VFL 2021 Sandringham Zebras

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kernelT said:
I really don't get why people feel the need to rule a line through a player like that, the hatred is pretty weird tbh. Even when he's absolutely blitzing at Sandy people want to sh*t cann him.

Lonie may be on the fringe of our best side, but he played a pretty good hand in our only final win in a decade… kicked a nice goal, set up two more.
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I know I'm late on this but I won't have people telling me Jack Lonie is not an AFL player. He may not be Stephen Milne, and he may be inconsistent but at his best he is brave, selfless and effective. He was great for a handful of games last year and we were shitting ourselves he was going to walk to the Bulldogs at the end of 2020.

The first Tigers game this year where he backed into a mark and got cleaned up by their ruckman and another tall defender should remind people of his courage. And what about the final against the Bulldogs last year where he got injured and still presented for the mark which Brad Hill ended up scoring from as Jack went off. His one percenters and defensive pressure are exemplary in general. He could be more deadly around the goals and like a lot of the team he has been poor in games.

He's played 87 games - 11 this year - and his contract is up again at the end of the season. He's a handy player to have in the squad and as many others have already said, if Dunstan & McKenzie can come in and grab their chances, there's no reason to believe we won't find another level in our no. 13 from Seaford.
 
sammm said:
that played badly in his game last year before he got injured.

played badly when he played this year until he got dropped. prevous years he was ok, not great, but ok.
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Didn't he get Brownlow votes in his one game last year?
 

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gringo2011 said:
Didn't he get Brownlow votes in his one game last year?
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It was strange that he got a vote in that game. Seven players got coaches votes and he wasn't one. He only had five contested touches and he absolutely torched the footy that day - kicking at 30%. Also only had the two clearances. He tackled well, but it made sense to drop him.
 
pebblesofsand said:
Not sure how you come to that conclusion, of course he was hard done by.

Dunstan has played 100+ games for the Saints, missed most of last season through injury yet at the start of the year when he was back to full fitness wasn't even included in the first practice match and was then given a half in the 2nd match.

They then pick Bytel for the first game and then despite underperforming they keep him in the team.

And then on the back of no VFL games they give Dunstan a run and then immediately dump him even though he performed better than Bytel (and a number of other players) in that match.

The coaching staff had a closed mindset about Dunstan at the start of the season and now it might cost us at the end of the season.
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I'd hardly call it hard done by.

Dunstan had been on the list 8 years and had shown very little improvement over that time.

We chose to prioritise the development of a young inside mid for a period of time.

Dunstan was made to work harder for his spot after years of average football. It could well be the best thing that's happened to him.
 
bird_man said:
I'd hardly call it hard done by.

Dunstan had been on the list 8 years and had shown very little improvement over that time.

We chose to prioritise the development of a young inside mid for a period of time.

Dunstan was made to work harder for his spot after years of average football. It could well be the best thing that's happened to him.
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I recall many on the board demanding that Bytel be picked no matter what due to his promise. I recall pretty much no one (myself included) calling for Dunstan's recall at any stage this year. People can claim that the club screwed up, but hindsight is an easy game. Who's to say that the time in the VFL and away from the team isn't part of what is driving his current form anyway.
 
Ducky Tie said:
I recall many on the board demanding that Bytel be picked no matter what due to his promise. I recall pretty much no one (myself included) calling for Dunstan's recall at any stage this year. People can claim that the club screwed up, but hindsight is an easy game. Who's to say that the time in the VFL and away from the team isn't part of what is driving his current form anyway.
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I'm not really worried about the past. I said Dunny deserved to be playing for selection integrity but was very unhappy with losing development of Bytel who I saw as the future and while we were playing terribly I thought development was more logical. I thought Dunstan was as good as delisted at the end of the year but I was wrong. I didn't think the club screwed up the past with him but he's playing great footy now. The stuff up will be to let him walk out if he's still playing great footy at round 23. It's like finding a better version of Crouch that costs no trade capital and doesn't even need a temptation to move loading put on it.
 
gringo2011 said:
I'm not really worried about the past. I said Dunny deserved to be playing for selection integrity but was very unhappy with losing development of Bytel who I saw as the future and while we were playing terribly I thought development was more logical. I thought Dunstan was as good as delisted at the end of the year but I was wrong. I didn't think the club screwed up the past with him but he's playing great footy now. The stuff up will be to let him walk out if he's still playing great footy at round 23. It's like finding a better version of Crouch that costs no trade capital and doesn't even need a temptation to move loading put on it.
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Agree with all of that.
 
BrutThough said:
Hanners won't play this week due to the 5 day break.

Frawley unlikely as well.
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Hanners won't play seniors because he hardly touched the ball and couldn't even play a full VFL game last week.
 
