Gary Ayres and Dawson

[sainterinsydney]

Problem with Raph has always been that when he is off, he is really off. However, when he is on, he is a mighty fine player. The issue now is whether Scotty could make him into a more consistent footballer.

[SainterK]

How do people define 'off' when it comes to a defender though.

How many goals their opponents kick would be up there wouldn't it?

I'd like to know how our defenders shape up in that catergory, but I have no idea how to find out.

[Little Dozer]

The proof is that he's not capable.

hardly proof

In my opinion, 8 years on the list for a handful of outstanding games, countless mediocre and several extremely poor, is proof that he isn't capable.

[Hurricane]

Problem with Raph has always been that when he is off, he is really off. However, when he is on, he is a mighty fine player. The issue now is whether Scotty could make him into a more consistent footballer.

I agree that when Raph goes well he goes really well. The game against Carlton shows that he can tear it up.

However my biggest issue with Raph is that after 8 years he should be a consistant AFL contributor, he clearly has the talent maybe the drive isnt there. His good games are sadly few and far between with mostly poor games, decent efforts and the occasional shocker.

I do hope he becomes a consistant player under Watters but I am not holding out a lot of hope.

BANG BANG

[borderbarry]

Do we now know who has signed and who has not? Or is it still up in the air?

[BallBanger]

I would like to see Zac fill the Walsh hole as the new forward big man (if he stays) - can't watch him down back - but think he might be able to play if moved forward where he can actually concentrate on the ball - has done ok in past cameo's .

I would say brereton in watters ear re Dowler - I for one think he knows his footy Brereton - so might be a good pick up

Personally I dont think Dawson would be quick enough on thd lead, strong enough or an accurate enough kick for goal to hold down a key forward postition. Besides we are pretty flush with forward options at the moment IMHO.

If Dawson has indeed rejected a contract offer and decided to move on best of luck to him but he lost any respect I had for him.

BANG BANG

I don't agree with your questioning of his speed on the lead. One of the reasons I've not been against trying him up forward more is the fact that, on the rare occasions he's been played there for us, he has looked really good on the lead. He just seems to effortlessly put a big gap between himself and whoever is on him when he leads. I'm not sure how he does it, as you don't usually see how leads start, unless you're just watching someone specifically, but he does it very effectively. For someone his height (I'm pretty sure he's at least 197cm) he is genuinely quick, especially over a short distance. He's clearly played a lot of footy up forward in the past (I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was more at home there than down back, where he looks lost too often) and I'd be happy to see him played there more (if he stays, which I hope he will). Especially after recently seeing my recording of our round 24 game against Carlton, when he was pushed forward to very good effect.
I agree that he doesn't have the strength one on one, but he doesn't have that down back, either, and I'd rather he be beaten one one one in front of our goals than theirs. As for his kicking, it doesn't look great, but it may still be simple yet effective and I doubt it would be any worse than some who shall remain nameless.
I don't think anyone's suggesting he'll become our next Fraser Gehrig, but if we can cover his loss down back, I'd be plenty happy to see how he went in a trial up forward. If we could get someone like him to kick a couple of goals a game and give a good contest in marking contests (bringing the ball to the ground) it could make us stronger overall.

I reckon there are 2 reasons he wont play up forward for us next season. He will be a Freo and he is a FB who plays best in that position and for that one in 10 chance he stays we dont have any better options. We have plenty of better options than him as a forward.

I was just waiting for you to come on here and trott out your usual closed minded drivel and pigeonholing like "he's a FB". If you were coaching a team no-one would ever play in a different position than the one they usually play in, would they? You have little to no vision or creativity.
You've said the same sort of stuff about Goddard and Tommy Walsh and I reckon you're wrong about all three.
You also said that Chris Dawes would definitely be playing for us next year ("Someone makes up a name on here as either we are interested in getting or they want to come to us and we run with it as fact. Butcher to Saints next year as much hope as probably Judd and 400 other players. Now if we want to run with fact I would be looking at Dawes. He is coming."), so I think I'll take what you say about Zac going to Freo with a grain of salt.
Next you'll be trotting out, for the umpteenth time (although twisting my words in the process), something I said about 3 years ago, as if, even if what I said wasn't a good idea, something someone said years ago means that everything they say after that will be incorrect, or stupid, or whatever you deem it to be.

P66, are you talkin' to yourself again?

[BallBanger]

I would like to see Zac fill the Walsh hole as the new forward big man (if he stays) - can't watch him down back - but think he might be able to play if moved forward where he can actually concentrate on the ball - has done ok in past cameo's .

I would say brereton in watters ear re Dowler - I for one think he knows his footy Brereton - so might be a good pick up

Personally I dont think Dawson would be quick enough on thd lead, strong enough or an accurate enough kick for goal to hold down a key forward postition. Besides we are pretty flush with forward options at the moment IMHO.

If Dawson has indeed rejected a contract offer and decided to move on best of luck to him but he lost any respect I had for him.

BANG BANG

I don't agree with your questioning of his speed on the lead. One of the reasons I've not been against trying him up forward more is the fact that, on the rare occasions he's been played there for us, he has looked really good on the lead. He just seems to effortlessly put a big gap between himself and whoever is on him when he leads. I'm not sure how he does it, as you don't usually see how leads start, unless you're just watching someone specifically, but he does it very effectively. For someone his height (I'm pretty sure he's at least 197cm) he is genuinely quick, especially over a short distance. He's clearly played a lot of footy up forward in the past (I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was more at home there than down back, where he looks lost too often) and I'd be happy to see him played there more (if he stays, which I hope he will). Especially after recently seeing my recording of our round 24 game against Carlton, when he was pushed forward to very good effect.
I agree that he doesn't have the strength one on one, but he doesn't have that down back, either, and I'd rather he be beaten one one one in front of our goals than theirs. As for his kicking, it doesn't look great, but it may still be simple yet effective and I doubt it would be any worse than some who shall remain nameless.
I don't think anyone's suggesting he'll become our next Fraser Gehrig, but if we can cover his loss down back, I'd be plenty happy to see how he went in a trial up forward. If we could get someone like him to kick a couple of goals a game and give a good contest in marking contests (bringing the ball to the ground) it could make us stronger overall.

