VFL 2024 Rd 11 Carlton vs Essendon at Essendon

[Thryleon]

An important distinction LP.  Not many afl quality rucks are going to be happy plodding around the vfl, and even less of them are going to be happy being no 2 in the vfl which might see akuei or mirkov get another 12 months in the role.  All depends on the youngsters keefe and lemmey.  I don't think lemmey is a ruck.

[Blue Moon]

I watched Collingwood  v Melbourne and it is interesting that Collingwood key forwards were Frampton and Kreuger. Both of these guys have been around for a long time. I am not much of a rap for Frampton but he is a Premiership player. Big guys often take a long time to develop and if you don't invest in people you will never get a return. I am not sure about Mirkov and maybe injury and illness has affected his development, only those at the Club will know. Akuei is a project player and he is on the Rookie B list so he is not clogging the list. He runs, jumps, kicks, contest and can mark, but whether he can play football is another question.

[Milhanna13]

Was the lawn bowls always next to windy Hill?

i seem to remember they used to carry a fair bit of weight.  CheatsFC couldnt do anything without the Bowls Club ticking it off - some weird thing in their constitution/lease agreement that the Bowls Club and the Footy Club were equal tenants of the whole joint.  It was one of the reasons the footy club moved out

[LP]

i seem to remember they used to carry a fair bit of weight.  CheatsFC couldnt do anything without the Bowls Club ticking it off - some weird thing in their constitution/lease agreement that the Bowls Club and the Footy Club were equal tenants of the whole joint.  It was one of the reasons the footy club moved out

Yes, I think you are correct.

Was Diesel somehow involved in some of the controversy back when he lived overlooking the ground?

[kruddler]

An important distinction LP.  Not many afl quality rucks are going to be happy plodding around the vfl, and even less of them are going to be happy being no 2 in the vfl which might see akuei or mirkov get another 12 months in the role.  All depends on the youngsters keefe and lemmey.  I don't think lemmey is a ruck.

Akuei isn't taking up a list spot so to speak, but he is taking the spot of a player who could be learning the same role who may actually have a hope of fulfilling it at AFL level, because he doesn't look likely.

[kruddler]

If you do a comparison, we have slightly more talls than some teams and slightly less than some other teams.  Where we are in better shape than many is that we have injury cover talls and developing talls and no real angst from talls who think they should be getting games.

2 points on the above.

1. It should not be underestimated the ability to keep 2nd fiddle players happy being on your list despite not playing AFL footy. Anyone with too much talent usually finds a team that needs them.

2. I disagree about our 'talent' in covering injuries. Lewis Young has all the attributes to be a standout player in the AFL, yet isn't. Call it a lack of confidence, a lack of heart, i don't know, but he is a break glass in case of emergency player rather than a capable AFL player. Then we've got Durdin. We've had emergencies and we still haven't got that desperate to play him. He is the size/shape that should be holding down FB/CHB for us but is kicking the dew off the grass in the 'burbs instead. He has played 4 games since 2019....and 3 of them were for North during 2020. Throw in Akuei who is a monty to be delisted IMO and who are we left with? An undersized Marchbank who is about 50-50 at best to be on our list next year and thats about it.

There exists a very real scenario in which 3 of those 4 are not on our list next year. The only thing that saves young is we gave him a long contract until the end of 2026.

[LP]

Akuei isn't taking up a list spot so to speak, but he is taking the spot of a player who could be learning the same role who may actually have a hope of fulfilling it at AFL level, because he doesn't look likely.

Not saying whether we should or shouldn't, but can Mirkov be moved into the Cat B position to give us one more year to look at Lemmey and O'Keefe?

At this stage I can't see Akuei making it, hope he proves me wrong, and we have only Pitto and TDK as viable ruck options and I think we need one of O'Keefe, Lemmey or Mirkov to step up.

[kruddler]

Not saying whether we should or shouldn't, but can Mirkov be moved into the Cat B position to give us one more year to look at Lemmey and O'Keefe?

At this stage I can't see Akuei making it, hope he proves me wrong, and we have only Pitto and TDK as viable ruck options and I think we need one of O'Keefe, Lemmey or Mirkov to step up.

We picked Mirkov up from the VFL which basically makes him ineligible for Cat b rookie status right there. So no.

He needs to have not played footy at a high level prior to drafting.

[LP]

We picked Mirkov up from the VFL which basically makes him ineligible for Cat b rookie status right there. So no.

He needs to have not played footy at a high level prior to drafting.

Fair enough, if there was some loophole or appeals process it would be worth a crack.

As an aside I've heard we have an eye on yet another basketballer, apparently some kid who played footy into his teens then switched to basketball after a growth spurt, but I don't have any details yet. Probably should have posted that in Navy Andrew.

[ElwoodBlues1]

Akuei might get another year on the back of Mac Andrew having a break out year for Gold Coast and being seen as similar type of player and just needing perseverance and more responsibility like Andrew has been given.