Jake Batchelor [merged]

[tigs2011]

Not sure Redan meant name him as a KPD in the side claw. But if a Rance, Grimes or Chaplin went down we'd still be able to play him as a KPD if desperate.

[the claw]

Not sure Redan meant name him as a KPD in the side claw. But if a Rance, Grimes or Chaplin went down we'd still be able to play him as a KPD if desperate.

sorry as usual i havent made myself clear enough. really have to do an english cou i gree with redan jake can pinch hit if the need requires. maybe im not giving enough credit to him for this versatility.
but you know i look at wce and schofield last yr. hes a 195cm running defender  at what 90-95kg.  last yr when mckenzie went down he was asked to do the job on the hurleys or big kpfs. and he went okay.  theres a difference between 188cm and 195. its a big ask for the 188 player and it can lead to disaster.
i see the third tall pinch hit role atm  job  for grimes or  mcintosh.
if we structure up right we wont have to worry about jake batchelor having to play on genuine kpfs if something goes wrong. for me bigger stronger faster has always meant exactly that.

[Danog]

Not sure Redan meant name him as a KPD in the side claw. But if a Rance, Grimes or Chaplin went down we'd still be able to play him as a KPD if desperate.

but you know i look at wce and schofield last yr. hes a 195cm running defender  at what 90-95kg. last yr when mckenzie went down he was asked to do the job on the hurleys or big kpfs. and he went okay.  theres a difference between 188cm and 195. its a big ask for the 188 player and it can lead to disaster.

So that explains why Batch completely destroyed Hurley in our 2nd game against the Bombers last year?

[tigs2011]

Not sure Redan meant name him as a KPD in the side claw. But if a Rance, Grimes or Chaplin went down we'd still be able to play him as a KPD if desperate.

sorry as usual i havent made myself clear enough. really have to do an english cou i gree with redan jake can pinch hit if the need requires. maybe im not giving enough credit to him for this versatility.
but you know i look at wce and schofield last yr. hes a 195cm running defender  at what 90-95kg.  last yr when mckenzie went down he was asked to do the job on the hurleys or big kpfs. and he went okay.  theres a difference between 188cm and 195. its a big ask for the 188 player and it can lead to disaster.
i see the third tall pinch hit role atm  job  for grimes or  mcintosh.
if we structure up right we wont have to worry about jake batchelor having to play on genuine kpfs if something goes wrong. for me bigger stronger faster has always meant exactly that.

Don't disagree. I would have Batch as the 4th tall who could step up as the 3rd tall which against alot of teams it is pretty much KPD. Would only be an in game thing you would imagine as Griff would also be eyeing a spot as a KPD.

[RedanTiger]

Don't disagree. I would have Batch as the 4th tall who could step up as the 3rd tall which against alot of teams it is pretty much KPD. Would only be an in game thing you would imagine as Griff would also be eyeing a spot as a KPD.

Yep thats the way I'd play it as well with Grimes as an option when fit.
The dumb thing IMO is that they lost Moore and got rid of Post who both played that role.
OK if Post wasn't good enough but why not take Hartigan with the Petterd pick rather than switch Petterd to defence where we have too many mediums already (Morris, Newman, Dea, Helbig). 

[the claw]

Don't disagree. I would have Batch as the 4th tall who could step up as the 3rd tall which against alot of teams it is pretty much KPD. Would only be an in game thing you would imagine as Griff would also be eyeing a spot as a KPD.

Yep thats the way I'd play it as well with Grimes as an option when fit.
The dumb thing IMO is that they lost Moore and got rid of Post who both played that role.
OK if Post wasn't good enough but why not take Hartigan with the Petterd pick rather than switch Petterd to defence where we have too many mediums already (Morris, Newman, Dea, Helbig).

yep i agree with that.
grimes is clearly a superb reader of the ball in the air and its shown by how often he destroys the ball with a fist. to me he is the free defensive agent who gets across to give chaplin or rance a hand.
my 4th tall would be mcintosh in time he would be my schofield or birchall type.

medium sized defenders and potential medium sized defenders are.
dea, batchelor, newman, verrier, morris, plus vlastuin, conca, deledio,and helbig. the last 4 should become/are  important mids so they give much flexability.we also have a tall in mcintosh who can play on the stuff and they think he can become a mid.
we also have sml options in houli and ellis both there for their delivery skills coming out.ellis hopefully will also become a decent mid.

 personally  a mid over petterd  if petterd is to be a backman. horsley, martin, dwyer and moloney in the last couple of yrs alone.
petterd as a medium forward actually filled a list need or gave us some depth in an area that was lacking.  but he doesnt as a defender as you aptly pointed out.

imo our definate tall defenders are chaplin, grimes. rance, darrou, and mcintosh,  if the wheels fall off theres also mcguane. thats 6 with two utilities in griffiths and astbury.
ya know i dont see a genuine fb among the lot of them. a fb in the rutten , lake, frawley mould. chaplin definately has the body type .

the concerns with this lot is darrou a rookie odds are against him, mcguane imo a proven liability down back and both astbury and griffiths are needed up forward as the numbers in tall forwards are very small.

anyway just some thoughts.

