Alot of people seem to have written him off, and it annoys me. By writing him off, I am referring to those who have labelled him a "mistake", a "simple tagger, which clubs need, but you don't use a number 2 draft pick on ". Other lament his disposal. Stop criticizing him for heavens sake!.

Firstly, he's 19.
What was hodge doing at 19?
What was Ball doing?

Secondly, we chose him for his potential. I agree, Mclean has performed better to this stage, but he doesen't have that much improvement in him, Walker has loads. Look at what Kouta was doing at Walkers' age, he had just gotten out of Lalor. And Walker is definitely in the Kouta mould. Just wait till he's ready, his athleticism will make him an absolute star of the game ,especially with the way the game is evolving. Have patience, he'll be our best player in 2-3 years. I would say he has much better upside than Marc Murphy.

GUN!

Ummmmm............

yeahhh.......all those anti Walker threads were
getting a bit much hey.............?

no need for them...........no need i tells ya.......!


kindest regards tommi












whaaaaaa..........?

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

Walker is a gun!!!

Yes he will be

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"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

I think the only criticism so far has been of his disposal and decision-making. His physical and matchday development seems to be coming along nicely but I would just prefer if he learnt some composure so that he didn't get run down nearly so often.

I don't think it's unrealistic to expect a little more polish in these areas from someone taken so high. Saying all that, he definitely has the full support of almost everyone at TC and any criticism has been more constructive in nature.

Looking forward to AW taking some more steps forward in 2006!

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In WADA we trust

The problems I see with Walker (and I know his dad is on this board):

*Trying too hard to make things happen because the team is performing badly - this is not a bad thing. It shows good attitude but he's trying to turn the team around by himself and he won't do that, footy is a team game. Needs to accept that some players around him aren't particularly good and needs to do the simple things well first. Probably should relax, is encouraging to see his intensity but needs to probably not force things to happen but just to let them happen because he displays natural talent. Continue to work hard but not try to force it.

*Disposal is not a problem - see him on the training track and his skills are fine but in the heat of a match needs to slow down and steady before he kicks so that he guides his disposal to the target. He's capable of doing it, just needs some confidence to be able to do it under pressure,

*Decision making IS a problem. Still young but needs to learn some composure and kick to the right option, blazes away a bit sometimes but this usually takes time and maturity and given that he doesn't want to be boo-boo, puts pressure on himself not to boo-boo. Walker could do with a composed senior mentor like Stevens to teach him how to be composed during the pressure of a match.

He's got the basic tools, just needs the right coaching and mentoring and have his problems pointed out to him so that he can improve on them. I think the word to describe Andrew at the moment would be "raw".

I might be completely out but this is just how I see it and not necessarily anybody else does.

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"A good composer does not initiate. He steals."

- Igor Stravinsky

Someone wrote on this site earlier in the year that he was instructed by Pagan to back himself in and take opponents on. I don't know how accurate that is, but it would explain getting run down by opponents, especially when 1/2 the team appeared loathe to lay a shepherd or block.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

I think all Andrew needs is a little more experience.

Let's see how he is tracking with 75 - 100 games under the belt.

I'm confident he'll be a long term servant of the club.

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This might sound extreme in the context of alleged sexual assault, drunken violence and a drug trafficking charge...

I'm confident the boy is going to be a gun. Now that Campo is out of his way off a HBF this year, I think he will begin to blossom.

Its all about the UPSIDE. He has Upside. We need Upside.

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Too Legit to quit.

Good posts Duke and CarltonClem.

Good post CarltonClem, AW is simply still adjusting to AFL tempo, just like Carrotts did and just like Simmo did. He'll eventually pick it up no probs and then LOOKOUT!!!
AW's gunna be great.

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There's so much I could say...

Vastly overrated - The hype is all based on potential and the fact that he was a high draft pick. Apart from a couple of games has done nothing.

For the most part has done nothing to deserve the accolades that have come his way and ideally should have spent the past couple of seasons in the bullants fulfilling a solid apprenticeship until he is mentally and physically ready to play well in the seniors consistently.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, thats not a criticism of the player but more of the coaching staff for bringing him in before he is completely ready to go (patience is a virtue) and of the fans (unrealistic expectations, that if he fails will see strips torn off of him).

A prime example was Andrew Lovett running him down in round 21 whilst Simpson just stood by and watched despite being in best position to shepherd.Guess which player got blasted by Brian Taylor!:garthp:

All the critics would give their eye teeth for him to be on their list.

are you serious? who is he?

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"I can't wait to win a premiership with this club" - Fev

I think you'll find "DOA" has a greater level of interest in Andy's career than the rest of us.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

Sometimes you get on this site, trying to be open minded and listen to other opinions, until someone posts something that makes you realise that the world really is populated by @#$%&! morons.

The trademark of the @#$%&! moron is "absolutism".

Absolute statements with little definition of variables, and little consideration for the many number of variables that effect the statement.

Indeed, they lack intelligence, which precludes them from defining said-variables.

The thing I hate most about football is having to share airspace with people of inferior intellect. Go sit with Richmond supporters for an example of this.

Andrew Walker is a management issue. Andrew Walker is a brilliant prospect who has played some excellent games. His match on Akermanis was brilliant, but in a slightly different way to his debut match which, in reality, was not the median performance but right at the end of the scale. The average moron footy fan wants to use that match as the median and write-off every other effort.

The management of this team are developing Andrew to be a 200+ game player. That takes time, and, gee.... he has plenty of it considering he's 19 or 20.

I wonder how many people on this site are professionals in a management role. How many apply team-building and professional development theories to their understanding of footy and player management? I wonder if its because they're just @#$%&! idiots.

I feel sorry for Andrew Walker, because he's stuck playing in front of so many morons, many of whom barrack for the team he represents.

Well, Andrew (and Andrew's dad), we're not all morons. Some of us can define all the variables and comfortably predict the time 5 years from now when those morons are saying "I never doubted Andrew for a second"

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Love Cricket? Love me

Huh? Alot of people? How about 3 old guys sitting at a bar somewhere and their dog?

Theres alot of expectation on 1AW, alot of hope. But no one is writing him off, people are just crossing their fingers and legs and stuff in the hope that he'll start ripping games apart.

No one except the old men that is.

Oh yeah, great post too the Tyrant.

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Formerly: Ackland the Wonderkid / Army the Wonderkid / quivering mess / molsey / Tony Lynn Fan Club

Cheers Tyrants

Grant Thomas would be impressed

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#DonTheStash