SA Footy

The Roos are now keen to acquire the services of an NRL player.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/r ... ist=Member

NRL is Rugby League mate, Super 14s is Rugby.

Wedgie wrote:NRL is Rugby League mate, Super 14s is Rugby.

same thing they both cant throw the ball forward my apologies Wedgie

And the net is spreading to Argentinian soccer players.


http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/ ... or-talent/

And I believe they'll soon be sending out scouts to netball games...

Not unprecendented Quichey. Tivendale....

Quichey wrote:And I believe they'll soon be sending out scouts to netball games...

Danyle Pearce has already converted

CoverKing wrote:

Quichey wrote:And I believe they'll soon be sending out scouts to netball games...

Danyle Pearce has already converted

hackham hawk wrote:

Wedgie wrote:NRL is Rugby League mate, Super 14s is Rugby.

same thing they both cant throw the ball forward my apologies Wedgie

You can't throw the ball forward in Aussie Rules or soccer either, doesn't mean they're the same thing as rugby.

Gordon Tallis made an extremly good point.

Both Folaou and Hunt and well known in rugby for being great in the air and have scored many tries from catching bombed kicks BUT the average height difference between your AFL player and NRL is a fair bit, he had the stats to back him up.

As well as this he went on to say how a players leaps in AFL is an aspect which is measured and trained on while in the NRL a players leap is a mear bonus and definatly not a make or break attribute in a players career.

It will be a massive step for both these players to have to compete and outmark blokes such as Brown, Pavlich, Riewoldt. Add to this the fact they will spend there first 6 months just trying to build a fitness base which will be ready for AFL football and practise the art of kicking.

These blokes will get AFL games for the sheer marketing value but cannot see them having an impact on the AFL for at least 5 years on a performance basis.

The whole thing is a disgrase. What No: draft pick did James Hird go? Was like 79 or something yes? Imagine if in future drafts we miss out on a James Hird because of stupid PR stunts like this.

pigskin wrote:The whole thing is a disgrase. What No: draft pick did James Hird go? Was like 79 or something yes? Imagine if in future drafts we miss out on a James Hird because of stupid PR stunts like this.

How will we miss out on anyone???
Big PR grabs are never going to be taken late in drafts, and unknown players from other codes are more likely to be rookie listed players...

Stupid PR stunt?

I think it's a very smart PR stunt.
The money spent on Folau will get advertising value far greater than the expenditure.
It will make Qld and NSW kids think about AFL rather than RL, as well as the Islander nations.

Folau is Tongan. Naitinui is of Fijian descent. Imagine if we can crack the Isander markets for teams of Naitinui-like athletes. What a game we will have!

OnSong wrote:I think it's a very smart PR stunt.

If successful.

It's a dual edged sword - if these players fail horribly (and there has to be some chance of that) the AFL can give the NRL a leg-up in regaining lost ground imho.

Did anyone watch AFL Teams on Fox last night? They showed a clip of Khunt during training. There was one scene where had to dish off a handball and looked like he was going to go the Rugby throw before thinking '5hit, that's right!' and eventually getting off a fairly loose handball.

There was another scene where they showed him kicking the ball and that seemed OK although the style was understandably awkward. What struck me most though was his physique. Obviously Khunt is an outstanding athelete but is legs were not those of a runner's like the majority of current AFL players. The term 'Dwayne Russel legs' was bandied about.

I realise that it's very early doors for Khunty but he has an absolute 5hitload of work to do with his first pre-season starting in about 15 weeks or so. Good luck with that.

regards,

REB

Didn't he do a decent time trial before that training?
There was also a pretty handy report done on his training.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/gc-happy-with-hunt/story-e6frf9ix-1225874740777

KARMICHAEL Hunt didn't quite look like an AFL footballer in his first public hitout with Gold Coast yesterday, but he didn't look out of place either.

Hunt looked like a talented athlete who was returning for the first time to a game he had dabbled with in his teens.

Which is exactly what his coaches expected.

The 23-year-old former NRL star with Brisbane pinned one 30m drop punt to the chest of a teammate on the run and found his target most times by foot.

Technically, Hunt's kicking is pretty good.

He strikes the ball cleanly and the contact is made close to the ground, which means he can drill his shorter passes and even his longer kicks follow a good trajectory.

The ball drop is slightly high which could lead to skill errors under pressure.

But there are plenty of different techniques in rugby league - not all of them textbook - and you can tell already Hunt won't be the worst kick in the AFL next year.

His handballing wasn't as sure.

Hunt knew how to hold it and how to punch it but he did not always weight his passes correctly but that is a touch thing that will improve with practice.

He moved to the football well, marked it cleanly and generally looked the part.

A lot has been said about how much weight Hunt has to lose but it is only through his thighs.

And given he is a few years older than the majority of the Gold Coast's teenaged squad, you would expect him to be a bit bigger.

Hunt is 186cm and 94kg, and if he ran out at 90kg in Round 1 next year the club would be pretty pleased.

He started to lag behind as the session entered its second hour but his coach Guy McKenna explained he'd been summoned at 8am for a 2km time-trial.

"I got the news he ran 7 minutes 29 seconds, which is a great result for a bloke who has had the great journey he has had," McKenna said.

The main revelation from yesterday's training session was that Hunt would start his career in attack.

The general consensus was that he belongs in defence so he can chase a forward around and be drawn to the action.

In league your opponents get the ball for a set of six tackles and you defend and then they hand it over to you.

Rarely is there a contest for the ball and that is the instinct Hunt must develop.

He must learn to hunt the footy.

OnSong wrote:Didn't he do a decent time trial before that training?
There was also a pretty handy report done on his training.

Technically, Hunt's kicking is pretty good.

He strikes the ball cleanly and the contact is made close to the ground, which means he can drill his shorter passes and even his longer kicks follow a good trajectory.

The ball drop is slightly high which could lead to skill errors under pressure.


His handballing wasn't as sure.


A lot has been said about how much weight Hunt has to lose but it is only through his thighs.

Which is pretty much what I just said. Hunting the footy is something I didn't say though and that is a big difference. In league you get the ball most times because your team mate passes it to you, you don't catch and kill your own anywhere near as much as you have to do in Football.

regards,

REB

"Arguably Rugby League's best player", Greg Inglis now exploring options with Essendon:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/greg-inglis-in-talks-with-bombers/story-e6frf9jf-1225875720478

RL types will be absolutely spewing if he goes as well.