Player Watch #37: Cooper Harvey - syndesmosis injury vs Nthrn Bullants in VFL - will miss six weeks

[pupstar]

I am an almost fan of him and he is still very young/raw. At absolute worst, I think he will be an extremely solid contributor once he builds his tank.

Positives include:

• A number of mini-bags in the VFL last season.
• Decent contested mark.
• Doesn't look slow (doesn't look fast either).
• Generally uses it well
• Good footy IQ
• Generally a good finisher around goals.
• Good at the contested footy and goes when he needs to.

Negatives/Roadblocks to overcome/Areas to work on:

• Limited tank (a likely factor contributing to many of his other weaker areas)
• Questionable levels of defensive intent.
• High competition for spots in his position.
• Questionable consistency and involvement across all four quarters.
• Generally not a high disposal winner.

Sounds like someone else we no Cam

 

[The Nostradamus]

im a fan, i also think he has decent pace

he could be that new type of hybrid small forward, that can crumb but also still a lead up and mark option

 

[roos_fanatic08]

I am an almost fan of him and he is still very young/raw. At absolute worst, I think he will be an extremely solid contributor once he builds his tank.

Positives include:

• A number of mini-bags in the VFL last season.
• Decent contested mark.
• Doesn't look slow (doesn't look fast either).
• Generally uses it well
• Good footy IQ
• Generally a good finisher around goals.
• Good at the contested footy and goes when he needs to.

Negatives/Roadblocks to overcome/Areas to work on:

• Limited tank (a likely factor contributing to many of his other weaker areas)
• Questionable levels of defensive intent.
• High competition for spots in his position.
• Questionable consistency and involvement across all four quarters.
• Generally not a high disposal winner.

I think Negative 1 is the reason for negative 2,4 & 5.

His defensive intent is really good, he is genuinely one of the best tacklers on our list and he tackles to hurt.

He averaged 13 disposals per game at VFL playing the hardest position on the ground.

I think if he gets his tank developed he’ll have no worries getting to that 17-18 mark which is excellent for a small/mid forward.

While he isn’t as flashy as some on our list, I think he has a ceiling that matches someone like Jamie Elliott. Both around that 180cm 80kg mark, both aren’t traditional small forwards, but both are exceptional leading targets for their height. Elliot only averages around that 13-14 disposal range, but because he makes the most of his goal scoring opportunities he is very dangerous. I think Coops fits that mould perfectly.

 

[Shinboner1]

Will get another contract due to the family name but its really going to be up to him to earn a spot in the 22.
There's a lot of players in that HF role, even more who can mid that'll be resting through the position.

 

[Johnny99]

I hope he gets another contract, IF he deserves it.

We are a bottom 2 side for the last 3 years now?

We are not Collingwood.

We cant sacrifice a list spot, for a player who is a "Legend of the club"

And that's two spots, if you include Archer...

 

[Krakoueraddict]

I think Negative 1 is the reason for negative 2,4 & 5.

His defensive intent is really good, he is genuinely one of the best tacklers on our list and he tackles to hurt.

He averaged 13 disposals per game at VFL playing the hardest position on the ground.

I think if he gets his tank developed he’ll have no worries getting to that 17-18 mark which is excellent for a small/mid forward.

While he isn’t as flashy as some on our list, I think he has a ceiling that matches someone like Jamie Elliott. Both around that 180cm 80kg mark, both aren’t traditional small forwards, but both are exceptional leading targets for their height. Elliot only averages around that 13-14 disposal range, but because he makes the most of his goal scoring opportunities he is very dangerous. I think Coops fits that mould perfectly.

Love the Jamie Elliot comparison, Coops definitely has a skill set that can be valuable with high levels of efficiency (taking his marks on the lead, finishing those 50/50 set shot goals ect.)

We definitely do need more pressure on the oppo defense when the ball hits the deck and he has to be able to provide at least a fair level of pressure to have a spot in the fwd line.

 

[DesertRoo]

The kid kicked a couple of bags of 5 goals in the vfl as a 19 year old and posters already have a cross through his name?

 

[muttley45]

I see Coops as an impact player, and not an accumulator, it's not all about Supercoach scores.

 

[Shinboner1]

I see Coops as an impact player, and not an accumulator, it's not all about Supercoach scores.

It's about playing in the best 22 mate

 

[zoomba23]

I see Coops as an impact player, and not an accumulator, it's not all about Supercoach scores.

Where does he fit? Slower than Stephenson, Zurhaar, and I'd hazard a guess George and Duursma too, less skilful than PC, shorter than basically everyone. It's not to say he won't get his chance but I struggle to see how he capitalises on a chance. He's got a more severe case of what Tom Powell has; a collection of traits that don't fit neatly into any one box and that therefore make it hard to imagine him fitting into team plans

 

[Event Horizon]

Where does he fit? Slower than Stephenson, Zurhaar, and I'd hazard a guess George and Duursma too, less skilful than PC, shorter than basically everyone. It's not to say he won't get his chance but I struggle to see how he capitalises on a chance. He's got a more severe case of what Tom Powell has; a collection of traits that don't fit neatly into any one box and that therefore make it hard to imagine him fitting into team plans

He’s basically a key forward in a small forward body. Hard to see him making it although he definitely has some tools that are AFL ready.

