As far as I can tell Green should start the year off as either the no.4, no.5 or no.6 player for mid rotations at GWS - behind JKelly, Cogs, Hopper, De Boer and potentially Hately. I think he might be in front of Hately and potentially De Boer if they aren't using De Boer as an inside mid tagger in some games. GWS may also look at using Toby Greene more in the middle to start the season. You'd think Ward and Taranto don't return until week 5 or 6.
Serong on the other hand could be behind Fyfe, Walters, Conca, Brayshaw, Acres, Cerra and perhaps even Tucker and therefore might not get as much mid time.
We might have to pick both but we've seen in the past that picking expensive rookies who impress in preseason but aren't able to get midfield time when the season starts can backfire quite badly. That was the case with Brayshaw in 2018. If there's a cheaper option that player could be prove a better selection.
Aish and Blakely also got plenty of CBA's, whereas Conca didn't attend any (not sure if it stays that way come round one) and Acres only had 4. Tucker might not be back for round one.
Good question. I basically haven't given Tom Sparrow much thought, mainly because the media haven't spoken much about him, so I know little about him. I did read somewhere that he would most likely play Fwd this year, but maybe there is a role for him in the midfield. He was traded in to be a midfielder. I know he was injured last year, but don't know the injury. I also don't know if he is in MEL's best 22?
Friday, 23 November 2018
Melbourne selectTom Sparrow with pick No.27 in the 2018 National Draft.
"We wanted to address the midfield and we were pretty keen on Tom given that he's a speed and endurance athlete," Demons national recruiting manager Jason Taylor said.
Was googling "Sparrow" as had never really heard of him .... and funnily enough there was one with red in the name / uniform ... but she isn't likely to be playing ... lol
Pressure Acts are often a great and underutilised measure of a rookie's JS. If a rookie is applying pressure, he's playing his role well for the team, especially if a mid or fwd rookie
Few PA stats from some rookies in Marsh 1.
T.Green 21 (Most for GWS)
Caldwell 12 (8th for GWS)
Hately 12 (8th for GWS)
D.Stephens 12 (15th for Swans)
Serong 15 (6th for Freo)
A.Bosenavulagi 18 (2nd for Pies)
J.Noble 15 (6th for Pies)
T.Brown 14 (7th for Pies)
RCD 14 (11th for Tigers)
Rowell 20 (Equal 5th for GC)
Budarick 14 (10th for GC)
C.Stephens 13 (14th for Cats...)
B.Close 12 (15th for Cats....)
Sparrow 24 (3rd for Dees)
K.Pickett 22 (7th for Dees)
A.Vandenberg 22 (7th for Dees)
McHenry 14 (9th for Crows, from one half)
Bonar 17 (7th for Roos)
Mahony 8 (19th for Roos....)
Above suggests Green applied much more pressure than Hately/Caldwell, coach would love that stat.
Serong did a great job as well from limited game time (although he got quite a few CBAs).
McHenry's PAs were good considering he only played one half, too bad he's injured. Mahony and RCD both really struggled (I guess their SC scores show that as well)
Bosenavulgi probably undermines my entire theory though with his 18 PA for 3 SC
Few prospectus points on Greaves
- averaged only 58 SC in the VFL last season
- rated poor for intercept marks and below average for intercept possesions
- had decent kicking efficiency of 74%.
Jiath (220k DEF) has a positive write up
- rating elite for marks
- above average for intercept marks and intercept possessions
Noble (215k DEF)
- poor ball use, "worst kick rating of any general defender to play more than 2 games and 71% of his turnovers were giveaways - the highest percentage of the 508 players with at least 15 turnovers"
- shut down Willie Rioli in R17 and Brent Daniels in the preliminary final
- finished with negative AFL Player Rating points in 3 of his 5 games
Seems to be more of a lock down defender, not that intercepting defender with good DE. Might have improved kicking though since last season, had 82% DE in Marsh 1.
BJ.Williams (WCE) has a positive write up too:
-got better in the WAFL as the season went on
-averaged 49 SC during the first 8 rounds as mainly a fwd, pinch hitting in the ruck
-from R8 onwards, spent more time in the ruck and averaged 85 SC.
- hit out to adv % of 26% - second highest of all ruckman.
Given the above is written in the prospectus prepared by CD, I wonder who at CD accidently listed him as a defender (probably confusing him with Bailey Williams the WBD defender) rather than a fwd/ruck in the first place.
Pressure Acts are often a great and underutilised measure of a rookie's JS. If a rookie is applying pressure, he's playing his role well for the team, especially if a mid or fwd rookie
Few PA stats from some rookies in Marsh 1...……... Sparrow 24 (3rd for Dees)
Few prospectus points on Greaves
- averaged only 58 SC in the VFL last season
- rated poor for intercept marks and below averaged for intercept possesions
- had decent kicking efficiency of 74%.
Jiath (220k DEF) has a positive write up
- rating elite for marks
- above average for intercept marks and intercept possessions
Noble (215k DEF)
- poor ball use, "worst kick rating of any general defender to play more than 2 games and 71% of his turnovers were giveaways - the highest percentage of the 508 players with at least 15 turnovers"
- shut down Willie Rioli in R17 and Brent Daniels in the preliminary final
- finished with negative AFL Player Rating points in 3 of his 5 games
Seems to be more of a lock down defender, not that intercepting defender with good DE. Might have improved kicking though since last season, had 82% DE in Marsh 1.
This seems to back up my impression of Noble more than one Marsh game in which everyone racked them up off half back for Collingwood. If he's playing that small defender role I reckon James Aish's scoring is probably a good guide for what we can expect.
Ash looks to be playing a defensive role, Green is likely to get a run but Hately I think will continue to be given more opportunity. Will be intertesting to see how they line up next game and who get's tog in midfield roles.
Just had a real hard look at the likely R1 Rookies and the current perceived drought is real in my opinion.
Some coaches (and I've already heard them loud and clear over the past week) will stick to the mantra that 'Rookies will be named, they always will'. My question/doubt is how many will fit that 'quick cash generation' mould to help us get to full premiums as quickly as possible which has been the key prerequisite for previous winning teams. What I'm alluding to here is how many of those Rookies named for R1 will 1) play that SC friendly role or 2) has the JS to string together 5 or 6 games...? As I see it right now, most of the more desirable Rookies (outside from being pricey) are either currently injured or are playing for a 'contending' team.
I hope that Marsh 2 provide further evidence to squash my current outlook, but as it stands right now, I'm finding it difficult to find 6 Rookies that I would have complete confidence to field let alone finding another 7 cash cows to fill my benches!