Chris Newman [merged]

[mightytiges]

Class and skillwise I have alot of time for Newman and in his first couple of seasons he seemed to be coming along nicely. But he stalled in his development last year like so many of his teammates under Spud.

Where is he at with his footy? He comes across to me as natural driver off a HBF who will thrive under Terry and become an important cog in Wallace's freer and more attacking gameplan.

[Harry]

I'm with you on this one MT.  I rate Newman as one of our best players in that he is probably the most rounded player on our list ie has the least defieciencies.  I don't beleive he stalled last year, rather he was plugging alot of hole caused by spuds game plan and incompetent teamates.  I have no doubts that Newman will be of great value to the Wallace plan, and I woudn't be surprised if he carves himself a successful role in the midfield.  What I like about newmo is his clean hands below his kness and his kicking skills - valuable.

[The Plow King]

I'm not yet convinced Newman will ever be a midfielder.Like you guys I've always quite liked him but everytime he went into the centre bounces he looked a little lost to me.Maybe it was because he was ussually tagging but ,to me he didn't seem to know where to position himself.He's still young and with Terry and chocco we have 2 guys who could probably rectify this deficiency.It'll be interesting to see how he is used in 2005.

[WilliamPowell]

I tend to agree with the Plow King - I don't think Newman is a mid-fielder. I will admit to being very disappointed in his 2004 season. He stagnated and to me a tleast showed very little if any improvement - whether that was because of the previous coaching regime time will tell under Tezza and his crew.

His best position IMO is accross half back, although even there his disposal at times was exposed because he does miss a lot of targets but hey he has alot of mates. Although he seems good in the clinches I don't think he has the speed or the fitness grunt needed to be in the mid-field. One thing I will be watching with interest will be how often he sweep forward under the new game plan. He seemed to go ultra defensive so many times in 2004 (and that I do blame on the previous coaches ). The other thing was he's a left footer and like a couple of other of the left foot brigade he got in the wrong position alot in 2004 and that meant the only way his kicks could go were wide rather than more direct.

To be honest IMO - 2005 is a make or break year for him.

[Bulluss]

I rate Newman as a Gun. He did have a ordinary year, but as Harry said he was all over the place trying to plug the gaps.

He always does the right thing and makes the right decision which is very valuable, i also think he is a very good leader and a potential future captain.

He reminds me a lot of Matthew Knights in the way that he always seems to have plenty of time when he has the footy. i dont see any reason why he couldnt become a regular on baller.

[tiga]

I too think Newmo is a very good player. The thing that impresses me most about him is that he has great vision and always seems to have plenty of time and is cool under pressure ala Buckley. I felt that last year he was just going through the motions like most of the players. I think we will see a very different Chris Newman this season under Wallace.

[JohnF]

Chris Newman is a solid dependable half back flank or back pocket, nothing more, nothing less.

He has good fundamentals, kicks and handballs well, has good vision, pretty good pace, knows what to do with the footy once he gets it.

But he will not make it to the midfield. The main reason for this is that he is not the type of player who is capable of finding the footy often enough. This is somethig that can't be taught, and so I don't think he will ever improve in his ball winning capabilities. Getting between 15-20 touches on ball won't cut it. Well not for a team with prospects of finishing anything north of 14th on the ladder.

This is a concern we have with many of our younger pseudo on ballers. Rodan, Hyde, Krakouer etc haven't shown the capacity to get the ball often enough that is needed of a midfielder. For this reason, I think they will all be failures as on ball prospects. In my view we are really stuffed hardcore when it comes to the midfield. I'm hoping someone like Raines, Gilmour, Deledio steps up otherwise (and with the prospect of Coughlan on the sidelines) we could really find ourselves getting pumped out of the centre this year (hey what's new, I know, but it could get REALLY ugly).

Newman is a good player though, he has his spot in the backline, but he's not a midfielder.

[mightytiges]

Agree Newman belongs in the backline. He has very good disposal so needs to be in a position (off a HBF) to use that to our advantage. Not as a tagger as Spud used him a few times ???. He should base his footy on doing  the role Andrew Mackay use to at Carlton.

This is a concern we have with many of our younger pseudo on ballers. Rodan, Hyde, Krakouer etc haven't shown the capacity to get the ball often enough that is needed of a midfielder. For this reason, I think they will all be failures as on ball prospects. In my view we are really stuffed hardcore when it comes to the midfield. I'm hoping someone like Raines, Gilmour, Deledio steps up otherwise (and with the prospect of Coughlan on the sidelines) we could really find ourselves getting pumped out of the centre this year (hey what's new, I know, but it could get REALLY ugly).

It couldn't get any uglier than last year  . Agree we'll still suck mostly next year but at least it will because our young midfielders coming through despite their talents are not strong enough yet in the body to compete with the big boys. Raines and Krakouer seem to be the ones capable of stepping up this year. Krakouer's main problem is he needs to show consistency. Rodan and Hyde are playing for their careers this year IMO.

[The Plow King]

Ironically, Newman actually played in the middle today in the training  practise match and played quite well.Probably one of the best.

Agree with Mightry Tiges about Raines and Krak.They look tthe goods and  were again the standouts in the midfield along with Rodan and a bit of Hyde and Meyer.

I must say it's refreshing to see options for once while Cogs and Johhno are in the rehab group.More than anything we need depth in the midfield.Good clubs like Port,Aints etc have 10 guys who can swing into the centre and play wellat a drop of a hat.In the past we've been lucky to have 3.

Jacko and Hartigan also look good to play midfield at times in 2005.As they say in the classics "it won't happen over night,but it will happen"

Tivendale and Bowden are firing.I reckon big seasons for both of them.

[mightytiges]

I must say it's refreshing to see options for once while Cogs and Johhno are in the rehab group.More than anything we need depth in the midfield.Good clubs like Port,Aints etc have 10 guys who can swing into the centre and play wellat a drop of a hat.In the past we've been lucky to have 3.

Spot on Plow. We've always relied on the same blokes to do the work in the middle. Just nigh on impossible now days for midfielders to play a whole game in the midfield (unless you're Simon Black). You need a whole bunch of blokes you can rotate through there to keep up with the pace of the game.

[JohnF]

Hope so Plow King.

Just one thing not to forget though when you see Krakouer, Rodan, Newman etc, dominating on the training track: who is their opposition?

That's why I don't place much stock in how guys go at training. It's one thing beating Roach in an onball contest, its another thing beating a Ricciuto, Black or West, which is who these guys will be facing when the real thing arrives.

[The Plow King]

Yep,fair call JohnF.They still have a long way to go, no doubt. It's easy to be a legend on the training track.Maybe it's the sun burn and few too many beers but today i saw a bit of promise.Im still very sceptical of Rodan but a few of the other guys like Krak,Jacko Hyde  and Raines certainly are showing good signs.

[mightytiges]

As a self-confessed Newman fan, I just reckon after a flat 2004 he's had an awesome year so far getting the better of his direct opponent each week as well as generating heaps of run and rebounds out of defence. What's more he can back it by hitting targets. He won't grab the headlines or votes but he just goes about doing his job as the quiet achiever. Even in our loss to the Cats he was reasonable in a thumped side. On ya Chrissy Newman 

[JohnF]

Newman = Makepeace

A bloke who does his job every week for ten years

[mightytiges]

Newman = Makepeace

A bloke who does his job every week for ten years

Know what you mean JohnF but IMO Newman has more strings to his bow than a Makepeace (although I rate him as well). He can play tight and contain a tricky small-mid sized forward or zone off and give us plenty of run out of defence. He can also have spurts in the midfield if required.