Mcqualter

[FQF]

We're in a bit of a sticky situation with Mcqualter.

After his very impressive 2009 season, he was elevated into the leadership group.

Understandbly, it is very hard to permanently drop a player from the 22 if he is in the leadership group. Obviously, dropping him once is fine, but no matter what the coach will say about 'horses for courses,' you just can't have a permanent Sandy player in the leadership group.

So next year, if Mini is to lose his spot as we all hope/suspect, look for him to be out of the leadership group.

It is quite a rare situation... you'd assume the leadership group would only consist of core players.

Anyway, time will tell...

[Dan Warna]

Mini is a good player.

he is doing exactly what was demanded off him.

sacrifice his own game to be a defensive midfielder.

now bitching because he is exactly what the coach demanded off him is a bit unfair >< :/

[IluvHarvey]

We're in a bit of a sticky situation with Mcqualter.

After his very impressive 2009 season, he was elevated into the leadership group.

Understandbly, it is very hard to permanently drop a player from the 22 if he is in the leadership group. Obviously, dropping him once is fine, but no matter what the coach will say about 'horses for courses,' you just can't have a permanent Sandy player in the leadership group.

So next year, if Mini is to lose his spot as we all hope/suspect, look for him to be out of the leadership group.

It is quite a rare situation... you'd assume the leadership group would only consist of core players.

Anyway, time will tell...

I'm pretty sure the leadership group is decided on by the players.

Him being part of the leadership group will have no impact on selection. If he is not in our best 22 then so be it, but he obviously has some pretty strong qualities that the players believe in.

[saintkid]

Dan, how can you say he is a GOOD player??? Other than his tackling which isn't the best as about half break free, what does he offer as a forward?? He hardly wins his own ball, can't kick goals, is a crap kick on the run and his play is reactive instead of creative or attacking. He is one of the main reasons why our forward line lacks scoreboard pressure.

[Dan Warna]

look at how we were playing in 2004 and now in 2009

its about discipline.

Mini was dropped, as was dal santo and others for not playing the way that required by lion.

that got us with a few points of two premierships

[IluvHarvey]

Dan, how can you say he is a GOOD player??? Other than his tackling which isn't the best as about half break free, what does he offer as a forward?? He hardly wins his own ball, can't kick goals, is a crap kick on the run and his play is reactive instead of creative or attacking. He is one of the main reasons why our forward line lacks scoreboard pressure.

Not all forwards are there for scoreboard pressure nowadays.
Mini obviously performs a role.
What is his role? What has Ross told him to do?
Do you know?

[kaos theory]

Mini needs to make way for another up & coming player. I'm sorry, but he should now be no more than a back up....

He has had a very poor season, he was given a lot of latitude, hasn't delivered.

Facts are:
neat skills, ok defensive work (when playing well), BUT is slow, average decision-making, and cannot hurt opposition offensively.

We can no longer afford the luxury of carrying players that supposedly can do defensive stuff, but nothing else.

The GFs showed how little disregard opposition have for him. He needs to make way for the likes of gilbert, steven, stanley & co....

[saintkid]

Dan, how can you say he is a GOOD player??? Other than his tackling which isn't the best as about half break free, what does he offer as a forward?? He hardly wins his own ball, can't kick goals, is a crap kick on the run and his play is reactive instead of creative or attacking. He is one of the main reasons why our forward line lacks scoreboard pressure.

Not all forwards are there for scoreboard pressure nowadays.
Mini obviously performs a role.
What is his role? What has Ross told him to do?
Do you know?

Well I must be blind along with so many leading sports journo's who questioned whether Mini was actually playing both weeks.

[IluvHarvey]

Dan, how can you say he is a GOOD player??? Other than his tackling which isn't the best as about half break free, what does he offer as a forward?? He hardly wins his own ball, can't kick goals, is a crap kick on the run and his play is reactive instead of creative or attacking. He is one of the main reasons why our forward line lacks scoreboard pressure.

Not all forwards are there for scoreboard pressure nowadays.
Mini obviously performs a role.
What is his role? What has Ross told him to do?
Do you know?

Well I must be blind along with so many leading sports journo's who questioned whether Mini was actually playing both weeks.

Question well avoided. Maybe you should think about a career in the media or maybe even a coach!

[saintkid]

Dan, how can you say he is a GOOD player??? Other than his tackling which isn't the best as about half break free, what does he offer as a forward?? He hardly wins his own ball, can't kick goals, is a crap kick on the run and his play is reactive instead of creative or attacking. He is one of the main reasons why our forward line lacks scoreboard pressure.