If he wants it badly enough he will force his way in at some stages and if he’s good enough to keep the spot you never know. But he needs to become a gun pressure forward to make it IMO


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[BlueandWhiteinmyBlood]

Where does he fit? Slower than Stephenson, Zurhaar, and I'd hazard a guess George and Duursma too, less skilful than PC, shorter than basically everyone. It's not to say he won't get his chance but I struggle to see how he capitalises on a chance. He's got a more severe case of what Tom Powell has; a collection of traits that don't fit neatly into any one box and that therefore make it hard to imagine him fitting into team plans

Probably all the same questions raised about his father too, turned out okay.

 

[Liam Boy]

Probably all the same questions raised about his father too, turned out okay.

Who was his father slower than???

 

[zoomba23]

Probably all the same questions raised about his father too, turned out okay.

To be fair though, his father was rapid. From the beginning

 

[chubbspeterson]

Geez some harsh people on here. Think we can at least give him 3-4 years in the system and see what we have like we did Perez and Mahony.

 

[DuckYeah]

im a fan, i also think he has decent pace

he could be that new type of hybrid small forward, that can crumb but also still a lead up and mark option

I see potential however, I see a lot of Shane in him. Thats the part im worried about

 

[czero]

Not every kid makes it. Not saying he wont or can't, but there is kicking a bag in VFL, and there is kicking a bag where you won the contest to do it. Both are valuable, but only one of those is what's required in AFL.

 

[hellas_johnny]

His issue is gonna be that he plays too similar to zurhaar taylor Curtis and then also George and even Duursma. Very weird considering he's not even tall at all. He looked very good in the vfl this year but with all those types how can you fit him in. That's why we need him to pick up some pace and strength so he can maybe turn into that small forward we need. He's definitely got the footy brain

 

[marklovesbeer]

I see potential however, I see a lot of Shane in him. Thats the part im worried about

Please elaborate.

 

[GoldSoundz]

Please elaborate.

Uncle Shane Harvey. Played briefly for Bombers and Roos 2002-04.
Good forward craft but without the size or speed to succeed. Shane wasn’t big on things like tackling.

 

[marklovesbeer]

Uncle Shane Harvey. Played briefly for Bombers and Roos 2002-04.
Good forward craft but without the size or speed to succeed. Shane wasn’t big on things like tackling.

I know who Shane is, but wondering what it is specifically that DuckYeah is referring to.

 

[Gasometer]

I know who Shane is, but wondering what it is specifically that DuckYeah is referring to.

We barely saw enough of Shane yeh?

 

[Devil Fish]

Haven't seen anything yet to suggest Cooper will be a decent AFL player. Is he another player we give 3-4 years just to see how he goes??? We're such a nice club.

 

[pupstar]

Haven't seen anything yet to suggest Cooper will be a decent AFL player. Is he another player we give 3-4 years just to see how he goes??? We're such a nice club.

How long should a 18 year old recruit get then to improve and prove himself then.

 

[The Talent Scout]

Come on people, after the last 4 years the amount of players we've delisted/traded/retired has maxed out to 43 players. Now some people might argue that that it was about time, maybe it was, but in retrospect every player was different in that injuries/retirements and for certain reasons, players were traded. Now love them or hate them, they still pulled on a North Melbourne jumper and gave everything they had, whether they had limited ability or their injuries caught up with them, and after all isn't that what our club stands for, Shinboner Spirit, they had a real crack, but in the end it wasn't to be.

Now we move on to young Cooper Harvey, I get the feeling that because he's not like his dad, who was an out and out champion of our club and had so many attributes and that he's not Ricky Barham or a brilliant forward or a sizzling midfielder or even a top notch backman, that he's just not going to make it, nope we've seen enough, that's it, get rid of him, we want a team full of George Wardlaws, Harry Sheezels and Luke Davies Uniackes.

That's not how it works, you have your stars, then your good players and then your role players and you have the players who are not bad, but by god they give everything in a contest, these I call the triers, now what category Cooper is in, he's in one of them, so how about we support the young man playing in our jumper, not because of who his father is but because he does have ability and because he's working his bum off to have a red hot go.

Not many people actually know the word Patience, to them 1 to 3 years that's it delist. All players are different, whether they are mids/forwards/backs or rucks, some require more time than others, while its true that tall forwards/backmen and rucks do take time, there have been many examples where mid/forwards, mids and even backmen take longer. I remember 2 classic examples in Christian Petracca

5

Christian Petracca

Age

28

Ht

187cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.4

5star

K

9.5

4star

HB

9.8

5star

M

3.5

4star

T

3.0

5star

CL

2.5

4star

D

24.4

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

14.0

5star

M

3.5

3star

T

3.6

4star

CL

3.4

4star

D

19.0

5star

K

7.8

3star

HB

11.2

5star

M

3.0

3star

T

3.8

5star

CL

2.0

4star

and Luke Davies Uniacke.

On so many boards, not just ours, many, many people were saying that he's not going to be the player we thought he'd be, same goes with Christian, on their board, maybe go and have a look at the comments from some of the demon supporters early in his career, it will knock your socks off! Now I know not every team has got players like them, but the key here is not the type of players, it is a word, and that word is patience.

That goes for a few of our players, not just Cooper, we have done our delistings over the last 4 years, now we need to give OUR players a chance, no not 1 or 2 years but for every different case a real fair dinkum chance, because you know what, their not getting one. I know because of the last 4 years a lot of it is built up frustration on the way we've played/ been slaughtered/laughing at us, 4 years is a long time, I've said it before and I'll say it again I've got a very strong feeling this is going to change and when it does, its not going to be slow its going to take some people by surprise.

Now is the time to support not only our stars and really good players but most importantly the players who need our support because when this turns and it will, these players might just surprise a few people, in a big way, confidence and winning is a funny thing in sports, it can drive you to places you can't even imagine.