Discussion SC 2021: Rookie Discussion

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Yeah when Martin went out, big Archie Smith came in and we ran 3 talls. I don't think the Lions will rush McStay back in from his strained medial ligament if Fullarton can play similar to how he played on his debut last year. Took a nice grab and looked quite comfortable for a first gamer deep - developed a lot since then as well. Hoping for a round 5-6(+) return for McStay please SC gods
Could prove to be a handy loophole thereafter if he does get dropped
 
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From Nathan Van Berlo today re: Nick Murray.

"Nick rolled his ankle at training on Saturday but we're hopeful he'll be okay this weekend. He hasn't trained earlier this week, he's pretty sore but we're told it's one we can expect to improve later in the week so we'll give him every opportunity and we'll just see how he pulls up later in the week".

I think I might pick him as my D8 even if he doesn't end up playing this weekend. Looks like the coaches rate him and there seems to be a decent chance he'll get some game time in the season at some point. Can use him as a donut for looping/VC/C choices until then.
 
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Makes or Breaks your whole season. You play 2 rookie rucks and one gets injured or rested your whole team needs to be restructured and it’s season over.
Yeah you definitely need to make contingency plans to be able to immediately switch out the extra midfielder or forward you get from not starting Grawndy and probably keep a little cash off to the side as well.

Just have to hope the rest of your team stacks up and no other premo corrections are required elsewhere.
 
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The $135k price tag is not a huge difference but may throw out a few team structures that have relied on sub-$123k rookies.

His form in the praccy v Geelong was good. Did some nice things. The 27 DT, 7 SC from 72% TOG v Richmond put me off.
Yeah as a maggies fan who watched the game closely he was well off the pace and looked like a boy amongst men for sure with the lift in intensity. Might struggle a bit more when the real stuff starts but having said that he'll probably get the opposition half back sweeper most weeks, so he has a chance to do something if he's good enough.
 
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Well yes Langdon, Reid, Lloyd, Daniels and Hill are all different players. The thing they have in common is that they've been stuck in the same role in the same team, and the only two to have benefitted are Lloyd and Reid. Even then they've only benefitted in the sense that they're still on the list, which I doubt would be the case pretty much anywhere else.
Last year Reid didn't play as a forward when he was in the side and only played 3 games in the side and Hill played 5 games / Langdon 7 games. Langdon and Hill both lack the skill set to play up the ground in any case, Langdon can't find the ball and his best trait is pressure and Hill is a goal sneak.

They only had 3 general forwards in the team who played consistently and they were Greene, Daniels and Lloyd. We all know Greene's role and how he is allowed to play up the ground. Daniels averaged 12 disposals per game, which would equate to close to 15 in regular game time and he averaged 14.5 the year before, that's more than a stay at home forward pocket. Daniels averaged more kicks inside 50 (2.7) than Greene did (2.5) in 2020. Lloyd averaged 10 disposals, which would equate to 12 or 13. But he is not asked to play deep, he plays up the ground.

Look at the heat map from last year of both players:

Lloyd:

Screen Shot 2021-03-16 at 6.14.32 pm.png

Daniels:

Screen Shot 2021-03-16 at 6.16.40 pm.png
Both are on AFL stats pro

Are these guys not finding the ball due to role or are they just not able to find the ball ? They don't look like they're playing deep forward to me. Lloyd is out for a long while and Bruhn is presumably the one taking his spot with Daniels to come back and I'm not sure where De Boer fits in.

I'm not saying Bruhn is a going to average very well or that he will average over 70, I'm not sure what he will average exactly, but the idea that GWS have forwards who score poorly because they aren't allowed to play up the ground and that all pressure forwards are the same is more complex than that, it might be the players themselves rather than the role. I see Bruhn as a guy with good JS who has more upside than people say and could average in the 60's, I won't condemn him to the Langdon role because he's a different player and I won't condemn him to the Hill role because he's not just drafted as a goal sneak.

What role is Bruhn slated to play? is he playing Langdon's role given Langdon barely played last year? seems unclear to me that he is going to be asked to play the pressure role in the side, especially if De Boer is named alongside him.
 
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Yeah as a maggies fan who watched the game closely he was well off the pace and looked like a boy amongst men for sure with the lift in intensity. Might struggle a bit more when the real stuff starts but having said that he'll probably get the opposition half back sweeper most weeks, so he has a chance to do something if he's good enough.
Hmmm, I wonder what Buckley sees in Oliver Henry?
 
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Anyone else planning to include Bruhn, especially if we are light on rookies?

There's a lot of dislike for him as a pick due to his role in the side, but he would seem to have far better job security than Brockman and Downie and being a highly rated midfielder as a junior I feel like he could gather more than the 11 disposals he did against Sydney. The goals are obviously going to regress but it's not out of the question for him to have a more complete games given the type of player he was as a junior. I also am a bit bamboozled as to how he only scored 63, that along with Daniher's practice game score have me very confused. He has barely played for two years, which is somewhat concerning, but also might indicate that he has untapped upside that was missed by recruiters. The coach came out with a pretty big wrap for what he'd shown in preseason and GWS historically don't allow their young players to debut with ease.

Some have said that the pressure forward role in the GWS side has always lead to poor scores. I think it's a bit simplistic to just say that because they've had a few other pressure forwards who have scored poorly that others will do the same, and I'm not sure he even has the same type of role in the side. When Butler moved to St Kilda he was not determined to score the same at St Kilda as Matt Parker because they were both pressure forwards in the same side and their scoring ended up being poles apart. Every player is different and will score differently, and I'm not convinced he's limited by the same skill set and role as a Matt Parker/Zac Langdon. Of course it's unrealistic to say he will score like Butler did, that's not my point, just that every player will score differently in that role or a similar role. He's not grown up as a goal scoring small forward either, so he should have an easier time finding the ball in the forward line than those recruited as small goal scoring forwards.

