Traded Josh Bruce

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dragit said:
The new Kosi?

I thought he was pretty average today to be honest, we had 59 inside 50's, so unless his role was purely "the foil" he didn't have any impact on the game. Roo & Stanley combined for 50 touches, 30 marks & 7 goals 3.

Bruce did try hard though, think he's a backman personally.
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I'd judge Bruce's game by how good Michael Johnson played... and I didn't notice Michael Johnson at all throughout the whole game. Was given a job & did it perfectly - when was the last time Michael Johnson only had 3 marks for an entire game?

(NB: tonight was Johnson's lowest mark tally (3 marks) for the year)
 
I was at the game and he definitely got to heaps of contests and was often held by the arm to stop him getting away. Rooey was given much more space than usual because Rhys Stanley and Bruce were mulling around and Longer kept dropping back very deep to further stretch the tall defenders. They didn't get to set up their zone how they would have liked and it made lots of big holes for Schnieder and Billings etc. to run into.
 
Rors said:
I'd judge Bruce's game by how good Michael Johnson played... and I didn't notice Michael Johnson at all throughout the whole game. Was given a job & did it perfectly - when was the last time Michael Johnson only had 3 marks for an entire game?
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He might have only had 3 marks as Bruce was nowhere near the ball.
He did have 18 touches though, 4th highest for freo.
I could be undervaluing Bruce here too, probably did his job, just didn't think he had much impact on the game, but as mentioned his first full game forward at this level. I'm certainly not writing the guy off...

Which saints players had less impact outside of dempster?
 

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dragit said:
He might have only had 3 marks as Bruce was nowhere near the ball.
He did have 18 touches though, 4th highest for freo.
I could be undervaluing Bruce here too, probably did his job, just didn't think he had much impact on the game, but as mentioned his first full game forward at this level. I'm certainly not writing the guy off...

Which saints players had less impact outside of dempster?
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Brodie Murdoch was pretty ordinary. Bruce was a foil I think he was very deep and wide and the ball never went to him. He got involved with out touching it a lot blocking out the freo defenders. Shenton too really sets the shepherds and created easy passage for the others. Robertons hair make it look like Farren Ray is the greatest player in the AFL. It looked like he marked his own ball a few times.
 
I thought that he was one of the keys to the game the way it played out. He crashed packs and brought the ball to ground creating opportunities for others. Time and time again he got to a contest at the last second - often when he had no right to- just in time to make the ball spill when it looked like Freo would get out. He is a lock for the forward line next wk I will guarantee you.
 
dragit said:
He might have only had 3 marks as Bruce was nowhere near the ball.
He did have 18 touches though, 4th highest for freo.
I could be undervaluing Bruce here too, probably did his job, just didn't think he had much impact on the game, but as mentioned his first full game forward at this level. I'm certainly not writing the guy off...

Which saints players had less impact outside of dempster?
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I guess I'm just looking at the positive, as I know that MJ is one of Freo's best intercept marker & a reigning AA defender. Considering MJ had such a poor Supercoach & DT score (62pts for both), shows he had minimal influence on the game regardless of his 18 touches. Bruce making MJ accountable is probably why we were able to get so many 1-on-1 markings contests for Roo & Rhys - drawing him away from going 3rd man up.

I can see your point of him not having a great game, but it just looked to me like Richo had given him a job to do, & by sacrificing his own game, allowed Roo & Rhys to completely dominate our forward 50
 
Gotta say, we were at our strongest at the beginning of the year when we played Maister, Riewoldt, and Stanley. Beau didn't set the world on fire, but clearly the other two benefitted from him playing. We just got greedy, and wanted Maister to fire as well. Now, Bruce is doing pretty much the same thing. Hopefully, if he allows the other two to get off the leash, then that will be appreciated for the major contribution it is.
 

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Persevering Saint said:
Gotta say, we were at our strongest at the beginning of the year when we played Maister, Riewoldt, and Stanley. Beau didn't set the world on fire, but clearly the other two benefitted from him playing. We just got greedy, and wanted Maister to fire as well. Now, Bruce is doing pretty much the same thing. Hopefully, if he allows the other two to get off the leash, then that will be appreciated for the major contribution it is.
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Very true, although Bruce obviously has much more upside than Maister.
 
Persevering Saint said:
Gotta say, we were at our strongest at the beginning of the year when we played Maister, Riewoldt, and Stanley. Beau didn't set the world on fire, but clearly the other two benefitted from him playing. We just got greedy, and wanted Maister to fire as well. Now, Bruce is doing pretty much the same thing. Hopefully, if he allows the other two to get off the leash, then that will be appreciated for the major contribution it is.
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And the fact that it's taken this long for the coaches to realise this is something I will never understand.
 
