The Thurstans scenario may provide a guide to the Tigers' defence.

[Dyer'ere]

fair enough. sheesh i would like cornes at the tiges hes probably to old for us now.

Yeah but I reckon that's the point about the Port tall backs. Chad's playing midfield. If he's playing CHB they look great in the back half but the ball would be down there a lot more.

I don't mind Thurstans. He's doing alright. I have no problem with us cultivating a full back of the type and class. But as you say, you've gotta surround them with other blokes who really can play- like Cornes.

 

[jayfox]

Prior to his tranfer within the SANFL Willitts was playing CHB. That's why Port moved him IIRC. But he's not built like Thurstans as you know.

Willits requested the move because he got picked in the Reserves at Glenelg. Port just allowed it to happen. He then went on to flourish (not) with the worst team in the SANFL for a long time - West Adelaide which, somewhat unsurprisingly, is full of ex-Richmond rejects.

 

[pahoffm]

im not saying their duds i just dont think they are anywhere near AA material

i do give them credit though for the amount of talls they have because you can never have enough and what it has done is let chad cornes do his damage in the middle rather than filling holes down back

if the kangas can win a bit of ball this week they are a big chance imo

And that's what I've been about all these years.

That its great to have some AA players but the game is also based around the balance of a list and making sure that you have players that can either match up on the oppostion or exploit their weaknesses.

It more about the champion team than a team of champions.
Certainly pays to have champions in your team, but not every member has to be a champion.
This is borne out in nearly every premiership team. I can't think of a team that didn't have at least 1 or 2 "schleppers" who did the hard work.

 

[tigersforever06]

My son was very quick to point out to me that Port Adelaide had largely rebuilt its side whilst only spending one year outside of the finals.

I quickly retorted that this Port side is largely rebuilt with a core of ex-premiership players, eg the Cornes, the Burgoynes, and a few others.

He then retorted with the Thurstans scenario.
My son made the clear point that Port had, with the retirements of Wakelin & Bishop, a vacuum in the big man department in defence.
The movement of Thurstans from part-time ruck/forward duties into defence had been a filip for the Port back line.
Thurstans stands about 197/8cms, according to my son, and isn't quite tall enough to match it with the beanstalks of other clubs.

I wonder if they may serve as some kind of guide to us.
Maybe there is an opportunity of using Patto in a similar role. Maybe not.
Maybe there is an opportunity for Patto's best mate Willits. But then again, Willits would have to've improved his kicking by a mile. Maybe not.

Maybe in our fringe recuiting, we can take a not quite tall enough junior ruckman, with pace, skills & competitiveness, and develop him as a tall defender, eg Shaw of Sandy or some other.

Anyway, onward & upward in 2008.

The defence Vaccum can be filed if the recruiters work hard enough like other clubs recruiters do

Examples:

Gilham to Hawks from Port. Fringe player who held down FB. Clarkson being at Port might have had the inside word

Thurstans Example you touched on

Matthew Egan came from the rookie list to be AA CHB

Our recruiters should do their job properly like other clubs

 

[IrockZ]

solid post tf06

we are screaming our for a type like you mentioned

 

[thomas the tiger]

Thursfield came from the rookie list and McGuane was a latish pick.

 

[the claw]

Thursfield came from the rookie list and McGuane was a latish pick.

mcguane was a second rounder. we dont take enough talls with second third rnd picks. we are forever taking talls in the psd or very late and our success rate or tall stocks show this. quite simply put if you dont use many earlyish picks on talls you arent going to get many talls who are good enough coming thru your system.

 

[ZeroGame]

McGuane was a 3rd round pick, Polo was our 2nd rounder