Nic Nat and JUH - If West Coast can manage it, why can't we??

[mjp]

So - I actually watched WCE vs Essendon last night (yep, I feel dirty just saying it). And it was an entertaining game played by two pretty exciting teams (sorry). But it also made me think.

Natanui is BY FAR WC's most influential player.

He plays a minutes cap of 70% and supposedly not one second more. He's a massive unit who has broken down a few times and West Coast believe they are better off (far better off) with 70% access to Nic Nat that 0%. Which sounds fair.

I keep hearing how JUH is simply not fit enough to play AFL footy. So why don't we just manage him the same way? He comes on at the 5-minute mark, exits at the 20-minute mark...bing, bang, boom...we have another forward who needs to be accounted for.

Just looking at our forward line right now - if you take Naughton out of the equation, I suspect if we play JUH for the rest of the season instead of ANY OTHER forward on our list, by GF day JUH will be the better player. And no, Bruce kicking 3x goals in the last quarter on Friday really didn't inspire me to love him any more...every time we play a 'big' game he fails to deliver (with the potential exception of the PA game a couple of weeks back).

Thoughts?

[DOG GOD]

I agree. It’s a matter of time..If I was on the MC I’d be looking to unleash JUH after these next 3 games (Freo, Geel, WC). Imagine him debuting against NM at Marvel to give him a taste and a little less pressure, only then to play the following week, on the same ground as Buddy. Now THAT would be great viewing.

But absolutely, JUH has the ability to be able to do more with 50% game time than some others at 90%.
The time is soon I feel. ..well it should be anyway.

[Mantis]

Maybe this was the plan all along, but the head knock came at just the wrong time.. now with the COVID week off he won't have played for 4 weeks come this weekend so the fitness base he had been building has probably dissipated.

Agree that we need to give him a taste... hopefully he gets to play this weekend and if he can string a couple of good games in a row he should be a good chance to play after our bye.

It was good to hear JUH on the WB podcast talk about working on his fitness base whilst he hasn't been playing.

[jeemak]

Has anyone heard anyone call out that JUH has been doing extras and absolutely everything he can to get his fitness base up and fast track his path to playing senior football?

I haven't, and possibly it's not publicised that he has been, though that's the type of thing I do want to hear coming out of the club for a guy we'd be pretty eager to get senior experience into.

[Happy Days]

Well maybe that's because its Nic Naitanui they're managing, of course he's worth playing 70% of the time and hamstringing your rotations over.

JUH is no lock to be any sort of meaningful contributor in the AFL yet.

[DOG GOD]

Well maybe that's because its Nic Naitanui they're managing, of course he's worth playing 70% of the time and hamstringing your rotations over.

JUH is no lock to be any sort of meaningful contributor in the AFL yet.

Well, we certainly had a few passengers against Melb.

[Cyberdoggie]

I think the difference is he's a first year player and doesn't have a history of injuries or any body of work to consider the option.

I don't see why he should be treated any differently to the other players, that only creates problems in the group.

I'm sure he will get his chance when he's ready, having watched him a bit so far i agree that he's just a bit lazy/not fit enough.
Wouldn't last the game at AFL level.

[GVGjr]

Nic Nat is a proven commodity so therefore managing him to 70% playing time you pretty much know what your are going to get
JUH however, is an unknown commodity and I think he carries a higher level of an injury risk even at 70% playing time especially given he didn't play much last year.

I'd also ask the question of if he really fits into our forward line at the moment?

We will have to play him soon so I suspect a managed playing time is the best outcome

[bornadog]

. And no, Bruce kicking 3x goals in the last quarter on Friday really didn't inspire me to love him any more...every time we play a 'big' game he fails to deliver (with the potential exception of the PA game a couple of weeks back)

Halfway through the season and Josh has kicked 33 goals - I am more than happy with that.

On the idea of bringing JUH in, I would. Give the kid a taste and see how he goes.

