2015 Lions Reserves and NEAFL thread

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Ironmonger said:
I'm covering old ground here, but it must be a big bonus to the club to be able to watch how these academy kids go alongside potential AFL teammates before we decide whether to draft them. I know there's a big gap between the NEAFL and the AFL but surely our staff have a sophisticated understanding of how NEAFL form tracks to AFL form by now.

William and Wagner both appear to be players who might be a chance of being drafted, and both seem to be putting in solid performances in the NEAFL. Being able to see enough of them at that level to critically analyse each aspect of their game must be at least as useful as how they go in the national under 18s comp.

It's a really good system for us. So far it looks like we're taking advantage of it a bit better than the Suns.
Click to expand...

It's also nice because the kids get a lot of experience against mature players.

From what I have seen, all of Freeman, Andrews and Dawson have looked physically competitive in their respective positions, which is remarkable when two of them are KPPs. While the NEAFL is a step down from the higher profile state competitions, it has to be useful for our players to get so much experience trying to play their games undersized. Because we don't have a high quality competition within their age group (I'm thinking of the TAC cup), our better kids seem to play mainly seniors in their final year before the draft. To me, it feels like that exposure should be a great help. As long as the academy can bridge the gap in their skills development compared to kids from the traditional states, they should hit the league pretty well prepared.
 
The other night I watched most of the second half of the reserves game against NT Thunder on TV. It was on NITV (National Indigenous TV?) - through Foxtel, but I am pretty sure it is a FTA channel (every now and then they have replays of the Thunder's games).

I haven't actually seen our reserves play in quite a while, so it was good to see things for myself rather than just relying on the stats / reports and people posting on here. Anyway here are some thoughts on some of our players from what I saw:

- Beasley - looked super impressive - his defence is good, but even better was that he was great at launching a number of attacks of the half back line. Seemed a lot more confident than he sometimes was in the Seniors (naturally). I reckon he should definitely be promoted to the senior list based on his ability / prospects, although we may want to keep him on the Rookie list if we don't have space on the Senior list.
- Bewick - far too good for NEAFL level - IMO he is a top 22 player, possibly even before the injuries we have had. Seems to be a bit of a scape-goat this year amongst supporters and at team selection. He can play some great attacking football - it is a shame we have seemed to shift him around so much to different roles. Perhaps is defensive running / pressure isn't the best, but not everyone in the team is going to be an out and out star.
- Golby - probably too good for NEAFL level as well. His game / opportunities have really suffered since Voss was sacked. At NEAFL level he looks a lot more confident, but he seems to have lost some of his aggressive edge that he had developed under Voss. Obviously his kicking is his big problem - that is unlikely to change. I think he should have been given more of a chance under Leppa, but it looks like his cards have been marked for quite a while.
- Archie Smith - he is an interesting one - he was probably beaten by his NT opponents (though there were a couple of them, at different times obviously) and he doesn't get much of a chop out by any second ruckman. Some times in hit outs he looks great, but at other times he looks like he has NFI. I think he still has potential to be much better, but he has got to be consistently aggressive. Around the ground he looks ok when he gets the ball, but he needs to get more involved in the game.
- Clayton and Watts - I would need to see more of both these two players - from what I did see they showed some really good glimpses, although they also showed there is a lot they still need to work on.

From the non-listed / academy players:

- Keays - has great football smarts and is super competitive and aggressive despite his age. Can obviously find the ball and is pretty quick. He reminds me a bit of Polec (dare I say it), except with more aggression to go after the ball in contested situations. His obvious problem seemed to be his kicking. He twice had set shots for goal while I was watching - both were gettable, one from about 40m out and the other 45m out without much angle. Both kicks weren't great at all and didn't make the distance and weren't online in any case. Now he is probably better than that and I am sure he will improve, but long kicking may just be something he is not good at. He does handpass most of the time, but it would good to see him kick more to get more of an accurate gauge on his kicking abilities.
- Hipwood - super impressive despite all of the behinds. There is a fair bit of Harris Andrews about him, as others have said. He is tall (200cm) and skinny, but he just seems to be able to pluck marks in contested situations when you don't expect it. He actually seems more agile / mobile than Andrews around the ground (possibly because apparently he was only average height back when he was 13 according to the commentators). Again his problem is his kicking - although distance isn't the issue. His issue is that, like Stefan Martin, he drops the ball from too high up and doesn't guide it on to his foot. Therefore some kicks miss the target, although he can kick really well when he happens to drop the ball in the right position.
- William - Correct me if I am wrong, but I think William is of Sudanese background and has only been playing footy for a few years. He is not as tall as Majak Daw - he is more of a tall midfielder / 3rd tall forward type. He is raw / lacks footy smarts obviously, but he puts in some good efforts and pops up and does surprising things from time to time. However, like Daw, he doesn't seem to know when and where to run and position himself given he is fairly new to the game.
- Wagner - seems like a mid sized defender. Often seemed out-bodied, but tried hard. However he seem to struggle with his decision making coming out of defence - often going sideways with a short kick when a more attacking approach would have worked better (hopefully that was a sign of our coaching, because it is the same issue we often face in the seniors).
- Others - didn't really get to see enough of the others, but some of them seemed to do some reasonable things at times (like Warren, Weller, Henderson and Ritchie).
 

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Kevvo said:
It's also nice because the kids get a lot of experience against mature players.

From what I have seen, all of Freeman, Andrews and Dawson have looked physically competitive in their respective positions, which is remarkable when two of them are KPPs. While the NEAFL is a step down from the higher profile state competitions, it has to be useful for our players to get so much experience trying to play their games undersized. Because we don't have a high quality competition within their age group (I'm thinking of the TAC cup), our better kids seem to play mainly seniors in their final year before the draft. To me, it feels like that exposure should be a great help. As long as the academy can bridge the gap in their skills development compared to kids from the traditional states, they should hit the league pretty well prepared.
Click to expand...
All very true. I think the bigger problem with the NEAFL is when they make our senior list but drop back from time to time into the seconds (as young developing players invariably must) and the drop down in standard that involves. In other words, their ongoing development as AFL standard players.
 
Looking good for the club's 5th win of the year. :thumbsu:

Leigh Harding clearly the difference.
 

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2015 Lions Reserves and NEAFL thread

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