It's taken me a while to put together some mildly coherent thoughts on our list. Here is a sequence of loosely connected paragraphs that may or may not provide some interesting reading:
Lots of talk about pace around the traps- and I agree entirely with the need for it except to say that I don't think it's something we(the club) haven't accounted for (or begun to account for) rather it's a case of us simply not playing some of our quicker players for 'x' reasons... If one were to look at our drafting from the end of 07 you will notice a distinct increase in those players noted for leg speed and endurance (either through general observation or actual draft camp results). Now what irks me is people who come out and call players like shiels plodders when the lad spent the summer smashing time trial records (IIRC) and things of that
nature- but I digress... Here are some thoughts on our list,delistings, our training, and attitude:
Speed/endurance/athleticism: Shoey, Savage, Shiels, Muston, Rioli,
Whitecross, Lowden, Grimely, Peterson, Milne: rightly or wrongly-only 2 of those players played on the weekend. All except muston were drafted
since 07.
Undecided/specialists: Lisle, Breust- what I mean to say here is that I can't describe them athletically. Both have kinds of athleticism- like lisle's leap and ability to kill the high ball or crash a pack- but neither is noted for genuine speed, rather- speed of thought is their gift. Knowing where to be before the ball is- thats something you cant teach. Both have ripper football brains imo.
Delist: (despite my own feelings towards players- here is my assessment)
*stokes
*moss
*suckling
*croad
----all outright gone.
*tuck to rookie list
Trade Bait:
*brown - end of 1st round compensatory pick (if he is classified as band 3)
*ladson- age 26, could get a late 2nd rounder or early 3rd (bare in mind this draft is skewed- the second round doesn't start until pick 26)
*dowler - try to get a late 3rd round pick
*Sewell- see if we can get a late first round pick- somewhere between 16 and 25. -- and yes, im prepared to off load these guys on single deals.
The Edge: Tails. Has become surplus to requirements. Twister, Lowden, Bailey, Skipper- with Grimely as the project would be something id like to go into next season with. I would think Tails could be traded to the GC for a late pick somewhere- that way we help him out rather than just delist him, because he has been of great service to the club. I would have thought a 27/28 yr old big bodied ruckman would be useful to help the kids at the GC as they mature.
I can not for the life of me understand why people suggest we trade players like a newly 22 yr old Ellis and birchall. They are treated as if they are 26-28, with a long history and dubious tenure, and not the young men that they are- in a difficult phase of maturation. The truth of the matter is that we have a precious batch of 21-24 yr olds who you must persist with- as Geelong, Brisbane, and essendon have done before us- because it's only after this age that you can really reap the rewards, not just from their talents, but from all they they've learned which they can then enact on the field. As much as the game can change- this is something that always remains the same. This leads me to pose a question:- if we see interchange caps next year, and the game slows throughout a match accordingly- well who out of our 'under 24's' if you like will become vitally important again that some of us may have written off? How quickly will things change again? We'll always need outside runners, yes, but it's vitally important in planning to not over react to what has 'just happened' rather you must also react to what is happening... how quickly will the game change over summer?
Rioli, Franklin, roughead, muston, Bailey, Ellis, birchall, Lewis,
twister, hooper, Peterson, Stratton (and the boxhill boys too) etc- are absolute precious commodities for the future. This is a maturing group of core players that we need to look after. If you want to talk trades then you need to look at Brad Sewell. Good player, in his prime (or supposed to be) would command a high pick IMO. At 26 he's on the other side of this 'hypothetical' ledger- he either should be playing well consistently from the start or perhaps he's not what we need to improve. Get something for him while we can and perhaps send him somewhere where he can make an impact. There's a bloke called shiels coming through who is just as tough, has a bigger tank, and has better skills imo. I don't really want to lose a Sewell, or a brown (who really 'wants' to? come on) and it makes me nearly physically ill contemplating it but I think some very hard calls are needed.
