Dascman's Appraisal of 2007

[strauchanie]

i don't think blake or milne should (or would) be traded, they both played all 22 games this season and were quite good. Blake's versatility is a good asset to have.

I know a lot of people want brooks to go, but how many games has he had where he was the number one ruck choice? I can count one only.

[milney044]

Retired:
Thomo
Frase
M.clarke


Who i'd let go:
X.Clarke- for a trade, he has the potential i just havent seen enough of it
R.Clarke- with his brother could make a nice trade, so far has underperformed, due to injury mostly but its time to say goodbye to a few of the fringe players.
Voss- love him but the games gone passed him.
Ferguson- fighting with Gwilt for a spot and imo we cant afford to keep both of them.
Brooks- been around too long. time for a change, if he was going to be something he would have got a go this year.


I cant see all of the above going but i think we are in need of a clean out. Personally i dont think Brooks, Mini or Ferguson are ever going to make it.

The fringe to persevere with:
Fiora- showed promising signs this year and should be retained.
Birss- if kept he should be the 23rd best player on the list, he is worth having as back up imo.
Watts- with Frase gone this is his chance to shine, but its his last chance. If he doesnt perform or suffers injury next year we'll have to say goodbye.

We are in need of key players including a pacey, hard working midfielder, a strong backmen, another small-medium sized forward/possible tall to replace fraser BUT am hoping Kozi will spend time there with continued devolpment of Allen and progress from Watts.
We also clearly need a ruckman.

[evertonfc]

good post, but your bias against Milne clearly showed

our 3rd highest goal kicker for the year, and from what i can recall without reviewing the game, we scored 3 goals directly from passes from Milne, and 2 DIRECTLY from tackles from him

since people won't be able to bag Gehrig out everytime we lose next year, as they did this year, i'm afraid milnes gonna cop an absolutely (mostly unwarrented) hiding next year

I thought his appraisal of Milne was absolutely spot on.

He gets an incredibly high percentage of opportunities to score goals and just doesn't do it often enough - a massive problem when, against better teams, we need to convert virtually every time we go forward.

He did show some good signs in creativity and setting up, but you can't afford to screw up as many times as he did this year.

Accountability is the word I'm looking for.

His defensive workrate has improved, but he still can't tackle and gets too easily brushed off.

His kicking technique is also heavily flawed - he takes too long to get the ball from the hand to his foot, and that often gives his opponants time enough to tackle him.

He must also learn NOT to play on when a plain drop punt is the percentage option. And he can't shake tackles any more. Teams are so clued in to what he does - he simply has to be smarter.

He has a lot of good aspects to his game - we all know what they are so there's no point highlighting them - but the problems in his game are sizable. If he can rid his game of these handicaps, he would become a great asset.

As it stands, he's not a complete liability, but he needs to make himself into a more accountable forward player if he's going to play his part in our push for the finals in 2008.

[The_Dud]

we need him in our team, especially now that G-Train has gone, he is still our best small forward by a mile

again, his tackling and passing against Richmond set up 4-5 goals directly, and he is one of our best kicks to a forward in our team, he sets up alot of goals which people choose to ignore when bagging him

yes he does stuff up a few times a game, and is one of those players who can be frustrating, but the bottom line is he has many more positives than negatives, and is a required player in our team

[evertonfc]

yes he does stuff up a few times a game, and is one of those players who can be frustrating, but the bottom line is he has many more positives than negatives, and is a required player in our team

The bottom line is that he is a required player who needs to improve his accountability if he's going to play a role in this club's future.

[strauchanie]

I agree with The_Dud, getting rid of our first and third highest goal scorer in one season would be disastrous for our forward-line

[dascman]

good post, but your bias against Milne clearly showed

our 3rd highest goal kicker for the year, and from what i can recall without reviewing the game, we scored 3 goals directly from passes from Milne, and 2 DIRECTLY from tackles from him

since people won't be able to bag Gehrig out everytime we lose next year, as they did this year, i'm afraid milnes gonna cop an absolutely (mostly unwarrented) hiding next year

How many goals did he kick in big games?

I'm not biased against any particular player. I like to think each player that gets a game each week plays on merit and not on team requirement. Milne had a down patch early on in the year (which, funnily enough, coincided in our 4-losses-in-a-row patch, where he kicked 1 goal in the 4 games), but he responded fairly well. But you can't argue with the facts. In big games, and when the team is going through a rough patch, he just doesn't deliver often enough. If it were up to me, yes, he would be kept however, as we really lack a replacement and on his day he is still a pretty good footballer.

And spot on EvertonFC, accountability is key for him. He just needs to stick more tackles, and improve his technique. He seems to go for the shoulders rather than the hips, which for a small man, is just a poor technique.

And just on his kicking, last year and the year before he was a dead certainty from a set shot inside 40 metres. Nowadays, he is barely 50-50, which is why he has our hearts in our mouths when he runs around and snaps. What's happened to his kicking? It's quite remarkable how it has dropped off as far as it has. As soon as that is rectified, the better, because it could be worth a lot more goals to us next year.