We’re obviously not across what the coaches are asking of him, but at face value it seems as if he deserves an extended run at it. Whenever he’s come in I think he’s always been quite serviceable, and never really done too much wrong.
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It’s trippy that he got a shout out from the coach post game in his last senior appearance didn’t he? And then got unceremoniously dropped.
For all the pile on about Stewart people completely overlook Zerks deficiencies which would be why he isn’t in the side.
Rutten of all people is going to know what’s needed/what he wants from kpd.
Zerk does a reasonable job one on one defending on his man as far as the bigger kpf’s
But anyone with pace he gets burnt by and in a backline where they are often having to switch opponents it can get him caught out
Aside from this he simply does not intercept enough. Doesn’t get across to help out on others doing so and also marking can be very fumbly. This will be a key aspect of why Stewart gets games ahead.
Then we have the ball use. He’s extremely hesitant ball in hand and kicking can let him down. Stewart gave up an easy goal with brain fade but Zerk would do that also via poor skill execution or his own brain fades trying to take on tacklers when doesn’t have capacity to.
I get the whole Stewart is not the answer to us having a highly competent kpd in a finals worthy team but Zerk isn’t the answer either.
They’ve kept him as depth, which is required for all sides. If they’d let him go we’d have been reliant for depth on Reid (coming back from injury/not ready), Brand (not ready) or Hurley (unsure if even returned)
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Zerk can get exposed for pace now and then but his contest work is very solid. His kicking isn’t great but he’s generally conservative with the ball so doesn’t get punished often for it. He’s very brave in the air and at the contest, indeed he’s probably one of the few players on the list I trust to commit their body to a really hot contest.
Stewart has the pace but all his instincts are wrong and his pace isn’t enough to compensate. His bad instincts also make him very vulnerable in the contest.His kicking is good but it’s not really a weapon we see much of because of our style of play.
All in all I feel pretty comfortable in suggesting that zerk would save more goals than Stewart by neutralizing or winning more contests and cost us fewer goals through bone headedness too.
Iirc the last time we saw zerk was in that low scoring arm wrestle with Melbourne last year. He made 2 skill errors that cost us goals I think but overall the defence held together quite well which he has to at least take some credit for. He got dropped for those errors though.
Stewart doesn’t make the skill errors as often but he makes 3 or 4 ridiculous defensive errors every game and doesn’t get held to account for them.
My guess is if we dropped stewart for zerk and gave zerk a solid block of at least 5 games we’d never see Stewart in defence again.
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But yeah, in the long run zerk may not be the answer either, he does have deficiencies
there is a higher chance of Zerk being a long term solution than Stewart. There is also a reasonable chance he will perform better than Stewart in the immediate term. It seems a no-brainer.
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There have been plenty of great key defenders with average foot skills. Silvagni, Scarlett, Dunkley, Rutten, Glass, Michael and Martyn to name a few. All of them had an uncompromising attitude to the contest. Can’t think of a single example of key great key defender who wasn’t consistent in this regard.
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Persisting with Stewart as a defender is such a bone headed move.
We had a multiple AA defender sitting on the sidelines last year and if the excuse is that we are building for 2025 I’d rather play Zerk.
Laverde worked, Stewart didn’t. Move on
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That’s what had me so excited about zerk from day 1. I remember watching him as a skinny kid in his first year in the vfl just throwing himself into marking contests with such ferocity I was immediately convinced we’d found one.
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I was just going to ask - there was a Blitzer who went VERY early on Zerk but I can’t recall who. I don’t think it was you - not saying you didn’t rate him but someone was (slightly tongue in cheek) making Rance comparisons in his first pre season
well if it was such a ‘no-brainer’ BZT would be playing right?
But he isn’t…
exactly, selection team has no brains
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I heard AFL consultancy rates are pretty good
I don’t think we’ve seen anywhere near enough of Zerk to make those assertions.
Which is kind of the point most are saying. Let’s have a look and find out, because we already know about Stewart.
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Closing speed in defence is so important for us because our ability to hold our full ground defensive structure is horrific.
We also turn the ball over in dangerous areas so frequently, if you don’t have closing speed you end up looking like Dyson Heppell has looked in the first 2 rounds.
I was certainly very bullish about him (still am) but I wasn’t going that hard
Zerk isnt good, thats why he hasnt been playing.
He is in Year 5, and we need to find out if he can play, so a solid 5-8 week block regardless of form is the right call.
I wouldnt be placing Stewart in the cannon though.
He’s a handy footballer, and we have deficiencies forward and back.
Personally, id like to see what this 2022 version of Stewart can do up forward next to 2mp & Francis (later Jones).
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This is fair, but stewarts one on one positioning and game sense is so so bad his closing speed is often irrelevant
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Given how dysfunctional or forward line in not opposed to this either