Graham Polak. Recruit of the year so far.

[Bradesmaen]

Polak only plays well as a loose man. How come the majority of people can't see that? Sure he racks up stats... but so can other players if they play loose. When he played for Freo, he was put in key positions because thats what he was meant to be. He played there and if you watched Freo games when he played, he was useless. His kicking was woeful, he couldn't take a Mark and never looked confident. His marking has improved this year ,but his kicking is woeful and he still looks unfit. Not the best recruit of the year by far.

 

[The Hobo]

easily pick up of the year

David Rodan Board

 

[Delidio]

How long did he spend in the ruck?

Didn't have a hitout.

set up hyde with some smart work in a centre clearance

 

[Lach72]

Polak only plays well as a loose man. How come the majority of people can't see that? Sure he racks up stats... but so can other players if they play loose. When he played for Freo, he was put in key positions because thats what he was meant to be. He played there and if you watched Freo games when he played, he was useless. His kicking was woeful, he couldn't take a Mark and never looked confident. His marking has improved this year ,but his kicking is woeful and he still looks unfit. Not the best recruit of the year by far.

You may want to think about that...

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Polak is the perfect player to play loose in the defence.His main strength is his contested one grabs.
Full credit to Terry for using him where he is most effective.
Thats why Freo will never get anywhere under their current coach

 

[zolloz]

Polak only plays well as a loose man. How come the majority of people can't see that? Sure he racks up stats... but so can other players if they play loose. When he played for Freo, he was put in key positions because thats what he was meant to be. He played there and if you watched Freo games when he played, he was useless. His kicking was woeful, he couldn't take a Mark and never looked confident. His marking has improved this year ,but his kicking is woeful and he still looks unfit. Not the best recruit of the year by far.

You must have had your eyes closed everytime he went near the ball then, from what I recall he was one of the best contested marks we had in defence.

 

[Longy413]

And??

He isnt a ruckmen. He probably spent a quarter of the game in the ruck.

So when you were making out that Polak playing in a variety of positions as a strength, really it isn't?

Between playing in the ruck for a quarter of the game and not getting a hitout and having three goals kicked on him by a pretty ordinary opponent (when he actually had one), I think we can write off this "he plays in a variety of positions" as being a good thing.

Because he's only really effective playing one role, just as well he's extremely effective at it.

 

[estibador]

Polak is the perfect player to play loose in the defence.His main strength is his contested one grabs.
Full credit to Terry for using him where he is most effective.
Thats why Freo will never get anywhere under their current coach

Yeah because Richmond are obviously going great guns under Terry's astute leadership.

Polak may be most effective playing loose but that's because he seems incapable of holding down a KPP post. Which is what a player with his size and attributes really should be doing.

He's certainly not the perfect player to play as a loose man. Ideally you'd want your loose man in defence to be highly skilled and be able to hurt teams rebounding the ball out of defence and setting up your attacking play. Polak's kicking is average at best and it's funny to hear Richmond supporters constantly bringing up his low clanger count. They should know better than anybody that that's because he always takes the safe option of a chip to a free teammate. Good for his stats but not so valuable when it comes to hurting the other team.

 

[Calcium Man]

So when you were making out that Polak playing in a variety of positions as a strength, really it isn't?

Im not making out that playing a variety of positions is his strength, im suggesting its not giving him the time develop in one position.

Between playing in the ruck for a quarter of the game and not getting a hitout and having three goals kicked on him by a pretty ordinary opponent (when he actually had one), I think we can write off this "he plays in a variety of positions" as being a good thing.

Lets be honest 2 of hollands goals were gimmes and i think Cleve Hughes was playing on Holland for one of those. Polak kept switching between Johnson, Holland and ruck.

 

[lids2004roar]

He is to slow...

Runs 20m in less than 3 seconds.

So when you were making out that Polak playing in a variety of positions as a strength, really it isn't?

Between playing in the ruck for a quarter of the game and not getting a hitout and having three goals kicked on him by a pretty ordinary opponent (when he actually had one), I think we can write off this "he plays in a variety of positions" as being a good thing.

Because he's only really effective playing one role, just as well he's extremely effective at it.

Did you watch Freo vs West Coast last year?

Sandilands went down in the 2nd quarter... who went into the ruck to dominate and win the game for Freo?

Polak.

When the choice is Tuck or Polak in the ruck then who do you think we should choose? He's done well as a forward at times this year too, kicked 3 goals in half a quarter earlier in the year.




Can we stop this now? The Freo fans are making out as if Polly is crap and a useless loose defender and in order to justify their team's decision of giving Polak away they are going to extreme lengths to make him (and themselves) look bad.

Just accept it.

