Re: Watson-Positional switch paying off
Reply #22 –
Watson. LOL. Another example of our great recruiting
I think way too much emphasis is being put on the board, recruitment, players, etc., and way too little light is being shone on player development because of that focus. The coaches, MC and specialists are getting away with shizenhouse player development by having that distraction!
There are blokes languishing at the NBs that look to have made zero progress since being drafted as 18 years olds two or three years ago, spuds or not that just simply shouldn't be the case, we should be seeing progress at some level!
Regardless of what happens in the draft or trade week, if we don't get the player development right the players will continue to be wasted!
Some of them started so far back that no matter how much progress they made, it wouldn't bring them up to AFL level - eg McCarthy, Temay, Collins, Lucas, Bower, Bootsma, Mitchell, McInnes, Davies, Kerr, Heyne, Dale, Bray, Carter, Lodge, Austin, Twomey, Dare, Watson... just some of the recruits over the past 3-4 years who really weren't up to it, not matter how much development you could have put into these cats it is unlikely they would be able to cut the mustard. (Yes I know Austin is showing something for the Dishlickers but is still not the sort of tall defender you'd see in a top side).
Last year's recruiting already seems streets ahead of the last decade or so... Cripps, Reynolds, both Ciarans, Johnson, Docherty, Holman ... all show plenty of promise at different stages of development. Haven't seen enough of Giles yet to get a feel for the bloke. (didn't include Everitt or Daisy as they'd already proved they could play before arriving.) Wood may yet surprise. Jury is out on Graham, though, with little to lose now he should be given the remainder of the season to show whether he can or can't cut it. Many will want the same for Watson as the reborn forward, but the same old same old will dog him... too slow, in many ways. He really did not have great competition over the last two weeks up forward - with an AFL quality tall defender on him, well, I'd rather not think about it - love to be really, really wrong.
So let's keep this level of recruiting up... or even improve upon it then ensure we develop the above and the next lot with the right people. Time to be great at recruiting and great at development.