Lets play the Kids Roosy !!

[Legs Akimbo]

You're right LA, kids join up in the Army before they turn 18. IIRC Watson was actually 15 when he played his first game, whether I am right or wrong, you make the point well. Age doesn't matter if a kid has got "it".

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was 15 or 16, but either way, the whole age thing is a red herring .

[goswannie14]

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was 15 or 16, but either way, the whole age thing is a red herring .

Yep, I agree, if a kid is good enough to be on the list, he should be under consideration for senior selection regardless of age.

[Ludwig]

I think we can let LJ stay in Canberra this year. We have enough young KPPs to settle in the team with White and Grundy. I think its more important to get these two into permanent positions than introduce another KPP at this time. Plus, we can expect MOL back in a few weeks.

The ones that should be brought in early this year are the kids that have been on list 4 years and more, which would be Schmidt, Laidlaw, Braba and Thornton. As of now, two are injured, but hopefully will be back in a few weeks, while Brabazon and Thornton seem to be playing well. I would like see at least one of them come in this week. Assuming Ablett in for Cheese, then perhaps we could drop Crouch and bring in one of our better performing young mids. I'd give Merridith a while to to show that he can be consistent performer in the Ressies before testing him out with a senior game.

Pyke seems likely to come in to the senior side within the next month or so, which could provide a KPP spot for White.

I am sure that if Schmidt can overcome his injuries he will be a very good senior player.

If we don't suffer too many more injuries to the younger guys, we may yet see a fair number become senior players this year.

[Robbo]

Thornton is still a rookie IIRC.

Johnston shouldn't play this year I agree with Liz on that.

However, guys like Brabazon need to start getting some chances. He's been in the system 4 years now.

[T-bag]

Our blokes should be spread out amongst the Canberra clubs.

They are the @@@@ing sydney swans not the @@@@ing canberra/nsw league. Time to get serious and use our team on our terms!

[Robbo]

Well, if they are the Sydney Swans then why are they playing in the Canberra comp?

[573v30]

Roosy will have a new hairstyle before he plays the kids.

[UglyDuckling]

Lewis Johnson sounds like he is the massiah or something he's only played one good game give him a couple of weeks and if he is dominating the maggoo's then start bagging Roosey, its only round 1.

I do agree however that its time for Meredith to get a run and i would imagine he will come in for Cheese this week and if they insist on Ablett swap him for Crouch.

Roos likes the softly softly approach at least White and Grundy are in there Vez will come straight in when he's fit so thats another 3 young guys just like last year

[liz]

I am not agin playing the kids. I am agin a knee-jerk reaction after one game at a ground we don't play well against a decent opponent and I am agin to bringing in players who won't help the side structurally just for the sake of getting game time into them when they are not physically and probably not tactically ready for it.

And I am agin the whole concept of giving up on a season of being competitive for the sake of the fools gold of a few higher spots in the draft under any circumstances. When a team that has at least half-a dozen very high quality players (ie AA level or very clearly AA potential) in the prime of their careers - Goodes, McVeigh, Malceski, O'Keefe, Craig Bolton, Kirk (despite his age) and Jolly at least close to that level - I think it is just plain wasteful.

I like watching the future of the club. That's why I get up early on a Sunday morning, or drive down to Canberra a day early, and go and watch the reserves play. Come 1.10pm on a Sunday afternoon, however, I want to watch a contest. And to be fair to the current group of Bloods, it has been pretty rare over the past 6 years that they haven't at least provided that, even on afternoons or evenings when they have been outclassed.

If that competitiveness culminates in a 2005 - or even a 2006 or 1996 - fantastic. But if "all" it culminates in is one spirited finals outing on a Saturday evening in the teeming rain at Telstra, well, that ain't so bad. Is it? (If you're not sure, seek out a Tigers fan and compare their experiences of watching lots of bright shiny kids rotated through their senior team, culminating in a September holiday. Year, after year, after year.)

I am also bemused by the apparent contradictions and inconsistencies inherent in the numerous "play the kids" cries over the years and the often savage reactions come Monday morning. Last year some (I agree not all, but a fairly vocal number) wrote off MOD and Smith as "not up to AFL standard" after a couple of senior games. "Send them back to Canberra" some cried. "Bring in the next lot." Even this week, the one player whose card we seem to have collectively marked "Go straight to Canberra. Do not pass Go" is exactly one of that group of "kids" who people want to play. So after just one game, a game in which more than half the seasoned senior players gave up after half an hour, the second least experienced player in the team has not only been consigned to the recycling bin, but quite openly ridiculed.

Sure, Barlow had a very ordinary night on Saturday. But he's played just a dozen senior games and has been serviceable to good in probably at least half of those. And don't let's forget that our 2008 Bobby Skilton medallist played games just as soft and insipid as Barlow's while he was still a developing youngster.

This rant isn't ultimately about Barlow, or McVeigh, or Johnston, or Smith, or MOD though. The point I am trying to make in - and yes I know, an extremely long winded way - is that you can't scream "play the kids" in one breath and then turn around and completely write them off when they are played. Well you can. Clearly. But it is both short-sighted and unfair.

