Universal Love Brad Close

[MacStradbroke]

Serious, who gives a shit what Brad Close’s trade value is.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Serious, who gives a s**t what Brad Close’s trade value is.

Yup, I care what his value is to the GFC, and it's massive.
Brilliant player.

 

[MacStradbroke]

Yup, I care what his value is to the GFC, and it's massive.
Brilliant player.

Love him. One of the most universally liked players we’ve ever had inside and outside the club. Everyone I know rates him.

 

[Baudolino]

It got overshadowed (for obvious reasons) by what happened immediately afterwards, but watching it again, how bloody clever and well-weighted was that tap into Selwood's hands for the captain's goal in the last quarter?

 

[cats_09]

Congrats to Brad for being Mr July in our 2023 calendar - but seriously, the guys played 55 matches & they choose an image from the one match where he didn't wear long sleeves

 

[jim boy]

Congrats to Brad for being Mr July in our 2023 calendar - but seriously, the guys played 55 matches & they choose an image from the one match where he didn't wear long sleeves

View attachment 1536556

WTF?? Why do they have a former player for May? It wasn't as if he was a regular in 22 - was it in his contract?

 

[cats_09]

WTF?? Why do they have a former player for May? It wasn't as if he was a regular in 22 - was it in his contract?

Smith is May

Though I do agree with Dahlhaus in August... It's not like the wasn't options with guys like Stengle, Henry, Holmes or Atkins etc

 

[jim boy]

Smith is May

Lol - my bad - read the month titles as being above the images, not below

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Seems all teams do that, must go to selecting the players and think "hmmm whose most likely to retire or be traded? Let's put them in!".

 

[Sky]

It will suck if he ends up back in SA.

 

[dazbroncos]

It will suck if he ends up back in SA.

WTF you talking about?

He aint going nowhere...

Or are you just saying in 12 years time.

GO Catters

 

[Sky]

WTF you talking about?

He aint going nowhere...

Or are you just saying in 12 years time.

GO Catters

Hopefully in 12 years time if it happened. Kidding yourself if you think SA doesn’t come calling for him eventually.

 

[cats_09]

Hopefully in 12 years time if it happened. Kidding yourself if you think SA doesn’t come calling for him eventually.

Like how SA kept calling for Enright?

Or WA kept calling for Mitch Duncan & Harry Taylor?

Close is originally from Mt Gambier - Geelong is actually a closer distance to his home town than Adelaide is, so if he wants to be "closer" to home, surely he stays in the Hoops

 

[cats_09]

WTF you talking about?

He aint going nowhere...

Or are you just saying in 12 years time.

GO Catters

I guess the media got sick of suggesting that Joel, Harry, Corey, Mitch etc would all go home, so now it's onto the next lad...even though Geelong is actually closer to his home town than Adelaide...

 

[Sttew]

Smith is May

Though I do agree with Dahlhaus in August... It's not like the wasn't options with guys like Stengle, Henry, Holmes or Atkins etc

Is this a first draft done before the premiership? And who uses calendars anymore?

 

[dazbroncos]

Hopefully in 12 years time if it happened. Kidding yourself if you think SA doesn’t come calling for him eventually.

They will call ... WA will call Neale too.

But it aint happened yet so im not into doomsdaying things that aren't even real.

And we are 2 weeks post a flag and abour 4 days post the best trade period ever.

There have been about 100 months of people shitting on GFC and Eeyoiring stuff...

Be ****ed if its gonna happen between now and next season.

We get this time to gloat and be happy with life..

There will be plenty of time for sooking and what if WA and SA calls....














Later

And I reckon Close is pretty damn content right now.
Rookie to regular player
TO Premiership player
TO Upgraded Senior player
And a bigger contract to boot.

So blow that up your arse SA.

GO Caters

 

[Sky]

They will call ... WA will call Neale too.

But it aint happened yet so im not into doomsdaying things that aren't even real.

And we are 2 weeks post a flag and abour 4 days post the best trade period ever.

There have been about 100 months of people shitting on GFC and Eeyoiring stuff...

Be cactus if its gonna happen between now and next season.

We get this time to gloat and be happy with life..

There will be plenty of time for sooking and what if WA and SA calls....














Later

And I reckon Close is pretty damn content right now.
Rookie to regular player
TO Premiership player
TO Upgraded Senior player
And a bigger contract to boot.

So blow that up your arse SA.

