Player Watch #5: Christian Petracca – Norm Smith Medallist, 4 x All-Australian and 2 x Best and Fairest

[Tulip]

Yeah he had knee surgery. he is a burst player who can do some fancy moves put pressure on i50 and try bust a tackle. expecting a superstar with a massive tank isnt what he'll ever be. Asking him to step up after 1 game how about our 2 ******* captains? Choosing 2 out n out mids over a forward and expecting the same yeah funny. He ave 20 touches and a goal a game last couple years thats pretty good. If he can average 2 goals a game thatd be sweet

A fine case of whataboutism. Why accept mediocrity from Petracca because Jones and Viney had bad games? The two skippers have played heaps of good footy, and they kind of need their better teammates to step up when they're underdone and playing like s**t. Petracca was just as poor. He was meant to be the next big thing and all signs have pointed to him having the talent and ability to do it at AFL level - so what's stopping him?

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

In fairness, it took Dusty the best part of 7 years to trim down and run.

At this stage of their careers tho they aren't even comparable, the gap gets bigger and bigger.

Right now he's very much Sylvia II, not sure he gets how good he should be, or perhaps he's just happy to continue getting games at his current standard.

I honestly hate questioning Tracs attitude because I don't know the complete story, maybe Goodwin wants him only to be a half forward, but then again maybe he just doesn't want it enough. I mean look at Clarry and the transformation he's made from under 18s in a shorter space of time. Fat boys can trim down if they really want it.

 

[joop]

Q: should the saints have taken McCartin or Petracca?


A: Brayshaw

 

[schmuttt]

Trac does play forward a lot more than people realize I think. No doubt he needs to get better but it isn't like he is playing 80% of his time in the middle.

 

[blitznu]

Possessions are so overrated in today's AFL.

Dustin Martin is a better kick but they had very similar skill sets coming into the AFL, one has trimmed down and made himself a midfield beast the other can't run thru it for more than 15mins and is still mainly a half forward with a fat ass and tree trunk thighs.

Needs to get a lot fitter.

Petracca yet to have a full preseason? Dustin Martins kicking is the most over rated rubbish ive heard. blokes going in the 60s over his career. It would be good to see Petracca go injury free for a couple years but bit hard to expect him to average 2 goals a game and 30 with his poxy tank

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Petracca yet to have a full preseason? Dustin Martins kicking is the most over rated rubbish ive heard. blokes going in the 60s over his career. It would be good to see Petracca go injury free for a couple years but bit hard to expect him to average 2 goals a game and 30 with his poxy tank

How often do you see Martin dink passes 15m to an easy target.... % don't ever tell the full story

 

[Tulip]

Petracca yet to have a full preseason? Dustin Martins kicking is the most over rated rubbish ive heard. blokes going in the 60s over his career. It would be good to see Petracca go injury free for a couple years but bit hard to expect him to average 2 goals a game and 30 with his poxy tank

I'd be fine with either one of them

 

[blitznu]

How often do you see Martin dink passes 15m to an easy target.... % don't ever tell the full story

So possessions mean nothing and also what % they go at. Righteo. Well Petracca had equal most i50 tackles put on 17 pressure acts which is pretty good but obviously youll tell me they dont matter as well. People forget he had knee surgery and had his training wound back bloke already struggles to build tank up. He isn't far off where id want him but its all down to his tank and being able to get to more damaging positions or just getting on the chain. He was miles off being the worst player out there

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

So possessions mean nothing and also what % they go at. Righteo. Well Petracca had equal most i50 tackles put on 17 pressure acts which is pretty good but obviously youll tell me they dont matter as well. People forget he had knee surgery and had his training wound back bloke already struggles to build tank up. He isn't far off where id want him but its all down to his tank and being able to get to more damaging positions or just getting on the chain. He was miles off being the worst player out there

Lol, I said possessions are overrated, and % don't tell the whole story. Learn to read, mate

Everyone gets a kick these days, surely you have noticed it yourself.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

You can be a Petracca apologist if you so desire. I'm only disappointed in him because I know he can be even better.

 

[Topkent]

In fairness, it took Dusty the best part of 7 years to trim down and run.

Dusty was averaging 24 touches in his 4th season an kicked 24.32
I think Dusty was a better player earlier, I remember thinking pretty early on we stuffed that pick up big time

 

[Topkent]

Trac does play forward a lot more than people realize I think. No doubt he needs to get better but it isn't like he is playing 80% of his time in the middle.

1 uncontested mark inside 50 for a guy of his talent isnt close to good enough. A man of his talent should be kicking miracle goals every week.

Think back to the game, I remember one really nice clearance where he held off someone while picking it up one handed but other than that I can remember more that Wagner did

 

[PerfectFooty]

Dusty was averaging 24 touches in his 4th season an kicked 24.32
I think Dusty was a better player earlier, I remember thinking pretty early on we stuffed that pick up big time

I'm not worried about stuffing up the pick, we would have ruined his development anyways

 

[Crusty Demon]

I'm not saying the guy is a dud, but everyone needs to lower their expectations of him..a lot. He's never going to match his perceived potential. He's not a great kick. He's not a great decision maker. He does not have a good tank. These alone means he's never going to be elite. The best we can hope for is that he turns into a Josh Caddy type of player. People comparing him to Dusty or Danger seriously have no idea. He's not a midfielder and never will be.

