zeecfc wrote:
Wet Willie wrote:
Carlton finishes on the bottom of the ladder and bring in 14 new players...
Surely more than 3 or 4 of them will break into our best 22??
McKay, Curnow, SOSOS, GMac - all talls that traditionally take time
Weitering, Plowman - could perhaps be competing for the same spot unless one steps up and takes CHB
Lamb, Sumner, Kerridge, Wright - all play half forward high mid, only room for maybe two.
Phillips, Gorringe, Korcheck - Phillips and Gorringe a chance, I just don't want to put them in my 22 without seeing how they work with Kreuzer
Cuningham - too young and haven't seen enough of him
Gallucci - not enough nominated rookie spots available
Pretty sure they've picked up Kerridge to play in the middle; McKay and Curnow strike me as a better 3rd forward option than Jones, Foster and arguably Gorringe, just a question of fitness levels.
Weitering, Plowman and Jamison has to be the first choice defensive tall set; Rowe is a liability relative to them.
None of the kids are being asked to do the impossible; Jamison is the number one KPD, Casboult the number one KPF; Plowman, Tuohy, Docherty, Byrne all keep cool heads in defence and Everitt and Walker will be doing the heavy lifting up forward, with 5 options brought in to press for selection in the other 2 forward positions.
McKay and Weitering are physically ready to step into secondary tall duties. Let's not forget they ran a 14.1 and 15.4 beep test respectively at the combine. The biggest issue is if McKay can find enough of the footy, but Gippsland had a torrid time of it forward of centre in the second half of the year so I think he'll be fine as third/fourth fiddle in a more professional set up. Can always rotate him and Curnow for the other to give them a breather.
There is zero point to shielding our first round picks beyond managing their workload; they've all got weapons which will see them play comfortably at senior level, it's just a question of how they approach their pre-season work.