What chances Laverde?

Breadcrawl · Joined: 14 Oct 2007

A photo would take a fair bit of effort as I am estranged from my family.

But the tale is legit.

He welded up the chassis and the bucket, and used a 225 cubic inch slant six engine from a valiant and the associated gearbox. I think reverse was flucked in the box, he rigged it up so he could reverse the drive to the diff so the thing could go through all gears in both directions.

He, my brother and I pulled a shiteload of trees out of the ground with it, and he liked to push dirt around into mounds with it. Sometimes the mounds even had a purpose. He built a couple of dams.

To visualise, the chassis was very simple and made of 100x75 box section steel if I recall correctly. The bucket was angle iron and treadplate. It was all very rudimentary, but very effective. The bucket was hydraulic (stolen from something - a forklift?) but to empty it you pulled a simple mechanical cable, and it had to be set back 'up' manually.

One year I came home for Christmas and he had a hand-me-down from a neighbouring farm that was an actual tractor. The bespoke unit was parked under a tree.

I was sad.

watt price tully · Joined: 15 May 2007

From BF re Wright:

Ian Kyte (Calder Cannons talent manager) thought very highly of Wright and I quote 'his kicking is absolutely elite. It's a huge feature of his game and there aren't many better kicks than him around'.

From the poster I quoted the above from: That is a big wrap on the big kid, fast, agile, tank, and has elite foot skills...

watt price tully · Joined: 15 May 2007

FWIW:

At this point in time and of course acknowledging that draft picking is like picking your nose - sometimes you get a winner & the more experience you have the better the chances are of getting that winner:

Snoop Dog said he would be staggered if Wright made it to #5 & Knightmare has indicated he would go with Wright at 5.

Paige whatever the surname is reckons that:

"I think Wright is an excellent mark in all aspects. 10 of his 50 marks this year have been contested. With his height and weight, he should probably have a higher contested mark ratio, however, his strong engine allows him to burn off his opponents and take marks uncontested. As aforementioned his leading patterns are smart and, alongside his engine, makes Wright a really intelligent and athletic forward. That makes Wright a really rare forward, as his size, endurance and intelligence gives him a chance to become one of the most unstoppable and versatile big men"

Who knows?

In terms of mids for #5 & apart from Lavede, Ahern looks pretty skilled too.

swoop42 · Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:07 pm

If Laverde goes at 4 I'll be somewhat disappointed if we pass on Wright at 5.

Given he was in the mix for pick 1 earlier in the year and is still seen as one of the "big 4" of the draft it will be a somewhat puzzling decision.

If we pass on Wright then Hine will want to hope like hell that he doesn't evolve into one of the games best forwards or the player taken instead of him becomes Pendlebury elite.

RudeBoy · Joined: 28 Nov 2005

Dave The Man · Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:18 pm

IF Wright is there at 5 he would be best avaliable

stui magpie · Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:13 pm

simon tonna · Joined: 24 Oct 2013 Location: carindale

Write would right the forward line for a very long time.

he would also answer the question "does Reid play forward or back"
and KPPs with elite kicking and endurance make passing on such
talent, nonsensical.

an elite mid gives us less trade potential as we all know now
and taking two KPPs in the one draft sets us up for more potential
on and off the field.

derkd · Joined: 29 May 2013

Hate to be the guy who sums this whole thing up in a few words...but at this point we can only say that "anything is possible and nothing is certain".

Lets say tomorrow we hear that all the other clubs ahead of us say that they are not going to draft say christian petracca....fantastic..we can have him at pick 5. Does this mean he will be a star? No, the draft does not work that way. Some bloke who we never heard of at pick.35 could become the steal of the draft in five or six years time....we just can not say. I am sure Collingwood (and fans) were rapt in 2004 when we got Chris Egan at pick.10

How much does the club in question have a say in a player "becoming a star". Lets say in 2005 that Daisy had gone to Hawthorn ..can we say for sure that he would have become the player he did?...in the same context...if Scott Gumbleton had gone to say Brisbane...might we now be talking about a player who is an out and out star?

To be honest, i leave this whole thing up to the club to choose who we take...and good luck to them....only in five years time we the ability of hindsight can we say we either got it right or wrong.

On the March · Joined: 14 Feb 2004

^^ Spoilsport Smile

derkd · Joined: 29 May 2013