#11 - Jade Gresham

Just like they would with IRVING MOSQUITO.

Me
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ā€œSuch is lifeā€

Snelling wasnā€™t the answer and neither is Gresham, problem is that Gresh is one of Brads favorites and therefore undroppable when fit.

I reckon itā€™s less to do with favourites and more to do with Guelfi missing half the year + Menzie/Davey bros not exactly banging the door down.

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I recall hearing/reading that he finished second last in the time trial ahead of one of the draftees (Gerreyn?). Can anyone confirm? Not a great look for a senior player, if true.

I think the Gresham pick up made sense overall. He costs us nothing in draft capital and used up salary which we clearly have an abundance of. The deal was 3 years (which may have influenced his higher salary) rather than 5 or 7.

He lit up pre season last year and looked to be a fit for purpose recruit through the early part of the season. Clearly something tapered off as the year progressed and he finished the year (like much of our squad) poorly.

Iā€™m hoping he gets his mojo back this year because I think heā€™s a smart player and mostly a good user of the footy (hence his strong return on goal assists).

Iā€™m still hopeful he can be a strong player for us next year, before Unwin and Kako hit their straps.

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Ah donā€™t really agree that heā€™s a smart player, he burns teammates quite often when you watch him. But agree with the rest of what you said.

Iā€™m predicting a big 2025 from Gresh. Kakoā€™s arrival will put a big rocket up him.

Heā€™s capable, we saw that in the first part of last season; up to round 7 he was averaging 15 disposals and 1.5 goals. Youā€™d take that every day of the week from a small fwd.

He needs to work harder, more consistently, otherwise heā€™ll slide out of the team. Competition for spots is a beautiful thing.

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Gresham floats too far up the ground to have a major impact on the scoreboard. The coaches need to be more strict with him by limiting his midfield time.

Last season we were starving for a quality small forward, and he was too busy running around as a mid. im not sure whats worse; if the coaches instructed him to play that way, or he has an attitude problem and isnt listening to the coaches when he gets on the field.

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Greshams role was not as a small forward. His role was to be a high half forward and connector between midfield and forward.

With the fact that we were a bit crap as a team in the second half of the year, obviously he was going to end up further up the ground than the ideal.

When we were a good team in first half of the year I actually thought Gresham was very good as that high half forward.

He has very good sense of when a goal opportunity for the team is on. Heā€™s extremely urgent (unlike others with little game sense) when he can feel the overlap or outnumber is on.

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Except we are a team with no small forwards of any quality, and he is the most capable of being one, having played a considerable chunk of his career there. Weve got enough mids that could connect from midfield to forward.

I disagree. He is taking a list spot where we could have tried someone else.

Also, you say itā€™s just salary, but how does it look when he is getting paid significantly more than other guys that are performing at the same level?

yeah, but we were playing them off HBFā€¦

Gresham is a high half forward. In years past, weā€™ve tried a mix of Guelfi and Snelling in that position and it just doesnā€™t work. It doesnā€™t force the opposition to keep a close check on them. We also tried rotating Caldwell, Parish and Caldwell in that position with varied results. This year, we tried Menzie and Davey Jnr in that spot and realised that Gresham is our best option in that position.

Gresham isnā€™t great at locking the ball in our forward 50 like Guelfi though. And with Caddy, 2MP, Stringer and Langford spending more time in the forward 50 than getting the fark out of there and giving the others more room to move, the last thing we needed was another player who clogged up the space.

Thereā€™s good reason why the forward line performed better earlier in the year with Jones in it. Because he creates space for the others by working up the ground.
Hopefully, without Stringer there and with Langford working further up the ground (as he tried to do later in the season) we can have a better mix of players in that forward line that allow space for each other to expose their opponent one on one. Be it on the ground or in the air.

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Well, weā€™d need to seriously improve our one v oneā€™s - Stringer obviously one of the best gone, Langford is good, the rest are average to ordinary (Wright). Be surprised if thatā€™s the planā€¦ā€¦

Gresham is a slowpoke in a forward line that has too many slow players. Hopefully wwe have started to address it with the last draft.

Fark me your name is one hell of a misnomer

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Yep it is. Been on here for a long time.

Probably should be ā€œIā€™ll believe it when I see itā€!

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Thatā€™s his biggest issue I agree, his groundball work is good, I think he is generally a high IQ player but his inability to get any kind of seperation just makes it very tough for him. Not having followed him at St Kilda, his lack of pace has been my biggest surprise, you donā€™t often see 177cm small forwards go top 20 with those kind of wheels.

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