He frustrates me more than any player on our list. Has the talent, but only runs one waya lot of the time.
When the pressure is at its highest he seems to go missing and seems to not want the body contact
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watch him break away from whoevers chasing him when he has the ball, watch him jog after whoever has the ball.
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That is my biggest frustration with him. It’s a mindset thing
Who’s heading to the mountains for some downhill skiing?
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I thought defensively last year he had turned a corner, he was tackling hard and running back to fill gaps.
Not sure what the deal is this year, perhaps playing a diff role?
That’s a pretty good line.
He wasn’t great tonight, the deterioration of his disposal is the most concerning bit for me.
And he’s sore, and he has shown too many times in the past that he struggles to play sore. He’s wary about every single piece of body contact.
He still went in though, he just hated every second of it.
Fully fit Zaha goes in hard enough for his role, so that aspect doesn’t bother me too much.
But his disposal is becoming a real worry. It was never elite, but it was always tidy and it impacted games.
The play on the wing was soft af and then tried to look for a free.
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He cops it because he’s the softest player on our list and he can’t even hide it anymore. No matter how many possessions you get, squibbibg a couple of contests per game will burn up all your goodwill very quickly.
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That’s the one which stood out to me. Pretty crucial time in the game too.
Defending him by saying “plenty worse” is such a cop out, he’s a senior player who’ll be 29 next year ffs. If you can’t expect consistency from a 29 year old then who can we? If you can’t expect a 29 year old to crack in like his life depended on it then I don’t know…
Are we still waiting him for him to be the consistent gun we all thought or is his best behind him? Or is this the level that we should be expecting from here on in? Is this it? I’m trying to count how many Richmond players get carried with his style of play. Half the issue is fitting in players like Zaka and Goddard, individually good but are rank for structure and defensive efforts. I reckon most have blinkers on for the guy that kicked the winning goal on Anzac Day a decade ago. Ask anyone outside Essendon and they’ll say he’s a decent player who links up OK but hardly worth getting too worried about, as he’s a downhill skier for the most part. He’ll get his 30 possessions every second week but then so does half the competition these days. Did he do any damage?
I’m not saying he’s not in our best team ajnd I’m not saying he hasn’t had some individually brilliant games from time to time, I just think the team needs to move past him or invent a role off half back where perhaps his possession gobbling game style might be more useful. He still has decent pace, I think his kicking his OK and he’s smart enough, I just see the midfield group looser with him in there. It’s interesting that the team has had some of it’s best performances when he missed a few months injured.
These kind of posts just get labelled with “you’re just a hater” but the facts are there, I reckon he sums up Essendon more than just about anyone in the past 15 years. Some brilliance from time to time, some fist pumping moments, mostly one way running, suspiciously soft although people will argue it, a few good years where you thought he could be anything, but when crunch time comes mostly falls short and at his best when the pressure is off. I’d love to see if he can play off half-back and maybe us have a more contested orientated midfield next year.
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Hopefully, you - though it would probably be from behind a computer as usual.
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Maybe it’s the coller bone injury probably still dosen’t feel confident?
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Excuses excuses… heard them all before
Great post. 29 yrs old, should be reliable and damaging if he’s not tagged. If anyone ever asked me what was the best thing he did defensively I’d struggle. Not because I can’t decide but because nothing has ever stood out.
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He was playing really well before the injury happy see how he goes next season
Until he’s sore again next season and gives up playing hard… Sorry but I can’t help feel cynical about all this
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His form was great when he first came back from his collarbone. There’s no reason to think it’s holding him back
I can’t believe it’s not butter
He was far from our worst.
I’d still be putting out feelers for a trade though at seasons end just to see if he gets a nibble
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He just resigned for another 3 didn’t he?