Jake Niall Kicks Cooney out of bounds

[AndrewP6]

I thought the article was spot on.
Cooney also said recently he could see himself fishing all day when he was around 30 years old????? That again tells me he is not as serious about the footy.

Maybe he was joking? His Tweets (like Willlbur's) are full of references to food and eating, doesn't mean he's not serious on game day.

[MrMahatma]

Cooney is defintely overrated - brownlow season aside he's really not had more than a couple of stand out games a season. We very rarely see his best.

Hopefully he takes on the challenge to step it up a notch.

[immortalmike]

To compare Jake Niall with hutchinson is ridiculous! Niall 's articles are analytical, informative and about the tactics of the game.. I don't imagine him hopping on a plane to hound a recovering drug addict a la Hutchinson. Niall has a valid well reasoned opinion, he is not stooping to personal abuse or innuendo, he makes a clear case. Time will tell if Adam's misses were the product of an unfit guy, one who is too laconic, or one who regularly doesn't deliver on the big stage. I'm not sure myself, but its perfectly legitimate to ask the questions.

I thought the article was fair though it hurt to read it. Watching hawks/cats I thought exactly the same when I watched their leaders nail critical goals. I am really not sure which bulldog player has that sort of temperament...which sadly is part of our long stanfing problems.

Did you not watch Higgins and Grant nail those critical goals towards the end of the game. They were both under a huge amount of pressure and they delivered.

I don't necessarily disagree with the article but where is the one on Pavlich, who didn't even get much of the ball and quite regularly misses easy shots. Oh wait he's a media love-child and Coons is an easy target.

[KT31]

The reason people are defensive is because they have an emotional attachment to the team and take it personally when a player is criticised.

I personally think until Adam "wants" to be elite, he will be a very good player.
It is no coincedence that Swan & Pendlebury became "A" graders last season. We need the same from Griffen, Cooney, Ward & Higgins to name just a few.
They all have the ability to become elite, it would make us challenge the best teams.

I have an emotional attachment to the team and yes Adam missed a goal on the weekend and yes Brian is clearly unfit.
We do need more from our midfield as we have been smashed nearly every week.
Clearly the team is not playing well and we need to work out why.
But Adam Cooney is a elite, he is a Brownlow medalist, who we where all crowing about when he won.
Brian has had an interrupted pre-season and is (as mentioned by all on Woof) when in form the best backman in the competition.
We played Freo, a side in form and with two key backman out in the last 10 minutes and just lost.

[G-Mo77]

But Adam Cooney is a elite

Is he though?

There is a lot more behind the article than missing a couple of set shots on goal on Monday.

In 2008 I couldn't believe how good this kid was, he was untouchable that year. Those who say otherwise or carry on with the typical line of "Worst Brownlow Medallist" need to pull their head out of their arse and watch some games he played.

Since then it seems to have gone backwards IMO. He can still turn it on at times and when he does it is great, I always think this is what we've been waiting for! The next week it will be a different player. Yes he gets more attention since the brownlow but what "Elite" players don't and not many in this class seem to have trouble with close attention. A tag comes Coons just seems to accept it rather than fight for possession or do smaller things to help the team. Often at times he looks just happy to be jogging around on the ground picking up a lazy possessions and other times he looks completely disinterested. That doesn't describe an elite midfielder in my eyes.

I'm happy to be proved wrong and would also be happy to hear "I told you so" if he does start turning it on again. Please Coons, do it!

[westdog54]

Did you not watch Higgins and Grant nail those critical goals towards the end of the game. They were both under a huge amount of pressure and they delivered.

I don't necessarily disagree with the article but where is the one on Pavlich, who didn't even get much of the ball and quite regularly misses easy shots. Oh wait he's a media love-child and Coons is an easy target.

BS. I can't remember the last time I saw Cooney get a touch up in the press.

The fact is he's a Brownlow Medallist, one of the highest paid (if not the highest paid) players at the club and was touted as a possible Captain.He's a much better player that what he's been showing in the last couple of weeks and you need elite players if you're going to be a flag contender.

He is one of the ones who needs to lift if we are to be a serious challenger to Collingwood and the criticism in this article is perfectly justified as things tand at the moment.

As for the Pavlich comparison, he'd been in very good form up until Monday and has been Fremantle's leading goalkicer 6 years running. If he's a media love-child its because he's an outstanding player and has been a fine leader of his club for many years.

[immortalmike]

BS. I can't remember the last time I saw Cooney get a touch up in the press.

The fact is he's a Brownlow Medallist, one of the highest paid (if not the highest paid) players at the club and was touted as a possible Captain.He's a much better player that what he's been showing in the last couple of weeks and you need elite players if you're going to be a flag contender.

He is one of the ones who needs to lift if we are to be a serious challenger to Collingwood and the criticism in this article is perfectly justified as things tand at the moment.

