Tom Ledger

[Dr Spaceman]

Did as much as he could in the circs.

Let's see what happens

[gringo]

Who says Watter is good at player development?

How is that measured, WRT Watters being responsible for improvement or otherwise....

If Ledge has improved, it could be natural development, fitness, Simon McPhee, Dean Laidly, the 'academy' strength, practise
Who knows...

The senior coach is the one who provides opportunities.... He's had very few.

What supposed weaknesses??

Or it could be that because we had already written off the season by the time he was playing good footy and the decision was made to fast track the really new kids for the long term good of the club while guaranteeing ledge a couple of late games.

[bergholt]

Who says Watter is good at player development?

You'll note I said "If Watters is good at player development". No-one knows if that's true but it's a plausible explanation. The other plausible explanation is that Watters is illogical in how he thinks about his players, and poor at development. I hope for the sake of the club that the first is correct.

What supposed weaknesses??

No-one knows except the coaching staff and Ledger himself. But every footy player has weaknesses. Riewoldt is a poor kick at goal, Lenny has never kicked as many goals as a top-grade mid should, Joey is bad above his head, Dal can't shake a tag, etc, etc, etc.

Ledger has weaknesses, no doubt, and the amount he can improve them will be what determines whether or not he'll be an AFL player. I hope the coaches are doing what they can to help him with that. If not, they're incompetent. Let's hope that's not the case.

[saintsRrising]

Good game by Ledger.

Let's hope that he get a full game next week against Freo as that will be a great test of where he is at.

[maverick]

his kick to FF late in the last is his problem.
Earnt the ball, followed up on the end of a handball, got pressured in on the boundary, didn't look and booted it long and turned it over.

Watched him closely, would like to see another week, but certainly didn't do any defensive running.

Would have liked to see a bit more of him though to truly assess.

[bobmurray]

Last weekend on 3AW a caller to the footy commentators asked the commentary team if they could ask Watters why Ledger wasn't getting a game.

3AW had been promoting an upcoming interview with Watters, anyway, Watters comes on and one of them pops the Ledger question.

Watters said that Ledger had weaknesses in his game that the coaches had been driving him to improve on, Watters then said when Tom had made
improvement in those areas he would be considered for selection. Unfortunately for the listener Watters didn't talk specifics but it was am insight into the fact
that on here we do a lot of guessing.

[skeptic]

his kick to FF late in the last is his problem.
Earnt the ball, followed up on the end of a handball, got pressured in on the boundary, didn't look and booted it long and turned it over.

Watched him closely, would like to see another week, but certainly didn't do any defensive running.

Would have liked to see a bit more of him though to truly assess.

don't like this post... (respectfully maverick )

since when does a developing player have his every move scrutinesed to this extent.

further to that he certainly wouldn't be the only player this team has that's guilty of thumping the ball forward w/o looking. I appreciate that it's wrong by why is this frequently brought up WRT TL as opposed to the other 1/3 of the team that does it

It feels a bit to me like so many ppl are looking for reasons for Ledger to fail (not implying that you are Maverick)

He's a jnr player that perforimng at a reasonable standard with areas of his game to work on.

Why do so many ppl have their minds made up?

[saintbob]

I've always liked him, hopefully SW has got his message across and he now realizes what's required to play and train at AFL level.

[Bluthy]

Got points from me for backing back into the GC player (and I think it was Gilbert) near the wing. Kept his eyes on the footy and took the hit hard. Didn't look back. He looks a cocky little bugger (was not hesitant about taking that shot on goal). That can be good or bad depending on how its harnessed. Maybe Watters has recognised this and wants to let Ledger know whos boss. He did look pretty small - we seem to have quite a lot of these sized players.

[WinnersOnly]

Got points from me for backing back into the GC player (and I think it was Gilbert) near the wing. Kept his eyes on the footy and took the hit hard. Didn't look back. He looks a cocky little bugger (was not hesitant about taking that shot on goal). That can be good or bad depending on how its harnessed. Maybe Watters has recognised this and wants to let Ledger know whos boss. He did look pretty small - we seem to have quite a lot of these sized players.

He is a cocky little bugger and quite out spoken about things - perhaps that has what has held him back ?

[wolfpup]

late to this like most here i thought he looked good so am confuzzled as to why he cant get a game.

[maverick]

his kick to FF late in the last is his problem.
Earnt the ball, followed up on the end of a handball, got pressured in on the boundary, didn't look and booted it long and turned it over.

Watched him closely, would like to see another week, but certainly didn't do any defensive running.

Would have liked to see a bit more of him though to truly assess.

don't like this post... (respectfully maverick )

since when does a developing player have his every move scrutinesed to this extent.

further to that he certainly wouldn't be the only player this team has that's guilty of thumping the ball forward w/o looking. I appreciate that it's wrong by why is this frequently brought up WRT TL as opposed to the other 1/3 of the team that does it

It feels a bit to me like so many ppl are looking for reasons for Ledger to fail (not implying that you are Maverick)

He's a jnr player that perforimng at a reasonable standard with areas of his game to work on.