[The bulldog tragician]

Three things would concern me about this:

Nic Nat has done umpteen pre seasons building a powerful body - JUH has not. It’s not just aerobic capacity, it’s upper body strength that he lacks.

Could his confidence be dented if he comes in and fails to dazzle? With all that number one draft pick attention, I’d be worried that a debut before he’s ready could knock that carefree attitude he seems to have for six.

And..can he play the team role? I suspect he’ll want to fly for speckies and attempt goal and mark of the week, every match. We already have Naughton and Weightman loving the spectacular mark, and it’s taken a while for Bruce and Naughton to build chemistry and understanding. Is Jamarra ready to sometimes do dummy leads, sometimes take his man to a dead pocket, sometimes shepherd instead of fly, or will he be too impatient (a la Rhylee West) to do the heroic things we’ve all been told he can and will do.

[DOG GOD]

The majority seem to think JUH is still a long way off, so what’s the likelihood we WONT see him debut this year? Surely that would dent his confidence more..the #1 draft pick (not injured) not playing for the year.

[bulldogtragic]

I’ve said it before, it’s a conceptual thing. If Jamarra was taken at Pick 1 as a super quick (2.95 seconds over 20m), athletic (8.3 seconds agility run), big leaping (93cm running vertical leap), small pressure forward with x-factor who loves to tackle at 178cm we’d probably have played him. The thing is, he’s all of those things except that he’s much taller, 195cm. So if you look at his extra height as just a ‘bonus’, he’s got the tools to be playing in a role more akin to small or medium forward who has 10-15cm on his opponent. At this point in his development I personally don’t see him competing against Bruce or Naughton, or even Schache, I have him against Hannan, VDM, Wallis, Scott, McNeil, Weightman, West, JJ, Bedendo. The closest comparison in combine results for Jamarra is actually Cody Weightman in terms of the tools he has (both excellent but Jamarra better) plus Jamarra has that bonus of extra height.

A bit of buzz and youthful exuberance might be a way of bringing that energy back to the group after Friday night.

[Grantysghost]

The majority seem to think JUH is still a long way off, so what’s the likelihood we WONT see him debut this year? Surely that would dent his confidence more..the #1 draft pick (not injured) not playing for the year.

He's not a long way off at all. I honestly wonder if half the issue is his more laconic disposition. For a first year player he's simply not that bad.

He will play soon, he will be as fit as most first year players of his size.

I think we need to reset our collective mindset regarding his fitness or lack thereof.

As for the OP and managing his time, would that not be reasonably normal for a first year KPP? For eg McDonald's (Swans pick 4) first 3 games this season were 72,72,74 percent time on ground.

I'd see something like this being appropriate for Jamarra too.
I think there's been a number of factors as to why he hasn't played so far mainly :

- lack of u /18s so being conservative and giving him time to get back up to speed with his match fitness.
- team doing so well
- recent concussion

On the last point I dare say he may have played Friday considering the injuries.

[DOG GOD]

Well I think the NM game would be the ideal game to debut, with Sydney, GC and Adel to follow. That would be a nice patch for him.

[mjp]

Three things would concern me about this:

Nic Nat has done umpteen pre seasons building a powerful body - JUH has not. It’s not just aerobic capacity, it’s upper body strength that he lacks.

Well - he's a young player. For the next 7-8 seasons he is going to be building his strength...at some point, he needs to play in order to understand exactly how strong he needs to become.

Could his confidence be dented if he comes in and fails to dazzle? With all that number one draft pick attention, I’d be worried that a debut before he’s ready could knock that carefree attitude he seems to have for six.

Every week there is a referendum on whether a player is considered 'good' by his coach/mc. It's called selection. If you think he will lose confidence playing, I'm here to tell you he is definitely losing confidence NOT playing.

And..can he play the team role?

Is there anything about JUH that makes you think he isn't a team-oriented player? If he is flying for marks when he shouldn't, then we need to coach him...but we can't coach him until he plays!