"We want to give our young kids opportunities and we have the youngest side in the competition in terms of experience anyway," he said. "But it is not just about playing kids for the sake of it. They have really got to earn a bit of it.

"We want to make sure we continue to develop the best we possibly can — it is not just about playing the young kids it is about developing them."

"Josh has done wonderfully well but the last thing you want to do is heap expectation on him," Pagan said.

"He didn't join in until just before the season, he had a major shoulder reconstruction, he wasn't able to do any competitive work until the home and away season was upon us.

"He has played nine games, it is very hard when you've got the least amount of (forward 50 metre) entries to come out as an 18-year-old and expect to be dominant.

"If you'd said to me when he got his shoulder operated on that he would play 15 games for the year, you would have been over the moon.

"He has played nine (games), I don't know how many he'll end up with, but sometimes sitting on the bench, not getting a lot of game time, the ball not coming in as you'd like; sometimes it is better to go back, have four quarters of football and be the main target.

"It is all about the apprenticeship and doing what is best for Josh Kennedy."

"He has been really good to us and he looks after the young blokes," Blackwell said.

Pagan's methods get the nod from the young brigade as well. "He has been really good to us and he looks after the young blokes," Blackwell said.