Clever players Mr. Hine!!

[inxs88]

It's dawned on me this year that we have a very vanilla offensive list especially considering the absence of Elliott and Fasolo. That aside as fans, we have been very spoilt over the years with mercurial talents such as:

* Daicos
* Didak
* Leon Davis
* Brad Rowe (ok maybe not Rowe)

With the ballistic forward bursts in modern footy, clubs that possess players such as:

* Wingard
* Betts
* Boomer
* Walters
* Motlop
* Rioli
* Billings
* Heeney
* Thomas etc etc

We seem to really lack "clever clever" footballers. I Know I am not Robinson Crusoe in espousing this opinion. There are plenty of footballers out there in the wider leagues that don't necessarily command early draft picks or have been picked up for steak knives late in the draft such as:

* Sam Lloyd (rookie list)
* Paul Pupolo (SANFL)
* Jeff Garlett (picks 61 & 79)
* Adam Saad (VFL)
* Tom Papley (rookie)
* Harry Cunningham (GWS pre-listed/pick 107 rookie draft)
* Eddie Betts (pre-season draft pick no.3)
* Aaron Davey (Port Melbourne)
* Shannon Byrnes (rookie elevation)
* Danyle Pearce (SANFL rookie)
* Sharrod Wellingham (rookie)
* Michael Barlow (Werribee rookie)
* Zach Tuohy: Ireland!!
* Jason Johannisen: pick 105 in rookie draft!
* Dane Rampe: pick 37 in rookie draft via VFL


So yes there is a lot of talent out there between:

* VFL
* Overseas
* state leagues
* country leagues
* unwanted or delisted players

We have done okay from this historically but now it's critical we can emulate a rookie list achievement AKA 2006 on top of father/son and the return of Thomas and Keefe.

My desire Dekka is CLEVER CLEVER Players

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

Play well and win and suddenly the players are clever. You don't have to be a Rhodes Scholar to play AFL footy.

[neil]

Good so it will be easy for you to name a clever recruit that will be picked by us or some other club and do so before the rookie draft
so we can compare your selection vs the clubs

[Collingwood Crackerjack]

[September Zeros]

Get Elliot , fas, and swanny ? fit...... Problem solved

[inxs88]

[Cam]

I give you Phillips and Crocker.

[yin-YANG]

We picked up Varcoe - who is a clever player - great intensity and x-factor... however you can't have too many of those types because they can be out of games for long stretches...

Elliot and Faz are both clever smalls - hell I think the big yank seems a genius for a big man - can't wait for what he delivers in 2017 as he learns more about the game...

As Cam indicated Crocker and Phillips are good pick-ups both can play up forward and when you combine with the smarts of Smith and Maynard who can read the play so well we have lots of potential in the cleverman club!

[simon tonna]

Big cox feels a little forgotten.

[loki04]

[GreekLunatic]

I reckon puopolo would be a spud in a not top side

[Jezza]

[35forever]

