He is clearly our second tall forward behind joe, imo. It’s his spot to lose
How has Stewart’s pre season been? I often wonder if he will end up delisted one day. Very disappointing year last year
Nice stuff, and I love him as a player and as a tiny bit of an erotic stimulation, but I hate it when people do these videos with top gun type theme music in the background and big red letters. But that’s just me.
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Yeah, Stewart had a really strange year.
Started out great for the first few weeks. Then faded a bit. And then by round 9 he had all but disappeared, and got dropped a few weeks later.
My read of it is that it took the competition a while to work out that Daniher was screwed. So the first 4 weeks Daniher had the focus. Then Stewart copped it a bit more as the competition worked out that Daniher wasn’t 100%. Then when Daniher went out of the side, well Stewey couldn’t hold up his end of the deal, and Smack had come in and was killing it.
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Want to see him take over more games like he can.
I expect 40 goals as well.
I feel like he had left his mental demons behind. With a continued stretch in the team, constant game time, better fitness and getting much better supply from McGrath, Tippa, Stringer & Myers he could go past 40.
If he can eliminate more of the stupid frees he will become a fearsome forward.
I for one are very excited about what he brings to the side.
I agree with others, he is our first tall fwd after Daniher.
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I’m hoping the defensive mindset focus will have him appreciate that putting pressure on the backs requires him to both bring the ball to ground and not give away a free kick.
Never been there - never will.
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Nothing at all wrong with his kicking. Probably the best tall kick on our team. And better than most others, also. What he needs, is focus.
You don’t think he has the capacity to spray shots at goal? Last year, he was less than 60%. I have more confidence in him kicking the tough goal than the easier shot at goal. If that is technique, or focus is not my concern I just want to see the improved results.
There have been a few here (including reputedly Worsfold) who’ve said McKernan is a top kick for goal. So I pulled out our tall forwards, and looked at their stats. The result was their accuracy in 2018 (I used 2017 for Hooker and JD to have a bigger sample size):
- Mitchel Brown (2018 stats) 72%
- Joe Daniher (2017 stats) 62%
- Cale Hooker (2017 stats) 61%
- Shaun McKernan (2018 stats) 59%
- Jake Stringer (2018 stats) 57%
- James Stewart (2018 stats) 54%
So really, with the exception of Brown being a clear step above, the others you can almost throw a blanket over. McKernan is right in the middle.
I forgot about Brown, to be honest - and shame on me - he would be my pick for ‘the shot’. Followed by Smack.
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Are those stats for set shots? or all shots?
The more important thing for me is that McKernan is a genuine FF/Ruck, Stewart and Brown are more CHF/roaming types. And I thought McKernan made good progress in the ruck last year, giving away noticeably fewer freekicks in the ruck, at least to my eyes.
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Smack seems to be learning that he doesn’t need to win hit outs. He needs to help the team win clearances. So that means contest the hit out if possible, but at the least disrupt the opposition ruckman and potentially even act as an extra mid and take it on the ground.
That freedom means he isn’t as obsessed with the ruck duel, which was causing most of his frees against.
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I rate Brown higher. Would have him in front of McKernan.
Sure, but Brown is not a big full forward. His skill set is different.
Doesn’t mean you couldn’t rejig the forward line around that though.
Particularly if you felt Daniher was going to play closer to goal.
We really need that new stat they came up with where it gives their % based on the % of goals kicked from certain positions
Yeah but he played as the tallest forward in a couple of games last season and did it well. He’s plenty big enough to do the same thing alongside Daniher. He works his ■■■ off too. I’d have him ahead of Shaun, but Shaun is definitely playing if Daniher isn’t ready.
And Mitch also kicked 18 goals from the 11 games he played forward. He could kick 40+ in a whole season with Daniher being the main focus of opposition.
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By all reports, people watching training, family friends of players and the few chances I’ve had to see training, Stewart is looking incredible. I’m personally not pro-McKernan or Stewart, I like Stewarts speed and agility and I like McKernan’s aggression. However a situation where theyre both going so well we consider dropping Joe would be AMAZING
I don’t think the training reports on here have really reflected that
I think its more the fact that we dont need to rush daniher back because those two are going so well. Which is a good thing.