Swans v Giants scratch match

[stevoswan]

Maybe Florent will battle to keep his spot. I don't see him as a lock for best 22.

Yep, Ollie's definitely behind RB at the moment.

[TheBloods]

Yep, Ollie's definitely behind RB at the moment.

On what planet ?

Florent tripled RB's disposal count by about three times yesterday and if you want to go further back he averaged more touches last year than RB.

[0918330512]

On what planet ?

Florent tripled RB's disposal count by about three times yesterday and if you want to go further back he averaged more touches last year than RB.

So Ollie had 9x RB’s disposal count?! Lock him in for R1!

[The Runner]

Just ignore them, they have no idea and an agenda that makes no sense.

Florent will be interesting. His disposal efficiency will be what determines whether he becomes the player we want him to be or not. Yesterday didn't give a lot of confidence, however it is the first hit out and in the wet. Fingers crossed

[707]

Just ignore them, they have no idea and an agenda that makes no sense.

Florent will be interesting. His disposal efficiency will be what determines whether he becomes the player we want him to be or not. Yesterday didn't give a lot of confidence, however it is the first hit out and in the wet. Fingers crossed

Ollie should mostly handball, to Dawson or Campbell, problem solved!

Round 1 selection will be very interesting, in fact next weeks game against GW$ will be very interesting in who gets selected in what is obviously an extended bench.

[DeadlyAkkuret]

I have been critical of others plenty . I said several months ago that RB, Florent and Blakey is not a midfield we should be building our future around. Specifically mentioned Florent and Blakey , no one picked up on them though. Only my mentioning RB because .. i dont know ?? If he is popular and highly rated on here , which I think he is, then fine. Doesnt mean i have to rate him so highly. And doesnt mean i dislike the kid either.

RB looked great in there at times last year and Blakey showed signs yesterday that he could be a natural midfield weapon. Looking like a great call so far.


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[stevoswan]

On what planet ?

On my planet. Ollie's been with us two seasons more than RB.....he's slowly coming along.

[Captain]

RB is a promising young player but gee he has been severely overrated on here. The next Joel Selwood was my favourite. Cut the kid some slack without the ridiculous expectations.

TheBloods has reasonably pointed out that RB needs to show a bit more this pre season as there is a massive competition for midfield spots with many players coming through.

There is nothing wrong with him saying that so far RBs performance has been underwhelming compared to others and needs to lift in order to stay ahead of the chasing pack.

Florent is probably ahead of RB but no one seems to take issue when he is called to lift.

[Ludwig]

Ollie and RB are both on solid trajectories. Ollie looks really strong now. He was standing next to Josh Kennedy and didn't look all that much smaller. Ollie knows he needs to become more consistent, especially with his kicking, but he's still improving, so no reason to believe that he won't work it out.

There seems to be a tendency by some to write off players early in their careers based on some perceived weakness in their game. Lloyd, Cunningham and Hewett are a few that come to mind. They've all kept improving and are now finishing high up in the B&F, and are leaders at the club.

Right now, Campbell, Gulden, Stephens, Ling and McInerney are the flavours of the month. I have high expectations for all of them as well, but I don't expect that there won't be hiccups along the way for each of them. Some will live up to expectations and some may fall short, but still be very good players. Not every player has to be a superstar, or needs to be to have a championship team.

I expect that both Florent and Rowbottom will continue to grow and become reliable contributors to the team's success over the next decade. It's not the time to be flipping them off. Why don't we let the season play out a bit before making drastic calls on developing players.

[TheBloods]

RB is a promising young player but gee he has been severely overrated on here. The next Joel Selwood was my favourite. Cut the kid some slack without the ridiculous expectations.

TheBloods has reasonably pointed out that RB needs to show a bit more this pre season as there is a massive competition for midfield spots with many players coming through.

There is nothing wrong with him saying that so far RBs performance has been underwhelming compared to others and needs to lift in order to stay ahead of the chasing pack.

Florent is probably ahead of RB but no one seems to take issue when he is called to lift.

Thank you. Nicely articulated. I have been accused of hating RB. If i hated him, or didnt rate him that highly i would not care that he played bad. It is because i think he is one of our better younger players and the Swans have invested a lot in him as a future cog in our midfield that it concerns me when he plays poorly and why I single him out. It is no great loss to the team if Sam Gray plays and is terrible and is axed from the side. But if this kid who is talented and an important part of our future doesnt perform and finds himself on the outs, then that is concerning. Last thing i think we can all safely agree on is that we dont want RB to turn into another Ben Ronke, unable to reproduce his best form and then be in and out as a depth player.

[stevoswan]

Thank you. Nicely articulated. I have been accused of hating RB. If i hated him, or didnt rate him that highly i would not care that he played bad. It is because i think he is one of our better younger players and the Swans have invested a lot in him as a future cog in our midfield that it concerns me when he plays poorly and why I single him out. It is no great loss to the team if Sam Gray plays and is terrible and is axed from the side. But if this kid who is talented and an important part of our future doesnt perform and finds himself on the outs, then that is concerning. Last thing i think we can all safely agree on is that we dont want RB to turn into another Ben Ronke, unable to reproduce his best form and then be in and out as a depth player.

