Your American Pie! Now Official

[bretigan]

I can hear all the followers back in the states already... U S Shae, U S Shae!

If he goes in fearless he will come out much loved by the Collingwood faithful.

Best of luck Shae.

Hi,

Already told a Carlton supporter that you really don't want to see Shae on the team when they play against each other. Then I said it was ok to cheer U! S! Shae! U! S! Shae! I like that chant, by the way.

 

[OniAu]

Has a little bit of cockyness in him which is nothing but a plus, especially to play at the top level.

He seems pretty into sports so the conversion of knowing the game plan/style of afl to others wont be that hard for him to pick up. He looks athletic as they come for a big guy aswell,i think hes got the goods to make it and will surprise a lot of people.

 

[the woodsmen2010]

any ruckmen who have seen the vid will hope there not playing on him once he learns the game,i cant think of any ruckmen who can run that quick....

 

[TradeDraft]

any ruckmen who have seen the vid will hope there not playing on him once he learns the game,i cant think of any ruckmen who can run that quick....

Probably Cox,

Who else reckons he could match up well on Buddy?

 

[Quicky]

Probably Cox,

Who else reckons he could match up well on Buddy?

I think you are getting a bit ahead of yourself Dave.

It'll be baby steps for Shae in the beginning.

Buddy would tear Shae a new a-hole if he was put on him atm.

I see what you are saying - he may be a good athletic match for buddy (maybe) but there is alot more to defending than just athletic ability. It's probably one of the most demanding positions in regards to where to position your body and also in reading the play. It'll take Shae some time before he learns all that.

 

[TradeDraft]

I think you are getting a bit ahead of yourself Dave.

It'll be baby steps for Shae in the beginning.

Buddy would tear Shae a new a-hole if he was put on him atm.

I see what you are saying - he may be a good athletic match for buddy (maybe) but there is alot more to defending than just athletic ability. It's probably one of the most demanding positions in regards to where to position your body and also in reading the play. It'll take Shae some time before he learns all that.

I meant not know I meant in a Few Seasons

 

[JOELY]

Probably Cox,

Who else reckons he could match up well on Buddy?

Hehe, let's all calm down. Personally i think he'll need a year of acclimatisation where he'll test the waters and make a decision whether or not playing AFL is realistic. After that he can continue to improve and start to plonk himself in the VFL forward line. Expect some outrageous heads in hands moments, and that's fine. I'm not knocking the bloke, but realistically he'll need all of the 3 years of his international rookie contract to learn the game, and even then, he might just not be good enough.
Would be awesome if i'm wrong and jumps out of the box, and still, if he becomes a capable seniors player in 3 years, it's a awesome effort by shae and the club.

 

[Quicky]

I meant not know I meant in a Few Seasons

Even then Dave its wishful thinking. Buddy is one of the most difficult to match up on forwards in the comp. Some of the best defenders in the game have been pantsed by him. It would take some truly spectacular development from Shae for him to ever be able to do that - three years development or not. Reids the man to look to for Buddy

 

[Bloben]

He is suuuuper athletic for such a big bloke and seems to be picking up the skills pretty quickly.

He needs a while to learn how to read the play and where and when to run.

The other thing he needs to do is get used to the physical nature of our game. He is a big unit and could really throw his weight around if he wishes to be aggressive.

These things will all take time but I agree, both Shae and the Pies will see during the year whether the experiment will work. Just based on what I have heard about his willingness to train and play though tells me he will give it his best shot

 

[Soul_Pie]

I can hear all the followers back in the states already... U S Shae, U S Shae!

If he goes in fearless he will come out much loved by the Collingwood faithful.

Best of luck Shae.

I like that chant.

 

[FootyontheBrain]

Probably Cox,

Who else reckons he could match up well on Buddy?

We Handtimed him 3 times in the low 2.9s. I heard the pies trapped the high 2.9s in 20m.

 

[Quicky]

We Handtimed him 3 times in the low 2.9s. I heard the pies trapped the high 2.9s in 20m.

How do you know Shae??

If thats true thats fast midfielder fast which is pretty scary for a guy that big.

Wonder how his agility would test??

 

[Zahki]

Watched the CTV interview with him. Seems like a stand up bloke.

 

[dswan]

Id like to see him play soon

 

[lenny&carl]

I wouldn't have much hope for this experiment, if not for his soccer background. Having played it at a pretty high level, his feet ought to know a bit about kicking. If he was playing his first ever ball kicking sport in his mid-20's, then there'd be a fair chance he'd always be an appaling kick by AFL standards, which gets us nowhere. But I reckon Shae could get his kicking to a passable AFL ruckman level if all goes well.

You can see he has superior mobility and agility for a guy his height, so at least there's one elite attribute to work with. I was happy with what Hine said about the psych testing etc... I don't think he'll die wondering.