Past #1: Majak Daw [Part II] - 54 NM games/43 NM goals - delisted end '20 - SSP selection for MFC '21 - retired mid-'22

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The Butcher said:
Watching general play live Maj sticks out to me, not in a good way. With everyone else you can usually see their positioning and movements and make sense of them based upon where they're fitting in with nearby teammates and the overall structure. Watching Maj I usually get the impression that he isn't quite fitting in with the others. Is that just me?

It makes me wonder why, if I'm seeing it correctly, is it so? If a player isn't a coheasive part of the team's roving structures then that slack must be attempted to be taken up by others, obviously a high burden with multiple downsides. So i wonder what are my options to make sense of this.

1. Maj is selected with the expectation of being an integral part of the team structure (IPTS), he is doing that and I just can't see it.
2. Maj is selected with the expectation of being an IPTS and is failing.
3. Maj is selected without the expectation of being an IPTS.

1. This makes sense.

2. This makes sense if
a) being an IPTS is just one criteria to measure and despite failing at this Maj's overall value on field is still greater than the next in line for his spot
b) we aren't pushing for wins, want to finally settle on whether or not to keep him on and value that over giving game time to the next in line for his spot
c) other (times a bazillion)

3. This makes sense in the same way as 2(a) but without the failure.

What do you make of the above?

I'm not a gambler but at a guess I'd go with 3. Maj has aerobic and footy nous shortcomings that prevent him from being an IPTS but his impact on the contests he can be involved in outpoints that in the mind of the selection panel.
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For me, it comes down to X Factor. Back in the 90's, we had Carey, Corey, Pickett, Bell, Grant, King... Since then, by and large, we just had Boomer and Wells. Now, all of a sudden, we have Brown, Waite, Majak and Higgins with Simpkin and LDU promising..
 
Pykie said:
I don't want to get sucked into him, but his ceiling as a defender is pretty damn high.

Yes he can have a brain fade, but so can a heap of other players.

He has elite size, strength and speed for a defender and he's a great contested mark.

Remember this bloke has never played more than 4 or so games in a row at a time.

If he can settle and play a whole season at CHB, god knows what he could do.

He's looking better every game.

If he can become a solid AFL player, he still has a good 4-5 years of football in him.
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People thought I was crazy, but if the club listened to me and we trained the Beast in a similar role, he would have been a fantastic defender imo better than Maj as a defender, the Beast had wonderful attributes to be a defender, he was aggressive, was insanely quick, had a great leap but importantly with the basketball background, knows a lot about guarding players in terms of body positioning, working with zones, etc.

I think taking players who are new to the game or don't have the natural awareness, it is hard for them to do well in the ruck or as a forward, I think in defence it is a lot easier to pick up.

Maj's major weakness has been his aggression, I think this year we have seen it a lot more consistent than any time before, he has the ability to be a bit of a Pickett that he will put the fear into forwards, you don't really want to be tackled by an aggressive Maj, he can ragdoll the biggest forwards.
 

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Gasometer said:
Wat is pleasing is that Taz and Scooter direct him where to kick...or demand the ball of him.

Pre season it looked more like see ball...kick ball.
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He needs those defensive leaders to help him because he lacks the natural awareness.
 
Snake_Baker said:
He actually looked like a bloke that knew how to play defence for the first time.

He didn't run over the ball. He didn't drop easy marks and he generally cleared the high ball well (except for that one time he punched the thing straight in to the waiting arms of a Hawthorn player in the corridor).

However, there was bugger all defensive pressure inside Hawthorns 50 today, they had 7 T50's for the match, they were averaging 13. It won't be that easy next week against Port.
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I love Maj but it would have been a different game with Cyril and Poo Puller out there.
 
Great game and he's progressing very nicely in the new role.

Showing some nice nous of when to go and when to hold firm and the most pleasing thing for me is that the shackles have dropped. He looks like a guy that is backing his own instinct and funnily enough, playing with freedom.
 
hilly said:
Quick take - that tackle when Higgins and EVW went down saved a certain goal.
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What would have been a crucial goal too.
 

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dus said:
Wat?
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What I mean is that when you watch at the ground, with wide vision, Maj doesn't seem to me to be moving "as one" with the team structures. If anyone thinks x-factor, charisma, flair or whatever have much to do with where players are positioned around the ground when they don't have the ball I'd say they have little understanding of prefessional team sports.
 
The Butcher said:
What I mean is that when you watch at the ground, with wide vision, Maj doesn't seem to me to be moving "as one" with the team structures. If anyone thinks x-factor, charisma, flair or whatever have much to do with where players are positioned around the ground when they don't have the ball I'd say they have little understanding of prefessional team sports.
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Mate if he was failing miserably on team structures he wouldn't be in the side.
 
Grogg said:
Mate if he was failing miserably on team structures he wouldn't be in the side.
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Not necessarily. The kpi's for our players would be many, of which maintaining structure would be one.

Anyone else at games focus on our guys movements and notice Maj looking (still after how long?) out of sync?
 
MaddAdam said:
I love Maj but it would have been a different game with Cyril and Poo Puller out there.
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What the hell is that for a comment?!

It would have been a different game with Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Carey & Blight out there too.

It’s irrelevent mate.
 
He must be doing something right as he's now due for a brand new thread, having passed the 10k post limit (just not after 2am on a work night).
 
Twinkletoes said:
He must be doing something right as he's now due for a brand new thread, having passed the 10k post limit (just not after 2am on a work night).
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I've got you big dog
 
Maj layed a fantastic tackle on Duryea just as Highins and EVW we're concussed.

He found himself in a 5 on 2 situation, with the Hawks fowards streaming into our 50.

He positioned himself beautifully, and layed the tackle from an angle that made it impossible for Duryea to see.

That would of been a certain goal. Instead we got the ball back at centre half back and watched the medicos do their thing
 
iSmack said:
Maj layed a fantastic tackle on Duryea just as Highins and EVW we're concussed.

He found himself in a 5 on 2 situation, with the Hawks fowards atreamkng into our 50.

He positioned himself beutifully, and layed the tackle from an angle that made it impossible for Duryea to see.

That would of been a certain goal. Instead we got the ball back at centre half back and watched the Medicos do their thing ....

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
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A magic tackle.
 
MaddAdam said:
I love Maj but it would have been a different game with Cyril and Poo Puller out there.
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Oh please mate enjoy the moment . If Higgins and EVW didn't get knocked out we would of won by 50. They were destroyed in the first half . Ok they come back but they put too much effort . With those 2 you mentioned we would of won anyway ..
 
Snake_Baker said:
A very good game today.
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And there you go. The week you say that is the week I started to see the things you've been potting him for, maybe because I was sitting at the North end where we were defending in the 4th quarter. Those couple of contested grabs in the last were massive but I thought he got blown up a bit by his man, was tentative at times when the ball was on the ground and a bit uncertain with his disposal.

To his credit, he gave off handballs as a first option more, and given his notorious lack of tank actually held up decently when we were a couple of rotations down. And his 1v1 work is not as terrible as his first game had me fearing.

I'm definitely in the camp that the defense experiment is a better option than just having him play out his contract at full forward in the VFL. And good on him for making the most of the chance.
 
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