Bombertalk

Time for this bloke to go. Has not improved over the past 12 months. Does a reasonable stopping job but not sufficient to warrant a place in the side on this ability alone. When he has the ball he is a complete liability. Seems to know his limitations and thrive on exceeding them. Backs into tackles, does u-turns, sill handballs. Someone else mentioned it elsewhere but I'd bring McVeigh in as a direct swap for Slattery and play McVeigh out of the back pocket.

In his defence, he did manage to give away the first free kick for the season in a classic Slattery moment...oh shit, that's not defending him at all.

Don't want to sound like a broken record or a knife merchant - but this bloke has been on borrowed time for quite a while IMHO.

Unfortunately my (and others) humble opinions don't mean much at selection and he keeps getting the nod.

He should make way for McVeigh.
McVeigh should only be played in the back pocket

Used to be a big fan of his, but unfortunately, I have to agree with Gringo. Slattery is a trier, he is a goer, but his skill level is ordinary and he consistently backs into a tackle when he has the ball.

Still, who else do we have to play back-pocket/HBF? Welsh is too slow, McVeigh and Demspey will be played there this year, but we need one more. Myers defensive skills are ordinary and Houli's are not much better.

He doesn't look like a player that will play in our next premiership. Although he isn't the only one from Friday's team.

I love the way Slats goes after the ball... his courage cannot be questioned... but

His disposal and tagging skills are quite ordinary. Unfortunately we dont seem to have many decent taggers/small defenders in the side which is why he is played every week.

the interesting thing about Slatts is that I never notice him in a game, until he does something wrong. I have never said to myself, 'wow, who is that guy, what a fantastic piece of play'

i agree with you all that he hasnt improved, but sadly i think he is one of those guys that the coachs just love... i dont know why but i just reckon he will be one of those players that always gets a game, but shouldnt, should be traded, but wont.

Hate to disappoint y'all, but Mr Sattery is a mainstay in the team. One of the first picked. You may not like it, but that's just the way it is. Gazza O'Donnell absolutely loves him, and Knighta does also - and I guess the whole match committee. So I guess I will be seeing your venting posts every week for 22+ rounds.....

Still have an "Oh Shit" moment whenever Slatts gets the pill. Not as bad as when 'Flea used to get it, but always relieved when he successfully gets rid of it.

Have also heard that he is pencilled in automatically for each round, so there it is.

Agree with Monsieur Doolan. He is one of the hardest workers at the club. If some of the other players had the same mindset/endeavour, we'd have champions running around everywhere. As far as Windy's comment goes, I do know what you mean, he isn't a flashy player that makes you take notice. But, as long as his opponent isn't doing much, who gives a $hit what he does? It's up to other players with leg speed/good skills to provide the run and carry. If he was coughing up 3-4 goals a week purely from his own performance, then he should cop it. He makes mistakes, but so do others. A lot of the other guys make more mistakes, but the difference is, poor old Henry is closer to the oppenents goal.

My biggest gripe with him was not so much his possession count (or lack thereof), or lack of 'flashiness', but always the number of free kicks he conceded relative to the amount of time he spent in contests. He simply gives away far too many free kicks, and they're often clumsy, for a back pocket where giving away a free kick often results in an opposition shot on goal.

If he could restrict himself to averaging 1 free kick against per game, i could learn to live with him.

jimmyc1985 wrote:My biggest gripe with him was not so much his possession count (or lack thereof), or lack of 'flashiness', but always the number of free kicks he conceded relative to the amount of time he spent in contests. He simply gives away far too many free kicks, and they're often clumsy, for a back pocket where giving away a free kick often results in an opposition shot on goal.

If he could restrict himself to averaging 1 free kick against per game, i could learn to live with him.

he averaged 1 last year, 1.8 in 2008

DYSON#2 wrote:

jimmyc1985 wrote:My biggest gripe with him was not so much his possession count (or lack thereof), or lack of 'flashiness', but always the number of free kicks he conceded relative to the amount of time he spent in contests. He simply gives away far too many free kicks, and they're often clumsy, for a back pocket where giving away a free kick often results in an opposition shot on goal.

If he could restrict himself to averaging 1 free kick against per game, i could learn to live with him.

he averaged 1 last year, 1.8 in 2008

Which equates to 15-22 goals I would think given where those frees are paid. Thats like a whole game worth of extra goals against

DYSON#2 wrote:

jimmyc1985 wrote:My biggest gripe with him was not so much his possession count (or lack thereof), or lack of 'flashiness', but always the number of free kicks he conceded relative to the amount of time he spent in contests. He simply gives away far too many free kicks, and they're often clumsy, for a back pocket where giving away a free kick often results in an opposition shot on goal.

If he could restrict himself to averaging 1 free kick against per game, i could learn to live with him.

he averaged 1 last year, 1.8 in 2008

Yeah, wasn't too bad last year. 2008 was ridiculous - if you look at most of the guys who conceded more frees than him, they were guys who spend a huge amount of time in contested situations where it's easy to give away frees (mainly marking/ruck contests, i.e. ruckman or key forward/defenders).

Still think he can improve in this area, but he's almost tolerable now.

BenDoolan wrote:Hate to disappoint y'all, but Mr Sattery is a mainstay in the team. One of the first picked. You may not like it, but that's just the way it is. Gazza O'Donnell absolutely loves him, and Knighta does also - and I guess the whole match committee. So I guess I will be seeing your venting posts every week for 22+ rounds.....

Unfortunately correct - my last word on this subject.

He definitely works very hard and attacks the contests well, but when he has the ball he is hopeless and he gives away too many frees.

I would certainly rather McVeigh down there instead.

Still, looks like he's going to be in the team for a while yet and he's pretty smart, so hopefully he'll learn and improve. Also, this week he was in the backline against the best midfield in the comp AND playing on one of the toughest small forward match ups in the league.

I just get nervous though even when Slats is up against a small forward that isnt as good as the ones Geel have... he will prob get the job on young Ballantyne this week and that makes me a little worried.

You're have a crack at Slatts for giving away frees and you want to replace him with ....... MC Veigh.......

I think he does his job as a BP, which means other players can be more effective up the ground. He's not the most talented on the list but he doesn't need to be. I cannot believe that people are willing to sacrifice having Mc Veigh in the midfield. He had a shocker last year but he is oe of the best kicks in the team and his delivery into the forward 50 is sublime.

As has been noted he is one of the first picked every week and there is a reason for that. He does his job.

Sismis wrote:You're have a crack at Slatts for giving away frees and you want to replace him with ....... MC Veigh.......

I think he does his job as a BP, which means other players can be more effective up the ground. He's not the most talented on the list but he doesn't need to be. I cannot believe that people are willing to sacrifice having Mc Veigh in the midfield. He had a shocker last year but he is oe of the best kicks in the team and his delivery into the forward 50 is sublime.

As has been noted he is one of the first picked every week and there is a reason for that. He does his job.

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>