Chris Mayne, a liability?

[andrew99]

What is your opinion of him ?

Is he part of the problem or an essential cog in rejuvenating our forward line?
At 25, 26 next year, time is on his side.
But he seems so vanilla, the type of player who needs to operate at his zenith to play AFL football. In other words, if '12 was his peak and if he cannot recapture that form, does he have a place in the team?

I'm not being unequivocal here.

Personally I put Mayne in the same basket as Crowley: i'm not sure.

Opinions would be good, from fan-boys and critics alike.

 

[E Shed]

I agree to some extent although I wouldn't use the word vanilla for Mayne. He's quite a distinctive character from his looks to the way he goes about his footy.
I think he is seen as a bit of a team driver (to use the current parlance). He gets those around him up and about. When he's at his best he takes a lot of lead up marks in transition and kicks a couple of goals as well as being one of the best defensive forwards in the game. I expect RTB will back him in again next year.

 

[Taylor]

He needs a preseason this year.

 

[Unique Name]

Due to a poor year in front of the sticks his position has become vulnerable to Crozier and Duffy. If he kicks straight and bags 30+ then he should definitely keep his spot because his pressure up forward in amazing... But defensive pressure alone is not enough and I think anyone wanting a spot in our forward line should expect to get dropped to Peel if they don't deliver on the scoreboard.

This year we persisted far to long with Mayne and he should have been dropped to trial some of our younger brigade.

 

[Cheetah]

I think he has versatility on his side as well, he is capable of playing a number of roles.

 

[meesy]

biggest annoyance with Mayne is how he takes a good grab and then IMMEDIATELY looks to give it off someone, especially in our finals this year. Back yourself in and just have a shot!! Also I can't remember him having a shot while on the run either. I think he plays to his role a little too much.

 

[freoextra]

I think he has versatility on his side as well, he is capable of playing a number of roles.

Agreed. Mayne is the sort of player that the coach, team mates and supporters love. Why, because he puts the team before his own performance. Freo plays its best football when Mayne is in the team because like Ballas he is intergral to the forward line pressure. Crozier is promising yet not in the same universe in regards to importance.

My view is that the op should slap themselves for the thread.

One year without a pre-season and this is how you rate him? seriously, Mayne a liability???

I think he is the never a liability unless he is played injured (which shows you how deperate they are to have him out there). He will never be a liability in a team game!

 

[strobe00]

I think people who measure mayne according to the number of goals he directly kicks might think him a liability.

But they're not particularly deep thinkers. He is in the forward line to kick goals, to create them for others and to stop the opposition from sending the ball the other way.

He did a good job this year with the second two points, after recovering from his back and ankle problems early in the season. He didn't kick as straight as he did last year, and handed off quite a few freebie goals to team mates, so didn't have the same kind of goals count he did last year. Despite what some people seem to think, he isn't a straighter kicking version of matt de boer. He is a very smart forward, and uses the ball well.

Liability? Maybe the first few games of the season when he was carrying an injury. But over the season... no way. Someone will end up being better than him one day. But even then he won't be a liability. He just won't be quite as good as the next bloke.

I think of pearceD, spurr, clarke, suban and de boer... or even crowley, hilly and duff at times... as liabilities well before I'd even think of mayne as one.

 

[jerms]

Agreed. Mayne is the sort of player that the coach, team mates and supporters love. Why, because he puts the team before his own performance. Freo plays its best football when Mayne is in the team because like Ballas he is intergral to the forward line pressure. Crozier is promising yet not in the same universe in regards to importance.

My view is that the op should slap themselves for the thread.

One year without a pre-season and this is how you rate him? seriously, Mayne a liability???

I think he is the never a liability unless he is played injured (which shows you how deperate they are to have him out there). He will never be a liability in a team game!

Yeah, I'm not gonna bite too hard given OP was clear that he was undecided rather than against the guy, but I agree it's a bit of an unreasonably imputative question. There's been a fair bit of unjustified finger-pointing at Mayney, not least from commentators lamenting his lack of goals when playing on a half-back flank!

 

[eastfreo75]

98% of time you don't have the ball and Mayne is the best at 98%. 2% you actually pretty good as well. People have no idea, thank God Ross is Boss.

 

[Taylor]

I don't think he had the fitness to both run the zone role and move to attacking positions as well as he did in 2012 due to the lack of preseason and the ankle injury against Hawthorn in round 3.

Like Morabito in the St Kilda game, it was just all too much to run.

 

[counting bodies like sheep]

I think maybe will benefit when we get some effective tall timber around him. Pav only has so long... Mayne has been left to do the key forward stuff which he shouldn't be.

A full preseason with some more help from taberner and apeness I think will see him hit 2013 form

 

[Unique Name]

I think people who measure mayne according to the number of goals he directly kicks might think him a liability.