Not all forwards are there for scoreboard pressure nowadays.
Mini obviously performs a role.
What is his role? What has Ross told him to do?
Do you know?

Well I must be blind along with so many leading sports journo's who questioned whether Mini was actually playing both weeks.

Question well avoided. Maybe you should think about a career in the media or maybe even a coach!

No it's not avoided. He supposedly performs a defensive role. If the only string to his bow is to pressure opposition players with his tackling and chasing, then that will go a long way to our 2011 challenge. He is a very, very ordinary player to say the least. Go watch his games all season, starting from the 2009 GF.

[IluvHarvey]

Dan, how can you say he is a GOOD player??? Other than his tackling which isn't the best as about half break free, what does he offer as a forward?? He hardly wins his own ball, can't kick goals, is a crap kick on the run and his play is reactive instead of creative or attacking. He is one of the main reasons why our forward line lacks scoreboard pressure.

Not all forwards are there for scoreboard pressure nowadays.
Mini obviously performs a role.
What is his role? What has Ross told him to do?
Do you know?

Well I must be blind along with so many leading sports journo's who questioned whether Mini was actually playing both weeks.

Question well avoided. Maybe you should think about a career in the media or maybe even a coach!

No it's not avoided. He supposedly performs a defensive role. If the only string to his bow is to pressure opposition players with his tackling and chasing, then that will go a long way to our 2011 challenge. He is a very, very ordinary player to say the least. Go watch his games all season, starting from the 2009 GF.

Why don't you start with Round 1 2009?

[Batnoe]

14th in our best and fairest in the 2nd best team in the land... Is a handy player, just doesnt get enough of the ball

Is a fierce tackler, hopefully see him more in the midfield next year as a ball winnner instead of a stopper in fwd line...

Have seen him get over 20 possession games as a junior and was a ball magnet... Just doing his thing for the team and is very handy....

Our game plan makes 12 guys look very good and others look very crap... If we change the gameplan he may look like a player as his attack on the ball is second to none.... MCQ is not our problem...

[saintkid]

Dan, how can you say he is a GOOD player??? Other than his tackling which isn't the best as about half break free, what does he offer as a forward?? He hardly wins his own ball, can't kick goals, is a crap kick on the run and his play is reactive instead of creative or attacking. He is one of the main reasons why our forward line lacks scoreboard pressure.

Not all forwards are there for scoreboard pressure nowadays.
Mini obviously performs a role.
What is his role? What has Ross told him to do?
Do you know?

Well I must be blind along with so many leading sports journo's who questioned whether Mini was actually playing both weeks.

Question well avoided. Maybe you should think about a career in the media or maybe even a coach!

No it's not avoided. He supposedly performs a defensive role. If the only string to his bow is to pressure opposition players with his tackling and chasing, then that will go a long way to our 2011 challenge. He is a very, very ordinary player to say the least. Go watch his games all season, starting from the 2009 GF.

Why don't you start with Round 1 2009?

Because he showed some good signs back then and I certainly was rapt for him but he tapered off in the 2009 Finals Series and has been worse this year. Ross did drop him this season but he obviously has favourites as he had less patience for Armo, Steven and Geary. Bottom line is we need major improvement from all these blokes to make another challenge in 2011 otherwise other sides WILL pass us. Personally I don't believe Mini has it in him to produce the impact we need as a forward.

[linz]

Mini is in our bottom 4. He tries hard but he's not a premiership player unless your other 22 can account for his deficiencies.

A good forward pops up to kick unexpected goals. Mini doesn't do it enough.

[saintsRrising]

Mini and his role is best in a congested forward line.

In this he is adept at keeping the ball in....and in this he is adept at forecing the turnoer.

Trouble is for the moment the game has evolved such that much of the time that the forward line empties out as teams seek to have numerical advantages at the contests, and as they press forward to lock the ball into their own end.

The problem with this is that it exposes Mini's lack of pace. He does not have the pace to get back goal side of opponents to be dangerous. He does not have the pace to get back often enough close enough to goal.

On the burst....which became a way of combatting the press...you need pace...and Mini does not have pace.

Defensively too more opponents are quicker making them harder to stop. harder for him to lock into our offensie half.

To make matters worse Mini, whi was once the most accurate kick on goal became poor at goal shooting.

2010: 25 games for 8 goals 7 behinds.
2009: 24 games for 24 goals 7 behinds.


So not only did he generate less opportunities, but the one he had hemade less of.

There are all sorts of pressures in football. But scoreboard pressure remains king.

