Doyle & LRT

[Nico]

Originally posted by midaro
Must admit that LRT got better as day went by. But too many handballs to players under pressure.

If you have a close look at the replay you will notice LRT handballing from hands and knees. Now when this is the case you are under extreme pressure from a pack of opposition players, so in this context he is always going to have to try to find a needle eye opening between legs etc. to someone whoever that may be because if he doesn't he gets pinged for not disposing of the pill.

So who else does he handball to, the good fairy perhaps!!!???

[midaro]

Originally posted by Nico
If you have a close look at the replay you will notice LRT handballing from hands and knees. Now when this is the case you are under extreme pressure from a pack of opposition players, so in this context he is always going to have to try to find a needle eye opening between legs etc. to someone whoever that may be because if he doesn't he gets pinged for not disposing of the pill.

So who else does he handball to, the good fairy perhaps!!!???

I was unclear.
Yes, he often handballs from hands and knees, because he is so uncordinated he seems to end up on his kness a lot - he needs to learn to keep his feet.
He dosen't just handball to players under pressure, but puts players under pressure with inaccurate handball - i.e. at their feet, head, or wide. His hand skills are not comparable with the rest of the team IMO.

IMO LRT is our 22 player at the moment (with Ablett). Its only his size that keeps him in the side. Yes, he may be a longterm KPP backman, but ATM I'd like to see Rogers tried in his place.

[Nico]

Originally posted by midaro
I was unclear.
Yes, he often handballs from hands and knees, because he is so uncordinated he seems to end up on his kness a lot - he needs to learn to keep his feet.
He dosen't just handball to players under pressure, but puts players under pressure with inaccurate handball - i.e. at their feet, head, or wide. His hand skills are not comparable with the rest of the team IMO.

IMO LRT is our 22 player at the moment (with Ablett). Its only his size that keeps him in the side. Yes, he may be a longterm KPP backman, but ATM I'd like to see Rogers tried in his place.

I find that a strange assesment, as many of our players are on hands and knees as they are so bloody desperate for the footy. I reckon the reverse with LRT. For a big bloke I reckon he keeps his feet OK. Nonetheless I will watch him more closely next match on this aspect of his game.

Also we had over 200 handballs today and many times, not surprisingly, players made errant handballs thus putting players under pressure. But we still won by 52 points!!!

[CureTheSane]

Originally posted by chammond

Doyle gave us another little glimpse of what injuries to he and Ball have robbed us of for the past two or three seasons. If they both stay fit until round 26, we will be premiers.

I look to the left to see who is the bold RWOer to make a statement like this and who should it be?.....

I like how I generally think your comments to be accurate.
Hope this one is too

[Sanecow]

OK, I haven't been Doyle's biggest fan (especially late last year). But he was pretty solid yesterday. The fact that he frees up Goodes adds hugely to his value in the team! Let's hope he gets even better!

[Go Swannies]

It seems that we always need a whipping boy! May as well follow the Tigers . . . Saddo shaped up so whose next in the spotlight? Oh LRT. Thank goodness. He's always in the middle of the action and thus looks awkward - why doesn't he play by himself for a while? Or just go back to the reserves.

I have an alternative - why don't we start a movement to put Bazza back in the reserves and then the problem of our crowded firsts is solved. After all, he kicked like crap yesterday - 4.4 and one out on the full. A few weeks in reserves would give him back his confidence. But I suspect it'd prematurely age a few of his opponents there!

Or drop Leo Barry - he's always on his hands and knees, too. What's that about?

Or maybe crawling is our real strength - remember NOG's power crawl in the PF against Brisbane? Then Heath James was at it again yesterday.

Maybe I'm a sycophant but I'm with Roos: the team had no passengers yesterday. We can juggle the list to suit the opposition but no-one needs to get dropped on form and, while they are playing as well as the oldtimers, a lot of the kids will only develop with the experience.

[liz]

Originally posted by midaro
IMO LRT is our 22 player at the moment (with Ablett). Its only his size that keeps him in the side. Yes, he may be a longterm KPP backman, but ATM I'd like to see Rogers tried in his place.

If LRT is only in the side due to his size, then wouldn't the same be the case for Rogers if he came in?

I reckon LRT is a far more flexible player at this stage than Rogers. Rogers is a big unit and probably only a KPP. Lewis is deceptively athletic and can play pretty much anywhere on the ground. As the "22nd player" this is actually pretty critcial because it means that Roos can throw him anywhere he needs to.

I thought Lewis had a pretty good game yesterday, especially in the second half. Lot's of our players made skill errors yesterday, mostly through some gross over-use of the ball, and Lewis was no worse than most.

While that was a great performance - definitely our best footy yet this season - we would have pumped them by 15 goals with better use of the ball.

[midaro]

Originally posted by lizz
If LRT is only in the side due to his size, then wouldn't the same be the case for Rogers if he came in? I reckon LRT is a far more flexible player at this stage than Rogers. Rogers is a big unit and probably only a KPP.