I'll tell you who is a "clever clever" player, Dane Swan! So is Jamie Elliot and Alex Fasolo, oh yeah, they’re all out.
I'll tell you who has the goods to be that kind of player: Aish, Moore, Maynard, Crocker, & Phillips, but its hard to be that type of player when the side is getting flogged, My guess is Maynard will get there first, he’s improving each week and has some top shelf skills. The brief look we’ve had at Phillips has been impressive too.
I'll also tell you who CAN be that type of player, and SHOULD be that type of player, and I'm risking a beating saying it:
One Scott Pendlebury. This young bloke has skills most players dream about. He has the lot, marking, kicking, tackling, winning the pill, evading oppo, finding targets, kicking goals, you name it, he can do it all & do it spectacularly, and with unsurpassed grace.
But lately, the last couple of years, he just hasn't been the player we knew from earlier in the decade. But of course ‘ordinary’ for Pendles is 29 touches, half a dozen tackles and a goal, as well a top 3 finish in the Copeland and top ten in the Brownie. He’s never going to be dropped, and will get his name in the paper every week, but he can do more, he can take a game apart, he can do the magical and the seemingly impossible. We’ve seen glimpses this year, impossible goals from a pack, perfect kicks, and his uncanny ability to evade 5 tackles by simply standing still. When he does this several times a game we look a far better side as everyone in Black & White lifts just watching the guy.
I don’t know if it’s the pressure of being captain, or other problems which are clearly having an effect inside the Holden Centre, but if he can find that extra 5% we know he’s got, he becomes one of the top 2 0r 3 players in the game. Maybe the captaincy isn’t his thing? I can’t see anyone else taking it any time soon, but Steelo is the obvious alternative and he seemed to thrive on it in the first NAB game when we kicked 21 to knock Geelong over.
Pendles is a very intelligent guy, and even though I’m sure the media will want him when he hangs them up, he could be a very good coach (after an apprenticeship, and maybe for another team?)
Most important though, is the effect a Pendles at his best has on the rest of the side, especially the kids. As a young player you just walk taller, and enjoy the game more when you know the best guy out there is one of yours, and that’s when you play your best. Tonight was the perfect example of what I’m talking about. Pendles was out there, did a couple of things, got a bunch of clearances, and got enough ball, but he made a few stunning clangers, and wasn’t mentally “there”, being outshone by Treloar & Steelo, and it was they who got the kids going, and Maynard, Smith, Marsh and Phillips had great games, Maynard knocking up a huge 123 Fantasy points, and Smith finishing second only to Treloar in possessions, equal with his captain on 25. This year it seems like he’s almost standing back to let Treloar shine, and if that’s the case it’s working coz as good as we know Trelz was at GWS, he was only averaging 24-26, now he’s our BOG half the time and easily having his best season. If we’d won a few more he’d be a really good show for the Charlie, especially with Swanny out
A 25 touch game from Pendles has become a not unusual thing, where just a couple of seasons ago he & Swannie were each racking up 30+ most weeks. But then the focus on possessions as the big indicator is really giving us a very false indicator of who is playing the most important roles in games. It’s too easy to look at the numbers & award 1, 2, & 3, to the highest possession getters, which pretty much says that Rucks, Forwards and Backs aren’t very important, and a side of 18 mids would blow any team off the park. But we know that aint true, coz we have at least 6 or 7 really high class mids, and we’re 14th! In Swan, Pendles, & Trelz we have 3 of the very best. Steele would be captain in most sides, and Crisp, Tay-tay, Greenwood, and DeGoey have come up extremely quickly, and Phillips, Crocker, & Smith are showing amazing things. And to that you could add Marley and Varcs, But what about Cox? According to the stats he does stuff all! A goal or 2 and about 8 touches will never get Brownlow votes, and therein lies the problem! Watch the first Quarter of the Freo game. Marsh, Cox, Grundy, Maynard & Reid were inspirational, as was Cloke, and the numbers didn’t show how hard guys like Smith, DeGoey, Crisp, Blair, and Sinclair were going in to get the pill, and stop Freo from getting it. In fact you could name every guy, coz every guy in black & White worked their arses off for their mates. Look at the numbers and you’d conclude that Varcoe did nothing at all, but if you watched the game you wouldn’t think that for a second.
Amazingly every guy that was only out there because of the injuries worked like trojans, several having their best game in Black & White. Certainly Marsh, Aish, & Maynard did, as did Phillips but I don’t think second game counts. For me BOG was probably Reid by a nose from Maynard & Treloar.
Imagine if that game was Round 1?! But every time we win everyone says “Is this the start of the big turnaround for Collingwood?” This is a sure sign of how good we are when we’re good, everyone involved with the game knows we’re not a 14th spot side. It’s just that we’ve played half a dozen incredibly crap games, games Brisbane would’ve been ashamed of.

Why?
You'd have to say leadership, but Pendles wasn’t great on Friday night, well, not for Pendles. On field leadership seemed to come from Steelo, Grundy, and ridiculous as it sounds, Smith & Cox. Of course Pendles did plenty, but having watched the game twice, and the first half 5 times, those guys really did seem to be as important as anyone, which is insane when you consider they have around 20 games between them!
So how the hell are we 13th? I promise you it’s mental. The final proof of that we are mentally weak will come when we have Swan, Elliot, Ramsay, Adams & Moore back and still lose games. We still have a couple of great prospects in the Magoos in guys like Goodyear & Wills, and next year we might be adding a Daicos and a Brown (as in son of Rowdy) to the mix. You surely couldn’t ask for a better list! I wouldn’t trade with anyone! Not Hawthorn, not Geelong, not Sydney, no one! The difference between them and us is the mental side, and it’s the coaches job to get that right! When it doesn’t happen you get games like Sydney, Carlton, Melbourne (both times!) Port, and StKilda. That’s 6 games, which is the difference between us and Geelong by the way

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

[jackcass]