 

[HANDSOLO]

I'm not saying the guy is a dud, but everyone needs to lower their expectations of him..a lot. He's never going to match his perceived potential. He's not a great kick. He's not a great decision maker. He does not have a good tank. These alone means he's never going to be elite. The best we can hope for is that he turns into a Josh Caddy type of player. People comparing him to Dusty or Danger seriously have no idea. He's not a midfielder and never will be.

^This Crusty Demon guy is a truth teller, we need to respect him

 

[Topkent]

I'm not saying the guy is a dud, but everyone needs to lower their expectations of him..a lot. He's never going to match his perceived potential. He's not a great kick. He's not a great decision maker. He does not have a good tank. These alone means he's never going to be elite. The best we can hope for is that he turns into a Josh Caddy type of player. People comparing him to Dusty or Danger seriously have no idea. He's not a midfielder and never will be.

I dont know what to think about this guy, I think he has the talent but mentally hes not there at all.

Funny thing is everyone thinks Dusty just became fit an was then a gun but it was some tweaks to the tigers midfield that really made the difference.
Before 2017 Dusty was getting alot of the footy in the backhalf an was trying to start the attacks. He was missing alot of his kicks because they are ******* hard. No room for error.

In 2017 Cotchin started playing a far more defensive role at stoppages which allowed Martin to push forward from contests, he started getting all his ball front of centre and bang his hurt factor went through the roof.

My point being here is we dont know what player we want Petracca to be yet. We dont isolate him deep often enough to see if he can bully someone. We dont feed him enough uncontested footy outside of stoppages to see if he can hurt anyone. We dont put him at enough clearances to see if he can impact there. He seems to be the back up to someone in every single option.

Being a 70-30 player is ******* tough if you arent the main man in either of those positions. When he goes into the middle hes behind Oliver and Brayshaw and when he goes forward hes behind Melk.
Look at Harmes, he was really struggling in the side as the half forward who got some midfield time until Goody said stuff it, you are my number 1 tagger. Then he flourished.

We need to figure out what sort of player he is first, then he will either sink or swim

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

I'm not saying the guy is a dud, but everyone needs to lower their expectations of him..a lot. He's never going to match his perceived potential. He's not a great kick. He's not a great decision maker. He does not have a good tank. These alone means he's never going to be elite. The best we can hope for is that he turns into a Josh Caddy type of player. People comparing him to Dusty or Danger seriously have no idea. He's not a midfielder and never will be.

You do you know that players can develop a tank right.... Just takes some hard work

 

[Demon 16]

Petracca needs to run more.

He’s ideally suited to the old centreman role, but you need to rotate your runners through the middle now and he would just get in the way.

I think we havnt found the right role for him but that’s partly because he has no run and carry - he’s a burst player.

 

[Devastating Boris]

Did Trac even attend a centre clearance? Certainly wasn’t many and wasn’t early. Especially at a time when we were getting smashed.

Goodwin needs to play him right. Problem is we haven’t found the right role yet.

 

[Crusty Demon]

You do you know that players can develop a tank right.... Just takes some hard work

Develop it to a certain degree yes. But some players will never have the tank to play through the midfield. Petracca is one of them..

 

[Faz 2000]

I come in peace - just a disappointed and worried Trac fan looking for answers.

He seemed totally lost at the weekend. Unclear on role and how suited to it he is. Clearly carrying way too much weight to play midfield (and is surplus to requirements with Oliver, Brayshaw, Viney et al in there).

I would have thought his strengths are 1:1 marking and a pretty penetrating right boot. Looks treacle slow at the moment. Should he be playing Caddy role, basically rotating from goal square to centre square for bursts using his contested ability?

Is it going to click, or is this it? I want him to be a star, and I thought he was going to be.

 

[Crusty Demon]

I come in peace - just a disappointed and worried Trac fan looking for answers.

He seemed totally lost at the weekend. Unclear on role and how suited to it he is. Clearly carrying way too much weight to play midfield (and is surplus to requirements with Oliver, Brayshaw, Viney et al in there).

I would have thought his strengths are 1:1 marking and a pretty penetrating right boot. Looks treacle slow at the moment. Should he be playing Caddy role, basically rotating from goal square to centre square for bursts using his contested ability?

Is it going to click, or is this it? I want him to be a star, and I thought he was going to be.

He's playing the high forward role, but just not playing it well. With the new 6-6-6 rule, there isn't as much space for him to operate in and he's never been a gut runner to try finding space. I'd like to see him 1 on 1 at FF. Similar to Degoey' role. Let him use his strength. This high half forward role isn't quite working. So drop him deep in the F50 with the very occasional run at centre bounces.

 

[00Stinger]

Play him as a FF

 

[stEdy]

I love him when we're kicking it to him 1v1 on the wing, where he can use his great overhead ability/strength to either mark it or butter up and push forward, at this point all we need is someone bloody quick (Garlett? Bedford? Baker?) to be running back to goal and burning their man (Or potentially later in a game a TMAC just burning his defender endurance wise) and then Trac can just kick the cover off it to their advantage for an easy goal.

I think we forget how good Trac was in that final against Hawthorn, our last win actually. If we get it in to him quickly 1v1 and he straightens up his kicking like in 2017, he can kick 30-40 goals this year with bursts through the middle, which I think is his best role

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Always makes something happen when the ball is in his hands. It's just not in there enough.