Bombertalk

Just going through some stats and worked out that if Monfires and Zaha continue their current averages they are on target to kick about 64 goals combined this year. Not bad for a pair of small forwards.

Not sure if there would be a lot of other clubs getting that return.

Would be even more impressive if Zaha stopped kicking behinds.

I still reckon Monfries is a meanderer. Drifts in and out of games far too often - and tends to miss absolute cinch goals. Played 100 games now and should be averaging 2 goals a game at the very least for the position he holds on the ground.

In saying that, I think he's been OK in most games this year. Just gotta do a bit more....

That would be a great effort for those two but i agree that Gussy in particular needs to do more. Its ok to kick maye 1 or 2 a weeks but i would love to see him really stamp his authority on a game and kick 4 or 5 more often.

Mrs Mercuri wrote:That would be a great effort for those two but i agree that Gussy in particular needs to do more. Its ok to kick maye 1 or 2 a weeks but i would love to see him really stamp his authority on a game and kick 4 or 5 more often.

Yes, and not just once or twice a year (usually against Carlton).

Mrs Mercuri wrote:That would be a great effort for those two but i agree that Gussy in particular needs to do more. Its ok to kick maye 1 or 2 a weeks but i would love to see him really stamp his authority on a game and kick 4 or 5 more often.

Was at the port Adelaide game and there was a period where he looked like he was going to go crazy but then he was chopped out. Agree that he needs to start getting busy.

It gives us great balance to have both Monfries and Zaha lurking as the teams need to defend both pockets.

Makes you wonder where Williams will fit into the forward line structure. Especially if you add Davey, Reimers and Jetta to the smalish forward options

BenDoolan wrote:I still reckon Monfries is a meanderer. Drifts in and out of games far too often - and tends to miss absolute cinch goals. Played 100 games now and should be averaging 2 goals a game at the very least for the position he holds on the ground.

In saying that, I think he's been OK in most games this year. Just gotta do a bit more....

Very few small forwards average 2 goals a game. Even very good ones. What Gus needs to do is win us a few matches. Thats what guys like Bewick did. A couple of times a year, Bewick would kick a big bag that was the differance between us winning and losing (93 Premlim), yet in 238 games, Bewick "only" kicked 332 goals. Mark Mercuri, 207 games, 242 goals. Even Micky O at Sydney who played his entire career up forward only had 532 goals from 302 games. Milne who is considered the best of these guys (as far as being a goalkicker anyway) averages just on 2. It's always either feast or famine for these blokes, and I reckon most of them are judged way too harshly.

Windy_Hill wrote:Makes you wonder where Williams will fit into the forward line structure. Especially if you add Davey, Reimers and Jetta to the smalish forward options

Yes, true. We have such a glut of forward play makers, YET, you sometimes look up at our F50 and you see absolutely no-one within cooee of it....

robbie67 wrote:

BenDoolan wrote:I still reckon Monfries is a meanderer. Drifts in and out of games far too often - and tends to miss absolute cinch goals. Played 100 games now and should be averaging 2 goals a game at the very least for the position he holds on the ground.

In saying that, I think he's been OK in most games this year. Just gotta do a bit more....

Very few small forwards average 2 goals a game. Even very good ones. What Gus needs to do is win us a few matches. Thats what guys like Bewick did. A couple of times a year, Bewick would kick a big bag that was the differance between us winning and losing (93 Premlim), yet in 238 games, Bewick "only" kicked 332 goals. Mark Mercuri, 207 games, 242 goals. Even Micky O at Sydney who played his entire career up forward only had 532 goals from 302 games. Milne who is considered the best of these guys (as far as being a goalkicker anyway) averages just on 2. It's always either feast or famine for these blokes, and I reckon most of them are judged way too harshly.

Ah....fair enough. I'll negotiate back down to 1.5 goals

BenDoolan wrote:

Windy_Hill wrote:Makes you wonder where Williams will fit into the forward line structure. Especially if you add Davey, Reimers and Jetta to the smalish forward options

Yes, true. We have such a glut of forward play makers, YET, you sometimes look up at our F50 and you see absolutely no-one within cooee of it....

It seems that the modern trend is to have a broad spread of goalkickers as opposed to one or two focal points - certainly was the case against Richmond. I

have only produced 2 goals between them so far tonight... Zaka needs to get some more of the ball, has been a bit quieter over the past few weeks and with so many players knocking on the door needs to get a bit more of the ball.

Monfries is a peanut sometimes. What the hell was he doing in that last quarter? Had an opportunity to draw the player and pop it over to Lonergan in the goal square but chose to have a hesitant shot at goal. Dumb.

Zaka did something similar in the last quarter as well when he missed a goal but had Lonergan all by himself in a better position. You can excuse a 2nd year player though.

It amazes me that Gus escapes criticism in here. His output is generally shithouse. It's the same story every year.

Zaharakis' hands were excellent last night. He's an excellent mark for his size and is an awkward match-up. Also like the fact he was a bit 'hungry' in front of goal - we've got so many guys who are hesitant to take the shot and instead will almost always look to pass (ie Jetta, Davey, Winderlich, Watson etc) and you need to balance that with a few hungry small forwards who are willing to take the shot.

The other small forward who's improved a lot this year is Davey. Last year he returned 14 goals from 20 games and was a multiple goal kicker only 3 times - nowhere near good enough for a small forward. This year, he's got 10 goals from 7 games, and has been a multiple goal-kicker 4 times. Makes a big difference.

BenDoolan wrote:Zaka did something similar in the last quarter as well when he missed a goal but had Lonergan all by himself in a better position. You can excuse a 2nd year player though.

Hille didn't. Massive spray.

I don't know about Monfries, I'd almost rather have Williams in for him. Williams is probably lazier, but with Monfries going missing for long periods and Williams being such a good set shot, Williams might be a better option right now. Especially with Reimers back, because then we'd have him and Zaharakis crumbing.
And we've been getting the ball into the forward line better the past few weeks, as opposed to the games Williams played (aside from the Scum match).
And maybe Williams could be told to always stay in the 50 Benny.

Don't have time to read all of the posts above.. so, not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet....

I honestly can't believe how good Zaharakis is above his head.. Some of the grabs he has been taking have been magnificent.

Re: Monfries miss late in the Q4...I thought he had a Watson moment. When faced with 2 options, he couldn't chose either and split the difference! At the time, I thought he had aimed for Lonergan, but overdid the kick.

Re: Zaharakis' shot...he should've passed it from that position. Lonergan was so far clear he was the best option. Can't fault the attempt though, as the inability of our smalls to take selfish shots has been frustrating lately.

Lonergan did the right thing, getting loose and ready!...and might've nailed the win earlier.