Past #18: Shaun Atley - delisted end '21 - 237 NM games / 44 NM goals - thanks Ats

Nov 14, 2012
2,272
8,467
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Other Teams
Doutta "Porn" Stars
He finished 10th in the Syd last year. Interestingly he wasn’t considered sh*t by supporters last year either. What’s changed dickheads?
Easy Tiger. I called it years ago that he’ll be the worst 200 gamer on the planet. And now I’m standing up, waving my arms around yelling “what’d I say? I told ya’s. I knew it” in case you hadn’t noticed.
And he will be the worst 300 gamer on Planet Earth come 2027. There. I’ve called it. Ca Ching.
 

Snap goal

Debutant
Jul 20, 2013
62
54
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Green Bay Packers
He finished 10th in the Syd last year. Interestingly he wasn’t considered sh*t by supporters last year either. What’s changed dickheads?
Yeah 10th in a bnf in a team that finished 12th on the ladder is just about peak Shaun Atley. What I noticed about his game on Saturday night was the number of times he was just jogging around whilst being in the play. He is not s**t. People are just frustrated that he promised so much early in his career and has become just very average.
 

GarnerSmash

They tried to make me go to rehab
10k Posts Ex-Moderator North Melbourne - 2015 Daw & MacMillan Player Sponsor North Melbourne - 2014 Daw, Black, Gibson Player Sponsor North Melbourne - 2013 Daw, Black and Gibson Player Sponsorship North Melbourne - North 2012 Player Sponsor North Melbourne - North 2011 Player Sponsor North Melbourne - North 2010 Player Sponsor
Jun 2, 2009
26,836
52,085
AFL Club
North Melbourne
I keep reading about him playing on instinct.

Shaun's instinct is just as much to run into a cul-de-sac, freak out and blindly kick or handball as it is to break lines and use it well. He has great straight line speed but his footy nous and evasive ability are not strengths. In a strong team he looks good. In a weak team he gets exposed.
 
Jun 9, 2001
37,642
145,026
Fogarty Street
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
St Johnstone
Atleys been living off his potential since he’s been drafted.

He is a product of the Scott era as we know, but Atleys also the type of player who would be okay with being told his careers over and wouldn’t fight for his position on the list. Then he’ll nick off and become a sparky or a tradie in 2021.

Harsh. I think he'll surprise a few.

Mortgage broker for miine.
 

Rad Roo

Premiership Player
Aug 2, 2017
3,389
1,606
AFL Club
North Melbourne
North Melbourne don't tank.

We are not tanking we are doing a last roll with these 26 to 30 y.o who have underperformed. Give them 5 matches to see what they can, if still not a lot, we play kids for the rest if the year to set up for the future. And as for future, the only veterans that are needed are Tarrant, Goldstein and Higgins, the rest are plodding along and not leading. Really hoping by the end of the yr, we cut out players no longer suited to the modern game ie McMillan ziebell cunnington. Ppl like atley and hall have assets and they have been wasted in defense and forward respectively. Don't give them space force them to be instinctive, throw them to the wolves, get them to take on the opp.
 
His Mrs is a DJ, so I see him joining her on stage as some type of dancer. Maybe like Leroy from The Prodigy or Bez from Happy Mondays.
And whenever the spotlight goes on him, he'll sh*t himself, trip over a mic stand and run into a speaker stack.
 

zoomba23

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 17, 2017
5,485
15,117
AFL Club
North Melbourne
I haven't watched his entire career, but from memory, he played on instinct a fair bit a year or two ago when we had him more Forward. He was either setting up goals or kicking them himself, on the fly, with fluidity, and by all appearances, instinctively. Not saying that he can repeat that right now necessarily, but I do think it's worth a try putting him Forward again, one more time, just to see.

Bit off topic, but I really think what our side is desperately missing right now is a Jarrad Waite type of agitator. The Zurhaar has a bit of it about him at his best, but even he is predictable in it. What was so great about Waitey was that you never knew when he was going to turn up and just be an absolute pest. And kick a bag of goals in between.

Anyways, I've certainly seen Ats provide some inspiring moments for our team, and go his share to winning some games for us. I do believe he has a ton of instinct about him. He's also not the only player out there to get hung up on overthinking. But it stands out more when he does, because it's usually while he's on the fly in space with the potential to do something exhilarating.

