Reserves Talent.

[ShockOfHair]

I thought Jesse would be a gun from about his 3rd ressie game on. Think that may be an ingrained thought that is difficult to get away from.

Jesse IS a gun in the ressies.

[Reggi]

I think your point is made Reggi.
Membrey could still offer a lot: at 189 cm and 89 kg he is bigger than, say, Mitch at 185/82, and sounds like a better set shot.

Sure, but chances are against it. Reminds me of when we drafted Shane Smith, who had similar u/18 credentials and went on to be a gun at VFL level.

I would love to see him make it, just that he is emblematic that we have a lot of guys who are just a bit off AFL level

[jono2707]

I think Membrey might be a bit of a Stuart Crameri type - 190cms 95kgs who is not a key forward but still a pretty decent player. He'll do alright although he'll take a little bit of development. He shouldn't have fallen as far he did in the draft so we sort of accidentally got him.

Mitchell will make it. Towers seems to have been recruited for a specific purpose so we could see him sometime. Lamb is on the verge of a debut. Of the rest, Lloyd and Jack are likely but long-term prospects, Harry may get another chance at some stage but I'm not expecting too much of the rest. Good to hear Brown is being spoken of highly.

Lockyer and Biggs would be doubtful to make it on to 2014 but I hope they give it a red hot shot - Lockyer has been particularly disappointing to date unfortunately.

I don't see Naismith as anywhere near a chance to go further at this stage - however it was a smart move to recruit a ruckman for the 2s to give us some continuity there to help develop our young midfielders and to give Jesse a hand.

[liz]

I reckon that writing off the chances of players we've recruited over the last couple of years - especially the 18 and 19 year olds - is as foolish as expecting the majority of them to graduate to senior football. They are all part of a team that has played some wonderfully effective and disciplined football over the past couple of months and each has made a contribution to that. Many of them are very early in their careers and have a huge amount of development left in them.

Although I posted earlier in this thread that past history suggests most won't, it is certainly not my view that most of the current crop have no (or little) potential too. I just think it is too soon to identify those who will, especially when luck with injury and opportunity will play as much of a role as raw talent and application.

I find the idea that Membrey most likely won't because he's "only" 189 cm tall to be quite bizarre. That's just an inch or so shorter than Tony Lockett, and a similar height to Ryan O'Keefe. There are any number of roles he might successfully fill at AFL level if he fulfills his obvious potential.

Similarly, how can one write off a 19yo lumbering ruckman who was playing in regional NSW a year ago, who has barely had a chance to play with the reserves team yet due to his injury, yet has already managed to significantly change his body shape since the back end of last season when he played as a top up for a few game? Where were Dean Cox, Shane Mumford, Darren Jolly et al when they were his age?

[Primmy]

Everyone should have a read of what Jimmy B had to say in today's Herald/Age. With him 100% about expecting 18yos to be 28yos.

[satchmopugdog]

Anything Jimmy Bartel has to say would make me swoon, especially if he was in his long sleeve guernsey

[jono2707]

Similarly, how can one write off a 19yo lumbering ruckman who was playing in regional NSW a year ago, who has barely had a chance to play with the reserves team yet due to his injury, yet has already managed to significantly change his body shape since the back end of last season when he played as a top up for a few game? Where were Dean Cox, Shane Mumford, Darren Jolly et al when they were his age?

Although I too am excited by Naismith's potential, and height, I think our recent history in drafting and developing ruckmen has tempered my expectations on where he'll get to with us. We haven't developed our own ruckman from scratch (Pykey excepted obviously) for a long time but instead buying and improving somewhat ready-made guys like Mummy, Seaby, Jolly, Ball etc. Whilst I think it's really important to have a developing ruckman or 2 in Ressies to help young guys learn our structures and to develop, none of the young ruckmen recently have been retained long enough to get a run with the 1s.

It sure will be interesting to see how Naismith develops over the next year or two though - we have great ruck coaches as he is nice and tall.....