Re: Goaltracker 2018
Reply #25 –
Who is kicking the ball to Jack?
Dow, O'Brien, Kennedy, Mullett, Phillips, McKay (x2??)
How many games has Jack played with each of them? How does he know which side they will turn out of a pack? Which part of the ground they will look to when they do turn out of a pack? Will they hit you on the chest, leave it short or over the top? Will they bounce first? Can they deliver on their opposite foot? What kind of distance can they kick accurately, consistently when running at full pace? At half pace?
Jack, and others, need to know how each of those players will perform at any given scenario and wouldn't have played more than 4 games with any of them, with the exception of Phillips, who have played together on 9 occasions.
That's not a bad point to make, but it doesn't seem to have impacted on the goal kicking of Charlie Curnow, Wright, Casboult, Garlett or McKay. The latter two have played a total of five and three games for us but have outscored Jack by a considerable margin.
Team cohesion is an overall team measure. It really doesn't work when you try to use it to explain one player's poor form, even if that poor form is in part due to glitches with the gameplan. All players, regardless of how many games they have played, are expected to execute the gameplan and they will have practised turning out of a pack and drilling a pass to a leading forward ad nauseum. Of course, inexperience and AFL level pressure will impact on how well those skills are executed. I guess the classic example was when Casboult had ten metres on his opponent and McKay managed to kick the ball out on the full.