Retired #11: David Zaharakis - Survivin'

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11 - [PLAYERCARD]David Zaharakis[/PLAYERCARD].jpg


Contract Status: Unrestricted Free Agent 2021
Last Game Played: Round 19, 2021 (omit)

Injury Status: n/a
 
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Not questioning his effort or endurance, though surprised about the high speed stat. Just looks to have lost his acceleration.

Since we moved to the dome I'm struggling to think of midfielders we've had who didnt come to a standstill in their late 20s. The saga makes it difficult to draw definite conclusions on Watson, Hocking, Stanton and Myers, but before that we had JJ and Pev.

Genuinely concerned about the impact playing on the harder surface is having.

I suspect it’s moreso to do with our strength and conditioning and individual resilience than anything else.

Plenty of Etihad based teams have had players play long. Stanton and Watson would have gone 270 odd but for the suspensions and Goddard played 330 odd based at Etihad on a reconstructed knee.

I’m not convinced it’s more than natural attrition with him. He’s not as quick as he was but people saying he’s done need to get their hand off it. His form completely correlates with where he’s used. Behind the ball bad, wing/half forward good.
 
Zaharakis plays his best footy in an inside role in which he has limited opportunities - And he's not playing well.
Zaka plays his best football as an unaccountable HFF
 

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Oct 22, 2008
17,318
19,556
Geelong
AFL Club
Essendon
Not questioning his effort or endurance, though surprised about the high speed stat. Just looks to have lost his acceleration.

Since we moved to the dome I'm struggling to think of midfielders we've had who didnt come to a standstill in their late 20s. The saga makes it difficult to draw definite conclusions on Watson, Hocking, Stanton and Myers, but before that we had JJ and Pev.

Genuinely concerned about the impact playing on the harder surface is having.
I still wonder how JJ dropped off the cliff so rapidly. Was like a switch.

Don't buy into the dome theory though, Boomer Harvey.
 

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Okay, just so we're clear here, let's compare Mackay's best season (2016) to Zaharakis' worst (this one):

Mackay averages more handballs, tackles, inside 50's, clearances, score involvements and metres gained of those relevant.
Zaka averages more kicks, disposals, goals, CP, UP and DE of relevant stats

Remembering this is comparing Mackay's best to Zaka's worst.
 

MattF185

All Australian
Jul 16, 2012
772
718
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Other Teams
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Honestly, he’s been very inconsistent since the other senior players returned at the start of 2017. Such a frustrating player now. Should’ve been dropped any time in the past three years to make a statement, but no, we keep persisting with him.
 

Rednblak

Debutant
Feb 1, 2018
105
116
AFL Club
Essendon
Honestly, he’s been very inconsistent since the other senior players returned at the start of 2017. Such a frustrating player now. Should’ve been dropped any time in the past three years to make a statement, but no, we keep persisting with him.
He was still pretty good until last year when nankervis broke his collarbone at the dreamtime game. he was averaging 29 disposals a game up until that point
 
Just a friendly reminder to everyone that Zaka is contracted for another TWO seasons.

So glad we locked away this elite talent with a whopping 5 year deal.

4 year deal....

Going back through this thread, and the general consensus seemed to be that it was a pretty good deal (starting around page 108) in terms of length to keep a core player around.
 

lenny2013

Club Legend
Jun 17, 2013
1,503
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The culture will never be up to the standard of winning a flag while we carry senior players like Zaka that go missing when there is a slight bit of adversity.

That said I doubt our list management would have the kahunas to move him on. I've said it for some time that our list management would be the most generous in the AFL. We could learn a thing or two from Geelong and Hawthorn.
 

Rustyrich

Cancelled
Aug 17, 2018
619
443
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Joe Misiti playing on one leg gave more than half these blokes. I know I'm living in the past, but jeez they were warriors.
 

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