Player Watch #11: David Zaharakis - Deep cut to his knee, infected, may miss Good Friday - 16/4

NAB777

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Re: #11: David Zaharakis - Tracking similarly to Murphy?

I'd compare Cotchin with Simon Black. Absoloute rolls royce.
Before he saw Cotchin play a game, Ken Fletcher watched him doing kick to kick at school & said he will be a better player than Luke Ball
 

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BrunoV

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Re: #11: David Zaharakis - Offered a reprimand

That is four 30+ possession games from Zaharakis and it ain't even the half way point of the season. It seems I set the bar a bit too low wanting 5 for the year from the man.

I just love the way he goes about his footy. He has all of the outside flair a player can have but he is not out of his depth scrapping for the ball and laying tackles. He seems to be everywhere which suggests that he is running really hard. The ability to win contested possession and run hard holds him in really good stead for when the inevitable tag comes

I wonder how long it will be until he starts getting more attention from opposition clubs.


With all of the coveting of other clubs' young players that has occurred over the last few years, now, as they all start to reach a reasonable level of experience and maturity with 50 games or so, is a really good time to compare Zaharakis with the other quality mids/smalls taken out of the 2008 draft.

You will very quickly see that Zaharakis' numbers stack up against the lot. Where he might be 1 to 1.5 average possessions a game behind the likes of Shuey and Hannebery he has 20 more goals than Shuey (Hannebery is not a goal kicker). Sidebottom and Beams are statistically quite brilliant but they've had the advantage of being part of a powerhouse.

The thing with Zaka is that he has had consistent and considerable improvement from year to year so he has been largely ignored by the media. He did not make the immediate and dramatic impact of a Rich or Hannebery and win a rising star; and did not have the advantage Beams and Sidebottom have had of being part of a great side that has routinely beaten up **** sides like Essendon in his first 3 years.

The point is that 3 years and 10 rounds into their careers, I might have to very reluctantly concede Sidebottom aside, we got a guy that is easily as good as every other mid/small taken in a very solid draft and is very arguably better than the lot (seriously I'd take his 20 to 30 extra goals over those with marginally better average possession stats). I'm thinking that this is a more useful tool for assessing his worth than the comparison with Murphy because the latter seems a little misunderstood.

Just to add a little fluff I'd say it is not bad for a guy taken at #23; and considering that we took a pretty special player with pick 5 that year we did pretty darn well.

03. Stephen Hill http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-fremantle-dockers--stephen-hill
04. Hamish Hartlett http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-port-adelaide-power--hamish-hartlett
06. Chris Yarran http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-carlton-blues--christopher-yarran
07. Daniel Rich http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-brisbane-lions--daniel-rich
10. Steele Sidebottom http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-collingwood-magpies--steele-sidebottom
18. Luke Shuey http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-west-coast-eagles--luke-shuey
23. David Zaharakis http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-essendon-bombers--david-zaharakis
29. Dayne Beams http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-collingwood-magpies--dayne-beams
30. Daniel Hannebery http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-sydney-swans--daniel-hannebery
44. Rory Sloane http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-adelaide-crows--rory-sloane

*Yes, possessions aren't the be all and end all but it is one of the few objective points of comparison available.

Edit: Sloane added, pleasingly it changes nothing.
 

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Re: #11: David Zaharakis - Offered a reprimand

I remembered our recruiting guys were spewing Trengove didnt slip to us the next pick. In hindsight it has worked out well since we need a quality running mid more than a quality tall. Certainly seems a superdraft 08, Adelaide got a beauty in Rory Sloane at 44.
 
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Re: #11: David Zaharakis - Offered a reprimand

That is four 30+ possession games from Zaharakis and it ain't even the half way point of the season. It seems I set the bar a bit too low wanting 5 for the year from the man.

I just love the way he goes about his footy. He has all of the outside flair a player can have but he is not out of his depth scrapping for the ball and laying tackles. He seems to be everywhere which suggests that he is running really hard. The ability to win contested possession and run hard holds him in really good stead for when the inevitable tag comes

I wonder how long it will be until he starts getting more attention from opposition clubs.


With all of the coveting of other clubs' young players that has occurred over the last few years, now, as they all start to reach a reasonable level of experience and maturity with 50 games or so, is a really good time to compare him with the other quality mids/smalls taken out of the 2008 draft.

You will very quickly see that Zaharakis' numbers stack up against the lot. Where he might be 1 to 1.5 average possessions a game behind the likes of Shuey and Hannebery he has 20 more goals than Shuey (Hannebery is not a goal kicker). Sidebottom and Beams are statistically quite brilliant but they've had the advantage of being part of a powerhouse.

