ant555
The Oracle
- May 4, 2004
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I still maintain that how they managed Ridley had zero impact on his development or our chances of being a top 4 side. He had some injury issues to deal with so that was a factor in him missing some games and they tried him for a couple of months on the wing in the VFL which did not work. He still came back and as I predicted had a great season last year. I will say it again. Had absolute zero effect on his development and mad no difference to how the side went in 2019.Also agree with ant555 re Harry Jones.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving Jones a spell in the 2s at some stage just so that he can have a run around, get his hands on the ball 15 to 20 times and have his 4 shots on goal. He hasn't even said he'd drop Jones this week, by the way, it's not really part of the discussions.
Another 2 to 4 weeks of low possession, thankless/largely fruitless hard work and it will be time for a spell. It keeps him fresh and helps with the sort of hit your confidence must take as a young key forward when you're not scoring.
There is a difference between managing young players at a point at which they are not ready for 22 games a year and failing to give them opportunities which resulted in a scenario such as Ridley playing 9 games in his first 3 years (and ant555 wont like that example).