List Mgmt. Colin Sylvia - Joins Freo as Free Agent

[yoong]

He was never going to make it, there was ample medical evidence available to support that opinion. He may well have cost very little but he did occupy a place on your list that could've and should've gone to a more worthy prospect. I don't entirely agree with your view re the similarity between us and Freo re the early 2000's. However, I will say we like most teams make selection errors.

That's a harsh call on Gumbleton. He was reasonable healthy his last season at Essendon, worked hard during preseason and made our best 22 before the injury. He is a speculative trade that would seem a genius one if it worked out. Didn't cost us much in the end except maybe wasted time.

 

[mike91]

Toss up as to what was the worst call, Sylvia or that crock Gumbleton, terrible decisions both of them.

.......well you're stupid. Ben Jacobs first year at norf was as useless as Sylvia's.

 

[Purpletown]

That's a harsh call on Gumbleton. He was reasonable healthy his last season at Essendon, worked hard during preseason and made our best 22 before the injury. He is a speculative trade that would seem a genius one if it worked out. Didn't cost us much in the end except maybe wasted time.

Risky pick up for sure but I was happy for the club to do that deal given RTB has some good form in getting players who seem set for the scrap heap to contribute in a meaningful way. He is willing to put plenty of time into nurturing players who have been written off and often gets a good result.

For an example when Michael Gardiner was picked up by the Saints from the Egos he was a physical wreck (not to mention what may have been going on above his neck) He didn't play a game in his first year under Ross but after that they managed to get some reasonable footy out of him for a few years.

Regarding Sylvia, he has been frustrating and just looked clueless when he did get a run. If he can get some form for 2015 he would only be a benefit to the side as a offensive (ie goal kicking) mid who provides a chop out for the midfield by doing some of the hard work around the centre area and moves forward to kick a goal from time to time. 20 goals a season at least is what we need from him. The jury is out on his worth to the side unless he improves a hell of a lot on his 2014.

 

[Steinfreo]

He was never going to make it, there was ample medical evidence available to support that opinion. He may well have cost very little but he did occupy a place on your list that could've and should've gone to a more worthy prospect. I don't entirely agree with your view re the similarity between us and Freo re the early 2000's. However, I will say we like most teams make selection errors.
I have to admit to having a soft spot for Freo, I am a strong supporter of your Coach and the way he goes about his business and I would like nothing more than to see Freo gain the ultimate prize as long as it's not at our expense. What does concern me is the obvious lack of activity during this trading period thus far, I feel that for Freo to improve sufficiently to reach the top they desperately need two key position players one at each end of the ground with absolute emphasis on a goal kicker. If only it was that easy.

I sort of agree with gumby. The year before he came from round 4-7 he kicked 11 goals and had an 18 disposal 12 mark game. He was worth a shot.

 

[TheMcManusNose]

That's a harsh call on Gumbleton. He was reasonable healthy his last season at Essendon, worked hard during preseason and made our best 22 before the injury. He is a speculative trade that would seem a genius one if it worked out. Didn't cost us much in the end except maybe wasted time.

Importantly with Gumby, at the end of last season, he'd had back surgery that was theoretically supposed to relieve his hamstring problems. Obviously that didn't work out.

 

[johnnomac]

That's a harsh call on Gumbleton. He was reasonable healthy his last season at Essendon, worked hard during preseason and made our best 22 before the injury. He is a speculative trade that would seem a genius one if it worked out. Didn't cost us much in the end except maybe wasted time.

Agreed. The Freo club doctors examined him the year before he decided to re-sign with Essendon for a year. At the end of that year, the Freo doctors looked at him again and made a professional decision that he was, at least medically, worth a go. There are no absolute guarantees when it comes to medical issues.

 

[Okinakashi]

I'm feeling positive for Col this year. Yes, he came to the club underdone and yes, he seemed to not "get" the freo game plan when playing. But if we acknowledge that he cocked up and wasn’t fit enough when he got here, then I think many of his further issues stemmed from that.
- He was running laps for nearly all of the early training sessions – instead of doing match sims to get to understand the team’s game.
- He got a number of soft tissue injuries, which are common when you try and ramp things up faster than your body can allow – then he was running more laps (see previous point)
- I get the feeling that he’s not a book learning type of fella and that to learn our game he needed to play it – not run laps instead of match sims, not watch tapes of our games or read playbooks and certainly not by playing at Peel.
Yes, he belted some bloke playing for Peel and yes he “appeared” to throw his toys out of the cot when things didn’t go his way, but now that he understands exactly where he needs to be come the first day of pre-season – hopefully he’ll be as fit as a mallee bull and will come straight into the “main team” training sessions/match sims – which will give him the best chance of success in 2015.
We can do with a physically mature/strong player smashing and bashing through the midfield and laying heavy tackles – even kicking the odd goal – he showed a couple of glimpses of what he’s capable of and with a full pre-season working with his Freo team mates – I hope he can do good things for us.
Now, on the other hand, if he shows up unfit – then Have fun playing for Peel ressies next year Col!

