07-04-2018, 12:09 AM
Hes a kid and simply not ready.
He can do everything at AFL standard for about 1.5 quarters, and the rest will come with confidence, physical condition and increasing his workrate.
I look around the AFL and I see that the players performing the best are seasoned competitors, and athletic beasts.
We are carrying players for at least half a game, and people will point to the easy targets such as Mullet and Cam O shea, but the reality is, that its blokes like Mckay, Kerr, Cunningham, SPS, Dow, O'Brien, Kennedy, Weitering, SOS that are giving us about 2 to 3 quarters of footy (not sequential, they drop out of games for about 5-10 minutes at a time) but thats enough for opposition to get a run on and score quickly against us, and the ones carrying a significantly bigger load than they should are in their late 20's and early 30's and are breaking down themselves.
Don't ask the question of why isn't he playing. Its a basic question. he isnt playing because he isnt 4 quarters at AFL level fit for 22 rounds a season, and he might get a guernsey against Brisbane this week, but we need to pick his opposition because otherwise, its just sending the other blokes out there down a man from the start of the game, which starts to wear thin. Weve done it a lot this year for various reasons, and have a think about the environments around the AFL. We are relying on 20 year olds to be 4 quarter AFL performers in so many different roles, where other clubs will have only one or two, and those two dont play every week.
He can do everything at AFL standard for about 1.5 quarters, and the rest will come with confidence, physical condition and increasing his workrate.
I look around the AFL and I see that the players performing the best are seasoned competitors, and athletic beasts.
We are carrying players for at least half a game, and people will point to the easy targets such as Mullet and Cam O shea, but the reality is, that its blokes like Mckay, Kerr, Cunningham, SPS, Dow, O'Brien, Kennedy, Weitering, SOS that are giving us about 2 to 3 quarters of footy (not sequential, they drop out of games for about 5-10 minutes at a time) but thats enough for opposition to get a run on and score quickly against us, and the ones carrying a significantly bigger load than they should are in their late 20's and early 30's and are breaking down themselves.
Don't ask the question of why isn't he playing. Its a basic question. he isnt playing because he isnt 4 quarters at AFL level fit for 22 rounds a season, and he might get a guernsey against Brisbane this week, but we need to pick his opposition because otherwise, its just sending the other blokes out there down a man from the start of the game, which starts to wear thin. Weve done it a lot this year for various reasons, and have a think about the environments around the AFL. We are relying on 20 year olds to be 4 quarter AFL performers in so many different roles, where other clubs will have only one or two, and those two dont play every week.
"everything you know is wrong"
Paul Hewson
Paul Hewson