Sheahan's Comments

[jod23]

Re: Re: Sheahan's Comments

Originally posted by Mr Q
While I think its a bit downbeat, its got a kernel of truth to it.

Assume our spine is Glass/Carroll - Lynch - <midfielder> - Johnson - McDougall, well none of them are really proven at AFL level as yet (only Glass, Carroll and whoever we name in the center have any real experience worth talking about). So we could indeed have trouble down the spine.

Yes but my point is that it cant be any worse than last year, in fact in can only get better. Jakovich played half the year below average at CHB. McIntosh was clearly a shadow of his former self at FB. We didnt really have a CHF, with Jako pinch hitting with some effect. Haynes was a makeshift FF who was patchy and we finally woke up and slotted in Doogs for the final 10 rounds or so.

So with McIntosh retired, Glass is now our FB. That's an improvement. McDougall's first full season as the spearhead over the patchy and not true KPP, Haynes. That's an improvement. Nobody at CHB to the emerging Lynch who was awesome in the preseason. That's an improvement. Jakovich at CHF was alright but now we have the younger Johnson who showed a bit in the preseason....not to mention Gardiner with the improvement of Cox. That's another improvement at CHF.

So yeah our spine is still young and inexperienced but I believe it is in way better shape than it was last year. And surely cant get any worse than our problems down the spine last season.... Yet it can get a whole lot better!

Originally posted by Mr Q
As for an unhealthy reliance on Matera, it was notable that our output did go down after Matera was out for a few weeks and had trouble getting back to his best late in the season. This is again tied into the KPP issue though - if McDougall and or Johnson (or some other KPP we haven't thought of yet) makes a fist of FF, Matera would be a bonus.

Take Lloyd out of Essendons forward line or Hall away from Sydney or Tredrea out or Ports lineup and you will get the same result as taking Matera away from WC. The only reason I can think of as to why Sheahan believes our reliance on goals from Matera is unhealthy compared to say the Bombers reliance on Lloyd is that Matera isnt a KPP.

Matera is our main goal scorer, KPP or not. So of course we rely on him much like the other 15 clubs rely on their main goalkicker. This comment from Sheahan was a cop out because he couldnt think of anything else bad to say.

We also have other goal kickers. We are a run and gun side which means a whole chunk of our goal scoring comes from our midfield. Cousins, Judd, Kerr, Fletcher and Embley kick a ton of goals each year. Add that to Matera, Jones and Sampi in the forward line and you have a good offensive side. Not to mention the possible move of Gardiner to CHF and the emergence of Johnson and Doogs.

I just think his comments were way off base.

 

[jod23]

Originally posted by DanielKerr4
I think a few of us need to open our eyes. I wasn't happy with some things that Sheahan said, but he is correct on some too.

Our spine is possibly one of the worst in the AFL for experience and quality. For potential it could be the best.

Im not denying that. But it was probably the worst last year too yet we still made the 8. This year it can only get better with a full year from McDougall and the possible DOMINATION from Lynch. If both only have so-so years that is still better than Haynes and the non-existant CHB we had last year? Same with Johnson at CHF. We had no CHF last year so anything from Johnson will be a plus. I just cant see how our spine problems can get any worse, only better.

Originally posted by DanielKerr4
I think some of us need a reality check, we do rely on Fido, and we rely on him a lot. He kicked 60 goals last year and was our key forward, he was the one that the midfielders kicked to most when they weren't having a shot themselves. So we do have an unhealthy reliance on him.

Dont need a reality check because I know we rely on Matera but it's no different than the other 15 clubs relying on there main goal scorer. If that was Matera first good season then sure relying on him this year would be a mistake but he has proven that he can do it year in and year out for about 5 years now. Nothing unhealthy about relying on your best goal scorer.

Is it also unhealthy to rely on good performances from Cousins and Gardiner? Of course not...it's healthy!!! Because every team relies on there best players. Someone please explain to me why it's unhealthy to rely on Matera??

