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PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:27 am 
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Mike Fitzpatrick
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Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:22 pm
Posts: 4678
Location: Melbourne
For the 2nd year now, we have but 1........... just 1 nomination in the NAB Rising Star award.

Last year it was Murphy, this years it's Gibbs.

For a team that is constantly talked up as being a list full of potential and young superstars, i find it hard to understand how we can only have 1 nomination and just 2 for the past 2 years.

Kennedy, Bower, Grigg, Aiskaie (who was still eligable this season but will not be for 08'), are just 4 players that i had seen as CERTAINTIES to earn a nomination this year.

Largly, i blame Denis for the way he played our kids. He had alot of supporters on this and alot of critics also, but the proof is in the pudding on two kids who i constantly commented on being played out of position by Pagan.

They were Gibbs & Bower............

Let's have a look at their Stats During Pagan's reign & afterwards.

GIBBS

- Pagan - - Ratten -
11.6 disp 16.8 disp
3.6 marks 5.6 marks

BOWER

- Pagan - - Ratten -
10 disp 14.8 disp
3.5 marks 5 marks


Now i'm not trying to dig up the past here or anything like that. But those averages speak for themselves.

The two teams who i thought showed great strength and belief in thier youth this year were (IMHO) Collingwood & Port Adelaide.

Both have a total of three...................3.............nominations EACH in todays Rising Star Award......and only one each were a first round picks. The others were late picks and or rookies.
(side note:- Both these teams are also playing finals football with these nominees playing KEY roles in their sides finals campaigns).

Mark Williames was brilliant in bringing in Westhoff & Gray when he needed more options up forward. Westhoff went on to kick 32 goals in just 14 games and Grey stepped up to fill the void that Tredrea left.

Ditto Malthouse with his decision to promote Marty Clarke & Tyson Goldsack in replace of the lost bodies through the midfield and defense that should have seen his team drop down the ladder......instead, they proved quite a few people wrong (including me) and are satisfying their many fans by playing last years grand finalists at the MCG in the elimination final.........IN WHICH THEY WILL GO INTO AS FAVOURITES!


Now look at our situation...............

We had Cloke go down early and Ackland not showing so much as a hint of giving two shits about the club, it's players or the game itself. We had a great, no make that a PERFECT, opportunity to bring in a young ruckman such as Aisakie or Jacobs or the very raw Hampson. All had been proving their worth in the Bullants.

But instead, we bring in Kennedy..........who we drafted as a forward / KP. I have no doubt that had we brought in a ruckman to replace Cloke (such as Aisakie) and left Kennedy to develop as the foward we drafted him as, we would have had at least another nomination this year! Possibly two. (perhaps a few more wins also)

Where Collingwood and Port Adelaide had the guts & belief...........we had excuses.

Now, after Hampson was given an opportunity in the final 2 games of the bloody year (we have a habit of doing that - see Bower & Jackson last year), we're already talking him up as a starting ruckman for season 08'.

YES, he's RAW...............but that's just it........so are 99% of draftees in their first 2-3 seasons.
Westhoff was RAW. Marty Clake was RAW. Tyson Goldsack is RAW. All of them are playing finals this week and guess what..............they're still very RAW!

But that doesn't mean they cannot be effective and play a major role in their team whislt developing.

What's my point...........................

Well, for those of you who think i'm demanding that we play Kreuzer in the ruck from round 1 and expect him to get 350+hitouts for the year and win the rising star nomination...........your wrong. I'm not expecting that at all. And even thou i was not happy with how Denis used Gibbs earlier on in the season, Gibbs exceded my expectations and i couldn't ask for anything more from the kid, who at 18 has played all 22 games this season.

What i AM saying is that the list that we played on Sunday night.......one of, if not, THE youngest list we've ever put out, showed that whilst we do need to tread carefully with these kids and not expect the world from them, that we also need to show some belief and opportunity in them too.

Next year, Aisakie MUST be starting in the ruck with Cloke as a backup and Hampson named as an emergency. If Cloke doesn't perform, the Hampson must be brought in. No excuses. No 'Oh, he's only young and still very raw'........just bloody do it!

In just two rounds, Hampson showed more than Ackland has all year and i think, if i'm not wrong, has already outdone Ackland for contested marks????

Bower & Grigg must be played in the same positions that they played in last sunday night that saw them earn more than 42 posessions BETWEEN them.

THAT, in a nutshell, is what i want more than anything in 2008. No more excuses, no more kids getting 20min of gametime, no more playing a bloody midfielder as a fullback and calling it development.

Create opportunites.............not excuses..............cause giving a kid an opportunity is in itself the perfect tool for their development!.....just ask Justin Westhoff, or Tyson Goldsack, or Marty Clarke, etc, etc, etc.

AGAIN.............I MUST STRESS THAT i'm in no way expecting greatness from these kids. But if we do draft Kreuzer.........play him to the role he is supposed to develop into and give him opportunities. I better not see him playing as a fullback lining up on Matty Llyod or sitting on the god-damn bench for 90mins of the game.

Anyway. That's my rant for the day. GO BLUES and good luck and CONGRATULATIONS to Bryce Gibbs for his Rising Star Nomination and Congratulations to all our young list for their efforts this year. Keep it up boys.

_________________
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle


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