Pick 9 actually.

So you'd have de-listed him when and kept who on the list in his place?



So we could have kekp Cain Ackland or Ricky Mott on the list and they'd have eventually proved the critics wrong?



Sure.

We've had his age and draft pick wrong already in this thread, lets go for an offer from the Gold Coast as well

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"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

Thanks for the correction. Someone told me he was 24.

Either way, still 6 years in the system, l do expect him to play every game like he did on Monday night and has to if Blues are going to progress deep in to finals.

His birthdate you stated (born 1986) actually means that he won't play the entire season as a 24 year old.......because he is a 23 year old now and still will be at the end of the season!!!

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It's the vibe.........Tell him he's dreamin' Darryl!

Well I reckon he is 19, beat that.

So does that mean he doesn't have to get 35 possessions every week off a HBF to get a pass mark with some on here?

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Didn't work to well for Kevin Sheedy with Courtney Johns

Keep it up JR. [/quote]

I'd like to see him develop some mongrel. He has the size and strength - just needs to get a bit of animal about him to make forwards scared.

.[/quote]

Really liked the game on Monday as he enjoyed crashing in to Saints players at every opportunity and just generally roughing them up. Don't think he'll ever have total "Mongrel" but was impressed with his physicality.

Whilst I never posted anything disparaging about him, always thought he wasn't up to it - Couldn't kick, especially set shots at goal and when he was drafted was supposed to have pace, but never saw it. Could mark, but in my mind that was all.

Great to see him backing himself and using that pace / strength and his kicking has improved greatly

Very happy to have been wrong, and should be a fixture at half back for a while

I am a personal friend of JR's and i can tell you now it is all about confidence. Ratten believes in him and JR knows that which makes him more confident. The only thing Pagan ever did for JR was rent him one of his houses not long after he got drafted. He never instilled confidence in him and a young player needs to be believed in.

Well done JR just kepp it up.

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Blue boy thru and thru

It is almost as if you didn't read what I wrote. The criticisms were justifiable and warranted because he played poorly for most of his first 5 years. Caz, you use time as constant excuse for substandard performance. It is almost an out everytime. Most supporters understand that it takes young players time to break into the side but if we were to accept Jordan Russels long lead time of 5 years (2005-2009) as acceptable/normal for a running midfielder to justify his spot in the team--- we would still be cellar dwelling. To your way of thinking substandard performance is acceptable because it will be better tommorrow & when it isn't better tommorrow the next day will do, almost forever To my way of thinking substandard performance is what it is & has to be rectified within an acceptable time frame. (you want that type of player justifying his selection within 3 years). JR played too many poor games, the criticism was justifiable at the time as much as the compliments are when he has turned it around. Many in the AFL are not afforded the luxury of time that JR was given. Carlton would spend another 5 years on the bottom of the ladder if his development path was held up as the model

This bloke could win the brownlow and some on here would still whine (he is no Gary Ablett, I don't know why we persist).

I guess being right is more important than the club and players doing well.

Its not just last week he was good, nor was he just good against Geelong, he has been a regular consistent performer after coming back from being dropped in the middle of last year. Ever since the Freo game Round 14 last year he has been everything you would hope him to be.

To those saying he is not worth Pick 9 now, from that draft here are the players taken immediately after him (also that Adelaide star John Meesen was taken at

Collingwood 10 Chris Egan Murray U18 VIC
Port Adel 11 Adam Thomson Sturt SA
Richmond 12 Danny Meyer Glenelg SA
Melbourne 13 Matthew Bate Eastern U18 VIC
Essendon* 14 Angus Monfries Sturt SA
Melbourne 15 Lynden Dunn Calder U18 VIC
Richmond 16 Adam Pattison Northern U18 VIC
St Kilda 17 Andrew McQualter Gippsland U18 VIC
Brisbane 18 Cameron Wood West Adelaide SA
Port Adel 19 Ryan Willits Northern U18 VIC
Richmond 20 Dean Polo Gippsland U18 VIC
Hawthorn 21 Thomas Murphy Sandringham U18 VIC
Western Bulldogs 22 Jesse Wells Tasmania U18 TAS
Collingwood 23 Sean Rusling West Adelaide SA
Adelaide 24 Nathan van Berlo West Perth WA
Carlton 25 Adam Hartlett West Adelaide SA
Hawthorn 26 Matt Little Calder U18 VIC
Brisbane 27 Pat Garner Western Magpies QLD
Adelaide 28 Chad Gibson Norwood SA
West Coast 29 Matt Rosa North Ballarat U18 VIC
Essendon* 30 Andrew Lee Tasmania U18 TAS
Sydney 31 Jarred Moore Dandenong U18 VIC

LeCras and Prismall were other players picked up later on, but overall it was a fairly middling draft outside the top 5 or so, and I don't think we missed out on anything too dramatic by getting JR (Van Berlo would be the only bloke taken after that I would prefer). Barring injury JR will become a 200 game player, and just to say its only because we persisted with him is non-sensical at best.

As has been mentioned in this thread, by that theory Cain Ackland would of eventually become a leading AFL ruckman

You make out he was a liability for 5 years, which he wasn't. He did some good things, but lacked confidence. You make out he was a hybrid Cain Ackland/Ricky Mott disaster, which he was not. He often did shut down roles and applied pressure. Much of the perception of him being completely rubbish was him being pick 9 in the draft.

In my view he should of been dropped sooner than he was, but we are now looking at potentially getting 8-10 seasons of a very very good half back flanker who is an automatic inclusion. Often coaches have hunches about players, which Ratts did with JR. Sometimes they get them wrong, but in this case Ratts got it right.

By your logic even if he plays in our next premiership team it still wasnt worth the trouble

I wasn't wrong about JR, but I was wrong with my call on Gibbs.

Wait, that was keogh...

Nice.

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STURDYISM!!

No my logic is the criticism was justifiable at the time because JR didn't play well. Present good performance does not excuse past poor performance.

but that argument simply shows a lack of understanding a fairly important key component of drafting youth - development. When a kid runs out for his first 50/75 games the question is as much about 'how will he play' 'as it is 'how is he playing'? Those developing the kids at Carlton obviously kept ticking that 'how will he' a lot higher than the supporters who went for the 'how is he'.


Just on Lucas - again silly because we will never know how poorly (or well) Lucas would have gone running out for his first 50 games in a crap side that was hardly winning at all.

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

NRS?

Guilty
Guilty
Guilty

Very glad to see what he has presented over the past 14-15 rounds.

Now for my prediction that Setanta will be an all Australian..
GO 17!!

Ultimate Mea Culpa. He is now in my Dreamteam.

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Go Blues

Was one who was frustrated by him, so guilty ... delighted for him and the coaching group.

Just shows that footy is far more complex than just having the skills (which he always had) ... the mental side, the belief it takes to execute at that level of pressure must be huge.

Salsiccia ... best avatar I've seen in a while, she's an all time fave.

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"It was like calling your ex girlfriend after a night on the booze, just a really bad decision".