I wonder if that became Bruce's role once Johnson went onto him? Just keep him out of the play but still be dangerous. Could've had 2-3 shots on goal to go along with that if it weren't for some poor disposal as well which would mean he played his role perfectly. Long way to go but fingers crossed.
 
I was at the game and have watched the replay and Bruce did a lot more than you see on TV. Yes, he didn't get a lot of touches, but he ran hundreds of metres on leads taking a defender with him that couldn't go third man up for stanley or roo. His running and pressure was manical, and without him there Roo and Stanley would not have had as big an impact.
 
Nothing worse than seeing Roo (or any fwd) compete against 1/2 extra defenders on a fwd entry.

Demoralising to teammates (& we supporters) to see the ball rebounded out of defence too easily.

Happens too often when we play a 'makeshift' forward set-up, who offers no real 'option' going I50.

Roo & Stanley were able to play the games they did because Bruce was effective in presenting to dangerous positions and demanded he be covered.

The ole-Lyon defender 'roll-off' (or whatever he calls it) couldn't occur, making their defensive plans not as effective in closing down opposition forward line.

So, don't judge Bruce's game by his stats - he was very important to us yesterday.
 
Yep, it's all about breaking any zones and making it a one-on-one contest. Once we have that, you can bank on Roo's talent and experience, and Rhys height and athleticism, to mean they easily overcome their opponents.

Love seeing Rhys start to seem simply undefendable.

What will be great, is when Bruce takes the goals, and it's one of Roo and Rhys who have the quiet one.

Then, on one glorious day, all three of our talls will completely blast away their opponents. That day will come next year, when Spencaaaaaaa joins Roo and Rhys up there!
 
krk004 said:
Roo & Stanley were able to play the games they did because Bruce was effective in presenting to dangerous positions and demanded he be covered.
So, don't judge Bruce's game by his stats - he was very important to us yesterday.
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Good read on what really happened to allow Roo and Stanley to dominate krk004
 
Yello Mit said:
As some of you may know, I'm a big fan of Josh Bruce. Mainly because I played with him and knew his older brother back in 2006-2007. Tonight, even though he didn't get much of the ball, he's shown his biggest strength, and that's effort and contesting the ball.

With him, Riewoldt, and Stanley in the forward line, and with Fisher in the backline healthy again, I think your mob has finally found a good recipe.

What are all your thoughts on Bruce as a forward and just in general?
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For many weeks now (actually for the last 10 I reckon) we’d been playing either Roo, Stanley and a not-quite-a-tall type like Siposs/Dunell/Lee/Simpkin, or we’d been playing two of those and Stanley out of the team altogether. The primary purpose of that 3rd forward had been, according to Richo, to put himself about and provide pressure whilst allowing balance to the team as a potential target.
Dunell just struggles to get the ball at AFL level, and his disposal has been atrocious. Siposs has better disposal but just doesn’t get involved in the game, and doesn’t seem to have the tank to provide pressure consistently. Lee struggles to be a target, and I think this year has been trying desperately to effect play and ended up making mistakes, whilst Simpkin is just never going to be a good AFL player but is solid and high-effort, but in picking him you basically accept you’re selecting someone for physical attributes and mentality and accepting less footy skills.

Bruce was picked as the 3rd this time. He is more of a tall target than any of the other 4.
Instead of playing only 2 talls forward, we played the 3 but gave Roo freedom to come all the way to the back pocket if he wanted.
Bruce was able to give the same amount, or more pressure than Simpkin. Whilst offering more of an attacking target than Lee, better spacial/structural awareness than Dunell and more effort than Siposs. He was the better part of those guys combined into one.

He does however have his limitations - his kicking isn’t great, he is not a monster size, and whilst he was more involved in the game than Dunell or Siposs have managed in the past, he didn’t get a lot of the ball in his hands.
I think this is a good way to get more games into him, but overall I think we need him to be a defender and his skills indicate he ought to be a defender. Our mess in the forward line currently dictates that we look better balanced with him forward. But next year realistically we need him doing what Fisher offers, and letting some forwards play forward – hopefully with the same run and effort Bruce provided at the weekend.
 
ike2112 said:
Bruce was able to give the same amount, or more pressure than Simpkin. Whilst offering more of an attacking target than Lee, better spacial/structural awareness than Dunell and more effort than Siposs. He was the better part of those guys combined into one.
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Agree


ike2112 said:
He does however have his limitations - his kicking isn’t great, he is not a monster size,
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JB profile.PNG

Disagree - I think his 'size' is not one of his limitations, even though I'm not sure what you meant by not a monster size (Sandilands?).
 
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