The End of Mal Michael is all but over

[Mighty_bombers]

Mal Michael will finish at the end this year (i think) his 2 year deal runs out
at the end of the season and with Knights going young its hard to see Knights Re-signing him , With Jason Johnson and Pev finishing up as well
Rama will be next in line to be shown the exit door , thats 3-4 spots that will open up for essendon next Draft .

Thoughts on Mal ? Stay or gone

 

[Johnnyprinias]

Mal Michael will finish at the end this year (i think) his 2 year deal runs out
at the end of the season and with Knights going young its hard to see Knights Re-signing him , With Jason Johnson and Pev finishing up as well
Rama will be next in line to be shown the exit door , thats 3-4 spots that will open up for essendon next Draft .

Thoughts on Mal ? Stay or gone

Given his age, and his atheletic ability dropping logically you would say he would be on the way out given his contract ends this year. Therefore our draft picks will have to be relooked at now due to these latest developements. We need midfielders but maybe key defenders as well.

 

[SirJimi05]

Gaaaawwnnnn.

 

[SirJimi05]

Given his age, and his atheletic ability dropping logically you would say he would be on the way out given his contract ends this year. Therefore our draft picks will have to be relooked at now due to these latest developements. We need midfielders but maybe key defenders as well.

Pears, Daniher and Ryder look to be good KP prospects.

Gumbleton can also play key defence.

Myers is 191cm and could end up taking taller type forwards.

Ideally we would like another youn KP back however i still think we should focus on getting a class mid first.

It would be awesome if we could somehow end up with Rich and Hurley.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Yep.

While we are at it lets get rid of Lloyd, Lucas and Fletcher and just play kids.

Daniher played on Motlop and was so out of his depth it wasn't funny.

Pears hasn't played on a big guy yet but it'd be fraught with danger.

Daniher and Pears must be introduced as the third tall behind Mal and Fletch over the next two years.

Both Mal and Fletch should play next year and one or maybe both should play another year after.

 

[Johnnyprinias]

Pears, Daniher and Ryder look to be good KP prospects.

Gumbleton can also play key defence.

Myers is 191cm and could end up taking taller type forwards.

Ideally we would like another youn KP back however i still think we should focus on getting a class mid first.

It would be awesome if we could somehow end up with Rich and Hurley.

It would be but were not carltank so its going to be hard. I thought Darcy would be more of a forward. Agree with Pears, but i would like to see Gumbleton i feel will be needed up forward. Ryder in a more creative role could be a great chf perhaps. But i might be dreaming a bit there. In any case we will have to find a permanent spot for the players, no good swapping them around.

 

[SirJimi05]

Yep.

While we are at it lets get rid of Lloyd, Lucas and Fletcher and just play kids.

Daniher played on Motlop and was so out of his depth it wasn't funny.

Pears hasn't played on a big guy yet but it'd be fraught with danger.

Daniher and Pears must be introduced as the third tall behind Mal and Fletch over the next two years.

Both Mal and Fletch should play next year and one or maybe both should play another year after.

So Michael is currently the 1st or 2nd tall yet he played on Westoff and Boak last week whilst Daniher was running around on Motlop.

That makes a lot of sense.

BTW if you had of watched the game you will know that Motlop had about 4-5 opponants for the day.

 

[bomberstomake8]

So Michael is currently the 1st or 2nd tall yet he played on Westoff and Boak last week whilst Daniher was running around on Motlop.

That makes a lot of sense.

BTW if you had of watched the game you will know that Motlop had about 4-5 opponants for the day.

first of all daniher played on motlop for a total of about 2 minutes where there was confusion with the interchange..

second westoff is more of a tall then motlop..

we need mal... pears, daniher, myers etc could be very good defenders but this is there first year.. if we were to get rid of mal we would need ryder to play CHB the whole year and fletcher FB all year.. i personally would prefer ryder in the ruck especially given laycocks poor form as of late..

do we really want to do a kepler bradley and chuck pears (who only just turned 18) on the key forwads? he would get destroyed, he will still grow a lot over the next few years but right now he cant play KP imo. not tall enough

pretty much for me the decision on mal is based on laycock. if laycock can really start performing consistently then we will keep him and ryder could play key back all year, however if he doesnt which is probably more likely i would look to trade laycock in which case ryder will need to ruck and we are a key back short..

 

[#10 Tough As Nails]

I think Mal will retire at seasons end
In his defence the ball has been coming into the opp. foward line at rapid pace because of our unaccountable midfield.
Anyway Mal's best past him 2 yrs ago

 

[SirJimi05]

first of all daniher played on motlop for a total of about 2 minutes where there was confusion with the interchange.

