Player Watch #31 Luke Trainor

[Grrr]

The way he moves reminds me of Jagga Smith. So technically, the steal of the draft.

 

[Moppey]

It's interesting. If you compare him to Alix Taru who went pick 10, as a prospect I honestly probably would rather Trainor if we assume clean bill of health for both.

He was more productive and is a better all round player. Better decision maker and user by foot with ball in hand. I see more football IQ in general play. Both are athletic and their intercepting ability is pretty similar. Luke looks to a bit bigger physically and gets more of the ball.

If you give him blonde hair, a cool nickname like the flying viking and remove the concussions he probably goes top 5. So it really comes down to the concussions. I am sure we did our due diligence on that.

He was being touted as the best tall available until Tarau roared into prominence. There is a lot to like about Taru as well.
Pretty safe to say if Trainor was not the best tall defender available he was easily the second.
He and Taru were the only two tall defenders who were generally being touted to go inside the top 20 along with key forward Armstrong,
That was because of the quality of the mids and general types that were in that top 15 - 20 group.
That group ultimately meant Trainor got to pick 21. I still think we missed a trick with pick 14 in all this.
The tall forward group was very even and hard to split up and it panned out that way.


Any way Trainor is a great pick at 21 and one i have really come around to. I just felt with Gibcus and Balta we had quality and we had depth with Miller Young and Blight with a couple of other options possibly Bauer and Gray..
I suppose in some ways he is the quality cover we will need if god forbid Gibcus career is wrecked with injuries.
One thing for sure we can now forget about drafting key defenders we most likely have our future tall back half for the next 8 10 years. We now need to find a few quality general defenders to go with them. Broad and Vlastuin are not getting any younger and Rioli is gone.

I dont think he will be rushed this year either. Still pretty lightly framed and we can ease him in. We do have other options in this. Personally id like to see what Blight can bring to the table and of course we all want to see Gibcus fit and playing well.

 

[Muddiemoose]

He was being touted as the best tall available until Tarau roared into prominence. There is a lot to like about Taru as well.
Pretty safe to say if Trainor was not the best tall defender available he was easily the second.
He and Taru were the only two tall defenders who were generally being touted to go inside the top 20 along with key forward Armstrong,
That was because of the quality of the mids and general types that were in that top 15 - 20 group.
That group ultimately meant Trainor got to pick 21. I still think we missed a trick with pick 14 in all this.
The tall forward group was very even and hard to split up and it panned out that way.


Any way Trainor is a great pick at 21 and one i have really come around to. I just felt with Gibcus and Balta we had quality and we had depth with Miller Young and Blight with a couple of other options possibly Bauer and Gray..
I suppose in some ways he is the quality cover we will need if god forbid Gibcus career is wrecked with injuries.
One thing for sure we can now forget about drafting key defenders we most likely have our future tall back half for the next 8 10 years. We now need to find a few quality general defenders to go with them. Broad and Vlastuin are not getting any younger and Rioli is gone.

I dont think he will be rushed this year either. Still pretty lightly framed and we can ease him in. We do have other options in this. Personally id like to see what Blight can bring to the table and of course we all want to see Gibcus fit and playing well.

The only reason Trainor didn’t go before Taru is because of his concussions imo
Talent wise Trainor the better prospect but because of the changing landscape surrounding c concussions clubs were afraid to take the risk

I’m glad we did

 

[tigerfan1961]

The only reason Trainor didn’t go before Taru is because of his concussions imo
Talent wise Trainor the better prospect but because of the changing landscape surrounding c concussions clubs were afraid to take the risk

I’m glad we did

Yep, he’s the player I was most happy with drafting. IF he can avoid concussions issues, he will be a star

 

[Grrr]

The only reason Trainor didn’t go before Taru is because of his concussions imo
Talent wise Trainor the better prospect but because of the changing landscape surrounding c concussions clubs were afraid to take the risk

I’m glad we did

Indeed. Trainor moves like a mid, his ability to get up off the deck and be so balanced is a great trait. Tauru looks much more upright and a bit more physical.

 

[RockJobster0312]

The only reason Trainor didn’t go before Taru is because of his concussions imo
Talent wise Trainor the better prospect but because of the changing landscape surrounding c concussions clubs were afraid to take the risk

I’m glad we did

Agree with this.

Though I also think there’s a bit of a fetish at club land for those prospects who haven’t had much exposure to the elite pathways through their juinor career.

