Player Watch #38: Tristan Xerri - has signed a 4 year contract extension to the end of 2029

[ChairmanZia]

The biggest gain this year is the establishment of xerri.

 

[perplexed]

He's not hitting it down their throat, but he is allowing the opposition to gain posession of the ball after his disposal. Him grabbing it out of the ruck and belting it down the line off the side of his boot straight to the opposition is marked as a clearance, but straight to the opposing team. His fumbles out of the ruck where he half taps to himself / half grabs it and then loses it, so he tackles the other mid and they get it out into space and an easy i50. His stats look great, but he isn't really helping the team by doing so. We look so much cleaner with Larkey in the ruck when he hits to advantage.

When we are playing with younger inexperienced mids we can't have them getting belted at every centre clearance. Use their pace and energy to create space and allow us a chance of scoring FFs. Everyone keeps mentioning Gawn with his hitouts to advantage to X, but he has Viney, Clarry, Petracca etc. waiting at his feet.

I think you miss the point of my post. Hitouts and clearances aren't so important anymore. Geelong are sitting second and have the second worst clearance differential in the comp. GWS and Collingwood also are weak here. Even Melbourne, with the mids you mention, aren't much better than us.

The best ruck-mid duos, and why it doesn't guarantee success

Two leading clubs are bucking conventional wisdom when it comes to clearances in 2024

www.afl.com.au

Also, you mention Larkey's hitouts to advantage. He has had 3 this year - 3! Larkey's percentage of hitouts to advantage is half what X's is. I don't want to see him risked in the ruck again. People keep using X as a scapegoat, this is just nonsense, he is our only mid consistently breaking even or better with his opponent.

 

[DrZaius]

He's not hitting it down their throat, but he is allowing the opposition to gain posession of the ball after his disposal. Him grabbing it out of the ruck and belting it down the line off the side of his boot straight to the opposition is marked as a clearance, but straight to the opposing team. His fumbles out of the ruck where he half taps to himself / half grabs it and then loses it, so he tackles the other mid and they get it out into space and an easy i50. His stats look great, but he isn't really helping the team by doing so. We look so much cleaner with Larkey in the ruck when he hits to advantage.

When we are playing with younger inexperienced mids we can't have them getting belted at every centre clearance. Use their pace and energy to create space and allow us a chance of scoring FFs. Everyone keeps mentioning Gawn with his hitouts to advantage to X, but he has Viney, Clarry, Petracca etc. waiting at his feet.

Xerri averages 2.4 turnovers a game (less than Gawn, Grundy, Marshall, and the exact same amount as English), so the scenario you're describing maybe happens once or twice in a game but that's all you see because that's all you want to see.



We're also 4th in the comp for centre clearances per game so our mids aren't actually "getting belted at every centre clearance"

His fumbles out of the ruck where he half taps to himself / half grabs it and then loses it, so he tackles the other mid and they get it out into space and an easy i50.

Don't even know where to start with this ridiculously specific fictitious scenario. Do you think that Xerri should be winning 100% of the ruck contests he is in, that we should be winning every single stoppage as a result - and consequently it is 100% his fault because (of course) we are not? What about if a mid fumbles the ball after a clean tap, loses possession and the other team gets it out in space for an easy i50? Is that Xerri's fault too? Seriously what are your expectations here?

You know what, maybe don't answer that since you've clearly made up your mind on a player that has played less than 50 career games.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Clearances count for shit if it’s a grab and hack kick.

 

[perplexed]

Clearances count for s**t if it’s a grab and hack kick.

We aren't scoring from stoppages, but this isn't what makes us uncompetitive. It is our turnovers and our inability to defend them. We are the worst team for scores from turnovers, and by so far it is ridiculous.

X's turnover numbers aren't high. All our other midfielders average more, LDU twice as many.

 

[Better Loosen Up]

How many more hacks out of the ruck are we going to cop?

He sucks all the confidence out of the side and the mids

This is madness

Who are you going to replace him with?

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Who are you going to replace him with?

Instead of replacing, maybe the well paid coaches could gently mention to him to stop ****ing doing it.

 

[Better Loosen Up]

I’d certainly be going after Moyle at the end of the year, with Goad being 2 years or so away.

Without knowing his salary range, I don’t necessarily think the 4 years is a bad contract like the others we have.

He’s not Luke Jackson, but neither is he Daniel Currie.

He’s clearly AFL standard with a few flaws. Marshall is a good player and he more than broke even for parts of the game.

His go isn’t defending deep in defence, but some of that is experience. Marshall didn’t have to defend 70 inside 50’s with his opponent having the confidence of pushing forward at will.

If he tweaks his hitouts it will be better for the team, but statistically he will nose dive with clearances etc.

Wondering how much of this is instruction and how much is stat padding.

Think I've only seen Moyle once or twice but from memory, he's a dead set statue. Just not a great mover around the ground. Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

 

[Better Loosen Up]

Instead of replacing, maybe the well paid coaches could gently mention to him to stop ******* doing it.

I think someone on here said they are doing that...

