Dear oh dear Nick....

[The Fireman]

LEGEND

[SainterK]

2 misses late were costly, as was the turnover, and the out on the full

Yet I watched him burn his opponent into the ground, trouble is he is too stuffed to kick

[8856brother]

2 misses late were costly, as was the turnover, and the out on the full

Yet I watched him burn his opponent into the ground, trouble is he is too stuffed to kick

You can't question his work rate and effort. It is unmatched in the AFL.

[BigMart]

No one questions

His courage, work rate, hands, ability....

His conversion is costly....

[Enrico_Misso]

It's got to the point where he should spend most of his time out of the forward 50.
And when he does mark I50 he should look to handball it off.

[SainterK]

It's got to the point where he should spend most of his time out of the forward 50.
And when he does mark I50 he should look to handball it off.

Dal gave him a lead into the pocket for one of them, I'd have honoured it...

[BigMart]

And hats the bad thing, why can't a great player, leader accept responsibility and just deliver.... Why is he scared of missing instead of wanting to kick it?!

[mr six o'clock]

disappointing but his knee's must be rooted from the long leads followed by heavy falls to the ground thanks to the hospital passes he is always on the end of .

If we had a couple of mid-fielders who could actually put the ball on his chest he may have allot lease stress on his knee's !

How often do you see him run to position , only to have a high ball delivered . If he marks the ball high overhead he often lands on the ground with straight legs . this puts enormous pressure on his joints , often his opponents weight comes down on them as well .
This year i've seen him get up gingerly on many occasion's .

We are desperate for players with better foot skills .

[MC Gusto]

His kicking for goal has really deteriorated back to the bad old days in the past month. Started the year well but well and truly has the yips now

Sad really sad

[Cairnsman]

And hats the bad thing, why can't a great player, leader accept responsibility and just deliver.... Why is he scared of missing instead of wanting to kick it?!

Must be the coaches fault. What would they do in Tasmania.

[BigMart]

Are you stalking me....

What's with the Tasmania thing.... Why would you sledge something I'm proud of.... Do you think you're above Tasmanians, are they less than people from the mainland?? You are mocking half a million people?

Are you a kid, or are you just immature?!

And yes, Darryll Baldock or Peter Hudson may have kicked those goals

[BigMart]

Never mentioned the coach In this thread.... Although a coach may have an impact on player output.... Think it's their job?

[Cairnsman]

Hilarious. I just read something that made laugh so hard I spat my eggs out.

[BigMart]

We're you re-reading your post?

I see you've dropped the capitals? Have you settled down? I felt for you last night, you seemed very upset.... At least you seem ok....

You've resorted to humour.... Second stage of denial....

[Cairnsman]

Stop it. Please stop it. My stomach is hurting and now I have spat my coffee all over my Sunday newspapers. Are there any script writers on this site. There is some pure comical gold on constant loop this morning.

[thejiggingsaint]

Like many supporters I was disappointed in Nick's conversion rate last evening. I'm sure it's been raised elsewhere, but in view of our defensive shortcomings, could it be feasible to play Nick across the half back line? In this "experimental" phase that the team is going through I'd like to see it tried for at least one game.

[perfectionist]

... I'm sure it's been raised elsewhere, but in view of our defensive shortcomings, could it be feasible to play Nick across the half back line? In this "experimental" phase that the team is going through I'd like to see it tried for at least one game.

I suggested that at the beginning of last year, but at least then we had a few more possibilities up forward. Now, for one reason or another, it's Nick or no-one. The problem with his kicking is that Nick believes there is a problem with his kicking. His style is now so confected he has lost "the naturalness" of the kick. Not only is there the marking of the ground (of no value for a player who already has a straight run up to the mark unlike say Stewart Loewe), but he is so determined to get his head over the ball it restricts the height of the kick. Of all the skills in football, only one hasn't improved over the years - kicking for goal. It's strange that set shots should prove so much more difficult than running shots under pressure. Time for monsters of the id I suppose.