Do not trade for an elite player. Everyone's talking about your tarrants and Mundy's and Spanghers etc (haha i said elite then spangher
) but I believe it is essential that we take our scholarship boys and have as many high picks in this draft as possible. I don't know how many of you follow Kevin Sheehan and the tac cup- but this draft is deep. It is littered with talent for 4 rounds. You need only look at the make up of the all Australian team to see that the quality of junior football around the country has improved dramatically. I would not want to be GC- they have 9 picks in the first round, yes, but the depth of this draft makes it harder to perhaps ascertain who will provide them with a super team as opposed to one that will be competitive very quickly. It's not clear cut.
Ideally i would like us to have 2 first round picks, 2 second round picks, and pick up our scholarship and rookie upgrades after that.
Anyways...
I have loosely suggested 8-10 possible list changes. I believe we
should then do the following:
* Promote Peterson, skipper.
* Upgrade Changa to the veterans list.
* List Langford and Stubbs on primary list, rookie kickett and mahony.
* Have 4 picks in the national draft, including our designated first round pick. (pick 19)
* Save any compensatory picks for 2012 when they will become higher.
* Retain all other rookies- giving Breust and Milne the elevated spots.
I'm going to state the bleeding obvious now, or it is to me at least
in my own world here- but our youth, our run from last year has barely
got a look in this year (for me it was simply wonderful to watch it last year as players went for broke and had nothing to lose- and its almost ironic that the crunch games we lost were perhaps as a result of the mentality of certain senior players who have done nothing but repeat the same behaviours in corresponding fixtures this year). The coaches give games to senior players who either aren't up to it, don't believe themselves that they're underperforming and want to blame others, or- while displaying leadership qualities can't play very good football compared to other options we have. We finished 3.5 games ahead of last year-IMO not unexpected looking at the teams development holistically- but I can't help but wonder if the right tactic now would be to let your shoeys, milnes, savages etc etc all play. Savage may not have the body of an Easton Wood yet (who he reminds me of)- but he will, and he's a better player imo. So next year play them all and have the patience with them that we afforded our young guys in 05 and 06- they got two whole seasons and we reaped the rewards from that. Time to inject the team with this enthusiasm- get these blokes playing alongside hodge, burger, cyril, rough, mitch etc
**Not everyone selected to the club needs to be a captain. Leaders need
soldiers. Grunt workers with genuine skill and talent that form the
vital cogs of a machine. They may never be captains- but they can
teach by example- an innate form of leadership. Our national draft picks should be the best footballers we can find. **
Training:
I am having a somewhat difficult time figuring out our body types. My general comment is that while we think we've worked hard, other teams have either worked harder or smarter in their training over the preseason. Certainly Geelong is known to play the way they train, but thats neither here nor there, specifically changing part of our pre-season to accomodate for the evolution in fitness is something i think we need to address.
Take last years NBA #1 draft pick Taylor Griffen as an example- he completed altitude training, gut busting resistance training (sand dunes with weights into 50 push ups type stuff) and finished with
running for his overall tank all throughout his college career. Now this is no different to what collingwood or the bulldogs or more recently st kilda do, and what it gives you is the type of body (no matter what body type you are) that is fit and shielded with lean muscle. It allows you to keep your speed and be physically damaging, improves your aerboic capacity and athleticism, and constantly challenges your mental strength.
Now, Boxers will tell you that their petrol is running. What they have left for the end of a fight comes from running. This is something i think we do well, and if things were going our way we tended to make relatively good use of it. But Boxers also do a huge amount of other non-technical training to gain strength, conditioning, and power. They do gut busting exercises, they do exercises for speed and explosiveness- all of which are supported by their running. In short- you can not be a one trick pony. I truly believe that a summer that comprises a block of this 'cross training' will not only be of benefit to the players bodies, but more importantly will put them through experiences which enhance their mental strength. In short again- you play the way you train. (it is also something you could do throughout the season as well)
Im not really sure what typing all of this is going to achieve other than help me sort my own feelings out. We all know that some players had personal issues, and everyone has an opinion on which players are out of form- with respect to all of that- im actually quite happy with the squads development overall and i can see a way forward for HFC. What i would like to see now is a bit more ruthlessness- at selection, with what indivduals demand from each other, and in particular over the preseason id like to see the club taken waaaaaayyyyyyy out of its comfort zone with how its trains, and the types of training it chooses to do.
