Player Watch #11 Luke Trainor

[Grockadoc]

Had 3 goals kicked on him but both Caddy's frees were BS. Too early to call whether the pick was value or not. Rance copped a lot of flak early on - give him a chance.. Astbury was a forward and Grimes was off a rookie draft - and that was after a second-round pick. Let the kid find his way..

100%. This was from the North Suns game. Even the commentators were fuming that this was let go. Trainor gets pinged twice for arms over the shoulder to stabilise whilst spoiling, but Uwland just fullblown grabs Larkey around the neck when Larkey slips out the back, has his back turned to the ball, and gets away with it in a 1:1 contest. Ridiculous.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

and Grimes was off a rookie draft

The Pre-Season draft was Grimes.

 

[THE_GUN]

Better than Alex Rance





at the same age

 

[Punt Road Feral]

I like the fact he was with Caddy the entire lead x2
Shows athletically he’s there and was stiff to be penalised but it can be moped up with technique improvements.

Imagine how many more goals Richo would’ve got if he got paid over the shoulders like they do these days.

 

[Yze does it]

100%. This was from the North Suns game. Even the commentators were fuming that this was let go. Trainor gets pinged twice for arms over the shoulder to stabilise whilst spoiling, but Uwland just fullblown grabs Larkey around the neck when Larkey slips out the back, has his back turned to the ball, and gets away with it in a 1:1 contest. Ridiculous.

View attachment 2618403

A staggering 26 frees for us.
Average 20 this year... up from
]2025....17 frees

2024 average 15.

 

[RJK Tiger]

You're right - it is getting mental in here. Mental because of how quickly people are piling on a young, developing player, who had a shocker game. He had an injury affected his game but he kept playing on because we couldn't afford to have him off the field.

I agree with the statement -'The standards we ignore are the standard we accept' - which is why I'm calling out posters who believe targeting an injured young player, who had one bad game, is somehow acceptable. Call out the poor game but appreciate it was under extenuating circumstances. Just like Graham, he played because the team needed him to play, but unlike Graham, people are ignoring his injury and calling for him to be dropped or even traded.

This sort of bs has got to stop.

No one is piling on anything. After each game, every player gets viewed and if you do really good, people give you kudos, & if you do really bad people call you out. Most don't get mentioned much if their inbetween.

The real issue here is - for every good comment someone writes, people reply/attack 10-1 every negative one.

The people who complain about this sort of stuff the most, are the ones who "reply" to the negative comments the most - hence, it seems like people are piling on when infact they are just doubling down on their original comment as a response.

As a point, I & couple of other posters got called out today for being quiet - when in actual fact, we had all commented and said positive stuff - and none of you replied to it. So much so some of you accused us of "going missing". We aren't - we are right here - we just don't post as many times as you guys once we have our say IF no one feels the need to argue the point we are making.


You are all proving why so many social media turds like Charlie Kirk always focus on whatever the zeitgesit of hate is at that moment - because it gets the most engagement. When you write stuff like the above, you are feeding the exact thing you hate.

Point of note - i haven;t written any negative feedback on any young bloke this week. Why? because we won and none of them really stood out to me to be awful. Trainor was better - had a cpl of tough free's against him, but still was clearly out of his depth with Caddy. But his DE% was up to 73.5% & although he was not overly proficient, he didn't hurt us like he did last week.

The performance dictates the narrative. And how many people feel the need to respond dictates how much of a conversation it is. Its pretty simple.

 

[Karp3_dm]

no doubt this guy is gonna be elite in a few years
Does so much already to very high level, once he irons out a couple little technicalities he will progress so fast

 

[GhostofJimJess]

I thought he did pretty well overall. Those over the shoulder frees rarely get paid.

I'm really curious as to why the shoulder is so protected? I mean, if you make significant contact to an opposition player's head, fair enough, but leaning on or having a hand or arm drape over a shoulder seems really innocuous.

Especially given the fact that it happens a million times in a game of footy without sanction, but is then seemingly randomly penalised.

 

[tiger_tough]

I'm really curious as to why the shoulder is so protected? I mean, if you make significant contact to an opposition player's head, fair enough, but leaning on or having a hand or arm drape over a shoulder seems really innocuous.

Especially given the fact that it happens a million times in a game of footy without sanction, but is then seemingly randomly penalised.

im with ya

 

[energyquant]

I'm really curious as to why the shoulder is so protected? I mean, if you make significant contact to an opposition player's head, fair enough, but leaning on or having a hand or arm drape over a shoulder seems really innocuous.

Especially given the fact that it happens a million times in a game of footy without sanction, but is then seemingly randomly penalised.

