Round 4 v West Coast

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  • Maltopia
    Senior Player
    • Apr 2016
    • 1556

    Re Harley Reid - he is 18, world ahead of him as a footballer, and plenty of time for him to fully develop his game, situational awareness etc.

    No point comparing him to Errol's game awareness as he is 21 and has played 72 senior games vs Reid's 4.

    There is a lot of expectation and hope laid onto him as a young man, to be able to produce as a number 1 draft pick. Until I see a long history of him being a pratt (or ducking and head bobbing for free kicks like Daicos), I will be wishing him every success, and hope he doesn't end up llke a Jack Watts.

    Any team would love to have Reid and to develop him over the next decade (including teaching him how to balance his ego/arrogance with results and four quarter efforts).

    Comment

    • waswan
      Senior Player
      • Oct 2015
      • 2047

      Originally posted by Maltopia
      Re Harley Reid - he is 18, world ahead of him as a footballer, and plenty of time for him to fully develop his game, situational awareness etc.

      No point comparing him to Errol's game awareness as he is 21 and has played 72 senior games vs Reid's 4.

      There is a lot of expectation and hope laid onto him as a young man, to be able to produce as a number 1 draft pick. Until I see a long history of him being a pratt (or ducking and head bobbing for free kicks like Daicos), I will be wishing him every success, and hope he doesn't end up llke a Jack Watts.

      Any team would love to have Reid and to develop him over the next decade (including teaching him how to balance his ego/arrogance with results and four quarter efforts).
      Agree, 4 games in with the Team on his shoulders.

      Comment

      • giant
        Veterans List
        • Mar 2005
        • 4731

        Originally posted by KTigers
        Yes, the commentators were getting pretty excited about him (Reid), weren't they? I suspect one day he is going to run into Charlie Dixon or
        Jeremy Cameron or Jesse Hogan or Bontempelli and he will just be collateral damage like most of their opponents.
        To be fair, two of his fend off "victims" were Heeney and Rowbottam, not exactly soft kills in the tackling department.

        OTOH I do recall that Chad seemed untacklable in year one, but teams have worked him out a bit since then. God knows if you're a WCE fan, you'll take any little bit of positive news at this point.

        Comment

        • dejavoodoo44
          Veterans List
          • Apr 2015
          • 8515

          Coaches votes for the game.

          9 Isaac Heeney (SYD)
          9 Errol Gulden (SYD)
          6 Elliot Yeo (WCE)
          3 Jeremy McGovern (WCE)
          2 Liam Duggan (WCE)
          1 Jayden Hunt (WCE)

          Comment

          • dejavoodoo44
            Veterans List
            • Apr 2015
            • 8515

            And this is the leader board (bearing in mind that most teams have played less games than us).

            41 Isaac Heeney SYD
            25 Christian Petracca MELB
            24 Tom Green GWS
            24 Connor Rozee PORT
            23 Harry McKay CARL
            21 Max Gawn MELB
            21 Caleb Serong FRE
            20 Errol Gulden SYD
            19 Zak Butters PORT
            19 Matt Rowell GCFC
            18 Shai Bolton RICH
            17 Gryan Miers GEEL
            17 Lachie Neale BL
            16 Luke Jackson FRE
            15 Marcus Bontempelli WB
            15 Jesse Hogan GWS
            15 Jack Steele STK
            14 Sam Taylor GWS
            14 Nick Vlastuin RICH
            14 Hayden Young FRE

            The AFL site is now talking up Isaac's Brownlow chances, as the only other three players to have topped 40 votes after five games, Gary Ablett jnr in 2009, Nat Fyfe in 2015 and Lachie Neale in 2020, all went on to win the medal. Although I might add a slight note of caution, by pointing out that there's not as much similarity between coaches votes and Brownlow votes as people think. In that, players who get maximum coaches votes often don't get the three Brownlow votes, while occasionally, the three votes are awarded to players who didn't get any coaches votes. Still, it'd be a touch bewildering if Isaac wasn't leading the count after round four.

            Comment

            • giant
              Veterans List
              • Mar 2005
              • 4731

              Heard Joe Patfull on the radio after one of our home games suggesting that we'd missed a trick and that Heeney could have been our Cripps or Bont these last several years.

              I've been strongly of the "keep him forward" camp and one could point out that in the year he won AA as a forward, we also had our own big-bodied mid win AA status. But it's getting increasingly tough not to concede that Patfull has a point - at the very least, he has to stay there for the rest of the year now.

              Comment

              • Kafka's Ghost
                Regular in the Side
                • Sep 2017
                • 899

                Originally posted by waswan
                Agree, 4 games in with the Team on his shoulders.
                He’s definitely given them a lift, though!


                Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

                Comment

                • Maltopia
                  Senior Player
                  • Apr 2016
                  • 1556

                  Originally posted by giant
                  Heard Joe Patfull on the radio after one of our home games suggesting that we'd missed a trick and that Heeney could have been our Cripps or Bont these last several years.

                  I've been strongly of the "keep him forward" camp and one could point out that in the year he won AA as a forward, we also had our own big-bodied mid win AA status. But it's getting increasingly tough not to concede that Patfull has a point - at the very least, he has to stay there for the rest of the year now.
                  Heeney unfortunately has had injuries that have prevented him from playing full time in the midfield until now, and when he has spent some time there before, he wasn’t setting the world on fire.

