The Money Kick (AFL360) and other indicators of winning

[Ludwig]

That's why the loss of Heeney to an undisciplined act upsets our forward line. How can a team cover Heeney, Gulden, Wicks and Papley. The opposition tries to cover Gulden as our best small forward with their best small backman then up bobs Paps. Heeney takes their best medium back, so now it is easier to cover our forwards. Lets hope GWS gets fixated with Buddy and tries to double or triple team him. Heeney is a huge loss to our team balance.

That's almost identical to saying: How can a team cover Hayward, Gulden, Wicks and Papley?

[Blood Fever]

That's almost identical to saying: How can a team cover Hayward, Gulden, Wicks and Papley?

Hayward better show something while Heeney is out. If selected.

[mcs]

That's why the loss of Heeney to an undisciplined act upsets our forward line. How can a team cover Heeney, Gulden, Wicks and Papley. The opposition tries to cover Gulden as our best small forward with their best small backman then up bobs Paps. Heeney takes their best medium back, so now it is easier to cover our forwards. Lets hope GWS gets fixated with Buddy and tries to double or triple team him. Heeney is a huge loss to our team balance.

No doubt Heeney is a significant loss, no doubt about it. But Buddy will increasingly take more of the focus as he finds form, and we have midfielders that can do a good job up there (Parker in particular), and maybe Hayward if given the chance will grab it. It will be harder for us for sure, but I'm confident we can make it work. Going to be a good test for us on Saturday however with Rampe out too!

[MattW]

Among a lot of things, he's an excellent kick - though that is a cracker of a stat; but the thing that most strikes me about him as a footballer is his high footy IQ.

Some players just have it. Errol clearly does. Other teams will put more work into him, but he's got the smarts to eventually work it out. I hate to invoke the name here, but very Sam Mitchell like.

Yep, on 21 March, on the Rd 1 game thread:

...
- Gulden. As John would say: just a massive competitor. Believes in himself, super smart, great skills. The type of energy we've needed. I said last night that he's a future Norm Smith medallist - he's a winner. Reminds me of Sam Mitchell.
...

[Thunder Shaker]

That's why the loss of Heeney to an undisciplined act upsets our forward line. How can a team cover Heeney, Gulden, Wicks and Papley. The opposition tries to cover Gulden as our best small forward with their best small backman then up bobs Paps. Heeney takes their best medium back, so now it is easier to cover our forwards. Lets hope GWS gets fixated with Buddy and tries to double or triple team him. Heeney is a huge loss to our team balance.

The player we will include to over Heeney won't be quite as good, sure, but it's not going to be the disaster that you're implying it to be. The forward line will still be capable of leading the opposition on a game of cross-country whack-a-mole.

[Ludwig]

It's hard to feel sorry for ourselves with injuries when the Giants are missing 7 regulars from their best 22, including Coniglio, Whitfield, Perryman and Phil Davis, who usually plays on Buddy.

[Markwebbos]

It's hard to feel sorry for ourselves with injuries when the Giants are missing 7 regulars from their best 22, including Coniglio, Whitfield, Perryman and Phil Davis, who usually plays on Buddy.

Whose side are you on?

[SwanSand]

Gulden is not only a great money kick player but one who puts his body on the line in defensive actions as well as gets to the bottom of a pile to get his hands on the footy. He was the one who did a number of acts like that against Essendon. I don’t remember Sam Mitchell doing that very often. So just from that perspective he is probably in a league of his own - elite kick and great courage and determination.

[giant]

By far the most interesting segment on AFL360 this season (and probably on Fox Footy, the actual matches aside) is a short period on Wednesdays, where David King and Leigh Montagna discuss some of the trends they are seeing in the game.

....

Now we just need him to recalibrate his next most important kick that's gone a bit wonky in the past fortnight.

I have wondered whether the fact that his goal shooting was off was a reflection that the opposition (especially the Dons) are on to him a bit more and hence he was being forced to shoot when his preference would have been to lay off. But certainly he's missed a few that his career to date suggests he would normally ice. More upside!

And as to King and Montagna, they are certainly two of the best analysts of the games - it's somewhat surprising to me that the old Saints legends - Riewoldt, Del Santo & Montagna - are among 3 of the very best going around in the AFL TV media game at the moment. Riewoldt in particular is a stand out and has quickly become the star of OTC.

[KSAS]

Slightly off topic but I caught on SEN last week another stat being discussed that has recently come into vogue, of players who played at least 50% in the ruck and averaged over 1 goal a game for the season. Before this season, it was last achieved by 8 ruckmen during either the 2012 or 2013 seasons. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Mike Pyke was 1 of the 4 ruckmen to achieve this in 2013.

On reflection I do recall Pyke's 2012 GF performance (particularly the last qtr minus Mummy) was like a breakout game for him which extended to the following season & beyond. Can easily overlook the impact of Mike Pyke's career other than the 2012 GF. Pity his "Open Pyke" interviews didn't last long

[barry]

Keeping Pyke and losing Mummy was one of the great recruiting mistakes of the mid 2010's. We make quite a few during that 2-3 year block.
Seems to have got back on track now.

[KTigers]

Keeping Pyke and losing Mummy was one of the great recruiting mistakes of the mid 2010's. We make quite a few during that 2-3 year block.
Seems to have got back on track now.

Yes, Mumford. Who would have thought. He is like The Terminator, he will not lay down. And then there is his new look. Shaved head AND
a mo. It's not pretty.

[The Runner]

Keeping Pyke and losing Mummy was one of the great recruiting mistakes of the mid 2010's. We make quite a few during that 2-3 year block.
Seems to have got back on track now.

It was an impact of acquiring Buddy and Tippett. Mummy would have been a much bigger and longer contract than Pyke.
Having said that tough, we really noticed the impact the moment he left. The space he creates for midfielders by throwing his weight around a contest is hard to play against

[Markwebbos]

I’m getting a sense of déjà vu

[liz]

Having said that tough, we really noticed the impact the moment he left.

By making the GF in 2014 and 2016?