Jones now struggling with injury

[Scollop]

I think when it comes to fitness, there’s a micro level of preparation that extends far far beyond the concept of train hard and do your rehab.
It goes in the area of only eat these foods at these times, avoid those ones, strictly do these stretches at these time, if a) happens so this, b) happens do that etc (pbly far more complex than that but you get the idea).

I think the players that embrace that are those that really hit the gold standard of fitness and endurance. Lenny Hayes is the obvious example of what that looks like as if any one player would have a reasonable excuse to have an injury interrupted career based on style, it’s him.

Reality was it was quite the opposite however Hayes being remarkably durable without a lot of soft tissue lay offs over his career IIRC.

I’ve formed the impression that Jones really just doesn’t have that mind set. I think our list has been plagued by players that have obvious potential but never reach close to that peak fitness and are often really prone to soft tissue injuries that IMO are due to poor prep/recovery.

Jones’ has a reputation on this forum as a bit of a party guy and a drinker. Whilst I don’t pretend to know the ins and outs of his personal habits based on watching his continuous difficulties with soft tissue injuries which are now compounded by the fact that they’ve occurred so often he’s simply more prone to it…
Well I’ve just come to the conclusion that whatever his main focus is… he doesn’t seem to have that maniacal obsession to be the best that so many champions have.

In that context he kind of reminds me of Raph Clark (who I really liked) that came to us as a prospective elite’ish mid who seemed barely able to get to an intense sprint without a leg injury hence was moved to a flank. Maybe that’s harsh but he never seemed close to elite fitness to me over his 8odd year career.

So I’m left in this position of questioning why are we bothering with this? Jones is on the list and being paid an amount (pbly) in line with being a good player. If he can’t ever have a good season then what’s the point? Again, I’d rather just be done with it rather than have him constantly feature in our plans but never actually come to fruition.

Great post

[shanegrambeau]

We got Jones when the stink was really all over St Kilda. Nobody would come and I guess overall, he has been a pass mark (at least until 12 months ago)

I won’t forget the Geelong game and his one touch snatch-n-snap to goal across his body.

He scoops it up off the deck and charges, I wonder if St Kilda had worked a pattern of play to go with it, because when he did, it sometimes looked as if our forwards were not prepared for it. (OK confess I am speaking out of rear here..but you get drift)

He’s a shock player. I don’t think you can plan a set pattern of play around him, less a season strategy. But as a tagger, crumbed forward goal shark or sub, I still rate him.

[shanegrambeau]

We got Jones when the stink was really all over St Kilda. Nobody would come and I guess overall, he has been a pass mark (at least until 12 months ago)

I won’t forget the Geelong game and his one touch snatch-n-snap to goal across his body.

He scoops it up off the deck and charges, I wonder if St Kilda had worked a pattern of play to go with it, because when he did, it sometimes looked as if our forwards were not prepared for it. (OK confess I am speaking out of rear here..but you get drift)

He’s a shock player. I don’t think you can plan a set pattern of play around him, less a season strategy. But as a tagger, crumbed forward goal shark or sub, I still rate him.

[B.M]

The year we got Jones

Ryder, Howard, Hill, Butler also came to StK

[samuraisaint]

We got Jones when the stink was really all over St Kilda. Nobody would come and I guess overall, he has been a pass mark (at least until 12 months ago)

I won’t forget the Geelong game and his one touch snatch-n-snap to goal across his body.

He scoops it up off the deck and charges, I wonder if St Kilda had worked a pattern of play to go with it, because when he did, it sometimes looked as if our forwards were not prepared for it. (OK confess I am speaking out of rear here..but you get drift)

He’s a shock player. I don’t think you can plan a set pattern of play around him, less a season strategy. But as a tagger, crumbed forward goal shark or sub, I still rate him.

Good post.

Jones is two things we don't have a lot of - he's a creative player, and he's great at extracting his own ball.
He makes some mistakes at times but overall I think he's one of our most creative onballers who makes things happen.
I hope he recovers quickly and doesn't miss too many games.

[The G Train Legacy]

Our midfield is far better when he plays and is in form.

[skeptic]

Our midfield is far better when he plays and is in form.

Agreed. I enjoy those 3 matches a year