I see where your coming from and your point of view definitely has merit (although he's already achieved more than Ronke in a third of the time). It did appear that you had it in for him.....you obviously don't. I'm confidant RB will become a great player but even great players have a bad game here and there.....and not only in their early years. We'll see how he goes next week.....

[mcs]

Thank you. Nicely articulated. I have been accused of hating RB. If i hated him, or didnt rate him that highly i would not care that he played bad. It is because i think he is one of our better younger players and the Swans have invested a lot in him as a future cog in our midfield that it concerns me when he plays poorly and why I single him out. It is no great loss to the team if Sam Gray plays and is terrible and is axed from the side. But if this kid who is talented and an important part of our future doesnt perform and finds himself on the outs, then that is concerning. Last thing i think we can all safely agree on is that we dont want RB to turn into another Ben Ronke, unable to reproduce his best form and then be in and out as a depth player.

While I like Ronke and do hope somehow he can rediscover his form, at this point he really is relying on one (albeit very good) game to make up for what has, in broader terms, been fairly bang average returns when playing in the AFL. But really, he was taken in the rookie draft, and we all know most of those players don't make it at AFL level. .

While Rowbottom is yet to have an absolute 'breakout' game per say, as we discussed last year the stats for his performances at the same point in his career compare quite well to some of the modern day greats of the game at the same stage of their career. He is an absolute mile in front of Ronke in terms of what he has achieved thus far (though that one night Ronke kicked 7 is a fantastic highlight of course, but may well be his only highlight). I'd wager anyone a reasonable amount of money Rowbottom's career, even if it doesn't hit the significant potential it does have, isn't going to go the same way, and at worst (assuming a reasonable run with injuries) he will play 150+ games and be a very good footballer in the AFL system.

And I don't think anyone has said you 'hate' RB. More pointing out your overwhelming microscrutiny of every little facet, bordering on an obssession. Almost every player in the system invariably has ups and downs in the earlier parts of their career, no matter how good or bad they eventually turn out to be - while I respect everyone's right to write off players, talk up players, whatever else (after all that's the point of a forum), I'd say gee there would have been some beauties thrown on the scrapheap if the timeframes you appear to give younger players to prove themselves were followed more broadly in the AFL industry.

After all, he is still only in the beginning of his 3rd season in the AFL system.

I thought he was okay yesterday - of course improvement is needed, but that applies to every player on the park yesterday, even those that stood out. I'd be concerned if no steps forward are shown in a higher intensity match next week. Its only a hunch and wild speculation on my part ha - but I get a feeling he might be one of those sorts of players that always look a bit behind the 8 ball in pre-season, but then can ramp it up when the season proper comes. Only time will tell.

[giant]

I really like Wicks - smart footballer than has a real crack and makes good decisions. Not our most talented I know, but I hope he makes it.

I really like Bell as well and also hope he makes it - but I'm struggling to see what he adds at this point (note only watched first half and sounds like his second half was better).

The Lizard gave the full spectrum of what we've come to expect - missing tackles and letting Greene walk around him like a witches hat - and then next moment providing outstanding run & carry and making us look like a different team. Thus it is with young players I guess.

[mcs]

I really like Wicks - smart footballer than has a real crack and makes good decisions. Not our most talented I know, but I hope he makes it.

I really like Bell as well and also hope he makes it - but I'm struggling to see what he adds at this point (note only watched first half and sounds like his second half was better).

The Lizard gave the full spectrum of what we've come to expect - missing tackles and letting Greene walk around him like a witches hat - and then next moment providing outstanding run & carry and making us look like a different team. Thus it is with young players I guess.

I love the effort Wicks puts in. Certainly a role for him in the short-medium term I feel at least - a sort of player that may not prove to be AFL level at the end of it all, but he won't give up trying until he has extracted every ounce of effort to find out.

I think Bell may be a little more marginal - I want to see him make it, but like you I feel its a bit hard to see strongly what he quite brings at this point.

And the Lizard will be like that for a little while I think - the upside is huge, but there will be swings and roundabouts in the mean time for a little while yet. Love his run and carry however, great to watch!

[Goal Sneak]

All the talk about RB takes me back to a time many years ago when a lot of people on here were referring to McVeigh as "McHack". McVeigh had plenty of shockers which seemed to last seasons before he became a super reliable premiership winning captain. These kids develop at different rates and there is no doubt that RB has shown enough that he has the potential to become a great part of our team for many years. Give him time, he might go in and out of the side but he'll more than likely develop into a winner. Trust the structures and coaches we have, they know what they're doing, they've been doing it very well for many years.

Sitting back and watching players evolve into premiership winning teams is extremely rewarding. It's tough a lot of the time, and theres no guarantee that it's ever going to happen, but when it does, it's absolutely perfect. All the hard work and decisions that have to fall into place to come together at the right time, magic. My advice - try to enjoy it and don't get too caught up in the small stuff like players having a few bad games.