ThePsychologist wrote:
Braithy wrote:
... playing watson would immediately be playing 21 against their 22.
People fall in love with his kick, but there's no point having a great left foot while you move like a 78 year old arthritee with a prosthetic hip. Forward or back make's no difference, he just gets exposed by AFL level competition. Hawthorn would kill him.
I am certainly not in love with his kicking or his ability for that matter. My point is that we will not make finals this year so we should be doing our best to fully assess our list and see if there is any bits of "Gold" that we can hang on to. What else do we do? Play Waite? How many chances do we give him?
Look at the success of Rowe & Buckley this year. Both were effectively gone last year but a change in position and a bit of faith has made a huge difference.
We lack quality talls so we might as well give him one last try. If he still struggles then atleast we have given every possible chance. Letting him sit in the NB's achieves nothing especially given the lack of talent currently on our list.
The same could be said for Lucas. Play him off HB for the year and just see what he can do. He's on our list and we are paying him. He was an early pick. Say to the kid you will get 6 games in a row to prove yourself. It's now up to you.
At the end of the year we will probably turn over a minimum 10 players. The more we can see them at AFL level the better assessment we can make of them. You just never know.
No, you see we do know. watson's limitations are physical ones. He's suddenly not going to gain a rapid 10-15 metre burst of pace or the required agility he needs to defend at an AFL level. He is too slow and cumbersome, and lacking strength for a one-on-one contest. Now he could add strength, no question, but the other attributes are not coachable ones which can be instilled. We've seen enough, move on. Watching him lumber around our back 50, being run up to the logos and then turned inside out by his man to relaese back inside his attacking 50 for free, easy possession and goals was killing us.
Lucas is a different story. He has all the physical tools to make the grade. His problem is above his shoulders. He lacks courage for the contest, both to get his nose dirty with the ball, and to lay a tackle. He avoids contact. I'm not sure what he trains like, but so far at AFL level, he's a passenger and he lets the team down.
Like Synners said, if Lucas went back to the magoos and bled every round for a 5 to 6 weeks (consecuative period) for the jersey and proved he had the willingness to play hard and play for his team, he'd be in our best 22.
This is why Buckley, Rowe and Casboult have come on. They have the minimum physical tools required to make the grade (and in Buck's case) to be good, but they also have the want. Lucas lacks the want, watson lacks the physical tools.
Lucas, I guess, could find his want, but the problem for him is; it's a very measurable, quantifiable attribute. And if he can't display it in the reggies -- which he doesn't, and hasn't -- he doesn't deserve a first grade jumper.
Lucas needs to prove he can make the sacrifice, and not for a week, but a sustained period then sure ... give him a go.
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