Player Development - who has really come on under Walace and made AFL Standard

[Brettstigers]

Thought I would try and provoke a little debate about something that really concerns me which is player development at the Tiges. There are some reasonable excuses and our spending and the number of our coaches has improved in this regard so lets hope for the future. However lets call a spade a spade - who has actually improved to an AFL Standard player under Wallace? AFL standard means that you are comfortable with them in the side. They might get beaten on an individual day but you know what they are going to give and they actually give it their all.

If you want to score it it can go like this:
Foley +1
Raines +1 for his first year but then -1 for his second - to date you wouldn't class him as dependable afl standard player - net result 0
Polo Similarly +1 for his first breakout year and then -1 for his second. Given his problem last year was injury lets all hope he brings it on again
Patrick Bowden did very well (improved) then disappeared so he was a +1 then a -1
King +1 still looks fine to me.
Simmons already was a player before coming to RFC so I am inclined to not score him
Pattison, Edwards, Jackson, Connors and Tambling aren't there yet from a consistency perspective
Delidio +1
Tuck has to be +1 given where he came from.
King +1
Will Thursfield +1

So for me that means five players have developed under Wallace and people might argue that I am being generous. I wouldn't have though that was an acceptable level of advancement? Would welcome your comments.

 

[Skills]

Brett, there is an abundance of information that can be found on other threads which describes exactly what you are saying, without the binary code.
I'm a great believer that every player improves in terms of "player development" and as such, should all be given +1 ratings, as development is evaluated in a number of different catagories.
What impressed my about your evaluation, was the number of players with +1 ratings. I thought you were a little harsh on Polo, as his development last year was put on hold due to injury in the 2nd half.
Nevertheless, your overall assessment suggests the presence of TW (and the current coaching staff) are producing positive development. The next stage is to meld these positives and create a synergistic effect.
Furthermore (and this is getting extremely technical), you may choose to block out some of the -1 & +1 and only concentrate on the +1 figures of certain players that will give you the biggest overall effect. This is known as factorial design experimentation. In simple football terms, if you can get your best 6-8 players creating a +1 effect, the most noticeable & significant improvements will be observed.

 

[Brettstigers]

Brett, there is an abundance of information that can be found on other threads which describes exactly what you are saying, without the binary code.
I'm a great believer that every player improves in terms of "player development" and as such, should all be given +1 ratings, as development is evaluated in a number of different catagories.
What impressed my about your evaluation, was the number of players with +1 ratings. I thought you were a little harsh on Polo, as his development last year was put on hold due to injury in the 2nd half.
Nevertheless, your overall assessment suggests the presence of TW (and the current coaching staff) are producing positive development. The next stage is to meld these positives and create a synergistic effect.

Skills I actually thought the darksiders would flay me for being too positive about some players. Polo I just don't know yet if he can climb back to his previous form which is the only reason he didn't score him a +1 his pre op form in 2007 was average but as you say he was probably hampered considerably.

As for the binary and the positive message - the point of quantifying anything is to make a point of comparison and to benchmark. I sincerely doubt any other club in the competitiion using this simplistic system would show so few players climbing to an AFL standard for the same period as is the case for the Tigers. I thought it actually made that point fairly starkly though of course it would seem I could be wrong.

 

[craig]

The future of the club will be brighter.

Messrs - Edwards, Rance, Connors, Cotchin, Thursty Will, Foley, Deledio, Casserly , King and Tambling should and hopefully will lift the club.

Hopefully a Riewoldt and Hughes can step it up also and Putt and Gourdis are developed properly.

The long list of near enoughs and not good enoughs must be slashed, and until it is the club will struggle imo to make real headway in a fashion many supporters in their success starved impatience hope will eventuate, there is no quick fix.

Had the club utlised draft picks better and not traded em away and drafted for structure as opposed to other factors the depth of the list of youngsters to build a core around could be up to 5 players deeper with the Jon draft 3 selections only still a sticking point and well ive said it enuff re Sanchez and Schulz.

Selwood or Pears and Greenwood from last years draft wouldve increased the quality and spread of youngsters that the core of this side would be built around. The club is still playing catch up and searching to try and patch up its list imbalance instead of alreay having sunk the foundations for future success.

Hawthorn had the advantage of having compiled some midfield strength to build their structure and spine by taking, Franklin, Roughead, Boyle, Birchall, Gilhan, Thorp, Bailey and Dowler, and now they have balance and strength. The tigers still dont have a core midfield of quality and strength to build around hence the likes of Tivvas, and Hyde and Johnston and Tuck constants in the middle who in reality are not an AFL a grade midfield hence the tigers results of recent times.

The maggies also did it 2 drafts ago taking N Brown, Dawes and Reid to provide future KPP ads they had none but had Pendlebury THomas etc etc from the previous draft. They also added to this taking Wood, Thoolen and Casey Leigh along with some mids last draft and rookie draft to strengthen their list structure which will allow for a team of youngsters to grow together.

Foley Cotchin andd Connors are the start and hopefully more strong mids can be added to this group for a future core to be built around.

Coughlan is wait and see whilst Edwards and Tambling and Morton may be better served running wide and Casserly may be an ace up the sleeve should he kick on.

Its gonna take time and a few more good drafts, but the mid range and many of the older brigade will sadly have to be gone before real strides forward are made, as this time frame will have the list of youngsters atop this post at the 23-+ age group.

Should the tigers flounder and grab picks 1 and 2 everything must be done to turn pick 18 and 34 into better picks to allow for the tigers to grab a Gun ruck, gun midfielder or 2 and gun KPP to asist with the list structure and future core building.

That means trading one or 2 so called name players for better picks which this club is seemingly pettrified of doing.

Thats my take but i may be way off the mark .............. im sure someone will let me know tho.

 

[walhalla tiger]

thanks Craigy, improved my knowledge of the game substantially. :clap