Whats the obsession with Bradley on a wing?

DC · Post by DC » Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:05 pm

Why do ppl continuely have Bradley playing on a wing when they list their best 22, or just when talking about positions in general?

I dont think KB is suited to a wing, I know he played his junior footy their, but this is the AFL.

The reason I bring it up is because I just visited that hell hole in Big Footy and read a few threads, one being the 'best 22', just to see what people thought the best 22 was.

I was surprised to see that half the listed squads had KB on a wing.

Who thinks KB can be effective/benefical/good for us on a wing?

I dont. If they wont to try him somewhere, put him up front or play him on the third tall in defence. I honestly cant see where else he can play.

Rossoneri · Post by **Rossoneri** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:12 pm

Can only play in the forward line, though his kicking for goal will hinder him. Always presents and creates a contest. On the weekend he was up forward in the second quarter. The ball was kicked in front of him where there were two Bulldogs players (McPhee wil the rubbish kick). Bradley went for the ball and crunched all involved. The ball somehow bounced back into Bradley arms and then handpassed it off to Dyson (who kicked it out on the full, thats not the point though)

The point is that his second efforts are good and he might be able to play as a forward. Maybe if Lucas or Johns are injured or out of form (mainly Johns in that case)

He is definitely not a wingman.

Essendon4eva · Post by **Essendon4eva** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:01 pm

Kepler can be usefull, for us in limited minutes down abck and sometimes up forward. With the addition of Mal Michael, he can play on the third best foward and not have the added pressure.

He can be usefull.

DYSON#2 · Post by **DYSON#2** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:19 pm

i reckon he could be handy on the wing, not saying he will win us games from the wing but he is fairly mobile. He can create a miss match on the wing and can provide a marking target or he can run with the ball. i dunno, its tricky player!

Boyler_Room · Post by **Boyler_Room** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:10 pm

He's not in our best 22 regardless of what position he plays.

Gatsid · Post by **Gatsid** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:37 pm

People (esp from BigFooty) see Goodes and just put two and two together, Bradley is tall and mobile, so is Goodes they just assume Bradley can do the same thing. Sadly they miss the point that Goodes is co-ordinated and also very very athletic neither of which I would say Bradley is. He is still very young, and I'm not convinced that he will never be a starting 22 player, that said he should never be a winger.

F111 · Post by **F111** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:21 pm

I think part of the attraction to Bradley on a wing is to take a mark from the kick in, therefore providing a tall target downfield. If the opposition get the idea, they then need to cover him with a likely tall. Does that stretch their stock of talls during such a play.

Either that occurs or a height mismatch eventuates.

Whether it was to work in practice might be another story.

gringo · Post by **gringo** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:23 pm

Gatsid wrote:People (esp from BigFooty) see Goodes and just put two and two together, Bradley is tall and mobile, so is Goodes they just assume Bradley can do the same thing. Sadly they miss the point that Goodes is co-ordinated and also very very athletic neither of which I would say Bradley is. He is still very young, and I'm not convinced that he will never be a starting 22 player, that said he should never be a winger.

I'm not convinced either, especially considering only 18 start.

Only chance for KB at Essendon is as a defender. Send him to Bendigo to learn how to play down back. If he can't, delist him. Simply hasn't got the skills to play anywhere else.

Post by **boncer34** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:37 pm

gringo wrote:
Gatsid wrote:People (esp from BigFooty) see Goodes and just put two and two together, Bradley is tall and mobile, so is Goodes they just assume Bradley can do the same thing. Sadly they miss the point that Goodes is co-ordinated and also very very athletic neither of which I would say Bradley is. He is still very young, and I'm not convinced that he will never be a starting 22 player, that said he should never be a winger.
I'm not convinced either, especially considering only 18 start.

Only chance for KB at Essendon is as a defender. Send him to Bendigo to learn how to play down back. If he can't, delist him. Simply hasn't got the skills to play anywhere else.

Wow Gringo on the attack.... idiot clearly he ment 22 players on a side a game.

andrewb · Post by **andrewb** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:54 pm

IMO Bradley's best position for at least the first half of the season is CHB for Bendigo. The wing suggestion is being thrown around partly because of his height and mobility, partly because he played there as a junior, and partly because of the towelling he got from some of the competition's gun forwards last year.