My complaint about Nick last night was his final lead. The other Nick had the ball, who better. We had two players about 30 metres out (Nick and Stephen Milne) and they had three. Nick chose to lead to the far boundary which left Stephen one against two. If the ball had been kicked to Nick it would still have e required another shot into the forward line which would have been even more congested, and time was of the essence. NDS rightly chose to fire to the square, alas, with no good result. Nick should have led then doubled back to the hot spot. If anyone was going to take a contested mark and have a shot for the winning goal then it was him. I hope that wasn't the reason he led to the boundary. Of course, it's always easier from the stand.

[Bluthy]

disappointing but his knee's must be rooted from the long leads followed by heavy falls to the ground thanks to the hospital passes he is always on the end of .

If we had a couple of mid-fielders who could actually put the ball on his chest he may have allot lease stress on his knee's !

How often do you see him run to position , only to have a high ball delivered . If he marks the ball high overhead he often lands on the ground with straight legs . this puts enormous pressure on his joints , often his opponents weight comes down on them as well .
This year i've seen him get up gingerly on many occasion's .

We are desperate for players with better foot skills .

Great analysis. I've read Nick gets a shot in his knee BEFORE every game and then probably during as well as some point. That aint gunna help your kicking. I have a feeling his degenerative knee condition is really affecting his goal kicking. Only going to get worse I'm afraid. I'm a bit worried about our kicking skills too. The younger players seem mainly blue collar albeit with compentent disposals. Need some class which Watters has identified he will recruit.

[Junction Oval]

Yes, it's very disappointing to once again see our top man's goal kicking deteriorate so much. Taking advantage of every close-in conversion opportunity is so important today. Very deflating for the team. I am not sure that his knee is the problem - it's technique.

Also, I was directly behind both of Armos set-shots for goal (one at each end). Off-the-boot, they never looked like going through - dreadful kicking at this level of football.

[thejiggingsaint]

So, COULD he be played across half-back? We are in dire need of some class there, and his marking ability as well as aerobic capacity COULD provide us with a solution to one area where we are lacking, AND the option to throw him up forward would be another plus. I realise of course that we would need someone up forward to take Nick's current role, and at this moment it would seem to be "robbing peter to pay paul" but I'm happy to see it TRIED.

[plugger66]

So, COULD he be played across half-back? We are in dire need of some class there, and his marking ability as well as aerobic capacity COULD provide us with a solution to one area where we are lacking, AND the option to throw him up forward would be another plus. I realise of course that we would need someone up forward to take Nick's current role, and at this moment it would seem to be "robbing peter to pay paul" but I'm happy to see it TRIED.

I have never wanted our best centre half forward in the history of the club to play back. yes we are lacking there but he is clearly still our best forward. his kicking in the last couple of weeks hasnt been great but thats is his and our lot in life. if he goes out of the forward line than who replaces him? If he plays back and plays on a big guy he may end up just being a stopper and doesnt help anyone.

[Junction Oval]

Jiggingsaint said :

So, COULD he be played across half-back? We are in dire need of some class there, and his marking ability as well as aerobic capacity COULD provide us with a solution to one area where we are lacking, AND the option to throw him up forward would be another plus. I realise of course that we would need someone up forward to take Nick's current role, and at this moment it would seem to be "robbing peter to pay paul" but I'm happy to see it TRIED.

I think that his inability to prop and change direction, especially repeat efforts, is not there, because of his knee.
Running straight lines is where his best efforts come from. Would vastly improve his contribution if he could kick straight!

[saintsRrising]

Maybe Travis Cloke should play back too? He kicked some shockers this weekend.

Roo stays forward.

Yes he had some poor kicks in the last quarter. Personally I think that he tries too hard to win it by himself. He just needs to relax a bit more. However having said that if he was not like that maybe he would not win as much ball, or get to the contest as much.

After he missed that easy goal last night he then worked his butt off to get to as many contests as possible and made a few intercepts.

Also the guy runs himself to exhaustion. Trying having a shot yourself on goal when you can hardly breathe, and see ow your accuracy is.

[whiskers3614]

We have too many talls who can be tested forward.
Riewoldt is playing injured.
We are not in contention.


Send Riewoldt for surgery/treatment/rehab NOW
TRy Stanley forward and let's see what he's got!

[thejiggingsaint]

Thanks for those thoughts folks! I consider myself re-educated!