Cheers
Lots of talk about pace around the traps- and I agree entirely with the need for it except to say that I don't think it's something we(the club) haven't accounted for (or begun to account for) rather it's a case of us simply not playing some of our quicker players for 'x' reasons... If one were to look at our drafting from the end of 07 you will notice a distinct increase in those players noted for leg speed and endurance (either through general observation or actual draft camp results). Now what irks me is people who come out and call players like shiels plodders when the lad spent the summer smashing time trial records (IIRC) and things of that
nature- but I digress... Here are some thoughts on our list,delistings, our training, and attitude:
Speed/endurance/athleticism: Shoey, Savage, Shiels, Muston, Rioli,
Whitecross, Lowden, Grimely, Peterson, Milne: rightly or wrongly-only 2 of those players played on the weekend. All except muston were drafted
since 07.
Undecided/specialists: Lisle, Breust- what I mean to say here is that I can't describe them athletically. Both have kinds of athleticism- like lisle's leap and ability to kill the high ball or crash a pack- but neither is noted for genuine speed, rather- speed of thought is their gift. Knowing where to be before the ball is- thats something you cant teach. Both have ripper football brains imo.
Delist: (despite my own feelings towards players- here is my assessment)
*stokes
*moss
*suckling
*croad
----all outright gone.
*tuck to rookie list
Trade Bait:
*brown - end of 1st round compensatory pick (if he is classified as band 3)
*ladson- age 26, could get a late 2nd rounder or early 3rd (bare in mind this draft is skewed- the second round doesn't start until pick 26)
*dowler - try to get a late 3rd round pick
*Sewell- see if we can get a late first round pick- somewhere between 16 and 25. -- and yes, im prepared to off load these guys on single deals.
The Edge: Tails. Has become surplus to requirements. Twister, Lowden, Bailey, Skipper- with Grimely as the project would be something id like to go into next season with. I would think Tails could be traded to the GC for a late pick somewhere- that way we help him out rather than just delist him, because he has been of great service to the club. I would have thought a 27/28 yr old big bodied ruckman would be useful to help the kids at the GC as they mature.
I can not for the life of me understand why people suggest we trade players like a newly 22 yr old Ellis and birchall. They are treated as if they are 26-28, with a long history and dubious tenure, and not the young men that they are- in a difficult phase of maturation. The truth of the matter is that we have a precious batch of 21-24 yr olds who you must persist with- as Geelong, Brisbane, and essendon have done before us- because it's only after this age that you can really reap the rewards, not just from their talents, but from all they they've learned which they can then enact on the field. As much as the game can change- this is something that always remains the same. This leads me to pose a question:- if we see interchange caps next year, and the game slows throughout a match accordingly- well who out of our 'under 24's' if you like will become vitally important again that some of us may have written off? How quickly will things change again? We'll always need outside runners, yes, but it's vitally important in planning to not over react to what has 'just happened' rather you must also react to what is happening... how quickly will the game change over summer?
Rioli, Franklin, roughead, muston, Bailey, Ellis, birchall, Lewis,
twister, hooper, Peterson, Stratton (and the boxhill boys too) etc- are absolute precious commodities for the future. This is a maturing group of core players that we need to look after. If you want to talk trades then you need to look at Brad Sewell. Good player, in his prime (or supposed to be) would command a high pick IMO. At 26 he's on the other side of this 'hypothetical' ledger- he either should be playing well consistently from the start or perhaps he's not what we need to improve. Get something for him while we can and perhaps send him somewhere where he can make an impact. There's a bloke called shiels coming through who is just as tough, has a bigger tank, and has better skills imo. I don't really want to lose a Sewell, or a brown (who really 'wants' to? come on) and it makes me nearly physically ill contemplating it but I think some very hard calls are needed.
