21. Sharrod Wellingham
Wellingham is a player who I am hoping can step it up a notch in 2009 and become a consistent contributor to the senior side. Only recently elevated from the rookie list, Wellingham still managed to play 12 games last year. With our midfield in a transitional period, Wellingham is one player who will be vying for a more permanent spot in the side heading forward.
Sharrod managed two games during the NAB Cup, against West Coast in the first round and Geelong in the grand final. Against West Coast, Wellingham was unable to stand out during what was an expected dominant performance.
Against Geelong, I believe he showed some better signs despite the overall performance of the team being well below average. Wellingham worked hard for little reward, but showed a willingness to get amongst the packs and lay tackles — particularly early in the piece.
Concentration seems to be Sharrod’s biggest problem at the moment, as he seems to struggle to stay in the game. This could come down to not having a constant role within the senior side, as there hasn’t been any visible indication as to what sort of player we are grooming Sharrod into. He has some class which would suit him as an outside midfielder, but at the same time he is an effective tackler and is prepared to get amongst it.
Wellingham would benefit from being give some one-on-one guidance and a clearer direction in 2009. There are aspects about Wellingham’s game that could make him an effective tagger, but he needs to find further maturity within his mental application. I would expect Wellingham to at least equal his senior games from last year and start performing on a more consistent basis throughout the course of a match and from week to week.
22. Steele Sidebottom
It wasn’t just Collingwood fans who were anticipating getting a look at Sidebottom during the NAB Cup, as Rusty generated quite a lot of talk after his incredible TAC Cup grand final performance. Whilst Beams stood out the most during the pre-season, Sidebottom was no slouch; collecting 19 disposals against Essendon in his first appearance in the black and white.
Much like the rest of the side, Steele found it a lot tougher against Geelong — although he was admittedly given very limited game time. Despite Geelong having complete control and applying immense pressure, Sidebottom still managed to get involved during his time on the field. He showed a hunger for the contest and didn’t seem overawed by the situation or the stronger bodied opposition.
We already knew that Sidebottom had elite endurance for a kid of his age, but he has also shown a very good football brain. He works hard and knows where and when to present, as evidenced against Essendon where he made himself an option time and again. Rusty also showed some nous at the clearances, reading and sharking a couple of bounces to send us forward.
Whilst Sidebottom looks ready made as far as talent and composure is concerned, there is no rush to push Steele – along with Beams – into the senior side. Sidebottom could benefit from a year in the VFL whilst advancing his physical development. With that said, don’t be surprised to see Sidebottom debut this year and string a few games together. Anzac Day looks as likely an occasion as any other.
23. Anthony Rocca
There isn’t much to say about Rocca, as he is still on the road back from his ongoing injury woes. He is obviously a certain starter if fit, although we should be expecting Rocca to be in and out of cotton wool all year long. Pebbles has been doing some light rehabilitation work but is still yet to resume full training. Given his current situation, he will be nursed right through to his senior return.
Getting 10+ games out of Rocca and having him right to go at the business end of the season would be the best possible return we can expect at this point.
24. Tarkyn Lockyer
One of Collingwood’s favourite sons, Tarkyn looks set to continue his good work as a damaging utility. With the departure of so much experience over the last few seasons, players such as Lockyer are pivotal if we are to be serious contenders come September.
Tarkyn has had a very good pre-season and will carry good form into round one. Whilst Tarkyn will be a certain starter all year and a major component of any success we aim for; much like O’Bree we should be looking to gradually find his successor from next year onwards.
25. Josh Fraser
With our well known ruck problems and neither of Wood or Bryan really putting their hand up, Josh is as important as ever to our finals chances. Josh was rested after our clash against Essendon and then, unfortunately, never returned to the side and has since been under a “general soreness” injury cloud.
Despite this bad news, Fraser showed some excellent form in our first two NAB Cup matches. He was nearly back to his best with his second efforts after ruck contests and he also started looking dangerous drifting forward once more. We can only hope that the injury speculation is nothing too serious.
Fraser has been the victim of being mismanaged early in his career. In 2009, he will remain our primary ruckman and an important leader for our younger lads. It’s important that Josh gets his body right and can work himself back to his best form; as we’ve suffered too long for lack of competitive ruckmen. As much as we might not like to admit it, the development of Wood and performances of Bryan are critical to the fortunes of Josh Fraser this season.
26. Ben Johnson
For mine, Johnson has been one of the negatives to come out of this pre-season; yet I feel unfair in saying that. Roids worked hard on the track over summer and got himself into the best shape he has possibly ever been in. Unfortunately, the well-known deficiencies of Johnson’s game continue to haunt him and us as supporters.
Nobody would question Johnson’s endeavour, but it has become obvious that we can probably no longer accommodate his shortcomings given the new direction that football is heading in and our changing game plan. Consistent execution of basic skills is an absolute necessity to account for defensive zones, clusters and even flooding.
Johnson was fantastic against West Coast but unfortunately proved to be ineffective against Richmond and then Geelong. Whilst he’ll get his hands on the ball often, he counteracts this side of his game by being wasteful with his possessions. Johnson is also incredibly one-sided, which the opposition have worked out. He will often run himself into trouble or sell a team-mate up the river due to a complete lack of a right side.
