Moved Thread #1: Majak Daw -

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Augustine said:
Ok, if Goldstein got injured (God forbid) would we be comfortable with Maj and Brown sharing the ruck duties with Petrie pinch hitting, or would we prefer Currie to come in and play the bulk of it?
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The muncher isn't good enough to carry Majak's bag to the ground.

6 disposals. two marks for Currie, zero tackles. 22 hit outs.

14 disposals, 7 marks Daw, two tackles. 24 hit outs.

I don't dislike Currie but I'm still perplexed as to why he's on our list? Not that I believe he will be at seasons end.

But as you alluded to Goldie is miles ahead of both, but as a second ruck/fwd Daw is as good as you could hope for.
 
naturally north said:
The muncher isn't good enough to carry Majak's bag to the ground.

6 disposals. two marks for Currie, zero tackles. 22 hit outs.

14 disposals, 7 marks Daw, two tackles. 24 hit outs.

I don't dislike Currie but I'm still perplexed as to why he's on our list? Not that I believe he will be at seasons end.

But as you alluded to Goldie is miles ahead of both, but as a second ruck/fwd Daw is as good as you could hope for.
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I'm with you Daw is our second ruckmen behind Goldy. I'm only concerned about fitness. Its rare to have someone who can do what Goldy does and ruck 90% of the time. That's why Brown is so useful and why we can't neglect his ruck work
 
naturally north said:
I don't dislike Currie but I'm still perplexed as to why he's on our list? Not that I believe he will be at seasons end.
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Because Majak's foot fell off late last season, Cuz is the only other pure ruckman on the list and he's cheap as chips? Maj outperforming Currie like that was probably a surprise to pretty much everyone if we're honest, and it is only one practice game.
 

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Daw practising his snaps and bananas from tight angles yesterday at training brought a tear to my eye.

What's it taken? 5 years?

He is looking more like a footballer every day. He is a really nice kick at goal in addition to the unstoppable contested marking and improved ruck work.

Genuine chance to play round 1.
 
RobZombie said:
Because Majak's foot fell off late last season, Cuz is the only other pure ruckman on the list and he's cheap as chips? Maj outperforming Currie like that was probably a surprise to pretty much everyone if we're honest, and it is only one practice game.
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Rob Z not to me it wasn't, heck mate I subscribe to the Sudan Tribune:p

Yeah the muncher isn't expensive, but Maj has him covered mate. Always has IMO
 
naturally north said:
Rob Z not to me it wasn't, heck mate I subscribe to the Sudan Tribune:p

Yeah the muncher isn't expensive, but Maj has him covered mate. Always has IMO
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True, it's been a long time since we saw Currie make an exciting catch and conversion.
 
Will be interesting to see how they play him with Goldy on Sunday. I doubt he will be played as a forward, as the club's focus would be on testing the Waite-Petrie-Black combo. I expect they will just rotate through the ruck, playing 50% game time each, or close to that. If he blitzes again then the cat will certainly be thrown amongst the selection pigeons.
 
Black2Blue said:
Will be interesting to see how they play him with Goldy on Sunday. I doubt he will be played as a forward, as the club's focus would be on testing the Waite-Petrie-Black combo. I expect they will just rotate through the ruck, playing 50% game time each, or close to that. If he blitzes again then the cat will certainly be thrown amongst the selection pigeons.
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Yep. The problem facing Maj is that, unless Goldie gets injured, we don't need a second ruckman. He is not going to get a game if he is only on the ground for 5 min per quarter while Goldie takes a breather - no matter how good a ruckman he is.

Maj needs to be dangerous as a forward if he is going to get a game. Otherwise, he'll be behind Brown, Black and anyone else who can contribute for a full 120 minutes. I hope he gets some time forward on Sunday and clunks a few marks.
 
Egga said:
Yep. The problem facing Maj is that, unless Goldie gets injured, we don't need a second ruckman. He is not going to get a game if he is only on the ground for 5 min per quarter while Goldie takes a breather - no matter how good a ruckman he is.

Maj needs to be dangerous as a forward if he is going to get a game. Otherwise, he'll be behind Brown, Black and anyone else who can contribute for a full 120 minutes. I hope he gets some time forward on Sunday and clunks a few marks.
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As I see it, in principle at least Maj is dangerous as a forward - he's athletic, fast, strong and one of the best marks in the game. And an excellent kick for goal. As our coach said, he's virtually unstoppable (at least from a physical point of view). Against the smaller defences he was incredibly dangerous cos they couldn't handle him physically. Unfortunately the better defences were just too clever for him and he was all at sea against them.

