Spencer White

[Sainternist]

People were saying he could potentially become the next Buddy Franklin.

How has he progressed this year at Sandy?

We're in desperate need for tall forwards in the future. Does this guy still have a future at our club?

[gringo]

He's having a pretty flat patch right now and looks a long way off right now. He could be one that needs the motivation of seniors to fire up or maybe he's just not that motivated.

[saintspremiers]

He needs to be delisted.

[spert]

I saw him take a couple of nice marks at a Sandy game, and also his long run to kick a goal against Werribee last year, but nothing else to show he is anything other than ordinary. Dunnel is the next cab off the rank for a senior game

[Zed]

The most over rated and over hyped player on our list since Tommy Walsh.

Hard to believe a player in his 2nd year on an AFL list is going to rise from VFL 2nds to AFL - and make an impact. Surely has to get 1 more year on the list given tall forwards are hard to find. I get he has has been struggling with injury, but he seems well off the pace.

[remboy]

Hopefully he'll get a full pre season leading into next year. If he doesn't show anything on the back of that he's in trouble.

[stinger]

i was looking for the film clip of minch's goal against the bulldogs...can't locate it at the moment....anyway...brilliant goal......scored from one of the quickest and best handpasses you will ever see.....that's right...from spencer....give the boy a chance ...he's still only a teenager......

[jonesy]

We need to get savvy and exploit him.

Pick out a game later in the year when a team's defence has been hit with injury. We plan for this 3 weeks in advance,all the planning go's into using Roo as the decoy, and time and time again we pump the ball into White instead. At every opportunity we give it to him, Joe the gooses, chip backwards to him , 100% of the time. Get him a cheap 6-8 goals...doesn't matter if his opponent runs off him all day and gathers 35 touches...just get as many cheap goals into Spencer as possible. Don't worry about any other facet during that game,just Spencer. Then the week after we set him up for some sort of minor scandal,out late at night or something,and give him a club imposed suspension for the remainder of the year, stating "no matter how exciting Spencer is, he needs to play by team rules after hours. We think he is the next best thing,but he needs to realise this and that etc etc"

We pump him up straight after round 22 after he's served his ban,and tell the world he is a changed man, give him a few public showings, get a feel good article written about him. Almost make him the face of the club for 3-4 weeks...

Trade week arrives, the pelican is after a first rounder, throws up a few deals that aren't satisfactory. One club says " look, none of your players have any value to us for a first rounder, we'd only take Spencer White,and I don't suppose there is any chance you would trade out a guy who has played one game and kicked 8 goals and looks to be the future of the club?"

The pelican shocks the football world and trades Spencer and pick 2 for picks 5,6,12 and 18.

It's fool proof

[stinger]

We need to get savvy and exploit him.

Pick out a game later in the year when a team's defence has been hit with injury. We plan for this 3 weeks in advance,all the planning go's into using Roo as the decoy, and time and time again we pump the ball into White instead. At every opportunity we give it to him, Joe the gooses, chip backwards to him , 100% of the time. Get him a cheap 6-8 goals...doesn't matter if his opponent runs off him all day and gathers 35 touches...just get as many cheap goals into Spencer as possible. Don't worry about any other facet during that game,just Spencer. Then the week after we set him up for some sort of minor scandal,out late at night or something,and give him a club imposed suspension for the remainder of the year, stating "no matter how exciting Spencer is, he needs to play by team rules after hours. We think he is the next best thing,but he needs to realise this and that etc etc"

We pump him up straight after round 22 after he's served his ban,and tell the world he is a changed man, give him a few public showings, get a feel good article written about him. Almost make him the face of the club for 3-4 weeks...

Trade week arrives, the pelican is after a first rounder, throws up a few deals that aren't satisfactory. One club says " look, none of your players have any value to us for a first rounder, we'd only take Spencer White,and I don't suppose there is any chance you would trade out a guy who has played one game and kicked 8 goals and looks to be the future of the club?"

The pelican shocks the football world and trades Spencer and pick 2 for picks 5,6,12 and 18.

It's fool proof

you're kidding aren't you??

[Dr Spaceman]

We need to get savvy and exploit him.

Pick out a game later in the year when a team's defence has been hit with injury. We plan for this 3 weeks in advance,all the planning go's into using Roo as the decoy, and time and time again we pump the ball into White instead. At every opportunity we give it to him, Joe the gooses, chip backwards to him , 100% of the time. Get him a cheap 6-8 goals...doesn't matter if his opponent runs off him all day and gathers 35 touches...just get as many cheap goals into Spencer as possible. Don't worry about any other facet during that game,just Spencer. Then the week after we set him up for some sort of minor scandal,out late at night or something,and give him a club imposed suspension for the remainder of the year, stating "no matter how exciting Spencer is, he needs to play by team rules after hours. We think he is the next best thing,but he needs to realise this and that etc etc"

We pump him up straight after round 22 after he's served his ban,and tell the world he is a changed man, give him a few public showings, get a feel good article written about him. Almost make him the face of the club for 3-4 weeks...