Originally posted by DanielKerr4
We all say that Doogs and Johnno are going to step up, but from what i've seen from them in the pre-season matches they havent put in a match-winning performance. Doogs kicks his regulation 3 goals in the first quarter and gets one more kick for the rest of the game. Johnno doesn't do enough damage for a CHF, he wil kick one goal and that will be from crumbing.

Think about that though....If McDougall were to kick his regulation 3 goals in the first quarter and then does nothing that will leave him with a measly 66 goals for the year. Top 10 I would expect....That is actually a good thing!! Johnson doing anything at CHF is better than the no CHF's we had last year.

Im not saying these two will become stars overnight but they will give us more than we have had at either position in years. McDougall more so than Johnson.

 

[vicki]

Originally posted by Belgarion


By the way, I found with Mikek Sheahan that when he gets something wrong he has no problems in admitting it, unlike many others.

Belgarion

He admitted last night during On The Couch that his prediction that we would not make the eight may well "come back to bite him on the bum". Robert Walls questioned him as to why he did not have us in the eight.

 

[WestCoastJonny]

Originally posted by lil elvis
you will see the problems with the weagles when the bulldogs smash them in round 1

we have more chance of making the 8 then you pretty boys - who seem too keen for the girls!

lil elvis you are a *. if you've got nothing to say eccept unrealistic digs on the coast then head back to the bulldogs low budget web page and talk crap with your doggie mates.

 

[masai]

Originally posted by vicki
He admitted last night during On The Couch that his prediction that we would not make the eight may well "come back to bite him on the bum". Robert Walls questioned him as to why he did not have us in the eight.

Yep watched that last night and Sheahan gave a similar answer to what he said in the quoted review, "good midfield, soft in the spine due to inexperience". I thought he was honest with his appraisal and is prepared to be proved wrong.

Note how Sheahan and Walls were both very sheepish with the selection of the Hawks to come 3rd, I think they are both retreating rapidly on that prediction.

 

[WestCoastJonny]

Re: Re: Sheahan's Comments

Originally posted by Mr Q
While I think its a bit downbeat, its got a kernel of truth to it.

Assume our spine is Glass/Carroll - Lynch - <midfielder> - Johnson - McDougall, well none of them are really proven at AFL level as yet (only Glass, Carroll and whoever we name in the center have any real experience worth talking about). So we could indeed have trouble down the spine.



Who is to say that Johnson can't do a Jonathon Brown and dominate at a young age. Another good example of this is Carey. While im not saying Johnson is going to be a 'Carey' he well could be. He's got what they had when they burst on the scene and that is sizes. He's MASSIVE

 

[Streaker]

Every year you have at least one player who takes the next step from being a player on the fringe to a dominant force. Last year it was Embley and the year before Judd. A couple of other minor players have shown promise and could make the next step, McDougall showed signs last year.

Johnson would have been close to getting a few games last year except he unfortunately broke his leg. I think he would have been up there with Doogs if he had have played those games late last year.

Lynch has shown that he is ready to take his opportunity and he isn't going to wait around in the WAFL this year. He seems to be totally commited to making CHB his and this would bode well with Woosha. I think that his commitment was questioned last year and he would have been devistated last year watching the likes of McIntosh and Seirakowski getting game time before himself.

5 weeks into the new season all of the so called experts will be jumping off of the Hawthorn bandwagon and riding the West Coast train to the finals.

 

[zero]

i havent read all three pages of this thread, but i think one thing many people miss when thinking about this years prospects is the comparison with last year. "our midfield is as good, and our KPP are better, hence we can reasonably look for a significant improvment in placing" thats not totally true, i think.

while i definitly see improvment this year, we dont just need to get better, we need to improve significantly more than the rest of the competition.

so for example, say gardy only plays 10 games, and cox and seabs dont have anywhere near the same impact as he had. say a year of looking at our gun midfield tear apart teams has meant that clever coaches have come up with ways to shut them down (there are a couple of quite clever coaches around, you know) say our spine shows good, but erratic improvement. combined with the fact that say 13 teams from last year improve, some dramatically, then you are realistically looking at dropping out of the eight, down into the next 4 spots.

i personally think this wont happen, but its not unrealistic