Trainor been in around it for a few years, Tauru I believe was really only this year. Think clubs see more development for those in the system less.

Would have been interesting to see where Trainor and Tauru would have gone if Trainor didn’t have concussion issues.

 

[Moonatic77]

2033 Norm Smith medalist

 

[richoplzbreed]

Throughout the history of all great AFL teams I can't recall any with 3 A Grade KPD? I want Balta, Gibcus and Trainor to be played together as often as possible here on even copping the shellackings. We're building for more Premierships not to be just contending again. Miller and Young need to be overlooked for our future more often than not. In a perfect world Gibcus's injuries are behind him and Trainors concussions are in the past. Balta is a genetically gifted freak now in his prime ready to step up and mature to become the man. He can take the Gorillas and play against taller opponents by virtue of his leap. Gibcus looked destined to become the perfect opponent for all these modern 200cm KPF like Kings, McKay, Darcy, with pretty decent kicking skills. Trainor appears far taller than 193cm and could keep growing closer to 200cm? His intercepting and kicking skills are sublime and hopefully becomes an unbeatable 3rd tall who can peel off his lesser opponents and carve oppositions up.

I'm glad we've got Rutten as coach, can see these 3 forming an unbeatable backline in years to come. As good as our premiership KPD were Rance was A++, Grimes A, Astbury more a C+/ B- at best. Can envision all of Balta, Gibcus and Trainor being A/ A+. Their differences compliment each other and if Balta can eradicate short kicking and Brain farts, then 2027 onwards our backline could be near on unbeatable. By then Broad will be gone, most likely Short also, Vlastuin on his last legs. Hopefully Brown can take over from Vlastuin. Just need to find a small lock down defender and a gun running HBF and our backline should be set.

 

[THE_GUN]

Balta - Gibcus - Brown - Trainor

Thats a bloody strong defence going foward

 

[Sir_Loin]

Balta - Gibcus - Brown - Trainor

Thats a bloody strong defence going foward

Best thing is Balta has come back, shaved the head and looks like he’s stacked on a few kgs

Love it when Croats go all in

 

[THE_GUN]

Best thing is Balta has come back, shaved the head and looks like he’s stacked on a few kgs

Love it when Croats go all in

Im getting pretty excited about Blight this off season

The man is doing his 1st AFL pre season and is smashing players like McIntosh , HRS & Taranto in the running
With his marking ability and his tank i am starting to think maybe just maybe he could be a player we could try on the Wing as the McIntosh replacement and what a massive bonus that would become 196cm winger thats a great intercept mark

 

[Sir_Loin]

Im getting pretty excited about Blight this off season

The man is doing his 1st AFL pre season and is smashing players like McIntosh , HRS & Taranto in the running
With his marking ability and his tank i am starting to think maybe just maybe he could be a player we could try on the Wing as the McIntosh replacement and what a massive bonus that would become 196cm winger thats a great intercept mark

Got the attributes just needs to play footy now

 

[Meteoric Rise]

Im getting pretty excited about Blight this off season

The man is doing his 1st AFL pre season and is smashing players like McIntosh , HRS & Taranto in the running
With his marking ability and his tank i am starting to think maybe just maybe he could be a player we could try on the Wing as the McIntosh replacement and what a massive bonus that would become 196cm winger thats a great intercept mark

You are playing a guy who is a great intercept mark on the wing? Surely you want him in line with the ball, not accompanying the boundary umpire on his daily rounds.

 

[Dr Tigris]

Im getting pretty excited about Blight this off season

The man is doing his 1st AFL pre season and is smashing players like McIntosh , HRS & Taranto in the running
With his marking ability and his tank i am starting to think maybe just maybe he could be a player we could try on the Wing as the McIntosh replacement and what a massive bonus that would become 196cm winger thats a great intercept mark

If Blight genuinely takes the step up then our backline will be very good (only line you could say that of). What do we do with all the KPDs who have shown genuine AFL ability?

 

[Jammo1111]

Throughout the history of all great AFL teams I can't recall any with 3 A Grade KPD? I want Balta, Gibcus and Trainor to be played together as often as possible here on even copping the shellackings. We're building for more Premierships not to be just contending again. Miller and Young need to be overlooked for our future more often than not. In a perfect world Gibcus's injuries are behind him and Trainors concussions are in the past. Balta is a genetically gifted freak now in his prime ready to step up and mature to become the man. He can take the Gorillas and play against taller opponents by virtue of his leap. Gibcus looked destined to become the perfect opponent for all these modern 200cm KPF like Kings, McKay, Darcy, with pretty decent kicking skills. Trainor appears far taller than 193cm and could keep growing closer to 200cm? His intercepting and kicking skills are sublime and hopefully becomes an unbeatable 3rd tall who can peel off his lesser opponents and carve oppositions up.

