Playing really well this year, good on him.
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Is easily our best player this year so far.
Love bj but it says things about our list when our best clearance player is a old man
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Indeed…
Thought he was cooked last year. Has been brilliant this season
Always thought Fletch played…8 years too long…
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I think having stars that are youth or younger is the biggest farce in any if not most sports. This is where the younger players are expected to play the starring key roles and the older players are expected to play the level headed supporting roles to “guide” the kids.
But the farce here is that success is about the best players regardless of age when the team peaks (challenges for the top). Of course the variable here is the time when the team peaks. But say Goddard is the best player when the team peaks then there is no question, it is just that the team is not their yet which is the concern.
But stats are what they are, Zack Merett is on 28 clearances for the year with Goddard on 34. Heppel is on 21 and Parish on 18. This is more reflective on the role they have played and the game style which has been very run and carry based for the faster players. Jobe also has 29. All in the Top 100.
In essence what matters is that you have a good mix of contributors and not the age of players.
Geelong for instance have two ‘younger’ players in Danger (45) and Selwood (43) leading the way but the next best is Duncan on 23, then Horlin-Smith on 20.
Make what you want from it, but I think all it says is that right now we are playing a game style using players in the best position for them while the team finds its feet.
You expect Jobe and Heppel to get higher as the year goes on.
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I think it is hilarious that there is such an obsession with youth on this site. Young players can be more athletic and faster but sometimes they can be so incredibly stupid.
They usually don’t understand tactics particularly well, nor when to employ them.
In fact one game of ours this year, might have been against Brisbane in the dying minutes and we weren’t far up, and BJ and Jobe and Kelly were passing slowly to each other, not “freezing the ball” but being careful where it went to ensure the opposition didn’t get another chance.
One of them gives it to Zach Merrett and he immediately kicks it to a contest of the forward line and we lose possession.
I just shook my head and said to one of my sons, that is just lack of experience. And it was. It was the wrong move given the circumstances. Might have been a good move at other times of the game but not then.
He’s a smart kid and am sure he wont make that mistake again, but to suggest that youth is somehow superior to experience is just rubbish.
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The problem is when we’ve got dumb experienced players, which we have.
Yep. I’d written off “point at everyone” Goddard and couldn’t really find a spot in the starting 18 for him.
But I find myself now considering him our best inside midfielder.
I am desperately hoping this is only because Zerrett and Parish are not being played in there a lot for whatever reason. Otherwise it is embarrassing.
The obsession with youth is probably a result of the belief that this group is not good enough to be top 4 and the ( false) belief that older players cannot “improve”. The re-tasking of BJ is a case in point, old dogs can learn new tricks and be very useful to the team.
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And they quite often have developed and continue to develop [footy/ insert other sport here] smarts.
(
He has been and continues to be great for the club. Is also one of few that can kick well and with power to a target.
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Had ~17 disposals in the first quarter versus Freo, and 8 in the rest.
What happened?
Think got a knee injury of sorts
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Got tired of carrying the midfield
Was off for first ten minutes of 4th qtr, you know when they domianted the clearances and kicked away to win the game.
Where does one find qtr by qtr stats? I certainly can’t find them on the AFL stats page, which, if it’s not my domestic blindness coming into play, is really fkn stupid that they don’t have them there.
I think you need to buy the hun tomorrow.
I was surprised when they showed that he had 18 disposals 5 mins into the second quarter. He picked up an injury after that according to the telecast; a bit of a knee problem
Followed the trend.