Under Achieving Youngsters

[Hartijon]

One could not help but be impressed by the Crows youngsters.Kids in other teams have really made their mark as well (Selwood,Rioli etc).The Swans have little to cheer about apart from a brief early burst by Barlow that fizzed out and Vezpremi,s belated but impressive debut.What's the Problem??

1.Our luck ran out. We have been so lucky in the past with late draft picks(Goodes,O'Keefe etc) it could not last
2.We used Rookies to fill so many gaps and it worked well.Now it is not working so well!
3 The Canberra League is not a good nurturing ground
4.We won a Premiership playing man on man.Youngsters need to be quite physically mature to handle the rigours of this game plan.(remember Simmonds?)
5.Lack of opportunity.We have an established older team that it is hard to break into
6.Little game time..Same point as 6 except when picked,they spend little time on the ground.Compare that to the young Goodes who had to carry the rucks all day and came on so much because of it.
7.A settled game plan.Youngsters are impulsive creative individualistic...its all been said before!We are not that kind of team.
8.Maybe poor selections but I think selection is very hard.Sure some have not come on but what a turn around for Mc veigh! You do need to give them a couple of seasons .

Having said all that Jack,Moore,Vespa, Bird have the potential to come on and take the next step.We need them to!

[SCGonasunnyday]

Good points, would have to say it is probably a bit of all of the above.

Perhaps the money and science involved in the draft now means that a top 10 pick is close to a certainty and a 50+ pick is more of a hail mary than it was in the past. Just looking at a couple of Brisbane games and seeing Daniel Rich, I was struck by how much of a future star this guy would be. Some errors but he was in everything and I can imagine how good he will be in 5 years.

Laidlaw, Smith, Thornton, Brabazon etc. I have seen nothing to give me that sort of feeling, but who knows. I think a player needs a minimum 10 games in a team in a row to get a chance to prove themselves. Yet we seem to throw in a new player for 1 game against Geelong. Look at Bevan compared to Grundy - who would have the most confidence?? One gets time and the coach's confidence, the other in and out of the team and playing in different positions.

Barlow could be the best thing since sliced cheese but unless we suffer clangers, opportunities missed goals kicked against etc (ie what happens when a raw inexperienced player is put in) for a while, will we ever know?

Last of alll, if DOK doesn't make it I will be so disappointed, 1st round pick in the superdraft... How could we get that wrong.

But Veszpremi - excitement plus.

[dimelb]

I suspect that one of the big imponderables (I mean it can make a big difference but we can't measure it) is personality/attitude. All the youngsters, including the ones I think of as fringe players ATM e.g. "Laidlaw, Smith, Thornton, Brabazon etc.", come into this team somewhat overawed by the new company they find themselves in and probably somewhat anxious about how they will go, compounded by the thought that this is their shot at a living for the next few years and the knowledge that many are called but few are chosen.
There is one bloke who, and this is only my impression, does not seem to be weighed down by any of this baggage. He works his guts out, applies himself with unfaltering enthusiasm to his new trade, is as willing (in an old fashioned sense) as anyone on the paddock, plays like there is no tomorrow to worry about and shows no sign of being a problem off the field. After the shortest stint in the game and with a long way to go yet, he has improved so noticeably that he could be getting serious first grade time this year. His name is Pyke, and I would like to see these aspects of his example become infectious.
Perhaps his age and previous experience has something to do with it.

[Legs Akimbo]

Last of alll, if DOK doesn't make it I will be so disappointed, 1st round pick in the superdraft... How could we get that wrong.

Just for the record, here is the list of players taken subsequently to DoK. Judge away.

Mitchell Brown
Shaun Hampson
Leroy Jetta
Shaun Grigg
Tom Hislop
Gavin Urquhart
Albert Proud
Paul Stewart
Brent Renouf
Nathan Djerrkura
Shane Edwards
Brad Howard
Chris Dawes
Eric MacKenzie
Ricky Petterd
Clayton Collard
Kurt Tippett
Jarryd Morton
Chris Schmidt
Mark Austin
Alwyn Davey
Todd Goldstein
James Hawksley
Nathan Krakouer
Josh P. Kennedy
Tom Hawkins
Bachar Houli
Tim Houlihan
Brad Dick
Brennan Stack
Colin Garland
Kyle Reimers
David Mackay
Daniel Currie
Will Schofield
Clint Benjamin
Brock O'Brien
Lindsay Thomas
Matt Tyler
Robert Gray
Garry Moss
Simon Hogan
Daniel Connors
Jarryd Allen
Carl Peterson
Josh Hill
Isack Weetra
Tyson Goldsack
Nick Gill
Peter Faulks
Malcolm Lynch
Joe Anderson
Ben Warren
Sam Sheldon
Justin Westhoff
Andrew Collins
Matthew Ferguson
Paul O'Shea
Calib Mourish
Bryce Campbell
Jesse White
James Thomson
Aaron Edwards
Ryan Williams
David Rodan

[Hartijon]

Just for the record, here is the list of players taken subsequently to DoK. Judge away.