Why did you quote me on that?

I wasn't the person who pointed out that Motlop was Danihers opponant.

I corrected him by saying that Motlop had 4-5 opponants.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

So Michael is currently the 1st or 2nd tall yet he played on Westoff and Boak last week whilst Daniher was running around on Motlop.

That makes a lot of sense.

BTW if you had of watched the game you will know that Motlop had about 4-5 opponants for the day.

If you had any sense you would have seen Johns tried in defense on Tredrea.

Mal would have had him in a perfect world and rotated onto Westhoff when he was deep or Lade or Brogan.

 

[bomberstomake8]

Why did you quote me on that?

I wasn't the person who pointed out that Motlop was Danihers opponant.

I corrected him by saying that Motlop had 4-5 opponants.

my bad

 

[SirJimi05]

we need mal... pears, daniher, myers etc could be very good defenders but this is there first year.. if we were to get rid of mal we would need ryder to play CHB the whole year and fletcher FB all year.. i personally would prefer ryder in the ruck especially given laycocks poor form as of late..

You are overating Michaels role in the team.

He is a 3rd or 4th string defender at best. Players such as McPhee and NLM can take the same players that Michael has been taking and would do just as good without a problem.

It would be different if Michael was taking the gun forwards every week but this is not the case and on the rare occasion that he does he gets well beaten.

 

[SirJimi05]

If you had any sense you would have seen Johns tried in defense on Tredrea.

Mal would have had him in a perfect world and rotated onto Westhoff when he was deep or Lade or Brogan.

Michael didn't play on Lade or Brogan.

Everytime one of them went forward Ryder followed them down into defence.

Michael spent the game rotating on Westhoff and Boak.

And i know Johns played on Treadrea. It is a sorry state of affairs when the coach has more confidence in CJ.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

You are overating Michaels role in the team.

He is a 3rd or 4th string defender at best. Players such as McPhee and NLM can take the same players that Michael has been taking and would do just as good without a problem.

It would be different if Michael was taking the gun forwards every week but this is not the case and on the rare occasion that he does he gets well beaten.

Oh dear me.

Thompson, Hawkins and then matchups of Kosi, Minson were all wins for Mal.

Brown, Rocca, Roughhead, Lynch, Pav + others all await

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

And i know Johns played on Treadrea. It is a sorry state of affairs when the coach has more confidence in CJ.

You really think it had to do with confidence in him?

Knights was giving Johns a go to see if he was up to it. Anyone watching Johns try to defend would have been mortified.

 

[SirJimi05]

It would be different if Michael was taking the gun forwards every week but this is not the case and on the rare occasion that he does he gets well beaten.

Oh dear me.

Thompson, Hawkins and then matchups of Kosi, Minson were all wins for Mal.

Oh deary me.

Thompson is the only one out of that list that could be considered his teams best forward. Having said that he was playing his first game after a year out of the game and still probably had the better of Michael.

 

[SirJimi05]

You really think it had to do with confidence in him?

Knights was giving Johns a go to see if he was up to it. Anyone watching Johns try to defend would have been mortified.

And dropped Michael the week after.

Yes his confidence in Mal must be at an all time high.

 

[bomberstomake8]

Oh deary me.

Thompson is the only one out of that list that could be considered his teams best forward. Having said that he was playing his first game after a year out of the game and still probably had the better of Michael.

the players he plays on are irrelevant... Mal is our fullback so he plays on the full forward.. he isnt going to play on players like franklin, reiwoldt etc because they are mostly CHF's....

scarlett using your logic doesnt play on the best defenders either does that mean he should be dropped??? he doesnt play on buddy, pav, brown etc.. he plays on the FB! like mal does!
its not about thebest defender goes to the best forward its about where each player is suited to playing mals a FB so he plays on FF

 

[bomberstomake8]

And dropped Michael the week after.

Yes his confidence in Mal must be at an all time high.

mal said himself in an interveiw that he has been dropped because he doesnt have a match up.. knights has finally learnt you dont just chuck good players in matches for the sake of it...

 

[SirJimi05]

mal said himself in an interveiw that he has been dropped because he doesnt have a match up.. knights has finally learnt you dont just chuck good players in matches for the sake of it...

WHy doesn't he have a matchup?

Could it be because he has no speed or mobility?

This is part of the reason why his form is th eway it is and hence him being dropped.