You've let another one go.

 

[Wizard]

Did you watch Freo vs West Coast last year?

.

Geez he was good that day.

 

[Austin_McCrabbs]

Can't go past Joel Reynolds for find of the year.

 

[estibador]

Can we stop this now? The Freo fans are making out as if Polly is crap and a useless loose defender and in order to justify their team's decision of giving Polak away they are going to extreme lengths to make him (and themselves) look bad.

Just accept it.

You've let another one go.

No ones saying he's crap. He's one of the best marks in the competition and very effective at being the third man up, just as he was for us.

But there's only so much value in being a specialist third man up defender. We tried to develop him into his rightful position as a KPP but he couldn't cut it at either end. Hopefully you'll have more luck once Wallace decides to actually give him the responsibilty of developing into a true CHB who can beat a good CHF mano a mano.

We just find it funny that everyone's telling us we've let go some colossus of a CHB when right now he's not showing any more than he did in his debut season for us as a loose defender.

 

[Blasé]

Can somone go on record and say exactly what Richmond gave to get Polak, not what freo did with the resultant draft pick.

I said before that they gave a first rounder, and someone corrected me saying they only moved positions. Which is the truth?

If freo panicked giving him for virtual nothing, because carlton were looming to get him in the pre-season draft for nothing, then they have made a mistake. Polak's not great but his alright, and you should've put him on the market properly, I'm sure another team would've given a 2nd rounder.

 

[pazza]

He's done pretty well and been quite consistent..but, is he ahead of the likes of Alwyn Davey, Paul Medhurst, Chris Tarrant, Dean Solomon as recruits of the year? Too subjective for mine.

The comment by estibador is rather inaccurate, given the amount of CONTESTED marks he takes each week.

 

[dipper86]

Can somone go on record and say exactly what Richmond gave to get Polak, not what freo did with the resultant draft pick.

I said before that they gave a first rounder, and someone corrected me saying they only moved positions. Which is the truth?

If freo panicked giving him for virtual nothing, because carlton were looming to get him in the pre-season draft for nothing, then they have made a mistake. Polak's not great but his alright, and you should've put him on the market properly, I'm sure another team would've given a 2nd rounder.

Richmond downgraded there 1st round pick from 8 to 13 and gave away a 3rd round pick.

Fremantle upgraded there 1st round pick from pick 13 to 8 and traded Polak

 

[estibador]

Can somone go on record and say exactly what Richmond gave to get Polak, not what freo did with the resultant draft pick.

I said before that they gave a first rounder, and someone corrected me saying they only moved positions. Which is the truth?

If freo panicked giving him for virtual nothing, because carlton were looming to get him in the pre-season draft for nothing, then they have made a mistake. Polak's not great but his alright, and you should've put him on the market properly, I'm sure another team would've given a 2nd rounder.

We gave Richmond Polak and picks 13 and 64 for their picks 8 and 42.

Polak didn't give us the option of putting him on the market. He said if we didn't trade him to Richmond he would walk out and nominate for the preseason and Freo would get nothing. Hence the resentment amongst many Freo fans.

 

[estibador]

The comment by estibador is rather inaccurate, given the amount of CONTESTED marks he takes each week.

Sure he takes plenty of contested marks - as the third man up crashing into packs. And he's damn good at it too. He judges the flight of the ball very well and has an exceptional pair of hands.

But try making him stand man to man against a quality forward and see how many marks he takes. And when you throw him up as a leading forward his hands suddenly don't look so sure either. He's in his element when he can judge the ball coming in and crash in from the side. He's yet to show the same ability under man on man pressure.

 

[Blasé]

We gave Richmond Polak and picks 13 and 64 for their picks 8 and 42.

Polak didn't give us the option of putting him on the market. He said if we didn't trade him to Richmond he would walk out and nominate for the preseason and Freo would get nothing. Hence the resentment amongst many Freo fans.

Thanks for the info mate, makes it far clearer.

Yeah, you were pretty screwed with Polak's attitude of just flat out walking out. Perhaps maybe you should've seen it coming and been better prepared, however, him being a local boy, would've expected him to stay.

Reminds me of the McPharlin thing, where you had us screwed, with the go-home factor. It really annoyed me because I thought Croad leaving was a mistake. Thought that we should've tried bring WC into the equation, and perhaps offloaded someone else more expendable.

However, its all ended well enough for us, Croad a key defender and with Hodge likely our next captain, but still took some time to get over.

Getting Tarrant though........ I suppose you got something decent, but he, even before the recent issues, wasn't an intergral move for the forward structure. Not really a player I would've expected to make the next step to a premiership, nor Solomon.


