Roast Robbie Gray

[Stromageddon]

Sigh.

Gets so much of the ball but just burns it every single time. He is so inept at kicking between the big sticks that even if he's 15 meters out and completely in the clear, he's still always looking to pass it off. I just don't understand his logic.

Can he even kick on his left side? It's like he'd prefer to handball to the opposition than have a shot on his non-preferred.

I understand that he has come back from injury but he has had ample AFL game time to improve. He hasn't, he's gone backwards. I like the bloke, I really do. But he has been nothing short of disgraceful. Needs to lift.

 

[Zakk Wylde]

Yep, he's frustrating at times, but thats because he can be so damn good.

But I'll refrain from having a go at him as I'm just happy to see he's gone as well as anyone could after a horrific injury like the one he suffered.

He's ticked every box imaginable and will be better with another pre season of strengthening and fitness into that knee of his.

Has never been able to kick in my mind however.

 

[tribey]

I understand that he has come back from injury but he has had ample AFL game time to improve. He hasn't, he's gone backwards. I like the bloke, I really do. But he has been nothing short of disgraceful. Needs to lift.

Prior to last night he'd had an immense fortnight - a total of 39 disposals, 4 goals, 6 goal assists, 8 tackles and 7 clearances in the past two weeks against the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the comp.

In the role he plays and with the skillset he has you've got to expect inconsistency and any half-decent football he plays this year is a welcome bonus.

 

[Wargreymon90]

He was by no means bad last night. He is our most creative forward. Just not our best finisher

 

[The Hobo]

Yeah - frustrating last night, but you have to take the good with the bad. Always need a few creative "nutters".

Don't forget he's coming back from a horror injury and it generally takes one full season for the player to get back into some sort of form. i'd say Gray is ahead of expectations in his recovery.

 

[kierez4ever]

Yes he is frustrating but he's still a good player-needs some time

 

[PJ Power]

Frustrates all of us, but his qualities are undeniably good. In previous weeks his goal assist handballing (especially to Monfries) has been outrageously good.

I don't think we'll ever see the predictable from Robbie, so I wouldn't get hopes too high that he'll ever stamp the nutty side of his game out. Still his creative genius is what will make us a threat against the best teams, once we have the other pieces in place (elite midfield and star KPF).

 

[tribey]

Gray's last 5 weeks:

R13 vs Sydney: 24D, 3M, 3C, 5T, 5i50, 1GA - 1.0
R14 vs Coll'wood: 20D, 9M, 1C, 1T, 5i50, 0GA - 0.1
R15 vs Essendon: 20D, 6M, 5C, 5T, 4i50, 2GA - 3.1
R16 vs Hawthorn: 19D, 2M, 2C, 3T, 3i50, 4GA - 1.1
R17 vs St. Kilda: 19D, 2M, 4C, 4T, 2i50, 2GA - 1.4

 

[BIG MATTY T]

Sigh.

Gets so much of the ball but just burns it every single time. He is so inept at kicking between the big sticks that even if he's 15 meters out and completely in the clear, he's still always looking to pass it off. I just don't understand his logic.

Can he even kick on his left side? It's like he'd prefer to handball to the opposition than have a shot on his non-preferred.

I understand that he has come back from injury but he has had ample AFL game time to improve. He hasn't, he's gone backwards. I like the bloke, I really do. But he has been nothing short of disgraceful. Needs to lift.

stormy stormy stormy...he is easily in our top 10 players..easily.....next year I wouldn't be surprise to see him in our top 5

 

[Jumbo]

 

[PJ Power]

Gray's last 5 weeks:

R13 vs Sydney: 24D, 3M, 3C, 5T, 5i50, 1GA - 1.0
R14 vs Coll'wood: 20D, 9M, 1C, 1T, 5i50, 0GA - 0.1
R15 vs Essendon: 20D, 6M, 5C, 5T, 4i50, 2GA - 3.1
R16 vs Hawthorn: 19D, 2M, 2C, 3T, 3i50, 4GA - 1.1
R17 vs St. Kilda: 19D, 2M, 4C, 4T, 2i50, 2GA - 1.4

19-20 possessions per game against very good opposition, playing from HF, a goal per game and plenty of score involvements. He's had a freakishly good return to footy this year. Complements the midfielders very well.

 

[PAFCsince1870]

Roast-worthy? Nah.

