He is actually quite explosive. Its a really good quality. I think he could average 2 goals a game.
That would be great, and would solve a few forward line issues of ours.
GAJ gets the love fest because he does more than those numbers (except the goals) every week. In fact, 25 poss, 5 tackles and 5 I50 is actually a below average game for Ablett.Imagine if Ablett had 25 possessions, 5 goals, 5 tackles, 5 inside 50s. It would be a love fest, but Howlett does it and no one seems to notice.
Awesome game from Benny. I'm surprised to hear that he has copped flack in this forum as personally he is one of my favourite players. He's had me since the first praccy match I watched him play for Essendon down in the Latrobe valley which funny enough I think was against R(B)itchmond.
I love his endeavour, fearlessness and ferocity at the contest. He is an absolute tackling machine and I reckon without him in the team we lose that tackling pressure both actual and perceived around the ball.
I was just having a look at his stats compared to our other midfielders and whilst the out and out ball players such as BJ, Jobe, Stanton, Heps and Zak all average more touches than him over their careers, he tops our next rung of midfielders such as Myers, Hocking, and Melks. His average of 6.2 tackles a game is far away the most of any of our midfielders with the next highest Hocking at 4.8 and no other midfielder averaging over 4.
If he is under-rated amongst the broader footy community I would have expected at least Dons supporters to share my love of Benny. Bit surprised that he has his detractors here tbh.
Get on the Benny bandwagon (or bobcat) all you haters!
Just wonder that he works so ■■■■■■ hard, he finds it hard to back-up every week?
According to barnz howletts smile isn't as electrifying as some. Howlett vs a few others is moneyball defined.
Jeeze mate, why do you vilify the greek player on our team? He's won a BnF and you're going at him like he slept with your sister.
Benny was stiff on Saturday night, is here any way we can send him a "Blitzers Boomerang" ?
Awesome game from Benny. I'm surprised to hear that he has copped flack in this forum as personally he is one of my favourite players. He's had me since the first praccy match I watched him play for Essendon down in the Latrobe valley which funny enough I think was against R(B)itchmond.
I love his endeavour, fearlessness and ferocity at the contest. He is an absolute tackling machine and I reckon without him in the team we lose that tackling pressure both actual and perceived around the ball.
I was just having a look at his stats compared to our other midfielders and whilst the out and out ball players such as BJ, Jobe, Stanton, Heps and Zak all average more touches than him over their careers, he tops our next rung of midfielders such as Myers, Hocking, and Melks. His average of 6.2 tackles a game is far away the most of any of our midfielders with the next highest Hocking at 4.8 and no other midfielder averaging over 4.
If he is under-rated amongst the broader footy community I would have expected at least Dons supporters to share my love of Benny. Bit surprised that he has his detractors here tbh.
Get on the Benny bandwagon (or bobcat) all you haters!
It's not haters, everyone likes him but as Ive said before he just hasn't found his niche.
As you've said yourself, he's behind "BJ, Jobe, Stanton, Heps and Zak". Then you say he's better than "Myers, Hocking and Melks".
Hocking is our number 1 tagger, so no one ever wants to drop Hocking.
Melksham is a bit of a golden boy. As I mentioned before in this thread, being our top pick tends to get you a few advantages when your up against mature age rookies, and that goes for fans as well as the club. Also, Melksham had his doubters but came good last year, and so people are wary of criticising him 2nd time around.
Myers was a high draft pick who could never stay on the park, and now he's traveling okay they are keen to get games into him. And he can hoof goals from 60m which earns a bit of a cult following.
But I'm pretty sure there aren't any haters, it's just that when a young kid needs to be given a go, people look for the 'weakest link' which is generally Melksham, Myers or Howlett (when he's not scoring 5 goals).
Benny was stiff on Saturday night, is here any way we can send him a "Blitzers Boomerang" ?
Maybe he's the reason Ben Doolan (stockbroker's ) sister is walking funny?
Awesome game from Benny. I'm surprised to hear that he has copped flack in this forum as personally he is one of my favourite players. He's had me since the first praccy match I watched him play for Essendon down in the Latrobe valley which funny enough I think was against R(B)itchmond.
I love his endeavour, fearlessness and ferocity at the contest. He is an absolute tackling machine and I reckon without him in the team we lose that tackling pressure both actual and perceived around the ball.
I was just having a look at his stats compared to our other midfielders and whilst the out and out ball players such as BJ, Jobe, Stanton, Heps and Zak all average more touches than him over their careers, he tops our next rung of midfielders such as Myers, Hocking, and Melks. His average of 6.2 tackles a game is far away the most of any of our midfielders with the next highest Hocking at 4.8 and no other midfielder averaging over 4.
If he is under-rated amongst the broader footy community I would have expected at least Dons supporters to share my love of Benny. Bit surprised that he has his detractors here tbh.