But they're not particularly deep thinkers. He is in the forward line to kick goals, to create them for others and to stop the opposition from sending the ball the other way.

He did a good job this year with the second two points, after recovering from his back and ankle problems early in the season. He didn't kick as straight as he did last year, and handed off quite a few freebie goals to team mates, so didn't have the same kind of goals count he did last year. Despite what some people seem to think, he isn't a straighter kicking version of matt de boer. He is a very smart forward, and uses the ball well.

Liability? Maybe the first few games of the season when he was carrying an injury. But over the season... no way. Someone will end up being better than him one day. But even then he won't be a liability. He just won't be quite as good as the next bloke.

I think of pearceD, spurr, clarke, suban... or even hilly and duff at times... as liabilities well before I'd even think of mayne as one.

So you start your argument by calling anyone who disagrees with your view point a simpleton. Hmmmm.

Between Clarke and Mayne (1/3rd of our forward line) they kicked 25 goals. That's terrible, and it means more pressure is on the rest of the team to score goals. Yes Mayne's defensive pressure is great but that doesn't make up for his lack of goals, just as Clarke's ruck work doesn't make up for his lack of goals. They are both forwards and both need to kick goals.

Mayne has shown that he is capable of kicking goals consistantly and needs to find that form again otherwise his spot will come under attack from the likes of Crozier and Duffy who are still growing and improving.


FWIW I think if Mayne gets his goal kicking back and keeps up his pressure acts he'll be a likely AA third tall. But if he doesn't then he should be dropped until he starts kicking 3+ goals a game for Peel.

 

[StingBitten]

Even when Mayne was in dead-eye form in 2012/2013 I never thought he was going to be a permanent-forward option. If De Boer was to be let go like I expected him to be then I would say Mayne would take his spot full-time - he may still be the preferred candidate going into next year.

 

[Kram]

He's had 1 poor season, let's sack him.

 

[jerms]

He's had 1 poor season, let's sack him.

Not even sure it was a 'poor' season as much as a 'below-expectations' season, caused at least partially by an interrupted pre-season.

 

[Eski3]

The difficulty with Mayne is twofold:

1. his success in his role in the team can't be measured by looking at stats alone, and

2. we do not have a natural replacement for him.

There is no denying that in large patches last year he was surprisingly ineffective. But there's no reason why he can't capture his good form from 2012/2013

All we can do is back him in. Seriously, if we drop him to the WAFL who comes in?

 

[beetz]

Nope.

 

[counting bodies like sheep]

The difficulty with Mayne is twofold:

1. his success in his role in the team can't be measured by looking at stats alone, and

2. we do not have a natural replacement for him.

There is no denying that in large patches last year he was surprisingly ineffective. But there's no reason why he can't capture his good form from 2012/2013

All we can do is back him in. Seriously, if we drop him to the WAFL who comes in?

Not to mention he was playing with a dickie ankle for most of the year.

He needs to kick more goals, there is no doubt about that, and his year was disappointing, but I can't see him reaching a point where he no longer has value to the team that warrants a spell back at peel.

 

[Harry Reems]

Would you rather have Josh Hill?

 

[GilG]

Don't call my Mayne man a liability!

As crucial as regaining his fitness is, though, he needs to regain his confidence. Great insights in the posts before this one, about his odd habit of handballing off after he'd take marks and his looking completely uncertain and even lost when attempting set shots. I agree with the posts earlier that Mayne will be even better when Tabs, Apeness or maybe someone we'll pluck from the de-listed free agent pool or rookie draft will step up to help Pav. Mayne's versatility allows him to be both the pressure forward and third tall and we need that up forward.

Bottom line: Last year was an injury-plagued aberration. Everyone's entitled to one of those. I have little doubt he'll return to his deadeye best next year, as this off-season he'll have some much needed physical and mental healing. Let's not forget, he's just one year removed from being not only the team's most reliable set-shot, but statistically, the competition's.

 

[jerms]

Would you rather have Josh Hill?

Substitute Brad for Josh and we'll talk!

 

[freoextra]

Would you rather have Josh Hill?

Solid solid point but wait for the "but Josh kicked more goals".

The point here is how many goals did Mayne create directly and through his forward line pressure even in his poorest season - answer - plenty and probably more than any other player in our team.

 

[Moist Biscuit]

I would play him in a back pocket and make him play on Bruest, Lecras, Monfries type medium/Small forwards. Has a great mark and is good at pressuring and chasing.

 

[counting bodies like sheep]

I would play him in a back pocket and make him play on Bruest, Lecras, Monfries type medium/Small forwards. Has a great mark and is good at pressuring and chasing.

Horrible idea. I don't know where this "mayne is a swingman" idea came from, but every time he went back that I can recall, he was terrible.