Analysis Naitanui - someone taught him how to take a mark!

[kane249]

Hmm, 6 contested marks from tonight's game.
Looking pretty good for the season ahead.

Yeah but it was probably against some second rate Ruckman right?

 

[dave123]

What he did tonight was work free from the pack and congestion to take uncontested marks ....I STILL THINK HES LEARNING......and will be learner till he retires

He looked sharp ...lets hope he continues like this

 

[ronpingwins]

Tom Lynch won this stat last year with 51.
If he has improved his marking Naitanui should aim to be no 1 in this stat for the year.

He took 45 in 2012.

 

[kane249]

What he did tonight was work free from the pack and congestion to take uncontested marks ....I STILL THINK HES LEARNING......and will be learner till he retires

All 6 of his marks were deemed contested....

 

[dave123]

All 6 of his marks were deemed contested....

Er no ......they may have been classed as contested but two there was no one near him .....wtf

 

[wce4premiership]

The majority of his marks were contested grabs except for 2 in the forward line where he flew and nobody went up with him. I'd have said 4 contested but not sure how the stats work.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Messaged a Freo mate (decent one though) and said that I was delighted with Naitanui's marking tonight. He replied with, "hangers?"

The best thing is that I could reply and say no. The marks he took tonight were the basic contested marks that he should be plucking time after time. If he can do that all season, we are a huge chance at a flag. Keep it up Naita!

 

[Godfather32]

Messaged a Freo mate (decent one though) and said that I was delighted with Naitanui's marking tonight. He replied with, "hangers?"

The best thing is that I could reply and say no. The marks he took tonight were the basic contested marks that he should be plucking time after time. If he can do that all season, we are a huge chance at a flag. Keep it up Naita!

 

[QS]

Marked like a boss. Tore Martin a new one.

 

[avishka5]

Marked like a boss. Tore Martin a new one.

I wanna see him do it to goldstein so bad. TBH im sick of all 7 North Supporters going on about Goldy and how much better he is than nic nat.

 

[the harry]

Would love for the club to be honest about how stuff his shoulders/whatever have been in previous seasons.

You can't tell me that the improvement is due to just a decent summer of practice, after being in the system for so long.

 

[QS]

I wanna see him do it to goldstein so bad. TBH im sick of all 7 North Supporters going on about Goldy and how much better he is than nic nat.

Apples, oranges. Goldy has never taken a speccy in his life. He's all they have along with Harvey. Worry about us not a team that had to come from behind on their own deck.

 

[QS]

Would love for the club to be honest about how stuff his shoulders/whatever have been in previous seasons.

You can't tell me that the improvement is due to just a decent summer of practice, after being in the system for so long.

Remember he didn't come from a traditional footy background, he was raw as ****. He's 100% where we wanted him to be by now. He owned Martin who is highly rated.

 

[Keys]

He seemed to be more willing to get in front of his opponent and jump at the ball rather than coming from 3 or 4 deep. I don't think it's a coincidence that he took more marks as a result

 

[avishka5]

Apples, oranges. Goldy has never taken a speccy in his life. He's all they have along with Harvey. Worry about us not a team that had to come from behind on their own deck.

Yeah but you want more of these types of performances from nic nat against good sides. This performance would be easlity more dangerous than what goldstein has produced. If nic nat does this against Goldstein, it will shut a lot of his victorian doubters.

Remember he didn't come from a traditional footy background, he was raw as ****. He's 100% where we wanted him to be by now. He owned Martin who is highly rated.

scary thing is that his only 25 and could easily have 5-6 years of this. Its sucks that he had injury issues in 2013/14 or else he would have been scary good by now.

 

[avishka5]

He seemed to be more willing to get in front of his opponent and jump at the ball rather than coming from 3 or 4 deep. I don't think it's a coincidence that he took more marks as a result

so we are gonna get less speccies from him this year?

 

[QS]

He seemed to be more willing to get in front of his opponent and jump at the ball rather than coming from 3 or 4 deep. I don't think it's a coincidence that he took more marks as a result

..and if not take a mark, affect the contest.

 

[Keys]

..and if not take a mark, affect the contest.

In his press conference simmo said he doesn't look at how many marks he takes because he knows nicnat will at least make a contest - said he hardly ever gets out marked

 

[avishka5]

In his press conference simmo said he doesn't look at how many marks he takes because he knows nicnat will at least make a contest - said he hardly ever gets out marked

Jamar did.

 

[wce4premiership]

Out of interest because I genuinely don't know. Why do people refer to Nicnat coming from a non-footballing background. The AFL website did a grassroots video of him and Walters (I think), with footage of him playing as a kid, so he's played plenty growing up.

The idea that he gets lost on field is laughable these days. Sure when he was drafted, but not for a good 3 or 4 years. His positioning is coached into him given any situation of play. He proved he can mark in 2012, everybody knew it, he just had an off year with contested grabs last year. IDGAF about uncontested grabs and don't expect six in a game, the improvement was amazing.

 

[eaglespremiers]

He seemed to be more willing to get in front of his opponent and jump at the ball rather than coming from 3 or 4 deep. I don't think it's a coincidence that he took more marks as a result

No doubt it has been coached into him.
Sitting at the back of the back really didn't assist him last year.
Sure, he can halve the contest but it was extremely unlikely that he would crunch marks from that position like he was last night.

 

[mick06]

He always gets hands to the ball and just hasnt clunked them in the past. I would bet hes had injured thumbs or hand issues. Has always had them taped

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Ignore the haters - IMO, I have seen him play much better than last night with half the touches and no marks.

The ruck cohesion was a little off last night - which is what makes him such a weapon. Whether that was his errors, or the mids I don't know - but he;d often tap it into space where no one was.

 

[Godfather32]

He always gets hands to the ball and just hasnt clunked them in the past. I would bet hes had injured thumbs or hand issues. Has always had them taped

I reckon like others have said, he's changed his approach to taking contested marks. In the past he was standing 20 metres behind the pack and trying to come over the top, yesterday he seemed to be coming through the pack and taking them from the front instead.

 

[Godfather32]

Ignore the haters - IMO, I have seen him play much better than last night with half the touches and no marks.

The ruck cohesion was a little off last night - which is what makes him such a weapon. Whether that was his errors, or the mids I don't know - but he;d often tap it into space where no one was.

That was because of the way Martin was playing him, standing back and letting him get the tap all to himself. It meant that Martin was almost roving to Nic Nat and helping the Brisbane mids so his palm downs to our mids were less effective.