The problem has been to date that the person stopping Maj is Maj himself. Poor reading of the play, bad timing, brain fades, poor positioning, and at least until last season, lack of fitness. In 2013 and 2014 apart from some inspired bursts he showed he wasn't up to AFL level. No matter how good the physical attributes, you can't play someone who doesn't get it. And if he doesn't improve this aspect of his game, we won't see him in North colours again.

But - and this is the big but - what we saw last weekend that is generating this discussion was a hint of a new and improved Maj - still strong, fast, athletic and capable of towering marks, but also positioning himself well, keeping his head, using the ball sensibly. All the "above the shoulders" things that had been holding him back. We saw him play what was really an old fashioned ruck rover role - a bit in the ruck, a bit around the ground etc. Pushing forward at times, pushing back at times. And he was good.

Isn't there a case to say that this improved game sense and maturity might equally apply to his work up forward? He wasn't played in the forward line against Adelaide so we haven't seen him in action in that role, but I would really like to see him pushed forward so we can find out whether he is cutting the mustard up there.

I'm also aware that what we saw last weekend could be an aberration rather than signs of a change. It's not uncommon for players to have a match where everything clicks and then next week it's back to normal. I guess we'll see over the rest of the praccy matches.

Right now I'm of the view that if Maj consistently plays throughout the rest of the month like he did last weekend, he plays round 1. He has to. Blokes who can do what he can do don't grow on trees, and if they're doing it, they gotta play. I'd like to see Brad throw him around the ground a bit and try him in a number of roles and see how he stands up. If he does, he plays. Hopefully - hopefully - he achieves that and then also translates it into the real stuff.
 
astrovic said:
Isn't there a case to say that this improved game sense and maturity might equally apply to his work up forward? He wasn't played in the forward line against Adelaide so we haven't seen him in action in that role, but I would really like to see him pushed forward so we can find out whether he is cutting the mustard up there.
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I agree entirely. For structural reasons I don't believe can play primarily as a ruckman. I hope he gets plenty of forward time over the next two NAB games, because if he can replicate the aspects of his performance you described in the forward line, then he would likely have earned a spot. But can he? I hope we get a chance to find out!

astrovic said:
Right now I'm of the view that if Maj consistently plays throughout the rest of the month like he did last weekend, he plays round 1. He has to.
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Is this true even if he does not show he can do play well as a forward? If so, where would you play him? He doesn't have the engine to play in the midfield and if he can't play as a forward....?
 
astrovic said:
As I see it, in principle at least Maj is dangerous as a forward - he's athletic, fast, strong and one of the best marks in the game. And an excellent kick for goal. As our coach said, he's virtually unstoppable (at least from a physical point of view). Against the smaller defences he was incredibly dangerous cos they couldn't handle him physically. Unfortunately the better defences were just too clever for him and he was all at sea against them.

The problem has been to date that the person stopping Maj is Maj himself. Poor reading of the play, bad timing, brain fades, poor positioning, and at least until last season, lack of fitness. In 2013 and 2014 apart from some inspired bursts he showed he wasn't up to AFL level. No matter how good the physical attributes, you can't play someone who doesn't get it. And if he doesn't improve this aspect of his game, we won't see him in North colours again.

But - and this is the big but - what we saw last weekend that is generating this discussion was a hint of a new and improved Maj - still strong, fast, athletic and capable of towering marks, but also positioning himself well, keeping his head, using the ball sensibly. All the "above the shoulders" things that had been holding him back. We saw him play what was really an old fashioned ruck rover role - a bit in the ruck, a bit around the ground etc. Pushing forward at times, pushing back at times. And he was good.

Isn't there a case to say that this improved game sense and maturity might equally apply to his work up forward? He wasn't played in the forward line against Adelaide so we haven't seen him in action in that role, but I would really like to see him pushed forward so we can find out whether he is cutting the mustard up there.

I'm also aware that what we saw last weekend could be an aberration rather than signs of a change. It's not uncommon for players to have a match where everything clicks and then next week it's back to normal. I guess we'll see over the rest of the praccy matches.