It is all related.

I think i have heard the same thing on about 6 occasions this season.

"Mal played ordinary because he didn't have a matchup"

"Mal took the 5th best forward because there were no other matchups"

Quite frankly i am sick of this response.

It is not a valid excuse.

It just highlights to me that maybe the game has passed him by.

 

[SirJimi05]

the players he plays on are irrelevant... Mal is our fullback so he plays on the full forward.. he isnt going to play on players like franklin, reiwoldt etc because they are mostly CHF's....

scarlett using your logic doesnt play on the best defenders either does that mean he should be dropped??? he doesnt play on buddy, pav, brown etc.. he plays on the FB! like mal does!
its not about thebest defender goes to the best forward its about where each player is suited to playing mals a FB so he plays on FF

Rubbish. Mal simply takes the player who Knights believes will not expose him too badly.

He didn't take Lade when he went to the goal square against Port, that was left up to Ryder.

Going by your logic Mal (if playing) will take Bradshaw and or Brown when we play Brisbane. I will bet my house on it that he does not take either of those two players. Why? Becasue he simply is not good enough to play on Brown and Bradshaw will destroy him with his pace.

 

[bomberstomake8]

Rubbish. Mal simply takes the player who Knights believes will not expose him too badly.

He didn't take Lade when he went to the goal square against Port, that was left up to Ryder.

Going by your logic Mal (if playing) will take Bradshaw and or Brown when we play Brisbane. I will bet my house on it that he does not take either of those two players. Why? Becasue he simply is not good enough to play on Brown and Bradshaw will destroy him with his pace.

mal was dominating westoff at the time... why move him when you can just as easily put ryder on him?
its not rubbish, he takes the Full forward more often then not.. its exactly the same as scarlett he technically doesnt take the best defenders he takes the FF, its all about the matchups, your obviously not going to put someone like dempsey on gary ablett in the midfeild are you? no he would get killed in the strength department..

other teams exploit the fact that we have mal, they deliberately make it hard for us to find a match up for him.. gehrig didnt play against st kilda for example, rocca was a late withdrawal against the pies so that screwed us up. there are heaps of examples...

if he plays against brisbane i guarantee he will get bradshaw if he is playing ff... lets bet on it

 

[StealthBomber]

mal was dominating westoff at the time... why move him when you can just as easily put ryder on him?
its not rubbish, he takes the Full forward more often then not.. its exactly the same as scarlett he technically doesnt take the best defenders he takes the FF, its all about the matchups, your obviously not going to put someone like dempsey on gary ablett in the midfeild are you? no he would get killed in the strength department..

other teams exploit the fact that we have mal, they deliberately make it hard for us to find a match up for him.. gehrig didnt play against st kilda for example, rocca was a late withdrawal against the pies so that screwed us up. there are heaps of examples...

if he plays against brisbane i guarantee he will get bradshaw if he is playing ff... lets bet on it

Can this be a new thread when we play Brisbane SirJimi you up for the challenge? Should make things interesting

 

[Jörmungand]

I'd hope that both he, and Fletcher, go around at least one more time.

Maybe he's not playing as well as he was when he won three in row with Brisbane, maybe he's struggling because he's been played on smaller more agile forwards who he's never matched up well on, maybe it's because our midfield leaks so many inside 50s. Either way it's irrelevant.

Whether they're their team's best forwards or not, players like Rocca, Hawkins, Brown and the other gorillas of the league do have the potential to kick big bags if they're not paid the appropriate respect. And at the moment the only other players on out list who could realistically do those jobs are Mal, Fletcher, Johns and Lee.

Looking forward, our KPP stocks are looking a bit thin. Neagle and Gumbleton will probably (hopefully) have FF and CHF covered when Lloyd and Lucas go. Paddy certainly has tools to be a champion CHB, though long term I imagine that he will end up in the ruck, which means that we'll have to make a CHB, FB combination out of Johns, Lee, Daniher and Pears. Another year or two from Mal and Fletch will give the young kids time to develop.

And finally, it's madness to want to delist players like Mal just because he's no longer our best defender. Our young KPPs might have all the talent in the world, but they're not going to turn themselves into AFL footballers. They're going to need leadership and advice from the leaders of the club. Between Mal and Fletch they have played 500 odd games and collected 5 premierships. They are two of the greatest defenders of their generation , who have played on, and beaten, some of the greatest forwards of their generation. Do you really think that Paddy Ryder would have come along as quickly as did if he didn't have Fletcher and Mal in the backline helping him out?