LRT needs his own thread

[Diego]

Why waste time on this proven hack, sure we needs talls out there but he is a joke of a player.

Instead of wasting time on project players, how about wasting time on good ready made footballers that will deliver the club a premiership.
LRT won't.

SAYANARA BIG MAN. We should have kept Ricky Mott as he was a gun compared to union player.

[barry]

Originally posted by Schneiderman
Especially now that the one and only true reason for keeping him in the side, HEIGHT, has now been removed.

With Saddo, Vogels and Jolly in the side, plus Ball to come, I think we can afford to pick someone else instead of LRT. SKILL is the new buzzword.

Who of those you mention could play CHB?

Saddington - If you think 'Yes' you have an incredibly short memory.
Vogels - Havent seen enough of him yet, but has hardly set the world on fire so far. Again another development player who would take years to become a solid KPP.
Jolly - Errr, he's our No.1 ruck now.
Ball - ditto.

Still leaves a big hole at CHB if LRT is dropped.
I'm happy to replace LRT if there was someone could do a better job now and for the next 6 years. Cant see anyone at all on the horizon though.

LRT's major weakness is that he isnt up to the pace of AFL yet. When he's got the ball he can sometimes look like the rabbit in the spotlight. Those calling for his development to be done in the reserves miss one fundamental problem: The reserves comp is too slow to learn about quick thinking.
Possibly the major reason he does struggle with the pace at the moment is that he learnt his footy in such minor leagues as the Sydney and ACT footy comps.

Anyway, he reminds me of a young Mal Michael. Remember how ordinary he was early on?

[barry]

Originally posted by Diego

SAYANARA BIG MAN. We should have kept Ricky Mott as he was a gun compared to union player.

Now you're just being silly.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by barry
Now you're just being silly.

The scary thing is no, he's not.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by barry
Vogels - Havent seen enough of him yet, but has hardly set the world on fire so far. Again another development player who would take years to become a solid KPP.

Given he already knows how to play football, you'd think he is not going to take more time than LRT.

[barry]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Given he already knows how to play football, you'd think he is not going to take more time than LRT.

Ricky Mott knows how to play Football. Spriggs knows how to play football. I believe even Fosdike knows how to play football.

Yes, he would take more time than LRT with no guaranteed results. I see no benefit of throwing him into a KP defensive role as far as his development goes.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by barry
Ricky Mott knows how to play Football. Spriggs knows how to play football. I believe even Fosdike knows how to play football.

Fosdike was taken as an athlete not a footballer. Mott might know how to play, but lacked fitness and motivation. Spriggs' skill level is abysmal.

I see none of these things with Vogels at this stage (and possibly not with some of the others in the running from the little I have seen or heard of them).

Yes, he would take more time than LRT with no guaranteed results. I see no benefit of throwing him into a KP defensive role as far as his development goes.

Why would he take more time? Why would any of the mature rookies take more time?

[Sanecow]

I don't think he is excelling, but if we are going to play a few more youngsters this season as we did on the weekend, I can't see too much harm (a couple of frees against and a spare opposition player at worst) in playing LRT.

[Newbie]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
[B]Fosdike was taken as an athlete not a footballer. Mott might know how to play, but lacked fitness and motivation. Spriggs' skill level is abysmal.

I see none of these things with Vogels at this stage (and possibly not with some of the others in the running from the little I have seen or heard of them).

Why would he take more time? Why would any of the mature rookies take more time?

Fosdike was already playing in the SAFL when we drafted him. His athletic attributes were stand-out but it does not mean he did not know how to play footy when we drafted him. He did play 12 games or so in the first year at the club. Certainly it would not happen if he did not know how to play the game.

I think people should realize is that Ball and Jolly are not Key backman. Ball is too slow right now even to play on the resting ruckman. Vogels as promising as he has shown, is not a key backman to me. His game might be suited to play as a patroling backman (in the mood of Lance Witnall when he plays back) but I dont see any special physical attribute from Vogels which would make him a succesful man-on-man type of backman. To play man-on-man down back, one would need either a good strenght or good pace (or preferrably a combination of them). Vogels has shown none of that in his game so far.

And while we are one key forward short at the moment, I dont see the benefit of moving Vogels down back yet at all, both for him personally, and for the team as a whole.

Unless LRT is to be mauled by his direct opponent, I think he should be in the team for the next 5 games at minimum.

[Newbie]

Originally posted by liz
LRT provides a perfect example of the dilemma of the Swans' reserves competition. Every time I've seen him play in the Canberra competition he has looked a class above almost everyone else out there, and certainly better than the opposition.

I wonder if there is an athletic "tall" somewhere at the club who can mentor him in the way that Willo and Maxfield have been doing with the likes of Ablett, Buchanan, Bevan and Schneider.

A reason for his lack of confidence might be that in reserves he could bark orders to this teammates. In seniors, he is basically still earning his respect so most of the times he would have to follow orders from others.

The analogy between his case and Ablett case is something we should think about. Good pointing out, Liz.

[SwallowdaFonz]

Don't forget some of RWO's favourite players are those who weren't natural footballers and had to work hard over many years to click on the field. E.g. Luffie, Dunks, even Kirk. Will be another great story if LRT starts to come good this season.

On the other hand, a woman who sits near us at Homebush reckons LRT's Dad must be one of the Swans major sponsors, just like what happened in the Italian Serie A ("I'll give the club a million bucks if you play my kid"). It WOULD explain a lot.

[ugg]

footyhead is a woman?

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Originally posted by barry
The obsession some people have against the young bloke is getting spiteful.

A lot are quite articulate and argue well but some others aren't.
I wonder if it's not that some of the posters that are intrinsicly spite-filled.

Perhaps some of them are quite intemperate in their anonymity, surely they don't go off like a headless chicken in public as well? (or not more than once).

Either way there are 3 "we hate LRT" threads on this board which is in itself a tad sick.

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by Ruckman
A lot are quite articulate and argue well but some others aren't.
I wonder if it's not that some of the posters that are intrinsicly spite-filled.

The ones that deliberately and repeatedly spell other posters' names incorrectly are among the less skilled at forming logical arguments in my observation.

[Benevolent Ert]

I don't think he's as awful as to anti-Lew-Bob-Tom camp are making out

He's still a bit mistake prone, but I think the idea to try and groom him as a CHB is generally a good one

Having said all that, I do think he could benefit from going back to Canberra this week