AFL Daily News - Rich vs Naitanui in draft, Buckley to coach Collingwood?, Western Bulldogs in strife etc

Posted by News

October 29, 2008

More daily news updates…

West Coast coach John Worsfold says the Eagles are yet to decide who to select with their prized first-round pick in November’s national AFL draft, still considering between Rich and Naitanui.

Woosha is stuck in the toughest position you can be in when you are drafting – the choice between an athletic player who is a bit of a project, but whose upside is unlike anything we have ever seen before, or the stock standard star young mid-fielder. Make the wrong decision either way and it will be forever on your resume.

“As you know our rule of thumb is that we’ll just take the player that they (our recruiting staff) rate the best player and we’ll stick with that,” Worsfold said.

“Our recruiting guys at the moment are still putting their final list order together so they’re still having sessions where they watch a lot of video tapes and meet as a group.

“They’ll have that ready to go over the next couple of weeks.

“It’s obviously all influenced by what Melbourne do with their first pick but our guys will have their minds very clear about what they do with pick two once we know what Melbourne are doing.”

FORMER Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley has been given a glowing endorsement as a potential coach by two of his former teammates.

I mean this isn’t really rocket science here, Bucks is the best special comments man in the business – especially in terms of former players – and his knowledge in real time during the game is second to none. Considering how keen teams were to give another former player a coaching position just recently Buckley has to be a no-brainer.

“He’s been pretty good, with his knowledge of the game, having played it a few times,” Pendlebury said, ahead of this Friday’s second Test against Ireland.

“I suppose he’s a natural leader, which most of the boys are with the way they get out there and share their knowledge.

“I’m sure if Bucks wants to go that way, he’ll be able to. He’s smart enough and he’ll definitely put in the time to do it if he wants it.”

WESTERN Bulldogs president David Smorgon believes his club would not survive if the Victorian Government’s involvement in Whitten Oval’s multi-million dollar redevelopment is overturned.

“It will have very severe repercussions because it’s now a $30 million redevelopment in the fourth stages of the plan,” Smorgon told SEN on Wednesday morning.

“If the council got back involved with the planning issues and if we were subject to the continued delays and frustrations they were causing us, then some of the major funding would be at risk.

“If that funding was at risk, it would cause a financial crisis for the Bulldogs.

“Everyone knows, other than this Greens member, what’s going on in the world’s economic situation, and we simply could not replace some of the funding that’s been guaranteed to the Bulldogs.”

There is a strong call to not judge the success of this Friday night’s International Rules game at the MCG by size of the crowd…honestly I haven’t given it two thoughts.

GEELONG’S Matthew Egan remains on track for a Round 1 comeback , but Tom Harley says people shouldn’t expect too much of him straight away. Yep we are really struggling for news at this point.

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