Trade week arrives, the pelican is after a first rounder, throws up a few deals that aren't satisfactory. One club says " look, none of your players have any value to us for a first rounder, we'd only take Spencer White,and I don't suppose there is any chance you would trade out a guy who has played one game and kicked 8 goals and looks to be the future of the club?"

The pelican shocks the football world and trades Spencer and pick 2 for picks 5,6,12 and 18.

It's fool proof

you're kidding aren't you??

Yes, I think he is

[Middo]

He needs to be delisted.

Yeah lets delist him after two years without giving him a game ...

Tipping once he gets a game we may see enough to persevere with him ..

[Spinner]

He's been injured a bit this season. Well beforehand anyways.

Seems he got worse from not playing a game on the weekend....

I reckon he has shown more than Lee. He was quite good last year in the VFL.

I'm staying with him.

[dragit]

It's easy to become impatient, but there's no point drafting 18 year old key position players if we aren't prepared to be patient.

Aaron Black is a good example of the time-frame we should be looking at: drafted in 2009, 1 game in 2011, 3 in 2012… then 18 games (& 33 goals) at 22 years of age.

Forget about White for now, hopefully he sneaks a game in this year or a few next year.

[Dr Spaceman]

We’re all anonymous on this forum but I’ll take a bit of a guess that:

• A large percentage of us have viewed the infamous U18 highlights videos
• A reasonable percentage of us have seen Spencer play in 2 – 3 televised VFL matches
• A small percentage of us have seen Spencer play live in VFL games.
• An extremely small percentage of us have seen Spencer regular train with the Saints squad.

I fit into the first two categories and that is it. So in all honesty I have no idea as to whether or not the kid will make it, much less whether he has the appetite to make it.

However he’s only been at the club for less than a season and a half. He’s had problems with his wrist which necessitated surgery and with his hamstring. And he’s currently wearing a moon boot. So while it’s easy to look at a game and label a kid as lazy, or lacking motivation etc., I reckon only those who get to interact with him on a regular basis are able to accurately make such judgements. My own belief is that the game these days is so demanding that if a player really did lack the motivation for AFL footy then they’d probably walk away Steve Gaertner style, rather than have to rock up to training on almost a daily basis, endure subzero recovery sessions etc.

Of course this is a fan forum and it’s fun to speculate. And to see if you can guess right. And to see if your football judgement is as good as you think it is.

But at the end of the day it’s experts at the club who are best placed to decide whether Spencer White is retained on the list. Whether he does have the ability and the aptitude. And I trust them to make the correct decision.

That said, it is certainly the hope of this fan that the kid starts to show the ability that he no doubt possesses and goes on to be a mighty Saints player. And if that takes a few more years then so be it.

[stinger]

We’re all anonymous on this forum but I’ll take a bit of a guess that:

• A large percentage of us have viewed the infamous U18 highlights videos
• A reasonable percentage of us have seen Spencer play in 2 – 3 televised VFL matches
• A small percentage of us have seen Spencer play live in VFL games.
• An extremely small percentage of us have seen Spencer regular train with the Saints squad.

I fit into the first two categories and that is it. So in all honesty I have no idea as to whether or not the kid will make it, much less whether he has the appetite to make it.

However he’s only been at the club for less than a season and a half. He’s had problems with his wrist which necessitated surgery and with his hamstring. And he’s currently wearing a moon boot. So while it’s easy to look at a game and label a kid as lazy, or lacking motivation etc., I reckon only those who get to interact with him on a regular basis are able to accurately make such judgements. My own belief is that the game these days is so demanding that if a player really did lack the motivation for AFL footy then they’d probably walk away Steve Gaertner style, rather than have to rock up to training on almost a daily basis, endure subzero recovery sessions etc.

Of course this is a fan forum and it’s fun to speculate. And to see if you can guess right. And to see if your football judgement is as good as you think it is.

But at the end of the day it’s experts at the club who are best placed to decide whether Spencer White is retained on the list. Whether he does have the ability and the aptitude. And I trust them to make the correct decision.

That said, it is certainly the hope of this fan that the kid starts to show the ability that he no doubt possesses and goes on to be a mighty Saints player. And if that takes a few more years then so be it.

excellent ,sensible post....

[bergholt]

The most over rated and over hyped player on our list since Tommy Walsh.

Hard to believe a player in his 2nd year on an AFL list is going to rise from VFL 2nds to AFL - and make an impact. Surely has to get 1 more year on the list given tall forwards are hard to find. I get he has has been struggling with injury, but he seems well off the pace.

He's 19, what do you seriously expect?

He may not make it, and the club may decide at the end of the year that he's not worth persisting with. But I'm tipping they were expecting him to take a bit of time so as long as they're seeing some progress, he'll get at least a couple more years.

[tony74]

Well said Dr. Nothing wrong with his work ethic, and trains as hard as anyone. The problem is between the ears. The club will stick with him,and hope a full pre season and maturity will do the trick. The boy has something special. Forget about the running goal for Sandy, some of the things he does at training make you shake your head. They'll persist.

