#20 Ben Reid

[Pebbles Rocks]

i dont mind reid. I do wish he had a lower centre of gravity though because like tarrant, he will struggle in a one on one. In hindsight (a wonderful thing), taking a quick midfielder with pick #8 would have been better.

[Podpicken]

I have this thread bookmarked. Holy shit some of you are going to cop it with your lack of support and faith and weak as piss, unfair comments. Why do some people expect instant results?? The expectations are frickin' ridiculous. It simply doesn't work like that, as proven 90% of the time with young players, particularly bigger ones who need time to assimilate and then progress once finding their feet. Fevola took a long time to come and look at him. Then there were blokes like our own Pebbles, Gibbs from Carlton, Cameron Mooney ... it goes on.

C'mon Reidy, I'm right behind you pal. Stick it up the lot of 'em.

[Millane42]

mate, happy to be proven wrong and he becomes a star. Remember i said i was a fan at first, but watching him live he has weak hands, is stick thin, a shocking kick, but most importantly he doesn't have a footy brain. you either have it or you don't. Heater has it, Reid doesn't for example. I would drop him at this stage, get him playing some good reserves footy. Bring in Dawes or Rocca, that's what i'm saying

[stui magpie]

I've still got faith in Reid, I watched him on Saturday and i liked the way he moved in anticipation of play more than once.

Give him time.

[Pebbles Rocks]

everyone on this site wants him to be a gun but not everyone believes he will be. Many of us have watched his VFL games and would agree he is very quick and has good hands but average kick and no obvious x factor. Playing as Fletcher like backman may be where we get the best value. Just because he plays for us it does not mean we should be blindly optimistic.

[Pied Piper]

Nothing against him but Reid needs to learn some basic footy skills - like kicking. His field kicking is no better than his goal kicking at the moment. My recollections of that Carlton game are quite different. He got about 6 possessions and had little impact if I recall. People obviously want him to do well - so do I - but he needs to learn the skills of the game in the reserves for the rest of the year.

Respectfully, Ronnie, your memory fails you on this one. In fact Reid was among our better players that dreadful day. EVERYONE remembers the muffed kick at goal - not surprising, it was some spectacle - but in fact he picked up around 16 possessions and a number of marks from hard leads. He played in a similar manner to Travis; just kept on presenting, at least in the first half. (The whole side fell in a heap after that.)

I'm not saying that the kid's gold or even that he'll make it, necessarily. It's too early to tell. Ditto Dawes. Obviously the club sees something that maybe we don't or they wouldn't have signed him for three years. Of course, they could be wrong. But there's more than a few people on Nick's this week muttering that, just maybe, they were right about Ben Cousins after all...

[Didcos435]

Let's reflect back on the other high profile tall's taken in Reid's draft.

You've got Gumbleton at 2, spent the majority of his time on the sidelines.

Hansen at 3. Yet to set the world on fire, starting to look just ok.

Thorp yet to have any impact.

Brown, has been ok, but with a very mature body.

Frawley, no real impact as yet.

Riewoldt is getting by but no where near a consistent contributor.

Hawkins was said to be a world beater and has had no real impact and spent time on the sidelines.

Reid needs time, just like the other boys mentioned and to give up on him at this stage is a little premature.

[AN_Inkling]

Blind optimism is more understandable than over the top trashing - dud? won't play past 1 or 2 years? He is 19, pretty much a second year tall, with an immature body. Is there reason to be sceptical about his ability? To be unsure he'll reach his potential? Sure there is, but it's completely irrational to write him off at this stage of his career. The rush for some to run down our own players is truly astonishing. I'm sure we all hope that Reid becomes a good player, but it seems that there are some who'll continually trash him until he is one.

[Podpicken]

Let's reflect back on the other high profile tall's taken in Reid's draft.

You've got Gumbleton at 2, spent the majority of his time on the sidelines.

Hansen at 3. Yet to set the world on fire, starting to look just ok.

Thorp yet to have any impact.

Brown, has been ok, but with a very mature body.

Frawley, no real impact as yet.

Riewoldt is getting by but no where near a consistent contributor.

Hawkins was said to be a world beater and has had no real impact and spent time on the sidelines.

Reid needs time, just like the other boys mentioned and to give up on him at this stage is a little premature.

A great post, Didcos. Well thought out and delivered.

[melliot]

Let's reflect back on the other high profile tall's taken in Reid's draft.

You've got Gumbleton at 2, spent the majority of his time on the sidelines.

Hansen at 3. Yet to set the world on fire, starting to look just ok.

Thorp yet to have any impact.

Brown, has been ok, but with a very mature body.

Frawley, no real impact as yet.

Riewoldt is getting by but no where near a consistent contributor.

Hawkins was said to be a world beater and has had no real impact and spent time on the sidelines.

Reid needs time, just like the other boys mentioned and to give up on him at this stage is a little premature.

