Ryan O'Keefe

[Alison]

I really hope Ryan gets a game this week. I think he was stiff being dropped in the first place. He has practically been best on ground the last 3 weeks in the reserves. He is a player that we could play down back, in the middle or forward. He is also well built and relatively tall (I think).

[sharp9]

Only 187 but at 89 Kgs is very strong. Couldn't put him on Tarrant or Rocca.

[TheMase]

Originally posted by sharp9
Only 187 but at 89 Kgs is very strong. Couldn't put him on Tarrant or Rocca.

Give him a run in the middle damnit!

[RogueSwan]

If only the swans would run in the middle

[Cheer Cheer]

Put schneider and ofkeefe in the midfield down the track and maybe fixter or one of the young hard nuts recruited last year and it could be a very solid, hard nut, grunt of a midfield.

[liz]

Originally posted by Cheer Cheer
Put schneider and ofkeefe in the midfield down the track and maybe fixter or one of the young hard nuts recruited last year and it could be a very solid, hard nut, grunt of a midfield.

Not sure that any of last year's picks stand out as particular "hard nuts" - other than maybe Thewlis, simply because he already has the build. But Jude qualifies, so long as he can continue to improve his ability to feed the ball out from the packs.

[Cheer Cheer]

Yes, thewlis is the name I was after, thanks Lizz. I couldnt remember if it was thewlis or maleski so I just generalised, but that is who I was thinking about.
Jude's in the mix, but do you think he needs to improve on feeding the ball out from the packs , or maybe general field disposal instead ? I would hope he works more on the latter.

[liz]

Originally posted by Cheer Cheer
Jude's in the mix, but do you think he needs to improve on feeding the ball out from the packs , or maybe general field disposal instead ? I would hope he works more on the latter.

Depends on what role we're talking about for him. I agree his field disposal could improve - but what Swan wouldn't you say that about?!

If we're talking about him being a key in-and-under player, however, I reckon the most critical skill is the ability to get into a pack AND get the ball out. There's no disputing his ability to do the former, but in the past he has been a bit guilty of keeping the ball bottled up in the pack. That means we get a ball up, and hence a 50-50 contest (or probably lower given we're not the best team at clearances from bounces). The best in-and-under players are also superb at using the ball when they get to the bottom of a pack - Simon Black is one that springs to mind, but there are probably even better examples.

One of Cresswell and Kelly's greatest strengths when they were at their peak was their ability to get the ball out of these contests. Their disposal wasn't always pretty, but at least it got the ball moving, and usually in the right direction. Then its up to the runners to be in the right place and make the most of the ball that's dished to them, even if the disposal isn't perfect. Someone on this board commented earlier this week that Cresswell made a huge difference in the Melbourne game because this is exactly what he was doing.

Other than Cressa, I think our best "feeder" from the packs is currently Kirk. He regularly feeds out superb handpasses to a team mate running past. Jude has been much better at this so far this season but there is still some room for improvement.

[NMWBloods]

Excellent comments Lizz. Bolton might be 'in-and-under', but until this season all he simply did what hold the ball in. Now he is starting to get the ball out occasionally, but still needs further improvement in that area, and that's what I'd like to see him do.

Cresswell and Kirk were fantastic in the last qtr against Melbourne doing this. Cresswell has made his living doing this and it was nice to see him back (I noted this earlier in the week). If Bolton wants to be a valuable contributor to the team, he needs to be able to do this, not just throw himself in.

It will be interesting to see who else will be capable of doing this. Who of the new young guys appear like they might be able to do this?

[Nico]

As skillful and good a kick as O'Keefe is, his lack of pace and ability to get to contests and support team mates is probably keeping him out of the team.

When you look at our forwards now that Micky is back in town, there is no one he can replace. He is probably too slow for the midfield, even though he would look to be a bit tougher than a few of the others.

I would have thought that if he was to cement a place in the top 22 he would have been close to that by now, but is not even an emergency this week. Maybe his heart is not in it and would rather be back with his family in Melbourne. Couldn't blame him for that.

And I like his style.

I would suggest that as far as his AFL career in Sydney, he is
G-O-R-N.

[liz]

Originally posted by Nico
O'Keefe ...

is not even an emergency this week.

Yes he is - and there's probably a reasonable chance that either Schaubs or Bolton won't be right for the match. He'd probably be most likely of the emergencies to play - or at least, he's the one I'd most like to see in. Have to admit I'm a bit of a fan of his and was hoping this would be the year when he finally made it. Still not given up hope for him.

I'd have him in this week's team ahead of Warfe, that's for sure!

[Nico]

Lizz,

My apologies, bad slip that one.

Still I think he is just hanging on by his fingernails.

Hope I'm wrong, but I don't like the vibes, and he would need to put together a couple of blinders to get back in favour.

[Steve]

They've at least done the right thing by him over the past 3 weeks and kept him in the reserves.

It's always hard on the guys who start the season as the 21st or 22nd chosen - you're condemned to little game time and are the first under pressure when injured players return.

He probably deserved to come back up the week after being dropped based on his performance in the twos, but the worst thing for him would have been getting into that bench player -> dropped -> recalled as a bench player -> dropped routine.

When he gets the recall now it will at least be with him in form, although the huge jump in standard presumably is going to catch a lot of guys out.