His key weaknesses are the fact that he's a bit unco (pretty common in blokes that are 6'6" and under 23!), has average speed off the mark and isn't a great kick. These will all get better with age and experience (although more astute judges than I have concerns about whether you can coach a bloke to kick better at his age). That said, were he playing for a contender rather than a cellar dweller his flaws would be far less obvious.

Now that we have Big Mal, we can whack him in the twos where he should get a few BOGs and some confidence, before re-introducing him to senior football in games where the opposition has three tall forwards. Give the kid a proper apprenticeship. If the coaching staff decide he's best on a wing, play him on a wing in the twos. Doesn't really bother me - with modern footy there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between the wings and the flanks, it's all about match-ups.

He's a good kid, he trains hard and he's been given some monster tasks in his first three seasons. Now he needs to realise that he is actually up to senior footy. I want the essendon supporter base looking at Bendigo scores and saying "we really need to promote this guy" rather than constantly calling for his head - which is the exactly what we would have been doing if henneman had have lived up to expectations.

jimmyc1985 · Post by **jimmyc1985** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:16 pm

Keps gets consistently named in people's best 22 on the wing because that's where Sheedy is playing him at the moment. The reason why Sheedy is playing him there is because Sheedy seems to treat the wing position like a bit of 'town bicycle' in that everyone gets a go: Bradley, Dyson, Winderlich, Dempsey, Welsh, McVeigh, Mark Johnson, Heffernan, Lovett, Stanton, Monfries and McPhee all played there at some stage last year. Giving Keps a go on the wing is just a continuation of the theme that the wing is really treated like some sort of 'trial' position which everyone is entitled to have a go at.

chummy · Post by **chummy** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:54 pm

Its sad that KB has become Sheedy's latest play thing ,i think his coaching of this kid has been frightening its like he's on a mission,his latest spin of making him a wingman could end the kids career ,he needs to go back to bendigo for an extended period were they can experiment and find his best position if any" while out of the spotlight . Whats worse is that there are so many clowns out there who still fall for this crap,i can't believe we waste our time debating this sort of shit

dingus · Post by **dingus** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:50 am

The last time this club was a force we effectively had John Barnes playing as a link man on the wing, and he was brilliant at it. Make no mistake, our brilliant and devastating movement of the ball on 2000 had a lot to do with Barnes ability to make space.

A running, linking wingman is an alternative to a brilliant midfield. Kepler is no Barnes, but if he can do 3/4 of the work that Barnes did on the wing we will significantly improve our ball movement.

Ramanama · Post by **Ramanama** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:53 pm

Rossoneri wrote:Can only play in the forward line, though his kicking for goal will hinder him. Always presents and creates a contest. On the weekend he was up forward in the second quarter. The ball was kicked in front of him where there were two Bulldogs players (McPhee wil the rubbish kick). Bradley went for the ball and crunched all involved. The ball somehow bounced back into Bradley arms and then handpassed it off to Dyson (who kicked it out on the full, thats not the point though)

The point is that his second efforts are good and he might be able to play as a forward. Maybe if Lucas or Johns are injured or out of form (mainly Johns in that case)

He is definitely not a wingman.

Took the words out of my mouth.

j-mac31 · Post by **j-mac31** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:54 pm

Because he can't play anywhere else.

dingus wrote:The last time this club was a force we effectively had John Barnes playing as a link man on the wing, and he was brilliant at it. Make no mistake, our brilliant and devastating movement of the ball on 2000 had a lot to do with Barnes ability to make space.

A running, linking wingman is an alternative to a brilliant midfield. Kepler is no Barnes, but if he can do 3/4 of the work that Barnes did on the wing we will significantly improve our ball movement.

Dyson could be an even more effective linking wingman, because he is faster.
And Bradley is not mobile.
If Essendon wanted to get a wingman wih pick 6 in whatever year it was, Tenace would have been a better option because he is faster and has better skills.

If Lucas, Lloyd or Johns get injured, I would rather see Gumbleton play than Bradley. Or even Ryder. Now he IS mobile.