Thanks dude. You've back up what I said. Its rare that KPP do much before their 2nd-3rd years. Even freaks like Buddy took a couple of years. Even Brown surprised many in his 2nd year. He's far in front of where i'd expect him. Another eg: Presti, took 3 years before showing his capacity at FB.

[noddy,]

Reid is a dud. Yeah he's 19, but if Freo offered Tarrant for Reid I'd swap him in a heart beat

I'm glad your not director of recruiting!!!!!!

Todays Age has Tarrant quoted to say 2010 to be his last year (I just read the headline). So you'd swap a potential 10 year player for a washed up forward, come back flanker with 1 and a bit years left in him. I'm a Tarrant fan (the CFC version), but now glad we did what we did in 2006.

pffft. Reid is almost equivilant to a first year draftee KPP. FFS, He's done more than Jack Watts in 2009.

Jezz, I'm gunna love bringing this thread back in two years time to see so many of you eat your words!!!!

How can so many experts be wrong about this kid. So many of the coaches at CFC think this kid will be good. So many commentators of VFL & AFL say they reckon this kid has got the stuff to make it.

you know there is a third viewpoint other than (a) reid is a dud and (b) he's only 14 and he's gunna be a superstar.

and that is that surely you've got to pick the team based on merit and not lose games by four points and have a kid in there because we all think he'll be great in a few years. i'm not down on him and i accept that he's young and ok, some people have seen inklings of talent etc, that's great - but does it get you a game ? i was surprised to see him in the team based on what i've seen so far and i'll be more surprised if he's in this week. if he's not ready, leave him in the two's.

and no and i'm not a negative, mm hating, twisted old bastard who belongs in the over 45s section with the razor-blade wielding depressive eddie-hating cynical psycopaths, so please joffa don't point one of those posts with big red letters at me. i just don't see it (yet).

[noddy,]

Let's reflect back on the other high profile tall's taken in Reid's draft.

You've got Gumbleton at 2, spent the majority of his time on the sidelines.

Hansen at 3. Yet to set the world on fire, starting to look just ok.

Thorp yet to have any impact.

Brown, has been ok, but with a very mature body.

Frawley, no real impact as yet.

Riewoldt is getting by but no where near a consistent contributor.

Hawkins was said to be a world beater and has had no real impact and spent time on the sidelines.

Reid needs time, just like the other boys mentioned and to give up on him at this stage is a little premature.

And Selwood, still struggling.

No I dont expect him to be a Selwood, but I expect to see something in what he does that gives you hope.

I saw Beams kick a 60 metre goal with his wrong foot, and elude players with skill.

I saw Sidey amass possession easily against Essendon.

I even saw N Brown limit his opponents to 15 kicks instead of 25 whilst he got only 4 but he showed something.

Reid has shown not much at all. A few leads and that is it. ALL his goalkicking has been atrocious. Even the goals he has kicked were helicopters. I am not so silly to base my view of his kicking on one kick against Carlton. That was an example though of how he does kick for goal.

I am not sure he is a backman. He was running into the wrong spots on Saturday. There was one passage of play here the ball was coming out of the backline to the wing where Reid was behind his opponent. instead of going back with space behind him he ran to the ball carrier which allowed his opponent to intercept the ball.

It was a simple decision to go back and he would have gotten the ball looped over to him with a pass.

He dis similar things a few times.

As someone else says no one wants him to fail, but we want him to show something. He hasn't got as much time as you all think.

Ask Egan.

All this thing about showing him support. It is all so childish.

We are here to analyse his game. We show him support when he plays.

But we are not his mother.

actually, i am his mother. but that's beside the point. the boy has got to fire up.

[woftam]

I think Reid will make it, I just don't see why we are rushing him right now.
He's still a baby in football terms.

[AN_Inkling]

Let's reflect back on the other high profile tall's taken in Reid's draft.

You've got Gumbleton at 2, spent the majority of his time on the sidelines.

Hansen at 3. Yet to set the world on fire, starting to look just ok.

Thorp yet to have any impact.

Brown, has been ok, but with a very mature body.

Frawley, no real impact as yet.

Riewoldt is getting by but no where near a consistent contributor.

Hawkins was said to be a world beater and has had no real impact and spent time on the sidelines.

Reid needs time, just like the other boys mentioned and to give up on him at this stage is a little premature.

And Selwood, still struggling.

You're comparing a midfielder to a KPP, the development rate is very different.

[Sultan of spin]

Thank you an inkling, it is impossible to compare midfielders to KPP, everyone knows KPP take a lot longer, have a look at David Hille he was useless for about 8 years now hes a gun.

A guy that I would compare Ried too is Trent Croad, he was a much hyped player as a youngster but was then written off as an athlete rather than a footballer but with experience has developed into a key member of the premiership team.

Ried may not be ready for senior footy yet but given time he may still develop into an exceptional player.