Clarkey is a battler but he has a dip.
How many other players could put their hand up last week and say they gave their best?

Kouta? The list gets very thin from there.

Bryan may get a run but I'm happy with Russells development.
If they decide to play him, good and well but why rush it?
It would only be to appease the supporters.
He is coming along nicely in the VFL and slowly improving.

Why interrupt the process.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Dunno about tipping us simply 'cos Livo is back, but certainly agree that his presence at FB straightens us up big time and has the immediate effect of Thornton out to CHB, Lance forward and another bonafide 'tall defender' in defence.

Scotland's last 3.5 performances have been shameful and had to go, no questions asked. Bannister has become a permanent member of that dreaded 'revolving door' group who come in for a week, then get dropped for a week, back in again for a week, back out again the next....it does not bode well for his Carlton career.

Would love to see McGrath get a crack in the midfield - was awesome in the Wizzer Cup as part of the midfield, had scant time in there since - why? Would like to see Clarke get a game as well - deserves a reward for good Bullants form and deserves one last crack to show us his worth (if any).

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Football is life: there is nothing else

What about Luke Livingston? Simon Wiggins?

Now your talking.
Is she eligible for the NRS?

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Livingston had a bloody bowel disease in his first year, WITHOUT DEBUTING (did he catch it in the 2s?), and Wiggins played 2 or 3 games in 2001.....

how are these relevant?

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Love Cricket? Love me

Livingston, as a KP player, debuted before he was ready. He hadn't played e4nough in the twos before he was thrust into the deep end without a paddle.

Fair enough about Wiggins then, he's just a hack.

But the Judd point you made was ridiculous. Judd was a ready made player with a body already developed enough to take the stress of playing senior AFL football. He was also a freak once in a generation player. Russell's body isn't developed enough yet and he'll just get pushed around.

yes.. sorry.... I forgot that Judd was a meataxe when he started, and hadn't had 2 shoulder recos.

Chris Egan? I bet kicking those goals in a winning team has scarred him for life?

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Love Cricket? Love me

Maybe not a meataxe but he was solid and had fully recovered from his operations.

Yep and I bet kicking the ball out of bounch on the full with his first two kicks really helped his confidence. Good on the kid for bouncing back though.

Hey don't get me wrong, I'm not actually against playing Russell. But I'm not against not playing him either if the plan is to give him a real apprentiship instead of sticking him in the deep end and hoping he swims. If Russell gets a few best on ground performances in a row for the Bullants I'm sure he'll be picked but maybe in the long run he might be better off learning the trade without the pressure of seniors footy, and without sitting on the bench for three quarters a week. I wouldn't mind seeing Betts dropped for the same reason actually. It would give him a chance to play in the midfield and learn the ropes.

If they wanted him to learn the trade then he should have been rookie listed – that’s what it is for.

He was picked on the senior list to play seniors. He’s played seniors at SANFL level (the next level below the AFL and above VFL standard!) and played finals footy!!!

We either find out soon if he is good enough or not and the only way is at the highest level.

AND IF HE’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH – THEN AS FAR AS I’M CONCERNED, THIS IS ANOTHER NAIL IN THE COFFIN OF OUR RECRUITMENT DEPT FOR ONCE AGAIN DRAFTING THE WRONG TYPE OF PLAYER!!!!!!

Rookie him???

what leave him, let someone else take him at say 9 or 29 or @#$%&! 99!!!!

Argue but please, a bit of sense here.


Russell may be ready and there may be other reasons, perhaps Denis belives in protecting good players from the crap we ar eplaying at the moment. Maybe he thinks he'll learn more playing with the Bullies where everyone is having a fair crack at it.

Actually I think Walks and Betts and T-Bird should be promoted to the Bullies too - surely they have done enough hard yakka over thje past few weeks.

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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!

Rookie list? He wouldn't have made it to the rookie list, not even close. He was a first round pick player. You have a strange view of things. All players are picked to play seniors eventually, even the rookie listed, but most of them have to go through an apprenticeship in the reserves. The young players who've been picked up in the draft are more likely to be playing seniors in the first year than the rookies but it doesn't change the fact that they're still kids with a lot to learn. Sometimes leaving them in the VFL to learn there trade is the best thing for them. Nobody expects Raso to be playing AFL footy this year and he's on the senior list.

He's good enough, don't worry about that.

No DB, that's not what I said. (But then again, we don't play him either!)

From my visits to the ants, this kid needs to be let loose with the big boys.

I s'pose what I am frustrated about more than anything is that we already have the youngest list. And from what I can see the only players who have yet to play for us are our 3 draft picks (1st rnd, 2nd rnd and 3rd rnd)from last year (Russell, Hartlett - injured - and Blackwell). The only exception here is Raso, who at the start was told that he was a development player for 2006

I really hope Bryan plays because he deserves it.

We keep recycling the same players over and over again. Now it seems Clarke is about to get his VISY papers back into the team.

THEY ARE NOT OUR FUTURE. They also continually fail.

It's time to see if these kids are right. We were told they would be given a go. Yet it's just the same revolving door policy. Bannister gets dropped then recalled, then dropped, Prender gets dropped then recalled (without playing an ants game mind you!)

And yet 2 of our real young kids, two kids who do have a go each week, two kids who were picked to be future fixtures are overlooked. WHY? Why has every other club played more first gamers than us (see the hun today).

Are our draftees not good enough?

The bigger question I have is – IS OUR RECRUITING DEPT GOOD ENOUGH!

going a bit overboard now, Laguna.

I hear and agree with your plea, but we won't konw if our recruiters are any good, until these guys get time under their belt... which they're not getting.... so.... square 1!

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Love Cricket? Love me

Maybe Denis is holding him back to round 13 so he is still eligible for the NRS next year.

yes!

music to our ears, Zippy

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Love Cricket? Love me

VISY papers.....I like that.

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

'If they wanted him to learn the trade then he should have been rookie listed – that’s what it is for. '

Huh?

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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!

For those of you who seem to be a little anti-Russell, who would you suggest we should have picked up instead of him?

A player of his ilk SHOULD NOT be rookie listed.

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Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24