                  So agree he should stay in the midfield, but disagree that we missed a trick, because Heeney wasn’t capable due to fitness until now, and JPK was fantastic until his final year.

                  Mills however should have gotten into the midfield much earlier, as he demonstrated fitness and ability consistently over a couple of years, before we moved him to the midfield.

                  Comment

                  • rojo
                    Opti-pessi-misti
                    • Mar 2009
                    • 1102

                    It would be interesting to see how a Mills/Heeney teaming together in the midfield would go but I doubt that that will ever happen, for team balance reasons.

                    I'm on the 'keep Heeney where he is for the rest of the season' side. He should be given the opportunity to show how good he can be in that position, not only for the team but for his own sake. Use some one else as Mr Fixit, eg Errol or ?. A week or so ago when Horse was asked about this going into the future, he reiterated the 'we will play him where he is needed most' mantra.

                    Comment

                    • i'm-uninformed2
                      Reefer Madness
                      • Oct 2003
                      • 4653

                      It'd be nuts to play Mills anywhere but midfield when he's back. It's his best position - as evidenced by just how good he was in '21 and '22 when he played full seasons in there. When the whips get cracking in big finals, you need some hard heads in the middle. This is no knock on Jordon - who's been solid, if unspectacular, and run out games well - but Mills simply takes his spot right now. It's not about displacing Heeney at all. It's about building up the complement of elite midfielders - and that's what Mills is.
                      'Delicious' is a fun word to say

                      Comment

                      • stevoswan
                        Veterans List
                        • Sep 2014
                        • 8546

                        Originally posted by The Big Cat
                        I get a bit annoyed at people’s assertions about the “Wicks situation”. We know nothing, in spite of some on here who claim to have inside knowledge. And I’d say whatever happened has probably had zero impact on the team’s performances. Wicks is a fringe player at best and he doesn’t appear from other players’ reactions on the field as being the most loved bloke on the list. I suspect his omission last week was poor form more than anything else.
                        I don't think how popular Wicks is among the squad has any bearing on the potential for how damaging a spat between teammates and involving a former girlfriend may be.

                        You are correct, we don't any real details but our teams form has suddenly dropped and it coincides with this situation.

                        It may also be due to other teams 'working us out' but the potential effect of this reported conflict cannot be ignored.

                        Hopefully we come back after the bye mentally refreshed and refocused on winning as a unified force.

                        Comment

                        • Dow
                          Regular in the Side
                          • Sep 2022
                          • 800

                          Originally posted by stevoswan
                          I don't think how popular Wicks is among the squad has any bearing on the potential for how damaging a spat between teammates and involving a former girlfriend may be.

                          You are correct, we don't any real details but our teams form has suddenly dropped and it coincides with this situation.

                          It may also be due to other teams 'working us out' but the potential effect of this reported conflict cannot be ignored.

                          Hopefully we come back after the bye mentally refreshed and refocused on winning as a unified force.
                          Very well put and exactly how I see it. Like you I am hoping they can come out of the bye with it behind them and a new sense of team.

                          Comment

                          • Ruck'n'Roll
                            Ego alta, ergo ictus
                            • Nov 2003
                            • 3990

                            Originally posted by stevoswan
                            I don't think how popular Wicks is among the squad has any bearing on the potential for how damaging a spat between teammates and involving a former girlfriend may be.
                            +1

                            Comment

                            • Dow
                              Regular in the Side
                              • Sep 2022
                              • 800

                              Originally posted by i'm-uninformed2
                              It'd be nuts to play Mills anywhere but midfield when he's back. It's his best position - as evidenced by just how good he was in '21 and '22 when he played full seasons in there. When the whips get cracking in big finals, you need some hard heads in the middle. This is no knock on Jordon - who's been solid, if unspectacular, and run out games well - but Mills simply takes his spot right now. It's not about displacing Heeney at all. It's about building up the complement of elite midfielders - and that's what Mills is.
                              I See Mills taking Lloyds spot when he returns and starting up on the wing and rotating down back and the only change is he will get some actual on ball minutes. Nothing against Lloyd but it appears Roberts has taken his previous role, I figure his out put has dropped over the last few years and he will slowly be pushed out of the best 22 and like now as we have had injuries he can fill gaps as required.

                              Comment

                              • giant
                                Veterans List
                                • Mar 2005
                                • 4731

                                Originally posted by stevoswan
                                I don't think how popular Wicks is among the squad has any bearing on the potential for how damaging a spat between teammates and involving a former girlfriend may be.

                                You are correct, we don't any real details but our teams form has suddenly dropped and it coincides with this situation.

                                It may also be due to other teams 'working us out' but the potential effect of this reported conflict cannot be ignored.

                                Hopefully we come back after the bye mentally refreshed and refocused on winning as a unified force.
                                Spot on.

                                Were Richmond and WCE much better than they'd been previously? Hell yeah. At one stage WCE's pressure rating was 223! I didn't know it went that high and I bet the Eagles didn't either - they wouldn't have had anything two thirds that score the balance of the season.

                                Have we been worked out a bit? Certainly seemed like it and the team struggled to find plan B.

                                But were those two things enough to explain our decline from world-beaters to strugglers? I don't think so. Whether the residue was do to the Wicks Affair I have no idea but I don't think it's unreasonable for us as fans to wonder.

                                As you say, let's hope the bye is the pause that refreshes.

                                Comment

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