08-31-2020, 09:13 AM
(08-31-2020, 08:07 AM)ElwoodBlues1 link Wrote:When you are a top ten pick you get more opportunities but are also judged more harshly, thats the reality.
Dow's 12 possies are interesting, he only had 4 kicks with 8 handballs, I noticed he didnt want to kick the ball..DE was 67%.....by foot thats reasonable but the majority by hand thats not so flash and thats his problem. IMO he has been ordered to handpass more and kick less. At U18 level he would get enormous amounts of ball every game..35-40 was common but about 25-30% were no good but the volume of possies made up for it. At senior level he cant get the ball and if he goes at 67% with what I call simple kicks/handpasses he is a liability.
I liked Dow at U18 level and think he can still make it but its going to be interesting to see if the club can carry him long enough in the senior team for him to improve enough to become a fixture. The kids coming through like Kemp, Philp, Ramsay etc are all much better users of the ball and the latter two all have Dows pace, so he has two problems, himself and the competition from other younger players.
Obrien was pick 10 but IMO it was a weak draft and he was a poor pick for us and when the coach has labelled his attack on the footy etc needing work thats a label that sticks and is hard to shake. Not being contested enough is harder to fix because its instinct...Cottrell is raw as a piece of fresh beef but contests well and you can see Teague has preferred both him and Philp over Obrien for one main reason.
SPS is Yarran without the fire in the belly...when CY was wound up he was top shelf, pace, intensity, skill etc etc...we know his story and it was sad to watch his decline. SPS doesnt have the CY problems but he is just too laconic, lazy and inconsistent for a No 6 pick and we all know it. He can play the game and doesnt need skills training, just needs a can of "whoop arse" before each game to fire him up but so far neither Bolton or DT has found that formula...76 games is a decent sample too. Not sure we can continue too long waiting for him to become consistent, hiding him down back to protect him from critique has to stop as well.
He needs to be back in the midfield somewhere providing the run and carry we recruited him for or he will prove the " mugs to the backline theory" right...
Agree that we need SPS delivering the ball into our forwards and we also need to put him on notice that if his intensity doesn’t lift he’s on the trade table......we can’t cop the mediocrity any more. He needs to run with more urgency, kick harder and longer and commit to tackles - he’s developed a touch of the Bryce Gibbs and it’s not good enough.