<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bpa2T7ZO9hU" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe> Well based on last week's effort, it looks like this could be every bit the long year that people predicted before we played one-and-a-half good games of footy. The midfield is still our strongest point, but fuck there's a lot of guys who can't kick a footy. Higgins and Dickson being injured does nothing to help the forward line, but probably gives MacRae and Stringer the chance to debut this week, or maybe Vezspremi a chance again.
Veszpremi seems far more secure in defence nowadays. Was surprised by your drafting tstl. A good bunch of young and old mids and you target more mids. Hrovat's a fucking gem, as is MacRae. Rated MacRae top 3-4 from the draft crop and Hrovat top 7-8. Both have tremendous attitudes too. Stringer's a gun too - but he's not the forward everyone thinks he is. Midfielder, and a very good one.
We've been so poor with drafting talls with our early picks over the last decade (Grant, Cordy, Everitt and Walsh all misses, Williams probably a miss because of injury) that I think we are very hesitant when it comes to using early picks on big men. I was also surprised by some of our later selections, though, because, considering our trades, I think the list is chockers with very samey players - "good people" who can find the ball, tackle well but can't kick it over a jam tin. It's really, really worrying for the future because if McCartney's vision for the club doesn't come off or the game evolves towards a different style of footy as it has pretty regularly recently, we're fucked. I think we really need to draft well in the next couple of seasons to salvage some absolute fucking stinkers in recent years, otherwise it could be a prolonged period of pain. Grant is probably on his last chance this year. I don't mind him as much as some other supporters do, but unless he pulls his finger out I wouldn't be disappointed to see him go, which is something you can't say about similarly frustrating players like Higgins.
Further on Grant, from all accounts he was poor in the first quarter against Coburg last week but slowly worked his way back into the game. I don't think he'll come in this week, but probably over the next few as they seek a forward combination that works. He's an interesting one because he's shown he can actually be a good player, but is, more than any one I've seen at the club, a total confidence player. He's probably not going to be anything more than a third tall. That's fine, but he's gotta start to show something.
He's out for the season now, but I'd be surprised to see him ever get traded unless he really wanted to leave. I'm sort of resigned to the fact he'll never become the player he should be at the club, but he's the sort of player that you just know would come good elsewhere and we'd not get his worth in return.
Grant really, really reminds me of Jack Watts in so many ways. His composure, pace & footskills would be pretty well utilised off half back but his defensive ability is that of a witches hat. There's so much to work with there especially with his athleticism but it just seems his positioning is so, so wrong so often. I do think he deserves a shot though.
I heard that Jarrad Grant was told to put on some kilos and hasn't so is expected to rot in the 2's this season.
Yeah it's fucking disgraceful that the lad's been on an afl list for 5-6 seasons and still only weighs 85 kgs at his height.
Yeah it is a real shame considering if there was ever a club in the league where it's good to be a forward at the moment (in terms of getting games), the FFC is probably that club. I actually don't think he's that bad defensively when he pulls his finger out, but my memory could easily be tinted by looking too hard for positives when watching him play.
Very big difference between forward pressure and defense in defense though. The defense while playing as a defense is a completely different ballgame.
But speaking of players I thought would make rubbish defenders, Roughead has really impressed me this year at full back. I know Scarlett is working with the club and you have to take what he says with a grain of salt, but he seems to really rate him, too. Scarlett has always seemed like a bit of a straight shooter as well.