 

[sherrif]

I'm feeling positive for Col this year. Yes, he came to the club underdone and yes, he seemed to not "get" the freo game plan when playing. But if we acknowledge that he cocked up and wasn’t fit enough when he got here, then I think many of his further issues stemmed from that.
- He was running laps for nearly all of the early training sessions – instead of doing match sims to get to understand the team’s game.
- He got a number of soft tissue injuries, which are common when you try and ramp things up faster than your body can allow – then he was running more laps (see previous point)
- I get the feeling that he’s not a book learning type of fella and that to learn our game he needed to play it – not run laps instead of match sims, not watch tapes of our games or read playbooks and certainly not by playing at Peel.
Yes, he belted some bloke playing for Peel and yes he “appeared” to throw his toys out of the cot when things didn’t go his way, but now that he understands exactly where he needs to be come the first day of pre-season – hopefully he’ll be as fit as a mallee bull and will come straight into the “main team” training sessions/match sims – which will give him the best chance of success in 2015.
We can do with a physically mature/strong player smashing and bashing through the midfield and laying heavy tackles – even kicking the odd goal – he showed a couple of glimpses of what he’s capable of and with a full pre-season working with his Freo team mates – I hope he can do good things for us.
Now, on the other hand, if he shows up unfit – then Have fun playing for Peel ressies next year Col!

Im hoping he is training hard at the moment. Johno, Crowley, Suban and C.Pearce all saved their careers by training hard in the break between the end of the season and the start of preseason. The first 3km time trial will be very telling for Colin.

 

[theGav56]

.......well you're stupid. Ben Jacobs first year at norf was as useless as Sylvia's.

Hay I agree with you.

 

[Righteo]

Toss up as to what was the worst call, Sylvia or that crock Gumbleton, terrible decisions both of them.

Unfortunately not everyone can have the same impact as boom recruit Robin Nahas, those 8 games for 7 goals were invaluable last year I'm sure. Savvy recruiting that.

Would also be waiting to see the impact Waite and Higgins will have personally before attacking other clubs, I'm predicting very little to zero influence.

 

[raghav]

That's a harsh call on Gumbleton. He was reasonable healthy his last season at Essendon, worked hard during preseason and made our best 22 before the injury. He is a speculative trade that would seem a genius one if it worked out. Didn't cost us much in the end except maybe wasted time.

With the exception of the time before his first

Unfortunately not everyone can have the same impact as boom recruit Robin Nahas, those 8 games for 7 goals were invaluable last year I'm sure. Savvy recruiting that.

Would also be waiting to see the impact Waite and Higgins will have personally before attacking other clubs, I'm predicting very little to zero influence.

I have no doubt that both Waite (Freo should've made a play for him) and Higgins will both improve in our system and make meaningful contributions. As for Nahas, he was never considered to be a 'boom recruit' but he was of infinitely more value to us than that lazy undisciplined dud Sylvia was for Freo. Taking him on board at Freo smacked of some of the earlier embarrassing recruiting blunders the club was infamous for.

 

[apuchar]

I have no doubt that both Waite (Freo should've made a play for him) and Higgins will both improve in our system and make meaningful contributions. As for Nahas, he was never considered to be a 'boom recruit' but he was of infinitely more value to us than that lazy undisciplined dud Sylvia was for Freo. Taking him on board at Freo smacked of some of the earlier embarrassing recruiting blunders the club was infamous for.[/QUOTE]



Worry about your own backyard mate. We have done alright in that last few year. If Sylvia is a bust then it cost us nothing but a bit of cash which we had to spend anyway. If he comes good, he will be a bonus. Nothing in life is definite.

 

[PapaJ]

With the exception of the time before his first

I have no doubt that both Waite (Freo should've made a play for him) and Higgins will both improve in our system and make meaningful contributions. As for Nahas, he was never considered to be a 'boom recruit' but he was of infinitely more value to us than that lazy undisciplined dud Sylvia was for Freo. Taking him on board at Freo smacked of some of the earlier embarrassing recruiting blunders the club was infamous for.

Typical BS displaying just how little you know and how much 'opinion' is based on hearsay.

Firstly most of those 'embarrassing' recruiting blunders are after the fact, easy to see them then. Secondly, every club, bar none, has made blunders. It goes with the territory. Thirdly, Sylvia was a 'low cost high potential' recruit for us who's story hasn't really been told yet, so we don't really know. I'm not holding my breath, but there's at least two more years to go yet. I don't see him as much different to Waite who's shown all the potential in the world over his time, but has also shown himself to go missing either to brain fades (both on and off the field) or injury quite regularly too.