Right now I'm of the view that if Maj consistently plays throughout the rest of the month like he did last weekend, he plays round 1. He has to. Blokes who can do what he can do don't grow on trees, and if they're doing it, they gotta play. I'd like to see Brad throw him around the ground a bit and try him in a number of roles and see how he stands up. If he does, he plays. Hopefully - hopefully - he achieves that and then also translates it into the real stuff.
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Good scribbling astrovic. I agree that it would be good to see him played forward from time to time on Sunday, but I would guess that the coaches will be wanting to see that Dish-Waite-Black-Wood combos, to trial things for round 1 so will be surprised to see him spend much time there. I am one of the biggest advocates for Maj (perhaps just shaded by naturally north) but in some ways I would rather he isn't rushed back in round 1.
Two things stand out for me - one, that with his injury, he hasn't had a full pre-season and his conditioning should be at a similar level to Browny (wtf happened last Sunday with him looking lean and mean?) and two, I don't think the club will tinker with the 90% Goldy ruck plan in round 1 and, AFAIK, Daw has spent the pre-season primarily training as a ruckman rather than a forward (although my binoculars miss some finer points from 10,000 miles away, so I'm open to being contradicted on this).
As to Daw as a forward, I think Petrie, Waite, Daw would be too tall and similar type as a forward combination. Much the same way, Im not so keen on a Petrie, Waite, Brown combo. I would hate to see Daw struggle as a forward again whilst showing his best footy as a ruckman, or sort of ruck rover as you mention. You rightly raise the point about his improved footy nous potentially translating to his game as a forward, so would be keen to see this too.
All a bit of a conundrum really but I suspect will fade away after he struggles a bit more when he faces some top line ruck men in McEvoy and Hale after last weeks picnic against the Crows no-namer. What are the sayings....."good problem to have", "it'll all come out in the wash", ......... But must say I am nervously excited to see him do well again tomorrow.
 

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I just hope when he goes back to playing as a forward that our midfielders stop this "Ok Maj is there I'll just sky the ball and let him go get it", if he can get in front of his defender on a lead there's no way he can be spoilt if he takes the grab arms out in front.

Expecting big things from Maj this year, if he can realize some of that unbelievable potential we'll be that much closer to winning a flag.
 
Egga said:
I agree entirely. For structural reasons I don't believe can play primarily as a ruckman. I hope he gets plenty of forward time over the next two NAB games, because if he can replicate the aspects of his performance you described in the forward line, then he would likely have earned a spot. But can he? I hope we get a chance to find out!



Is this true even if he does not show he can do play well as a forward? If so, where would you play him? He doesn't have the engine to play in the midfield and if he can't play as a forward....?
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I'd play him in a traditional ruck rover role, a la was Sam Kekovich played in the 70s or what McKernan was playing in his prime.

Ie a bit of relief ruck, exchanging with Goldy in pushing forward/back for throw ins and ball ups, a bit of time up forward, a bit of time across half back and a bit of time on the pine.

You'd probably have to lose a midfielder to get that, but my point is that a player playing that role well (a la McKernan, or Keka, or Kouta) are worth their weight in gold.
 
astrovic said:
I'd play him in a traditional ruck rover role, a la was Sam Kekovich played in the 70s or what McKernan was playing in his prime.

Ie a bit of relief ruck, exchanging with Goldy in pushing forward/back for throw ins and ball ups, a bit of time up forward, a bit of time across half back and a bit of time on the pine.

You'd probably have to lose a midfielder to get that, but my point is that a player playing that role well (a la McKernan, or Keka, or Kouta) are worth their weight in gold.
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hmmm, each to their own I guess!
 
astrovic said:
Aaaaaaand the ol' Maj is back :-/
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IMO he was better than the Majak of old, but yeah, not as good as last week. Additionally starting as the sub would have been more difficult for him than most IMO (as someone who already struggles often to read the play and keep up with the speed of AFL)

After last week though I have a good feeling about him. Previously I wasn't sure if he could even make gains while playing in the VFL or AFL. I'm confident that now he can. He's shown he can read the play better, position himself better, and make better choices whereas I hadn't noticed that at all after any of his stints in the VFL.

I'm now confident he can improve while playing in the VFL.
 
astrovic said:
Aaaaaaand the ol' Maj is back :-/
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So he comes on to the ground late as sub, does better than both Black and Brown and has as many kicks as Goldstein did in a whole game and "the old Maj is back"?

Laughable.

Do people actually expect this bloke to be the next Carey?

He is a ruck prospect who can play forward, if you think his game today deserves any negative comment then it only shows your lack of understanding.
 
Petrie dropped sitters
tippet gave away scraggly frees
hartung goes for a gallop gets done without bouncing
Petrie kicks into man on mark, charecteristically.
thompson gets done hold the ball from Cyrill
Lewis coat hangs Thomas
black and Waite both missed very gettable set shots
basti misses a soda in space
swallow most clangers out there

God forbid if maj makes a blue though...
 
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