Gee let me think 4thchicken... maybe because someone posted it on a forum it may not actually be true?
4thchicken spouted:
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deluca - umm.. no - I'd back almost any of our other players to lead up and mark the ball ahead of deluca - regardless of height!
Why would you waste a better forward on the wing in a set play...
Forwards drag their opponents up the wing all the time anyway.
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fevola - the comments about shouldering responsibility - if he is a top liner he should be shouldering responsibility - regardless of whether you are 18,21 or 28 - topliners must take responsibility and to suggest otherwise is a copout
Chris Judd-mentality
Last year would have been the year when a player of his type would have stamped his name on the competiton or late the year before... let's analyze what happened:
Late 2004 - Fevola kicks 21 goals in 3 weeks and gets suspended.
2005 - Fevola starts promisingly, form drops off a bit due to general team ineptitude and resultant dummy spitting then he does his groin.
You're going well so far...
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russell - umm... no he wouldnt be getting a game in a few other sides in the competition. From all respected reports, Russell was nowhere near selection. He didnt have any form of note prior to his selection and a realistic assessment of his time at the bullants last season would suggest that he was not ready yet.
Sometimes you have to give a player a taste, and he has certainly grown from last year, to his first game this year, then to this week. From all reports prior to being dropped in the pre-season was that he was progressing very well so an educated person could in fact say the issue may have lied more with his confidence (he is know to be an introvert) rather than physical or mental ineptitude.
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saddington - so why is he in the team?
Name a player more deserving of his spot and do not name Edwards, Setanta or Bower, because they are not. If you read what I wrote again you will notice I said
in a better team, so I was analyzing the players in our 22 and how they would fair on other playing lists.
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most of our midfielders - you have listed everyone of them as 'should not have to shoulder the responsibility' - wtf? so who should be responsible?
So as to not state the complete obvious I will now name each member of our midfield rotation (from our entire playing list) and their age along with games played.
Bannister, 23 years, 37 games
Benitck, 20 years, 19 games
Betts, 19 years, 24 games
Carrazzo, 22 years, 27 games
Chambers, 26 years, 66 games
Davies, 21 years, 41 games
Houlihan, 24 years, 119 games
Koutoufides, 33 years, 254 games
Lappin, 30 years, 219 games
Longmuir, 26 years, 82 games
McGrath, 27 years, 63 games
Murphy, 18 years, 5 games
Prendergast, 25 years, 62 games
Russell, 19 years, 3 games
Scotland, 25 years, 99 games (good luck next week Heath)
Simpson, 21 years, 26 games
Sporn, 23 years, 44 games
Stevens, 26 years, 174 games
Waite, 23 years, 53 games (only just)
Walker 19 years, 38 games.
Average age for all probable midfield players: 25.35 years (excluding days).
Average games: 72.75
It's a list of young developing players, veterans, journey man with only two midfielders you would consider established and still young in Houlihan and Stevens.
Last nights midfield pool, and currently our best:
Bannister, Bentick, Betts, Carrazzo, Houlihan, Koutoufides, Lappin, Murphy, Russell, Scotland, Stevens, Simpson, Walker.
Average age: 23
Average games played: 80
2 vets (Lappin, Kouta), 2 journeyman (Scotland, Bannister).
But those of a statistical mind are aware of things that are called outliers, that is data that is extreme and severely sways the data one way or the other.
Outliers in this case would be Vets and Rookies, so let's yank out Russell, Murphy, Kouta and Lappin.
Corrected average age: 22.1 years
Corrected average games: 62 games
That's close to 3 full seasons of AFL footy in the first four years on a senior list, of course some players are rookie elevations, have started playing at 17 and so forth but we're dealing with the average, so age 18, 4 seasons of footy at 22.
No matter which way you look at it, our midfield as a unit wouldn't exist in normal circumstances on a decent playing list, with the inconsistency of youth and the lacklustre of aging we're putting too much on too few in Houla, Stevens and Scotland.
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