Get on the Benny bandwagon (or bobcat) all you haters!
It's not haters, everyone likes him but as Ive said before he just hasn't found his niche.
As you've said yourself, he's behind "BJ, Jobe, Stanton, Heps and Zak". Then you say he's better than "Myers, Hocking and Melks".
Hocking is our number 1 tagger, so no one ever wants to drop Hocking.
Melksham is a bit of a golden boy. As I mentioned before in this thread, being our top pick tends to get you a few advantages when your up against mature age rookies, and that goes for fans as well as the club. Also, Melksham had his doubters but came good last year, and so people are wary of criticising him 2nd time around.
Myers was a high draft pick who could never stay on the park, and now he's traveling okay they are keen to get games into him. And he can hoof goals from 60m which earns a bit of a cult following.
But I'm pretty sure there aren't any haters, it's just that when a young kid needs to be given a go, people look for the 'weakest link' which is generally Melksham, Myers or Howlett (when he's not scoring 5 goals).
You say he hasn't found his 'niche', yet in my post i point out that he is our no 1 tackler. With the modern games emphasis on defensive pressure surely this is where Benny's niche lies. If he can continue to improve on number of disposals and keep showing that he is dangerous around goal there needs to be real thought given as to why he is the automatic 'weakest link.
According to barnz howletts smile isn't as electrifying as some. Howlett vs a few others is moneyball defined.
Jeeze mate, why do you vilify the greek player on our team? He's won a BnF and you're going at him like he slept with your sister.
I also count melksham in that.
I rate Buddha and Benny higher than Zaka and Melk...
I think the first two are unfashionable and need to work twice as hard as the other two to get noticed.
You like a bit of Greek Barnz?
Close, across the border.
You can rate hocking and howlett better, but don't dismiss melk and zacka.
I love how he just ran into packs like a raging bull.
This game will be like adelaide last year, everyone will expect more of it and it won't come. He's a good honest footballer that gives his all, nothing more nothing less, revaluate your expectations.
He is also a midfielder who has been expected to perform that high standard set, playing mostly forward. He seemed to spend more time in the middle against the tigers, and look what happened !!
He needs more midfield time to get into games more, so when he goes forward, he's hopefully already had a bit of the pill, so his confidence is up.
Howlett's brother involved on here good to see! Any news? Is he feeling stronger and more confident after that training they put into him over the bye period? I love the way he plays. I understand if you don't want to respond of course.
Awesome game from Benny. I'm surprised to hear that he has copped flack in this forum as personally he is one of my favourite players. He's had me since the first praccy match I watched him play for Essendon down in the Latrobe valley which funny enough I think was against R(B)itchmond.
I love his endeavour, fearlessness and ferocity at the contest. He is an absolute tackling machine and I reckon without him in the team we lose that tackling pressure both actual and perceived around the ball.
I was just having a look at his stats compared to our other midfielders and whilst the out and out ball players such as BJ, Jobe, Stanton, Heps and Zak all average more touches than him over their careers, he tops our next rung of midfielders such as Myers, Hocking, and Melks. His average of 6.2 tackles a game is far away the most of any of our midfielders with the next highest Hocking at 4.8 and no other midfielder averaging over 4.
If he is under-rated amongst the broader footy community I would have expected at least Dons supporters to share my love of Benny. Bit surprised that he has his detractors here tbh.
Get on the Benny bandwagon (or bobcat) all you haters!
It's not haters, everyone likes him but as Ive said before he just hasn't found his niche.
As you've said yourself, he's behind "BJ, Jobe, Stanton, Heps and Zak". Then you say he's better than "Myers, Hocking and Melks".
Hocking is our number 1 tagger, so no one ever wants to drop Hocking.
Melksham is a bit of a golden boy. As I mentioned before in this thread, being our top pick tends to get you a few advantages when your up against mature age rookies, and that goes for fans as well as the club. Also, Melksham had his doubters but came good last year, and so people are wary of criticising him 2nd time around.
Myers was a high draft pick who could never stay on the park, and now he's traveling okay they are keen to get games into him. And he can hoof goals from 60m which earns a bit of a cult following.
But I'm pretty sure there aren't any haters, it's just that when a young kid needs to be given a go, people look for the 'weakest link' which is generally Melksham, Myers or Howlett (when he's not scoring 5 goals).
You say he hasn't found his 'niche', yet in my post i point out that he is our no 1 tackler. With the modern games emphasis on defensive pressure surely this is where Benny's niche lies. If he can continue to improve on number of disposals and keep showing that he is dangerous around goal there needs to be real thought given as to why he is the automatic 'weakest link.
