JDWCE
Norm Smith Medallist
Thanks for this, all great insights. Especially interested in Clark for draft if he continues taking some kick outsI've now seen 3 match sims for Freo and a couple for West Coast so can add something from direct eye witness accounts that is pertinent to this thread.
Those considering Young should be encouraged by the fact he is taking a LOT of the kickouts. I think this will add 5+pts to his average before any other natural improvement comes to the party. At the very least any impact of a forward defensive role might have on him will be softened by this.
Clark is also taking some which I think adds to his flavour a bit too. He should maybe be looked at a bit more for draft that some might be.
Yeo is definitely playing mid and HB and seems to be moving well. To me he still looks heavy which is a worry for ongoing stress on legs that haven't handled loads well in the recent past but for now he's less of a risk than I first thought.
I heard someone on one of the days I was at WC training say they were drafting Witherden as backup to Yeo. Given what I've seen, I'd avoid that tactic. Small sample size for sure but he looks a bit like a guy on the outer and they had some young bodies running through he HB spot that they were getting the ball too so I'd guess he's now back up to the backups.
Chesser, although on a modified program, looks fine to start to me. Coaches were talking to him constantly when he wasn't in the sims explaining what they'd want from him or what the plan was (I'm obviously guessing there but basing that on a lot of pointing etc to the goings on in the game) and he looked well and truly engaged. We need someone to loop with and I'd say if he missed Rd1 he won't be far off at all.
Ginbey will play and play both back and mid. Big unit so should also be robust enough to play a lot of games, form will dictate that but like Serong did when he arrived at Freo, Ginbey looked a level above many already so I'd bet he's a player in the B22 for most of the year.