Luke Russell

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SUNS said:
Good article Sunny. I didn't realise how far off track he was.

Makes you wonder how many more we have like it?
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I wouldnt think many however I have my queries about Liam Patrick. Have seen numerous photos of him either being a slob, smoking or drinking.
 
TheJaegerBomb said:
I wouldnt think many however I have my queries about Liam Patrick. Have seen numerous photos of him either being a slob, smoking or drinking.
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It's much more common than you would think. I alluded to it in the club training facilities thread. Unless you are under 25 living on the Gold Coast it is really hard to understand just how ingrained in the culture it is. Quite a few of these guys are going to have to wake up to themselves in the future. The coaches know it's going on as well but they can't do much to stop it. Hinks had the right approach by telling Russell that it was up to him if he wanted to play AFL football or not.
 

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Matchu said:
It's much more common than you would think. I alluded to it in the club training facilities thread. Unless you are under 25 living on the Gold Coast it is really hard to understand just how ingrained in the culture it is. Quite a few of these guys are going to have to wake up to themselves in the future. The coaches know it's going on as well but they can't do much to stop it. Hinks had the right approach by telling Russell that it was up to him if he wanted to play AFL football or not.
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I think your blowing it out of proportion. Its the same as any city in Australia. The night life on the GC isnt that insane I can assure you.

The guys can go out a bit if they want its not a huge deal.
 
TheJaegerBomb said:
I think your blowing it out of proportion. Its the same as any city in Australia. The night life on the GC isnt that insane I can assure you.

The guys can go out a bit if they want its not a huge deal.
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I don't think I'm blowing it out of proportion at all. I am a frequent goer of nightclubs on the GC and I have seen first hand what happens. You have to remember these guys aren't well known at all among the Gold Coast youth so they can go out and virtually blend in with the crowd. It's not so much an issue that they are going out rather than an issue of them jeopardising their development. There is a reason the club has a ban on socialising in Surfers Paradise and Mad Monday celebrations.

If you do know the dynamics of the Gold Coast then you will know there are other areas for young people to go clubbing outside of Surfers Paradise. These guys are slowly going to get more well known throughout the community and going out is not a good idea. I can't tell you how many times I've seen Suns and Titans players out during the season. I believe the boys should wait until the season is over to party but then it can get even worse when they travel to Thaliand or Indonesia at the end of a season.

It's all well and good for people like you and I to go out but these guys are professional athletes and they are only hurting themselves by going out during the season.
 
Matchu said:
I don't think I'm blowing it out of proportion at all. I am a frequent goer of nightclubs on the GC and I have seen first hand what happens. You have to remember these guys aren't well known at all among the Gold Coast youth so they can go out and virtually blend in with the crowd. It's not so much an issue that they are going out rather than an issue of them jeopardising their development. There is a reason the club has a ban on socialising in Surfers Paradise and Mad Monday celebrations.

If you do know the dynamics of the Gold Coast then you will know there are other areas for young people to go clubbing outside of Surfers Paradise. These guys are slowly going to get more well known throughout the community and going out is not a good idea. I can't tell you how many times I've seen Suns and Titans players out during the season. I believe the boys should wait until the season is over to party but then it can get even worse when they travel to Thaliand or Indonesia at the end of a season.

It's all well and good for people like you and I to go out but these guys are professional athletes and they are only hurting themselves by going out during the season.
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Mate, its seriously not the end of the world if they go out every few weeks. I would much rather they do that to keep themselves in a good state of mind rather than worked into the ground. They are human after all.

The really bad ones will be weeded out (every week partygoers/clubbers) by shite house performances. Its the same situation here in Perth for WCE and Freo players. Its the same situation in Melbourne for the Vic clubs and virtually every other city. Your honestly making a mountain out of a mole hill man.
 
TheJaegerBomb said:
Mate, its seriously not the end of the world if they go out every few weeks. I would much rather they do that to keep themselves in a good state of mind rather than worked into the ground. They are human after all.

The really bad ones will be weeded out (every week partygoers/clubbers) by shite house performances. Its the same situation here in Perth for WCE and Freo players. Its the same situation in Melbourne for the Vic clubs and virtually every other city. Your honestly making a mountain out of a mole hill man.
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Not quite the point I was trying to make. I was saying that these sorts of activities can have a negative effect on training, recovery and match performance. I bet if I asked you whether you thought every Suns player lived up to their potential/hype so far you would say no.

It's actually quite a different situation to Perth and Melbourne. Footy players are treated like celebrities in WA and Victoria, they are virtually unknown here to the general public. Think about the sort of message this is sending to new recruits. What if they don't want to buy into the clubbing culture and feel disconnected from the boys? Is this what happened to Josh Caddy? Who knows. Luke Russell by his own admission said he was hitting the clubs too much and it was having a negative effect on his career to the point that it was holding him back. Lets not pretend like Russell was going to the clubs by himself.
 