In his defence, he is bound to be rusty after sitting out a large portion of last year. He is one of our more experienced players and as such will feature in the first 22 throughout the year; however he currently sits outside of our best 22 based on pre-season form. With the likes of Toovey, Cox, Goldsack, Barham, Wellingham and McCarthy all set to fight for senior positions throughout the year; it’s going to be extremely hard for Johnson to redeem himself.
27. Jarrad Blight
As expected, Blight didn’t feature in any of our NAB Cup hitouts and is set to have a year of development at VFL level. All the same, Blight has impressed quite a few people during the pre-season, particularly against the Coburg Tigers in a VFL practice match where he racked up 21 disposals and 4 marks from a wing.
A bottom aged player, Blight has a lot of time on his side and given our depth it is likely we won’t see him debut until 2010 at the very earliest. Whilst we should take our time with Blight, from all reports he looks to be a very natural and gifted footballer.
28. Danny Stanley
His name alone tends to open a can of worms amongst the Collingwood faithful, as he is generally considered one of the most unlucky players currently on our list. I tend to agree with the pro-Stanley sentiment, as he has been consistently excellent at VFL level yet hasn’t been given an adequate run at senior level.
With the departure of Burns, Stanley looked the most logical replacement yet was only given a half against West Coast in our NAB Cup campaign. During that half of football, Stanley didn’t set a foot wrong and also looked capable at the centre bounces, winning a clearance or two in the short time he was on the ball.
This pre-season, Stanley has continued to dominate in our VFL practice matches; always amassing 20-30 disposals whilst proving to be our most influential player. Whilst we have good depth this year and some impressive fringe players who have the potential to become full-time senior players, none look as capable as Stanley at correcting our clearance problems.
Hopefully in 2009 we’ll see Stanley given a reasonable chance, preferably in the form of three or so games in a row being tried in the middle. He has the physique, tenacity and the runs on the board at VFL level to warrant a call-up; especially given our clearance struggles throughout the NAB Cup.
29. Ryan Cook
Ryan Cook was another player who was looking to put his hand-up for a more permanent position in the Collingwood midfield. Cook was given a fair shake in the middle, but probably failed to stamp his name ahead of others.
I’m still not sure what to make of Cook, he has some attributes that I like and in many ways he reminds me of Paul Licuria, without having the ability – as yet – to get his hands on the ball on a regular basis. He runs hard and over the off-season looks to have become stronger; the most noticeable improvement I picked up on during the NAB Cup was his ability to break or stand-up in tackles.
There are some legitimate concerns over Cook’s ability to gather the ball cleanly, especially when under pressure. His decision making at this point also leaves a bit to be desired, as he has a tendency to sell team-mates into trouble by hand.
The coaching staff seems to have some faith in Cook and I would expect to see him in the seniors for stretches this year. At this point however, he sits outside our starting line-up and I’m more inclined to explore the Stanley option whilst Cook works on his weaknesses and builds his case at VFL level.
30. Brent Macaffer
Another of the good stories to come out of our NAB Cup campaign was that of the recently elevated Brent Macaffer. After performing well and regularly kicking goals in the VFL last year, Macaffer was promoted to our senior list at the end of 2008.
Whilst Macaffer was impressive in the VFL, there were still some concerns over his versatility at AFL level. Fortunately, Macaffer looks capable of offering us more than just a leading option within 50; as during his two matches and limited game time against Richmond and Essendon he presented an option further afield and contested well when not in possession.
Whilst Macaffer clearly deserved elevation last year, I still wasn’t sold on him long term. After early glimpses, I’m feeling a lot more optimistic about Macaffer’s future prospects. Alongside Rusling and Anthony, it’s hard to see how they will all fit into the same side; however Macaffer looks to have the ability to play a Ryan O’Keefe type lead-up role, allowing Anthony or Rusling to play out of the goal square.
Macaffer will start 2009 in the VFL, but given his early showings at senior level and the promising feedback from our coaching staff in the media, a senior call-up during the year is not beyond the realms of possibility.
I thought Macaffer looked quite decent as well. Although both he and Reid have seemed to impress the most in a linking role thus far, rather than providing an option inside 50. Given that Cloke is generally our main target just outside of 50, and Medhurst also plays that kind of role well, Macaffer didn’t really seem to give our forward line what it needs (although perhaps he was just given that role on the night, I haven’t seen him at VFL level where apparently he has played at FF). We often seem to lack genuine targets when kicking deeper into the forward line, and presumably there will be a number of Roccaless games in this season as in the last.
A Rocca/Anthony/Cloke/Medders etc. forward line looks pretty awesome on paper, but without Rocca there could be a lot of pressure on largely untried players to hold down FF.
All good points, I think it basically comes down to the fact that we don’t have another gorilla forward sans Rocca. Cloke is physically the most likely on our list, but despite his size he still does his best work on the lead and using his work rate to run defenders ragged.
Macaffer is definitely your traditional lead-and-mark full forward, similar to Rusling in that regard except from what I’ve seen early Macaffer looks to have a bit more agility. Anthony is in the same boat, although he looks to have improved his contested marking to a degree.
Like you’ve said though, the problem is these sorts of forwards (Macaffer, Rusling, Anthony and Reid) rely on having some space to work in and tend to shine only when we are moving the ball fluently. Given that Reid and Macaffer have looked likely linking types – and I expect Reid to improve in the contested stakes with time – I’d hope that we can get Cloke to play a little deeper when Rocca is absent and try to improve upon that part of his game.