WILL TWO ROCCAS REMAIN AT COLLINGWOOD.

[ZED]

This time of the year the Rocca name always comes up on the draft table. Will MM want both Roccas? Please share your thoughts.

[Mick]

Mate of mine spoke to Sav at Crown on Friday. MM has already ripped into him and said he's got to toughen up if he wants to be part of the team. Sav's response was far from encouraging. Went along the lines of - "I think MM's gunna make it very hard for me this year, not sure if I want to play that much."

I believe MM will sort both Rocca's out once and for all if they play we would expect a significant improvement to somewhere near their potential and that means thru their physical impact on a game as well as goals - if they are traded then MM's assessment will have to have been that they're pasta-eating mummies boys. Its tough calls like this we have to make as a Club to succeed.

[foxy]

if they go we'll lose a third of our supporter base. they can't go.

[foxy]

highly over-rated? if the roccas both play to their potential in the same game they can beat anyone. basically, if sav kicks over 6 goals for us in one game then we win. the pressure on him has always been immense. no doubt he'll win the coleman next year.

[foxy]

ok. some examples of when the rocca boys have fired together. last year in round 4 vs. richmond. sav kicked 4, ant kicked 5. we won by 45 points after leading 7.1 to 0.3 at quarter time. sav dominated in the first quarter primarily because he got angry at scott turner for pulling his guernsy off. and to this day i don't think i've seen a better quarter of footy by the pies than that first quarter (except for the glory days of '90, but i can't remember them because i was like 8 years old).
another example: when sav singlehandedly beat freo last year, kicked 11. and then there was the game against freo in '97; we won by 100 points, sav kicked 9 and ant kicked 4. in the same year we beat the demons by 107 points when sav kicked 10, ant 2. in the same year the roccas kicked 7 between them and we beat the bulldogs by 46. well i've had enough reminiscing for one day.

[Mr_Plow]

The Roccas are 2 separate people. They have both had problems with their confidence and stamina, but apart from that are very different players.

First Sav, with better fitness and better delivery form the midfielders i see no reason why he wont be one of the top few goalkickers next year.

Apart from this year, even when he's been down in previous seasons he still ends up in the top 5.

And Anthony, i think he could have had just as good a year as Leppitsch if we was left in defence all year.

Malthouse has said he wants to build a good defence and with Anthonys athletisism, strength and that booming kick, he will be hard to beat.

If his fitness is up to it he could well end up being the best centre half back in the comp next year.

Bottom line - definately keep both!!!!

[foxy]

mr plow - at last someone with a bit of sense.

[foxy]

add wasley, lockyer, michael, and presti to that untouchable list, because they're just plain cool.

[Charlie]

'Foxy has been reading the bedroom ceiling again' :-}'.
I agree with everything everyone said. In fact , its the same story as Russell, he's o.k., but at the end of the day he's going to want to be here and want to play well.
Sav, and Pebbles are top players who, when in touch can beat 95% of their opponents.
These are the guys that win matches. You do not let them go without a fight.

[Mick]

FOXY - you're as thick as Wazza is skillful - to justify players on the basis of performances they made over a year ago is plainly stupid. Sav has always shown that he can kick goals against poor opposition - when he starts kicking bags against good sides then his value goes up - Lloyd may have a lower average but he has stood up in many big games whereas Sav hasn't in the last few years. If you are going to build a team you've got to have guys capable of doing it in the finals not against the crap teams. The whole point is that we have to start measuring players on their output not their potential. Sav has had plenty of time to produce - he has kicked a lot of goals but more in the first part of his career and has tapered off. Personally I would like to see MM get both of them playing mean tough footy but what I don't want is for Sav to hang around playing the same as he has and he gets to 28 and no-one wants him. We've done it too many times before. Ant showed a bit this year but needs to lift another notch again next year. As for the arguments re getting fitter etc - heard it all last year and the year before. As for better midfield - that will obviously help but it isn't the main cause of their poor performance - champions make the most of their opportunities and Sav clearly hasn't. (Modra had a great year for Freo and only Fletcher can play)

I agree with you Foxy - we don't want Christou - surely we could learn from last year with Olernshaw - you don't pick up injury prone players on the basis of their form of 4 years ago - don't do it Pies.

[foxy]

something of a paradoxical statement mick; if the implication is that i'm very thick, then wazza has the kicking skills of buckley. great.

[Mr_Plow]

Mick we're all frustrated that we are on the bottom, but to say Sav can and has only produced good games against crap teams is clearly wrong.

I'm not gonna go through all his good performances, but i think we can all remember those huge Anzac day games against Essendon, where Sav has thrashed a good opponent or three to kick bags of 8 and 9 goals.

[foxy]

i agree totally mr plow. personally i'll never forget his performance in the drawn anzac day game. every time the ball was going into our forward line you just knew he was going to mark it, or at least be a presence in the air. and that's what we need.