Ducky Tie said:
I recall many on the board demanding that Bytel be picked no matter what due to his promise. I recall pretty much no one (myself included) calling for Dunstan's recall at any stage this year. People can claim that the club screwed up, but hindsight is an easy game. Who's to say that the time in the VFL and away from the team isn't part of what is driving his current form anyway.
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If the VFL has been effective in preparing players for sustained form at AFL level should we maybe give Bytel a couple more weeks to really get the feel for the full time midfield role? If we bring him back in off the back of that 30+ game and he goes back to a 4th string role and 12-18 touches he might lose confidence. Let him develop and learn the craft and he might come in and be more a performer than a prospect we're "getting games into"
 
Ephemeral Hope said:
If the VFL has been effective in preparing players for sustained form at AFL level should we maybe give Bytel a couple more weeks to really get the feel for the full time midfield role? If we bring him back in off the back of that 30+ game and he goes back to a 4th string role and 12-18 touches he might lose confidence. Let him develop and learn the craft and he might come in and be more a performer than a prospect we're "getting games into"
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Absolutely. No need to play him at the moment. Let him dominate a month.
 
pebblesofsand said:
And the coaches were wrong.

Dunstan averaged 20+ possession a game with Billy Longer and Tom Hickey in the ruck, you dont have to be rocket surgeon to figure out he'd do better with a better ruck combo.

The thing that really s***'s me about early selections were that at the start of a season, when we were supposed to be aiming for finals, they went with the untried "future" rather than the solid reliable known.
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Your expectations have no relevance to the goings on pebs.
Personally l was annoyed they didn't stick with the youth from round 1, which would have been the right move in hindsight.
 

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Ephemeral Hope said:
If the VFL has been effective in preparing players for sustained form at AFL level should we maybe give Bytel a couple more weeks to really get the feel for the full time midfield role? If we bring him back in off the back of that 30+ game and he goes back to a 4th string role and 12-18 touches he might lose confidence. Let him develop and learn the craft and he might come in and be more a performer than a prospect we're "getting games into"
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Bytel won't be coming in this week off of one game inthe VFL its not as if he is Steele
 
BrutThough said:
And he won't play VFL either because they were scheduled for a 5 day break - might change now with the covid situation, but as of now they're playing Frankston on Friday night.
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probably will play without crowds.
 
Joffaboy said:
Was going to leave just after 3/4 time but had to stay to watch his clearance and midfield work.

The 4th qtr stats doesn't tell the full story. Can't remember a wasted disposal hitting forwards on the tit time and time again.

Was the best midfield performance I have ever seen, regardless of the opposition which admittedly was average
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He’s a bigger, better kicking (especially on his non-dominant foot) and cleaner handballing version of Dunstan.
 
gringo2011 said:
I'm not really worried about the past. I said Dunny deserved to be playing for selection integrity but was very unhappy with losing development of Bytel who I saw as the future and while we were playing terribly I thought development was more logical. I thought Dunstan was as good as delisted at the end of the year but I was wrong. I didn't think the club screwed up the past with him but he's playing great footy now. The stuff up will be to let him walk out if he's still playing great footy at round 23. It's like finding a better version of Crouch that costs no trade capital and doesn't even need a temptation to move loading put on it.
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Better version of Crouch 😂
He may get, very slightly, more touches but Dunny still doesn't have any composure. It's been covered up for now with the brand of footy he and the team are playing but you see Crouch just cruising through traffic barely moving and not getting caught then nailing a pass and they're chalk and cheese in terms of talent.
 
Crusty Undies said:
Better version of Crouch 😂
He may get, very slightly, more touches but Dunny still doesn't have any composure. It's been covered up for now with the brand of footy he and the team are playing but you see Crouch just cruising through traffic barely moving and not getting caught then nailing a pass and they're chalk and cheese in terms of talent.
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I watched plenty of Crouch games at Adelaide and always rated him but he was poor kick too. Crouch played in better sides than Dunny and probably had less responsibility so had an easier time.
 
Ephemeral Hope said:
Hopefully he doesn’t feel hard done by. Maybe Dunstan’s path will show that working in the VFL has benefit
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Mitchell had to wait until he was racking up record disposals before he got a game at Sydney.
 
Ducky Tie said:
I recall many on the board demanding that Bytel be picked no matter what due to his promise. I recall pretty much no one (myself included) calling for Dunstan's recall at any stage this year. People can claim that the club screwed up, but hindsight is an easy game. Who's to say that the time in the VFL and away from the team isn't part of what is driving his current form anyway.
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Dunstan is certainly crediting Jake Batchelor with a lot of his turnaround.
wouldn’t have a clue - is he a very good coach? Any chance he joins our seniors coaching rank and we get a replacement for him?

Many on here thought Hamill should be on the way out, as much due to longevity as an assistant as anything else, but Roo really credited him with our defensive turnaround on the Couch the other week. Any thoughts on this?
Surely there must be some changes?
 
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