Nick Dal Santo - 2nd Week in a row

[Duggie]

Oh brothers and sisters!!
If only Dal was our only worry.

[vacuous space]

Tell me who else could possibly have beaten Dal in those stats over the last two years. Joey? Hes only just established himself in the starting midfield over the last 2 years. Two years ago he was a skinny little kid!

Dal led the team in CPs in 2005 (average and total), 2006 (Ball had a better average) and 2007 (average and total). Ball led the team in 2004 and Hayes did in 2003. Ball and Hayes get more clearances, but Dal has consistently been number 3 behind those two. Joey's come on in leaps and bounds, but he doesn't get as much contested ball as Dal and he doesn't use the ball as well. That's why I have him behind Dal as a centreman.

[Hard at it]

I watched Dal very closely today, and frankly I was disgusted with his laziness around the ground. He does not break past a jog unless the ball is within 10m of him and makes no effort to stop his opponent. When he did get near the footy today he played for free kicks if he felt any contact.

I am a fan of Dal, but his performance today was absolutely horrible. Just because he is tagged doesn't mean he is restricted to slowly jogging up and down the wings all day. If Lyon is fair dinkum about improving the team's work rate Dal has to be dropped.

He's an awsome player when going at full flight, but he needs a massive kick up the arse.

This post pretty much sums up DalSanto. The guy has immense talent but he is lazy, unaccountable, has a terrible work ethic and spends most of the match jogging around at half pace. The carrot head that played on him yesterday had almost 30 touches and his main role was to keep our lazy half paced star quiet. Too many people pick up the paper, read his HS rankings (which records disposal efficiency) and then take that as though he has had a good game. He doesn't do enough. Everyone on here whingers that he gets tagged, but so do Gary Ablett, Brent Harvey, Chris Judd Sam Mitchell etc, but the difference is they work their arses off to break tags and usually come out on top. If he wants to be even considered as a very good player he has to improve dramatically

[The_Dud]

Dal was far from terrible yesterday, some of the comments in this thread (thats yesterday he was soft, didn't go for the hard ball, and ran around packs) are plain untrue

he had a bad game, but was far from our worst

Ling averages 28 disposals a game this year

its not like many of our players beat their opposition yesterday

[Boppa]

I watched Dal very closely today, and frankly I was disgusted with his laziness around the ground. He does not break past a jog unless the ball is within 10m of him and makes no effort to stop his opponent. When he did get near the footy today he played for free kicks if he felt any contact.

I am a fan of Dal, but his performance today was absolutely horrible. Just because he is tagged doesn't mean he is restricted to slowly jogging up and down the wings all day. If Lyon is fair dinkum about improving the team's work rate Dal has to be dropped.

He's an awsome player when going at full flight, but he needs a massive kick up the arse.

This post pretty much sums up DalSanto. The guy has immense talent but he is lazy, unaccountable, has a terrible work ethic and spends most of the match jogging around at half pace. The carrot head that played on him yesterday had almost 30 touches and his main role was to keep our lazy half paced star quiet. Too many people pick up the paper, read his HS rankings (which records disposal efficiency) and then take that as though he has had a good game. He doesn't do enough. Everyone on here whingers that he gets tagged, but so do Gary Ablett, Brent Harvey, Chris Judd Sam Mitchell etc, but the difference is they work their arses off to break tags and usually come out on top. If he wants to be even considered as a very good player he has to improve dramatically

Agree with both of these posts

[Iceman234]

I don’t think it’s an issue of Dal being our best or worst – it’s about the fact it is time for NDS to step and become elite – at the moment he seems to be going backwards.

There were probably 8 or 9 worse players than Dal yesterday, but for a bloke with the talent he has, to be beaten with no recourse is the issue.

He must learn to play a different style when his opponent not only tags him, but destroys us with his proactive negating play on a bloke who is put up on a pedestal as elite.

NDS can not be classified as elite until he can beat a hard tag, win some hard ball and hurt the oppo’s on the scoreboard.

[matrix]

after the NAB cup final in adelaide, he was at the boundary talking to someone he obviously knew and the guy mentioned something about going and celebrating and that Dal prob wouldnt be able to do much as the training would kick in etc the next day and theyd have to get ready for the REAL season.......

his answer was somewhere along the lines of......nothing a few 'no doze' wont fix.
thats always bothered me......

he is treacle slow, when he gets the ball and manages to set up the play he is one of the best, but around the ground im not too happy with his efforts.

i have to agree with the Dud tho, Ling is a quality player and a great tagger.....not too many beat Ling.

[redwhite&blackblood]

I watched Dal very closely today, and frankly I was disgusted with his laziness around the ground. He does not break past a jog unless the ball is within 10m of him and makes no effort to stop his opponent. When he did get near the footy today he played for free kicks if he felt any contact.

I am a fan of Dal, but his performance today was absolutely horrible. Just because he is tagged doesn't mean he is restricted to slowly jogging up and down the wings all day. If Lyon is fair dinkum about improving the team's work rate Dal has to be dropped.

He's an awsome player when going at full flight, but he needs a massive kick up the arse.

Totally agree.

But maybe we can look at Geelong and Ling. He was a reasonable midfielder before he became a tagger. Could we make Dal a tagger of top mids and get him to play like Ling where he stops his man but also looks to hurt them the other way. This would also break the problem he has with getting tagged as it will give us a spare unopposed player if he was tagged (ie. 2 on 1). This player could then push forward and give us another unopposed option forward. Similar to what Blake did when he was in the ruck and the opposing ruckman would fill the space in front of Roo.

[Richter]

No. Dal is not a tagger - he is a skilled ball user. Unfortunately he is one of only two in our team - along with BJ. So that means that when he is not on song then it becomes very obvious as there is noone to really step up and carry out a similar role.

He is not terrible at the moment but by his own high standards is not at his best. My solution? Patience. Class is permanent and he is that. Keep on playing him in the midfield and he will come good. Has too. One of the most skilled passers in the modern game does not turn to an everyman overnight.

[Rooy_coin]

just going through a rough patch... you watch him in a few games bounce back...