[Yeahright]

Understand your reasoning Claw, but I think Batchelor has one advantage over Dea, Newman and even Morris and Vlastuin.
He has that extra bit of height that allows him to be used more flexibly as he did last year as CHB against Hurley.
I think really that Morris as you say has a lock on a HBF but I think his competition is really Dea, Newman, Vlastuin and surprisingly Petterd.
While I see your point about Helbig I think they're really looking at him as a more forward/midfield option competing against Knights.
Batchelor really only has Grimes as competition for that taller option until McIntosh or Darrou are more experienced.
Smalls as you say will be Ellis, Houli and Arnot.

i see it a little differently redan but i too understand where your coming from.
while jake at 188cm is no midget it certainly is not ideal to have him play against kpfs. hurley would tear him apart 8 out of 10 times imo. dea and vlastuin are both 187?  just 1 cm in it.lets not have our players constantly having to fight out of their weight/height division. if we play 3 genuine talls back we want the other 3 to provide good run and importantly good delivery as well as accountability when needed and  with good decision making.
 batch would be ideal if a tall back went down during a game but you want him lining up on the chris maynes or even a edwards of the world and providing plenty of run.dylan grimes in his short interupted career has shown he is the third tall.

imo batch is in a dog fight with dea,  vlastuin,  and mcintosh who in time may become a kpp. in mcintosh i see a much more accountable grant birchall or andrew mackie.
i dunno i have some real concerns about jake yet there is also a lot of things i really like about him.

on morris morris is there because of his aggresion and ability to play on smalls imo batchelor does not have the pace/agility  to play on smalls. morris and batch are not in competition.
imo helbig could do a similar role to morris with better skills. that would in time free morris up to do a run with role in the midfield eliminating the need for hacks like jackson and white.

ben darrou if he ever makes it i see as a genuine f/b a little like mal michael. the shorter but powerful kpd.others of his ilk have been grover at freo rutten at adelaide not overly tall at 190cm but powerful and strong at around 100kg.

most likely im wrong about jake  but you know if i was looking down the track 3 yrs my back 6 plus a few in cover would go.

b/ morris 185/83 - chaplin 195/100 - grimes 193/93
hb/ mcintosh 192/92 - rance 194/95 - helbig 185/85 possibly ellis because of his foot skills coming out.
if helbig makes it as a mid fine,i just like the idea of playing him of hb.  i have always had plenty of time for matt dea and batchelor let them  fight for their spots.
over the next  one or two drafts at the latest 3 drafts i really hope we target a genuine fb with a 1st or second rnd pick.

anyway just some thoughts on the subject. by the way an interesting exercise is say looking who will be there in 3 yrs time. over the next 3 off seasons we will likely turn over a minimum of 15 players thats conservative. by the start of 2016 i would hope we are in a top 4 if not  premiship, sheesh its been that long i cant even spell it  window,  if we get it right. if blokes like batchelor are potentially struggling for agame in 2016 it means we have good cover in the role now, and done a few things right.

I think the fact Batch can play tall is more reason to have him playing as people are saying but not because he can cover injury, but he can also help give a chop out like Grimes does and Chaps is meant to be.

[Judge Roughneck]

Back pocket.

Helbig / Ellis / Conca to end up in the middle, release our best players forward.

[Yeahright]

Why didnt he play in all stars?

[wayne]

Why didnt he play in all stars?

he's not indigenous

[big tone]

What do people think about Batch playing that leading forward role?
He is a good size for a leading forward, he is really good overhead, is a nice long kick and runs and tackles hard and can do just as good a job as a leading forward as Aaron Edwards and Brett O'Hanlon.
And IMO he might have to to get a game in the long term.
Thoughts??

[gerkin greg]

Not for mine. He's a natural defender. Looks lost forward of centre and plays better when he is tasked with stopping a bloke.

[tigs2011]

Not for mine. He's a natural defender. Looks lost forward of centre and plays better when he is tasked with stopping a bloke.

Well said gerkin

[Yeahright]

Why didn't he play in All stars?

[one-eyed]

Batch was on SEN just after midday.

* He said he's now feeling more confident in his body and what he needs to do on gameday.

* He's excited for the Club by the young blokes in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th years coming through.

* Like Dimma he's not worried about another close loss as we were trying a few things out there last night. 

* Newy was a more vocal captain on and off-field whereas Cotch is more a "lead by example" type.

Why didn't he play in All stars?

I think he had a slight niggle a couple of weeks back but he played well last night so he's fine.