I'm glad we've got Rutten as coach, can see these 3 forming an unbeatable backline in years to come. As good as our premiership KPD were Rance was A++, Grimes A, Astbury more a C+/ B- at best. Can envision all of Balta, Gibcus and Trainor being A/ A+. Their differences compliment each other and if Balta can eradicate short kicking and Brain farts, then 2027 onwards our backline could be near on unbeatable. By then Broad will be gone, most likely Short also, Vlastuin on his last legs. Hopefully Brown can take over from Vlastuin. Just need to find a small lock down defender and a gun running HBF and our backline should be set.

Agree with this but I reckon Astbury was very underrated.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

If Blight genuinely takes the step up then our backline will be very good (only line you could say that of). What do we do with all the KPDs who have shown genuine AFL ability?

If we end up with too many genuine AFL level KPD's, you would obviously look to trade at least one. Clubs like Carlton, Suns, Copywood, maybe Dogs, likely trade at least 2 x rd 2's for a player who has shown he can handle this role, but isn't in our best 2 or 3 kpd's. A bit like the Soldo situation. These type of picks can help us bolster our small forward or outside runner stocks.

In the meantime, take it slowly with our ACL guys and get them spot on before exposing them to AFL. Also ease the youngster Trainor into it with plenty of VFL footy while he is learning. We were a stronger side then but we have to remember players as good as Balta & Bolton played just 13 & 9 AFL games in their first 2 seasons.

 

[Sir_Loin]

If we end up with too many genuine AFL level KPD's, you would obviously look to trade at least one. Clubs like Carlton, Suns, Copywood, maybe Dogs, likely trade at least 2 x rd 2's for a player who has shown he can handle this role, but isn't in our best 2 or 3 kpd's. A bit like the Soldo situation. These type of picks can help us bolster our small forward or outside runner stocks.

In the meantime, take it slowly with our ACL guys and get them spot on before exposing them to AFL. Also ease the youngster Trainor into it with plenty of VFL footy while he is learning. We were a stronger side then but we have to remember players as good as Balta & Bolton played just 13 & 9 AFL games in their first 2 seasons.

How would we have too many KPDs?

 

[wigglyworm]

If we end up with too many genuine AFL level KPD's, you would obviously look to trade at least one. Clubs like Carlton, Suns, Copywood, maybe Dogs, likely trade at least 2 x rd 2's for a player who has shown he can handle this role, but isn't in our best 2 or 3 kpd's. A bit like the Soldo situation. These type of picks can help us bolster our small forward or outside runner stocks.

In the meantime, take it slowly with our ACL guys and get them spot on before exposing them to AFL. Also ease the youngster Trainor into it with plenty of VFL footy while he is learning. We were a stronger side then but we have to remember players as good as Balta & Bolton played just 13 & 9 AFL games in their first 2 seasons.

If Blight has a good year it will be a way to add another 1 or 2 draft picks back into next year or the year after. Ready made KPD for West Coast you would think would be a second rounder at least possibly more

 

[rfctigerarmy]

Any relation to Meghan Trainor?

 

[Meteoric Rise]

How would we have too many KPDs?

Blight, Balta, Miller, Young, Gibcus.

They could all make the grade yet. All capable of possibly being number 1 or 2 key defender.

3rd tall you also have Trainor, Bauer as obvious possibilities.

 

[tiger_tough]

Best thing is Balta has come back, shaved the head and looks like he’s stacked on a few kgs

Love it when Croats go all in

I bet you do....

 

[Sir_Loin]

Blight, Balta, Miller, Young, Gibcus.

They could all make the grade yet. All capable of possibly being number 1 or 2 key defender.

3rd tall you also have Trainor, Bauer as obvious possibilities.

Trainor is not a key. Blight maybe more of a third IMO or wing. Balta is the one key lock along with Gibcus if he can get right.

The others are are just list fillers for now as we build

 

[Sir_Loin]

I bet you do....

 

[rfctigerarmy]

View attachment 2185604

Great scene

 

[Sir_Loin]

Great scene

The whole back story how that scene happened is legendary