I just can't emphasize enough how important it is to nurture your own talent. It just doesn't sit well with me, how much Connolly has traded, it reminds me of Schwab, of having quick fixes. Mould your own players, don't go throwing around draft picks for hole fillers, because you didn't have the foresight to draft in that area.

Nothing personal gainst freo, cos I reckon aka to wb, was another reckless move, that wasn't thought through:
Do we need another small skilled player?
Nope!

Now they're looking at getting a kp player, when what the hell were they doing last year!

 

[Calcium Man]

But try making him stand man to man against a quality forward and see how many marks he takes. And when you throw him up as a leading forward his hands suddenly don't look so sure either. He's in his element when he can judge the ball coming in and crash in from the side. He's yet to show the same ability under man on man pressure.

He has played on the better forwards but only in short burst because he isnt fit enough or strong enough to take them on for the whole game, plus he has been required to play in the ruck. It was entirely his fault that he didnt apply himself at Fremantle to get into shape for AFL football. He was so far behind the rewst of the team when he first came across it wasnt funny.

But with another preseason under his belt hopefully he will have the base fitness and strength to take on guys like Lucas, Brown and Pavlich.

 

[lids2004roar]

We just find it funny that everyone's telling us we've let go some colossus of a CHB when right now he's not showing any more than he did in his debut season for us as a loose defender.

Here is a perspective on where Polak is at with Richmond:

TW made it clear that Polak was expected to have an average year. He pleaded with the fans to be patient and willing to wait a year or two before he does anything. He pointed to Troy Simmonds and said Polak woul need a year to get his body and fitness right, fit in and settle into CHB.

TW played Polly loose at times early this year while never expecting him to hold CHB in 2007 for the above reasons. Polak's form as a loose man forced Terry to keep them for entire games from around Round 6 onwards.

The plan was to carry Polak through his first season with us while building him up to play CHB in 2008 onwards. The warning signs that Polak wouldn't do much this year worried me a little, but I am certain his role as a loose man is only temporary.



As for threatening to walk out, you can't be too anrgy with him. He averaged 22 possessions and 12 marks per game in 12 weeks at WAFL and was only rewarded with one game in Round 22. Could he have done anymore to earn a game? He was an emergency in every finals match and was named to play in the preliminary final but dropped at the last minute... after a good second half of the year he wasn't rewarded, so possibly his off field situation played a role in Freo's tough stance on playing him.

For the record, Polak wanted to stay at Freo even when trade week started. He had talks with Greg Miller and he was still unsure, (this was told in an article the other week).

Basically he was in career best form at times in early 2006, then he had a string of poor games and he was dropped (rightly so). After 12 good consistent games (22 possies 12 marks per game) he was barely rewarded. He needed to get out of the state and start again, Freo fans shouldn't hold too much resentment towards Polak.

Can somone go on record and say exactly what Richmond gave to get Polak, not what freo did with the resultant draft pick.

Richmond gave up pick 8 for 13 (Jack Riewoldt) who we would have picked anyway (they said it before the draft), and later in the draft swapped pick 42 for 58 (Daniel Connors) to get Polak. Connors was touted a top 10 pick but dropped possibly for attitude reasons.

Polak, Riewoldt and Connors are better than just Riewoldt and pick 42 (which could have been Connors anyway). So Richmond fans won before Polak even walked through the doors. We basically risked losing Riewoldt to get Polak, which caused an uproar before draft day.

I am not 100% sure about the Dockers' end result but I think it was essentially pick 8 and Polak for Tarrant and then they lost pick 42 (Bachar Houli?) for Solomon.

 

[Longy413]

TW made it clear that Polak was expected to have an average year. He pleaded with the fans to be patient and willing to wait a year or two before he does anything.

To be fair, TW has made the same comment about the club as a whole.

I am not 100% sure about the Dockers' end result but I think it was essentially pick 8 and Polak for Tarrant and then they lost pick 42 (Bachar Houli?) for Solomon.

Essendon traded Solly and pick 52 (Brock O'Brien) for picks 42 (Houli) and 47 (Reimers).

 

[Wizard]

Essendon traded Solly and pick 52 (Brock O'Brien) for picks 42 (Houli) and 47 (Reimers).

I think we have a win-win trade there. Solly is working well for us and O'Brien could turn into an excellent selection, Looks a lot like Damian Hardwick.

 

[GhostofJimJess]

he still had 3 goals kicked on him, doesnt matter how you get them

Yes it does. Forwards often get goals that are no fault of their direct opponent.

 

[krustyman]

polak is a good player with his marking strength, but has a weak spoil and not a close checker, thats why he is loose player in defense. polak is good at stopping an attack but not so good at launching a attack or followup the ground, like bowden.