WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

[GVGjr]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

Sorry GVGjr, these have to be taken into consideration. The sport is now made up of professional athletes. No longer can just talent get you over the line. You have to be in tip top shape, no matter what your height is, or age is, but running around with a few extra Kgs doesn't cut it.

Tell me, forgetting Bruce's playing performance, do you think he is at his best conditioning and fitness?

But the AFL game has a variety of players with different ages, heights and weights etc. That's what makes the game so good
From my perspective if players are selected to play for the club in our best 22 then the club is OK with their condition so it really comes down to the performance that we should be assessing and that applies to Bruce and anyone else.

Perhaps Bruce likes wearing a tighter jumper than others and perhaps he is 2kg over an ideal weight for him but if he is selected then the MC has signed off that he is good to go. This applies to players returning from injury.

I don't see a need to consistently have an overrider that someone is too old, too young or carrying a couple of kg in assessing their or the teams performance. We need to deal with all this at the selection table and at the end of the year with our list management decisions.

Even if Bruce is a couple of kg overweight is it really impacting to the point where he can't mark or kick straight?

As an example, Easton Wood looks in great shape but I assess both of them in the same light purely on the performances they produce.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

No I don't, but I can see from the naked eye he is not the same.

As poster Bullies said, he came back from iso out of condition and as you know, it is difficult to catch up. Last year he was the 5th best contested mark in the AFL, now he can barely leap.

Watch this and tell me if it the same player:

He's definitely moving and jumping a hell of a lot better here.

I too think he is a couple of kgs overweight, but you wouldn't think it'd impact him so dramatically to the point where he can't get off the ground, can't read the flight of the ball and can't even take simple chest marks.

[Mofra]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

How about we list the no 1 KPFs that deserve a pass mark this year? There's not many.

Dixon (Georgiadis, Westhoff/Marshall)
Kennedy (Darling, O Allen)
B.King (Day, Holman, Greenwood as support)
M King (Membrey, Ryder/Marshall)
Taberner (Lobb, Mundy/Fyfe resting forward)
Hawkins (Ratagalea, Rohan, Fort/Stanley when fit)

and perhaps

J Cameron (Finlayson, Himmelberg)

Notice a pattern? Many KPFs are struggling, and the ones who aren't have two marking teammates in support.
Apologies to Wallis and Gowers/Dale/Schache, but Bruce is a few percent off his best and miles off in terms of getting meaningful support in the air.

[comrade]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

He's definitely moving and jumping a hell of a lot better here.

I too think he is a couple of kgs overweight, but you wouldn't think it'd impact him so dramatically to the point where he can't get off the ground, can't read the flight of the ball and can't even take simple chest marks.

I think it's a cumulative effect. He came back out of shape so fatigues easier, can't cover the ground as well or get separation. Now after 6 weeks of game time, the lack of conditioning has caught up to him in the sense that he is so out of touch, it's drained him of all confidence which we're seeing in the mistimed jumps, the dropped marks, the ball hitting him in the back etc.

If he was cherry ripe after the iso break, I think we'd be seeing a very different player. He's paying the price and it's my hope that he learns from this and gets what he can out of 2020, but sets himself for a massive pre-season .

[Danjul]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

I suspect he didn't need to tell/cook JJ. One of those situations where it is pretty obvious, and everyone in the room knows it.

every week we have someone singled out as the reason why a valiant young inexperienced team didn’t win. I think it was Vandermeer against Carlton, Gowers against....., Gardner against....., now JJ.

All players in every team make mistakes. But we have a frantic game plan that wears players down unnecessarily, gives poor returns for effort and leaves us in danger of a loss with any mistake.

Time to single out the two reasons why winning is simply a random event, poor game plan and poor team selection.

[Bornadog]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

Time to single out the two reasons why winning is simply a random event, poor game plan and poor team selection.

Can't agree. Bevo coached brilliantly last night and almost knocked off the top team who is far more established than us.

Our issue is we don't have the cattle on the ground, and some good players injured/unavailable. You put Hunter and Naughton in and we would have won last night.

