unbalanced zealot wrote:Thanks. That's interesting info.
Seeing as you mentioned you've watched a lot of GWS ... what's your take on Folau?
On the whole, worth his weight in gold to GWS.
But I’ll break this into two parts, playing Folau and non-playing Folau.
Playing, his wasn’t much chop this year. But he is an elite athlete and in time (if he has the commitment) will come good. Naturally gifted athletes like him can transfer their skills to any sport they put their mind to. I don’t think it is fair to write Folau off completely based off one year. Look at Hunt, he had a bad first year, many people said he wouldn’t be any good, but this year he has been very good, and from round 5-8 was one the best on ground for GCFC.
The other thing to note is that Folau was brought into to GWS to be a big body in the forward line. The needed someone like him there because all they had were young kids who couldn’t play many games and weren’t quite there yet, they were Jonathon Patton and Jeremy Cameron. But from game 1 Jeremy Cameron proved himself to be a superstar in the making. He kicked 5 straight goals, no points in his first 2/3 matches. So what happened was the Cameron was never rotated out of the squad which meant that Folau never got the game time he was going to get up forward.
But he has some talent, he is good in contested marks, great tackler. He just needs to spend some time in the reserves learning some finer points of the game, and getting his body right for the marathon that is AFL compared to sprit that is NRL.
Non-playing. Folau is a marketing machine. It is estimated that in the week alone he announced he was going to GWS he generated $9m worth of press and media. Far out stripping his salary cost. He was the face of the club, the membership cards have Folau’s picture on them. GWS has had a pretty ordinary season, and as you would except a club languishing at the bottom of the ladder will not get much attention, especially in what has been the most even and thrilling season for the top 8! The whole will he/wont he saga of Folau keeps attention on GWS that they otherwise wouldn’t get. Also, when Folau kicked his first goal in a game the team got thumped in, it was a leading news sport story in Victoria and even here in NSW*.
So on the whole, Folau has been great for the Club, and I think if he is willing to stick it out, has some potential to be a decent footballer.
* Just want to note, am a Victorian currently living in NSW. Born and bred Melbourne Demons supporter, but this year bought a GWS membership as well as my MFC membership (I have three because also MCC member). I did so because it gave me a ticket to go to games here in Sydney and also, I LOVE afl want to see it be successful in NSW, so I see buying a membership as supporting AFL as a sport. Hence why I’ve watched 21 out of the 22 GWS games this year.
Crollic: you do raise a good point, but I’m not convinced. Collingwood are doing what they do best, implode before a final series, losing to North then getting thumped by WC (yes it was a Subiaco but they shouldn’t have lost so badly!) . Dropping Dawes is a mistake, they need to drop Cloke. And the other thing is, with Essendon, who knows what the hell they’ll do on any given day.