I'd have to say I have no idea who is mentally tough and who isn't. I wouldn't even know where to begin.
Of course we look at it from a distance, so it's not an easy task. But there are certainly signs that may suggest a level of mental toughness.
A player who lifts his game when his team is in trouble and has a 'follow me' type of presence probably has a fair degree of mental toughness. I reckon our captain shows signs of that.
A player whose game goes to pieces after an early mistake probably lacks a mental toughness. On the other hand someone who comes back and gets on top of his opponent after an early setback probably possesses a degree of mental toughness.
Someone who is given an opportunity after being out for some time and just doesn't take that opportunity probably has questionable toughness.
It's also probably fair to say though that talented players don't always possess mental toughness and under the pressure of big games sometimes go missing.
But identifying mental toughness is not always an easy task...note how often I used the word 'probably' in this post. It's hard to be definite.
It's "Snap out of it" time. It's a "must win" or "goodnight nurse".
Games against Collingwood are never predictable, even when the ladder position suggests they should be. Both teams will be up for it, and a big crowd will be expected. Any complacency we might have had should be squeezed right out of us by now. We just cannot afford to lose. I don't think we will.
In other news - is Walshy the most “caught” player in the league?
It's noticeable Stats may tell otherwise but he seems to be often caught in holding the ball situations.
Has he been more affected by the change to the HTB interpretation than others. Is he holding back a bit trying to ensure a better disposal...rather than the quick release.
Or 2023 in reverse. Still we'd probably rather have these issues now, than in 4-5 weeks time.
We have probably gone as far as we can go with the dodgy form though. It's no longer comfortable. It has to be continuing improvement from here on, and entering the finals in reasonable shape injury wise, in a good ladder position and with momentum.
Failure to meet any of those criteria and we're cactus.
Charlie had... - 2nd for m gained - 547m gained. (McGovern had 553m, next best was cripps with 370m and Walsh with 358m) - most inside 50s - 6 - most contested marks - 3 - most goals - 3 - most fantasy points on the ground (afl app) - 113.
Well beaten??
Pittonet had... - =2nd clearances - 5 (cripps 9, Walsh and Hewett 5) - =4th in contested marks - 1 - 232m gained which was twice as much as saad. 3 times as much as Hewett. And better than 8 other Carlton players including cottrell. - more disposals, more inside 50s, more clearances, more m gained than his direct opponent. (Some stats still not loaded yet but there will be more)
So he did his job as well.
Now, my comments were based off what I saw. I only went OK the stats to justify it because I'm not sure what you saw.
Yep Folks may see it differently, but Pittonet was OK and Charlie improved on recent games.
There was criticism of the criticism through the week, but Charlie has been down. Not a great deal...but enough to have some of us considering he may be carrying an injury that has been restricting him. He looked to be moving with a bit more freedom tonight and seemed to cover more ground. That would probably have been in part due to McKay's absence.
McKay, De Koning, Williams and Acres. That's a good chunk of running power, goal scoring ability and height.
...and our defensive structure has been unsettled in terms of personnel in recent weeks with a fair bit of chopping, changing, omissions and injury. McGovern, Kemp, Boyd, Marchbank have all been in and out...and Weitering has been knocked around a bit as well. Hard to get a settled line-up with constant changes. But even if they are all fit there are question marks over some of them.
I know it's a bit tit-for-tat that keeps it going but can we move the ruck discussion to the 'Ruck thread'. Just do a copy and paste and carry it on in there.
In my coaching experience, I have dealt with three types of athlete.
There's the naturally talented athlete. There the 'workhorse' athlete whose success comes solely from hard work and dedication Then there's the athlete who combines both aspects...natural talent and hard work...They're usually your champions.
One of the most frustrating things is an athlete chock full of talent who is not prepared to work on weakness in his make-up or attitude. We've had a few of those over the journey.
My favourites are the 'workhorse'. It's why I have a lot of time for those footballers who lack a bit of talent but will give you 100%. We've had a few of those over the journey too.
Then there are the champions...and a good example of that is Patrick Cripps. Naturally gifted but also bent on working on improving aspects of their game that are a weakness (Goalkicking is a good example with Paddy which is much better than it was.) Harry is well on the way, turning around his goalkicking. I suspect Charlie is also of a similar bent.
Said all that to say this... If there is a deficiency we want to point out it doesn't mean we don't rate that player highly. It's either some aspect that a good footballer will work on, or it could point to a limitation such as an injury which would explain it.
The thing is these guys are the best of the best. They may be the difference between a flag or not in the long run. Anything we think they could do better is fair game for discussion. And not in anyway a slight or disrespect.
I don't disagree with what you right here, but i feel Curnow needs someone playing devils advocate.
I think the way we use Curnow is terrible. There was an article about kicking efficiency and best kicks inside 50 and worst kicks etc. We had 2 in the top 10 of the bad category, Kennedy was #1 and Walsh was something like #7. When we kick it to charlie, we kick it on top of his head. He, like Buddy, is a freak athlete but Marking is not his strongest suit.
We are much better kicking it to him on the lead. Or even dribbling it along the ground to him. His athleticism makes him somewhat unbeatable in those situations and his skill 'on the turn' blows most defenders away.
A lot of the goals Charlie gets are either.... 1. Free kicks from desperate defenders trying to wrestle/scrag him 2. Over the back types where he gets back onto the ball from a pack.
Charlie copped a lot of s*it about his finals series and i think in part it was because he didn't get the same (soft?) frees he is used to during H+A. You need to earn your goals in finals.
So yes, Charlie could chase and tackle more. He could be more involved when the ball is not in his hands. He might be struggling with injury now as well. However, we could do more to help him as well. Perhaps treat him better and we'll get better results from him.
Yep Let's put aside the fact that he may be playing injured for a moment. I was watching a video of all his 2022 goals last night.
When the ball is delivered high to him he is usually being double teamed or scragged. There are often too many in the contest, so yep...his goals sometimes come from going back and getting the ball that comes to the back of the pack. In those situations marking is not a strength, it's his positioning.
But at the other end of the ground... How many times has he gone back into defence this year and taken good strong marks at crucial times? Down there his marking has proved a strength.
On the lead he's virtually unstoppable and that includes the chaos balls bouncing into the forward line. So it is probably correct that we do him no favours with delivery high to a pack mark situation.
Those quick 'turn and go' goals, or kicks to another forward are also impressive. That shows a degree of athleticism that's not always there in other aspects of his game. I don't think it's because he's not capable...it may because he is playing injured.
One area where he seems to be lacking is actively contesting a ball once the initial contest is over and the ball is in dispute on the ground. The have been times when the second efforts aren't great. I actually don't see him bending over to get to those contested balls...which is one reason I suspect he may be carrying a lower back injury.
Charlie is a unique talent. He's an excellent goal kicker...but he's also a 'long range' goalkicker. He's close to the top of our talent list. He'd be in the first three-four players picked each week. But do we use him to best effect.