GO Caters

Hope you are right but what do you like about Neale as I don’t watch VFL? I prefer the NTFL obviously

 

[Mattttty]

Hope you are right but what do you like about Neale as I don’t watch VFL? I prefer the NTFL obviously

Neale looks great. Really talented. He's 203cms, a strong overhead and contested mark, is a great athlete and can run (he was a National 400m and 800m runner), and is a really good long kick at goal, too. I'd say he's right up there with our young players for potential. Exactly the kind of player we need as Hawkins approaches the last part of his career.

 

[dazbroncos]

Hope you are right but what do you like about Neale as I don’t watch VFL? I prefer the NTFL obviously

Neale - 202 - young, very mobile. Good lead and mark ability and ok pack marking.
Beautiful kicking style from close to 55 out.
Great footy reading of play and nous.
Can run, decent tank and plays a defensive game to in F50 chasing and applying pressure - as well as a 202cm bloke can.

Seems to really enjoy his footy and the GFC at the moment.

Anointed heir apparent to Tomma FF spot by me.

Has kicked bags in the VFL on multiple occasions.

Is a decent F50 ruck chop out.

Needs to build more strength and get some better synergy with his Mids.

But i really like what he does and wha the can do for us.

GO Catters

 

[Cursed Cat]

 

[Cursed Cat]

The really question is why would Close be considered less valuable then Henry.

I'm not a huge subscriber to the whole cult of the ''Moneyball'' philosophy, but I did read the book a few years ago and there was a bit of discussion about recruiters talking about players with a ''good face'' for baseball and all manner of silly biases that creep into any form of assessment.

Ollie Henry looks like a good footballer, can take an overhead mark, nice long kick - sexy stuff. A player like Brad Close is harder to pigeonhole, and yet he is just so effective. I'd definitely want a #10 selection in exchange for losing Brad Close - but I'd rather just sign him to a looooong contract to ensure we lucky Geelong supporters are the ones that get the pleasure of watching him contribute clever play after clever play for the rest of his career.

 

[cats_09]

Is this a first draft done before the premiership? And who uses calendars anymore?

Currently available for purchase from multiple retailers - along with the remaining AFL, NRL teams

I love calendars, buy a couple ever year but never bought a footy team one

 

[Lana]

I'm not a huge subscriber to the whole cult of the ''Moneyball'' philosophy, but I did read the book a few years ago and there was a bit of discussion about recruiters talking about players with a ''good face'' for baseball and all manner of silly biases that creep into any form of assessment.

Ollie Henry looks like a good footballer, can take an overhead mark, nice long kick - sexy stuff. A player like Brad Close is harder to pigeonhole, and yet he is just so effective. I'd definitely want a #10 selection in exchange for losing Brad Close - but I'd rather just sign him to a looooong contract to ensure we lucky Geelong supporters are the ones that get the pleasure of watching him contribute clever play after clever play for the rest of his career.

In the AFL context I'm not a strong believing in data driven recruitment as anything more than a guide, for one thing the quality of data available is awful, the sport at lower levels doesn't resemble it at AFL level. It can be useful in identifying outliers in the player pool for further investigation as from a resourcing point of view clubs just can't do the deep dive necessary. For a example model I'm using right now absolute doesn't like O.Henry, says he plays at a VFL replacement level, feels the same about Stephens' games at AFL level. The reason it doesn't like Henry is that it just doesn't value a player kicking goals that they should kick, it values player who do more than their expected role. Mark 1 eyeball sees marks I50 and goals things that look great in a highlights real. Now Henry is still young, so we hope he'll grow into a more well rounded player. On a side note the model loves Close, 21st out 88 medium (non-key) forward, O.Henry is 2nd last.

Baseball has the five tools hitting, hitting for power, running, fielding and throwing for historically judging potential. AFL is a much more complicated sport, a lot more gut feel (or asspulls) by recruiters.

The draft filters toward certain characteristics that favour ball winning inside mids and KPFs, clubs play a high price for the admission to a 10-30% win chance in a lottery to get those kinds of players.

But teams need a lot more than that to win. teams generally only field 4-5 inside mid per game, a couple of key forward. You need role players to win a game which is why GWS and GC have had so much problem despite having all of the early picks. they end up putting players more suited for a primary inside mid role into the "less valuable" roles, and they pay a premium to hold onto these players.

Clubs that can better scout for role player have the advantage of getting more bang for their buck. We, Richmond and Sydney are good at it.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

As good as this is, they missed so many super crutial moments throughout the year but in particular towards the end of the year, those tap ons and balls into space to advantage were brilliant.
He's got such a great football brain.

 

[Cursed Cat]

As good as this is, they missed so many super crutial moments throughout the year but in particular towards the end of the year, those tap ons and balls into space to advantage were brilliant.
He's got such a great football brain.

yeah it was pretty short - I'd happily watch a compilation solely of Brad Close's chase-down tackles.