Ben Paton.( Poor)

[murray 66]

Am I the only one that is worried about Ben Paton? I find his decision making poor, and he often turns the footy over by foot and nearly always hanpasses the ball to either some player standing flat footed and not expecting the ball.
He never looks clean with the footy.

[B.M]

Certainly has come back from his leg break as the same player

Like Goose Maguire and Nathan Brown

They were never the same either

He seems slow and uncertain- which is why he gets kicks smothered.

Jimmy Webster - is a big loss - much quicker and cleaner

[Otiman]

A fit Coffield or Webster is ahead of him right now, fortunately for Ben neither are fit.

[saynta]

I wish he would not kick it into his opposite number. Happens a bit too much for my liking.

[CURLY]

He’s never been a good kick.

[CURLY]

He’s never been a good kick.

[saynta]

Certainly has come back from his leg break as the same player

Like Goose Maguire and Nathan Brown

They were never the same either

He seems slow and uncertain- which is why he gets kicks smothered.

Jimmy Webster - is a big loss - much quicker and cleaner

Hasn't maybe?

[The_Dud]

Yeah stood out a bit today for a few stuff ups

[stkfc1]

Just said in another thread surely Highmore gets a gig next week for Paton. He's been our best in VFL every week. Paton doesn't look right at all. The leg break curse continues..

[skeptic]

Paton has had better weeks

[Beno88]

Clark, Wood & Wilkie were our only good ball users today. Foot skills were putrid all round.

Gresham would want to have a decent excuse for that performance too.

[IluvHarvey]

Was poor. Not sure Coffield is ahead of him but Webster certainly is.

[The Fireman]

I'm more worried about Gresham

[Otiman]

Obviously was not his best offensive game, but who was his direct opponent?

[Annoyedsaint]

Am I the only one that is worried about Ben Paton? I find his decision making poor, and he often turns the footy over by foot and nearly always hanpasses the ball to either some player standing flat footed and not expecting the ball.
He never looks clean with the footy.

Agree. But only option is him given Sinclair is now in the middle with a free reign.

Paton is a battler. Thought was going ok and played well in the two finals, but hasn’t been anywhere near that speed/form since breaking his leg

[meher baba]

There were some posters on here and BF saying recently that, even when Webster is fit again, we should move on from him and concentrate on Paton because he's the future.

If Webster had been playing last night, we probably would have won. He's extremely good at what he does: Paton can't match his physicality and is a far worse kick.

[Premium89]

Obviously was not his best offensive game, but who was his direct opponent?

Was up against jack ginnivan - two #33s against each other.
From memory, Jack didn’t do a lot, so perhaps that counts for Ben.

[spert]

Didn't play that badly I thought- suffered a bit from our lack of defensive pressure from the midfield.

[CQ SAINT]

Paton gets the ball often enough to have his disposal questioned. His kicking isn't great but his contested football is pretty good.
It appears we didn't do the offensive forward sitting on Daicos but next time he will get attention and it will be Paton, Windhager or Byrnes that does it. Should have given Windy the job yesterday.

[Otiman]

Was up against jack ginnivan - two #33s against each other.
From memory, Jack didn’t do a lot, so perhaps that counts for Ben.

13 touches, 2 contested possessions, 1 goal. Don't know what his usual output is.

[Toy Saint]

A bit of perspective.

Paton is part of the best defensive unit in the competition. He's behind Webster, but with so many injuries he's a decent replacement. Guys like Coffield and Highmore play a slightly different roles, and I feel that Paton has good endurance running ability, a key ingredient in Lyon's game plan.

Admittedly this wasn't his best game and his kicking was not great, but he probably had the best of his direct opponent. Saints wend close to a good win, and I reckon we feel short not getting the ball into our forward line effectively, not because of our back 6 defensive unit.

[Sainternist]

Hmmm I’ve been thinking the same about Gresham lately. He played a howler yesterday. Honestly, I hope he finds his mojo again soon

[shanegrambeau]

I felt pride seeing Pato not give that cocky swine ginnovan a hand up yesterday. That alone deserves respect. He just stood his ground , stared at ginovan and said suck on this … Ginovan kicked a goal but even so. Thank god he don’t help that or….k get up on his feet. And ginnovan kept his hand held up throughout the interaction with the ump to… wily bastard.

Thank heavens.

Cudos Pato

St Paton！

Prior to one of those smothered kicks he did really well getting the ball and into a good position - or so I thought until that smother.
But I am a little perplexed about why Sharman is not forward and Highmore back. I think Paton still is the future unless the leg break has eroded his speed and reflexes. The game speeds up every year and then on top of that we are going with RTB speedy Gonzales method which piles on even more speed. Perhaps with coaching he can adjust. Skilled player

[cwrcyn]

Paton's issues have been there since day one. An excellent shutdown defender with courage and leg speed, but with ball in hand he just freezes. He just doesn't sum things up forward of the ball, which makes him hesitant and unsure of himself. He will usually take one of two options when kicking the ball...a short chip sidewards or a long kick down the line to a contest, and because he takes so much time making either of those decisions, he allows the opposition far too much time to get beck to defend. The worst is when he has taken a mark or has received a free kick.

For these reasons I see him and Webster fighting it out for the same position, with Webster offering more

If he's unable or unwilling to fix this side of his game, sometime soon someone else will come along who'll leapfrog him into his preferred position, even if Webster is not there


Let's hope he can get better in this area because he's definitely an excellent lockdown defender and it would be a shame to see him not make the most of his leg speed. He is deceptively quick.

[Saintmike65]

When Jimmy Webster is fit he plays!
Unfortunately Paton can’t be trusted with ball in hand.
It’s a shame Connelly hasn’t come on as he’s got speed and is dual sided.