When you consider his lack of natural ability and skill, results like that are a testament to how hard he works. And you don’t have to look very hard on this forum to see supporters bemoaning our lack of players with the right work ethic.
He’s rinsed some genuinely good opponents this year (Weightman, Bobby Hill). He deserves a bit of credit.
Keays was playing mostly midfield though and drifting down though wasn’t he?
Dont see him getting dropped need to shut down one of Higgins or Butler
Yeah he’s definitely got to get the job on one of those 2.
He absolutely works hard. No one could deny that. But just because he works hard and took a few scalps across a month or so doesn’t mean he’s had a good season, to me.
His lack of ability with the ball means he needs to beat his opponent well to be worth playing. When he holds a highly dangerous forward to a goal or less, that’s great. Even if he just kicks sideways all day, he’s probably having a net positive impact.
The problem is he gives us very little when he doesn’t do the above, and that would be more weeks than not. He is also a victim of playing in a backline with so many nervous and hesitant disposers of the ball. He needs confident players to get him out of trouble like he had earlier in the season.
Agree. Better skilled and paid players in the backline need to lift their standards. Every club has Kelly’s, he shouldn’t be exposed so often because of lack of support
Let me get this straight, you think he’s lost his match-up more than he was won it this year? We must be watching different games; I’d be amazed if he’s been beaten anything more than two or three times this season.
I agree that when you have a guy like Kelly in defence you need to complement that with higher skilled players. This shortcoming has been obvious since before the season even started and is squarely on the coaches and recruiting staff to address.
With McGrath to be rinsed by the other one?
Poor clarity on my part. My view is that Kelly keeping Weightman types to 1 goal or less is far more valuable than keeping a guy who averages <1 goal per game to the same total. I doubt we’ll disagree on that, but we probably disagree to the extent to which that’s true.
Whoever North or Richmond have playing small forward, for example, being kept to 1 goal is fine, but if it’s the usual sideways kicks and no turnovers, that’s just a decent game in my eyes. Nothing special.
Of course, I don’t have the matchup data to support my questionable memory, but aside from Collingwood, I can’t remember the last time Kelly played an excellent lockdown role. Based on that, he’s probably averaging a 5/10 once the 8/10 games are balanced out by the shockers on the wing and games like last week.
In a perfect world, I would only play Kelly when there is a gun small for him to shut down, and leave him out otherwise as he hurts our ball movement even on his best days.
Buckley made a good point, which is something I’ve noticed for a few years. Essendon’s ground ball clean up from it’s defenders is crap. I dunno who to blame coz individually all those guys look capable, but when the ball hits the ground (especially after a centre clearance) i always feel the opposition will score once it hits the ground.
Gotcha. You’re saying effectively that he needs to be better with the offensive stuff when he comes up against lesser opponents. Unfortunately I don’t think he’s going to improve that aspect of his game. I’d definitely like to see the coaches tow a harder line with the horses-for-courses policy (ie. not playing Peter Wright when it’s ■■■■■■■ down rain). I guess the issue with this is that players constantly talk about the importance of continuity. I’m sure a shrewd coaching group could handle it; not sure if we’ve got a shrewd coaching group.
Also, with Kelly playing on the wing. I reckon it’s a good bet he didn’t ask to play there. Put this one on the (long) list of dumb decisions by the coaches.
Fun fact - all 10 wins this year came with Jake Kelly in the side. Still played in 5 losses though.
He’s missed against
Sydney
Geelong
St Kilda
Honestly, he’s best 22 if he plays the lockdown defender role, but he hasn’t been doing that as much lately.
Dad’s a prick though.
Dad sits in front of me at Marvel for home games.
Can you actually see any of the game with that big bonse.
Does he pinch you?
Why do you call him Dad?
Does he call any Essendon players b#tches?
Lucky them!! 
