Dean Polo

[bluey_21]

Last year we drafted Polo at 20. I had my question marks over Millers tactics as we were drafting a speculative/project player with a goodish pick. But after reflecting on his first year, i'm starting to think that Miller is on to something special.

Pros
Polo is a good height (for a midfielder), now about 188-89cm and 81-82kg. Polo is a hard worker, doesn't have Lids pace, but has great endurance and the work ethic to keep pushing himself. Polo is a genuine inside ball-winner. Very impressed with the way he played in the VFL. Put his head over the ball and kept finding the pill mostly in the guts. Unlike many first year players, Polo didn't peter out towards the end of the season, but got stronger, such to the extent that he was vying for a senior call-up late in the season.

Cons
His skills, in particular his kicking, is terrible IMO, although his kicking has improved this season, it still needs a lot of polishing. Also his decision-making and composure under pressure is a bit shakey. One passage of play that comes to mind is where Polo was on the wing and was under pressure so fired off a lollipop handball to a teammate who wasn't in any better position, this resulted in a turnover.

Over the year, i've heard some (IMO hopeful) people anoint him the next Luke Ball. IMO this isn't unreaslistic but is unlikely to happen. If Polo can become half as good as Luke Ball i'd be content. 

[Razorblade]

Your post is full of innaccuracies, i don't know where to start!

Polo wasn't a project, just because someone needed to put on weight doesn't make them a project.

At his best his kicking is excellent, but his inconsistent, i remember watching one Coburg game on the ABC he ran out of the middle full pace, kicked the ball 55 metres down a players throat, then about 5 mins later kicked a 20m hanger which caused a turnover.

His not like Luke Ball, his no where near as versatile as Ball, he might get in and under but thats where the comparison ends.

Polo was pushing for senior selection towards the end of the season, after a poo 1st half of the year, but from what i've heard that was mostly due to him BADLY struggling to adjust to the city lifestyle as opposed to the country where he grew up.

[Captain__Blood]

Whilst he has had a good VFL season and has alot of pro's as have been discribed above his kicking is shacky at times, 'terrible' might be abit much but the kid does lack some polish and composure. He does indeed seem to have good hands in close.

I dont think we will see the best from Polo bot a good 3/4 seasons - in that respect he is a project player in the Hyde/Newman molde. Whilst Luke Ball might be unrealistic (as he is a brillant footballer) I really like the look of Polo and he could be a Braun/Cross type player down the track. Fingers crossed a key part of our 22 and the engine room in the future.



The kid does have a good body size for a midfeilder and if he can stack the weight on then should be a welcome addition to the likes of Cogs, Tuck and hopfully Foley.

Apparnetly last pre-season really hurt the lad and he couldn't cope with the Meyer and Deledio types handing it alot better. If started average in the Coburg 2's untill he won himself a spot in the Coburg. He got better as the season went along and unlike most other 1st year players he got stronger and stronger and was one of the 2's most important players.

I thought we might have paided over the odds for him @ 20 in the 2004 draft but he's sposed to really have a good head of him and love hard work.

Having alook at his fooytdraft profile (http://www.footydraft.com/players.php?player=dean_polo) it is encourging to see 25 touches in his last year of TAC Cup, All Australian, TAC Cup side of the year (wing) and praise of his effectivness as an inside midfeilder, work rate, finding the ball, overhead mark, pace and marking & inprovment left in him (thus long term/project player)

[Razorblade]

We did pay over the odds for him at 20, if i remember the 2004 draft correctly i reckon there was a chance of him being available at 36 but it wasn't a guarantee, and if your really keen on a player then you sometimes have to reach for him!

[Captain__Blood]

We did pay over the odds for him at 20, if i remember the 2004 draft correctly i reckon there was a chance of him being available at 36 but it wasn't a guarantee, and if your really keen on a player then you sometimes have to reach for him!

Would have thought Thomas Murphy  (21 - Hawthorn), Sean Rusling  (23 - Collingwood), Adam Hartlett (25 - Carlton) @ 20 with Polo @ 36 would have been abit smarter.

Wasn't to be.

[WilliamPowell]

Pros
Polo is a good height (for a midfielder), now about 188-89cm and 81-82kg. Polo is a hard worker, doesn't have Lids pace, but has great endurance and the work ethic to keep pushing himself. Polo is a genuine inside ball-winner. Very impressed with the way he played in the VFL. Put his head over the ball and kept finding the pill mostly in the guts. Unlike many first year players, Polo didn't peter out towards the end of the season, but got stronger, such to the extent that he was vying for a senior call-up late in the season.

Cons
His skills, in particular his kicking, is terrible IMO, although his kicking has improved this season, it still needs a lot of polishing. Also his decision-making and composure under pressure is a bit shakey. One passage of play that comes to mind is where Polo was on the wing and was under pressure so fired off a lollipop handball to a teammate who wasn't in any better position, this resulted in a turnover.

I am Dean Polo fan I've said before he just seems to be a footballer rather than an athlete - he seems at this early stage to have footy smarts.

I agree with regard to his kicking - at times it's excellent others times it is poor. I reckon at this point of time he is better by hand than foot. Exceptionally quick by hand. Also seems to have some upper body strength when he applies tackles. Unfortunately, like a few of our young blokes because of their body size, doesn't seem to have the strength yet to break alot of tackles. Although I think with another pre-season in the gym there will no doubt be improvement there.