Thermo said:
I frequently see the Lions boys out in Brisbane. I'd wager lots of players from all clubs do it, and unless they are going overboard then it's not that big of an issue.
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I'm sure they do but when you couple the night life with the fact that the Suns list being predominantly 22 years of age or under, your team development is being compromised. I don't have a problem with footy players going out, it's just the Gold Coast are in a unique situation. I'm not here to crucify the players but there has got to be some discipline and the team has to be the top priority.
 
Matchu said:
Not quite the point I was trying to make. I was saying that these sorts of activities can have a negative effect on training, recovery and match performance. I bet if I asked you whether you thought every Suns player lived up to their potential/hype so far you would say no.

It's actually quite a different situation to Perth and Melbourne. Footy players are treated like celebrities in WA and Victoria, they are virtually unknown here to the general public. Think about the sort of message this is sending to new recruits. What if they don't want to buy into the clubbing culture and feel disconnected from the boys? Is this what happened to Josh Caddy? Who knows. Luke Russell by his own admission said he was hitting the clubs too much and it was having a negative effect on his career to the point that it was holding him back. Lets not pretend like Russell was going to the clubs by himself.
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I hear you but I am not overly concerned atm. I think you are trying to milk this for a fair bit more than its worth. Every club has young blokes which go out.
 
Matchu said:
Not quite the point I was trying to make. I was saying that these sorts of activities can have a negative effect on training, recovery and match performance. I bet if I asked you whether you thought every Suns player lived up to their potential/hype so far you would say no.

It's actually quite a different situation to Perth and Melbourne. Footy players are treated like celebrities in WA and Victoria, they are virtually unknown here to the general public. Think about the sort of message this is sending to new recruits. What if they don't want to buy into the clubbing culture and feel disconnected from the boys? Is this what happened to Josh Caddy? Who knows. Luke Russell by his own admission said he was hitting the clubs too much and it was having a negative effect on his career to the point that it was holding him back. Lets not pretend like Russell was going to the clubs by himself.
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From all that I heard Caddy was one of the ring leaders out there and surely his latest trouble at Geelong shows he is very easily led and a bit of a numbskull.
Luke obviously has seen the light and is becoming more mature. Let's not forget that they are 17 and taken from their families and send to a different state with not much adult supervision during nights and weekends.
 
UP AND RUNNING said:
From all that I heard Caddy was one of the ring leaders out there and surely his latest trouble at Geelong shows he is very easily led and a bit of a numbskull.
Luke obviously has seen the light and is becoming more mature. Let's not forget that they are 17 and taken from their families and send to a different state with not much adult supervision during nights and weekends.
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What did he do in Geelong?
 

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Russell is becoming a player. Improved a lot, particularly in terms of taking on tacklers and keeping his feet. He is winning plenty of one on one's, and I can his confidence growing when it comes to holding onto the ball and waiting for the right option by hand and foot. Is very good at finding a free player. Operated at 90% DE for the game, zero clangers, and that's with eight contested possessions, so it is good going. This is his third game in a row where he has had 20+ possessions, so is starting to cement his spot a little bit now.
 
Thurlow2Mackie said:
Russell is becoming a player. Improved a lot, particularly in terms of taking on tacklers and keeping his feet. He is winning plenty of one on one's, and I can his confidence growing when it comes to holding onto the ball and waiting for the right option by hand and foot. Is very good at finding a free player. Operated at 90% DE for the game, zero clangers, and that's with eight contested possessions, so it is good going. This is his third game in a row where he has had 20+ possessions, so is starting to cement his spot a little bit now.
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Seems to have really worked on his core strength. If he keeps up his ceiling could be much higher then any of us SUNS fans envisioned. Maybe even higher then he thought.

Right now i'm really happy with his goal scoring mid role :D
 
The comparisons to Ablett are interesting and surprisingly accurate. Like Ablett, spent his junior days as a midfielder but started in the AFL as a forward. Then moved into the mids as his engine grew.

I haven't seen Spook go to ground very much, and despite his size, he seems to break tackles very easily. I've seen him take on two big bodies on occasion and, despite me wincing, he rarely gets caught. Just sort of slinks out of it.

He took a mark last night that I've not seen any of our mids apart from Ablett take. He protected the space in front of him and let it fall into his lap, while at the same time holding off the opponent by pushing back against him.
 
Russell flexibility his greatest strength.
Solomon says the future is shining bright for the key 21-year-old.

“He has got his head around what it takes to be an AFL footballer, both on and off the field,” Solomon said.

“We coached him very hard and he’s starting to respond to that… he’s going to be a very good footballer.”
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Russell ready to spread his wings.
The Tasmanian has been placed on a restricted training for much of the pre-season, after undergoing dual hip surgery to reattach a labral from his hip bone.

Russell has revealed for the first time the full extent of the injury, and how it had significantly hampered his performance at the back end of last season.

“I managed to play through it but it did affect me a bit,” he said.
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