Grossly overrated. Bundle him with our first pick for O’Meara next trade period.
For me the most frustrating player at Essendon. Their was a stretch in 2014 for about 7-8 games where he was winning the inside ball, and playing very well on the outside.He picks and chooses when he wants to perform. The majority of the time he is softer than Marc Murphy.
He carries himself like a star, but rarely gives a stars effort
His best is awesome, but he is incredibly inconsistent.
I wanted him traded in this years period, I really hope he proves me wrong because he can be very damaging when he wants to be.
Trade baitMissed the opportunity this year. Value will drop again 2016.
I still don’t understand how some posters wanted to keep Melksham but want to trade Zaharakis.
Beggars belief.
Wanting to trade someone doesnt mean they aren’t any good, it just means you perceive their market value to be higher than their actual value. Everyone has a price.
Other teams know Zaka barracked for us as a kid, they know he stands up in big games, they know how much he means to the fan base. He kicked THAT goal which is our club’s biggest highlight of the last 15 years.
You cant just trade bad players and keep good players, ane the posters you quoted are well aware of that.
Personally im glad he wasnt up for trade because i think he’s got a lot more to offer, and that keeping Melksham would have been much more speculative.
Crap thread. A thinly veiled invitation to bag one of our players in the off season.
Will never be Robbie Gray as lacks his intensity but is still a very very good player.
His last year in his own words was the most frustrating of his career with injuries and people want to trade him off the back of that.
Laughable
Crap thread. A thinly veiled invitation to bag one of our players in the off season.
Nope. I dont post much these days and i certainly wouldn’t come out of the blue to have a crack. If it was straight after a poor game then maybe.
I just wanted to know if people see him making it to the next level and what his ideal role is, and i think most people have been very positive in their assessment.
I think his strengths are on show when he has the ball and im wondering if he can learn from Stanton and Goddard how to call for the ball from attacking/damaging positions.
It sounds like he’s fitter and i suspect he has a bit to prove after Hirds parting comment, so he could be one to watch this year.
What were Hirdy’s final comments? They didn’t stick in my mind but clearly they had an impact.
Kicked goal to defeat Collingwood in high profile game. Entitled to open ended contract.
Good to hear he finished 3rd in time trial behind Ambrose and Stanton the other day.
What were Hirdy's final comments? They didn't stick in my mind but clearly they had an impact.
He mentioned Zaka in his final presser, when talking about how much the players all meant to him and how much he loved all of them. Something (very roughly) along the lines of “I might criticize him (Zaka) for not going in hard enough sometimes, but I’ve really enjoyed watching him develop as a player”.
It was overall a very positive and supportive comment, and basically named him in his favourite players along side Hurley, Hooker etc, however I’m sure some morons will come out with “Even Hirdy said he is soft”.
Good to hear he finished 3rd in time trial behind Ambrose and Stanton the other day.
This is outstanding, and suggests he is in for a good season. Being fitter should allow him to run more both ways and lose his man and provide him with more opportunities to show off his ball use.
I reckon he gets a bit lost and panicy when played too close to the congestion. I think we should try to get him a bit more time hitting up from half forward. His marking on a lead is an asset we have not utilized much of late. Get him back there, try and find him some space. Guys like zerret and parish look more at home closer to the fall of the ball. Let zaha play to his strengths.
He kicked 31 goals in his B&F year, No reason he shouldn't be doing that consistently for the next 4 years. He needs to be our version of Robbie Gray, Obviously Gray is a superstar but I really rate Zaka and think he can have a similar output.At the same age (and I think I’ve made this point before), Robbie Gray - he’s pretty much exactly 2 years older than Zaha, so up to 2013 - had barely strung two midfield games together between injuries. Let alone the sort of year Zaha had put together in 2011, 2013 or 2014.
He only ‘clicked’ when he was 26 & 27.This.
Similar type of players in my opinion with Gray perhaps having a little bit more pace but otherwise quite similar.
I remember when he had his breakout year and they interviewed him on one of the halftime doco type jobs about his dramatic improvement and asked him how he managed to do it and responded with something like: “I just started putting in extra work on and off the track and really dedicated myself to becoming the best possible player I can be and now that I am seeing the results, I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.” (Paraphrasing)
Gee, thought Gray had a horrible injury run for 3-4 years. Sorry, but Gray has much much more talent as a pure footballer.
If Zaka can transition into the midfield ala Gray I will eat my shoe. Gray kicks multiple goals and has 30+ on a consistent basis.
Gray’s had 2 seasons in the midfield (prior to 2014 he hadn’t even had an 18 touch season). Zaha’s been playing midfield since his 2nd year.
Needs an injury free run and as others have said, is a much better player with Jobe, Hocking and Myers in the team.
Spoke to one of the fitness guys on the boundary at training today.
Zaka has put on 3-4kg’s!!!
Spoke to one of the fitness guys on the boundary at training today. Zaka has put on 3-4kg's!!!
Needs to develop his inside game more, adding some size and being confident to throw his body around makes sense.
He is a very good player, had some injury trouble and I think would be affected by seeing his teammates go through hell knowing he fluked not being fully involved.I think we will see a resurgence this year.
Hopefully this new batch of coaches learn that Zaka is one player who doesn’t carry injuries well. Some players you can chop off a leg and they’ll still smash through brick walls, some players can’t handle a broken nail(no i’m not saying that he’s at that end, just making a scale ).
his injuries have no doubt hindered his development since his b and f, as well as being managed poorly during 2012-15.
however his biggest problem (and a few players suffer from it) is they aren’t switched on from the first siren every week. There’s a difference between playing the same way week in week out and making mistakes, to playing different in the first half compared to the second.
To many times in the first half of games he gets the ball and panics, which leads to blind possessions going forward which normally result in a turnover.
at half the time the spray comes and is reminded to play a certain way (taking the game on with his skills and smarts) and he can come out and pinpoint passes with a blindfold on.
If he stays fit and in form would be great, and will prolly be best 22.
However I think we have enough good young decent talent that if he does suffer an injury or form loss he won’t be missed that much.
Granted that relies on said young talent coming on very quickly, but even guys from last year look like they could be pushing up to or past Zaka’s worst performing form of the last few years, so he’d want to be putting in good solid consistent efforts.
Lol, he's 25 and has never had an inside game. It's not going to happen.Spoke to one of the fitness guys on the boundary at training today. Zaka has put on 3-4kg's!!!Needs to develop his inside game more, adding some size and being confident to throw his body around makes sense.
He simply has to be as damaging outside as he is at his best more often, and I’d like to see him play more time in the F50 as he is very dangerous there.
Spoke to one of the fitness guys on the boundary at training today. Zaka has put on 3-4kg's!!!Needs to develop his inside game more, adding some size and being confident to throw his body around makes sense.
Why should an outside mid develop his inside game? Better he further refine his outside game to become more damaging at what he is there to do.
Spoke to one of the fitness guys on the boundary at training today. Zaka has put on 3-4kg's!!!Needs to develop his inside game more, adding some size and being confident to throw his body around makes sense.
Why should an outside mid develop his inside game? Better he further refine his outside game to become more damaging at what he is there to do.
Was paired with Stants today. Good match-up.
Spoke to one of the fitness guys on the boundary at training today. Zaka has put on 3-4kg's!!!Needs to develop his inside game more, adding some size and being confident to throw his body around makes sense.
Why should an outside mid develop his inside game? Better he further refine his outside game to become more damaging at what he is there to do.
Because when there is a contested 50/50 ball to be won, he needs to win it. Or if we lose inside midfielders to injury, someone with his experience should be able to step in and do the job.