The Bottle Neck

[Whos Ya Daddy]

I may be slightly jumping the gun here (and my knowledge is limited to reading PRE, AFL.com, Herald Sun etc as I live in sunny England), but it does seem we maybe verging on a bottle neck with our juniors at the current rate.

Against the bummers we had 1/3 of our team under the age of 20 in Cleaver, JON, Polo, Tambling, Lids, Raines, Foley and Hartigan.

Added to this we have Jackson and Pattison who are at a minimum under consideraiton for next week.

Throw in Meyer and McGuane. Meyer seems to lifting his workrate every week and McGuane seems to be doing everything that is asked of him.

Without going any further, this would be 12 players under 20 and over half the team if they were all picked at once.

There is obviously a balance between youth and experience and it would seem we are getting very close to it at the moment. Which leads me back to the topic of this thread.

Over the next few weeks/ months, are we going to see a bottle neck with our junior players? Would be a nice predicament to be in and will be interesting to see how TW and co handle it when it arises.

Thoughts?

 

[TOT70]

Richmond is a team in transition.  The plodders of yesterday are under threat from a large group of precocious, hard-running, lightning quick talent.

What I really want to see happen over the next couple of years is for the older players to not give up their places without a real fight.  The more good players we have the better!

One of the biggest positives so far this season is how Tivendale has responded to the very real threat that his career was about to go down the gurgler.  He is a renewed player.  Kellaway knows that he was a Thursfield knee and a Gaspar hammy away from oblivion and has responded with three of his best games in years.

Knobel, Chaffey and Gaspar are in the same boat, as is Rodan.  Each needs to take their next opportunity, if they get one!

Stafford is running out of chances, how long can he keep Knobel and Pattison out?  Probably has another week.

Anyone watching Coburg knows that Jackson, Meyer, White, Pattison, Humm, Limbach and McGuane are enthused and eager for a taste.

Good!  When we have 35 players who can be relied upon to do a job each week we will have a real team.

 

[Tigers of Old]

One of the biggest positives so far this season is how Tivendale has responded to the very real threat that his career was about to go down the gurgler. He is a renewed player. Kellaway knows that he was a Thursfield knee and a Gaspar hammy away from oblivion and has responded with three of his best games in years.

Spot on TOT as usual.
Pressure at the selection table brings out the best in all parties. This is the first time in 25 years I can remember this happening.
Seriously.
Senior players can't take their place for granted. Particularly as we are winning despite a growing injury list.
The days of a walk up start are over and the "bottleneck" is a nice problem to have.