thegezman wrote:
of the list i could only say these guys the rest i have questions marks as to wheather they will make it or not.
B: ??, Livingston, ??
HB: ??, ??, Thornton
C: ??, Stevens, Houlihan (good enough player, potential trade bait)
HF: Fisher, Waite, ??
F: ??, Fevola, ??
Foll: ??, Walker, Carrazzo
Int: ?? ??, ??, ??
guys like simmo i reckon will be good enough, but being conservative here.
Deluca i doubt will make it, same with Teague. Bryan looks promissing as does Betts but it's hard to judge with first year players.
Deluca had dropped off this season before his injury IMO.
Fish i've left in out of faith, see how he goes after the injury but i love him as a player.
it's looking pretty bare isn't it. lots of work to do.
the process is going to take another 2 years longer than i had hoped.
even Fev will get betting on by the time we reach this peak. but he is good enough to build a side around if he can keep his body in good nick
A big key to that list above Gezman is the development of these players over the next 18 months:
Russell
Blackwell
Smith
Setanta
Hartlett
Raso
I am under no illusion that all these 6 will make it but I'd be surprised if 3 of them weren't in our best 22 in 2 yrs time. If none were to "make it", Wayne Hughes will be hung, drawn an quartered.
Russell and Blackwell are skinny 18 yr olds, just need a little more time to beef up. Smith is rated highly by DP and maybe even ahead of Bentick at this stage but his pace seems to be the main issue.
When looking at Setanta, I prefer to compare him to a typical, tall recruit in their 2nd yr of footy, i.e. 19 yr old. Probably not commanding a senior position yet but he's only been at the game for 18 months. He seems to possess that "I'm a winner at whatever I try" mentalality so I'm hopeful.
Hartlett is an unknown quantity. Only 19, tall but still skinny, barely played and had a shit Under 18 comp last yr but is supposed to possess raw talent and aggression. He's a no 25 draft pick (not too shabby), but I guess he's a toss up at this stage.
Raso - ditto hartlett as he needs to compete against the men before we can assess.
Eddie and Simmo I believe are coming along nicely. Eddie is still 18 and learning. I think we need to give him the benefit of the doubt by virtue of his age, size and that he's playing senior footy in his first yr for a shit team. This is an acheivement alone. They both need more muscle which is acheivable. Simmo appears to be gaining more confidence at this level and seemed to throw his body into the contest against the dogs. Another Simmo positive is his versatility. DP seems keen on developing him into a midfielder come backman, capable of playing on small, pacy forwards but using his pace and footskills to give us drive and precision from the backline.
So there's 8 blokes (plus Bryan) to work with added to the 9 already in your team. Throw in 4 top 10 picks, PSD's, trades over the next 2 yrs and hey presto - competitive in 2007, finals in 2008.
The patience required is the killer. Still, I'm intending to watch and take the pain on Saturday vs Weagles, knowing our time is not too far away.
Oh I forgot - Vossy needs to be added to the mix, as an assistant coach in 2007 and DP's successor in 2008.