#29 Patrick Ambrose -- forward or back?

Proved me wrong. Straight up thought he was cooked last year with his body failing him and not much else to offer.

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l thought the opposite. Paddy is going from strength to strength, gaining in confidence now that the coaches have found a position that best suits his skill set.

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given how injury riddled his season was last year, that was a pretty optimistic point of viewā€¦ heā€™s been great this year now that heā€™s got his body right again.

My view was based more on his work over the 3 or so seasons prior to last year.

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yeah thatā€™s fair enough, although it certainly seemed like he was on the verge of losing his greatest asset that enables him to compete without any discernibly stand out traits to his game. Thankfully for all of us, that athleticism has returned this year.

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The idea that Ambrose could take Cripps, just because of his athletic ability, is nonsense. Iā€™d back Cripps in to get 50 if Ambrose was his opponent.

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Fit, committed, decent sizeā€¦ not a great deal of skillā€¦ Richmondā€™s whole team is like this. Even Cotchin had to change his game and focus less on being skilled and more on just being relentless.

We need more of his type that donā€™t overthink, just doā€¦ (with thanks to the Kennedy Foundation for use of their copyright)

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Yeah 50 stitches.

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Easily having his best ever season.

i actually always wondered how he would go as a midfielder.

such a specimen of an athlete.

maybe he would be too slow?

aside from not having the experience ofc.

In his first season Paddy played as a high third tall forward roaming up to the centre and back.
Prior to that in the Twos he was swung around a bit but seemed to play a loose centre wing / onballer type role- not in acres of space, but not at centre bounces- in stoppages a bit. Others may remember more specifics- he wasnā€™t even drafted then so I mainly admired his toughness allied with more than expected skills.

The biggest problem with playing him mid field is that Paddy is pretty much a straight line player.
He doesnā€™t have much of a sidestep, and can be caught out by players who do, or who can quickly zig or zag, stop & prop, which many good mids have as a core skill.
Even Stringer has a nifty little sideways shuffle, which allied with his strength makes for a lot of broken tackles.

Makes Paddy excellent playing on straight line forwards, and heā€™ll lead hard and straight in the forward line, as he did last week.
But donā€™t know about a genuine midfielder.

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Spot on. Reckon Stanton also had the same knock on himā€¦ great endurance, reasonable pace, no sidestep. Relegated to a wing, half back as a result.

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This is my thought as well.
If we were going to use Ambrose through the middle heā€™d be best suited to a wing.

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Ambrose is killing it in defence. He should stay there.

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This is Essendon

Whatā€™s that? Youā€™re a natural in a position thatā€™s not the midfield and youā€™re playing well? Hmmm, letā€™s see if we can turn you into a midfielder.

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Would anyone be surprised if he was top 5 in the best and fairest to this point?

Be surprised if he is not.

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Not nonsense at all. Someone has to go to Cripps, Ambrose would be a better chance of curtailling a rampaging Cripps than any/many others. If not Paddy, who would you suggest get such an onerous task?

Love the way Paddy has played this year. Always goes in hard. Some of the other players could take a leaf out of his book. Should be in the leadership group.

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Ambrose doesnā€™t know the first thing about midfield craft and stoppages. He also doesnā€™t have the lateral movement to counter someone like Cripps who would step around him like he was a statue.

I donā€™t think we have any player who can stop Cripps, so I wouldnā€™t bother tagging him. Guelfi would be our best bet I imagine, but Iā€™d just roll a number of players off him and try to hurt him as much as possible the other way.