Delisted James Strauss

[RandB]

MFC: Strauss bounces back

Now, as Melbourne prepares for its round 21 clash against Greater Western Sydney at Manuka Oval, Strauss is gearing up for his sixth match of the season.

Although in his past 12 months Strauss has endured more downs than ups, he “definitely” feels stronger for the experience.

“You have the critics who say ‘he’ll never play again’ … but you build up a bit of mental toughness after going through a fair bit of mental stress,” he said.

 

[tasmanlvr]

MFC: Strauss bounces back

I was wondering if anyone was going to mention this. Quite the read.

 

[Captain Jack]

James Strauss - Player Review 2012

Games: 7 (18 total)
Sub: 3 (all green vest)
Ave. disposals: 11 (15 in non-sub-affected games)
Ave. tackles: 2.5

Strauss' fourth season on the Dees list started slowly as he recovered from that terrible broken leg suffered near the end of last year. He returned for Casey in the early rounds, but a knock to the broken leg set him back a few months. His second comeback came around in early June, and after a few weeks gaining match fitness at Casey he came into the team for the Round 16 loss to Fremantle as a late replacement, starting as sub but coming on fairly early in the game. A couple more green vests followed, but he kept his spot and ended up with 7 games in a row in the back end of the season.

Given the serious nature of his injury, I reckon that's about what we expected at the start of the year. James has needed to build up some resistance and continuity after a very injury-riddled first two years (followed by the broken leg) so it was good to see him string games together.

Strauss bounces back - MFC article from August

In terms of on-field performance, Strauss' output was predictably modest. Playing as a small defender, he first had to work on the one-on-one defensive aspects of his game. The lack of apparent impact on games which followed caused many on the board to question his worth to the team, and whether he would be retained on the list after the now-infamous Great Clean-Out of 2012.
IMO this was very harsh, and as the season came to an end we started to see more glimpses of the elite kicking skills that saw Strauss drafted at pick 19. To quote the man himself,

“I’d like to get more run-and-carry into my game, but at the moment, I’m doing my job defensively,” he said.

“I’m slowly building my game offensively and, in the next three weeks, I’ve got the chance to build and provide a bit more run-and-carry.

Give him a full preseason (from memory he has never had one) and hopefully we'll see much more of that offensive play going forward. There's no doubt he's come on in leaps and bounds since his shaky and forgettable debut in 2010, but there's also plenty more to build on going forward. Fingers crossed he gets a decent shot at this in the form of a relatively good run with injury.

 

[RandB]

MFC: Pre-season update: Strauss to Tynan

19. James Strauss

This is James’ first full pre-season. We’re moving past the James Strauss, who broke his leg, to just James Strauss the footballer. He’s really matured and I’ve seen a lot of improvement in his game in the past six weeks, which has been acknowledged by the backline team.

– Jade Rawlings

 

[RandB]

MFC: Strauss aims to rebound and kick on

“I love rebounding off the half-back line and using my kick, so hopefully that’s the spot [for me],” he said.

“I’d also like to push up on the wing - that’d be good too.

“One of those two spots would be great, but I know I have to work hard because it’ll be tight for spots this year.”

Passion and perspective. Our culture is improving.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

I've always had a lot of faith in Straussy, hopefully he can kick on this year and become a best 22 player.

God knows we need him to.