Mitchell Brown
Shaun Hampson
Leroy Jetta
Shaun Grigg
Tom Hislop
Gavin Urquhart
Albert Proud
Paul Stewart
Brent Renouf
Nathan Djerrkura
Shane Edwards
Brad Howard
Chris Dawes
Eric MacKenzie
Ricky Petterd
Clayton Collard
Kurt Tippett
Jarryd Morton
Chris Schmidt
Mark Austin
Alwyn Davey
Todd Goldstein
James Hawksley
Nathan Krakouer
Josh P. Kennedy
Tom Hawkins
Bachar Houli
Tim Houlihan
Brad Dick
Brennan Stack
Colin Garland
Kyle Reimers
David Mackay
Daniel Currie
Will Schofield
Clint Benjamin
Brock O'Brien
Lindsay Thomas
Matt Tyler
Robert Gray
Garry Moss
Simon Hogan
Daniel Connors
Jarryd Allen
Carl Peterson
Josh Hill
Isack Weetra
Tyson Goldsack
Nick Gill
Peter Faulks
Malcolm Lynch
Joe Anderson
Ben Warren
Sam Sheldon
Justin Westhoff
Andrew Collins
Matthew Ferguson
Paul O'Shea
Calib Mourish
Bryce Campbell
Jesse White
James Thomson
Aaron Edwards
Ryan Williams
David Rodan

Holy @@@@! that says it all! Can't believe the quality on this list! DOK was seriously rated above these? You gotta be kidding me?

[The Big Cat]

Tom Hawkins was a father/son - can't count him.

[Jeffers1984]

Mitch Brown was the one there. Will be a gun KP for the Eagles.

[Legs Akimbo]

Mitch Brown was the one there. Will be a gun KP for the Eagles.

Yep - that was the one that pissed me off at the time. The others I can live with.

[Number 43]

Yep - that was the one that pissed me off at the time. The others I can live with.

What about Jetta, Houli and Alwyn Davey? Any of them would be pretty good at the feet of Hall and O'Loughlin.

[Legs Akimbo]

What about Jetta, Houli and Alwyn Davey? Any of them would be pretty good at the feet of Hall and O'Loughlin.

I think there was a thread on drafting indigenous players going around somewhere...

P.S. - I realise that Houli is not aboriginal

[Mr Magoo]

Please enlighten me as to which of those named are stars of the game.

There are some useful players but very few stars on that list. I see about a dozen names that stand out as players with some potential but not much more (and I agree you can forget hawkins as he would have otherwise gone top ten if not for the father son rule) and even most of those have only gained such standing in the past season.

[caj23]

Please enlighten me as to which of those named are stars of the game.

There are some useful players but very few stars on that list. I see about a dozen names that stand out as players with some potential but not much more (and I agree you can forget hawkins as he would have otherwise gone top ten if not for the father son rule) and even most of those have only gained such standing in the past season.

Just off the top of my head, Brown did a great job in his first season as a key position backman, had a knee reco last year. I was very disapointed on draft day when we skipped him for someone i'd neverh heard of

Hampson and Renouf have proven to be adequate support ruckmen at senior level in their short careers, a position we are sorely lacking in.

having said that i hope dok shows something this year as he must be on his final chance

[ScottH]

You have to look at the team that these players who have played, were drafted into. Most of them sould be the bottom half of the ladder teams over the past few years, or teams suffering long injury lists.Not the teams that have been successful consistently over in recent years.

[Ludwig]

Dok

Here's an article that may help to explain why Daniel O'Keefe hasn't progressed very far. Sounds like he is virtually starting from scratch due to injuries, and maybe he can show something this year in the Reserves.

http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/sport/afl/swan-ready-to-fly-after-a-plateload-of-surgery-hungry-for-success/1461818.aspx

[2005]

Worrying thing he said was that he played better against Melbourne than he did Port.Maybe he meant he spent more time on the ground against Melbourne than he did against Port