If he was 30k cheaper everyone would start him due to his job security, and whilst I don't like having to pay that extra money I feel like he has job security and more upside than people currently believe.
There's no way of knowing whether that's their poor skill set or a tactic from the coach, in Hill's case I highly doubt he could do very well playing up the ground, Lloyd and Reid couldn't manage to find the ball in that role. A lot of teams have poor scoring flankers, pressure forwards etc, but not all are going to be the same when they come into the side, if you have a different level of ability you might get more opportunity to play with creativity. Daniels still averaged over 60 in his second season and has at times been given some freedom to play up the ground and all I'm really saying Bruhn is capable of and that he's not automatically doomed to low 50's. Lloyd is going to be out for the first half of the year and it looks like De Boer might be playing a forward pressure role.
It's one of those years where you've got to have 4 or 5 structures and combination of players (non-rookies) that you're happy with and then just go with the one that fits with the rookies as selected. But even then, there is just so much doubt. I suspect we may end up using one or two extra adjustment trades.

I suppose it does reinforce the argument that if the best certainty exists with the rookie rucks (eg Flynn and Meek), you have to seriously consider only one G. I'm still not at that point but Rd 1 teams could change things.
De Boer was playing as a high HF. Greene will play the other half forward. Bruhn and I imagine Daniel when fit and available will be the small forwards now that Lloyd is out. Tom Green was also rotating off the half forward line and we know Coniglio will definitely feature there also (expecting those two to rotate) and Taranto will also likely push and rest forward.

Bruhn's just not going to score well based on the two games I've seen, his role is bad and will remain bad barring injuries through the midfield. He's the textbook young midfielder trying to play as a forward, he'll do some good things but he has almost no forward craft, he doesn't strike me as a pressure guy who will pick points up defensively commonly. He's going to be a good player but he looks like a 60+ average would be a pretty excellent outcome this season and I'd be surprised if he can pull it off.

If the ass falls out of the midfield rookies then he's there but to me that's what he is. Honestly for me he's probably most comparbale to Kozzy Pickett last year for role/job security/team and honestly Pickett is a lot more trained in the role.


Wow, that's big news. Is it just me or does Collingwood rarely blood rookies in Rd 1? I'm struggling to recall many occasions in recent years where the pre-season talk has been about Pies players. Stephenson was one from memory.
In their defense they haven't had many firsts in recent times and have been chasing a flag. Quaynor didn't play early because he plays probably their strongest position as well so hurts the chances! Stephenson did.

Think Henry can be good to be honest, woudln't take too much out of a game where their #1 forward isn't playing, their #2 is injured at the start leaving him matched up on Dylan Grimes for most of the night against the best defense in the league over the last 4 years playing out of position as a genuine KPF.

He should be their 3rd tall playing a linking role, probably somewhat similar to Stephenson and he looks the goods.

Still way down my list of guys given the forward options but he has the profile of a good bench rookie. FWIW I'd save the 12k on Harrison Jones though. They profile to be very similar prospects to me.


Shores Bruhn up a little more?? Or is Lloyd not current best 22?
Should do. Definitely a more senior player in a similar role.
 
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De Boer was playing as a high HF. Greene will play the other half forward. Bruhn and I imagine Daniel when fit and available will be the small forwards now that Lloyd is out. Tom Green was also rotating off the half forward line and we know Coniglio will definitely feature there also (expecting those two to rotate) and Taranto will also likely push and rest forward.

Bruhn's just not going to score well based on the two games I've seen, his role is bad and will remain bad barring injuries through the midfield. He's the textbook young midfielder trying to play as a forward, he'll do some good things but he has almost no forward craft, he doesn't strike me as a pressure guy who will pick points up defensively commonly. He's going to be a good player but he looks like a 60+ average would be a pretty excellent outcome this season and I'd be surprised if he can pull it off.

If the ass falls out of the midfield rookies then he's there but to me that's what he is. Honestly for me he's probably most comparbale to Kozzy Pickett last year for role/job security/team and honestly Pickett is a lot more trained in the role.




In their defense they haven't had many firsts in recent times and have been chasing a flag. Quaynor didn't play early because he plays probably their strongest position as well so hurts the chances! Stephenson did.

Think Henry can be good to be honest, woudln't take too much out of a game where their #1 forward isn't playing, their #2 is injured at the start leaving him matched up on Dylan Grimes for most of the night against the best defense in the league over the last 4 years playing out of position as a genuine KPF.

He should be their 3rd tall playing a linking role, probably somewhat similar to Stephenson and he looks the goods.

Still way down my list of guys given the forward options but he has the profile of a good bench rookie. FWIW I'd save the 12k on Harrison Jones though. They profile to be very similar prospects to me.




Should do. Definitely a more senior player in a similar role.
I posted a few posts earlier on those points and I’m not saying he will score 60+ just saying I don’t agree with the total lack of belief in him possessing upside. I’m saying he could score in the 60’s and has very good js.

He’ll do better as a forward than a first year player drafted as a small forward because he actually knows how to win the ball and win his own ball. I don’t reckon you can say he has no forward craft at all considering he kicked 4 goals in the practice game, including one from a good quality lead up mark.
 
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