Who replaces Leon?

[Trojan Pies]

Who takes kick outs :O

Reid?

Wouldnt trust O'brian tarrent toovey shaw or maxwell to do it. Shaw is the only very good kick their but he can miss fire

Absolutely spot on Blaze. When I heard this news this was the first thing that came to mind - who is going to take the kick ins?

For mine, I really dislike Heath Shaw kicking in. He often makes poor decisions and regularly plays on bombs long and either kicks it out on the full or to an opposition heavy area. To summarise, Heath was more of a risk taker which is not what you need from a kick in. Leon excelled in assessing risk alongside the options available as exemplified by his 80 odd kickins before his first turn over.

I'm curious with the Rounds option and would like to see him trialled as our designated kick-in. He is a classy player with good skills and this might open the door to create his own niche role in the senior team.

That said, I reckon if Marty recoups his skill set quickly, he would be a good choice. He has good skills and excellent penetration.

Final thought - Goldsack. Good skills, conservative enough and massive kick for bail out option.

 

[DaVe86]

Tom Young will be the one who will benefit most i reckon. The key is to keep Heath Shaw on the park...if we have him then we still have the run out of half back.

What we'll miss most is the skills...although yet again Leon failed to really shine in the Grand Final.

 

[DaVe86]

Who takes kick outs :O

Reid?

Wouldnt trust O'brian tarrent toovey shaw or maxwell to do it. Shaw is the only very good kick their but he can miss fire

perhaps pendlebury could go take them.

 

[half_back_flank]

Final thought - Goldsack. Good skills, conservative enough and massive kick for bail out option.

Needs to learn to put the torp away first. Personally i hope better options pop up.

Left field suggestion but Didak? Struggled to find space last year but if the backs work as hard as they did this year to get Leon in space, he will flourish. Definitely has the footskills, but there are big question marks on the defensive side of the job.

 

[doppleganger]

Left field suggestion but Didak? Struggled to find space last year but if the backs work as hard as they did this year to get Leon in space, he will flourish. Definitely has the footskills, but there are big question marks on the defensive side of the job.

I suggested Didak even before Leon walked out.

He would be perfect to play the attacking rebounding defender, ala Leon, A.McLeod, R.Murphy, Gilbee, Gibbs/Scotland etc.

Didak would be brilliant at taking kick outs too.

Guess there would be question marks over his ability to defend one out, but he would not take the most dangerous smalls anyway as Toovey, Harry or Taz can take them.

 

[Daicos Mullets]

I love Dids, but he's awful defensively one-on-one. One of the reasons Leon adapted so well down back, is that he was already good in those types of situations. It's never been a strength of Dids' and I really can't see that changing.

 

[HFF]

Quicky is right, the role was unique in that it was perfectly designed for Leon.

We don't have a like for like replacement, therefore we will just have to re-adjust like we did in 2010.

IMO, we will probably be better served having Goldsack down there for a bit more flexibility (taking nothing away from Leon who is a wonderful player) but I've always felt Goldsack's attributes are exactly what the side needs and it showed on GF day when Reid- who was underdone- was getting toweled up. The Sack would have at least been able to give a chop out aerially and he is good on deck too.

Marty Clarke's return looks vital too now.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

Yeah I vote for Dids too.

If they could work super hard on his one on one defensive skills, he'd be a great back pocket/half back flanker.

 

[loki04]

The choice is obvious Witts as a running half back

why not we already had the WTHFF in Fraser!

 

[loki04]

Yeah I vote for Dids too.

If they could work super hard on his one on one defensive skills, he'd be a great back pocket/half back flanker.

no way Didak refuses to put his body on the line something Leon never had a problem with , Leon was also a lot better 1v1 player.

Dids is purely outside.

 

[daics cousin]

I reckon luke rounds will be given a shot,

Marty Clarke can play there but i reckon will be used more forward.

Macaffer can play as an attacking backman too when fit we also have Heath Shaw but i reckon he' ll be used more in the midfield next year.

Yep they may use alternate a few options cos leon played that role very well ,will be hard to replace.

Maybe the new kid yagmoor may be tried there,Simon Buckley ?

Pity Toovey's disposal is terrible .......There's Ben Johnson ?

 

[JimBob10]

no one can properly replace leon. he is a huge loss

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

no one can properly replace leon. he is a huge loss

This ^

Please don't go Leon

 

[HereComes16]

Macaffer replaces him, on the list at least, do the deal

 

[Kirby]

There is no like for like replace ment of course. There will just be a re-shuffle and it's a position we are not short of candidates for.

There is no way Dids will get the role. His one on one skills are hopeless. He would have to be a pure loose man but that would get exploited when it matters.

 

[Dead Eye Didak]

I don't really understand this, this has obviously occurred due to Leon getting a 30% reduced contract. If we had no intention of keeping Leon, due to salary cap, why wasn't a trade done?

Won't be happy if we lose Leon and McCaffer for nothing to other clubs. Will be one of our more ordinary list management moments for quite sometime.

 

[Dynamics]

I don't really understand this, this has obviously occurred due to Leon getting a 30% reduced contract. If we had no intention of keeping Leon, due to salary cap, why wasn't a trade done?

Won't be happy if we lose Leon and McCaffer for nothing to other clubs. Will be one of our more ordinary list management moments for quite sometime.

I don't think it's occurred purely because of the contract. It looks like it was a factor, with his desire to be closer to his loved ones being the main issue.

I don't think we had "no intention" either. I think the club was genuinely hopeful that Leon would stay and he'd even said that he wanted to have one more crack. He changed his mind after going home.

And realistically, even though Leon is AA he's no spring chicken. Given he was only ever heading to SA or WA none of the four clubs were ever going to give us more than steak knives for him.

Fingers crossed we can keep Caff!

Bottom line, if Leon's gone I'll be gutted and I'll miss him. Love the guy.

 

[Takahashi Tank]

To me it is obvious.

Judging by that last kick footage in his highlights package I would have no hesitation in saying Yagmoor.

 

[Bay Pie]

I'd think Rounds would be given a crack.

Small rebounding defender, dual sided. Only played a few games so jury is out. Deserves a chance if we've kept him into his 4 year. Should be building that tank and getting some 'man' strength.

 

[rustyg70]

One from out of left field,but what about Wellingham?
Has pace,can run through traffic and can play defensively when needed.
It would give Sidebottom and Beams more midfield time also.
His disposal mightn't be as good as Leons but then again,not too many peoples are.

 

[TradeDraft]

To me it is obvious.

Judging by that last kick footage in his highlights package I would have no hesitation in saying Yagmoor.

But is he AFL Ready yet?

 

[Ed D]

Who takes kick outs :O

Reid?

Wouldnt trust O'brian tarrent toovey shaw or maxwell to do it. Shaw is the only very good kick their but he can miss fire

Shaw did the kick outs nearly all of 2010 and the start of 2011. Generally he's pretty good at them but I don't think anyone is going to match Davis' 2011 with kick outs. A lot of it comes down to decision making, not as much skill as people might think.

 

[themidlandmaster]

Didak would be a terrible defender...

 

[HereComes16]

Shaw drives me crazy kicking it out on the full

 

[Liam Boy]

Hmm...

Leon was a small forward who played terribly in the grand final...

And Jarryd Blair is a small forward who played terribly in the grand final...

Maybe?