Recruitment Now The Key

The performances of the young GWS Giants team in the newly formed NEAFL Eastern Conference have been impressive. It gives an idea of where the team is at regarding their development.

Results have been largely successful. They have dominated the Gold Coast reserves yet were dominated by the Sydney Swans reserves. A bit of mixed bag but there is genuine class amongst the group. At the moment they sit second on the ladder.

This year the team has consisted of predominantly 18 year olds. Remaining as they are there would no doubt they will get flogged and hurt badly when upgraded to the AFL. GWS has a great skeleton but lacking the spine of mature key position players.

Recruitment is important. GWS is allowed certain concessions to lure players from other clubs. Just about any player coming off contract has been speculated for a move. I overheard an official saying, “don’t believe everything you hear in the media” in regards to the signing of AFL players. Time will tell. Right now they van talk but not put pen to paper until the end of the season

But whom can they get? I don’t see much use going for players that are merely disgruntled by their former club. These players wont have the drive to do well and will be chasing the cash. Their bad attitude will leave the club worse off and lighter in the pocket.

Admittedly, the Gold Coast probably has a greater geographical appeal, the coast, sun, sand, surf, etc. But GWS has Kevin Sheedy. Most would aspire to play under him. I was excited just to get a photo with him.

I wont be surprised if GWS recruits heavily from the strong second tier competitions such as the VFL, SANFL and WAFL. Plenty of keen, skilful players with mature strong bodies.

A word on Israel Folau. Can kick, can mark, but too often seems lost in the forward line and needs to improve his talk and his work rate. He has time on his side too.

Look forward to the interesting news come September and October. Not forgetting the draft in November.

NEAFL Footy Action

The NEAFL stands for North Eastern Australian Football League. It’s a newly formed league that includes teams from the ACT and Queensland state leagues. It’s also a platform for NSW and Qld AFL teams to develop their reserve grade players.

I had the joy of experiencing the Greater Western Sydney Giants play the Gold Coast Suns in a NEAFL match at the magnificent Blacktown Olympic Park.

I had heard about the team’s achievements in this league. I’d watched some youtube footage of rugby league recruit, Israel Folau. I’d read about the results so I knew they had some success and won most of their games. But for this footy purist there is nothing like getting to the ground and watching the team play.

I was impressed. The Giants actually dominated most of the play with their flair and run. I was expecting more from the Suns as some of their players have already gained AFL experience. Perhaps the constant tinkering with the senior line-up created a lack of cohesion in the reserve grade.

GWS looked tight as a unit and worked well as a team. Despite lacking some key position height and bulk they owned the momentum for all put half of the third quarter where they allowed Gold Coast back into the game.

Gold Coast had ruckmen rotating off the bench yet the sole recognised ruckman for GWS, Jonathon Giles, dominated all of his opponents giving GWS first use of the ball and hitting to advantage with ease. He had some back up from a top up player whose name wasn’t in the program.

The forth quarter could have gone either way. Gold Coast was close enough to threaten. A young team is always more vulnerable to crack under such pressure.

Class wins out in crunch situations, and GWS already has some classy young players. Dylan Sheil bobbed up to kick the first two goals of the forth quarter to regain the ascendancy. From that point it was a forgone conclusion. Remember the name, Dylan Sheil, he will be a star for the club.

I look forward to the next opportunity to see GWS play. I recommend you do it too. Even for Swans fans like me. Rugby League fans welcome too.

There Is Light

Took a drive down to Canberra with brother Danny to see the 18th AFL team, the Greater Western Sydney Giants, play Carlton at Manuka Oval.

It was a very one-sided contest, going down by 157 points. Just looking at the margin ignores many other factors that should excite the footy fans in the west of Sydney.

Take into account that there was a team from the highest level against one from a second tier competition. Also take into account that the average age of the giants players was 18. The oldest players were 23 years old.