The thing with Zaka is that he has had consistent and considerable improvement from year to year so he has been largely ignored by the media. He did not make the immediate and dramatic impact of a Rich or Hannebery and win a rising star; and did not have the advantage Beams and Sidebottom have had of being part of a great side that has routinely beaten up **** sides like Essendon in his first 3 years.

The point is that 3 years and 10 rounds into their careers, I might have to very reluctantly concede Sidebottom aside, we got a guy that is easily as good as every other mid/small taken in a very solid draft and is very arguably better than the lot (seriously I'd take his 20 to 30 extra goals over those with marginally better average possession stats). I'm thinking that this is a more useful tool for assessing his worth than the comparison with Murphy because the latter seems a little misunderstood.

Just to add a little fluff I'd say it is not bad for a guy taken at #23; and considering that we took a pretty special player with pick 5 that year we did pretty darn well.

03. Stephen Hill http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-fremantle-dockers--stephen-hill
04. Hamish Hartlett http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-port-adelaide-power--hamish-hartlett
06. Chris Yarran http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-carlton-blues--christopher-yarran
07. Daniel Rich http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-brisbane-lions--daniel-rich
10. Steele Sidebottom http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-collingwood-magpies--steele-sidebottom
18. Luke Shuey http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-west-coast-eagles--luke-shuey
23. David Zaharakis http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-essendon-bombers--david-zaharakis
29. Dayne Beams http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-collingwood-magpies--dayne-beams
30. Daniel Hannebery http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-sydney-swans--daniel-hannebery
44. Rory Sloane http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-adelaide-crows--rory-sloane

*Yes, possessions aren't the be all and end all but it is one of the few objective points of comparison available.

Edit: Sloane added, pleasingly it changes nothing.
Quality Post BrunoV.
 

Kyptastic

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Re: #11: David Zaharakis - Offered a reprimand

He seems to be going under the radar at the moment, even if his form is arguably better than last years. It always seems like he's an afterthought when talking about best players from games (eg. So and So starred with this, whilst David Zaharakis also played well with 30 odd possessions).
 

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BrunoV

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Be that as it may, I just don't want this to be open to attack on the grounds of bias or parochialism.

I'm sick of hearing, from media, footy fans and our fans alike, about how good every other sides' kids are.

We've got ourselves an absolute star/A grade/ elite midfielder for a relative bargain and it ought to be acknowledged.
 

Ben the Gooner

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Who cares about the media?

The important people recognise how important he is. I can see him picking up the ball on the half back line and delivering inside 50 in a final after a barnstorming run through the middle of the ground. Maybe people will sit up and notice then?
 

Red Black and Blue

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In my opinion being rated doesn't matter, being successful does. With success comes the acknowledgement but even still its irrelevant. For instance people are talking down Hurley because he isn't going out there an kicking bags of 5 every week like they expected. Yet he has still been our most important forward in the games he has played, drawing multiple defenders and setting the tone through his competitiveness.
 

BrunoV

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Who cares about the media?

The important people recognise how important he is. I can see him picking up the ball on the half back line and delivering inside 50 in a final after a barnstorming run through the middle of the ground. Maybe people will sit up and notice then?


The media opinion forms our (being our fans') view of our own players. That is why it frustrates me.

There is a 208 page thread on Josh Caddy (a player we have a snowflakes chance in hell of signing) over at Bomberblitz. But not many are talking about the fact that Kav is up and running and is being primed for a big tilt at it next year (for a 2nd year player). It is looking very likely that Kav will be the (next) massive steal that we hoped he was.

Don't worry though we will still have to hear about Gaff, Shuey and Luke Parker.
 

Ben the Gooner

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The media opinion forms our (being our fans') view of our own players. That is why it frustrates me.

There is a 208 page thread on Josh Caddy (a player we have a snowflakes chance in hell of signing) over at Bomberblitz. But not many are talking about the fact that Kav is up and running and is being primed for a big tilt at it next year (for a 2 year player). It is looking very likely that Kav will be the massive steal that we hoped he was.

Don't worry though we will still have to hear about Gaff, Shuey and Luke Parker.
Doesn't worry me, just make Essendon's odds longer and players like Zaka more unique in DT etc. :D
 

blitzer

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Hird said in the press conference 3 or 4 weeks. Not sure if he was factoring the bye in or not. So hopefully round 15/16 we might see him back. Hopefully not as serious as Goodes one. Big loss but also an opportunity to try some other guys through there for a few weeks.
 
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