Not sure where you got your figures from, but footywire has Howlett with avg 5.6 tackles per game this season, same as Hocking, (Watson on 5.2) so I wouldn't say he's "far and away" above the rest. Zerrett has 3.2 and he's been a sub for half his games.
FWIW you don't have to plead your case to me, I understand his value to the side, but you said he had his 'haters' and I was just trying to explain how Blitz works.
Bomber made an interesting comment re: Howlett that he tends to taper (his form) and they had a strategy to improve his output (paraphrased)
He has had a few great games including one v GWS last year I think. I expect he can get under an oppositions radar as he's not in the top tier with Watson etc. As long as he can regularly take advantage of that situation and avoid the tapering of his form, then he'll deservedly stay in the 22.
Watching the replay I noticed Myers kick inside 50 at least 3 times. Long kicks to position and each one resulted in a goal. The most direct was to a Belly mark in the pocket. Myers foot is a weapon.
Think he plays 'sore' a bit, which takes away his grunt work which is a key weapon.
Also, needs all body parts working well to extract as much zip as possible, as not blessed with natural pace.
Yep his style of game like hocking means there bodies take such ha smashing they will go missing a little occasionally. Both need rests occasionally too.
Awesome game from Benny. I'm surprised to hear that he has copped flack in this forum as personally he is one of my favourite players. He's had me since the first praccy match I watched him play for Essendon down in the Latrobe valley which funny enough I think was against R(B)itchmond.
I love his endeavour, fearlessness and ferocity at the contest. He is an absolute tackling machine and I reckon without him in the team we lose that tackling pressure both actual and perceived around the ball.
I was just having a look at his stats compared to our other midfielders and whilst the out and out ball players such as BJ, Jobe, Stanton, Heps and Zak all average more touches than him over their careers, he tops our next rung of midfielders such as Myers, Hocking, and Melks. His average of 6.2 tackles a game is far away the most of any of our midfielders with the next highest Hocking at 4.8 and no other midfielder averaging over 4.
If he is under-rated amongst the broader footy community I would have expected at least Dons supporters to share my love of Benny. Bit surprised that he has his detractors here tbh.
Get on the Benny bandwagon (or bobcat) all you haters!
It's not haters, everyone likes him but as Ive said before he just hasn't found his niche.
As you've said yourself, he's behind "BJ, Jobe, Stanton, Heps and Zak". Then you say he's better than "Myers, Hocking and Melks".
Hocking is our number 1 tagger, so no one ever wants to drop Hocking.
Melksham is a bit of a golden boy. As I mentioned before in this thread, being our top pick tends to get you a few advantages when your up against mature age rookies, and that goes for fans as well as the club. Also, Melksham had his doubters but came good last year, and so people are wary of criticising him 2nd time around.
Myers was a high draft pick who could never stay on the park, and now he's traveling okay they are keen to get games into him. And he can hoof goals from 60m which earns a bit of a cult following.
But I'm pretty sure there aren't any haters, it's just that when a young kid needs to be given a go, people look for the 'weakest link' which is generally Melksham, Myers or Howlett (when he's not scoring 5 goals).
You say he hasn't found his 'niche', yet in my post i point out that he is our no 1 tackler. With the modern games emphasis on defensive pressure surely this is where Benny's niche lies. If he can continue to improve on number of disposals and keep showing that he is dangerous around goal there needs to be real thought given as to why he is the automatic 'weakest link.
Not sure where you got your figures from, but footywire has Howlett with avg 5.6 tackles per game this season, same as Hocking, (Watson on 5.2) so I wouldn't say he's "far and away" above the rest. Zerrett has 3.2 and he's been a sub for half his games.
FWIW you don't have to plead your case to me, I understand his value to the side, but you said he had his 'haters' and I was just trying to explain how Blitz works.
I got the stats from footywire, they are career stats as mentioned in my original post. I appreciate you taking the time to explain how Blitz works.
Bomber made an interesting comment re: Howlett that he tends to taper (his form) and they had a strategy to improve his output (paraphrased)
He has had a few great games including one v GWS last year I think. I expect he can get under an oppositions radar as he's not in the top tier with Watson etc. As long as he can regularly take advantage of that situation and avoid the tapering of his form, then he'll deservedly stay in the 22.
Watching the replay I noticed Myers kick inside 50 at least 3 times. Long kicks to position and each one resulted in a goal. The most direct was to a Belly mark in the pocket. Myers foot is a weapon.
this part about the tapering. yes
When he's playing well I have no issues with his game and becomes a really important cog for us, but it seems he's one of the guys that slides off most dramatically when the team isnt playing so well, particularly skills wise, which is probably where his detractors come from.
Im not much for stats but Id imagine you'd find some of his best numbers in the earlier part of last year when I think he was playing fantastic as the team was.
It sounds like the coaching staff have the right idea about trying to keep him at a more stable form level.