39 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

Some keyboard warriors taking the opportunity to land a few kicks, pathetic on your part.

In the draft there was supposedly 3 of the best young talls in a while, all pundits, commentators etc agreed,  Josh Schache, Aaron Francis and Sam Weideman, all 3 went top 10, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Interestingly the knock on all 3 is aggression, perhaps the game evolved too quickly for them. 

I agree and remember this. Allegedly Schache and Francis went head to head that year (as a FWD and BACK) to which Schache came out on top. If I recall correctly he also kicked some record number of goals? or something to that effect. Charlie Curnow was also highly touted but had some form of police misdemeanor prior to the draft. On draft night then commentator Sando expected us to select a tall either Weideman (first named) or Curnow (second named)... then it went over to Roosy.

Edited October 18, 2024Oct 18 by ignition.

1 hour ago, jumbo returns said:

Settle down - no one said that they were bad people

Can't critique footy ability?

It is how it is critiqued.

I thought both Sam and Josh Schache both lacked aggression in the contest, which again seems a prerequisite, and it is how I expressed it in my post, others prefer more derogatory critiques, playing the man?

2 hours ago, ignition. said:

I agree and remember this. Allegedly Schache and Francis went head to head that year (as a FWD and BACK) to which Schache came out on top. If I recall correctly he also kicked some record number of goals? or something to that effect. Charlie Curnow was also highly touted but had some form of police misdemeanor prior to the draft. On draft night then commentator Sando expected us to select a tall either Weideman (first named) or Curnow (second named)... then it went over to Roosy.

Harry McKay and Eric Hipwood were first round draft picks that season as well. Lots of big forwards to pick from. Unusual to see so many in one season as first round draft picks and the lower picks turned out the best of the lot. Obviously the talent pool was diluted.

Edited October 18, 2024Oct 18 by John Crow Batty

Lost confidence in Weed when he missed that goal against Adelaide that would've won it.

But good luck to him in what he does going forward.

Sam was always going to take time. The more time that went on the more he seemed to get in his own head which worked the other way. His first year at Casey looked great and then it all went downhill.

Sam had that awesome elim final against Geelong. I'll always remember him for that mark over Blicavs in the first and the look of shock on Blicavs face. I was there that night with 95k people and reckon I've watched the highlights a minimum of 50 times 

This is how I will choose to remember him.

7 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Everyone always focusses on the mongrel like it’s 1985 but to me big Sam had 3 issues:

1. Confidence, you could see it drain from his body. Even with a fresh start at Essendon he looked so much better until the year went on and he struggled again

2. Mobility. This was hurt by the repeated injuries he suffered, even before he was drafted. You have to be able to turn, jump, explode on the lead to beat key defenders these days. Young Weid had a bit of burst but it never developed.

3. Reading of the play. Was never easy in the Melbourne forward line but Sam always seemed a step behind the play to lead up at the ball or to pick the flight of the footy in the air. He wasn’t overtly physical but he was brave in the air and could crash a pack, but so often defenders had done him in before the contest was even occuring.

Nah, still think its mostly mongrel ... then maybe confidence

7 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Everyone always focusses on the mongrel like it’s 1985 but to me big Sam had 3 issues:

1. Confidence, you could see it drain from his body. Even with a fresh start at Essendon he looked so much better until the year went on and he struggled again

2. Mobility. This was hurt by the repeated injuries he suffered, even before he was drafted. You have to be able to turn, jump, explode on the lead to beat key defenders these days. Young Weid had a bit of burst but it never developed.

3. Reading of the play. Was never easy in the Melbourne forward line but Sam always seemed a step behind the play to lead up at the ball or to pick the flight of the footy in the air. He wasn’t overtly physical but he was brave in the air and could crash a pack, but so often defenders had done him in before the contest was even occuring.

Er...focusses on the mongrel....have you not listened to the coaches or Tim Lamb lately, Kentfield "he is aggressive" JVR "another young player who likes the contest" etc etc

1 hour ago, BAMF said:

Sam was always going to take time. The more time that went on the more he seemed to get in his own head which worked the other way. His first year at Casey looked great and then it all went downhill.

Sam had that awesome elim final against Geelong. I'll always remember him for that mark over Blicavs in the first and the look of shock on Blicavs face. I was there that night with 95k people and reckon I've watched the highlights a minimum of 50 times 

This is how I will choose to remember him.

Thats the only memory I have of him

1 hour ago, Satyriconhome said:

Er...focusses on the mongrel....have you not listened to the coaches or Tim Lamb lately, Kentfield "he is aggressive" JVR "another young player who likes the contest" etc etc

That post was about Sam Weidman and Sam alone.  The players you mentioned are irrelevant to the point being made. 

1 hour ago, Satyriconhome said:

Er...focusses on the mongrel....have you not listened to the coaches or Tim Lamb lately, Kentfield "he is aggressive" JVR "another young player who likes the contest" etc etc

And? We target a type of tall forwards and Sam was one of those types when we drafted him. 

Others disagree but I thought Weid never had many issues with attacking the ball or man. He just couldn’t do a lot of the rest of the game for the reasons I outlined.

To be honest, I wouldn't complain if the club picked him back up to provide us more depth in the talls. He'd be cheap as chips and upgrade to Schache.

I was at the club when Ray Jordan was coach of the U19 and Reserves his criteria was players who had no mongrel will never make it in the AFL on ability alone.

The combination of mongrel and ability like Cripps, Petracca etc

Sam's a nice guy, but unfortunately ended up somewhere between an excellent VFL player and a genuine AFL forward.

Apart from an occasional purple patch he never kicked enough goals to justify becoming a first-team regular.

Sadly, in the contested battlefield of the inside 50 zone, he just did not seem to relish the contest.