[stinger]

Well said Dr. Nothing wrong with his work ethic, and trains as hard as anyone. The problem is between the ears. The club will stick with him,and hope a full pre season and maturity will do the trick. The boy has something special. Forget about the running goal for Sandy, some of the things he does at training make you shake your head. They'll persist.

i think i have a real warmth for you tony..... ...in a manly sort of way of course....

[dragit]

Well said Dr. Nothing wrong with his work ethic, and trains as hard as anyone. The problem is between the ears. The club will stick with him,and hope a full pre season and maturity will do the trick. The boy has something special. Forget about the running goal for Sandy, some of the things he does at training make you shake your head. They'll persist.

i think i have a real warmth for you tony..... ...in a manly sort of way of course....

There's nothing wrong with it sting… you should be out and proud.

[plugger66]

I think however we look at it he has been disappointing. i dont think people realise the type of ordinary footballers playing in sandy seconds. He should at least be a regular in the ones but having said that he is a young tall kid who may or may not make it but at least needs one more year. if this time next year he is in Sandy seconds it maybe time to let him go. it will be interesting what sort of contract he gets at the end of the year. i would only give him a year and see if that gets him going.

What it does show is highlights are nearly more overated than hit outs. Unless they also show lowlights they should be taken with a grain of salt. I reckon Justin Sweeney would have a great highlights tape from his time at casey. Pity he didnt do other things on the ground that were required.

[gringo]

I think however we look at it he has been disappointing. i dont think people realise the type of ordinary footballers playing in sandy seconds. He should at least be a regular in the ones but having said that he is a young tall kid who may or may not make it but at least needs one more year. if this time next year he is in Sandy seconds it maybe time to let him go. it will be interesting what sort of contract he gets at the end of the year. i would only give him a year and see if that gets him going.

What it does show is highlights are nearly more overated than hit outs. Unless they also show lowlights they should be taken with a grain of salt. I reckon Justin Sweeney would have a great highlights tape from his time at casey. Pity he didnt do other things on the ground that were required.

A guy who does some work for me played at the Saints development league or what ever it was called with Plugger. He said they though he might be mentally challenged and was a huge unco clown. The next year he exploded and was incredible. I'm hoping that Spencer might do something similar. Spencer doesn't necessarily have the required skills to be a stay at home FF he might need to be developed like Buddy where his running game is exploited. He might need to get a taste of seniors to focus him on the prize. He's likely to be a high maintenance player as far as development goes but his skills are rare.

[stevie]

Well said Dr. Nothing wrong with his work ethic, and trains as hard as anyone. The problem is between the ears. The club will stick with him,and hope a full pre season and maturity will do the trick. The boy has something special. Forget about the running goal for Sandy, some of the things he does at training make you shake your head. They'll persist.

i think i have a real warmth for you tony..... ...in a manly sort of way of course....

There's nothing wrong with it sting… you should be out and proud.

Wow that is so sweet! Makes me wanna jump into the closet, rummage around for a few weeks testing the waters, then come out of the closet at an opportune moment!

[saintspremiers]

He needs to be delisted.

Yeah lets delist him after two years without giving him a game ...

Tipping once he gets a game we may see enough to persevere with him ..

Maybe you are right. Could well be our next Rhys Stanley though.

[Dis Believer]

Well said Dr. Nothing wrong with his work ethic, and trains as hard as anyone. The problem is between the ears. The club will stick with him,and hope a full pre season and maturity will do the trick. The boy has something special. Forget about the running goal for Sandy, some of the things he does at training make you shake your head. They'll persist.

I don't doubt this. What I saw of him at Sandy last year didn't indicate laziness. he covered plenty of ground, and easily. Experience and knowledge is his shortfall. He doesn't strike me as a "natural" footballer who knows where to run, he needs to learn where and when to run - and needs to learn to back himself. He doesn't understand yet that he will win more contests than he loses as long as he gets to them. When (if) he gains that understanding he will be hard to stop. Fast, tall, agile, co-ordinated, has it all.....

[Zed]

The most over rated and over hyped player on our list since Tommy Walsh.

Hard to believe a player in his 2nd year on an AFL list is going to rise from VFL 2nds to AFL - and make an impact. Surely has to get 1 more year on the list given tall forwards are hard to find. I get he has has been struggling with injury, but he seems well off the pace.

He's 19, what do you seriously expect?

He may not make it, and the club may decide at the end of the year that he's not worth persisting with. But I'm tipping they were expecting him to take a bit of time so as long as they're seeing some progress, he'll get at least a couple more years.

Perhaps you missed my point - how many players in the VFL 2nds have gone on to be '"the next buddy franklin". As fans we have been guilty of allowing that kind of hype to go on for too long. I certainly hope they keep him on the list and we all hope he makes it big- but the sooner that we kill of this 'next buddy frankiln' talk (as per the OP) the better.