Do not trade for an elite player. Everyone's talking about your tarrants and Mundy's and Spanghers etc (haha i said elite then spangher
) but I believe it is essential that we take our scholarship boys and have as many high picks in this draft as possible. I don't know how many of you follow Kevin Sheehan and the tac cup- but this draft is deep. It is littered with talent for 4 rounds. You need only look at the make up of the all Australian team to see that the quality of junior football around the country has improved dramatically. I would not want to be GC- they have 9 picks in the first round, yes, but the depth of this draft makes it harder to perhaps ascertain who will provide them with a super team as opposed to one that will be competitive very quickly. It's not clear cut. Ideally i would like us to have 2 first round picks, 2 second round picks, and pick up our scholarship and rookie upgrades after that.
Anyways...
I have loosely suggested 8-10 possible list changes. I believe we
should then do the following:
* Promote Peterson, skipper.
* Upgrade Changa to the veterans list.
* List Langford and Stubbs on primary list, rookie kickett and mahony.
* Have 4 picks in the national draft, including our designated first round pick. (pick 19)
* Save any compensatory picks for 2012 when they will become higher.
* Retain all other rookies- giving Breust and Milne the elevated spots.
I'm going to state the bleeding obvious now, or it is to me at least
in my own world here- but our youth, our run from last year has barely
got a look in this year (for me it was simply wonderful to watch it last year as players went for broke and had nothing to lose- and its almost ironic that the crunch games we lost were perhaps as a result of the mentality of certain senior players who have done nothing but repeat the same behaviours in corresponding fixtures this year). The coaches give games to senior players who either aren't up to it, don't believe themselves that they're underperforming and want to blame others, or- while displaying leadership qualities can't play very good football compared to other options we have. We finished 3.5 games ahead of last year-IMO not unexpected looking at the teams development holistically- but I can't help but wonder if the right tactic now would be to let your shoeys, milnes, savages etc etc all play. Savage may not have the body of an Easton Wood yet (who he reminds me of)- but he will, and he's a better player imo. So next year play them all and have the patience with them that we afforded our young guys in 05 and 06- they got two whole seasons and we reaped the rewards from that. Time to inject the team with this enthusiasm- get these blokes playing alongside hodge, burger, cyril, rough, mitch etc
**Not everyone selected to the club needs to be a captain. Leaders need
soldiers. Grunt workers with genuine skill and talent that form the
vital cogs of a machine. They may never be captains- but they can
teach by example- an innate form of leadership. Our national draft picks should be the best footballers we can find. **
Training:
I am having a somewhat difficult time figuring out our body types. My general comment is that while we think we've worked hard, other teams have either worked harder or smarter in their training over the preseason. Certainly Geelong is known to play the way they train, but thats neither here nor there, specifically changing part of our pre-season to accomodate for the evolution in fitness is something i think we need to address.
Take last years NBA #1 draft pick Taylor Griffen as an example- he completed altitude training, gut busting resistance training (sand dunes with weights into 50 push ups type stuff) and finished with
running for his overall tank all throughout his college career. Now this is no different to what collingwood or the bulldogs or more recently st kilda do, and what it gives you is the type of body (no matter what body type you are) that is fit and shielded with lean muscle. It allows you to keep your speed and be physically damaging, improves your aerboic capacity and athleticism, and constantly challenges your mental strength.
Now, Boxers will tell you that their petrol is running. What they have left for the end of a fight comes from running. This is something i think we do well, and if things were going our way we tended to make relatively good use of it. But Boxers also do a huge amount of other non-technical training to gain strength, conditioning, and power. They do gut busting exercises, they do exercises for speed and explosiveness- all of which are supported by their running. In short- you can not be a one trick pony. I truly believe that a summer that comprises a block of this 'cross training' will not only be of benefit to the players bodies, but more importantly will put them through experiences which enhance their mental strength. In short again- you play the way you train.
(it is also something you could do throughout the season as well)Im not really sure what typing all of this is going to achieve other than help me sort my own feelings out. We all know that some players had personal issues, and everyone has an opinion on which players are out of form- with respect to all of that- im actually quite happy with the squads development overall and i can see a way forward for HFC. What i would like to see now is a bit more ruthlessness- at selection, with what indivduals demand from each other, and in particular over the preseason id like to see the club taken waaaaaayyyyyyy out of its comfort zone with how its trains, and the types of training it chooses to do.
Cheers