It’s obvious that the Giants aren’t up to the speed of the top competition, yet. The players are very skilled but have not come across such an opposition before. They looked rushed which led to skill errors and turnovers. Some passages of play were brilliant, which demonstrates the potential this squad has.

Recruitment at seasons end will be interesting to watch. The difference some experienced AFL players will make to this line up will be amazing. The right players can be the difference between being competitive and a season of floggings.

Boom rugby league signing, Israel Folau, is still yet to play. The cynic in me thinks he is being protected from the media glare during the nab cup. Although the official word is that he is still getting over an injury. Whatever the reason his involvement will be crucial as the team was lacking big bodies in key positions. Can he play? Only time will tell. He has been given every chance with being coached one on one by team of the century full back, Stephen Silvagni.

What the giants need is more games like this and the injection of the right experienced players. Both will come, which makes the future of this club very exciting.

What Really Matters

It was great to see a spirited Jim Stynes at the Brownlow Medal presentation. He spoke on matters football, life and cancer.

Interesting that it took his serious cancer for him to put his life in perspective. Now he openly claims that in the long run football doesn’t matter and he is now focused on being the best man he can be and making a positive difference to the world.

Football is good, but it has never been the be all and end all of life. It just takes time for some to get it.

Jim Stynes says he was taking too much for granted prior to his cancer diagnosis. Goes to show that we should all know what is most important while we still have our full health. For Jim that means relationships, with family, friends and teammates.

The playing of football is fleeting. Even the night’s winner, Chris Judd, reiterated these sentiments, so refreshing to come form a current player.

Chas

It was a new experience being able to watch the Brownlow Medal live on television. Usually all I get is the result in the paper the next morning as there’s no way I would stay up late to watch a delayed broadcast.

A lot more is made of the fashions by the ladies of course. Ultimately who cares? It is a night to celebrate seasons of our star players.

Dane Swan of Collingwood was the favourite. He was possibly disadvantaged by the equally impressive season of teammate, Scott Pendlebury. It was not to be for Swan as Carlton’s Chris Judd scored best on ground votes in more games to take out the medal.

Good on Andrew Demetriou for firstly getting on with business and reading votes out quickly so that the night didn’t become and epic. But secondly he had a sense of occasion when reading out the votes from matches that had a bearing on the result with a pregnant pause hear and there. Well done.

The Blockbuster That Wasn’t

Collingwood
7.2 13.7 16.11 18.12 (120)

defeated

Geelong
1.1 3.5 6.10 11.13 (79)

@ MCG
Attendance: 95,241

It was an auspicious beginning with Collingwood first two goals coming from incidents where Geelong should have received free kicks. One might wonder whether it would have made a difference. Then it becomes acutely obvious that even that small loss of momentum would have been a slight speed bump to their onslaught.

Collingwood romped in 7 goals to 1 in the first quarter, and then backed it up with 6 goals to 2 in the second quarter. Game over virtually, but with still half a game to play.

Ablett was Geelong’s only shining light in a very lacklustre performance. Geelong had too many stars go missing. Steve Johnson, Brad Ottens and Tom Hawkins are a few of those whom had no influence. Cameron Ling on multiple occasions looked slow and I’m not sure he can last very long. Maybe his leadership is enough to keep him on board, a lot like how Brett Kirk became a mainstay at Sydney.

The pressure was intense and Geelong wilted. They couldn’t get any flow, Collingwood didn’t allow it. Collingwood were skilful and ruthless. Even the ball was continually bouncing in their favour. As evidenced by a wicked off break of a long bomb by Leigh Brown in the first quarter.

The spectacle of the occasion was lost, but what an opportunity to witness a full house at the MCG. I would recommend it to anybody

The Rulemakers

The AFL likes changing rules or the interpretation of rules quite frequently. this naturally results in a change to how the game is played as coaches try to get the most for their team within the rules.

Over the last decade the game has sped up immensely due in part to rule changes.

