I’m not sure of the definition of an ineffective kick. We tend to think ineffective kicks are all turnovers ie intercepted by the opposition. I suspect a lot of kicks to a contest are deemed ineffective. I don’t recall seeing Clarke turn it over directly. Similarly I didn’t think NOB’s kicking was poor or TBC’s, and yet the ineffective kicks percentage implies they were. I prefer to just watch the game and let the stats either confirm, or reveal stuff additional to, what you recall seeing. Many of NOB’s kicks were pressured and necessarily went to a contested situation.
PS For example, I am surprised that Merrett had 22 disposals - I thought he was pretty quiet. And I thought Mutch had a lot more than 18, although I am probably influenced by the fact that I was looking for him and so noticed him more.
I have specifically been watching stoppages from the first practice game this year, Clarke and Bird have been assigned almost full time inside mid duties in all the games I watched. Others at stoppages part time include N-OB and Francis.
Initially I was disappointed because tbh, Bird ( and Myers in 2 games ) completely dominated clearances for Essendon and Clarke hardly ever got the ball at stoppages, but got most of his limited number of possessions as a follower.
In the last few games Clarkes disposal tally has edged up in the 25-30 range
Thats why I am interested to know if Clarke is now starting to pick up clearances. I am pretty sure any player with a tank like his can run around and get the ball over 20 times as a follower.
By comparison, at every game I have been to Mutch has been used as an outside mid and has done very well. He may well ultimately play as an inside mid, but right now Clarke is built for it, and Kobe is a bit light on for weight.
Given the poor performance of our mids at AFL level, I still have some hope that Clarke can improve and develop enough to play at AFL level sooner, rather than later. But I think he is still a 2018 prospect rather than 2017, unless we see a quantum jump in clearances from him.
I first noticed several instances of Clarke2Mutch in the Collingwood game. Prima facie theres nothing wrong with inside mid passing to an outside mid in space