Honestly don’t know what’s happened to him? His first 7 weeks were so good, but since he’s been utterly useless. Jogging half pace around, 20m passes to opposition players, he doesn’t even look like he cares anymore?
The list is here is here is getting bigger and bigger, last 2 months:
11 possessions (destroyed by Barlow)
33 possessions (ineffectual, useless touches against Hawthorn)
25 (ineffective, invisible all day)
15 (spanked by a 20 year old tagger, got reported)
suspended
15 (spanked by Taylor Hunt)
13 (spanked by Robinson)
18 (5 possessions in first half, 50% effective)
And if people say “but he takes the tag away from someone so he should play” then that’s the biggest, weakest cop out for a player ever. So his entire role in the team is to be a sacrificial lamb and not contribute?
I'd move him to half-back. The ball use from our running defenders (Gleeson and Dempsey) is poor, and they are not winning much of it either. At least it would get Zaka away from a hard-tag, get him running straight at the ball, and improve our efficiency out of the back half.
I agree send Kelly into midfield try Zaka at half back. When Cooney was playing back there last week he looked courageous going back with the flight a couple of times and taking intercept marks. If nothing else it will add another string to Zakas bow, and improve his defensive side of his game.
I can’t wait till teams try to tag him next year. Heppell and Zerrett will get off the chain so bad teams won’t know what to do. Once the switch occurs watch this bloke carve through zones with Pace and precision ball use. He is a very good outside midfielder, unfortunately he struggles when he has to win it himself and can’t break away. It’s not a bad thing, not everybody can be a Zerrett.
I can't wait till teams try to tag him next year. Heppell and Zerrett will get off the chain so bad teams won't know what to do. Once the switch occurs watch this bloke carve through zones with Pace and precision ball use. He is a very good outside midfielder, unfortunately he struggles when he has to win it himself and can't break away. It's not a bad thing, not everybody can be a Zerrett.
Just out of curiosity, does any other team have a player who plays the “tag me completely out of the game so we play with 21 players but the other mids will play well” role?
I can't wait till teams try to tag him next year. Heppell and Zerrett will get off the chain so bad teams won't know what to do. Once the switch occurs watch this bloke carve through zones with Pace and precision ball use. He is a very good outside midfielder, unfortunately he struggles when he has to win it himself and can't break away. It's not a bad thing, not everybody can be a Zerrett.
Just out of curiosity, does any other team have a player who plays the “tag me completely out of the game so we play with 21 players but the other mids will play well” role?
Carlton used to do it with Murphy until Cripps got too good.
I can't wait till teams try to tag him next year. Heppell and Zerrett will get off the chain so bad teams won't know what to do. Once the switch occurs watch this bloke carve through zones with Pace and precision ball use. He is a very good outside midfielder, unfortunately he struggles when he has to win it himself and can't break away. It's not a bad thing, not everybody can be a Zerrett.
Just out of curiosity, does any other team have a player who plays the “tag me completely out of the game so we play with 21 players but the other mids will play well” role?
Carlton used to do it with Murphy until Cripps got too good.
Yeah, but Zerrett is as dangerous as Cripps and teams still tag Zaka so Murphy mustn’t have been very good at playing the role. Zaka is killing it.
I can't wait till teams try to tag him next year. Heppell and Zerrett will get off the chain so bad teams won't know what to do. Once the switch occurs watch this bloke carve through zones with Pace and precision ball use. He is a very good outside midfielder, unfortunately he struggles when he has to win it himself and can't break away. It's not a bad thing, not everybody can be a Zerrett.
Yes, yes it is bad and that's the issue. We're not asking him to be fcking Dangerfield, but his literal inability to win a simple hardball is really worrying. The whole midfield needs to contribute evenly and not just rely on two players to win a hardball. Peeto summed it best when he said if any other team has a : "tag me completely out of the game so we play with 21 players but the other mids will play well" role?
And did Adelaide even put a tag on him? I’m not classing someone standing next to him as tagging either.
I can't wait till teams try to tag him next year. Heppell and Zerrett will get off the chain so bad teams won't know what to do. Once the switch occurs watch this bloke carve through zones with Pace and precision ball use. He is a very good outside midfielder, unfortunately he struggles when he has to win it himself and can't break away. It's not a bad thing, not everybody can be a Zerrett.
Just out of curiosity, does any other team have a player who plays the “tag me completely out of the game so we play with 21 players but the other mids will play well” role?
Carlton used to do it with Murphy until Cripps got too good.
And how did that work out for them? Carlton bias aside, Murphy has been one of Carlton’s best for years and contributed regulary at least.
I can't wait till teams try to tag him next year. Heppell and Zerrett will get off the chain so bad teams won't know what to do. Once the switch occurs watch this bloke carve through zones with Pace and precision ball use. He is a very good outside midfielder, unfortunately he struggles when he has to win it himself and can't break away. It's not a bad thing, not everybody can be a Zerrett.
Just out of curiosity, does any other team have a player who plays the “tag me completely out of the game so we play with 21 players but the other mids will play well” role?
Carlton used to do it with Murphy until Cripps got too good.
Funny you should say Murphy. I’ve been thinking for a little while that Zaka is our Murphy.
Question, if teams know you can shut down Zaka just by standing a player next to him- why won't they continue to do it next year?
Who else are they going to tag:
Watson- maybe, but it’s very hard to tag inside ball winners
Heppell- the guy most likely, though he got tagged heavily last year and was still able to play very well
Zerrett- doubtful at this stage
Stanton- probably- depending on where he plays
Zaka- guaranteed. If you tag him, he won’t offer anything
Good post. As someone cleverly mentioned a while back; teams will be thinking even next year; why bother trying and negating 5-10% of Heppell or Zerrett’s game when you can negate 80-90% of Zaharakis’.
Surely he's carrying some sort of niggle. His drop off in form is just too bad to explain otherwise.
I reckon it’s got to be this. We’ll probably hear about it officially in the offseason but for now they want to ‘hide it’.
It’s ■■■■■■ annoying though. For some reason some blokes just can’t play with niggles and other blokes can. I think it’s been proven conclusively that Zaka can’t and hence shouldn’t be picked unless 100%
Surely he's carrying some sort of niggle. His drop off in form is just too bad to explain otherwise.
I reckon it’s got to be this. We’ll probably hear about it officially in the offseason but for now they want to ‘hide it’.
It’s ■■■■■■ annoying though. For some reason some blokes just can’t play with niggles and other blokes can. I think it’s been proven conclusively that Zaka can’t and hence shouldn’t be picked unless 100%
It’s highly possible that’s the case, but it wouldn’t surprise if blokes are thinking, sub consciously at least, of being sure to not kill themselves or risk major damage this year.
I reckon we’ll all see a completely different Zaka when his mates get back.