CATS v. PIES - Practice Match

[Pies4shaw]

^ Over recent years, Collingwood has retained a number of players on the list for years after it became apparent that they were not (or were no longer) up to playing senior footy. From the delistings at the end of 2020, Broomhead (8 years), Scharenberg (7 years), Reid (57 games over the last 7 seasons and just 16 in the last 3) and Wills (5 years) are examples.

I am not criticizing the decisions to keep any of those players - but supporters seem to expect miracles too early from developing and injured players. Murphy was regularly in the bests in the VFL and got 2 senior games in his first year. He has played just 3 VFL games (because of a bad injury in 2019 and the no football in 2020) since but is now fit and playing again.

Murphy is contracted to the end of 2022. His likely role is as an intercept defender. We had 2 AFL-standard ones until Langdon retired. We now have Howe, who is 31 in the middle of this year. Murphy is, I assume, thought of as Howe's potential replacement, in due course. If he comes on more quickly than that, he'll get Madgen's place in the back 6 (and it is worth observing that even Madgen will turn 28 next month). It isn't like the team is chock full of gun, agile medium-tall defenders. In fact, looking at the list, the only other candidate, at present, for a tall-ish defender position looks to be Keane (unless, say, a forward prospect like Kelly is sent to the other end of the ground).

[RudeBoy]

[Pies4shaw]

I'm not sure what you're saying, there, Rudey? If you're suggesting Kelly, I've mentioned him already.

On the other hand, if you're questioning me mentioning Kelly, I understand that the Club views him as a forward but, at a pinch, no-one much else could go down the back to play a mobile tall role on our current list (of course, Mihocek could - but that would mean playing with almost no forwards, at all, really).

[Pies2016]

^ ^ ^
Given that Kelly played very good footy as a key defender in the U18 championships, I’m not sure why they seem to be in a hurry to reinvent him as a forward.
The Suns have also swapped ends with Lukosuis ( who is taller than Kelly ) but they at least have a King in their forward line.
Roughead isn’t young ( or mobile ) either, so you would expect Kelly would get his chance at either end sooner than later.

[Boot]

Murphy is an interesting prospect. He was highly rated in his draft year but has been injury prone for three years now. Is that bad luck or is his body just not up yo AFL level? Hopefully he’ll get a good run this year to get some consistency into his game and repay the faith the club has put into him. Has done size and speed about him, just has to learn to read the play better which should come with game time. Langdon’s great strength was reading the play really well which allowed him to position himself ideally and he was an outstanding contested mark for his size. I’m hoping Murphy can develop into a rebounding back flank or even a winger by the end of this year but has a lot of improvements to make based on what I saw in the Geelong practice match where he seemed to be running around like s headless chicken for most of the time he was on the ground but looked ok once he had the ball in some space.