You’re not really saying Colyer’s competing for the same role, are you?
I wouldn’t suggest Colyer is competing for anything at the moment. We obviously have nobody else with his pace but I throw him in with the others as another example of poor selection choices rewarding under performance. Whatever role Colyer is playing its currently ineffective so yes replacing Colyer with Bird would still be a nett gain IMHO. At least I can see what they hope Colyer will provide, his run & carry pre-banning was a highlight & he finally looked like becoming a player. Howlett on the other hand has never been more than 15-17 disposals & a few tackles. At least Bird showed in 2016 he could win a reasonable amount of contested ball - an area we have struggled in all year.
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Howlett had three consecutive seasons where he averaged more than that, and was in the top 10 in the league for tackles in the same period. That’s not to say I advocate playing him, but there’s no need to belittle him.
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Finally Woosha has heard that Bird is the word
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I hope Bird does well on the weekend - otherwise, there’ll be many saying how he was never good at all, and brings absolutely nothing to the team, we are better off without him, and the selection committee is ■■■■■■.
Deserves more than a week to find his feet but I have confidence he will come back in and do a job. Even if he is BOG you know he will go out next week no matter what
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If bird comes in and plays well then gets dropped next week, after our midfield looked functional, gonna rip wooshas ■■■■ off.
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He will
He would get more games if he’d kick it effectively.
He may be great at having his possessions contested but it’s actually better to get the ball into space and get it forward quickly and he’s pretty much terrible at that. 19th of 29 for kicks, 19th of 29 for metres gained, 20th of 29 last year for score involvements (most of these he was only ahead of Crowley, Jamar and 7 defenders. AKA GWILT and Jerrett and 30+yo Stokes did more with the ball than Bird, despite having a heck of a lot less of the ball)
No one could doubt he’s a warrior, he probably should’ve played a small handful more, but he’s being oversold something chronic on here.
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I don’t know how you can say that considering he’s had one game for the year and that game was the most complete midfield dominance we’ve seen all season.
explain myers and watson and heppell pls
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That game where every single other mid we picked had more kicks than him and more metres gained? Where every Essendon player except Green and Hartley had more score involvements? The only mid he went even close to performing on par with was Parish and that was probably about his worst game for the year.
Didn’t do too much to change my mind. Or, obviously, the coaches.
He has another chance, needs to play 2 really good ones to get a contract.
I’ll throw it out there, if you were rating guys off that game alone you’d think colyer and Myers were good and Parish was absolutely terrible. Sometimes thumpings don’t tell you much at all.
Good for a smash-up derby
The stats you pick to assess Bird are kicks, metres gained and score involvements?
Woosha approves.
Defensive midfielder.
It’s the areas that are holding him back, so yes.
There’s enough people talking about how many handballs he racks up…
Like he’s obviously not going to be having 25 kicks in space but surely it’s got to worry even the frothiest of Worsfold frothers that a guy in the middle of the park has less to do with positive ball movement than anyone except full backs and back pockets?
He could do nothing but win clearances and provide defensive pressure around contests and he’d still be more valuable than colyer and howlett have been this year. If kicking effectively is a barometer, colyer, benny, Myers, Jobe and hep would struggle for games
He is by no stretch a great player but the role he plays, we lack. Massively. He was or never will be a flashy, game winning player but even with his limitations he is a useful player imo. I see him as a best 22 player with Jobe gone next year
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Well said.
actually stopped the suns midfield dead in their tracks on multiple occassions, usually when opposition players would run off frame to the left, suddenly we actually had a player defensive side of the ball and wow, he laid some tackles, he got some ball, we won the clearances and contested possessions for once
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Was a bit average in the first half, but after half time, and especially the last 1/4, was very good and made some crucuial clearances that created forward options.
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Pretty much how I saw it. Did a lot of the heavy lifting and some of his work in tight was very good
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