The Zuton factor - Pressure pressure pressure pressure pressure pressure

[DJC]

Cottrells first two games this year doesn't indicate he has improved from last year but he is not alone on that.
Fogarty, Harry, Charlie have started the year well and above the personal best averages...Hollands, Cottrell, Owies, Cunningham way down and struggling to put teams away due to their below average output..

And that’s where Vossy and the MC would disagree with you; Cottrell and his mates are doing exactly what’s required of them. 

[DJC]

As i stated, i'm not saying they are the perfect stat, but if you want a rough guide on what players are doing that most supporters are not taking notice of, the pressure act stat is a good example. As mentioned, a player with a lot of pressure acts is clearly applying more pressure than a player with very little. You could argue individual numbers if you wish, but thats missing the point.

re Amy Winehouse....i did say its my opinion. Others can differ and thats fine.

I find it difficult to have sympathy for someone boasting about not going to rehab....and then dying because of it.

.....and i'm a huge Nirvana fan, so i understand some similarities with Kurt Cobain.

Last season Zac Fisher wasn’t laying tackles but his pressure acts were high.  He was dropped…

[kruddler]

Last season Zac Fisher wasn’t laying tackles but his pressure acts were high.  He was dropped…

Sure, and if his pressure acts were zero he never would've got a game

[Milhanna13]

I think that this comment from Matt Cottrell is relevant:

"People don't come to the footy to watch a half-forward run his patterns. They come for Charlie Curnow, not a high half-forward whose job it is to connect with the winger. But it's a good role, it suits my game and the way I play.

I can get up and support the backs, then hopefully challenge my opponent going back to goal. But, to give credit to the club, they really value it. Internally, it's highly valued. It gives me a bit of motivation to keep doing it."

Supporters naturally pay more attention to the big name players and spectacular individual efforts (or errors).  The work done by lesser lights like Cottrell, Hollands, Cuningham, Fogarty, Owies, Fantasia and Boyd is often overlooked.

I think I mentioned in the post-match post, that i didnt see Cunners out there v Tigs, but then he appeared in the top few in the player rating stats.  i reckon this would be due to  a) the above - he is doing so much that doesnt show up on the kicks/marks/handballs sheet  and  b) he did a lot of his good work in close, and hard to see from the grandstand

i saw someone mention on twitter that we have some ridiculous win/loss record, of late, with Cunners and Fog in the team - yet, they arent cyril rioli, so everyone assumes they are on the cusp of being dropped

[madbluboy]

Fogarty is number 1 at Carlton for forward 50 pressure, number 1 in the AFL for forward 50 tackles and number 1 at Carlton for score assists.

[LP]

Fogarty is number 1 at Carlton for forward 50 pressure, number 1 in the AFL for forward 50 tackles and number 1 at Carlton for score assists.

This stuff is completely missed by TV viewers, and game callers, because it all happens well off the footy not even within the side on camera field of view most of the time. You basically have to be at the ground with a wide field view and not be ball watching to see it happen, much of it only really visible in replays from behind the goals.

It's why players like Owies, Cottrell, Fogarty and Boyd are so heavily favoured by coaches while being whipped by many fans.

You know when the opposition find space in our D50, it's not the fault of Plowman, Weiters, Youing, McGovern or Newman, although they cop the brunt of the fan ire because the fans see the end result. The cause is because some utility, SF or wing hasn't pushed hard to run into the available space well ahead of the contest. This was one of the reasons why I was a critic of Motlop, fans love him because in camera they see him chase, tackle, and use the footy. But it's what he wasn't doing when the ball was far away that was the real problem.

Much of it is summarised by those coaching tips from Hodge to young players on the field, "You push there, don't watch from here, you go into that space when the contest is over there!"

[madbluboy]

We miss Fogarty.

[Lods]

We miss Fogarty.

We do.
But what's also missing across the board is that defensive attack on the ball and the player in possession  that saw us with two players in  just about every tackle after the turn around last year. Fogarty was a big part of that.  Effort and pressure have slackened off.
Maybe the players subconsciously thought that once they found that intensity it would just remain without having to work for it.
They need to re-find it or the season will be gone.

[ElwoodBlues1]

Fogarty's rebirth has been based on work ethic and doing the one percenters well, reminds me a lot of the role McCreery plays at Collingwood minus the pace factor. Pies dont care how many goals, kicks etc he gets but just want him chasing, tackling, causing turnovers and being part of the chain of score involvements.

[LP]

I suspect we miss Saad more, we've shown we can still score our problem seems to be stopping opposition scores.