Players and coaches have responded by manufacturing midfield rotations. A large part of this is for player management, to give them a rest and to prevent injury.

Now the AFL is considering a cap on interchanges. They are forgetting that they caused this, for better or worse. I am curious what they hope to achieve with a cap.

One very probably result will be an increase in injured players. The game doesn't want that. It doesn't need that. The AFL should wisen up and leave the idea of a cap alone.

Soccer – Not For Me

I have apologised to soccer fans four years ago for not being able to get into their sport. I have explained some of my beefs with the sport. I have commented on my struggles to watch games from the 2006 FIFA World Cup. This year was going to be different. I attempted to watch zero games and got 100% fulfilment in doing so.



I accept that there are beefs people have with my game, and that’s ok. It is also ok to refute my claims about Soccer (it’s not football to me).



As stated by David Letterman on his show, “it’s so dull you need to bring something to entertain yourself” referring to the ad nauseum blowing of the vuvuzela. As if 90 minutes for a nil all draw isn’t painstaking enough. The game consists of maybe 2 minutes of excitement. No wonder soccer fans in some countries are so angry after a loss, they haven’t had an outlet for their pent up rage from the working week.



How about these players? They are overpaid pansies. The diving we see in soccer is ridiculous. Some get taken off on a stretcher after a dive only to get up unaided and walk to the bench.



The card system seems inconsistent. Maybe I just don’t know the rules well enough. Some soft ones are given straight red when others just get yellow. It confuses us novices. Then again, the umpires in my game have strange inconsistencies.



In saying all that, I acknowledge the skill involved in playing soccer. Perhaps before you take a shot a my sport think about this, I have played soccer, would you give mine a go??

The Defection

A couple of weeks ago it was hard to avoid the news about Israel Folau’s signing with new AFL franchise, known as Team GWS.

I was actually hoping that the rumours would not come to fruition and he would continue to play rugby league. But he will be an Aussie Rules player as of 2011 and I hope he realises the enormity of the task.

There will be a pressure on him to perform from day 1. He is on pay similar to the biggest stars in our game, yet he is foreign to most of the core skills and will have to severely get out of his rugby league tactical frame of mind. Karmichael Hunt will prove just how hard it will be to adjust.

The high marks he takes out on the wing from a cross field kick are celebrated in rugby league. In Aussie Rules they are nothing special. Anyone can leap over a stationary defender to mark the ball, it’s regulation stuff. Although of all the league players he does get the most height.

Time will tell whether the money was worth it. I can see him going back to rugby league in four years time, and he will be welcomed back with open arms despite what some commenter’s will tell you should happen. They have done as much for many rugby union returners.

I wish him well, the success of the team is riding on him.

The Opposition Factor

Respected AFL journalist, Mike Sheehan, recently interviewed Sydney Swans coach, Paul Roos, for his show on Fox Sports called ‘Open Mike’.

They covered many topics from his career as a player with Fitzroy to his decision to retire as head coach and hand over the reigns to assistant coach, John Longmire. One topic in particular caught my attention, it was the perception that the Swans have a negative and ‘ugly’ game plan.

I have some good friends that get carried away with this notion and even go as far as to say that they “hate” the Swans due to their style of play. I take offense to this allegation as it is baseless.

The Swans were a very successful team during the Paul Roos era of 2003 -2007. As a successful team there is always an opposition wanting to beat you week after week. Teams now are well prepared in working out how to negate the game plan of the opposition.

Roos points out that “people fail to see that there’s an opposition”. Watch them at training, “If it’s 18 on zero we’ll bring it down the corridor every time”. They don’t practice ‘ugly’ football. Of course they have played some shocking games of football, Mike Sheehan used an example against St Kilda. But it is no different to any other team. They have all used negative tactics and have produced ‘ugly’ football.

So why are the Swans singled out? Who knows? Who cares? People who bag my team should instead look at their own team and pump them up instead of hating the Swans.