But at least he can look back on  an AFL career, which is more than most players ever achieve.

 

11 hours ago, Kent said:

What has that got to do with anything wishing and hoping for Sam to come good was cruel and damaging

Early decision required in this instance

You w we outed “he was never going to be”

I am simply stating that he was a better footballer than Dean Kent who as you may well know dislikes him as a footballer and you have unfortunately chosen him as your poster name, as homage I  can only presume but really it is a reminder of our poorer times and that have kept him on our list far too long he as injury prone and iMO a poor plate all round. 
Justafiably he also failed  at the Saints which  I gleefully remind you of. 
Yes Sam was an an enigma and did have  ability but inwardly he seemed restricted in his confidence and self belief which prevented him playing with any physical sense.  Cale Morton and the late Colin Sylvia were also underperforming Dees with talent who we had great hopes for. 
Simolt my point is that Weid Cale and Colin all had a great level of ability. 
Your namesake did not possess such skills and clogged up our list far too long  

4 hours ago, 58er said:

You w we outed “he was never going to be”

I am simply stating that he was a better footballer than Dean Kent who as you may well know dislikes him as a footballer and you have unfortunately chosen him as your poster name, as homage I  can only presume but really it is a reminder of our poorer times and that have kept him on our list far too long he as injury prone and iMO a poor plate all round. 
Justafiably he also failed  at the Saints which  I gleefully remind you of. 
Yes Sam was an an enigma and did have  ability but inwardly he seemed restricted in his confidence and self belief which prevented him playing with any physical sense.  Cale Morton and the late Colin Sylvia were also underperforming Dees with talent who we had great hopes for. 
Simolt my point is that Weid Cale and Colin all had a great level of ability. 
Your namesake did not possess such skills and clogged up our list far too long  

the discussion was about Sam. I don't give a fig what you think of Kent or any body else

Some on here have difficulty in accepting that Sam was not up to it Kent also 

The club should make hard decisions earlier and not just hope players come good only to have them whither on the vine

If the Weed doesn’t get picked up in the drafting process we should bring him home.

A rookie posting or maybe an on field leadership position at Casey with the possible view of a mid season selection.

People talk about culture, this guy has it in truckloads.

2 hours ago, Kent said:

The club should make hard decisions earlier and not just hope players come good only to have them whither on the vine

If I have a criticism of our player management it is that we are too kind to our playing group, especially in terms of length of contracts etc.  When you realise you have made a mistake you need to acknowledge and move on quickly.  Even in Sams case he got an offer from Essendon and moved on, admittedly with our blessing.

 

All the best Sam.

I remember Gawn saying Weideman’s best position was as a ruck/fwd. It did kind of seem like a bit of a backhanded compliment - as though he would never be good enough as a key forward alone. Still, Gawn must have been at least somewhat impressed by his ruck potential.

In hindsight, we really wouldn’t have been any worse off had we instead given Weideman the opportunity to play that role instead of recruiting Grundy, but he probably wouldn’t have offered much more than Van Rooyen has and certainly less forward.

I wouldn’t be against his recruitment, but on the condition he didn’t impede Jefferson’s development in the forward line.

Edited October 18, 2024Oct 18 by wisedog

14 hours ago, Demons1858 said:

Nah, still think its mostly mongrel ... then maybe confidence

Yep and the end of the day... who cares, History!

2 minutes ago, wisedog said:

I remember Gawn saying Weideman’s best position was as a ruck/fwd. It did kind of seem like a bit of a backhanded compliment - as though he would never be good enough as a key forward alone. Still, Gawn must have been at least somewhat impressed by his ruck potential.

In hindsight, we really wouldn’t have been any worse off had we instead given Weideman the opportunity to play that role instead of recruiting Grundy, but he probably wouldn’t have offered much more than Van Rooyen has and certainly less forward.

I wouldn’t be against his recruitment, but on the condition he didn’t impede Jefferson’s development in the forward line.

A BIG FAT NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

He was a NQR, I am sure he gave it his best. I will always remember that final series and the game against Geelong. Let's end the canning comments ( of which I was one) Good luck with your Future Sam. 

Great depth. If it's a free swing we need. Why not?

1 hour ago, wisedog said:

I remember Gawn saying Weideman’s best position was as a ruck/fwd. It did kind of seem like a bit of a backhanded compliment - as though he would never be good enough as a key forward alone. Still, Gawn must have been at least somewhat impressed by his ruck potential.

In hindsight, we really wouldn’t have been any worse off had we instead given Weideman the opportunity to play that role instead of recruiting Grundy, but he probably wouldn’t have offered much more than Van Rooyen has and certainly less forward.

I wouldn’t be against his recruitment, but on the condition he didn’t impede Jefferson’s development in the forward line.

When Melbourne and Essendon needed him most, he couldn't deliver.

He's 27 years old.

It'll never click.

1 hour ago, seventyfour said:

When Melbourne and Essendon needed him most, he couldn't deliver.

He's 27 years old.

It'll never click.

I’m not suggesting we should, and I think it’s virtually no chance of happening. I’m only saying based on Gawn’s previous comments, the only role he could plausibly fill would be as a ruck/fwd.

The Club clearly doesn’t see Fullerton as being able to play this role, Tom Campbell is a ‘break glass’ option, Verrel is still too raw, and most of us would like to see JVR played solely as a key forward. On those grounds, if he was a rookie listed player, the only risk of him returning would be impeding the development of younger players at Casey, but I also think he could be a serviceable key back if necessary.

Edited October 19, 2024Oct 19 by wisedog

Why on earth would people think he'd be a good recruit? He's not good depth, he averages maybe one decent game a year and goes missing for the rest. He had his shot, he's not good enough.