with a fifty-fifty, can lead, and best of all these things can kick accurately from 60 time and time again... The only thing he can't be relied upon to do is be as physically punishing in the forward line as a Gorilla forward like Neitz. And the more we keep reading about where the game is going, the more it seems gorilla forwards are becoming as endangered as... well... Gorillas.

We have always known we have a ripper here, and after all this talk of him being in such bad shape with OP that we weren't going to see him this year, I think I'm more excited about him now than I've EVER been. He's going to be playing personal best matches in the very near future, only to better himself weeks later, and it's about time. We may not have much to cheer about this year, but I'm looking forward to sitting back, relaxing and watching the Col show.

[Deano74 156]

I think Sylvia is destined for the Midfield, but he needs a lot of game time and prove he can last without injury and run out a game,

He has a strong body, and good skills so I think it is a sure thing that he and Brock will be a core part of the midfield for the next ten years.

[deanox 9,641]

ive been very impressed with him the last two weeks. enough to even start a thread about him last week...

i think he will be good. if he can get 10-20 touches and kick 1-4 goals a week i will be pretty happy with him long term. i think that it is telling that he has put a couple of performances together in a row and we suddenly start to see him acting like a leader. i tell you what, if i wasnt getting a kick i wouldnt want to be bouncing up to senior players, patting them on the head and saying 'good try mate, we'll just get em next week', thats a sure fire way to get your head smacked in i reckon. if he is performing on the field it will go a long way towards him finding his role within the club, and that could very well be a leadership role - he hasnt had a chance to show that just yet but as he gets fitter and gets his own performances perhaps it will shine through...