Player Watch #13 Jai Serong

[Ticky009]

Bit of Sean Dempster about him.

How the heck did you reach that comparison?

 

[monopoly19]

How the heck did you reach that comparison?

Hard to explain but I think it’s his posture. I accept that it is a ridiculous place to get to

 

[Elfreeve]

Dempster was a complete player. Didn't have bad games.

It's only a small sample, one in the red and white for Serong, and while the comparison didnt occur before it basically checks out.

While Dempster ultimately played his best footy (all-aus level) in defense, his play as a wing(especially for us as a young player) was good too. And was perfectly reasonable as a forward (which Serong has done too, albeit VFL level)
Both seem (again, small sample size for Serong) to have the agility/mobility whatnot to play tall/medium/small in defense

Serong geting anywhere near that would be fantastic. Good start clearly but a lot depends on whats around, If Edwards for eg turns up and changes the dynamic and matchups/structure, Rampes form and capablities etc

 

[Big Blood]

Loved Serong's work. I had high hopes for him because of his body of work at Hawthorn (2 VFL B&F) and was only being kept down because of their deep bench. I thought he was almost as important a pickup as Curnow because of our need to refresh our backs. Not only defends but finds the ball and can find a target too. Great start, hope he continues this way.

 

[liz]

Dempster was a complete player. Didn't have bad games.

It's only a small sample, one in the red and white for Serong, and while the comparison didnt occur before it basically checks out.

While Dempster ultimately played his best footy (all-aus level) in defense, his play as a wing(especially for us as a young player) was good too. And was perfectly reasonable as a forward (which Serong has done too, albeit VFL level)
Both seem (again, small sample size for Serong) to have the agility/mobility whatnot to play tall/medium/small in defense

Serong geting anywhere near that would be fantastic. Good start clearly but a lot depends on whats around, If Edwards for eg turns up and changes the dynamic and matchups/structure, Rampes form and capablities etc

Dempster is another youngster we had who didn't have the faith of his senior coach (Roos) and was discarded while far from a finished product. He played some good footy for us, but I think his cards were (unfairly and unwisely) marked after he was given the job of tagging Embley in the 2006 GF. (Embley won the NS, for those who don't remember.)

It's far too soon to make comparisons between Dempster (the St Kilda version) and Serong but I can see them playing similar roles. They've both got (or had) a penetrating kick. Remains to be seen if Serong can match Dempster in the air.

 

[dosser]

Bit of Sean Dempster about him.

Actually, now that you say it, I'm not sure if can unsee it. Fair call.

 

[Jewelsbon]

Bit of Sean Dempster about him.

Not a bad thing, there are worse players to be compared with. Always thought Dempster was very underrated.

 

[Wheresbuddy]

No better time to play a career best game than coming up against the old club that didn't give you a genuine shot at it. Im sure Jai will be pumped for tonight!

 

[rustycrate]

Jai not getting a lot of attention.
Just gets it done every quarter, every week.
Unsung player.
The new Smooch in the team.

 

[bedford]

Jai not getting a lot of attention.
Just gets it done every quarter, every week.
Unsung player.
The new Smooch in the team.

Nothing like him apart from unheralded , absolute steal to get him

 

[Kbroome]

Wouldn't mind seeing him played more down back this week, think we need height given the marking ability of West Coast

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Wouldn't mind seeing him played more down back this week, think we need height given the marking ability of West Coast

Pass on that thought. Unleash him on the wing backing him for a career game

 

[Kbroome]

Pass on that thought. Unleash him on the wing backing him for a career game

Shanahan was clunking literally everything and Waterman was taking the piss, can you imagine what they will do to our undersized key defensive stocks. He is a decent winger but nothing special this is a time when his versatility could actually be used as he has played as a key defender most of his career so far

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Shanahan was clunking literally everything and Waterman was taking the piss, can you imagine what they will do to our undersized key defensive stocks. He is a decent winger but nothing special this is a time when his versatility could actually be used as he has played as a key defender most of his career so far

It’s West Coast come off it. Play him in his best role which is attacking of the ball. We don’t need him down back we have defenders

 

[bedford]

Here we go lol

 

[Jewelsbon]

Shanahan was clunking literally everything and Waterman was taking the piss, can you imagine what they will do to our undersized key defensive stocks. He is a decent winger but nothing special this is a time when his versatility could actually be used as he has played as a key defender most of his career so far

According to footywire, Shanahan is 1cm taller than both McCartin and Melican and Waterman is 2cm shorter than both - not what I'd call huge size differentials, so I'm not sure where you're getting the "undersized defense" thing from.

 

[Kbroome]

According to footywire, Shanahan is 1cm taller than both McCartin and Melican and Waterman is 2cm shorter than both - not what I'd call huge size differentials, so I'm not sure where you're getting the "undersized defense" thing from.

