Lutz

I think Frawley will develop into the best KP defender in the competition

Neeld will build our back 6 around him

What do you mean "will"?

He already is, and it already is.

I'd have Redden ahead of both.

I'm with you on that.

We were hoping he'd still be there for our next pick, iirc.

Maybe we should be arguing the merits of having chosen Atley instead..?

At that stage we weren't fortunate enough to know we'd get Clark though.

If Clark wasn't at the club, I've no doubt we'd be pin ing our tall forward hopes on Martin, McDonald, Watts and Sellar, while hoping Cook comes along pretty bloody quickly.

No, I simply think we need one of Strauss' type, more than one of Zaka's type.

And I think Strauss will be a good players for us.

Even though Zaka came away with a B&F it's still relative.

It's not like winning a B&F at Geelong or Collingwood.

And maybe that is something that could change for the better. They might learn some hard stuff.

You're like a bloody charicature!

Did you know that Jim Stynes created the iPod and he's also the reason ice cream tastes so good?

Uh-huh!

Gotta have someone to delist at the end of 2012...

Considering we need to make room for:

- Jack Viney

- 2 x other 1st round picks (compo picks)

- in such a strong draft we'd want to use our 2nd round pick

- elevating Nicholson (virtual certainty)

- elevating Evans (possibility)

That's 6 spots we need to clear, potentially.

I think if a player has been previously on an AFL, there are no minimum contract years like a normal draftee - Sellar would be on a 1 year contract.

I'm being facetious, but at the same time, I expect us to decide there's not enough room for him on our list next year...

Balls in your court now James.

Make it too hard for us to say no.

The crisis was 5+ years ago, but not many realised...

Not enough, anyway.

Facepalm...

I hope you are right, but I would still trade Strauss for Zaharikis in a heart beat.

This is where we differ: I wouldn't.

George Patterson Y&R, probably...

Let's hope like buggery Cook is A-grade then. He's got a hell of a long way to go if he's struggling for a gig at Casey, skinny body or no.

For every Reid there's a Beau Dowler, probably more than a few truth be told.

Cook was a luxury punt at a time when our group needed something altogether different. That something was Jack Darling.

Lyon knew it. Neeld knew it. And now Barry P. knows it.

When the hell did this become the accepted truth?

Half the season impressing in the Casey 1s, then a form slump, then surgery for an injury that he would have been trying to play through.

FCS...

And the last line is self-indulgent carp.

Give him time, he could still be an Angwin...

I don't think Strauss has shown himself to be an excellent kick at AFL level yet. Hopefully he makes it, but I think the jury is still out on whether his pace is sufficient to go with the really quick small forwards.

Questioning Strauss' pace or athleticism shows true ignorance of his ability, IMO.

2008 draft camp - James Strauss

Repeat sprints: =4th ( with Natanui)

Ahead of Stephen hill and Jack Watts.

Agility : 3rd

After only Stephen Hill and Jack Watts.

Jcb just creamed his jeans, hearing that.

Cook's apparently a fringe player for Casey. Meanwhile, Darling's been a very effective forward in a top 4 AFL team in his first year. I expect he will also continue to deliver a lot of value for WCE going forward - whereas it's still pure speculation for Cook. Not ideal for a first round pick IMO, especially for a club in our circumstances. Speculating on a talented tall is, however, an entirely acceptable methodology for a lower pick IMO.

And I reckon Neeld/Craig/Misson/Rawlings/Brown and the other new coaching group recognise this. Fortunately.

"Apparently"? Wow, you really sound like an authority on it.

Cook has become the posterchild on this forum for every skinny draft pick that doesn't come on.

Unfairly so.

Darling maybe for style of play and physical maturity, but how about list balance?

He'd be just another good medium forward to add to the other 50 we have on the list.

We needed to build up a supply of tall KPFs - which he clearly is not.

Sometimes I wonder if people hav even seen him play when they talk about him playing deep as a tall forward.

Has he demonstrated this under pressure in an AFL match?

Yes.

But I also see that as a largely irrelevant question.

2 different skills.

Uh... NO.

I think the term lockdown has thrown people.

I think he'll be our best small defender, but wanted to emphasise that he won't be purely an attacking defender, but that I think he has the physical tools to be an excellent lockdown defender, and that Strauss showed signs of doing that before his broken leg.

I've said it before - I see him like a mini-Frawley (& I saw someone else say this recently too - can't remember who).

So I didn't really say what I meant.

Either way, he has been underestimated for some time by most supporters.

Stay tuned.

The argument against it is that bucks got to stop with someone in an organization and having two official joint leaders can create confusion. In a worst case scenario, cliques can and often do form.

I'm not a fan of it. There should be one commander-in-chief.

Can and often do form?

Wanna provide examples?

Joint captaincy at the Lions didn't do that, nor the swans.

In fact, the closest thing I can think of that arguably didn't "work" at the highest level, is the rotating captaincy at St Kilda.

And even then, they played in consecutive grand finals shortly after, so you could argue it was successful.

Their chronic off-field issues were mostly once a singular permanent captain was selected under a new "commander-in-chief" who demanded his playing group adopt a questionable siege mentality.

Quite simply: there's a lot of criticisms and concerns, and I can understand many of them, but at the end of the day there's not actually a shred of evidence to back them up.

I can't believe the ignorance of Strauss' immaculate disposal skills.

He is the best kick at the club after Davey and maybe Jurrah.

Better than Tapscott.

Co-captaincy is just an official title - in the end the end, the best leader will naturally come to the fore and unofficially become the captain, with the other 2 his deputies.

Some might disagree, but I think that's what happened with Brett Kirk at the swans.

The co-captaincy just aids the transition and makes it easier to share the load when needed.

It's a great concept, and I'm yet to hear any valid arguments against it.

Agree.

Green's last year unless contracted...

Heaven forbid.

They clearly don't have a bloody clue if they think all Green did wrong last year was complain.

There's a lot more than that that he did wrong.

I'm going to call it now: Strauss will become our first choice lockdown small defender.

Boom.