I reckon there are 2 reasons he wont play up forward for us next season. He will be a Freo and he is a FB who plays best in that position and for that one in 10 chance he stays we dont have any better options. We have plenty of better options than him as a forward.

I was just waiting for you to come on here and trott out your usual closed minded drivel and pigeonholing like "he's a FB". If you were coaching a team no-one would ever play in a different position than the one they usually play in, would they? You have little to no vision or creativity.
You've said the same sort of stuff about Goddard and Tommy Walsh and I reckon you're wrong about all three.
You also said that Chris Dawes would definitely be playing for us next year ("Someone makes up a name on here as either we are interested in getting or they want to come to us and we run with it as fact. Butcher to Saints next year as much hope as probably Judd and 400 other players. Now if we want to run with fact I would be looking at Dawes. He is coming."), so I think I'll take what you say about Zac going to Freo with a grain of salt.
Next you'll be trotting out, for the umpteenth time (although twisting my words in the process), something I said about 3 years ago, as if, even if what I said wasn't a good idea, something someone said years ago means that everything they say after that will be incorrect, or stupid, or whatever you deem it to be.

P66, are you talkin' to yourself again?

[plugger66]

I would like to see Zac fill the Walsh hole as the new forward big man (if he stays) - can't watch him down back - but think he might be able to play if moved forward where he can actually concentrate on the ball - has done ok in past cameo's .

I would say brereton in watters ear re Dowler - I for one think he knows his footy Brereton - so might be a good pick up

Personally I dont think Dawson would be quick enough on thd lead, strong enough or an accurate enough kick for goal to hold down a key forward postition. Besides we are pretty flush with forward options at the moment IMHO.

If Dawson has indeed rejected a contract offer and decided to move on best of luck to him but he lost any respect I had for him.

BANG BANG

I don't agree with your questioning of his speed on the lead. One of the reasons I've not been against trying him up forward more is the fact that, on the rare occasions he's been played there for us, he has looked really good on the lead. He just seems to effortlessly put a big gap between himself and whoever is on him when he leads. I'm not sure how he does it, as you don't usually see how leads start, unless you're just watching someone specifically, but he does it very effectively. For someone his height (I'm pretty sure he's at least 197cm) he is genuinely quick, especially over a short distance. He's clearly played a lot of footy up forward in the past (I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was more at home there than down back, where he looks lost too often) and I'd be happy to see him played there more (if he stays, which I hope he will). Especially after recently seeing my recording of our round 24 game against Carlton, when he was pushed forward to very good effect.
I agree that he doesn't have the strength one on one, but he doesn't have that down back, either, and I'd rather he be beaten one one one in front of our goals than theirs. As for his kicking, it doesn't look great, but it may still be simple yet effective and I doubt it would be any worse than some who shall remain nameless.
I don't think anyone's suggesting he'll become our next Fraser Gehrig, but if we can cover his loss down back, I'd be plenty happy to see how he went in a trial up forward. If we could get someone like him to kick a couple of goals a game and give a good contest in marking contests (bringing the ball to the ground) it could make us stronger overall.

I reckon there are 2 reasons he wont play up forward for us next season. He will be a Freo and he is a FB who plays best in that position and for that one in 10 chance he stays we dont have any better options. We have plenty of better options than him as a forward.

I was just waiting for you to come on here and trott out your usual closed minded drivel and pigeonholing like "he's a FB". If you were coaching a team no-one would ever play in a different position than the one they usually play in, would they? You have little to no vision or creativity.
You've said the same sort of stuff about Goddard and Tommy Walsh and I reckon you're wrong about all three.
You also said that Chris Dawes would definitely be playing for us next year ("Someone makes up a name on here as either we are interested in getting or they want to come to us and we run with it as fact. Butcher to Saints next year as much hope as probably Judd and 400 other players. Now if we want to run with fact I would be looking at Dawes. He is coming."), so I think I'll take what you say about Zac going to Freo with a grain of salt.
Next you'll be trotting out, for the umpteenth time (although twisting my words in the process), something I said about 3 years ago, as if, even if what I said wasn't a good idea, something someone said years ago means that everything they say after that will be incorrect, or stupid, or whatever you deem it to be.

P66, are you talkin' to yourself again?

I have no idea what you mean even if you say it twice.

[borderbarry]

Bump!!

Do we now know who has signed and who has not? Or is it still up in the air?

[bobmurray]

Bump!!

Do we now know who has signed and who has not? Or is it still up in the air?

Up in the air....all will be revealed soon

[bigcarl]

BJ will also not play forward next year apart from when resting occasionly.

You speak for the coach on this? If you don't mind, I think I'll wait and see what happens rather than take your word on it.

One thing is certain IMO. We cannot go into another season with Riewoldt as the sole tall forward target.

No Walsh, probably no Dawson ... we're starting to run out of tallish options to play that role.

Might have to be Goddard at chf and Riewoldt at ff with Kosi in second ruck where he plays by far his best football.

[SainterK]

Might have to be Goddard at chf and Riewoldt at ff with Kosi in second ruck where he plays by far his best football.