WCE Key Forwards:

• Jake Watermann (192 cm)
• Archer Reid (203 cm)
• Jobe Shanahan (195 cm)
• Cooper Duff-Tytler (200 cm)

Swans KPDs:

• Tom McCartin (194 cm)
• Lewis Melican (194 cm)
• Dane Rampe (187 cm)

If we play Rampe as a tall we are just going to have a massive mismatch somewhere in the line no matter who lineups up on who especially as Rampe can't jump for s**t. Give me Serong or Snell in that backline for this game over Rampe who conceded 9 shots to Gunston a couple weeks back

 

[Jewelsbon]

Rampe is on Archer Reid then... Or do we put Blakey on him and basically kill his running game?

You're worried about Archer Reid? He's kicked 8 goals for his entire career and is below average in every statistical category bar one.
If a player the likes of Archer Reid causes us to turn our game plan upside down then we have a lot more to worry about than where to play Jai Serong.

 

[liz]

WCE Key Forwards:

• Jake Watermann (192 cm)
• Archer Reid (203 cm)
• Jobe Shanahan (195 cm)
• Cooper Duff-Tytler (200 cm)

Swans KPDs:

• Tom McCartin (194 cm)
• Lewis Melican (194 cm)
• Dane Rampe (187 cm)

If we play Rampe as a tall we are just going to have a massive mismatch somewhere in the line no matter who lineups up on who especially as Rampe can't jump for s**t. Give me Serong or Snell in that backline for this game over Rampe who conceded 9 shots to Gunston a couple weeks back

If we’re concerned with height, Edwards is probably a better bet than Snell, and arguably is more AFL ready, especially to play as a key defender against very tall forwards.

If the club felt so inclined, it would be easy to find a reason not to take Rampe on the longest road trip in footy to play on grass covered concrete, given his age and sporadic calf issues.

 

[Kbroome]

You're worried about Archer Reid? He's kicked 8 goals for his entire career and is below average in every statistical category bar one.
If a player the likes of Archer Reid causes us to turn our game plan upside down then we have a lot more to worry about than where to play Jai Serong.

Im worried of the matchup of Rampe on anyone, if he goes on Waterman he will get 5 kicked on him, if he goes to Shanahan he will clunk 5+ marks, if he goes to Reid or CDT its a 10-15cm mistmatch before we factor in leaping ability and wingspan.

I'm worried that I look at all the matchups and go, I can't see a realistic positive or neutral matchup for Ramps. The only matchup I could see Ramps being effective with is Cripps, thus we can't leave ourselves 2 key defenders vs 4 so we should pull a key defender from somewhere else whether that is Serong or a debutant

 

[bedford]

Im worried of the matchup of Rampe on anyone, if he goes on Waterman he will get 5 kicked on him, if he goes to Shanahan he will clunk 5+ marks, if he goes to Reid or CDT its a 10-15cm mistmatch before we factor in leaping ability and wingspan.

I'm worried that I look at all the matchups and go, I can't see a realistic positive or neutral matchup for Ramps. The only matchup I could see Ramps being effective with is Cripps, thus we can't leave ourselves 2 key defenders vs 4 so we should pull a key defender from somewhere else whether that is Serong or a debutant

Ramps will play , but isn't far off the end

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Ramps will play , but isn't far off the end

As he should off a bye. Be a different discussion if it was not. The Freo game on July 6 after Dogs at home, and before a home game vs Adelaide then Giants would be one I’d be circling saying rest Ramps obviously assuming we are in a position we can

 

[Wheresbuddy]

Shanahan was clunking literally everything and Waterman was taking the piss, can you imagine what they will do to our undersized key defensive stocks. He is a decent winger but nothing special this is a time when his versatility could actually be used as he has played as a key defender most of his career so far

I agree in that i think Serong would be a better option to take on these two than Rampe.

However, its really time to give Edwards a chance and see if he really is up to it. 4th year on the list and certainly has the physical attributes to be the big key defender we need. Serong will only ever be a third tall defender and I think hes shaping up more as a general defender / winger.

 

[Millky95]

I agree in that i think Serong would be a better option to take on these two than Rampe.

However, its really time to give Edwards a chance and see if he really is up to it. 4th year on the list and certainly has the physical attributes to be the big key defender we need. Serong will only ever be a third tall defender and I think hes shaping up more as a general defender / winger.

Agreed. If Serong is taking up a spot on the wing, we need another bigger defender to replace an aging Rampe

 

[Wheresbuddy]

Agreed. If Serong is taking up a spot on the wing, we need another bigger defender to replace an aging Rampe

A few of us are big on Snell but hes again more a 3rd tall defender. Edwards is our big defender if he is up to the job.