Team selection disection

[ElwoodBlues1]

Are you prepared to risk the kids by throwing them in the deep end, not knowing if they will handle the situation or not?

The answer to this question has nothing to do with potential or ability, it's a learning curve. The problem we have at the moment is that we have almost not role models on the field, nobody sharing the load with the kids.

The world stands on the shoulders of those who came before us, AFL is no different!

Throw the kids in the deep end and ask them to sort themselves out, without some senior structure or previous knowledge in support, and you can end up with a team of flat earthers! :o  imho, the deep end survivor plan is just another "Lord of the Flies" scenario, and that won't take us anywhere fast, it won't deliver any consistency, and it won't be repeatable.

We need a structure that churns out 20 to 30 AFL ready 2nd or 3rd year players in a sensible time frame. Surely standing on the shoulders of someone who has come before them makes sense regardless of the individuals capacity to deal with situations! Isn't that what you do with your kids?

Hodge, Lewis etc you can throw in the deep end and they handle it and become massive players for their club and quickly, Jonathan Brown was another, just a hard unit at 16 playing vs men down at Warrnambool, , Voss was another, the Scott boys, Joel Selwood, I wont count Gary Ablett jr as he was an exceptional talent.....Sticks was another who thrived as a young man being captain, Ricciuto another.....there is a common theme though, these players were mentally tough for what ever reason and were young men not young boys....we get too many boys...