Did Bird really play that well?
I thought he had a decent game and I’ve got no criticisms. However it wasn’t anything special from what I saw unless I completely missed it.
18 possessions 5 contested, 4 tackes and 3 clearances it’s hardly the stats of the inside beast many want him to be.
I still think he is only depth, but pretty handy depth.
Bird has never been a high possession player and at his best at Swans 5 years ago never got over 20 much.
And his disposal is poor by foot and not much better by hand. No doubt he is tough and goes in hard but you need inside players who win possession like Josh Kennedy from Swans or Paddy Dangerfield.
Myers is no Kennedy or Paddy, but he is better than Bird in 2017.
Agree with no hard tags, ala the days of a ling/crowley etc.
If you go by how it seems the coaches want everyone to play it’s…
when we have the ball, you’re expected to contribute.
When we don’t have the ball, your job is to mark player x, in this case Ross.
If Bird can play his part offensively and be able to apply pressure on a specific dangerous opponent then there should be a role for him, as it would then allow others to attack the ball, Zerrett/hepp etc.
obviously the problem becomes who gets left out if they do run with playing bird in that half sorta defensive role.
Most would say myers, but i don’t think the coaches will.
The difference Bird makes is opposition teams rarely get a clean clearance, something we’ve been quite bad at, see: Brisbane and Swans, is that quite often we can just disappear for long periods of quarters in the middle and get run way from.
Bird stops this because he is one of the few players on our list with a strong defensive mindset and a work ethic to match it. Our team is full of forward running offensive players with speed, and have lacked a Hocking type negating player in the contest, he isn’t as big as Hocking but he’s clever Bird, and because he hadn’t played all year, he was ignored as an option multiple times for other players when he was in a great position to receive.
Played well, can kick.
Went back and watched the first half to see, well as much as you can from the tv angles aand coverage, how much Bird actually went to ross.
First quarter, If you run on the assumption of a 30 min qtr
spends first 10 mins on ross, then goes to the bench.
prolly next 6 mins hepps follows him around.
Then ross follows Zerrett around for 4 mins
Bird goes back onto him for 5 odd mins
then Myers takes the last 5 mins
The time Bird was on him in the first, Ross didn’t win a center clearence, and I think bird won a couple.
2nd qtr, again averaging it on the basis a qtr goes for 30 mins.
Bird is on Ross for like first 7 mins
Ross off the ground for 8 ish mins
Bird pretty much runs with him for next 10 mins
Last 5 mins Bird is off, and a combo of hepp/zerrett are on him.
Bird mostly plays on him in center clearences and he still doesn’t win one. wins his first Center clearence on hepp with 3 mins left on the clock, after Zaka’s goal. Also collects 3 possies in a min in the same passage of play, on hepp.
Bird mostly runs with Ross, except at stoppages around the ground esp in the offensive half. Stevens comes in and bumps bird off ross while he goes and picks of zerrett, and bird ends up picking up stevens at a few of the stoppages.
All in all was interesting watching, It wasn’t a hard tag by a long stretch, But It did throw ross and the saints off their game IMO, 2 of their most attacking players in ross and stevens were too pre occupied trying to take Bird off of ross.
then they picked the worst target to send Ross to cos Zerrett is one of our actual midfielders with a defensive mindset to compliment his attacking skill. Would have prolly been smarter to try and send ross to Hepp more, to run off him.
IF It were up to me, I’d definately keep Bird in the side. He covers and carries some of the extra defensive burden that guys like Goddard, Hepp zaka myers (and watson when playing) allow for.
But that’s just me.
IMO no
He didn’t stand out, which is a good thing for someone who hadn’t played AFL in 15 weeks, but a bad thing for a guy who would want to be playing AFL more often than not.
His reluctance to kick is one of the big reasons why he plays VFL IMO.
Seriously the worst wrestling persona in history. I will however continue to refer to bird as “koko b ware” lol
Ok as stated in another post, I re watched the game with a focus on watching birds game, as much as you can from a replay, trying to figure out how and where he was.
Did he play well ? did he tag ross out of the game, etc etc.
i’d say he played pretty well for a guy who has barely played afl for this season.
He didn’t really play a tagging role either. But one thing I did notice, that alot of our midfielders lack is when it was required of him at stoppages, his man did not get more than a meter away from him. Guessing that’s a sydney trait, but it’s desperately something we need more of.
ross got a few clearences from stoappages when the likes of hepp and myers were on him, ditto stevens. I’m pretty sure they didnt’ get one at all when Bird was on them.
All depends one what the coaching staff will value more.
As chris64 said, Myers had double clearences and contested possies and that, but is what myers offers what we need the most, or what bird does.
It’s a 50/50 thing in my opinion, If you want to totally go for solely trying to win the clearence, then myers stays.
If you want some defensive coverage, so the likes of watson, hepp and zerrett, hell even goddard can roam around more freely, then i’d suggest bird should stay.
Alot of sense there. I’ll add that since woosha doesn’t play taggers, this is the closest you may get to a defensive mid.
Having said that, not sure he adds all that much more in that respect than Jobe who has so much to offer elsewhere, and Myers also adds a toughness… having three of them tog with BJ, Hepps makes us v slow… if Darcy and McG were playing more on the inside then maybe there would be more merit to keeping Bird in but the way it is, dunno if we can afford such a sluggish midfield/engine-room
Shame no-one needs a rest
He’s the perfect player for Cunnington. I’d feel more confident with him in the side to be honest.
Unlucky.
Will be a very useful player if Jobe retires at end of year. But not sure if he’ll stay.
Came across his Twitter page. Admittedly he doesn’t use it much, but also there is no indication on it that he plays for EFC. All Swans related. I wonder if he’s struggled to settle in to life in Melb – made harder with so many players coming and going since he arrived?
I don’t really get the Bird love, I don’t think he is particularly ‘unlucky’, I just don’t think he is good enough. He is ok. Bit of a plodder, below par skills, only played 20 or so games for us and he is 29. Personally I’m glad he isnt getting a game, obviously nothing personal just speaks more to our improvements as a side. If we wanted to play a tough inside player who is good defensively I’d be more inclined to give Hocking another opportunity. Anyway, he may get another year especially if Jobe and Heath retire but on the whole meh…
Same age as myers(28), has played 60 more games. has won a flag and played in a grandfinal.
Ok so he is 28, he is still the captain of team meh…