And if the collective dreams of RWO are realised and more of the "kids" are played this season, are we still going to get the tooth gnarling each week when the team gets beaten, and cries of "why can't we be more like Geelong?" Or "oh no, we are doomed to 10 years of mediocrity"? Or "Roos has passed his use by date, let's get Wallace. Or Sheedy. Or Matthews"?

OK, so I know I have (somewhat unfairly) combined a variety of cries to demonstrate the inconsistencies in what we all seem to want. But specifically in respect of wanting the younger players to get their chances and then how their performances are assessed, I don't think I am being unfair at all. That appalling thread ridiculing Barlow is case in point. I bet MOD and Brabazon and Currie and Laidlaw and Smith and Meredith can't wait for their turns.

Sorry. Rant over. Back into my hole.

[Alibi Monday]

I am not agin playing the kids. I am agin a knee-jerk reaction after one game at a ground we don't play well against a decent opponent and I am agin to bringing in players who won't help the side structurally just for the sake of getting game time into them when they are not physically and probably not tactically ready for it.

And I am agin the whole concept of giving up on a season of being competitive for the sake of the fools gold of a few higher spots in the draft under any circumstances. When a team that has at least half-a dozen very high quality players (ie AA level or very clearly AA potential) in the prime of their careers - Goodes, McVeigh, Malceski, O'Keefe, Craig Bolton, Kirk (despite his age) and Jolly at least close to that level - I think it is just plain wasteful.

I like watching the future of the club. That's why I get up early on a Sunday morning, or drive down to Canberra a day early, and go and watch the reserves play. Come 1.10pm on a Sunday afternoon, however, I want to watch a contest. And to be fair to the current group of Bloods, it has been pretty rare over the past 6 years that they haven't at least provided that, even on afternoons or evenings when they have been outclassed.

If that competitiveness culminates in a 2005 - or even a 2006 or 1996 - fantastic. But if "all" it culminates in is one spirited finals outing on a Saturday evening in the teeming rain at Telstra, well, that ain't so bad. Is it? (If you're not sure, seek out a Tigers fan and compare their experiences of watching lots of bright shiny kids rotated through their senior team, culminating in a September holiday. Year, after year, after year.)

I am also bemused by the apparent contradictions and inconsistencies inherent in the numerous "play the kids" cries over the years and the often savage reactions come Monday morning. Last year some (I agree not all, but a fairly vocal number) wrote off MOD and Smith as "not up to AFL standard" after a couple of senior games. "Send them back to Canberra" some cried. "Bring in the next lot." Even this week, the one player whose card we seem to have collectively marked "Go straight to Canberra. Do not pass Go" is exactly one of that group of "kids" who people want to play. So after just one game, a game in which more than half the seasoned senior players gave up after half an hour, the second least experienced player in the team has not only been consigned to the recycling bin, but quite openly ridiculed.

Sure, Barlow had a very ordinary night on Saturday. But he's played just a dozen senior games and has been serviceable to good in probably at least half of those. And don't let's forget that our 2008 Bobby Skilton medallist played games just as soft and insipid as Barlow's while he was still a developing youngster.

This rant isn't ultimately about Barlow, or McVeigh, or Johnston, or Smith, or MOD though. The point I am trying to make in - and yes I know, an extremely long winded way - is that you can't scream "play the kids" in one breath and then turn around and completely write them off when they are played. Well you can. Clearly. But it is both short-sighted and unfair.

And if the collective dreams of RWO are realised and more of the "kids" are played this season, are we still going to get the tooth gnarling each week when the team gets beaten, and cries of "why can't we be more like Geelong?" Or "oh no, we are doomed to 10 years of mediocrity"? Or "Roos has passed his use by date, let's get Wallace. Or Sheedy. Or Matthews"?

OK, so I know I have (somewhat unfairly) combined a variety of cries to demonstrate the inconsistencies in what we all seem to want. But specifically in respect of wanting the younger players to get their chances and then how their performances are assessed, I don't think I am being unfair at all. That appalling thread ridiculing Barlow is case in point. I bet MOD and Brabazon and Currie and Laidlaw and Smith and Meredith can't wait for their turns.

Sorry. Rant over. Back into my hole.

Terrific post as always Liz.

[Bas]

Frankin and Roughhead both debuted in their first years and were a couple of months older than Johnston is now - but they are very much the exceptions rather than the rule, and did so in a team that went nowhere that year. Have we already, after just one round, decided that the Swans are going nowhere in 2009?

I think the team has pretty much decided that for us. How else in 78 minutes of football could the saints score 73 points to our 4 behinds.

As someone in the media suggested today, they switched off for earth hour.

We will on that performance get smashed on Sat night by Hodge, Mitchell and Bateman. That's before they get the ball to Franklin and Ruffhead.

[liz]

I think the team has pretty much decided that for us. How else in 78 minutes of football could the saints score 73 points to our 4 behinds.

As someone in the media suggested today, they switched off for earth hour.

We will on that performance get smashed on Sat night by Hodge, Mitchell and Bateman. That's before they get the ball to Franklin and Ruffhead.

We played at least as bad football during the 2005 season. One game at Telstra Dome against - you've guessed it - the Saints springs to mind.

I am not predicting the team is going to rally this year to become premiership contenders. Not yet anyway - it is rash to make such judgements after just one match. But I ain't givin' up on them yet either.