 

[pokerspiv]

Even if Sylvia never plays another game for us it's hardly a blunder since it cost us literally nothing.

 

[Minz]

In the wet game he was obvious as a class above, he just didn't get involved anywhere near enough.

I don't care what happens with Sylvia. If he stays the same our team doesn't change since he wasn't in it, if he puts his head down and works to the ball better next season then we stand to gain a lot.

This is the problem - work rate. So, question is, can he change what looks like a lifetime of bad habits to make an impact next year?

 

[Taylor]

I'd say he is going to do his best. He could be on his arse at the moment but he is being flogged by a personal trainer if I believe Instagram.

 

[freoextra]

I'd say he is going to do his best. He could be on his arse at the moment but he is being flogged by a personal trainer if I believe Instagram.

Great news and what you would expect of a professional, perhaps he is getting the message in relation to effort required, buying in etc

 

[Agenfrida]

Great news and what you would expect of a professional, perhaps he is getting the message in relation to effort required, buying in etc

In a perfect world we could have 3 or 4 come from the wilderness (for lack of a better word) Sylvia and Simpson who were not fit enough and not in the right frame of mind, could very well turn up to pre season in shape and have a great summer ready to take on 2015 like a bull at a gate. Morra should be ready to go from day one and with a full summer under his belt again provides an unknown and then Sheridan is possibly ready to follow Croz and Neale and take the next step. I'd include Apeness in there too, but while I think he'll get a few games next year, I don't expect to see him regularly until 2016 or even 17.

If the pieces fall together lookout. And it's great to hear that Sylvia is working his butt off. Hopefully Simpson is doing the same, as I'm sure he is.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I'd say he is going to do his best. He could be on his arse at the moment but he is being flogged by a personal trainer if I believe Instagram.

Sure he's not flogging the personal trainer?

 

[Kram]

Even if Sylvia never plays another game for us it's hardly a blunder since it cost us literally nothing.

Except for salary cap space and a valuable spot on the list for another 2 years.

 

[se17enteen]

Except for salary cap space and a valuable spot on the list for another 2 years.

Cap space needs to be used up anyway, you can't save it. At worst nothing wrong with having a good depth player/Peel player.

 

[gungho]

Cap space needs to be used up anyway, you can't save it. At worst nothing wrong with having a good depth player/Peel player.

Sorry se17enteen but don't agree. Cap space is vital. Col Sylvia is on 350k a year. If we hadn't recruited him, and spent, say 200k per year on someone else, that would have released 150k to go after a bigger fish. (Not to mention the fact that the player recruited for 200k may have actually had more impact.)

 

[PapaJ]

Sorry se17enteen but don't agree. Cap space is vital. Col Sylvia is on 350k a year. If we hadn't recruited him, and spent, say 200k per year on someone else, that would have released 150k to go after a bigger fish. (Not to mention the fact that the player recruited for 200k may have actually had more impact.)

Sure, but it's a technicality really. Because we could have had an extra 500K and we still almost certainly wouldn't have got the only 'fish' of note this year which is Frawley - reports are we offered more than anybody else and he still wanted to go to Hawks. Next year or two, maybe we hit cap space issues and you might have a case, but realistically, that 150k odd is of little consequence in this regard.

 

[theGav56]

Sorry se17enteen but don't agree. Cap space is vital. Col Sylvia is on 350k a year. If we hadn't recruited him, and spent, say 200k per year on someone else, that would have released 150k to go after a bigger fish. (Not to mention the fact that the player recruited for 200k may have actually had more impact.)

I would assume that the player who would be on our list instead of him would be a player taken after our last selection in the 2013 draft, and I would doubt they would have played at all this year. Most players taken then end up without making it in the afl. Sylvia is worth that risk.

 

[theGav56]

In a perfect world we could have 3 or 4 come from the wilderness (for lack of a better word) Sylvia and Simpson who were not fit enough and not in the right frame of mind, could very well turn up to pre season in shape and have a great summer ready to take on 2015 like a bull at a gate. Morra should be ready to go from day one and with a full summer under his belt again provides an unknown and then Sheridan is possibly ready to follow Croz and Neale and take the next step. I'd include Apeness in there too, but while I think he'll get a few games next year, I don't expect to see him regularly until 2016 or even 17.

If the pieces fall together lookout. And it's great to hear that Sylvia is working his butt off. Hopefully Simpson is doing the same, as I'm sure he is.

Agree with this.

Re Apeness, I would like to see him playing a few games and then being subbed out for a more mobile small.