 

[cybercrab]

We should go after Nankervis, a mature ruck with good tap work is exactly what we need

 

[Better Loosen Up]

Xerri averages 2.4 turnovers a game (less than Gawn, Grundy, Marshall, and the exact same amount as English), so the scenario you're describing maybe happens once or twice in a game but that's all you see because that's all you want to see.

View attachment 1981978

We're also 4th in the comp for centre clearances per game so our mids aren't actually "getting belted at every centre clearance"

View attachment 1981980



Don't even know where to start with this ridiculously specific fictitious scenario. Do you think that Xerri should be winning 100% of the ruck contests he is in, that we should be winning every single stoppage as a result - and consequently it is 100% his fault because (of course) we are not? What about if a mid fumbles the ball after a clean tap, loses possession and the other team gets it out in space for an easy i50? Is that Xerri's fault too? Seriously what are your expectations here?

You know what, maybe don't answer that since you've clearly made up your mind on a player that has played less than 50 career games.

We're probably 4th in Center Clearances purely because we have more goals kicked against us than any other team. More opportunities = more chances to win.

 

[perplexed]

We're probably 4th in Center Clearances purely because we have more goals kicked against us than any other team. More opportunities = more chances to win.

True. In centre clearances differential we break even.

But clearances aren't our main problem. It is how we set up behind the ball that is killing us. We can't intercept or defend scores from turnovers.

 

[DrZaius]

We're probably 4th in Center Clearances purely because we have more goals kicked against us than any other team. More opportunities = more chances to win.

True. There is quite a big difference in our CC numbers compared to our stoppage numbers though so it's not as black and white as the poster I was replying to was suggesting.

 

[Better Loosen Up]

True. There is quite a big difference in our CC numbers compared to our stoppage numbers though so it's not as black and white as the poster I was replying to was suggesting.

Also less stoppages in our game when our opposition takes a ridiculous number of uncontested marks and carves through our defense like a hot knife through butter.

 

[DrZaius]

Also less stoppages in our game when our opposition takes a ridiculous number of uncontested marks and carves through our defense like a hot knife through butter.

I should have specified differential as opposed to raw numbers. As perplexed mentioned we break even in centre clearances, but we are -2.4 in regular stoppages.

So yeah we are belted around the ground but not necessarily in the centre.

 

[tazaa]

Who are you going to replace him with?

I wanted to go out and get Sean Darcy.
Or ask the question of Grundy.

But it’s North. I seriously doubt Brady and Clayton would sell the club or have the ability to land a deal over a quality free agent.

And it doesn’t matter. Brady’s gone all in on Xerri so we never interested or asking the question.

 

[shintemaster]

We should go after Nankervis, a mature ruck with good tap work is exactly what we need

A mature ruck with good tapwork is what we need... in 2-3 years.

 

[King Corey]

On a more serious note, noted above that Xerri is now a more highly rated ruckman than Luke Jackson

9

Luke Jackson

Age

22

Ht

199cm

Wt

102kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.3

2star

K

3.3

1star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.3

3star

D

8.3

2star

K

3.3

1star

HB

5.0

3star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

2star

G

0.3

3star

D

8.3

3star

K

3.3

2star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.3

3star

.

We all respect to Big X do we strike while the iron's hot? Jackson plus picks (remember Xerri is the superior performer) in a swap at year end?

 

[swaeney]

What about if a mid fumbles the ball after a clean tap, loses possession and the other team gets it out in space for an easy i50? Is that Xerri's fault too?

Where’s this clean tap you speak of? Is that when Larkey is in the ruck?

 

[DrZaius]

Where’s this clean tap you speak of? Is that when Larkey is in the ruck?

Well I guess we won't need another ruckman with Larkeys elite 0.4 taps to advantage per game

 

[DrZaius]

On a more serious note, noted above that Xerri is now a more highly rated ruckman than Luke Jackson.

We all respect to Big X do we strike while the iron's hot? Jackson plus picks (remember Xerri is the superior performer) in a swap at year end?

Have you actually watched Luke Jackson as a ruck KC? Or just going off the vibe because he's athletic and had big pre-draft wraps?

He's a pretty handy midfielder and forward though.

 

[Horizons_00]

Xerri will improve on his tap work as time goes on. He's still young

 

[DrZaius]

Xerri will improve on his tap work as time goes on. He's still young

No no he should be a mix of Gawn, Dean Cox, and prime Goldy right now and because he's not he's just shit

 

[King Corey]

Have you actually watched Luke Jackson as a ruck KC? Or just going off the vibe because he's athletic and had big pre-draft wraps?

He's a pretty handy midfielder and forward though.

Touche but yes I have and he can be devastating. Statistically unimpressive though.

I'm actually intrigued where the Xerri train goes. Clarkson pumps him up, we sign him long term but Clarkson also concedes Tristan's numbers aren't translating into output properly.

 

[swaeney]

No no he should be a mix of Gawn, Dean Cox, and prime Goldy right now and because he's not he's just s**t

Maybe if you look past having Xerri in your fantasy team/s then you will realise how he is hurting us. Just have a look at the posts above and you might figure it out. Or maybe watch the games instead of sitting on BigFooty the whole time while it's in action and once again, you might figure it out. With him grabbing the ball out of the ruck, does that count as a hitout to adv?