What Rocket said on sport 927 this morning

[Desipura]

When asked about the following players this is what he said:

Higgins - Has been in the best 3 trainers at the club this pre season, has no doubt that he will become a permanent midfielder.

Hill - Is training well and has a reasonable motor, hopes he continues on from last season.

Everitt - Coming back from glandular fever, had a few setbacks last year.

Harbrow - Terrific attitude who has trained really well. "Is definately in our best 22". Proved in the final series that he is more than a defensive fwd.

Grant - Has trained ok, expects him to play 10+ games this year. Will initially play as a 3rd fwd, fwd pocket, Half fwd flank as he has good agility and can take a mark. Will become a kpp when he fills out.

Cordy - is very confident in his own ability without being overconfident. Is very skinny however he (Cordy) believes he will play senior footy this year. More than held his own in a practice match last week.

As TCD has previously stated, Rocket said that Lake, Williams, Eagleton, Johnno, Giansiracusa and Murphy will be rested for Darwin.

[LostDoggy]

Footy's Comming, Footy's Comming, Footy's Comming, Footy's Comming, Footy's Comming, Footy's Comming. Thanks for that Desipura.

[aker39]

Desipura has summed the interview up nicely.

The 2 main things I got out of the interview were that the coach thinks a lot of Harbrow as a player and person.

Also, Rocket was impressed with Ayce's performance in the scratch match, but although Ayce thinks he may be ready for senior footy in 2009, Rocket's not sure that his body is.

[lemmon]

Biggest thing i picked up from that was that Grant would play 10+ games, IMO a massive surprise from Rocket as he's coming off an injury plagued first season.

[ledge]

Question is who makes way for Grant and Cordy?

[bornadog]

Great to see that Grant will be given ago this season, we need his height and marking power. Will be surprised if Ayce ends up playing more than one or two games, but hey if he does, that will be terrific experience for him.

[Desipura]

Desipura has summed the interview up nicely.

The 2 main things I got out of the interview were that the coach thinks a lot of Harbrow as a player and person.

Also, Rocket was impressed with Ayce's performance in the scratch match, but although Ayce thinks he may be ready for senior footy in 2009, Rocket's not sure that his body is.

Spot on.

Also I think if we are going to be a serious challenger in the next year or so, we have to blood the likes of Grant now rather than waiting until he fills out more which might be another 1 or 2 seasons away. The grunt work of Minson in the forward 50 becomes more important as he needs to provide a path for the likes of Grant to show his natural flair.

[bornadog]

Spot on.

Also I think if we are going to be a serious challenger in the next year or so, we have to blood the likes of Grant now rather than waiting until he fills out more which might be another 1 or 2 seasons away.

Did he mention Boumann at all?

[G-Mo77]

Question is who makes way for Grant and Cordy?

Injuries? Out of form players? As much as we would like the season to go perfect it won't a spot will open up for one of them at some stage.

There will always be a place for a tall in our forward line if they're good enough IMO.

[Desipura]

Did he mention Boumann at all?

No, I mentioned everyone Rocket spoke about in my opening post.

[ledge]

Injuries? Out of form players? As much as we would like the season to go perfect it won't a spot will open up for one of them at some stage.

There will always be a place for a tall in our forward line if they're good enough IMO.

Minson might move out later when the kids can go alone, but at the minute i would like to see Minson still there as he would probably get the best tall defender due to his build.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Doubt Cordy will play more than one, maybe two games. He just doesn't have the build. An intra-club scratch match is a HELL of a lot different to the real thing. If he does well enough at Willy, they might give him a game or two, but IMHO we won't really see much of him. He's around the 75-79kg mark isn't he? Eek.

Grant to play 10+ games is really interesting. I wonder if Rocket actually believes and expects that, or if he's just trying to give Grant some encouragement/something to work hard for? Either way, I'm sure we'll all be watching on with interest.

Rocket has made praise of Harbrow a number of times, he sounds like one of Rockets favourites and it's great. He seems very down to earth and extremely hard working. I can't wait to see Harbrow in action this season.

[Mofra]

Rocket has made praise of Harbrow a number of times, he sounds like one of Rockets favourites and it's great. He seems very down to earth and extremely hard working. I can't wait to see Harbrow in action this season.

The qualifying final against Geelong showed why. The guys were obviously told to take their opponent on, and Harbrow took an and beat Scarlett on the wing/flank with a brilliant don't argue.

If you watch Harbrow's movement off the ball at kick ins, he is very quick to take up a defensive position to block the space before the opponent can bring the ball in. Those are the sort of things fans rarely give a player credit for but something Harbrow does really well.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

Biggest thing i picked up from that was that Grant would play 10+ games, IMO a massive surprise from Rocket as he's coming off an injury plagued first season.

Must say that I too am surprised but it could be a motivational thing for the young pups & the older ones, just quietly putting them on notice.

looks like we have some big guns coming back into the mix for this season, Tommy, Everitt and lets not forget the likes of Ward ect down at Willi.

[bornadog]

Must say that I too am surprised but it could be a motivational thing for the young pups & the older ones, just quietly putting them on notice.

looks like we have some big guns coming back into the mix for this season, Tommy, Everitt and lets not forget the likes of Ward ect down at Willi.

Can't wait to see Ward this season, now that he has completed VCE and can train with the boys. I think this kid is going to be a gun.