In 2011, Steven or A Smith...or possibly Geary will be pushing to claim his position and role for themselves.

[Dr Spaceman]

Mini is a good player.

he is doing exactly what was demanded off him.

sacrifice his own game to be a defensive midfielder.

now bitching because he is exactly what the coach demanded off him is a bit unfair >< :/

I can understand where the anti-Mini posters are coming from.

I think the main problem is Collingwood. The Filth have taken things to the next level with forwards who not only tackle hard but who also slot goals and just generally create scoreboard pressure. In comparison Mini's current game style is just so 2009!

The other thing is posters will defend Mini, and defend Eddy, and defend Dempster, and defend Baker etc. But at the same time posters will call for an influx of youth, speed, skill - they'll want to bring in Armo, Steven, Smith, Stanley, Simpkin etc

However if any of these young guys are to be selected then some simply have to drop out. And if it's not the likes of Mini and/or Eddy, then who's it going to be?

Maybe Ross will change Mini's role in 2011 and maybe he will adapt to this new role.

However it shouldn't just be assumed he'll be in our best 22 going forward (IMO of course )

[Thinline]

I think everyone's raised some valid points about Mini.

I'll add another that you may not have considered. Mini was at the coalface of the Lovett saga. I understand - ie as in I'm told - he was quite personally 'thrown' by the whole ordeal. I wonder if that may have something to do with his apparently stagnant form.

[skeptic]

he's not a dud by any means but he simply needs to contribute more

pressure in not enough

[saint75]

I think everyone's raised some valid points about Mini.

I'll add another that you may not have considered. Mini was at the coalface of the Lovett saga. I understand - ie as in I'm told - he was quite personally 'thrown' by the whole ordeal. I wonder if that may have something to do with his apparently stagnant form.

You could be right. Add that to the fact that he had no pre season and we may have a reason for the slump in 2010 as compared to 2009.

Can't see him being delisted, but will be watching him closely to see how he responds next year.

[lennylegend]

he is just another BORING player that goes missing in big games! No good playing well against crap teams Mini will stay becuase we havn't got anyone to replace him with, lets be honest guys he would struggle getting a game in nearly all the teams that made the finals this year.

[dcstkfc]

he is just another BORING player that goes missing in big games! No good playing well against crap teams Mini will stay becuase we havn't got anyone to replace him with, lets be honest guys he would struggle getting a game in nearly all the teams that made the finals this year.

What is the importance of him being boring?

[Kilda]

I know it's negative to agree with LennyLegend and others re this post, but I do. He simply does not offer enough and, at the highest level of footy, probably never will. The fact that he's already been delisted in his career suggests that he was (and probably still is) on the cusp of AFL-VFL standard.

[Teflon]

You have to compare youerself against the best, the benchmark as Ross puts it.....right now thats Collingwood.

Would Mini get a game for Pies?...No hope.

What Collingwood did this year was took our defensive pressure and then added OFFENCE to it. They put physical pressure on at the contest AND kick scores. We did the first very well.....have struggled in the second.

Mini isnt offensive at all Im afraid and thats not enough.

Ifyou want to get better you have to identify the areas.....Mcqualter, Eddy.....are such areas....along with some senior personnel who maybe need to think about retirement....

[lennylegend]

we dont have enough flare on the wings and half forwards, we have boring players who get a job done but dont necesarily give us the 'special' quality needed to go from being a top 4 team to THE BEST TEAM

[dcstkfc]

I know it's negative to agree with LennyLegend and others re this post, but I do. He simply does not offer enough and, at the highest level of footy, probably never will. The fact that he's already been delisted in his career suggests that he was (and probably still is) on the cusp of AFL-VFL standard.

That is a fair enough assessment. He is nothing more than an average player, a role-player.

But we nearly won two premierships with him, and it is not about how good he is, but how best to utilise him.

The following questions are to be asked for each player (assuming we are trying to win a premiership and not re-build)

-Is this player in our best 22?
-Is this player close to our an important back-up to our best 22?
-Is this player one who could probably be in our best 22 in the future?
-Does this player have trade value?
-Would we be better served placing a draftee on our list ahead of this player?

This last question is important.

We are getting rid of Lovett, Smith, King and maybe a few others.

Is a fourth-round draft pick (around pick 75) going to be better for us now and in the future than Mini, or Eddy, or Kosi, or any other of our players with clear deficiencies. Probably not.

So we keep them, and try (and often succeed due to Ross) to make them productive and get the most out of them in order to acheive the major goal of winning a flag.