Bombertalk

My patience has worn thin with the crap we've drafted from WA and SA recently. I hope to hell proper research has been done on this Gumby bloke, 'cos if he turns out to be another Kepler, I'm going to find it very difficult to fork over money for my membership.

That's what I like to see, heaps of enthusiasm and optimism!

Welcome aboard you West Australian hack, you better f****** kick some ass straight away or I'm not buying a membership, you good for nothing suckhole sandgroper !!

I don't care if he doesn't play firsts all year. As long as he has the atrributes required to make it in the long run...

Everytime draft day comes around I feel sick in the stomach....with good bloody reason I'd have thought.

Nothing too exotic about a surname like Gumbleton

Why don't you at least wait and see him play before you start putting the knives in Gringo...you never know, the kid might turn about to be a champion

And what do you think of the rest of our draft choices?

It's a bit like Abraham Simpson's idea of parental encouragement:

"Don't screw up like you always do"

Have you ever thought about getting into the self-help industry Gringo? You'd do wonders for people's self esteem.

You'd be a fan of that great self-help video 'Get Confidence Stupid'.

*Seriously folks, I could go all night with Simpson's references. Any subject, any time.

What problems do you have with Monfries, Nash & Slattery?

I'm not making any judgments about Gumby. He appears to have the talent and physical attributes required to make a real fist of things. However, when it comes to draftin tall WA boys with our first pick, I still get a little nervous. The WAFL and SAFL aren't the greatest comps going around. I like to compare like-with-like via the strong under 18s comp we have in Victoria...but I'm risk averse.

I'm happy with the players we've drafted on the whole though. We seem to have recruited with a purpose this year, rather than look at "utility" type players that can play a number of positions satisfactorily (at best) but none well.

gringo wrote:My patience has worn thin with the crap we've drafted from WA and SA recently. I hope to hell proper research has been done on this Gumby bloke, 'cos if he turns out to be another Kepler, I'm going to find it very difficult to fork over money for my membership.

I have seen him play on the telly twice. looked the goods to me.

I reckon he will be an absolute star.

Watch the guy play in the U18 champs against vic metro...

http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=rising ... ampionship

Jetta, Gumbleton dominate...Houli plays well for Victoria.

we did well in the draft eh.

Gringo, i'll address your concerns about Gumbleton the moment you can tell me what a "sirname" is.

Same as surname, but typo. My concerns are more to do with our drafting tactics and philosophies than Gumby.

I don't think there should be any concerns over our drafting tactics in regards to drafting blokes who come from interstate leagues. If you extend that logic, you'd say Bryce Gibbs isn't much good because he's earnt his stripes in the supposedly sub-standard SANFL, or Leunberger is a waste of time because he's from WA, but clearly they're both absolutely sensational players. The point is that 3 of the top 4 draftees were from outside of Victoria, and it would incredibly perverse of us to eschew players purely on that basis.

I'd also point out that interstate guys like Gumbleton, Gibbs and Leunberger didn't only perform well in the apparent vacuum of their sub-standard leagues; they absolutely destroyed their Victorian opponents at the U/18 carnival. Further, in the event Gumbleton turns out to be no good, it's not as though the blame can be laid purely at the feet of the Essendon recruiting staff, because he was unanimously said to be in the top 3 by almost every other 'professional'. The draft picks where we can point the finger at the recruiting staff to a larger extent are when we try to smart farts by picking a player who wasn't rated very highly by others, and end up with egg on our faces (McAlister probably being the best example).

gringo wrote:Same as surname, but typo. My concerns are more to do with our drafting tactics and philosophies than Gumby.

So, to continue the English lesson, 'Gumby' would be his Sobrikay

AnarchicBomber wrote:

gringo wrote:Same as surname, but typo. My concerns are more to do with our drafting tactics and philosophies than Gumby.

So, to continue the English lesson, 'Gumby' would be his Sobrikay

Some would say it's his sobriquet, whilst others would say it's his knicknaiyme .

jimmyc1985 wrote:

AnarchicBomber wrote:

gringo wrote:Same as surname, but typo. My concerns are more to do with our drafting tactics and philosophies than Gumby.

So, to continue the English lesson, 'Gumby' would be his Sobrikay

Some would say it's his sobriquet, whilst others would say it's his knicknaiyme .

Or monica.

What about our scout in Kazakhstan, Borat? Any news from him?

They haven't even turned up for training yet and Gringo's turning up the heat already... Finger on the pulse as usual eh Gringo? Is Kepler your whipping boy for the month of November?

Doctor Fish wrote:Is Kepler your whipping boy for the month of November?

More like the century of 21

There is nothing wrong with the SANFL/WAFL.

Any SA/WA draftees get to play against a wide range of players (ok, with varying degrees of skill) but the difference is that they are playing against men.

On the other hand, you have the kids from the Victoria system, who bascially play against the same kids throughout high school football system and the TAC cup, it takes them longer to get up to the AFL standard.

If it was me....merge the TAC cup fully with the VFL, so the kids who are good enough are able to play at a higher level AND still stay in the system. Its no use having the handful dominating in the TAC cup against the same competition.

Filthy wrote:What about our scout in Kazakhstan, Borat? Any news from him?

His hobbies are ping pong, sunbathing and disco dancing so he hasn't met anyone through his mates who are up to AFL standard yet but I wouldn't think he is far off.

AFL players who are into ping pong, sunbathing and disco dancing - brings us in a full circle back to "Why would we draft anyone from WA?"