Young bloods - incl Harry wins RS nomination

[Conor_Dillon]

Given that Harry's nomination was more about a consistent run of good form and an ability to hold his place in a top team with minimal injuries rather than a single stand-out performance, it would also be good and justifiable for Lloyd to get the nod.

[MightyBloods]

Does anyone else see the irony in the timing of Harry's announcement?

Eddie to AFL house: Hi guys, what chance Ben Kennedy getting nominated for Rising Star?
AFL : Not yet Eddie, we're announcing someone from the NSW Academy this week.

[RogueSwan]

* Richards - could be Reid? But I think we need to look for a future CHB....

Thoughts?

Reid is taking on the swingman role of LRT - I doubt he'd take over Richards' role. The rest of them look about right, though.
Ressie watchers - who's our next Richards?

AJ?

[Swanny40519]

Well deserved, really happy for Harry that he got the acknowledgement. He's been an extremely consistent performer all year.

re: GWS acknowledging Harry- they just retweeted a tweet congratulating him. mentioning it was the second from the GWS Academy and included a picture of Harry in a GWS jumper. The original tweet was by the guy who ran the GWS Academy when Harry was there, I really see no issue with that at all and think it was good of their social media/PR people to retweet it and acknowledge it. They have a twitter feed on their website that shows their recent posts, hence it popping up there.

If they posted a story on it as well I really don't see how we could take issue with it- our current argument justifying the Swans Academy is that it's primarily for the development of elite footy skills n NSW- Harry, to me, is almost the perfect story to be able to stick it to Eddie (and whilst not doubting that it's well earnt, you have to wonder whether someone at AFL HQ had a smile on their face about who got the RS nod given the timing).

So if Buddy wins the Bronwlow this year and on the Hawthorn website they show a photo of Buddy wearing a Hawthorn jumper - don't you think that has a bit of hypocrosphcy (I would suggest a lot) in it.

Harry never played for GWS - just attended their academy.

[ugg]

He did play for them as a topup when their main side was playing in the NEAFL. Depends whether you count that or not

[stellation]

So if Buddy wins the Bronwlow this year and on the Hawthorn website they show a photo of Buddy wearing a Hawthorn jumper - don't you think that has a bit of hypocrosphcy (I would suggest a lot) in it.

Harry never played for GWS - just attended their academy.

I'm not entirely certain you read my post.

[Bloods05]

hypocrosphcy

That is a pearler.

[Swanny40519]

Oh well back to the Oxford.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Smart Replay - AFL.com.au

re jones - if you get to watch the replay simply go to the 1st qtr and click on the goal at the 22nd min to Jack and watch the play between this goal and the next one at 25mins with buddy scoring

it is a good 3min insight into zak jones and his anticipation, willingness to make a real difference but most of responsibility to even out the ledger

As the clock saids 7mins 50 seconds to go -

Zac has pushed up on the GWS 50m arc...........zak backs himself to be be involved after hot potato between jack backing the ball out with a quick handpass to Reid, then Reid to an attacking Zac who has left his man........Zac suddenly has 3 guys on him in traffic and decides to back out a handpass to Ted who is calling for hit but all of a sudden Cameron is on him from behind and Ted stuffs the kick.

The kick from Ted goes sideways and 30m.........suddenly Zac realises GWS could break and he puts in a full sprint recovery run of 50m to get behind play in anticipation of GWS breaking.........and they do..........Enter Zac Jones who is positioned perfectly well behind the play he injects himself into the fight for the ball between approx 6 players........Patton knocks Zac on his arse as Jones approaches to snatch the ball........Zac gets backs up......jumps into the middle of the scrap and rips the ball out with Big Mummy about to crunch Zac as he dives for the ball......Jones evades him and hand passes very sharply in traffic to Jack? who then zips it to Mal and Mal drives it into Buddy 40m out who then kicks a goal !

Two Words - Zac Jones !!

A very impressive young fella who will be a 10 year player without a doubt

[Reggi]

http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/afl-draft-prospect-isaac-heeney-reaping-the-rewards-of-training-in-the-sydney-swans-academy/story-fndv8ujy-1226974193467

According to Andrew Pridham the AFLmare still very supportive

[Conor_Dillon]

Interesting article from Garry Lyon in the Age Clubs scour second-chance saloon for hidden gems

Focuses on players not getting a regular game in their current team that could potentially be targets for other clubs recruiters. Number 1 on that list is Tim Membrey.

1. Tim Membrey (Sydney): The one position in which you are going to struggle to get a game in Sydney?s best team right now, unless your name is Franklin, Tippett, Reid or Goodes, is as a marking forward. Membrey, at 188 centimetres, was a star under-18 forward and would probably be playing as a legitimate third tall in 12 of the competition's 18 teams right now.

Hasn?t done himself any favours by not being as fit as he could be, but after a 47-goal debut season in the NEAFL last year, he has kicked 35 this season and has been named as an emergency for the Swans. Plenty of sides are in the market for a tall goalkicker.

The article also mentions Tayte Pears down the very bottom..I always thought he was alright at Essendon. He has obviously been overtaken by Hooker, Carlisle and Hurley so it doesn't like look like he'll be getting a game any time soon.

Key backmen are our only potential area of weakness. If we could pick up someone like Pears (24 y.o) for next to nothing it would provide valuable insurance. I don't know a hell of a lot about him with regards to the deficiencies in his game...poor attitude? average tank? average skills? injury prone? Those could all be completely wrong and hopefully someone will be able to give more of an insight but from what I remember he was a pretty good athlete and at 192cm and 92kg he is the perfect size.

There's obviously the ASADA side of things to worry about as well and who knows what the outcome of that will be, but anyway I'd like to hear people's thoughts.

Bit of background...he was pick 23 in the 07 draft from Perth and won a rising star nom. in 2009. Played most of the 2nd half of last season but started in the VFL this year until he was injured in round 5. I'm not sure what the injury was but he has been back playing the last couple of weeks in the VFL

[Conor_Dillon]

Just on that ^^^ he is contracted till the end of 2015 so would have to be a trade...but if he doesn't get a game at the back end of this year which looks likely and then has another year in the VFL next year it could get interesting for the 2016 season. Teddy will either be finished or close to and he could be a good target for our recruitment staff. In saying all of that, he is probably their ready made replacement for Dusty

[Ludwig]

There's such a dearth of KPPs in footy, especially with the likes of Glass, Rutten and Jono Brown retiring, and so many others near retirement, that we have to stock up this year through the draft. We won't be able to compete in FA because of salary cap issues. Every side will be looking to fill vacancies as well. I can even see us giving Walsh another year if he shows he has recovered from injury and back on track. Luckily we will be getting Heaney this year and another couple of good midfielders next year, so we can focus on KPPs in upcoming drafts. Maybe we can find some good ones by force of numbers alone.

[Reggi]

Recruiting any Essendon player is nuts. They are lioking at 2 year bans for non ci operation we would be carrying someone in our salary cap who is unlikely to play again