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Topic: Best 22 in 21 (Read 10288 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #90 –
Quote from: capcom on
Like SPS, McMoney is on his last chance with me.  

In fairness to McGovern, he hasn't been fit during the majority of his time with us due to injuries.
SPS doesn't have that excuse.

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #91 –
Quote from: kruddler on
In fairness to McGovern, he hasn't been fit during the majority of his time with us due to injuries.
SPS doesn't have that excuse.
In fairness to SPS, I think fan expectations way exceed ability, perhaps he is not out of form but just playing to his ability. Some WA nerd did SPS no favours by claiming on the draft that SPS was the best footballer to come out of the west, it seems many of our fans believed it!
The Force Awakens!

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #92 –
Quote from: LP on
In fairness to SPS, I think fan expectations way exceed ability, perhaps he is not out of form but just playing to his ability. Some WA nerd did SPS no favours by claiming on the draft that SPS was the best footballer to come out of the west, it seems many of our fans believed it!

Tend to agree - what we have seen is all we are likely to get.
Reality always wins in the end.

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #93 –
Yet his first year was exceptional .... sorry, not buying that

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #94 –
Quote from: LP on
In fairness to SPS, I think fan expectations way exceed ability, perhaps he is not out of form but just playing to his ability. Some WA nerd did SPS no favours by claiming on the draft that SPS was the best footballer to come out of the west, it seems many of our fans believed it!

I think that Samo has become the new whipping boy.

He is being played out of position but he does the job the coach has given him ... and he’s nowhere near as bad as some folk like to think.

Remember when the 2020 player rankings came out and Samo was right up there with the best small defenders and had hardly conceded a goal (apart from two from shocking free kicks against West Coast).
“Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?”  Oddball

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #95 –
Its a simple equation.

What you see is what you get with Samo.

He plays today much as he did when he arrived and there might not be much more scope for growth in his game.

Thats ok.

He's good enough, and if he weren't a top 5 pick, we'd be happy enough with how he's tracking.

"everything you know is wrong"

Paul Hewson

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #96 –
Can you play three small defenders ie Docherty, Saad and SPS whose preference is to play loose/attack and not defend?
I thought Gresham, Higgins and Lonie all played well in the community game and the degree of difficulty will only increase with the Tiger small forwards. Imo two out of our three have to give preference to defending..

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #97 –
I have high expectations of SPS not because of where he went in the draft but how good is best is.

2012 HAPPENED!!!!!!!

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #98 –
Quote from: cookie2 on
Tend to agree - what we have seen is all we are likely to get.

Further to that, it is very important to play SPS in the role that suits him best. Agree with EB1 that he's not an out and out defender so to play him as one will do nobody any favours.
Reality always wins in the end.

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #100 –
Quote from: cookie2 on
Further to that, it is very important to play SPS in the role that suits him best. Agree with EB1 that he's not an out and out defender so to play him as one will do nobody any favours.
Agree he is being played out of position.
His best is good enough as we saw when he had 35 touches in one game and I have seen him defend well as I have said before vs Tippa where he kept him very quiet.
But like Cuningham he is inconsistent and can be a ball watcher. Wouldn't chase in a Gold Coast game I watched and looks disinterested at times in a Yarran type of way where he picks and chooses his moments to get involved. One of those players who needs the right club/coach to get the best out of him imho, not sure that is us who need max effort most games and can't afford too many passengers too often.
Maybe West Coast where he doesn't need to be the main man every game and be under the microscope so often..

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #101 –
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 on
Can you play three small defenders ie Docherty, Saad and SPS whose preference is to play loose/attack and not defend?
I thought Gresham, Higgins and Lonie all played well in the community game and the degree of difficulty will only increase with the Tiger small forwards. Imo two out of our three have to give preference to defending..

Like all of our defenders, Samo, Doc and Saad are made to look bad by lack of defensive effort up the ground and rebound entries from poor delivery into our forward 50.  How many times did the Saints score after gaining possession on halfback?

I think that Samo, Doc and Saad all defend reasonably well (and Saad’s defensive work is better than I thought), but they are playing to instructions and within a structure that relies on rebounding and retaining possession.  Williamson is another rebounding defender so four of our seven first line defenders are primarily less defensively orientated.