 

[YoungsterPA]

Thought he's been pretty good all year

Does some very strange things at times but he does a lot more good than bad

 

[Janus]

I just can't wait to see what Gray is going to do with a Burgess pre-season under his belt.

Will be elite, and will "burst" onto the scene the way that Wingard has this year.

 

[PJ Power]

I just can't wait to see what Gray is going to do with a Burgess pre-season under his belt.

Will be elite, and will "burst" onto the scene the way that Wingard has this year.

Now that would be something.

 

[Macca19]

His last couple of weeks were a huge step forward in seeing the Robbie of old. Instinctive, effective, clever. Last night was a big step back to how he was earlier in the year. He didn't play bad, he just didn't play instinctive, clever football. Had he finished his chances he would have been BOG.

Im really looking forward to his 2014.

 

[Forzaport]

Gray just needed to kick a second goal against the saints and he probably would've been named in the best players.

 

[chachi11]

He's getting the ball.. unlike others.
. Kicked 1.4 could of easily been 4.1 and we would be kissing his asss!!!!
Not worth a roast...

 

[Powerstufff]

Sigh.....

Yeah 'Sigh' that this thread ever got posted. If you didn't like his game yesterday (and which Port supporter did?) there is a match review thread to comment on that. Robbie is one of our outstanding talents and this is just what we cop as he works his way back into form, if we are going to set up -ve threads on him we might as well give up on 90% of our list.

 

[PJ Power]

His last couple of weeks were a huge step forward in seeing the Robbie of old. Instinctive, effective, clever. Last night was a big step back to how he was earlier in the year. He didn't play bad, he just didn't play instinctive, clever football. Had he finished his chances he would have been BOG.

Im really looking forward to his 2014.

Still think he'll contribute a lot in the remaining six weeks.
Our forward line's progress over the rest of this year holds a lot of interest for me.
Can Butcher play out the next six matches and finish with 12+ more goals from them?
Can someone register a bag of five or more, at long last?
Will we get something out of the fourth small forward (whether it be Neade or someone else)?
Can we kick a decent score against Freo or Geelong?

On paper, our forward line looks bloody talented, with much depending on Butcher and Gray being the cornerstones.
The seeds of a strong 2014 and beyond could be sowed over the next month or so.

 

[edgie]

Robbies problems are all upstairs at the moment. His "creativity" is doing more harm than good to our scoreboard. I'm more concerned that this has been going on all year and our supposedly hard as nails brutally honest coach hasn't pulled him up over it.

Last night Milne river a lose ball and banged home a goal from 40 metres. Simple.
You get the feeling if that was gray he would've have tried to sidestep 6 players before coughing it up and passing to a team mate with opposition ready to snatch it

 

[El_Scorcho]

Gray has two weaknesses as I see it, one is that he can't kick distance. 40m is probably his limit and now that he's had a knee injury that wont improve. That's okay though, not every player has to be Stuey Dew.

The bigger issue for me is that he regularly tries to do a little bit too much. Sometimes this makes him look like a genius but sometimes he stuffs a chance where he should have just taken the first option. The goalsquare pickup and wheel around for a behind is a perfect example. Even with no left foot, you should be able to slam it on there and get it through the big sticks from the goalsquare.

He needs to give to the first option a bit more often.

 

[Del80659]

he is going to be like a new signing next year we all know it. imagine the player he will become in this system with a pre season and some hard work.

 

[Hellgood]

I know from personal experience that when you are down on confidence and you find yourself in space you have a tendency to inexplicably turn back into traffic. I dunno the psychology of it, but it's just a mental thing that happens to me sometimes - I think it might stem from anticipating pressure on myself or maybe a lack of killer instinct in not wanting to stuff up a clear kick or something. I see it a fair bit with players at all levels, not sure if thats whats happening with Robbie but he just doesn't seem to be playing natural, instinctive, confident football.

For a small half forward of his ability, getting 20 touches a game is fantastic - more than we could have hoped for coming back from a knee recon. He's getting plenty of chances to score so if he regains/finds his killer instinct all of a sudden he'd be arguably performing the same Wingard which is pretty incredible considering how good Chad has been. Chad's the guy in the team who has had that killer instinct for us this year - rarely misses or affected by pressure (although not a great time to be posting this after his two late misses last night, but on the whole he has been absolutely clinical).

 

[Changaneen]

He'll come back........full preseason, too good to lose those skills. Patience grasshopper.