Molly wrote:
For three years I came onto this website (or The Blue View) and I read that Simmo wasn't good enough, that he wasn't up to it, that he was too light, that he wasn't skilled enough, etc. For two years I read that AB was too slow, that he couldn't find the footy, that his skills were no good. These posts were written every time that either of these lads played senior AFL footy.
What happened though when they went back to the VFL? Well over this period of time our seasoned observers at the Bullants would drool over the skill levels of these guys. In the VFL Simmo was quick, he could kick a mile, and he knew how to grab the footy. In the VFL AB was a machine - he could extract the ball in heavy traffic, and feed it out to runners such as Simmo. His kicking was great and his handball was visionary.
Newsflash people. For fifty years footy has been all about kids progressing, learning the craft, getting their confidence up and working their way into senior ranks through whatever feeder system exists. Then Judd came along. Well guess what? Judd is a freak - forget about him. We are lucky we've found a bloke called Murphy who has been able to have an impact in his first year, and the Tigers got one in Deledio, and the Dogs got one in Griffen too. But these players are rare.
The current selections in the AFL are much more about developing the young players in the VFL than they are about playing guys in the AFL who have previouslly been found wanting. Did any of you read the interview with Wiggo the other day where he said that he would have been better off spending a year in the VFL when he first came over? His confidence took a beating, and now we might finally be starting to see a player of some use coming through. Not all players have the confidence of a Murphy, or a Judd, or a Deledio. Big blokes in particular need time to develop. I remember reading the macth reports on here after Kennedy's first AFL game. Some observers made the rather blunt assessment that he sh&t himself during the game. What can we observe out of this? Maybe he is not quite the confident young chap that Murphy is - maybe he needs the opportunity to rip the game apart a few times in the VFL before he can establish himself. That doesn't make him a failure - I notice Buddy Franklin has been playing a fair bit of VFL this year and that is in his second season of footy.
The calls for theseyoung guys to be played looks to be selfish. Unless you really understand where the player is at (and that means psychologically as well as physically) then you have very little idea of whether in fact they are in a position to be running around in the seniors.
Let me remind you of one other player who we put in the seniors for development in his first full season. His name was Luke Livingstone, the year was 2002, and he played full-back in a Wooden Spoon side. His confidence was shattered, he's since had injuries, and I suspect he may be on his way out the door at the season's end. Our young players are far too precious to be continually subjected to the pressures of AFL football on the whim of a number of supporters who want to see the kids given a go.
Love this post Molly but what you forget is that in that 3 years that simpson and Bentick has been developing so have the other players in other sides and most have gone past them . Same can be said of Waite and Fisher .We sit here every day and we say look ar player x and player y aren't they coming on but the problem is so is everybody else and most at a faster rate than our blokes .
That the issue most people fail to understand and its the issue that guys like mojo BV and synbad are trying to get accross . Yes our guys are improving but no we are not improving anymore that our opposition so the status quo remians we still sit on the bottom getting flogged every week .
Thats the issue and the sooner the club wakes up to this the better off we will be . We need coaching that gives our guys the edge over the opposition and sat the moment we are not getting it
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FAQ
) why are the same people demanding Kennedy et al play 1s every week.