I think Blitz putting too much weight on two games where we had limited forward entries, both away, where most of the small & medium forwards (other than Langford) sucked, may be a little silly. There are reasons to doubt Menzie. But on his body of work year-to-date there are also a number of positives. If we’re going to pot him, makes more sense to do it when his performance is atypical of what the forwards in general are doing, rather than the same.
Absolutely. There are things to like about him and things to doubt about him.
On goal output he’s clearly behind. But Waterman’s issues weren’t goals, as he had a pretty good league average in that area. On pure goals performance, he’d still be playing AFL.
What Menzie has is far more pressure, and he’s more of a true crumbing small than Waterman who was more lead & mark.
If umps went to Specsavers it could have easily been 4 goals as he was being held often in front of goal. Also a GOTY contender if it didn’t clip the post on the way through. This kid is going to make it
He’s got some limitations, for sure, but he’s also got one very handy attribute for a forward; even when he’s not playing that well, he manages to hit the scoreboard. Ten goals in nine AFL games so far this season, and he did it in the reserves last year, too. He also shows good intensity in ground-level contests and is equal fourth at EFC for goal assists this season.
He’s 20 years old and has played 11 games. He’s doing a pretty good job, I’d say.