[Bullies]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

He's definitely moving and jumping a hell of a lot better here.

I too think he is a couple of kgs overweight, but you wouldn't think it'd impact him so dramatically to the point where he can't get off the ground, can't read the flight of the ball and can't even take simple chest marks.

i think when you don't have the fitness/conditioning as you should in this standard of footy then you get caught out. He doesn't seem able to have the second effort. He always seems buggered after the first. Fatigued also causes you to drop the marks you should take. As i said if you look at his pre season against Port you would see a different player who actually looks fit and up and about. I think the couple of months on the farm didn't help.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

Can't agree. Bevo coached brilliantly last night and almost knocked off the top team who is far more established than us.

Our issue is we don't have the cattle on the ground, and some good players injured/unavailable. You put Hunter and Naughton in and we would have won last night.

What did Bevo do last night that was brilliant? Genuine question as all I saw was the same old same old.

[Bornadog]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

What did Bevo do last night that was brilliant? Genuine question as all I saw was the same old same old.

Our clearance and stoppage play denied Port the ball in the first half, but we just couldn't capitalise on our chances. SDo we set up better and we also pressured Port and stopped the ball shooting out of our forward half. We also matched up pretty well where we could, although they had a height advantage around the ground and killed us in cont. marks.

We can say all we want about the lack of talls, but I believe relying on Weightman, Vandermeer, Richards to mop up and kick goals is a problem at this stage in their career. Richards started off well and picked up a quick 10 disposals, but after his minor injury only had 3 more touches. Mclean, although played well in the last quarter, I thought he was poor in the first half picking up only 6 or so disposals.

[jeemak]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

I'm wondering whether Bruce was asked to run as much at the Saints as he is in our set up. Whilst he might be a couple of kgs off perfect playing weight it may be compounded by having to cover more kms.

[FrediKanoute]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

He's definitely moving and jumping a hell of a lot better here.

I too think he is a couple of kgs overweight, but you wouldn't think it'd impact him so dramatically to the point where he can't get off the ground, can't read the flight of the ball and can't even take simple chest marks.

What strikes me about the clip of Bruce from last year is the amount of space he has to work with. The forward line is open and he is not wrestling his opponent continually. Now his ability to create space may be due to him being fittter/lighter, but equally it could be because of they way the Saints play and keep the forward line open, move the ball quickly, deliver it to the right spots. Also, 5 mins of footage does not make a season.....its just the best bits.

[Sedat]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

As frustrating as Bruce is right now - and I reached boiling point last night - he's not THIS bad.

Come pre-season he needs to put in the yards and develop chemistry with other forwards and I'm confident he'll be much more productive in 2021, but I hope we learn (we never seem to) that he NEEDS support. Yes - Naughton is preferred but if he's injured, it HAS to be Schache or it HAS to be Young.

He's basically our Steven May. In both instances, it is very poor for a high priced senior recruit to be so unprofessional in their preparation.

[chef]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

Bevo in his presser very pointedly made a reference to the JJ handball howler late in the 2nd qtr completely changing momentum of the game. I wonder if he gave JJ a big cook after the game that resulted in this outpouring of emotion.

Would he need to give him a bake?

He stuffed up at work and cost his team a win. Im sure hes harder on himself than any one else, even posts in this thread.

[chef]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

Poor old Bruce desperately needs a run in the ressies. His confidence is shot.

[HOSE B ROMERO]

Re: WB Game Day V Port Adelaide R10 2020

While I feel for players who take on that blame for a loss I wonder if JJ gets back from this. Since 2016 he's had special attention from opposition players and has gone to water. From what I see we have a lot of players when the going is tough they're not mentally strong enough to challenge themselves, challenge their opponent. IMO JJ falls in that category and I wonder if he'll ever be the same.

Not mentally strong? JJ? Not buying that. Made a couple of shocking mistakes last night. So much so that i had to do a double take. But plenty of credits in the bank. Still shows plenty of dash and breaks the lines.