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TDL's game against the Hawks showed the value of giving a youngster at least 3 games. Perhaps more important than the number of games is the opportunity to play in a winning side. In the first couple of games they are adjusting to the increased speed,harder tackling and to the skill of those around them. Once -playing , the game plan is to role model the experienced players and watch what they do. If they are kicking wide in the backlines you do it too.Fitting in with the team is the most important thing for a beginner. If the team is going poorly,if they are not following the plan,it is rather cruel to blame the youngster and drop him.He can't impose himself on the game straight away and players that can like Hanneberry are rare indeed.Playing in a winning side not only can they copy the winning ways of their leaders but they can show some individual flair. Its a bit like getting your pilot's license. You need the flying hours! Thirty games seems to be the magic number where they begin to really blossom Just look at Kieren Jack now after 30+ games. He has gone to the next level. So even though we had a great win, we have a few ageing players to be replaced in the next 2 years and we still have the need to get game time into the youngsters to get them ready to replace the oldies. TDL was lucky,played 2,got dropped then recalled and came good. Others have not been so lucky but are equally deserving.
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What would be worse is playing a youngster who isn't ready and not deserving of a game only to be smashed and then dropped back to the magoos with his confidence in tatters. I'll never understand the mantra of playing the kids just for the sake of it. Roos was spot on last week when he said he won't just hand out games to any youngster not deserving of a spot...And the Swans are the Premiers...The Ultimate Team...The Ultimate Warriors. They have overcome the highly fancied Hawks in brilliant style. Sydney the 2012 Premiers - Gerard Whately ABC
Here it is Again! - Huddo SENComment
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So you think TDL should not have played and Merry should have stayed in?
I disagree with that.-Comment
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I thought TDL did a great job on Sunday and had some super touches. I also thought Meredith did some good things in a couple of his games over the last month or so. I think both are long-term keepers for the club and will develop nicely over the next couple of years. However their places in the pecking order are still relatively low, so I see them as probably being in and out of the team in the next 12 months or so. Its really up to them, and the other young guys such as Vespa, Heath etc, how they react to getting some experience in the 1s and then dropping back to the 2s. I would want to see them work hard, listen to the coaches and follow instructions, and build up a solid fitness base to make them ready to grasp whatever opportunities fall their way in the future.
Game time is probably best for their overall development but realistically the opportunities are somewhat limited for most of the young players so they need to do as much as they can to make sure their ready when called upon.Last edited by jono2707; 11 August 2010, 12:28 PM.Comment
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I think this is all fair comment and if the coaches were unwilling to change a losing side they certainly won't change a winning one. Injuries may give them the youngsters a chance but with Bradshaw coming back and maybe Seaby and Bolton to fit in either late this year or next year someone is going to have to make a call about them.Personally I think Shaw is very wobbly over the last month.He gets the ball a lot but often makes poor decisions.He gives away frees in his tackling. Whether his long streaming runs out of the backlines make up for this is the coaches call. I would have kept Meredith , dropped Bevan and had a ? over Shaw if Reid or Vespa were up to it...but thats me! I believe with all of TDL,Meredith and Vespa playing the result would have been the same and the winning score would have been larger.Comment
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It's a tough call, but you can't afford to "carry" more than one or two youngsters for multiple games if you are a competitve chance at finals. They get a few games, then go back and rest or do the needfull to get back in. Or on the rare occasion you get a freak like Hanners.
On the whole I find these threads frustrating and have been answered/asked/pondered a hundred times with similar anwers, all ending with the coaching staff doing what they think best.Comment
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Sorry, but i think you're dreaming. I love Meredith but with every game he played he got poorer and poorer, perhaps he picked up a niggle or something, but his play had definitely fallen away. TDL was terrific last week, he was a different player to the nervous Nellie that played against Richmond and North.
If we were in the Bombers or Ports position with no chance of making the finals, I'd agree a lot more with the play the kids bit, but the fact is we are fighting for a home final and I think the fact that we've basically fielded the same team for the last four rounds is excellent. We haven't had that continuity in the team since the early part of the season.Comment
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Oh No! another belief shattered! God not only doesn't exist she isn't black and female! Next you will be telling me there is no Easter bunny ,no tooth fairy and no Father Christmas. I will try to live with this as long as you don't totally dissallusion me by suggesting Coaches some times act in their own best interests rather than the teams.That would totally dissallusion me.Comment
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RWO has been very boring this week. Maybe one more stir of the pot might liven things up??
It got you going didn't it?Comment
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So you admit to just plain old trolling?
Great contribution.-Comment
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