Why do so many ppl have their minds made up?

That's OK I don't take it personally.
I was just pointing out where I saw the issues he has to work through.
Dempster belts the ball long too, but he has other attributes which are elite, does Ledger?
I haven't made my mind up, but I can see his shortfalls.
At 21 he has been around long enough to work on his shortcomings at this level
Reckon I am disappointed every time I watch him, I want him to be better....

[mr six o'clock]

Good 40 minutes , with no real pressure on him .

Next week will be the real test against freo , I hope that he puts in a good one !
shenton was alright and i was hoping he'd play a full game , but then i saw him cramping badly in the 3rd . Shows how much of a step up it is from the Vfl .
I believe tom will be able to run out a full game better , its just a question of how much he turns it over . If he can have 20 - 30 disposals V freo with good effiency then we'd be silly not to keep him .

[defacto]

Who says Watter is good at player development?

How is that measured, WRT Watters being responsible for improvement or otherwise....

If Ledge has improved, it could be natural development, fitness, Simon McPhee, Dean Laidly, the 'academy' strength, practise
Who knows...

The senior coach is the one who provides opportunities.... He's had very few.

What supposed weaknesses??

ive seen it first hand from being subiaco colts coach to taking charge of the senior team

priddis is a perfect example of a player that developed under watters and became the player he is today

[saint6709]

I'm not buying that he is a spud…

Looked very good in the 40 odd minutes today… prob in our best 10 in that time.

I think it would silly to de-list him when we are so short on mids.

Given that he played about 1/3 of game time and his stats I'd say he was as good as anyone whilst on the ground

K H D M G DT
20 Tom Ledger 8 3 11 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 48

[BigMart]

Does everyone watch our mids defensive run? Gee ledge was monitored closely, looking for reasons... I'd say he shut a few people who think they know his game up...

I know 2 mids who never defend, their direct opponents in any case....

And if we're isolating one or two kicks turned over as a case, seriously.... Half the team turn over 40% of their kicks.... One is a love child

[plugger66]

Hard to see from TV about defence unless you have a real special TV. Well done Ledger.

[SaintPav]

Got points from me for backing back into the GC player (and I think it was Gilbert) near the wing. Kept his eyes on the footy and took the hit hard. Didn't look back. He looks a cocky little bugger (was not hesitant about taking that shot on goal). That can be good or bad depending on how its harnessed. Maybe Watters has recognised this and wants to let Ledger know whos boss. He did look pretty small - we seem to have quite a lot of these sized players.

He is a cocky little bugger and quite out spoken about things - perhaps that has what has held him back ?

What are you basing that on?

I thought he looked ok given the limited opportunity he was given but I only saw the game on a flight from Cairns to Melbourne.

[1965 Saint]

I suspect that the problem is that Ledger thought he was bigger than the club when he was drafted. I overheard two guys from Claremont FC (where he comes from) saying that he thought the culture of the club was crap and he couldn't wait to get out of there. Maybe it has taken up till now to get that attitude out of him

[maverick]

Watched a lot of defensive run today from level 2.
Dal does a lot more to cover gaps than many give him credit for.
Steven is a good defensive runner, Armo very good, Curren excellent, Joey good as well.

[defacto]

Does everyone watch our mids defensive run? Gee ledge was monitored closely, looking for reasons... I'd say he shut a few people who think they know his game up...

I know 2 mids who never defend, their direct opponents in any case....

And if we're isolating one or two kicks turned over as a case, seriously.... Half the team turn over 40% of their kicks.... One is a love child

sure, but those other mids are more damaging with the ball in hand. 2 examples dal santo and steven. but you cannot have a team full of them otherwise you end up like west coast this year, where they have lost winnable games due to too much running fwd of the ball

i think you have come to an opinion and are trying to defend it at all costs

[perfectionist]

...Next week will be the real test against freo...

Remember how he got into the team this week. It is most unlikely that he will be picked against Freo.

[Con Gorozidis]

I reckon he might have told the Saints ages ago his preference was to return to Perth (if possible) and therefore the Saints didnt want to waste development games on him.
He let both Perth teams the situation and hence kept up his motivation and form in the VFL.

Straight trade Michie for Tom would be a good result for the 'go home' factor.

Both similar credentials.

[SaintPav]

...Next week will be the real test against freo...

Remember how he got into the team this week. It is most unlikely that he will be picked against Freo.

Thanks, Mr Positivity.

I just LURVE your posts. They're always so uplifting.

[saintspremiers]

Really liked his game. Makes much more appeal than players like Dennis-Lane and Milera.

Agree. Those two are spuds.