Davey frustrates me. Jetta annoys me. Kommers stats may not be any better, but his attack on the ball is what Jetta & Davey lack. Dont think Dell is the answer. To be honest, Davey when on form is the best option we have.
Jetta may look like the stereotypical small forward, but a small forward he is not. Much more a outside mid, but doesn’t read the game well enough.
I'm really fascinated to see if Stein's demotion was just a contract/list management blunder being corrected or if they really were just giving him one last go.
Doesn't have to be either. They might've had their eye on some late-main-draft guys (say, Kommer & Gregory, or Ashby or anyone else they missed out on)... who they thought would be gone by the time the rookie picks came around.
I hope we hold on to Steinberg.
Wasn't happy when we picked him up (was hoping for Luke Parker or Mitch Hallahan and they were both available when we took Steinberg) and didn't rate him when he was on our main list but I've been turned around on him this year. Felt like every time I saw him playing for Bendigo in his first couple of years he pulled out one nice moment a game and then spent the rest of his time getting into the wrong positions, failing to stick tackles or chase and flying for ridiculous pack marks about 3 or 4 seconds before the ball arrived. The improvement in his 'game awareness' has been really obvious this year and he has shown a really solid commitment to his tasks throughout the year. Ultimately his fate does appear to be somewhat reliant on what other moves are made but certainly would retain him as a rookie for 2014.
Hunter's gone. Dalgleish looks pretty likely to upgraded.
And then there is Dell.
I really like him but I'm not sure if that opinion has much relationship to his exposed performance. For a guy who looks a class above VFL standard during half a dozen passages of play each game he doesn't dominate as he should consistently enough. You see a lot of questions about his pace but my bigger concern is that he doesn't seem judge the ball off the pack or off a marking a contest as well as you would hope. I felt like there wasn't enough times this season where he was slotting goals that had come off the hands of Joey or Gumby charging out for a mark. What he does often do really well is read the play up the ground and judge the ball in the air better than his opponent on a consistent basis. I hope we do keep him because I have a soft spot for him and there is parts of his game that I love but I worry that Dell may continue our tradition over the past few years of constructing a forward line of tall guys that run to the wrong places and small guys who are looking for the ball on the lead.
Good insight. As you have highlighted, this is a bigger issue than just Del Ollio and goes to the heart of the dysfunction in the forward line. We have had a couple of smart forwards of late who read the play well, have goal sense and find space in the fwd line - and they have both been on the smaller side (Monfries and Winderlich). It would make a huge difference to have one of the current talls develop this aspect to their game and is also a reason why my priority whether it would be through drafts or trade would be to find a classy finisher in the mold of a Caracella, Breust, Mayne etc.
Steinberg didn't like when we picked him as did most, and nothing has changed...not a single senior game to date.
Get Lee back as a rookie, he has pace and a ball magnet, still young aswell what we need.
Steinberg has some attributes that we thought we could develop. He has taken longer but those athletic abilities are still there. He also appears very durable.
My vote would be to keep him for another year and see if he has learnt to play enough by placing him back forward, if he kicks 3-4 in a game then upgrade him and see how he goes at AFL level. We are never going to know until we try him at that level. Given his athleticism I think he will transfer very well, and him and Obrien could be the additions that make our forward line more in predictable and dynamic.
I rate Steinberg, albeit from only a few VFL matches this year being played in defense - but he seemed very disciplined and team orientated. Perhaps someone will correct me who has seen more of his early work but he seemed to begin his time at the club as a bit of a mercurial but flaky half forward who enjoyed jumping on blokes heads to take a big grab. Seems to have transformed his game and matured - a good sign in a player and certainly a return to the forward line may beckon given the current situation with Crameri.
I rate Steinberg, albeit from only a few VFL matches this year being played in defense - but he seemed very disciplined and team orientated. Perhaps someone will correct me who has seen more of his early work but he seemed to begin his time at the club as a bit of a mercurial but flaky half forward who enjoyed jumping on blokes heads to take a big grab. Seems to have transformed his game and matured - a good sign in a player and certainly a return to the forward line may beckon given the current situation with Crameri.
Ditto. He's competetive, can win a contest, is strong, and from what I've seen of him in the back line he keeps his head. I'd like to see him step into Crammers' shoes next year, given there isn't room in the backline for him.