Polo was pushing for senior selection towards the end of the season, after a pooh 1st half of the year, but from what i've heard that was mostly due to him BADLY struggling to adjust to the city lifestyle as opposed to the country where he grew up.

You're onto something there. I was at the last Club80 dinnder just prior to Xmas and Tezza mentioned that Dean struggled with adjusting to life in Melbourne. However by the middle of the season he had settle and football improved out of sight - hence, why he was so close to playing senior footy in the last 2 weeks of season 2005. Tezza also said that so far in this pre-season he had improved even further in his training

I expect Dean Polo to play senior footy in 2006 

[bluey_21]

Polo wasn't a project, just because someone needed to put on weight doesn't make them a project.

RB, I consider Polo a project player not because he is skinny but because his game is far from perfect. His kicking isn't up to scratch IMO, he lacks composure under pressure and his decision making is sometimes questionable. I know there are some others who think of Polo as a project player, off the top of me head MT who labelled Polo a project player in the 'How Good are theYoungsters' thread a couple of months ago.

At his best his kicking is excellent, but his inconsistent, i remember watching one Coburg game on the ABC he ran out of the middle full pace, kicked the ball 55 metres down a players throat, then about 5 mins later kicked a 20m hanger which caused a turnover.

So what, if at his best he can kick the ball down the throat of a player from 55m, even I could do that at my best. As you said, his kicking is inconsistent so even if he does produce a chance of a goal with one good kick, his next couple of kicks may result in turnovers and we all know what that means. Because of the above listed reasons, i consider his kicking terrible!

His not like Luke Ball, his no where near as versatile as Ball, he might get in and under but thats where the comparison ends.

I never said Polo was going to be the next Luke Ball, to reiterate i said that some very optimistic people compared him with Luke Ball. I did say that Polo becoming the next Luke Ball was highly unlikely for the reasons you put down that he is no way as versatile as Luke Ball!

[mightytiges]

I did say Polo was a project player because he wasn't expected to play senior footy last year which he didn't. The fact he was considered in the latter rounds showed he developed faster than was expected especially as he began the year with Coburg's Reserves. He's no longer a project player now.

Most phantom drafts I saw had Polo as a late second rounder (b/w 30-40). He'll be compared to the kids  picked up after him before our next pick at 36. Van Berlo (11 games), Rusling (6) and Murphy (1) played senior footy in 2005. Van Berlo did well in a couple of games for the Crows but we didn't need another outside player after scoring Lids, Tambling and Meyer.   

21. Hawthorn - Thomas Murphy (San) 
22. Western Bulldogs - Jesse Wells (Tas)
23. Collingwood - Sean Rusling (SA) 
24. Adelaide - Nathan Van Berlo (WA) 
25. Carlton - Adam Hartlett (SA)
26. Hawthorn - Matt Little (Cal) 
27. Brisbane Lions - Pat Garner (Qld) 
28. Adelaide - Chad Gibson (SA)
29. West Coast - Matt Rosa (NB) 
30. Essendon - Andrew Lee (Tas) 
31. Sydney - Jarred Moore (Dan) 
32. Geelong - Brent Prismall (Wes) 
33. St Kilda - Cain Ackland (PA) 
34. Port Adelaide - James Ezard (Cal) 
35. Port Adelaide - Fabian Deluca (Eas) 


It'll be interesting to see in the intra-club game if Polo's disposal has improved over summer with this more individual skill focussed pre-season training.

[PuntRdRoar]

Gibson was my hope at 20, but I also wanted Wood at 16...anyway...both Gibson and Rosa would have been better picks in my opinion.

[Captain__Blood]

Gibson was my hope at 20, but I also wanted Wood at 16...anyway...both Gibson and Rosa would have been better picks in my opinion.

Agreed.

Wood @ 16, Rosa @ 20.

Would have been brillant.

[PuntRdRoar]

I gotta admit I rated Gibson higher than Wood and Rosa- but it has me beat how 3 very very  good players were not taken before Polo.

[Captain__Blood]

I gotta admit I rated Gibson higher than Wood and Rosa- but it has me beat how 3 very very  good players were not taken before Polo.

3?

Hawthorn - Thomas Murphy (San) (18)
Western Bulldogs - Jesse Wells (Tas) (64)
Collingwood - Sean Rusling (SA) (55)
Adelaide - Nathan Van Berlo (WA) (51)
Carlton - Adam Hartlett (SA) (36)
Hawthorn - Matt Little (Cal) (37)
Brisbane Lions - Pat Garner (Qld) (50)
Adelaide - Chad Gibson (SA) (33)
West Coast - Matt Rosa (NB) (29)
Essendon - Andrew Lee (Tas) (58)
Sydney - Jarred Moore (Dan) (57)
Geelong - Brent Prismall (Wes) (61)
Port Adelaide - Fabian Deluca (Eas) (12)

Most of the above look really look...

 

[PuntRdRoar]

2 then

[blx]

dont start counting your chickens bwoyz 

[bluey_21]

If Travis Cloke didn't go to the Pies under F/S i'd take him @ 16 coz i reckon Pattison would have lasted till 20, and Polo would have lasted to 36