I think you won the Petrenko battle hands down. The fact the he played more than 50 games is a blight on the club not your judgement.
Anyone using the Petrenko scenario to discredit you is not doing their own credibility much service.
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Anyone using the Petrenko scenario to discredit you is not doing their own credibility much service.
My daughter was on that flight. When she texted me that the players were on the same plane, and I asked where her photos were, she replied that there was too much turbulence.
Yeah I get that, but I probably wasn't as critical of his form in 2013 as all of the good judges.
I keep thinking hes going to have a break out year, next thing I know hes 28.
The bolded bit is the kind of thinking that continues to bemuse me. That statement was true while VB entered the season having shown promising signs. I wouldn't argue that he was ahead of Grigg and Lyons at that time and nor would I argue that he's still ahead of the latter. But since the opening rounds it is entirely plausable that his and Grigg's form has resulted in a change between those 2. Why would you not consider that this is a possibility. Do you think that selection order for an entire season is determined on selection night before round 1. That just makes no sense whatsoever, although it is an understandable misconception to arrive at having watched our players take the field over the last few years. But it's certainly not how it should be.
No, the selection order is dynamic. Absolutely. There is nothing that Grigg has done which would justify him being selected ahead of VB. Lyons is definitely behind VB and anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. Crouch... maybe.
Deaneus!
We Await Silent Tristero's Empire
In a team that had decent drafting for that position, you'd have been very, very right.
Excuse me while I interview myself.
With a fully fit list, is VB deserving of a spot in the 22? Arguable - he would be the 21st or 22nd player... so, no.
With an injury list like ours, do we need him to provide some experience? Yes.
Should VB be playing better? Oh yes. If he's providing some sort of magical mystery role that only the coach's box knows about that's fine, but I refuse to believe that their instructions might include "give away silly free kicks" and if he's played 188 games he should know better than to blaze away when there's a free player 15 metres out directly in front. There's no way that's following team rules.
Do I really believe he's not a natural footballer? Yes, insofar as I consider him to be a solid B-grader. He has built a career for himself out of being extremely fit, being team-orientated, and having fairly good skills. However, like I said, 19 Brownlow votes in 188 games, and even on BigFooty where rumours are thrown around like faeces in a gorilla enclosure, I've never heard of Freo and West Coast trying to poach him back. He is a solid role player - and every team needs them - but to think they're irreplaceable is wrong. It's a list management mindset that we've had here for years, that we keep carrying players that won't take us anywhere. VB can hold the fort, but he can't launch the counter-attack.
Will he be part of our next premiership team? That's a borderline call and I'd say no. And if we're serious about moving forwards, then we need to start phasing him out. He'll be a depth player here until the end of next season at least, because we still need players with experience and guile to guide the younger players - there will still be room for him to play 10 games a season, covering injuries and taking over when the young, non-fully-acclimatised-to-AFL players are cooked.
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Salient
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Also salient
There may be nothing that Grigg has done to move ahead of VB, but there's plenty that VB has and hasn't done to drop below Grigg. It's not a one dimensional situation.
Lets see how grigg goes tomorrow in the wet against some quick young players , it's very early days for him...we need his offence , kick etc but there is more to football than looking good out in space . He deserves his chance no doubt but it's too early still
Surely just as interesting to see how VB goes against some quick young players in the wet. Grigg is 17 games into his career, VB nearing 200, the fact that they're even close in terms of consistency and quality of output tells the story. In terms of the game v GWS, I can accept that VB might be marginally ahead in output. But in terms of building for a flag tilt in the coming years, unless VB improves quickly or Grigg's form dips, selecting VB is a road to absolutely nowhere.
Nothing against Vader but I'd say the Petrenko situation was pretty clear cut. Pets had a brief purple patch at the start of 2012 and never went on with it. Anybody with eyes in their head could see he wasn't up to it and yet Sando still persisted with him. Says more about Sanderson than anything. His coaching method was like watching a person repeatedly bashing their head against a wall and then complaining about the headache.
Still just happy I don't have to hear people make excuses for Petrenko anymore. I got tired of hearing people tell me "his lack of goals doesn't matter, he's in the side for his defensive pressure". What a load of bs.
Yeah but Vader didn't waiver during the purple patch when most of us believed Petrenko was about to become a gun small forward.
He should probably get some credit for being one of the few people around here who realises it takes more than a few decent games to make an AFL player. This board is prone to hype. I know I've been suckered in a few times myself but I'm gradually learning to keep a lid on it.
Deaneus!
We Await Silent Tristero's Empire
Just to keep up the Empire love, Vader is a fairly astute judge of ability, despite never seeing the SANFL team in the flesh
However, his borderline-insanity hatred of all things Lyon and Grigg is disturbing
Vader and King Elvis meeting to discuss VB's role in the team
However, his borderline-insanity hatred of all things Lyon and Grigg is disturbing
Vader and King Elvis meeting to discuss VB's role in the team
Hope he plays. Maybe we could go even shorter in the backline or give Jenkins another week off if its pouring. At least we know he is close to getting a game - if we lost last week I'm sure he would've played but hard to argue against sticking with a winning side.
It seems quite twisted that I find myself wondering if VB is good enough to play Jaensch's role.
In context 2 years ago VB was the skipper and I thought Jaensch was a list clogger.
Yeah funny how things work out. Unfortunately I don't think he is but we could find out tomorrow.
If that's all there was to it then fair enough.
The question itself may not have been critical in nature but that doesn't mean Walsh is ignorant of the criticism being directed at VB.
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Sounds like Matty Wright.
I made the same comparison a few weeks ago. When we were winning Petrenko was playing a role but once we began to lose that role became of secondary importance behind his ability to score.