Yep. But Rogers hasen't been tried at senior level yet. LRT has had 20+ games. Rogers looked promising in the preseason, and has much better disposal skills that LRT IMO.

Originally posted by lizz
Lewis is deceptively athletic and can play pretty much anywhere on the ground. As the "22nd player" this is actually pretty critcial because it means that Roos can throw him anywhere he needs to.

Yep. But where on the ground is he genuinely competitive? I've said it before, as a tall forward I have never seen him goal from a contested mark. As a ruckman he barely gets his hand to the ball. As a wingman he's no better than most of the rest of the list. And although he played a bit down back yesterday, at this point in his career he's just going to give away too many free kicks because of his awkwardness. So yes, he can play a lot of positions just not well. He's a poor man's Aaron Henneman .

Originally posted by lizz
I thought Lewis had a pretty good game yesterday, especially in the second half. Lot's of our players made skill errors yesterday, mostly through some gross over-use of the ball, and Lewis was no worse than most. While that was a great performance - definitely our best footy yet this season - we would have pumped them by 15 goals with better use of the ball.

You said it, "especially in the second half". Well that game was over about 10 minutes into the third quarter. For the rest of the game, both sides were just playing out time.

I know that I have often been very critical of LRT on these boards, and over a long period of time - and it will continue, simply because IMO he is our only regular senior player that is a passenger.

And BTW he was dropped two weeks ago, and only earned a reprieve this week due to injuries to other players, so its not as though I'm completely off track here.

It's my perception - rightly or wrongly - that the only reason that so many around here think LRT is the messiah - is that he's a NSW boy (and furthermore a convert). It's like at the end of last year when people were combing through opposition lists looking for NSW players that we could poach - why on Earth does that matter? - we want performance not tokenism.

LRT hasn't played enough AFL at any level to gain the required smarts and disposal skills. I say give him the rest of the year in the reserves, another preseason, and reassess him then.

Geez that rant was a long time coming, and not targeted at you either Lizz. Sorry. I am the guy who worried that Paul Roos might not be smart enough to be coach, so feel free to take any opinion with a grain of salt.

BTW I promise to never break down a thread point-by-point again. That sort of analysis should be reserved for Saddo threads.

[midaro]

deleted

[penga]

it seems that you and I are at either end of the scale of LRT bias then midaro, fair enough

however, i think the unco-ness is overrated, and you shouldnt rely on this to degrade his ability

[liz]

You're obviously entitled to your opinion on LRT, Midaro, but I reckon you're unrating him. I'm not arguing he's a good AFL player yet but the signs are definitely there.

His game against Adelaide last year (when he won his RS nomination) was excellent. He played very well in the QF against Port and I thought he was pretty good against the Lions too, a couple of weeks ago. Last week he dominated at reserves level - Rogers was decent but not close to LRT. And Rogers did little against Queanbeyan on Saturday to suggest he's knocking down the door for senior selection.

I'm not knocking Rogers. In time he may become a decent AFL player. Nor am I suggesting LRT is firmly in our best 22 - in fact he will probably remain on the 23-25 fringe for most of this season and will rely on injuries to get senior game time. But unless we need to bring in a big body who might be able to play a key defensive role (at the moment - not talking about potential here) I'd be choosing LRT ahead of Rogers every time.

[dendol]

on another note with LRT, i remember a few people were mentioning that he looked very slow and sluggish during the preseason games. Im not sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me, but it seemed he was very quick across the ground against the Kangas. He was running hard and didnt look like a big lumbering ruckman by any means. Reminds me alot like Leppitcsh.

[graemed]

With respect to the pace of LRT, let me recall a rugby game he played against Kings when he ran down a runaway winger. It was indicative of two elements to his game :

1. His determination to overcome.
2. His ability to cover the ground quickly.

I have been convinced for some time that CHB is his best position certainly not against the "POWER" forwards in the comp. like Tredrae or Brown but certainly against the more athletic types like Riewoldt, who I think he might handle well.

[penga]

Originally posted by lizz
His game against Adelaide last year (when he won his RS nomination) was excellent.

a mate of mine is an adelaide supporter and he came along to the bulldogs game last year, and all he kept saying was:

"look at that goofball!"
"hows he a league player?"
"he should not be playing, swans are in a bad way!"

and then he ran into wade skipper right in front of us to which my mate went off again

all i kept saying was to keep watching, he'll show you

and boy did he eat humble pie after the crows game! LRT almost dragged us across the line in that game

[penga]

Originally posted by graemed
I have been convinced for some time that CHB is his best position certainly not against the "POWER" forwards in the comp. like Tredrae or Brown but certainly against the more athletic types like Riewoldt, who I think he might handle well.

andrew ireland himself stated that he is being groomed for the power forwards, he has quite a bit of strength now even as skinny as he is, he could put on some muscle without losing his athletic ability IMO which would be ideal for all of the above