It's penalised because it's incredibly effective. As a defender it is easy to put your hand on the shoulder of a leading forward, hold him down and stabilise yourself for the spoil. I don't like a lot of the rules as they favour forwards but this one makes a lot of sense.

 

[DoItForCaptBlood]

It's penalised because it's incredibly effective. As a defender it is easy to put your hand on the shoulder of a leading forward, hold him down and stabilise yourself for the spoil. I don't like a lot of the rules as they favour forwards but this one makes a lot of sense.

Agree. It will be an easy thing to train him out of doing. Great leap and didn't need to do either of the FA on weekend.

 

[fargothegreat]

Hopefully just a case of second year blues with Trainor.

 

[blaisee]

Not sure about Trainor

I really want to believe

 

[Muddiemoose]

Hopefully just a case of second year blues with Trainor.

That’s my suspicion
He still displays his same skills but is just getting caught up sometimes making silly mistakes

I think being in the 2nd year the coaches put more responsibility on players in terms of role and it can be an adjustment where 1st year players get a fair bit more freedom

I’m backing him to become a very good player for us

 

[GhostofJimJess]

It's penalised because it's incredibly effective. As a defender it is easy to put your hand on the shoulder of a leading forward, hold him down and stabilise yourself for the spoil. I don't like a lot of the rules as they favour forwards but this one makes a lot of sense.

Why are you allowed to put your knees there then?

 

[tugga]

Doesn’t help when he is playing wing one week, half back the next, VfL the next and key def the next.
They are still working out where he is best suited.
I think we’ll see him blossom next year when Broady calls it a day.

 

[energyquant]

Why are you allowed to put your knees there then?

Fair question. A better one would be why are you allowed to put your knee into the head of an opponent and knock him out (e.g. Lynch on Durham) without penalty? Because the AFL loves the highlights and will sell out player safety for TV ratings for as long as the dollars keep flowing.

 

[1tsp]

Why are you allowed to put your knees there then?

Fair question. A better one would be why are you allowed to put your knee into the head of an opponent and knock him out (e.g. Lynch on Durham) without penalty? Because the AFL loves the highlights and will sell out player safety for TV ratings for as long as the dollars keep flowing.

it's implied consent by the stepladder to be there. Jump higher bro

 

[prodigy]

Happy to keep developing him in different roles for now but I think his best position is playing loose as an intercept marker.

I think once we have the majority of our defensive magnets available, it will be interesting to see the role he plays.

 

[THE_GUN]

Happy to keep developing him in different roles for now but I think his best position is playing loose as an intercept marker.

I think once we have the majority of our defensive magnets available, it will be interesting to see the role he plays.

I think its a 3rd tall type but would like to see how he goes as a winger

 

[59Stanley]

He has to play loose because he literally cannot defend with any physicality. His disposal at the moment is just terrible hopefully he can rectify that

 

[thegcat]

Happy to keep developing him in different roles for now but I think his best position is playing loose as an intercept marker.

I think once we have the majority of our defensive magnets available, it will be interesting to see the role he plays.

Pretty alarming when due to his current deficiencies, his only option is a loose player scabbing kicks

 

[prodigy]

Pretty alarming when due to his current deficiencies, his only option is a loose player scabbing kicks

Never said anything about scabbing kicks. Being a genuine intercept defender is an important role. Its the role he played as a junior and I think he will be better off outsmarting and out-reading opposition forwards rather than having to worry about nullifying them.

 

[Lord of the Wings]

He’s a bust - trade him to LOLNorf for something decent

 

[DustinsGuns]

Zac Dawson

Zac Dawson

Age

40

Ht

197cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.0

3star

K

3.4

1star

HB

6.6

4star

M

3.7

4star

T

1.5

3star

MG

34.4

1star

No current season stats available

D

8.0

2star

K

3.0

1star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.8

2star

T

1.4

4star

vibes with this guy defending right now. Understand he is asked to perform a role he isn't capable of yet, but that's not my issue with him. Has numerous really soft half-heated efforts that show up big time. Todays example:
2nd quarter - Reads the ball when in defence and should intercept or at least push the ball out of bounds, but goes soft and one armed. Then his direct opponent Amartey dances around him doing a full 360 whilst Trainor falls over his own feet. Than Trainor misses a very regulation tackle and Amarty kicks a goal. Any one single effort in this play would have killed the contest, but his 3 shocking efforts within 10 seconds cost a goal

It was rinse and repeat of a poor effort against Freo earlier this year.

Can't and won't hold his spot post bye. Reckon the MSD fella comes in.

Needs to get in the weight room and the want room ASAP