Williamson spent a fair bit of time on the wing against the Bummers and I would prefer to see Samo spending more time there.  Fewer rotations mean that the opportunity to spell defenders on the bench will be limited.  I would like to see our defenders “rested” up the ground and, depending on match ups and game situation, more defensive players like Newnes, Silvagni, McGovern and Newman spending time in the backline.
“Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?”  Oddball

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #102 –
Quote from: DJC on
Like all of our defenders, Samo, Doc and Saad are made to look bad by lack of defensive effort up the ground and rebound entries from poor delivery into our forward 50.  How many times did the Saints score after gaining possession on halfback?

I think that Samo, Doc and Saad all defend reasonably well (and Saad’s defensive work is better than I thought), but they are playing to instructions and within a structure that relies on rebounding and retaining possession.  Williamson is another rebounding defender so four of our seven first line defenders are primarily less defensively orientated.

Williamson spent a fair bit of time on the wing against the Bummers and I would prefer to see Samo spending more time there.  Fewer rotations mean that the opportunity to spell defenders on the bench will be limited.  I would like to see our defenders “rested” up the ground and, depending on match ups and game situation, more defensive players like Newnes, Silvagni, McGovern and Newman spending time in the backline.
I believe Ratten instructed his team to play through Saad and Dochertys match ups to offset their rebound. Richmond seem to get away with Houli and Short running up the ground because their other defenders ie Vlastuin rotate  across to cover them or a midfielder drops back. We don't seem organised enough and as you say when the ball rebounds we have these loose opposition players in our forward line.
Short had 45 possies in their community game and needs a minder, I hope our coaches/scouts were paying attention...

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #103 –
I'd play SPS in the midfield and on the wing. If he needs to 'tag' at times then so be it. He's a natural ball winner and I reckon he's become better defensively by playing down back. I think his footy nous, evasive skills and foot skills would be beneficial in the midfield group.

We've got some players to rotate but we desperately need a big break out year ala Jacob Weitering at CHB from 1-2 midfielders such as Walsh, Setterfield Dow, Martin, Cuningham, SPS, Gibbons, Stocker, Fogarty, O'Brien, and Kennedy. A great big 'next step' if you will. Setters took a nice step forward last year as did Walsh. I'd love to hear those two plus Cripps and Williams mentioned as AA squad candidates with guys like Dow, Martin, Cuningham, Gibbons and SPS riding shotgun as big improvers and regular starting 22 in the midfield/wing group. It would mean we are getting plenty out of our underperforming midfield.

Then there's the likes of Philp, Ramsay, Kemp, Cottrell and Carroll who are still very green and developing.
 

Re: Best 22 in 21

Reply #104 –
Quote from: Pratty on
I'd play SPS in the midfield and on the wing. If he needs to 'tag' at times then so be it. He's a natural ball winner and I reckon he's become better defensively by playing down back. I think his footy nous, evasive skills and foot skills would be beneficial in the midfield group.

We've got some players to rotate but we desperately need a big break out year ala Jacob Weitering at CHB from 1-2 midfielders such as Walsh, Setterfield Dow, Martin, Cuningham, SPS, Gibbons, Stocker, Fogarty, O'Brien, and Kennedy. A great big 'next step' if you will. Setters took a nice step forward last year as did Walsh. I'd love to hear those two plus Cripps and Williams mentioned as AA squad candidates with guys like Dow, Martin, Cuningham, Gibbons and SPS riding shotgun as big improvers and regular starting 22 in the midfield/wing group. It would mean we are getting plenty out of our underperforming midfield.

Then there's the likes of Philp, Ramsay, Kemp, Cottrell and Carroll who are still very green and developing.
I liked the look of Setterfield in the practice match, they used him sparingly but he looks cherry ripe!

I think they tried SPS in the mid-field tagger role before and excluding the bounce he hardly got within a kick of his opponent, he's too slow to keep up with most of them in-between the stoppages when he catches back up to the play. So if he doesn't win the football we are one short in open space and that is a big problem. fwiw, It was nice to see Martin with some run-down tackles when he first arrived, I'd forgotten what they looked like!

Maybe Cunningham needs a tagging role to help him take the next step, opponents will try to break away in heavy traffic but if he learns that gig he could be invaluable as he has the pace needed to run and spread.
The Force Awakens!