Football smarts?

[Tooth Fairy]

Originally posted by ScottH
Do Footy Smarts come in different colours, with a little "F" stmped on them?

Having worked at Mars, I often wondered why they printed w's on their m & m's

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by Tooth Fairy
Having worked at Mars, I often wondered why they printed w's on their m & m's

I always suspected that a lot of RWO posters were posting from a different planet.

[Tooth Fairy]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
I always suspected that a lot of RWO posters were posting from a different planet.

You only had to ask

[sfan]

Is footy smarts somthing you can learn with experience or it is something you are born with like instinct?

I tend to lean towards being born with it.

[NMWBloods]

Bit of both.

[Barry Schneider]

Originally posted by sfan
Is footy smarts somthing you can learn with experience or it is something you are born with like instinct?

I tend to lean towards being born with it.

I think you can learn it.
Afterall alot of it is just knowing the capabilities of your teammates and opponents and what teams and players do in certain situations.
With video review it is easy to pin point strengths and weaknesses of players, what their disposal preferences are, etc.
On the other hand it is one thing knowing and another thing doing something about it.

It would be interesting if ball magnets like Judd and Buckley sat down in front of a video of a game and explained why they did everything they did.It would be fascinating to know their thought processes.

[Schneiderman]

I reckon you need to be smart to begin with. Or in football terms you need to be able to analyse your game and learn from your mistakes, not repeating them a second or third time.

Then you need to be given the right input, from good coaches/peers who can tell you what you should have done. Or maybe what you should try next time.

I believe players like Kelly, Cressa, Kirk, Nicks and now Dempster look like they have this sort of intelligence. As they play more games their disposals get better and have more impact (even though their skills dont technically get that much better).

Others like Bevan, Spriggs, LRT and Mathews appear to lack it. Or the desire to learn. They make the same mistakes again and again.... and again. Combined with only average skills, they become very predictable and frustrating to watch.

[Sean]

Originally posted by Schneiderman
I believe players like Kelly, Cressa, Kirk, Nicks and now Dempster look like they have this sort of intelligence. As they play more games their disposals get better and have more impact (even though their skills dont technically get that much better).

Others like Bevan, Spriggs, LRT and Mathews appear to lack it. Or the desire to learn. They make the same mistakes again and again.... and again. Combined with only average skills, they become very predictable and frustrating to watch.

I think including LRT & Bevan in there may be a bit unfair. Don't forget that Kirk was possibly in his mid twenties before his disposal became acceptable. In fact, I think it's a lot better now than it was just a couple of years ago. I seem to remember Cressa being much better late in his career than early - could be wrong though because my memory of such things is often not great.

Basically I agree with your point though. Spriggs especially should be a much better kick than he is.

Just on Bevan, is his disposal actually that bad? To be honest I've not noticed any huge problems - thought his kicking was OK on Saturday. It's his decision making that stands out as his biggest weakness. His kicking at goal is good so he can kick - maybe just makes the wrong choices sometimes.

[NMWBloods]

I think Bevan's skills are actually quite decent - his decision making is woeful though. I'm sure it will improve as he gets more experienced, however I think it is behind where it should be at this stage.

[dimelb]

I think footy smarts are partly innate (a sense of where the ball is e.g.) and partly learnt (getting used to the funny bounce, learning to read the play). I think Noggy has the innate stuff and has made excellent progress in the learning department.

[Schneiderman]

Originally posted by Sean
Just on Bevan, is his disposal actually that bad?

Sorry I wasn't very clear. His disposals per se are fine, but their result is less than desirable. Perfect long punts into the arms of an opposition, or crisp clean handpass to a player under the pump, are hardly "good disposals." He has far too many of these in his game at the moment.

[liz]

Originally posted by Schneiderman
Sorry I wasn't very clear. His disposals per se are fine, but their result is less than desirable. Perfect long punts into the arms of an opposition, or crisp clean handpass to a player under the pump, are hardly "good disposals." He has far too many of these in his game at the moment.

So how many of each - ie good vs bad - did he have against the Bombers. I challenge you to do a Ruckman type analysis on Bevan's game against the Bombers and see what it shows.

[Schneiderman]

Originally posted by liz
So how many of each - ie good vs bad - did he have against the Bombers. I challenge you to do a Ruckman type analysis on Bevan's game against the Bombers and see what it shows.

Well having just watched the last two quarters again I am confident in saying his bad to good ratio is high. He is the kind of player who throws it on the boot without intention, and handballs to another player without thinking.

I think the guy has really great potential but needs to apply himself 100% to learning how to get better. His inability to learn was clearly demonstrated by his getting pinged with the new HTB rule regularly over the first four rounds of this season. It took far too long to get that one right, and he is a liability if he doesn't accelerate his learning curve.