Irish to the wing
Ambrose in
Colyer out
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I think that all Trav is lacking at the moment is ‘touch’.
Having lost a full season, I believe that of the returning suspended players, Trav’s game has been affected the most by a mile.
He’s almost regressed back to the first few seasons of his career when he was regularly shuffled between the best 22 and the VFL because of his disposal issues.
We all knew back then that he had all the tools that the club needed but was being held back by his inconsistent kicking.
Trav ended up overcoming those issues to become an integral part of the best 22 and a major weapon too.
Before the bans he probably was the one guy that didn’t need a year off and needed that continuaty in his game unlike guys like Jobe, Hooksey and Hurls who have probably benefitted from the break.
I’ll back Trav wholeheartedly to get back to the high quality that he was showing before the bans and become that weapon again that he was.
While I agree with your general sentiment (most of the suspended players have suffered from a lack of touch), for this particular statement Jobe or Stanton say hi. Both were in our top 3 ball-winners pre-saga. Both, sadly, have returned as generally treacle-slow plodders with questionable skills and decision-making. For mine, they’ve been most impacted. Howlett and Hocking always were “bottom six” role players.
In fact, you could almost mount a case to argue that Colyer’s breakout year (i.e. 20 - 30 disposals week in-week out, bullet passes, tidy disposal, kicking goals) was an outlier given his career as a whole…
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Lacking touch happens in the first 2-3 games, if your touch is off after 10+ it’s form and you should be dropped.
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Woosha mentioned that they’ve used a player as a loose tag ~6 times through the year. He mentioned earlier in the year that Colyer was given a role (can’t remember which game). Anyone notice if Trav is playing that defensive sacrificial role?
Probably won’t happen but I’d consider moving him to a half-forward role. Maybe having more attempts at scoring could improve his output, cause his disposal as we exit our backline has been poor for most of the year.
Colyer was used to tag Gaff in the West Coast game and did a very good job,especially in the first half.
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Colyer is incredibly poor below his knees for a small bloke.
Just needs to slow up a bit when trying to gather the bill, and shoot for goal on the run.
He conquered this a couple years ago, but for some reason it’s alluding him atm.
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Can someone tell which ‘year’ was his break out year?
This year He has played significantly more games than in any previous year and his numbers (as middling as they are) are marginally better than ever before.
In my mind colyer has never established his bona fides as a legit midfielder and has only ever been an impact player, and an inconsistent one at that.
In the past when he played predominantly as a small forward who pushed up high occasionally that was probably fine but considering the midfield minutes he’s getting his numbers simply don’t stack up.
I’d go so far as to suggest we’d be getting a hell of a lot more out of bird or Stanton on a wing albeit without the occasional burst of pace and dare.
Considering the defensive woes of the midfield, to my mind it is a startling indulgence to be carrying a winger averaging 17 touches, 2.8 tackles and half a goal a game when we could instead be playing a hard-nosed blue collar terrier like bird.
Our midfield is crying out for that sort of balance in circumstances where we play a very attacking game off half back. It’s not like our midfield drive and pace tries in any way on trav.
What exactly is Colyer bringing to table at the moment. what makes him an indispensible part of the midfield rotation. Am I missing something?
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Went from a terrible kick
Fixed his kicking.
Got Banned
Back to terrible kicking
wtf happened?
…
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so now we gotta do mental backflips for what really happened?
he hasnt had a break out year per se, but his body of games from the back end of 2014 to when he got injured in 2015 was pretty superb, there would have been 25 odd games or so there where he truly hit his straps as a line breaking mid who could go forward and sneak a goal or two. His kicking and overhead marking notably improved in that period of time.
since hes come back hes reverted to mediocre kicking and lost the ability to pick up the ball, strangely, and i think its a bit forgotten how good a player he was for us through that period.
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Break out was 2nd half 2014. He played crap early, dropped back to the VFL then came back and was fantastic. Then played very well early in 2015 before injuring his foot. Missed 2nd half 2015 and all 2016.
If you want to compare averages and disposal efficiency, those are the games where he stepped up.
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TBF, he is also really good in the air for a small bloke, so it kinda balances out.
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I’d consider that late 2014 win versus the Crows at Etihad to be his breakout game, when he consolidated his position in the side.
From memory, he was incredibly important in the Rd.2 2015 win over the Hawks.
He kicked the winner a couple of weeks later against the Saints.
He nearly got us over the line against Richmond in the Dreamtime game with a couple of late goals.
Then he got foot problems, and missed most of the 2nd half of 2015.
I thought the year off would do him good, considering the injury was similar to Hirdy’s (?).
His skills and finishing have regressed so badly.
Either his foot is giving him problems, or he is a player that relies heavily on confidence, because ATM, he appears to have very little.
I still think we would lose something if he wasn’t there.
Perhaps a rest, or a week in the 2’s will do him good ?
Whatever the problem is, I want the old Colyer back (2014-2015 version).
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How bout using him as a tagger ?
Not really. Yeah he’s better than expected for an absolute jockey, but he’s nothing outrageous.
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He’s better than Dell’Olio.
Is that what bothers you?
Dell was a far better mark and far better below his knees. Travis, for a speedster who hits the ball at pace a lot and has to grab a lot of ground balls is frustratingly fumbly.
But yeah nah go for the cheap grab for likes if that works for you.
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