As for the Pavlich comparison, he'd been in very good form up until Monday and has been Fremantle's leading goalkicer 6 years running. If he's a media love-child its because he's an outstanding player and has been a fine leader of his club for many years.

Can't disagree that Pav is a very good player but is he has let his team down on quite a few occasions as he did on Monday.

As I said I don't disagree with the article Coons needs to lift bigtime (in fact I was going to start a thread about Cooney and his laid-back nature keeping him from being as good as Ablett, earlier in the year), just wondering why Pavlich escapes the scrutiny. Dogs players seem to be easy targets in the media, look at the treatment Brad Johnson received after missing a couple of shots to win games. They would never do that to someone like Pavlich.

[westdog54]

Can't disagree that Pav is a very good player but is he has let his team down on quite a few occasions as he did on Monday.

As I said I don't disagree with the article Coons needs to lift bigtime (in fact I was going to start a thread about Cooney and his laid-back nature keeping him from being as good as Ablett, earlier in the year), just wondering why Pavlich escapes the scrutiny. Dogs players seem to be easy targets in the media, look at the treatment Brad Johnson received after missing a couple of shots to win games. They would never do that to someone like Pavlich.

Pavlich escapes scrutiny for two reasons.

1) He plays for an interstate club. As a general rule, his coverage in the print media (and to a large extent TV) is far less than that of a Melbourne Club.
2) He doesn't deserve it.

I don't buy the argument that Pavlich wouldn't cop it in the media if he was performing far below his standards on a consistent basis. I don't buy that he lets his club down as often as you seem to be suggesting he does. I certainly don't buy the argument that Dogs players are easy targets in the media. Brad Johnson was one player who was almost universally adored by the media. Even twoards the end when his body was starting to fail him many in the media seemed loathed to criticise him.

[Remi Moses]

Jake Niall is a very good football analyst and writer.
Hutchison is a bin scavenging gossip journo

[Sockeye Salmon]

We are all underestimating the importance of an uninterupted pre-season

[Ghost Dog]

Jake Niall is a very good football analyst and writer.
Hutchison is a bin scavenging gossip journo

Fair enough. Its good to have a favourite sports writer you enjoy reading.
TheAGE does have some good writers. I don't like Niall at all, just a personal taste for writing.

If you're a glass half empty kind of guy, you might enjoy reading it.

Cooney deserves to be criticized for the misses but the wider implications in the article are that he is a player who brings 'doubt' into the side. Bollocks.


The fact is he has really improved since his first game this year. If you step back, his form has come along. jogging round the track during pre-season, Now moving well and once he gets the simple things right and his confidence he'll cause the opposition all kinds of headaches.
The missed goals overshadow some very good things he brought to the team otherwise.

The way he is hoisting his kicks is a real worry / kicking action / agreed but it'snothing to do with guts or fitness or flair. He has that in buckets and that's why he's paid so much. It's a fair deal.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Pavlich escapes scrutiny for two reasons.

1) He plays for an interstate club. As a general rule, his coverage in the print media (and to a large extent TV) is far less than that of a Melbourne Club.
2) He doesn't deserve it.

I don't buy the argument that Pavlich wouldn't cop it in the media if he was performing far below his standards on a consistent basis. I don't buy that he lets his club down as often as you seem to be suggesting he does. I certainly don't buy the argument that Dogs players are easy targets in the media. Brad Johnson was one player who was almost universally adored by the media. Even twoards the end when his body was starting to fail him many in the media seemed loathed to criticise him.

I agree with most of this westdog

Pavlich has been an absolute superstar

He doesn't cop criticism because hes never deserved it

If anything his role has changed in 2011. I was shocked he had as much of the ball as the stats said he did on Monday night. We were absolutely all over him as a team almost every time he touched it, which was very pleasing to see. He didn't have a great game but was serviceable.

[LostDoggy]

We are all underestimating the importance of an uninterupted pre-season

Absolutely

[immortalmike]

Pavlich escapes scrutiny for two reasons.

1) He plays for an interstate club. As a general rule, his coverage in the print media (and to a large extent TV) is far less than that of a Melbourne Club.
2) He doesn't deserve it.

I don't buy the argument that Pavlich wouldn't cop it in the media if he was performing far below his standards on a consistent basis. I don't buy that he lets his club down as often as you seem to be suggesting he does. I certainly don't buy the argument that Dogs players are easy targets in the media. Brad Johnson was one player who was almost universally adored by the media. Even twoards the end when his body was starting to fail him many in the media seemed loathed to criticise him.

Just because you don't buy it doesn't mean it's not true.
And where were you when Johnno missed those two shots to win us games, his leadership was called into question as well as his heart.

But fair enough the issue is being sidetracked now. Cooney needs to lift and it has been awhile since we've seen his brownlow form. Hopefully he does this week against the Pies as we're going to need it.

[Topdog]

We are all underestimating the importance of an uninterupted pre-season

But weren't we all told that he had a fantastic pre season and looked brilliant.