Is he done? Maybe. But let's throw him Forward one more time. Just to see. Now's as good a time as any.
Forward. Yeah now that you mention it I do remember him playing with fluidity and flair down there. I reckon that'd be worth a shot. Really frustrates me that we have a player with his size and speed that can never put it together. Hopefully Shaw and co. move him and experiment with some others while they're at it. It's not like we're much of a chance at winning anytime soon.
 
Given we're entering football experiments in the midfield.

Atley is a see ball get ball player.

Give him a crack at the coal face.

No poise or vision in traffic. Gets lost and overwhelmed.
He’s best off half back.
I don’t think he’s been as bad as made out on here.
Defenders have been exposed with not enough midfield pressure in the last few weeks.
 

Ether

Club Legend
Oct 21, 2019
1,128
2,708
AFL Club
North Melbourne
No poise or vision in traffic. Gets lost and overwhelmed.
He’s best off half back.
I don’t think he’s been as bad as made out on here.
Defenders have been exposed with not enough midfield pressure in the last few weeks.
Agree on the lack of poise. Maybe he could have a run as a defensive HFF on Saad. Don't care if he doesn't kick a goal, as long as they don't shred us on the rebound.
 
Nov 14, 2012
2,272
8,467
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Other Teams
Doutta "Porn" Stars
Agree on the lack of poise. Maybe he could have a run as a defensive HFF on Saad. Don't care if he doesn't kick a goal, as long as they don't shred us on the rebound.
Why do we need to move heaven and Earth to find a role for him? 202 games - you'd think by now that Ats (AKA Mr Reliable according to NMFC) would be able to start adjusting to his role in the backline????
 
I agree Ats is nearly done and he's a pretty underwhelming 200 gamer, but I'm gonna defend his honour as THE worst ever 200 gamer and throw some others up for consideration...

Justin Peckett
Brent Stanton
Dom Cassisi
Jared Crouch
Darren Gaspar
Marty Mattner
Angus Monfries
Nathan Bassett
Antony Grover
Matthew Stokes

And...

Fazza Ray!

He's still one of ours.
Lynden Dunn is currently sitting on 196 games and comfortably has all of the above covered if he can eke out another four appearances.

He made his debut in 2006 and is still to this day clogging an AFL list. Amazing.
 
Agree on the lack of poise. Maybe he could have a run as a defensive HFF on Saad. Don't care if he doesn't kick a goal, as long as they don't shred us on the rebound.

It’s a role he’s played before I think. I recollect him tagging JJ from the dogs a few years back and did a reasonable job. Not the only time either.

Ability to hit up forwards on the lead under pressure ain’t great though.

Dumont, Simpkin, Higgins and others are better in that regard. Now TT, Mahoney, Taylor added to that list too.

Delivery inside 50 so important. As last week demonstrated.
 
Jun 7, 2019
5,129
17,617
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Lynden Dunn is currently sitting on 196 games and comfortably has all of the above covered if he can eke out another four appearances.

He made his debut in 2006 and is still to this day clogging an AFL list. Amazing.
Lynden Dunn is not a list clogger; Collingwood would have beaten Weagles in the Grand final if Dunn had played - all they needed was 2 or 3 contested marks in the back half and they'd have won, but they had no one to take a mark to save themselves
 

Shagga is all Class

Premiership Player
May 15, 2005
4,136
6,220
Beneath the Blue and White
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
NMFC
I keep reading about him playing on instinct.

Shaun's instinct is just as much to run into a cul-de-sac, freak out and blindly kick or handball as it is to break lines and use it well. He has great straight line speed but his footy nous and evasive ability are not strengths. In a strong team he looks good. In a weak team he gets exposed.

Speed is overrated.

Intent matters.

Simpkin not quick but has lateral movement to sidestep around tackles break a line and this is all because he has intent to do something with the ball and may change his mind 3 times in the process.

Saad is quick and has intent with the ball and not just to break the lines.

Atley will run like a bat out of hell with no idea of what he will do with the ball.

But everyone watching knows what 2 times out of 3 the result will be.
 
Speed is overrated.

Intent matters.

Simpkin not quick but has lateral movement to sidestep around tackles break a line and this is all because he has intent to do something with the ball and may change his mind 3 times in the process.

Saad is quick and has intent with the ball and not just to break the lines.

Atley will run like a bat out of hell with no idea of what he will do with the ball.

But everyone watching knows what 2 times out of 3 the result will be.
Pendlebury is a perfect example of this.

Quick mind >>>>>>>>>>> quick feet.
 
Back